New camo pants and experimenting with Monster Interconnects

Gentle reader,

Again, thanks for taking the time to look at my blog. It does my heart good to see how many of you are doing so!

If you look to the right, you'll see the "top ten" blog pages by interest. Third one down, about camoflauge, see it? Well, after seeing the movie BATTLESHIP, I realized that I did not have any U.S. Navy pants. I saw some at the local gun show, but they were too short.

My favorite thrift store (The Village, in Dale City, VA) to the rescue! I stopped in there and to my delight, they had a pristine pair in my size: $6.90 later and they are MINE!

 Like the USMC's camo, the U.S. Navy also has their logo imbedded in the digital pattern. As seen above.

Also, like the USMC's, they have elastic waist and cargo pockets. Unlike all the other branches, they have a ZIPPERED fly! While I am used to button flies, one can't beat a good old zipper.

Enough about that! If you saw: The Robb Collections: Audio Nirvana....at LAST! You have perhaps noted how MANY times that I have sworn that I was truly done tweaking the stereo. Well, I came across, at The Village, that same day in fact, a set of Monster Cables that are around sixteen feet long. See below:

They are the pair on the top. Turns out that they are for automobile applications. I substituted them for the THX Certified versions that are the bottom ones in the photo. They sounded fine, yet got me to thinking. (Something my wife says I do too much of.) The upper ones are twisted within the blue braided covering for RF rejection purposes. One can see, that the untwisted portions inside the "pants" (that's what they call them!) are quite thin. 

I decided to twist the bottom ones myself. Whether it does any good or not, I do not know. THEN, I started researching Monster's various cables. They make some very expensive ones. Some forums pooh-poohed these cables as being good, but not excellent. On to ebay I went where I found some 1000 series (the current ones are 400s) eight feet long for $10. a pair, used. I bought two pairs and some Monster THX Certified connectors. Both arrived and I found the cables are in fact, FOUR feet long! I am in contact with the seller....See them below:

 Above are the connectors. Nice looking, aren't they? Note the THX on the labels of the ends.

The cables are marked as to the direction the signal should travel. Above. Below is a comparison of the THX 1000 ones verses the automotive ones. Quite a bit thicker. These 1000 series are universally highly praised.

So, once I have enough wires to make up about sixteen feet to travel between the pre-amp and power amp, hopefully, the music will sound EVEN BETTER.

Lastly, on to another, this time a Salvation Army, find: A pair of Polk Audio Monitor Series bookshelf speakers. They are EXACTLY the same models as the one I found for a center channel in the six-channel SACD playback system. The experts recommend that all five ear-level speakers in any surround-sound set-up should be identical, including the center channel. Now, how many center channel speakers have you seen that are identical to the rest? None? Right, the vast majority are designed to be placed horizontal. Again, the experts have been saying for DECADES, "Don't lay speakers on their sides!" Or words to that effect. I don't remember the reason, but I suspect the answer is only a few clicks away. See below the three MATCHING Polk Audio speakers:

Now, the situation is, I love the sound of the BOSE 301s that my wife bought me. However, they are quite different from the Polk center channel, which yes, I HAD laid down on it's side. Heck, the 301s are designed that way! Now, as you can see, all three are standing upright. I took the grille off the center one so you can see the quality drivers. RUBBER surround on the woofers, no foam, no sir! I will properly "couple" the speakers to the TV stands they sit on with Blu Tack. I roughly aimed the stereo units aimed at my listening seat with the laser. The sound? AWESOME! Amazing amount of bass for their size. 

Thanks for looking!

Scott