flyfisher

Interesting range of views about rehearsals. I wonder if it depends on whether music is a hobby or a job. We've had similarly polarised discussions about playing for free so my guess is that those against playing for free are more likely to dislike rehearsals. But for those of us who enjoy making music just for the sheer pleasure of it, I suspect rehearsals are almost as enjoyable as gigs. They certainly are in my case.

Fair point. It's interesting to chat about our various opinions, but I think it's more useful if those opinions are not based on false premises.

Yes, there are different meanings for compression in this discussion. But if we ignore everything done to the audio signal up to the point of committing to vinyl, then there is still the RIAA 'distortion' required for the vinyl whereas nothing is required for the CD. I'm not commenting on whether this is a good or bad thing, just pointing out that vinyl is not as 'pure' as many people might think. Debates about which medium is 'best' are as pointless as debates about 'best' songs because such things are a matter of personal preference, so there can be no absolute right or wrong.

[quote name='lowdowner' timestamp='1355087560' post='1893928'] Music is for listening to not copying surely? I'm not sure what the argument is - surely you just listen to both and choose the one you prefer? [/quote] My point was correcting your assertion that vinyl can be long lasting while CDs don't last forever. It was nothing to do with listening preference.

[quote name='lowdowner' timestamp='1355076286' post='1893729'] But some say this can be explained by 'familiarity' i.e. people who drink cheap sweet wine all the time will choose it as their preferred drink when confronted with a glass of blue nun against Chat. Cantenac '62. People choose what they are familiar with because they think *that* is what it should sound like. [/quote] All of which could well be why you favour the sound of vinyl.

[quote name='lowdowner' timestamp='1355074607' post='1893692'] My understanding is that the RIAA is lossless though (to any point worth worrying about) because it's an analogue reshaping of an analogue signal in both directions (the shaping/re-shaping process is not losing information), where as CD compression is most certainly *lossy* i.e. there is information thrown away that is not recoverable. Many would argue that that loss of information during CD sampling isn't audible (but I'd argue against that). Either way, they are definitely not the same thing. [/quote] Depends what you mean by 'lossless' doesn't it? I'd accept your point that RIAA processing isn't lossless in the sense of losing information, but it's most certainly a distortion of the recorded and replayed signal, unless you're going to try to convince me that RIAA encoding and decoding can be 100% matched across all manufacturer's equipment (don't bother trying - component tolerances alone prevent such a thing). I'm not sure what you mean by "CD compression" being 'lossy'. if you mean the use of a compressor during the production phase then that's no different to vinyl audio processing, but the actual data on a CD is not digitally compressed at all - which is why MP3 (and other) data compression can be used effectively at all. I rip all my CDs to my PC hard drive and have recently given up using MP3 because data storage is so cheap these days that 700MB for a CD is simply not a practical limitation anymore. Of course, internet connection bandwidth is still a limiting factor, which is why MP3 remains so popular. But why anyone would want to buy reduced bit-rate music files with DRM limitations when uncompressed, non-restricted CDs can be bought for the same price, or less, is a mystery to me.

[quote name='lowdowner' timestamp='1355074290' post='1893685'] As for records 'wearing out' every time you platy them - I have CDs that can no longer be played because the lacquer has become opaque in the sunlight, or because of scratching. On the other hand I have much loved records that I have played many, many, hundreds of times that still sound completely new and fresh. Anyone who says CDs are 'perfect sound forever' has swallowed a lot of marketing hype [/quote] No media lasts forever (and I don't recall saying it did), but you try making a 100% perfect copy of a vinyl record.

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1355082211' post='1893852'] People feel safe in doorways. No idea why, . . . . . [/quote] Good place to stand in case of an earthquake, or so I've read somewhere.

If vinyl was so great, why didn't they include pops, crackles, scratches, wow and flutter on CDs and also limit them to about 20 minutes before having to turn them over. Oh, and have them actually get physically damaged by scraping a diamond all over them everytime they were played. Come on people, let's get real - otherwise we'll all be wanting steam trains, coal fires and smog to make a comeback.

[quote name='molan' timestamp='1355013973' post='1893073'] CD's are compressed and limited (I really don't understand the technology behind this!) and never seem to sound as open and natural as vinyl to me. [/quote] So is vinyl. Have you never heard of the RIAA curve?

In a previous band, I used to work at a big country house near Uxbridge (just inside M25) and we used to use one of the large conference rooms for evening rehearsals, so word gradually got out.

I'm sure you'll enjoy the show! I've seen them twice, coincidentally during their 20th and 30th year anniversary tours. Not sure what they're up to by now (34? 35?) but it's pretty impressive that a tribute band can outlast the originals by about three times. Possibly because, until Macca started playing loads of Beatles stuff fairly recently, it was the only way to hear those song performed live. Even The Beatles themselves didn't perform most of their best work live.

Great news, excellent customer service!

One of these? http://www.maplin.co.uk/1-4-6.35mm-plug-to-phono-socket-adaptors-1280 If not, try searching using 'phono' instead of 'RCA'.

[quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1354874805' post='1891408'] The mother says that he's wanted an amp for a while but she made him save for it, which he didn't like at first but now he's happy he can buy his own amp etc. I don't know, it brought me back to my childhood when I saved for various things, a bike, whatever, and how hard it was... so I said, "really? well, in that case maybe we can reassess the price" and I took away a large chunk off the price I was asking. The look on his face was well worth it. [/quote] Good for the mother and jolly good for you. Nice story.

