Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

explorerx4 · July 2020

Pretty funny, yesterday I realized I had not finished reading Mr Majestyk, so I downloaded it to my new kindle.
Now on YouTube, clips of the movie keep popping up.

oldfarmer50 · July 2020

abacomike said:
Well, the 5:00 PM update predicts a category 1 hurricane as it moves northwest through the Bahamas and the east coast of Florida. It's expected to arrive here Saturday. Here we go again.🤓

Should I ship you a jumbo pack of TP to tide you over?😢

benjaminh · July 2020

abacomike said:
Well, the 5:00 PM update predicts a category 1 hurricane as it moves northwest through the Bahamas and the east coast of Florida. It's expected to arrive here Saturday. Here we go again.🤓

Hang on. Best wishes.

abacomike · July 2020

oldfarmer50 said:

abacomike said:
Well, the 5:00 PM update predicts a category 1 hurricane as it moves northwest through the Bahamas and the east coast of Florida. It's expected to arrive here Saturday. Here we go again.🤓
Should I ship you a jumbo pack of TP to tide you over?😢

YES!!!🤪😜🤓

ronsteve · July 2020

dino001 said:
Take care of yourself, Mike. I'm not worried for Tampa, I think by then it should weaken as long as it goes over land.

Tampa is a very difficult place to get a direct hit, especially in this part of the season. But still...

Pay attention to NHC. Pay attention to your local NWS office. Pay attention to your local emergency managers. They all have the safety of your community at heart.

dino001 · July 2020

I look at it regularly. Thanks.

Update: just looked it up, the path moved east, with these trends it soon may turn out it won’t even touch Florida in a meaning way. July/August Caribbean storms very often always end up more east then originally predicted.

imidazol97 · July 2020

abacomike said:
Well, the 5:00 PM update predicts a category 1 hurricane as it moves northwest through the Bahamas and the east coast of Florida. It's expected to arrive here Saturday. Here we go again.🤓

When will you decide if you're driving north to your brother's to weather the storm?

abacomike · July 2020

imidazol97 said:

abacomike said:
Well, the 5:00 PM update predicts a category 1 hurricane as it moves northwest through the Bahamas and the east coast of Florida. It's expected to arrive here Saturday. Here we go again.🤓
When will you decide if you're driving north to your brother's to weather the storm?

From all indications right now, I will stay here because 75 mph winds will not cause too much damage. Electricity is the main concern, as always. When the electric cuts off, the water will be cut as well. If I lose electricity, I am a cooked goose.

If the storm strengthens in the next 24 hours and the track moves west, I will go up to my brother's house.

abacomike · July 2020

I am watching the Mets/Red Sox game on TV and am amazed at the special effects they use during the broadcast.

Firstly, they pipe in stadium noise which is obviously recorded. Secondly, on foul balls, they show animated fans standing. Great effects.

imidazol97 · July 2020

I was quick to comment when I had to phone SiriusXM to try to renew my 5 month trial combo and got various selling and stalling strategies before I was able to renew at the $5/mo with Travelink added.

I called last week. I had seen ads for 12 months at $5 per month in missives about the XM in my son's Cruze. He doesn't want it so it was never renewed. When I logged onto the computer earlier to see what came up from the email I got about my car, the 12/5 was offered. When I called, it was offered on the phone call with an automated renewal for that rate for Select plan.

When I got to the live person and said I wanted the 12 for 5 but I wanted to add Travelink--did they have a plan for it along with the 12 months. He said "Great." When he had started he said he wasn't going to waste my time. An interesting comment that they intended to quickly try to please the caller with a plan rather than diddle with various offers.

A few minutes later I now have the 12 month plan some posters here had gotten AND I have my silly ability to push a button and see the gas station prices nearby on the screen. The phone I have doesn't show gas buddy very well (Daytongasprices.com). The prices always are tiny and reading them while driving is dangerous.

So Hip Hip Hooray for SiriusXM.

Next, the post office.

imidazol97 · July 2020

Post office turned off the informed delivery notices for my box. It happened around the time I think my son signed up for informed delivery. Friday I figured it out and asked the site manager. Today I went back because the changes he had done Monday still didn't let me sign up again for the PO Box notices. Still not available to have notices. He checked again. Entered my DL number and he commented there was a different ID showing on the screen where he had to go to do this somewhere in the depths of the building... He deleted that.

