Kevin Bresnahan

Classics' DAD discs are 24 bit 96 kHz stereo. Any modern DVD player should play it fine (early players didn't have the 24/96 processor). Sound? Well, I have "Roll Call", Adderley's "Something Else", Donaldson's "Lou Takes Off", Clark's "Cool Struttin'" and Art Davis' "Time Remembered" and all sound fine. However, they aren't in the "WOW" catagory like some of my SACDs or DVD-Audio discs. In fact, I would almost say that I like the regular TOCJ version of "Roll Call" better than the DAD. The DAD is a bit bright. Since Blakey's already recorded "hot" on this date, brightening his cymble work doesn't improve the sound. Kevin

I always recommend Chateau Ste. Michelle's Cabernet Sauvignon when asked for a good cheap red. Another excellent one, that may be just above $15, is Beaulieu Vineyards' Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon. However, to get better red wines at this price point, I think you should look at the Australian Shirazes. Rosemount is a great bargain at around $12. I personally favor one called Woop Woop ($10), but it's gotten good reviews and subsequently been tougher to find. Avoid Greg Norman's stuff. Not because it's bad, but because it's too expensive. It ain't worth what they're charging for it around here, which is around $20. Another great Shiraz is called Parenga but you're unlikely to find it... it has a strong little following (mostly because it's around $9/bottle). I have friends that swear by Yellowtail Shiraz but I thought it was wimpy. YMMV. Kevin

I used to have an LP of Def Leppard's "Hysteria" that clocked in at around 62 minutes and I remember when it was issued that they had a tough time fitting it all onto one LP. If my memory serves, the grooves went so far into the vinyl that one of my record players picked up the needle before the record was done. Later, Kevin

As I said recently when someone posted a recent picture of Brigitte on the Jazz Corner board: I hope my wife looks as good as Brigitte Bardot does when she is 69! You guys are in for a rude awakening if you think your significant other is gonna look like a fox for the rest of your life! Hell, I don't even look that great and I'm only 41. BTW, she looks a hell of a lot better today than Charlton Heston does! Later, Kevin

It wasn't too long ago, before this was reissued, that someone paid over $300 on ebay for this one. Pays to be patient sometimes. The older version of the CD of "Straight No Filter" is sequenced very differently from the one in print today. Because of that, it still has collectibility and does still go for over $50 on ebay (when one does show up... it is pretty rare).

Who told you it couldn't be cleaned? If it was an authorized NAD service center ir even a service center with extensive NAD experience, you may be out of luck. If the volume potentiometer is sealed, you may have to buy a new one. This could be expensive but should be much less than a new unit. If I were you, I'd open the thing up and look at the trouble spots. If you can see the potentiometers, simply stop into your local Radio Shack and pick of a can of contact cleaner. Spray the heck out of the back of the volume knob while rotating it. You may have to do it several times. It might be enough. If some of the spray drips onto the circuit board, don't worry, it will evaporate, but look to see if any junk is floating in it. NOTE: Let it dry for a bit before turning it back on. Kevin

You bastids.... $172... the wife is steamin' but she knows I can't pass up a Mosaic that's going oop.

Verizon DSL has been great for me. Up time is awesome. Speed is almost always 720 kB/s. A friend of mine who lives closer to town gets twice that but they only guarantee 720. Unlike cable, it is a dedicated line so it should never slow down. I agree with you on the MSN crap... but you don't have to install it to get on line with Verizon. Just follow the installation instructions and quit out when you get to the "Install MSN" prompt. That's what I do and I've done about 3 of these installs in the last 6 months. BTW, if you have Windows XP, you can pretty much plug in the modem, connect the ethernet cable and "bam!" you're on-line. The "installation" kit from Verizon is pretty much a "stupid-proof" package. Most slightly advanced PC users could do it without the prompts. Kevin

I grew up in the 70's. Aerosmith's "Toys in the Attic" and "Rocks" were part of everyone's LP stack. Everybody was digging Aerosmith back then. "Walk This Way" was fun, raucous and loud, just how us young 'uns liked our music. "Big Ten Inch" was raunchy and loud and even managed to get a song about blow jobs onto the radio, which was loved even more. You know not of which you speak. Kevin

What about that 2nd half of 'Back from the Gig'? Nah, not criminal... That's just a misdemeanor because the song titles all suck.

