I own a Lampizator Dac hopefully Tarrif's are not imposed on Poland also. I apologize to Millercarbon, your 1242 posts since only November, it is obvious you do follow this stuff closely. I imagine your Twitter and Facebook posting are also quite impressive. NPR has a series called Believed you should check out. All of this tariff and Political stuff is way over my head since I have a job. I'll defer to you. You go girl!
Tariffs and sky high audio prices.
With the Chinese tariffs taking hold on 100% of the imports and maybe even on Mexico forthcoming, the audio industry is going to see another big jump in their sky high prices. Anyone making purchases ASAP to get lower prices from existing inventory before post tariff products enter the marketplace?
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Tammy leave it be, the minority wants to silence the majority. I do believe administration has been in commendable restraint and interjects at appropriate moments with redirection. To ask administration to ouright ban posters is preposterous. Although I am not voicing my own sentiments I enjoy the sides presented, all of them. Excluding calls to delete the post or ban the posters. |
Tammy, No. Please don’t take this educational thread off. This is entertainment at its best. :-) millercarbon ... And speaking of Dennis Prager, he’s a died in the wool audiophile and loves classical music. Years ago, I had the opportunity of setting up a demo audiophile system in Dennis Prager’s home. He’s a super nice guy, and as you know, he has a stunning mind. Before we left, he gifted me with several genuine Cuban "Cohiba" cigars. I don’t smoke tobacco anymore, but at the time, those were the best cigars I had ever smoked. They were contraband seized by Customs and gifted to Dennis Prager by a congressman. No tariff on the cigars and Dennis is an audiophile. So there ... back on topic. :-) Frank |
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NPC bg1968 drones: It will never cease to amaze me that any man could have an ounce of respect for another man that is accused by 23 women of sexual assault and casually strolling through dressing rooms of naked Beauty Pagent Contestants. Well me, I don't know how any man expects anyone to have an ounce of respect for him, or even how he can respect himself, if he thinks you lose respect just for being accused. In my world you lose respect not for being accused but for being guilty. In fact in my world its the one falsely accused who stands up against the lies with his head held high who earns the most respect of all. That would be Trump. I follow this stuff closely. Every single one of those times the accuser turns out to have lied. A few of them hilariously so. Like the lady who swore she sat next to Trump as he molested her on an international flight. All across the Atlantic Trump was groping her. Gosh that Trump, what a Svengali, mind control or something kept her from saying a word the whole time. Until the story comes out, guy in London reads it, exposes the whole thing as a lie. Turns out he was there on the same flight and gosh too bad for her story the seating configuration is totally inconsistent with her story. Something a whole bunch of bloggers easily confirmed. But gosh, the owner having access to the locker room. And telling Howard Stern about it! Caught on mike admitting, "But no, I've been very good." Sounds like grounds for impeachment to me. You go, girl. |
millercarbon ... Just wanted to say how much I enjoy your posts. We are on the same page, my friend. By the way, I’ve been following Candace Owens since she first came on the scene. She has her own Youtube podcast show now. If you weren’t aware of it, check it out. She’s bound and determined to "wake" the Black Community and doing a great job of it too. The race pimps must be getting a bit concerned at this point. Here's a good podcast Candace did with Dennis Prager: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E48bMTel7rg Nonoise ... Thanks for your CNN and MSNBC updates. Much appreciated. Frank |
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david_pully
If you like Laurindo Almeida, here's an excellent sounding CD. It is a DCC reissue, out of print and therefore the price, and sounds every bit as good as the LP, which has excellent demo sound in its own right: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Sammy-Davis-Jr-Sings-And-Laurindo-Almeida-Plays-CD-1991-Jazz-Swing-RARE/223203556006?hash=item33f7f7faa6:g:eRQAAOSwFIRb0cmv Frank |
I lived for ten years in New Hampshire, part of New England region. Different people there, just as everywhere else. But, in some places and circles they do maintain the original spirit and traditions of the first settlers. I may not agree with everything but they have my respect. I didn't like Boston 'aristocratic' snobs, though. |
@inna Thanks for the props. I concur with your assessment on how this country started and where it ended up. There's some good history on what parts of the eastern seaboard were controlled by which parts of England they came from and the dust is still on their shoes, so to speak. They held no brook for those who came later, forcing them inland, and they too can be traced back to their original lands, along with their belief systems. Saying it's a old world in a new land nicely sums it up. All the best, Nonoise |
Nonoise, I just enjoy your colorful and articulate language. Problem is that in my impression most participants, whatever their political inclinations, don't care about anything but significant selves and their wallets. First there came pilgrims pioneers and other real people, then Yankee descended and methodically have been transforming the way this place functions. We have the result of that. It is not New World any more, it is the old one in a new land. If you want an example of repetition you have it. I suggest America threaten Canada with nuclear hit to get a better trade deal. We are being robbed by everyone. |