Something got criss-crossed with my account. The system had decided my box was a business box rather than for personal use and therefore doesn't deserve informed delivery notices to my email.

But I think it's getting fixed. Both the local postmaster or manager and the tech person by phone I talked to on Friday actually took ownership and tried to help.

imidazol97 · July 2020

abacomike said:

imidazol97 said:

abacomike said:
Well, the 5:00 PM update predicts a category 1 hurricane as it moves northwest through the Bahamas and the east coast of Florida. It's expected to arrive here Saturday. Here we go again.🤓
When will you decide if you're driving north to your brother's to weather the storm?
From all indications right now, I will stay here because 75 mph winds will not cause too much damage. Electricity is the main concern, as always. When the electric cuts off, the water will be cut as well. If I lose electricity, I am a cooked goose.

If the storm strengthens in the next 24 hours and the track moves west, I will go up to my brother's house.

I see the West Palm Beach Post has the eye staying out to sea in the center of the cone of likely travel.

I recall in the past you filled the bathtub with water because you lose water pressure with no electricity.

Hope this one stays off shore.

snakeweasel · July 2020

explorerx4 said:
I don't think Canada has a metropolitan area that can compare population-wise to the NYC area.

Correct me if I am wrong but isn't Toronto the largest metro area in Canada an if it were in the U.S. it would be the 6th largest. I do think that the New York metro area has about half the population of the whole of Canada.

snakeweasel · July 2020

abacomike said:
I am watching the Mets/Red Sox game on TV and am amazed at the special effects they use during the broadcast.

Firstly, they pipe in stadium noise which is obviously recorded. Secondly, on foul balls, they show animated fans standing. Great effects.

My God that is one step away from a Black Mirror dystopia.

oldfarmer50 · July 2020

abacomike said:
Well, the 5:00 PM update predicts a category 1 hurricane as it moves northwest through the Bahamas and the east coast of Florida. It's expected to arrive here Saturday. Here we go again.🤓

Should I ship you a jumbo pack of TP to tide you over?😢

abacomike said:

imidazol97 said:

abacomike said:
Well, the 5:00 PM update predicts a category 1 hurricane as it moves northwest through the Bahamas and the east coast of Florida. It's expected to arrive here Saturday. Here we go again.🤓
When will you decide if you're driving north to your brother's to weather the storm?
From all indications right now, I will stay here because 75 mph winds will not cause too much damage. Electricity is the main concern, as always. When the electric cuts off, the water will be cut as well. If I lose electricity, I am a cooked goose.

If the storm strengthens in the next 24 hours and the track moves west, I will go up to my brother's house.

Fill up the tub so you have water to flush the toilet. Fill up some jugs of water and freeze them. They’ll keep your food fresh for days.

cdnpinhead · July 2020

Self-reliance and solutions. I'll leave it at that. Those are excellent suggestions.

venture · July 2020

Stop/Start

In two hours of sitting still not doing anything time, I saved a gallon of gas.

Now to figure out what to do with that $2.50.

stickguy · July 2020

I really thought I was going to sell my wife on the Outback, until she discovered the auto stop function was not easy to defeat. After that, I was toast.

driver100 · July 2020

explorerx4 said:
@driver100,
Nursing home issue is the same here. CT had very high per capita numbers for a long time.
Sometimes higher than NY or NJ.
There are a lot of people in the great NYC area, say half of Canada's population but not spread out coast to coast..

True,,,,,,,,but NYC is doing fine now........numbers are spiking in a lot of other states. Canada's numbers have been declining, but could go up as restaurants and bars start to open...that is expected...but it has to be done. My guess is the big difference was starting social distancing and masks much earlier...one or two weeks at the beginning can make a big difference.

driver100 · July 2020

snakeweasel said:

explorerx4 said:
I don't think Canada has a metropolitan area that can compare population-wise to the NYC area.
Correct me if I am wrong but isn't Toronto the largest metro area in Canada an if it were in the U.S. it would be the 6th largest. I do think that the New York metro area has about half the population of the whole of Canada.