I'm not sure that the 'case' is stronger - as I originally said, I think it's a matter of discretion. But as you rightly say, the OP's dealer has already repaired one cab so let's hope they repair the second, though I reckon it would be an example of a good customer service rather than entitlement.

Yes, I understand that point of view. It seems reasonable but how many such claims are ever successfully made? We had a thread not so long ago about car engines being damaged when cam belts break. So you buy a new car, service it according to the manufacturers schedule, at a main agent, the cam belt change is scheduled at 60k miles but at 50k miles it breaks and the engine is wrecked. Must have been a faulty belt because it didn't last the 60k miles that the manufacturer expected (and even then with a big safety margin). Does anyone really believe that the cam belt manufacturer is going to pay for a new engine?

[quote name='Johngh' timestamp='1354798364' post='1890476'] Doubt if ISO accreditation would come into it. Any accredited 3rd party auditor will include a clause in the audit report that states that they can't guarantee full compliance with the system as the audit only covered selected criteria and not the whole system. [/quote] Agreed. No quality system is so perfect that it can guarantee no faults 100% of the time, but what it can do is prove that the company has been sufficiently diligent to have considered the risks and done everything reasonable to minimise them. In this respect it greatly assists a company's defence against negligence.

[quote name='XB26354' timestamp='1354795073' post='1890411'] It depends on the definition of lowballing. There are plenty of people on here that advertise on the high side with no offers. Unsurprisingly their thread becomes a desert of no activity. [/quote] . . . or one of constant bumping but nothing else.

This topic is an interesting insight to the wide range of views and aproaches to buying and selling stuff. Given such a wide range of views, it's almost inevitable that some form of negotiation must take place otherwise there would only be a tiny number of trades between people who just happen to approach such things in the same way. There are no rules, are there? So we have to make them up as we go along, with each party trying to influence the other until they come to a mutual agreement. If, for whatever reason, that doesn't happen then there's no deal. The really odd thing is that some people can get so upset during the process of negotiation.

Argue away - but you'll need deep pockets to test it in the courts.

[quote name='BILL POSTERS' timestamp='1354736830' post='1889885'] The clue to what Imeant is in what I wrote. [b][i]Getting damaged and /or overheating.[/i][/b] . . . . . The possibilites are endless. Smaller the fuse, the safer. [/quote] As far as overheating accidents are concerned, the smaller the fuse the smaller the current certainly, but safer? Perhaps, though 700W can easily cause a fire. So what's your feeling about having 30/32A fuses in your consumer unit when I'd bet you only ever draw a small fraction of that from each circuit. I'd also bet that your lighting circuits draw far less than the 5A allowed by the fuse/MCB in your consumer unit. You're right, the possibilities are endless, which is why there is no totally safe protection mechanism and why accidents continue to happen.

Some people are too eager to be offended. A polite 'no thanks' is all that's needed.

[quote name='BILL POSTERS' timestamp='1354654703' post='1888870'] Just being pedantic, and I could be wrong, I'm sure there are those on here who will know better. But I believe USA mains is 220V, but put simply, its split in the middle, ie 110. 0. 110. Sockets and portable appliances work as 110v, but larger fixed, high current things, like cookers and water heaters are connected across the two and are 220V. Otherwise you'd need cables an inch thick to feed the average house. [/quote] Pretty much this, though the precise numbers are nominal because there's a pretty wide tolerance on the mains supply (in all countries). For example, UK mains used to be 240V and mainland Europe was 220V. Then the EU harmonised everything to 230V. But in practice, nothing was actually changed except the stated tolerances within each country. So the UK's 240V mains became 230V -6% to +10% and Europe's 220V became 230V -10% to +6%, meaning that what came out of the wall sockets was still the original 220V or 240V but it was now within the newly harmonised 230V tolerances. A marvellous bit of bureacracy that changed nothing. Equipment manufacturers didn't care either because they had long been designing their stuff to work off anything from 220V to 240 V anyway - indeed, modern PSUs generally work from around 90V to 260V, which makes life much easier for manufacturers selling stuff globally. Actually, it's not quite true that nothing has changed because electrical transmission is gradually changing to be actually 230V as they upgrade or replace the network transformers and thus change them from 220 or 240 to 230V, but none of it makes any practical difference as far as what we plug into our wall sockets, it's all invisible housekeeping really. [quote name='BILL POSTERS' timestamp='1354654703' post='1888870'] btw, the plug fuse isnt there to protect the equipment, its there to protect both the cable, and you from the consequences of it getting damaged and/or overheating. [/quote] That's a bit more contentious, I'd say. A fuse will offer no practical protection against a damaged cable exposing someone to bare wires and thus a serious shock hazard. The resistance of the human body varies a lot depending on skin condition etc and the current that would flow during an electric shock situation will also vary a lot depending on the nature of contact with the wires, but suffice to say that even a 1 amp fuse would be highly unlikely to blow if you were the only thing connected across the mains and even if it did it would probably be too late because, unfortunately, it can take far, far less than this to cause death. I would never rely on a fuse as a form of electric shock protection.

[quote name='lurksalot' timestamp='1354654652' post='1888867'] Consequential damages were always argued away contractually , and to a degree still hold up , but if they have a faulty product that gets through and cause injury or damage that can be proved it is a different story [/quote] I agree in principle, but it's a very big 'if', especially when you can show the court all your quality system documentation and the test certificates from independent test houses etc etc. Sure, sh1t can still happen, but proving negligence against such a background will be a very difficult, time-consuming and costly business . . . which is probably why product liability insurance isn't really all that expensive to buy in the first place.