Just got the new Circuit Specialists catalog in the mail, and they're running a sale on variacs. There's a 2 amp one for $39 and an 8 amp one for $89. A variac is highly recommended if you're into vintage gear.

Dan, you seem to be missing the core of what people are saying to you. They're not saying to ditch your system, and they're not saying to add a stepped attenuator. They're suggesting you use a rotary encoder, a digital rotary encoder rather than an up/down toggle switch. That's all they're...

[snip - I misread which of your drives went bad]

Quote: Originally Posted by xnothingpoetic I don't see 19 as too young. It feels like I should be out there living life right about now and not in school (living life= independent and doing the things I on my "before I die list") You might seriously consider the Peace Corps. They...

Quote: Originally Posted by xnothingpoetic And as I said before: plumbing/etc jobs are NOT safe. When the market goes down,no one will be buying new homes as much and much less homes will be built. So massive people will be laid off. This is true. This is one of the major reasons...

Quote: Originally Posted by a1b2c3 ...if i was to be normal and have a life, have friends and have a relationship, i obviously couldnt' spend nearly 90% of my disposable money on gear or related which is what currently make my life bearable and indeed pleasurable at times because...

Another terrible job loss report today. If the recent job loss trend isn't reversed soon, we'll hit 10% national unemployment in just four more months. I'd think long and hard about whether a marketing degree is good preparation for the future.

Quote: Originally Posted by acidbasement This is illegal in every jurisdiction I've lived in, regardless of whether or not it is in the rental agreement. Non-separate accommodations are typically governed by an Innkeeper's Act or something with a similar name, not the Landlord...

If you're young and still in school, do everything you can to get into medical school. This will also have the bonus of making you able to easily move from place to place in the world during your career, which meets your goals.

Quote: Originally Posted by ericj The judge dressed her down in court for 20 minutes and told him that the only thing he'd done wrong was offer her too much money to leave, and that he wouldn't allow a settlement larger than $20k. And then my friend did the unthinkable. He...

Quote: Originally Posted by Goit Companies like Denon and Sennheiser have authorized etailers. What if you don't buy from one? Do you lose the warranty automatically? If they are not authorized, then where did they get their stock? I see a lot of resellers on amazon and ebay, with...

Apple does have a policy that you can redownload all your music if your hard drive crashes. You just have to ask them: "In the event that a customers entire music library is lost, the iTunes Music Store does re-grant the purchases history. Please keep in mind that Apple does not offer...

Quote: Originally Posted by PhilS Oh give me an effin' break!!!!! That's about the most ridiculous, or funniest (I'm not sure which, or maybe it's both) thing that I may have ever heard on this forum -- and it has a lot of competition. And I say that with all due respect and not to...

Quote: Originally Posted by Zombie_X The SR-325i's sound really bloated with the Fischer so I 't think it was a good combo there, but the HD600 sounds nearly twice as good as it did before. These things are so awesome. My dad says that these Fischers normally go for $600-$800 used...

You're very lucky. The Fisher X-100-B is one of my favorite amps of all time. It's also a wonderful speaker amplifier. You may want to check whether it has a drying out selenium rectifier (the only solid state component in those vintage Fisher amps, and ironically the only part likely to fail...

Quote: Originally Posted by RockCity Some people don't want to open their amps because they'll let out the magic smoke. But Phils, or anyone else, shouldn't open their amps if they're not comfortable working with lethal voltages. Mikhail's amps have bleeder resistors in the power...

The latest Bose headphones are not that bad. It's the first generation ones that attracted most of the bad reputation. Those really were terrible on any objective listen. But even the current line doesn't really fit well anywhere on the value for money scale. You can do better.

Quote: Originally Posted by matt8268 I must correct these descriptions of Mikhail's operation as a Ponzi scheme. A ponzi scheme is one in which new investors' money is used to PAY INTEREST/DIVIDENDS to earlier investors. It is particularly nasty because it gives the illusion that the...

Quote: Originally Posted by markmaxx My Supra Extreme XLR is 2 years old. What do you think of his work at this point? That's much better work than Mikhail's earliest point-to-point amps. So he did improve there. There are no immediately obvious safety issues that I can...

The pyramid scheme analogy that some people are using is probably somewhat accurate. Pyramid schemes accumulate momentum because the people who get involved early do benefit, and those benefits attract more customers. Mikhail's early amps were both relatively inexpensive and very good...

Quote: Originally Posted by earwicker7 Are you saying that you suspect there are Head-Fi'ers, in collusion with Mikhail, making money off of this debacle? God, I hope this isn't happening, but with this kind of money involved, you never know. NO, no one is saying this. It's silly...

Quote: Originally Posted by Beefy There is just one thing I can't understand about this $15,600 amp...... why on earth has nobody previously posted internal shots of one of them before? Surely somebody has opened one up before now, and been horrified at what they have got for their...

Quote: Originally Posted by Ricey20 So basically its a lose-lose situation for the customer except for a select few. You either complain bug him enough and he throws something together as fast as he can or you wait for YEARS to get something correct back. That's just wrong. Don't think...

Quote: Originally Posted by Beefy How much does one of those run for new these days? $15,600. Seriously.

Quote: Originally Posted by Icarium Well it showed up well packed and looking great externally, but while unpacking it there was something rattling inside. I open it up to find a capacitor that I dunno goes where is rolling around inside and there's a wire that is not connected to...