Sounds about right. Large cities can mean something...but, there are smaller cities in the U.S. that are also spiking. Density is a major factor, but there are other factors.....a big one is whether people distance and wear masks. It doesn't spread, if people aren't exposed to it.

driver100 · July 2020

venture said:
Stop/Start

In two hours of sitting still not doing anything time, I saved a gallon of gas.
Now to figure out what to do with that $2.50.

I'd rather spend $2.50 and not have the engine shut off and start up again.

stickguy · July 2020

same here. I wonder how many months it took to get to 2 hours idle?

abacomike · July 2020

driver100 said:

venture said:
Stop/Start

In two hours of sitting still not doing anything time, I saved a gallon of gas.
Now to figure out what to do with that $2.50.
I'd rather spend $2.50 and not have the engine shut off and start up again.

In the Mercedes, there is a button on the console that, when depressed, disables the auto stop/start function. When I am in traffic, I always disable that function.

stickguy · July 2020

SUbaru makes you go through about 3 menus on the touch screen to get to that button.

sda · July 2020

Does the ac work when autostop is active and the engine has paused? When I had a 2020 Q5 loaner while our Q5 was in for service I was startled the first time autostop functioned. I quickly figured out what I was experiencing and turned it off.

snakeweasel · July 2020

driver100 said:

snakeweasel said:

explorerx4 said:
I don't think Canada has a metropolitan area that can compare population-wise to the NYC area.
Correct me if I am wrong but isn't Toronto the largest metro area in Canada an if it were in the U.S. it would be the 6th largest. I do think that the New York metro area has about half the population of the whole of Canada.
Sounds about right. Large cities can mean something...but, there are smaller cities in the U.S. that are also spiking. Density is a major factor, but there are other factors.....a big one is whether people distance and wear masks. It doesn't spread, if people aren't exposed to it.

Also remember that the U.S. has 9 times the population density of Canada.

roadburner · July 2020

graphicguy said:

qbrozen said:

graphicguy said:
Went to a retirement get-together for a friend at Wright Patterson Airforce Base yesterday. He just put in 40 years working for Uncle Sam. God Bless him as that’s not something I could have pulled off. Still, he’s retiring, taking some time off (supposed to be taking around the globe cruise, but COVID-19.........). So, a group of us threw a little party at the base. For the first time in his career, he accepted our catering and gifts. Previously, he would not, did not, accept so much as a free cup of coffee, adhering to the rules of what he could/could not do as a military employee. This time, he welcomed all of it.

While I was in Dayton, I got the chance to go to an audio swap meet. Loaded those Magnepan LRSs in the back of the Stinger and tried to “swap”. Most if what I saw was trashed audio products...a lot of mini-disk players (which weren’t popular even at the peak of marketing them). Found some crazy speakers. EOSONE speakers, which was Best Buy’s high end house brand at one point in time). Luxman stereo receivers, which I didn’t even know they made.

Some Klipsch Heresy 3 way horn speakers caught my eye since the wood working on them was exceptional. They were new, being sold by a dealer, but apparently not a color the person who had them could sell.......matte black (with nice open pore wood grain). We went back and forth for a while. Since he’s not a Magnepan Dealer, he said he didn’t know if he could resell them. I pointed out that NOT being a dealer and having them in his inventory would bring in new customers that he may not see.

Hooked them up....MERCY. I forgot how good a well designed speaker could sound. Big soundstage. Just a big sound all the way around, in a good way. I’d have to throw yet more money at them to make a deal. But, I told him mine were for sale at $275 ($25 more than I paid, but still a really good deal). I told him to to come up with a number for his Klipsch. He’s supposed to get back to me today.
So he was at a swap meet trying to sell these speakers but didn’t have a number for them??
I should have been better in my description. I first struck up a conversation with one of the dealers. He had a brick and mortar store nearby, which is where I heard his Klipsch.

He threw out a number which I wasn’t interested. He wants to check how much he has in his speakers, which he said he didn’t know off the top of his head.

He could probably make $200-$250 on my speakers. Not sure he’s interested in having speakers he can only make a couple hundred dollars on.