You'll have to let us know what you think of this one... I did an A/B with my TOCJ CD and the JRVG didn't come out too good. Others have said it was fine. I traded in the JRVG. Absolutely criminal that this session hasn't been reissued here in the states yet. What a great album!

I wanted the blues but pretty much got Aerosmith... not that there's anything wrong with that. Still, it is one of the best dates these guys have done in a while. Just don't go buying it thinking you're getting Robert Johnson. ... And speaking of Robert Johnson, has anyone picked up the new Eric Clapton CD? It's called "Me and Mr. Johnson". Now that could be good. Kevin

American Digital has cases without trays for $.12 each (when you buy 200). Seriously, they're only $.19 each for 50 so they are one of the cheapest places around.

I think the 2 CD JRVG of Clark's trio material is one of the best-sounding CD remasters I own. It is still listed as "available" at Red Trumpet for $35.99, which is a very good price for a 2 CD JRVG... well worth it for any Sonny Clark fan. I paid a lot more and I still think it was worth it. As for the Steve Hoffman remaster of the Time session, if you think the CD layer sounds good, wait 'til you get a chance to hear the SACD layer. What a gorgeous remaster. Later, Kevin EDIT: Red Trumpet is having a sale and you could get this 2 CD set for $31.99 right now! What a steal.

You still better run a virus scan... most viruses hide themselves from system restore. It may still be resident just waiting to do its evil. You might also want to run an AdAware scan. It could have been spyware that hosed everything up.

Actually, now that I think of it, it's not entirely true that the high-rez audio is only available through the analog outputs. On both the Pioneer Elite DV-47Ai and the DV49-AVi, there is an IEEE1394 output (which they call i-Link) that will output the high-rez audio digitally. However, it can only be "read" by a Pioneer receiver with IEEE1394 input and can only be decoded there. I just don't see the benefit to this... why would the receiver have better D/A converters than my player? In fact, my player might have even better converters than some of the receivers! Later, Kevin

I was under the impression that this was industry-wide. The analog-only for hi-rez audio was a demand that the content owners demanded of the hardware manufacturers in order to get the hi-rez audio format moving. If I'm wrong I'd love to see some specs that specifically say that hi-rez audio is available through a digital input. I'm not sure what you're asking here or maybe I just said it wrong... the PITA with forcing the multi-channel audio out of the analog outputs is that my Denon receiver can only automatically switch on digital inputs. This means that if I pop a DVD movie into my Pioneer DV-45A and my Denon is set to "Digital in", it automatically selects the audio surround mode. When I pop a multi-channel audio disc in the same machine, it shuts off the digital so my receiver sits there fat, dumb & happy with nothing coming out of the speakers. I have to go up to the receiver to switch it to the analog inputs... although there may be a button on the remote as well. The remote on this Denon receiver is a nightmare. Later, Kevin

Aye, there's the rub! Dye is everything. Everything. It has to be able to be burned with a low power laser. It also has to stay opaque forever (if it becomes translucent with time, it won't block the readback laser). Finding the right chemical composition that does this best is what is being fought out in the CD-R industry. I am not a chemist, but I believe the dye that seems to hold out best over time is PhthaloCyanine. It is clear to the eye. The main competitor is Cyanine, which is blue in color. I usually look for "clear dye" CD-Rs because I have read that PhthaloCyanine lasts longer. Of course, the maker of CD-Rs with Cyanine dye will claim there's is better. Who's right? Time will tell. Later, Kevin PS. the dyes used in CD-Rs are listed here.

