This is complicated as I usually get very pissed on Christmas. I very pissed that Christians have stolen my great holiday and attributed it to own religion.  I all my life celebrated last week of the year, it was wonderful holyday and I never attributed it with any religion, I do not observe any religion. Suddenly the Christians come to the scene and they name own God after my celebratory New Year Tree. Since then the world turned upside down and each meeting with official sad adult realty of Christians is a new and new blow into my unadulterated memories about Christmases. A Christmas in truth, the absolute truth, is a celebration of Santa Clause bringing the Christmas Tree and people welcoming a New Year. Why Christianity enslave my Christmas Tree and sticks own noise into the Santa Clause business I have no idea. The Santa Clause rides deer, heavily dressed for cold weather and brings Christmas Trees along with a lot of shit that people hang on the trees. Christ is from in Middle East, you saw a lot of deer and evergreen coniferous trees in Bethlehem, did you? Also, Christ was not able to be born on December 25 as everything was closed that day as usually. Hold on! The Chinese restaurants were open! Perhaps Christ was born in Beijing then? The socks with the gifts, the snows and white-bearded old man, the New Year resolutions – how the hell Christianity managed to initialized all of this. I remember that when I was 5 year old Santa Clause come our home and brought me a gift. I was so excited that I peed in my trousers – does it make me a Christian?

Well, whatever! As Albert Einstein once nailed a horseshoe above his door assuming that horseshoe might bring luck to somebody who does not believe to superstitions, I think I need to make my own Christmas List. In this country a Christmas list is very much the shopping list, as Lawrence Ferlinghetti so brilliantly mocked in his “Christ climbed down from His bare Tree…” So, what I would like to get on Christmas?  Ironically have no audio wishes – whatever I need I can get. What I would like to get in the  coming year would be just a quite house at a distance of just one speeding ticket from Boston, the one that that would have my 800 sq feet singe room with 25 feet ceiling (preferably cathedral ) and DO NOT have those needless 3.000 extra sq feet around my single room.  I would not need Christ’s help as I myself am perfectly capable to convert this quite new house into a wonderful Nerd Dwelling…

And of course the music. What I remember from the Christmas of my childhood that it was overwhelming Tchaikovsky, Russians played as it was no tomorrow, particularly the Waltz of the Flowers from the Nutcracker’s second act.  I remember that there were countless cartoons with different animals dancing around Christmas Trees under that Waltzs. Where those rabbits, cats, bears, wolfs, hedgehogs, pig, chickens and the rest of animals all Christians? Anyhow, I still love the Waltz of the Flowers tremendously. I will probably play  later on the Rostropovich take on the Nutcracker with Berlin Philharmonic or Knappertsbusch with Vienna Philharmonic. BTW, if somebody are in Nutcracker then do not miss the Mravinsky own version of Nutcracker from 40s – it is very non-Christmasy and it is wonderfully dark and gloomy. It feels more like under-snow symphony then Christmas Balet.  But who said that Christmas must be cheerful? The American Thanksgiving is a cheerful day, but how about if you are a turkey?

And of course there is no Christmas without playing the magnificent 2-piano version of Nutcracker by Martha Argerich and Nicolas Economic. The first marche from the Danses Caracteristiques, that is hardly sound like marche, arranged for double piano is “something else”. Does anybody else recognize in the 2-piano version of the marche the Sholem Aleichem’s satire?

The Cat

RonyWeissman wrote:

A mid-bass horn for my Altec 515-8G drivers operating from 100-600hz

Rony, I think your wish to have mid-bass horn with 515G is a bit faulty. A mid-bass horn for 515G shall be 50-600 Hz. Let me to explain. The 515G has 37Hz resonance frequency, in practice 40-45Hz. That would make it a perfect driver form 55-65Hz horn. One would ask: why do not make 100Hz horn and just to cross it a driver higher. There are two answers. First: a need of use a high order high-pass crossover. Second: 100Hz horns is about 40” mouth but you have a 15” driver, so how low big would you do the throat? 10-15” of throat to 40” mouth is good but if you can go to 4-6” throat then you will have better EQ at 100Hz. You might not be able to go for 4-6” throat with 15” driver.