I spent a lot of time looking for speakers when I set up my first decent system in 1990; I finally listened to the Klipsch KG4 at a mom-and-pop store in Louisville. The owner let me take the floor models home and listen to them in my house to make sure I liked them. At that time Klipsch built speakers to order, so when I called the owner and said I wanted a pair he let me pick out the finish I wanted and let me keep the demos until the pair I ordered arrived. The KG4s powered by the Carver receiver and using a Rotel RCD-855 CD player as the source sounded very impressive.

stickguy · July 2020

sda said:
Does the ac work when autostop is active and the engine has paused? When I had a 2020 Q5 loaner while our Q5 was in for service I was startled the first time autostop functioned. I quickly figured out what I was experiencing and turned it off.

yes, the AC keeps blowing for a while. eventually if it runs low the engine will kick back on. I really don't like having all that running just off the battery.

venture · July 2020

stickguy said:
same here. I wonder how many months it took to get to 2 hours idle?

Not as long as you would think. I bought the car May 19th. Two (or 3, I forget) pushes on the touch screen to shut it off. I would assume it would become automatic if you did it all the time.

I wonder why people find it so objectionable?

venture · July 2020

sda said:
Does the ac work when autostop is active and the engine has paused? When I had a 2020 Q5 loaner while our Q5 was in for service I was startled the first time autostop functioned. I quickly figured out what I was experiencing and turned it off.

When it starts to get warm the car will start up again.

driver100 · July 2020

abacomike said:

driver100 said:

venture said:
Stop/Start

In two hours of sitting still not doing anything time, I saved a gallon of gas.
Now to figure out what to do with that $2.50.
I'd rather spend $2.50 and not have the engine shut off and start up again.

In the Mercedes, there is a button on the console that, when depressed, disables the auto stop/start function. When I am in traffic, I always disable that function.

I disable it immediately after starting and putting it in drive. I may put it on if I see there is a long train crossing ahead.

driver100 · July 2020

snakeweasel said:

driver100 said:

snakeweasel said:

explorerx4 said:
I don't think Canada has a metropolitan area that can compare population-wise to the NYC area.
Correct me if I am wrong but isn't Toronto the largest metro area in Canada an if it were in the U.S. it would be the 6th largest. I do think that the New York metro area has about half the population of the whole of Canada.
Sounds about right. Large cities can mean something...but, there are smaller cities in the U.S. that are also spiking. Density is a major factor, but there are other factors.....a big one is whether people distance and wear masks. It doesn't spread, if people aren't exposed to it.
Also remember that the U.S. has 9 times the population density of Canada.

Density is a factor....but other countries are more or less denser than the U.S. and other factors are more important....especially distancing and masks. Hong Kong is pretty dense!

abacomike · July 2020

sda said:
Does the ac work when autostop is active and the engine has paused? When I had a 2020 Q5 loaner while our Q5 was in for service I was startled the first time autostop functioned. I quickly figured out what I was experiencing and turned it off.

No! The AC (compressor) pauses during the "engine off" cycle but the fan continues to operate. When temps rise sufficiently inside car, engine starts to activate the compressor.

abacomike · July 2020

That storm became a hurricane overnight - much sooner than they predicted. Now it is forecast to become a category 2 hurricane as it approaches the Florida coast. We are forecast to get tropical storm winds as it skirts by us - 60+ mph.

They sure blew that prediction of it remaining a tropical storm until late tonight.

Let's hope they didn't blow the prediction that it merely skirts the Florida coast and moves west to hit us head on.

Going to fill the bathtub tonight so I have water for flushing the toilet in case we lose power. At least this hurricane is moving quickly and won't affect us for days.

explorerx4 · July 2020

I look at stop/start as saving gas while doing something I am doing anyway.

driver100 · July 2020

explorerx4 said:
I look at stop/start as saving gas while doing something I am doing anyway.

What if it is like a light bulb or TV, and every surge of power cuts down on the overall life of the engine? Just a hunch, it is easier on the engine if it keeps running....than being turned off and on....just a layperson's opinion.

ab348 · July 2020

abacomike said:
That storm became a hurricane overnight - much sooner than they predicted. Now it is forecast to become a category 2 hurricane as it approaches the Florida coast. We are forecast to get tropical storm winds as it skirts by us - 60+ mph.

They sure blew that prediction of it remaining a tropical storm until late tonight.

Let's hope they didn't blow the prediction that it merely skirts the Florida coast and moves west to hit us head on.