Brandon, you've made an erroneous assumption here... there is no "burning metal" while making a CD-R. The only thing burned is the dye. A CD-R is made the exact same way as a regular CD except that the metal layer is perfectly flat and not all pitted like a manufactured CD. After plating, the metal layer is coated, also just like a regular CD... identical in process, in fact. After they make this "blank CD", they spray on the dye and then add another protective coating. If you look at a CD-R under a microsope (at an angle or else the light could reflect back), you might get an idea. As I said, the only thing that "burns" during the CD-R burning process is the dye. The laser in a CD burner is far too weak to do any harm to the metal. CD-RW is an entirely different beast. This "burn" is actually mutating the metal. CD-RWs are made with a special metal layer. This metal is affected by both temperature and magnetic fields. When you "burn" a 1 into a CD-RW, it is done by magnetically modifying the metal while the laser hits it. This causes a very, very slight disruption of the metal but just enough that the readback laser (lower power BTW) does not read a fully reflected light reading. This makes playback of CD-RWs a bit more tricky. The player must be able to discriminate between a weak '0' (because the CD-RW metal has a low reflectivity to begin with) and a '1' that is very close to a '0' in light power. In essence, the laser fires at the disc and reads the reflections. If it hits a "distorted" area, it gets less reflected power. It is hits a "flat" area, it gets back as much as that metal can reflect. There is no dye in a CD-RW. Later, Kevin

I looked long and hard at the Denon 2900 & 5400 this past November as my work gets a huge discount on Denon gear. I already had the Pioneer DV-45A and thought maybe one of these would be a step up, particularly the 5400 as it has a DVI output. During my research, I found that a lot of people were going through the same comparison. Many were choosing the Pioneer because the transport is world-class... bulletproof is the word used a lot. Others chose the Denon because it does come out "on top" in the video department, however, I love the picture on my Pioneer unit so this was less important. There are also a lot of problems with both Denons with respect to being truly "universal". They seem to gack on some SACD hybrids and mess up during playback on others. There's a whole slew of problems with the 5400 with the biggest one being that the firmware bunged up the DVI output... the whole reason I was looking at it in the first place! If I were looking for a new universal player, I would look long & hard at the Pioneer Elite DV59-AVi. This is Pioneer's latest universal player and it has a DVI output. Since Pioneer "lost" on the bench in the video shootout with the DV-45A and DV-47Ai (models), they will surely have worked on that aspect and I bet they improved. As for the sound, I love my Pioneer DV-45A, especially in the high-rez modes. Add to that this is the best CD player I've ever owned and I think I made the right decision when I chose to stay put. BTW, I did use my Denon discount to buy a Denon AVR-3803. Musically, it is a marvel and I think I made a wise choice in this regard. However, I am not all that in love with it's "auto mode" as a home theater box. I have to punch way too many buttons to switch between sources and modes with the biggest PITA being the fact that multi-channel high-rez audio will only work with analog inputs. In fact, if I could, I would swap it with an NAD T753, available on-line at Yawa, if someone wanted to take me up on it. In fact, I'd probably even consider a refurbished NAD T762. The NAD receivers look a lot "simpler" in design. The only fault I've read about is that the cooling fan is supposed to be pretty loud. If you want to go surround for audio, I can give you some advice: Don't do what I just did. I tried going the home theater route but I upgraded the rear speakers by picking up a pair of B&W 600 S3 bookshelf speakers. They are too weak back there when I play music. OK, but weak. Of course, having them mounted 6 feet up the wall doesn't help. In audio surround, there is full range music coming out of all 5 speakers. Buy 5 full range speakers and you'll be much better off. If money was no object, I'd get 5 B&W 604 S3 speakers. Bliss. Later, Kevin

You missed the point about CD-Rs in the article you posted... CD-R longevity has a lot more to do with the dye than the reflective material. Gold vs. silver is more for the CD-ROM application. When buying CD-Rs, it's the dye that's important not whether it's gold or aluminum. Both metals have very high reflectivity and both will last as long as the lacquer (label-side coating) does. BTW, when applying any longevity equations to CDs or CD-Rs, it should be noted that audio is much more forgiving to errors than data. Therefore, applications, saved documents, etc., where the ones and zeroes are unscrambled to form commands and words are much less likely to survive as long a musical performance since digital audio has better error correction.

