well, i finally got home from the mid east. ordered the 950 while in kuwait. so far...it's all good. i have eliminated all my little switch boxes from the video side and woo and behold...in mintes got the 950 to control each device...dish (sat)unit, svhs recorder, dvd system...but i can't get it to run my turntable! oops..no ird on that one.
i gotta admit...this thing is replacing a 3k tube pre-amp(ARC) and so far i've nothing but a grin on me face. for surround i'd been using my own hand built hafler-type thing with a few mods. heck it fooled a lotta people. gotta get a few more interconnects for the dvd/A unit tho. only have one disc for that so no hurry (using digi out). i have been looking at a few other models for the past few years and held of cause of the price thing (my hafler/pro-logic cost me about 5 bucks to build). at 800 bucks this thing smokes, nothing else is even close at twice the price (and more). i am an engineer and i must say...these guys is good!
to close...i am switching all vid thru the 's' i/o's. no problem at tall in that dept. i was a little worried ... using 12ft.(!) cables from sat and vcr...but only lost a little sharpness..fixed that w/ the tv sharpness adjust. with 30 years in video and other areas i have found most people mis-adjust Everything and then complain. a tv must be viewed from a lot farthur away than most realize. only say all this from reading comments about it on some earlier BB.
must stop...warren zevon calls me.
i'd like to lastly say, "thanks outlaw, now can you come up with something for my Harley?"

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How about an oil drip pan?

ok, soundhound; you've got my attention! no, the harley doesn't need 'an oil drip pan'...haha. harley's,since bout '86, have become the standard that other bikes 'try' to emulate. heck, you can eat off my engine...but i won't let ya! what i was refering to i almost put into the 'new products' suggestions and it is this: several hundred thousand or more bikes have fairings...with stereos built in. now when is someone gonna develop a bike user-friendly mp3/radio unit that will slip into all those fairings? the radio should be auto scan w/ memory lock...as aiwa does with its portable cd units. the mp3 should have a coupla easy to hit buttons...volumn, mp3/radio select..etc. my 20gig mp3 plays over 4000 songs and i use it in my van and on the road when i travel to other cities and countries. by the way...i am a field engineer who also designs and tests every kind of electronics you can think of...2 years w/ nasa, crpyto for the DOD,DCA,and AOCC. currently i am the senior field engineer for CNN (if you saw a reporter on cnn anywhere in the world...i was probably there setting up weeks in advance). several of us help develop products for field use in tv with many many manufactures...from satelitte trans. systems, audio consoles, digital (and analogue) tape systems, comms systems...etc. etc. one thing i have learned in the last 35 years...if one can dream it...one can build it. just needs uh market. but thanks for your reply.

I can't argue that some bikes do appear to try and emulate the Harley look, but none of the ones I'd own do that. If you really want to get a great bike have the folks at PaughCo or Titan build one - at least it will be a true work of rolling art.

Other than look [which is all about personal taste anyway], there is nothing worth emulating. From a technology standpoint, Harley is pretty far from state of the art, although they offer a great prop for egos. But that's just my opinion, and I'm probably biased. It is interesting that the 'high-end' of the custom V-twin market [AKA custom Harleys] will have approximately zero Harley parts - almost everything is replaced with better.

But now I'm your off topic co-conspirator.

YMMV, IMO, etc.

Some bikes maybe, but not my bike, that's for sure.

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Philip Hamm

ok ok, i apologize. (not really)
a lotta manufacturers do imitate it but not all. and the ones that do have other lines. there aren't any crotch rockets that are imitators of harley. in fact, harley's kinda doing that to them...ie: buell...now watch me get hate mail from the harley outlaws!
drive to live. sit to listen.

Crypto for the DOD?
I was a 208 for the AF. Arabic. Hellenicon, Eraklion, Frankfurt, etc. Did you do the DLI? I was there in '82. I'm also an Audio Engineer. Go figure.
Mix

mixfix, yeh, i was in the air force,too. but it was '67 to '71. it's pretty much the reason...i do now, what i used to do. we still work with WOCA (wackoo, as we say, whitehouse office of comm.,agency), the prez's communication dept. it's staffed by all four branches. i almost wuz one of them. but at the end o lectrinology school..which was and is quite good you know..they gave me a choice of assignments; first was WOCA..2nd was some little place in florida where they were trying to get some men on the moon to see if it had any cheese. well, the 2nd jst sounded kinda stupid so i chose...NAHHHH...i went ta florida..BABEE. and man was it a wize choice! lil misssisssipppi (that's long)boy working at the cape. cocoa beach actually...patrick air force base...in thu sixties, no less. it was ...an interesting time...2 years later apollo 7,8,9,10,11 are over, we're getting networks ready again for 12...and i gets orders...but 15000 civilians got...orders, too. they had no job but i wuz going to japan!
and so ... time went by..used the GI bill..got an edyewcation...but no one cared about my deegree in mississippi, i wuz an enjoneer...and so it goes

[This message has been edited by thigg (edited February 23, 2003).]

so anyway, i've really been enjoying the 950. very clear thru the spectrum. lotsa versatility to taper the sound from all directions. very very quiet unit. finally got a digi-cam the other day. still in case. gotta get pics of system n load em to puter n i'll put here or somewhere. to busy watchin movies n spinning vinyl n chattin n here. i still need to get a new spl meter to match out the channels 'nd levels properly. unfortunately my centers are a little low but i have em tilted a few degrees upward. they're my weakest link. i had jamo centers that are small and very pretty..but they couldn't take loud transits well..one of the 2,4" drivers in each, is a 'full' range paper unit, gonna replace em with better units and put em back in. using some..gulp rad shak metal units for now. they actually sound quite good and have no trouble with very loud crashes. i bought em for the deck outside...but now i'm moving...so they fit the 'temorary' bill for now. hey, are the centers supposed to play when ya hit 'stereo'? mine does. not a problem but i like to hear the 1.6's without the centers. call me crazy, i still believe the wave of the future is gonna be ...glass n' crystal!
i do believe there are some think tanks working on that...at the top of the food chain. decades down the road in audio/video,tho. i worked in some very wierd areas years ago. it's a coming, folks. light can be a really good medium...and it can be amplified, too, ya know. (do not remove cover; no movin parts inside!) go stand someday in a greek or roman collasee-um. u can whisper on stage and they'll hear you in the back row! using...rocks! (curved properly to amplify the voice.)

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t higg