… and we’ll see if this works. Still need to login, for now.

For those that are interested, the way the spammers work is that…well…

… there are 10s of millions of blogs out there that use Wordpress software, like this one, and each of them has the same functions (webpages) with the same names.

If someone finds a way around having to login in order to post, by calling a specific function that the writers of Wordpress did not expect outsiders to call, then they have a way into each and every one of the 10s of millions of blogs.

I.E. a way to post their message about erectile disfunction to millions of blogs and even more people, some numbers of which must actually want to hear about this problem that seems rampant amoung American males.

A custom site, like Romy’s The GoodSoundClub, and some of the more unique forums, do not have to worry about spammers - their software has functions with uncommon names and even if the spammers get in they will not be reaching those 10s of millions of eyeballs - it just isn’t worth their time.

The amount of spam we were getting went from about 10 per day to 200 per day. Kind of depressing.

After hacking Wordpress we are back down to 50. When we get it down to zero we will re-enable comments - hopefully no longer requiring people to register and login to comment any more.

What people do who do not know how to code - I do not know. This is the depressing part.

Been spending my blogging time in this fight. This is the other depressing part.

But I’ll try to slip in a few updates here and there. The Triolons are supposed to get lugged down to the garage tomorrow morning - but it is starting to snow now, so we’ll see how that goes.

It is with great pleasure that we accept the honor of being the U.S. distributor for not only one of the best lines of high-end home audio equipment in the world, bar none - but one of the largest as well.

The Audio Note product line comprises several hundred products and stretches from excellent price /performance for the frugal audiophile to excellent price / PERFORMANCE for the extremely ambitious audiophile, along with lots of juicy stuff for everybody in between.

Audio Federation carries only product lines that have proven themselves to be of unusually high quality - based on application of our well-published methodologies - and Audio Note U.K. has proven themsevles several times over here at the ‘Audio Federation Proving Grounds’.

As the Audio Note importer, we will be able to help put even more, higher quality, better sounding [aka ‘more better’] equipment into the hands of more people. This has been and always will be Audio Federation’s raison d’être

As we continue to expand our repertoire here with respect to Audio Note we will continue to fully support and work closely with each of our product lines. All of the product lines we carry bring something to the party, and are fully able to compete side-by-side in any fair competition.

[Not quite STAY TUNED FOR AN OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT-speak, and I just couldn’t bring myself to write in that oh so common PRESS RELEASE-speak. BO-ring. So what we have here is perfect Audio Federation Blog-speak… and I should know …you got your soto voice and smiley faces and … everything.

Anyway, we are really psyched and look forward to supporting the Audio Note dealer network, Audio Note owners, and all ya audiophiles-at-large so that as many people as possible get to hear what this stuff can do. WE are impressed, and we think most of you will be too.

We haven’t mentioned this to anyone in the industry… until now - so all you out there are getting the news at the same time. This neatly solves / sidesteps our problem of in what order we were going to have to let everyone in on the news. ]

.. and I quote:

“A new Yahoo Group - Audio Note UK Answers - has been started to provide current information and answers to questions regarding Audio Note UK products. The hope is that a global community of Audio Note customers, potential customers and the merely curious will wander through as if it were a coffee shop, asking and answering questions, checking on upcoming shows where they may hear Audio Note systems or special events, etc . . .”

It is very new.

But I expect it to be a nice quiet place where people can ask questions without feeling theatened by the often ‘unfriendly behavior’ that we see on that ‘crazy’ forum. Many (most) people we know were once patients of this institution but eventually checked themselves out of and are now permanent escapees.

One thing that may be of interest is that the new Emmlabs sinlge-box CD / SACD player, the CDSA, was shown for the first time yesterday. It will be $10K but it will not have a variable output stage (i.e. no built-in linestage).

At this time, Decemeber 1st is the expected release date.

Emmlabs’ CDSA CD / SACD player

In the final version only a couple of LEDs will be glowing like this.

It looks remarkably like an ordinary CDSD does it not? Sounded like one too, but I only had a wee bit of a listen… really less than a wee bit when I think back to it….

So much to hear, so little time.

Giant pictures on the daily photos…

… and they would be here:

RMAF 2006 Day 1

… as well as the Acoustic Zen line of cables (which we have been recommending for years - even though they are not quite in the stratospheric, some might say astronomical , price range as the cables we generally prefer here).