So, I feel that 515G is too good driver for 100Hz. I would look for much smaller driver. There are plenty people who did short horns around 515G, with full 15” throat and small mouth. They are not particularly good sounding solutions. The 515G is itself has good sound and might work very fine (I would say not fine but better then other crap I have seen) as direct radiator in short and wide horn but ONLY if you have a very small room. I would say 250-300sq feet it maximum. If you push this driver harder if bigger room then you won’t get good sound. So, you need the pressure was coming not from the driver exertion but from horn EQ. You need a longer form for it and a narrower throat.

As I said I do not truly have any audio Christmas List. If I move I will build my midbass horn but with all honesty if I move and will not go for midbass horn then it will be little difference. With my current understanding of sounds I am very confident that I will be able to get the sound I want regardless what topology and equipment I will be using.

What I would like to accomplish in next year is to found some kind enterprise that would allow me do not do the shit I have being doing now for the next 20 years. This year I have a number of my friends retire and they had VERY difficult time financially. It did not look good and I get me scare in way and I would like to have some kind of operation that would produce amore or less constant cash flow to help pay bills juts, “in case”.  I do not need a lot of money and I would like say $5K per month with a condition that I would not spend more than an hour per week for this operation. I need to set up something like this. The next year I will take some time from my normal work and will look into the “buffer business” very attentively.

zako wrote:

Roman,,, May i call you Roman,,, I have had only three jobs in my life,,The last one lasted 30 years, Retirement is a living hell,, I still dream of that goddamn place,,  Please finish the book,,If it dont sell,,write another,, Films is a whores business,,Its a rat hole to pour money in..  If I lived in Boston I would be banging on your DOOR,,, IS IT FINISHED YET ???? Like The POPE Banging on the schaffold of Michealangelo to get the Sistien Chapel finished..  Dont make me come up there...

zako wrote:

Roman,,,, you dont know where any thing will end up... i was involved in a small film,,,Concerning the First Mercury space craft,, With ALLEN SHEPARD,, They (NASA) wanted a anamation film to be broadcast over TV while Shepard made his suborbital flight,, It was only 5 min. long showing take off,, seperation,,reintry,, Parachute deployment and landing in the ocheon,, This film was done in advance and ready for first flight,,,  That film is  now in the SMITHSONIAN,, Along with other artifacts I have done..  To me it was a insignificant piece os shit...But now its in the museum,,, So please dont think your work is unimportant...  This Forum is a good example of your compilation of good and bad of things come to pass of music,,     Maron/zako

zako wrote:

I live 2 hours away from The St Louis Symphony,,and the St Louis Philharmonic…. How sad... But I am caretaker of all master tapes plus of others before my tenure.

Romy the Cat wrote:

music. What I remember from the Christmas of my childhood that it was overwhelming Tchaikovsky, Russians played as it was no tomorrow, particularly the Waltz of the Flowers from the Nutcracker’s second act.  I remember that there were countless cartoons with different animals dancing around Christmas Trees under that Waltzs. Where those rabbits, cats, bears, wolfs, hedgehogs, pig, chickens and the rest of animals all Christians? Anyhow, I still love the Waltz of the Flowers tremendously. I will probably play  later on the Rostropovich take on the Nutcracker with Berlin Philharmonic or Knappertsbusch with Vienna Philharmonic. BTW, if somebody are in Nutcracker then do not miss the Mravinsky own version of Nutcracker from 40s – it is very non-Christmasy and it is wonderfully dark and gloomy. It feels more like under-snow symphony then Christmas Balet.  But who said that Christmas must be cheerful? The American Thanksgiving is a cheerful day, but how about if you are a turkey?