Louder can be bad. Check out: The Death of Dynamic Range (which sadly has stripped the illuminating graphics) as well as the discussion here: CUbase.net - Pay particular attention to the post from Studio22. I don't think I've ever seen the problems summarized so well. FWIW, I have loaded several tunes from RVGs as well as current Ron McMaster CDs into a waveform analyzer and they don't appear to be heavily clipped. However, RVG may be playing the EQ game to allow him to pump of the level.

Jim, As my last post here for a while (which will probably generate a big "hooray" from your band of sycophants), I'd like to give you a hearty FUCK YOU. You're an asshole for what you've said to me here on this thread. I did nothing to deserve this "non-musician" crap. I wasn't a musician when I made all those calls to Blue Note to get your posting rights turned back on... I wasn't a musician when I posted all that upcoming release information... and I'm not a musician now. I'm just a regular Jazz fan, like a majority of the people you're typing to. You can back off all you want and "qualify" your feelings on non-musicians, but the fact is, us non-musicians saw it and we now know your true feelings about us. I can only imagine what is in your personal make up for you to take this angle of attack on me and I can only wonder if there isn't some deep seated jealousy over something I can do that you can't.

Jim, you might not have personally helped to close that board but some posters did. I am not lumping everyone in on this. I look in the mirror and feel comfortable that I didn't post anything that caused Blue Note embarassment. Many others can feel the same. I just hate to see people like Jim Sangrey who act all righteous about the closure of that board like it was all Blue Note's fault. I couldn't disagree more. A lot of things combined to shut down that board. It might have been as simple as showing "approval" to some of the more outrageous behaviour. It might have been Aric's gangbang nuttiness. It might have been the "I'll burn it for you" posts or maybe the people who started posting anonymously to stir things up. Maybe it was a combination of all of the above. All I know is that one day I was talking to Blue Note, trying to get them to clean it up and I was told that some corporate weenies went there, saw a fetid cesspool (in their eyes), and the axe fell. I am still not happy about it. I miss the conversations we had... even with Tom Evered. In a way, I suppose I grudgingly agree that they should have shut it down to stop the insanity. However, I truly thought they were going to re-open that place. It saddens me that people here who used to go there can't see the European BN board as an opprotunity to continue to chat together and (maybe) get some corporate feedback. And yes, I mean in addition to organissimo. We can't have too many Jazz places. Later, Kevin

"Fucking ninny" and "nothing personal" in the same post? You see anything wrong with that? In your eyes, I'm not "close" to the music because I don't play? That's bullshit. Interesting to see you fall into this mindset... I would have guessed you thought better of us non-musicians, especially since you hang at this board which is comprised of about 95% non-musicians. So, qualifying your post with "Kevin and only Kevin" does nothing from preventing all the readers who aren't musicians (GASP!) from seeing it as a slam on them. Look at the post from our perspective and see how we see it. BTW, I've seen this attitude before on the 'Net... worst case being Bob Brookmeyer. I have always thought less of the musicians who think this way and it knocks you waaaaaay down my credibility list (like you care that some low-life non-musician feels). It's nice to know you think so highly of us peons. Just so we're even, I happen to think that your ability to play Jazz means squat when it comes to judging people so we can be even in our disdain for each other's "judgement". The way I see it, you don't like like it that I happened to think you were a jerk for pandering to Aric in this Norah Jones thread? Oh well, that's just the way this non-musician saw it. Others saw it that way too. We just have to continue to disagree on it. Just don't go blaming some corporate entity for shutting down a public forum with their name on it. Blame yourself for your attitude. Later, Kevin