Nobody knows nothin' when it comes to these things. I think weather forecasts use a Ouija board these days.

Remind me again why you need to fill the bathtub? I could understand if you were on a well, but don't you have municipal water?

driver100 · July 2020

ab348 said:

abacomike said:
That storm became a hurricane overnight - much sooner than they predicted. Now it is forecast to become a category 2 hurricane as it approaches the Florida coast. We are forecast to get tropical storm winds as it skirts by us - 60+ mph.

They sure blew that prediction of it remaining a tropical storm until late tonight.

Let's hope they didn't blow the prediction that it merely skirts the Florida coast and moves west to hit us head on.
Nobody knows nothin' when it comes to these things. I think weather forecasts use a Ouija board these days.

Remind me again why you need to fill the bathtub? I could understand if you were on a well, but don't you have municipal water?

1) I like how these days they give you a percentage for chance of say rain. That way they can never be wrong. There is a 20% chance of rain, looks good, odds are good it won't rain....but, it does rain. They will say you were in the 20% area!
2) I think if electricity goes off pumps may not work. My brother stocks up on water - during the big blackout he found toilets didn't fill up. He also keeps his car at least half full of gas....since pumps didn't work too.

snakeweasel · July 2020

driver100 said:

abacomike said:

driver100 said:

venture said:
Stop/Start

In two hours of sitting still not doing anything time, I saved a gallon of gas.
Now to figure out what to do with that $2.50.
I'd rather spend $2.50 and not have the engine shut off and start up again.

In the Mercedes, there is a button on the console that, when depressed, disables the auto stop/start function. When I am in traffic, I always disable that function.
I disable it immediately after starting and putting it in drive. I may put it on if I see there is a long train crossing ahead.

With the BMW unless the car is in the economy mode once it's turned off it stays off unless you turn it back on. So there is no need to turn it off once you start the car.

oldfarmer50 · July 2020

venture said:
Stop/Start

In two hours of sitting still not doing anything time, I saved a gallon of gas.

Now to figure out what to do with that $2.50.

Why were you sitting doing nothing for two hours?

As to what to do with the money, put it in a jar to save up for the starter that burns out from overuse.

oldfarmer50 · July 2020

driver100 said:

snakeweasel said:

explorerx4 said:
I don't think Canada has a metropolitan area that can compare population-wise to the NYC area.
Correct me if I am wrong but isn't Toronto the largest metro area in Canada an if it were in the U.S. it would be the 6th largest. I do think that the New York metro area has about half the population of the whole of Canada.
Sounds about right. Large cities can mean something...but, there are smaller cities in the U.S. that are also spiking. Density is a major factor, but there are other factors.....a big one is whether people distance and wear masks. It doesn't spread, if people aren't exposed to it.

Upstate NY has had relatively low infection rates except for the capital where buses of lobbyists from NYC came to town in March.

snakeweasel · July 2020

driver100 said:

ab348 said:

abacomike said:
That storm became a hurricane overnight - much sooner than they predicted. Now it is forecast to become a category 2 hurricane as it approaches the Florida coast. We are forecast to get tropical storm winds as it skirts by us - 60+ mph.

They sure blew that prediction of it remaining a tropical storm until late tonight.

Let's hope they didn't blow the prediction that it merely skirts the Florida coast and moves west to hit us head on.
Nobody knows nothin' when it comes to these things. I think weather forecasts use a Ouija board these days.

Remind me again why you need to fill the bathtub? I could understand if you were on a well, but don't you have municipal water?
1) I like how these days they give you a percentage for chance of say rain. That way they can never be wrong. There is a 20% chance of rain, looks good, odds are good it won't rain....but, it does rain. They will say you were in the 20% area!
2) I think if electricity goes off pumps may not work. My brother stocks up on water - during the big blackout he found toilets didn't fill up. He also keeps his car at least half full of gas....since pumps didn't work too.

About the 20% chance of rain, look at it this way if there are 5 Edmunds posters standing on a street corner one of them will get wet.

snakeweasel · July 2020

oldfarmer50 said:

venture said:
Stop/Start

In two hours of sitting still not doing anything time, I saved a gallon of gas.

Now to figure out what to do with that $2.50.
Why were you sitting doing nothing for two hours?