But the Adagios are not just a good value, they are an exceptional value. We believe them to be a high-end loudspeaker at a lower mid-fi price of $4300

We have a number of customers (and fans) who get a little short of breath (or their significant others do ) when they think about purchasing $50K speakers.

We will also be getting in, hopefully in the near future, the $12K or so Marten Design Miles III and Kharma 3.1c loudspeakers - which are also near-full-range like the Adagios.

And of course there are the Audio Note U.K. loudspeakers at these price ranges for those who just want a speaker to sound good

All of these speakers we have heard either many times or for many hours - and they have our full respect and we have recommended them many times.

Although we specialize in the ultimate cost-no-object high-end audio system, we really do try to help people with systems in all price ranges.

I guess what all this means is that people who actually make it to the store here will soon get a chance to hear that there are a few bargains out there (a very few) and that in the end you get what you pay for - but there can be happiness, satisfaction and pride-of-ownership at every price range.

You just need to stay away from the crap and the glitter and the over-hyped junk.

Just to give y’all out there some perspective, we will soon have loudspeakers here at AF that are $250K, $145K (on sale, somebody buy these now please , $55K, $50K, $40K, $33K and now…. $4K.

OK, a picture of the Adagio speakers similar to the ones we will be getting in a few days.

We have been auditioning the Elrod Statement power cords here for a few months now - and it has become one of those things that we, epsecially Neli, just can’t live without (and its not so awfully expensive that we don’t have to live without them - at least for a little while ).

After seeing the Elrod powercords for years at shows like CES and Stereophile’s Home Entertainment Show, an audition was arranged. Being somewhat unweildy, we tried them mostly on amplifiers.

They just do something that no other powercord does, in our experience, nor is it likely to. These puppies are massive - they seem to let the amp have as much juice as it wants when it wants it [thinking of audiphile powercords now as a local reservoir of electrons - at the ready when the music’s dynamics require there to be adequate power NOW] and the resulting relaxed, open and deep sound is refreshing and natural.

An upcoming Blog post will talk more about powercords - and the shootouts, specifically - but for now just imagine a spectrum:

Very detailed, Fast < --------------------> Very open, relaxed, round and full-sounding

on that spectrum we have:

Nordost Valhalla powercords < -------- Shunyata Helix Anaconda Alpha ------ Shunyata Anaconda Helix Vx -------- older Shunyata Anaconda Vx -------> Elrod Statements

The older Shunyata Anaconda Alpha is not as open sounding as the new Shunyata Anaconda Helix Vx so it should go to the left of it…

but it is less detailed, so it should go to the right of it… so this is not a perfect scale against which to measure all powercords…. but it is a start, I think.

Anywho, the Elrod powercords on the right there is the sound that we, and many of our customers, are often looking for. A sort of antidote to the tight, controlled, detailed sound that many of our other customers like - but which some find a little too clinical and unnatural and who like more macrodynamics.

We have had the Elron Statements on the ML2.1 monoblock amplifiers quite a bit of late. Luckily the Marten Design Coltrane loudspeakers have a bass adjustment knob, because we got a LOT more bass all of a sudden when we put these powercords on.

We got similar, but somewhat less dramatic, results on the other systems and amplifiers we put these on.

These powercords are an easy fix for A LOT of anemic and/or clinical-sounding systems out there!

Sucks, I know.

But it was getting out of hand.

And you only have to register once.

Been in effect for a few days now. Seems to work.

Of course, this only affects those of you Who Actually Post Comments……..

:-)

Check it out. It is run by the previous Audio Note distributer, ‘Triode Dave’, in the hopes of being able to both provide information on the Audio Note product line as well as insight into The Mind of the Designer.

Believe it, this is going to be interesting.

Why?

Because it is focused, unlike the magazines out there, and

Because it is about high-end audio, unlike most of the forums out there.

The Audio Note News and Answers Blog

In order to better serve audiophiles who are interested in HRS products and who may not have a local dealer, Audio Federation, in partnership with and under the aegis of HRS, now offers a 20 day trial period for Harmonic Resolution Systems products.

Under this factory-authorized performance guarantee program, HRS products can be purchased from Audio Federation and auditioned in your system for 20 days. This allows you to experience the significant improvements these products will make in your system and provides you with a money back performance guarantee.

HRS is the only vibration control product that we have tried that not only consistantly improves the quality of the system it is in by a signifiacant amount, but also does not have the unpleasant side effects that, to our ears, the other vibration control products seem to have.

The offer is only available in the U.S. at this time.

If interested, here are the details about the joint Audio Federation - HRS Performance Guarantee Program.