As to what to do with the money, put it in a jar to save up for the starter that burns out from overuse.

maybe he was sitting there getting caught up on these, sometimes long, Edmund's post.

tjc78 · July 2020

driver100 said:

abacomike said:

driver100 said:

venture said:
Stop/Start

In two hours of sitting still not doing anything time, I saved a gallon of gas.
Now to figure out what to do with that $2.50.
I'd rather spend $2.50 and not have the engine shut off and start up again.

In the Mercedes, there is a button on the console that, when depressed, disables the auto stop/start function. When I am in traffic, I always disable that function.
I disable it immediately after starting and putting it in drive. I may put it on if I see there is a long train crossing ahead.

Thank goodness that if you disable it in my Volvo it stays off.

I can’t stand it!

oldfarmer50 · July 2020

ab348 said:

abacomike said:
That storm became a hurricane overnight - much sooner than they predicted. Now it is forecast to become a category 2 hurricane as it approaches the Florida coast. We are forecast to get tropical storm winds as it skirts by us - 60+ mph.

They sure blew that prediction of it remaining a tropical storm until late tonight.

Let's hope they didn't blow the prediction that it merely skirts the Florida coast and moves west to hit us head on.
Nobody knows nothin' when it comes to these things. I think weather forecasts use a Ouija board these days.

Remind me again why you need to fill the bathtub? I could understand if you were on a well, but don't you have municipal water?

I think most municipal water systems are gravity pressurized from a storage tank sitting on a high point but the tank has to be kept full by water being constantly pumped up to the tanks. If the pump goes out the storage eventually goes dry.

The other possibility is that in flat places like Florida, individual buildings must have electric pumps to pressurize their pipes to the upper floors which may be higher than the municipal storage tanks. Power goes out so do the pumps.

suydam · July 2020

Don’t you need electricity for the pump to function?

ab348 · July 2020

I would think that municipal water utilities would have backup generators for such things. We are not talking a Cat 5 hurricane with things totally destroyed and offline for weeks here.

graphicguy · July 2020

roadburner said:

graphicguy said:

qbrozen said:

graphicguy said:
Went to a retirement get-together for a friend at Wright Patterson Airforce Base yesterday. He just put in 40 years working for Uncle Sam. God Bless him as that’s not something I could have pulled off. Still, he’s retiring, taking some time off (supposed to be taking around the globe cruise, but COVID-19.........). So, a group of us threw a little party at the base. For the first time in his career, he accepted our catering and gifts. Previously, he would not, did not, accept so much as a free cup of coffee, adhering to the rules of what he could/could not do as a military employee. This time, he welcomed all of it.

While I was in Dayton, I got the chance to go to an audio swap meet. Loaded those Magnepan LRSs in the back of the Stinger and tried to “swap”. Most if what I saw was trashed audio products...a lot of mini-disk players (which weren’t popular even at the peak of marketing them). Found some crazy speakers. EOSONE speakers, which was Best Buy’s high end house brand at one point in time). Luxman stereo receivers, which I didn’t even know they made.

Some Klipsch Heresy 3 way horn speakers caught my eye since the wood working on them was exceptional. They were new, being sold by a dealer, but apparently not a color the person who had them could sell.......matte black (with nice open pore wood grain). We went back and forth for a while. Since he’s not a Magnepan Dealer, he said he didn’t know if he could resell them. I pointed out that NOT being a dealer and having them in his inventory would bring in new customers that he may not see.

Hooked them up....MERCY. I forgot how good a well designed speaker could sound. Big soundstage. Just a big sound all the way around, in a good way. I’d have to throw yet more money at them to make a deal. But, I told him mine were for sale at $275 ($25 more than I paid, but still a really good deal). I told him to to come up with a number for his Klipsch. He’s supposed to get back to me today.
So he was at a swap meet trying to sell these speakers but didn’t have a number for them??
I should have been better in my description. I first struck up a conversation with one of the dealers. He had a brick and mortar store nearby, which is where I heard his Klipsch.

He threw out a number which I wasn’t interested. He wants to check how much he has in his speakers, which he said he didn’t know off the top of his head.

He could probably make $200-$250 on my speakers. Not sure he’s interested in having speakers he can only make a couple hundred dollars on.
I spent a lot of time looking for speakers when I set up my first decent system in 1990; I finally listened to the Klipsch KG4 at a mom-and-pop store in Louisville. The owner let me take the floor models home and listen to them in my house to make sure I liked them. At that time Klipsch built speakers to order, so when I called the owner and said I wanted a pair he let me pick out the finish I wanted and let me keep the demos until the pair I ordered arrived. The KG4s powered by the Carver receiver and using a Rotel RCD-855 CD player as the source sounded very impressive.

What I noticed at the Audio Swap Meet was lots of “junk” (old all-in-one units from unknown brands). Lots of tubes, which may or may not have worked. Some cheap kids turntable/speaker combos. Lots of misc connectors and wiring.

But, there were some folks that were (re) selling some quality gear, including the guy I want to swap the Magnepans with.

He actually has a brick and mortar store. He carries really good stuff...Martin Logan, Klipsch Heritage, B&W, VPI, etc. He mostly does custom installs and most of it for Home Theater. But, he deals in used equipment, too (thus, the audio swap meet).

He ended up buying the Magnepans yesterday. I didn’t lose any money on them (made a little) and he said he wouldn’t make a whole lot on them. But, he would set them up in his store and probably sell a higher margin Amp, Pre-Amp, etc to drive them.

Listened to his Klipsch Heritage speakers...first the Heresy and then the LaScalla. Mercy!!!!! Lots to be said for highly efficient, horn speakers. Both gave a HUGE soundstage and captured lots of energy of the recordings we demo’d. Couldn’t make Lacallas work (https://www.klipsch.com/products/la-scala-70th-anniversary-edition). They’re just too big.

But, I could make their little brother work (https://www.klipsch.com/products/heresy-iv-floorstanding-speaker).

These are NOT the Klipsch speakers you hear at Best Buy. The ones mentioned are “alive” in the way they sound. I found myself uncontrollably grinning listening to the Heresy. He was driving them to crazy sound levels with an 8 Watt tube amp. I can’t even imagine what they’d sound like with a 80W-100W solid state amp.

As you mentioned RB, he said they are all special order and I could pick from 4 wood choices and grill colors. Man do I like those speakers. I need them like I need 12 toes. It’s not like they’re cheap, either. Hopefully, this too will pass.

graphicguy · July 2020

Back to cars.....set up an appointment for my first oil change for the Stinger next week. Dealership is offering pick up and delivery service for their service dept. That’s not something I expect to continue for a long time, but certainly convenient.

Time to take stock. I look forward to driving the Stinger every day. It’s just a fun, fast, comfortable car to drive on a daily basis. It has a firmer ride than my TLX. But, it’s still comfortable and not objectionable. Still wish I had my ELS stereo back. But, the Harmon Kardon in the Stinger does sound good.

No squeaks, no rattles. Every thing works well. Even minor features like wipers that come on when it rains, or the automatic headlight dimmers, etc....works better than I’d hoped.

Brembo brakes make me feel more confident in its stopping power than I should probably be. But, they work better than any brakes I’ve had on ANY car I’ve owned. I’ll run out of nerve before it runs out of cornering ability. Steering is electric, but feels more connected than any hydraulic steering systems I can recall.

It feels faster than when I first bought it. But, it’s hotter out now than when I bought it, too. By my manual calculations, I’m getting 28 MPG on all highway, got a low 0f 19 MPG in all city driving, and am averaging 22 MPG overall. That’s on PUG. Plus, I leave it in SPORT all the time. My foot tends to be heavy on the right pedal, too.

Even though I rarely think about ergonomics, I was able to reach everything and operate all the features within a few days of ownership. For good or ill, the safety tech is really good (especially the radar/laser cruise and tracking). Infotainment is good. I use the NAV in the Stinger more than I do Apple Maps, which is a testament to the software Kia uses for their infotainment.

I’ve hauled my bicycle, 4’ tall speakers, my dog’s crate, 4 people, and other stuff, both animate and inanimate, in it (not all at the same time).

Happy camper so far.

stickguy · July 2020

I drove my sons G70 a couple times last week (mostly moving cars around the driveway). He really likes it. And it is a beast power wise. But somehow, I just don’t care for it all that much. Just not my “vibe” as the kids like to say.

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