There is plenty of empirical evidence that humans are becoming increasingly polarized. Mere difference of opinion is not responsible for this increasing polarization. Opinion is an admission one lacks surety, room for dialogue here. Opinions are being replaced with belief, particularly the kind of belief that conflates itself with objective truth. Add in new ideas of political correctness that celebrate overt disrespect and you have a perfect storm for emotional reaction For far too many, emotional response and self perceived notions that one is in possession of objective truth preclude negotiation. I question how long zero sum games will define our negotiated interactions. With no light between competing visions of reality I can't really see this turning out good. |
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2psyop opines: When are people going to confront the fact that the POTUS does not know what he is doing???POTUS threatened tariffs and within a week Mexico sends 6000 troops to secure their southern border. Sent a few tweets and within a few weeks no more North Korean missiles. Obama btw said this would be his biggest challenge. Maybe for Obama. Not Trump. All those American manufacturing jobs were supposed to be gone forever. Just last week 6500 more coming back to Detroit. On top of tens of thousands already. Lowest unemployment rate ever for blacks, hispanics, women, the disabled and veterans. Look up #walkaway to learn about all the gays and minorities fleeing the democrat party after listening to Trump. Watch Black Conservative Patriot on YouTube then go catch any of the dozens of similar channels that have popped up the last few years. In 2016 Trump took about 7% of the black vote. If you only listen to the fake news you’ll snicker with glee. When in fact the reality is democrats require 97% of the black vote to win at the national level. NAACP currently has Trump polling over 20% black support. Between the lowest black unemployment ever, his legal reforms and pushing issues like charter schools that have a lot of support in the black community, not to mention growing popularity of supporters like Diamond and Silk and Candace Owens, its hard to see anything other than even more black support going forward. When China tried to make last minute changes Trump responded so fast and immediately even democrats supported him. Which come to think of it is exactly what happened when NKorea tried to pull a fast one on him. Ditto Pelosi and Schumer when they tried to roll him, only to find the media there with their cameras so all they could do was sputter while Trump got to keep repeating transparency. That was the first time. Second time recently he walked right out on them straight to the Rose Garden where he announced what happened, beating them to the news cycle. Fired Comey. Got Kavanaugh confirmed. Sessions gone, replaced with Barr. On and on and freaking on. I could go on typing all day, still hardly even make a dent in all the stuff he has done right. Everyone as they say is entitled to their own opinion. For sure you and some others (a small but very noisy minority) aren’t happy at all that Trump is winning. You can say POTUS doesn’t know what he’s doing. Say it all day long if you want. But you might want to consider, the longer you keep saying something at odds with reality, the more credibility you lose. |
No idea who you’re talking to--maybe yourself--but you type tens of thousands of words which ultimately reduce to "whoever I disagree with is obviously a Nazi and should not be allowed a voice.". Your simplistic attempt to deflect did not go unnoticed. The topic is tariffs and if they're used as a tool to politically excite a base and citizenry for the effect of looking like a strongman, then that, is political. The guy doing it bypasses the democratic process (Congress decides tariffs), openly admires fascists, and is conflating the political and the economic on a scale that is dangerous. Mussolini coined the term fascist. Look it up. All the hoopla with the Mexican tariffs turned out to much ado about nothing. Victory was claimed and tariffs "hereby" rescinded (thank you, your majesty) when the conditions met were decided months ago. It was all an act, meant to distract, and swallowed whole by a lot of ditto heads. We buy more from Mexico than we do from China. A third of it comprises auto making. And in case you haven't noticed, smug political comments are the norm here, as long as they come from the right side of the aisle. Take a gander at past threads. It's when someone from the left counters such tripe is when you ladies get up on the table and hike up your skirts. All the best, Nonoise |
Hello all. So, what we have here is, as in all things in life, there are 3 opinions... “3 sides to the coin”. Tariffs: the “tax” will be levied and Americans will pay it, OR the Chinese will pay it, OR it will be shared. Tariff policy: the policy/strategy is brilliant, OR it is not brilliant at all, OR it is random and made up on the fly. World standing: this episode will raise and enhance our profile internationally, OR it will erode and minimize our profile, OR it is benign. To bring my rhetoric back to the center, I certainly believe Americans will pay the tax, the strategy is ill-conceived (it appears spontaneous actually) and I believe our international profile when evaluated in conjunction with our behavior with our friends (bash Canada and England sporadically) and our adversaries (N Korea, Russia) it will take a concerted effort by leadership and diplomats going forward to heal the damage. Thats provided others even want to dance with us anymore. Add to that that some of the genius negotiating going on is being sprinkled with a little post deal renegotiating on our end (if the NYT is to believed about the deal with Mexico actually being done weeks ago) which is never good. People begin to expect that a deal is not a deal and nothing is ever final. We have a history we would like to shake (treaties with native American tribes for instance) so that will enter the minds of trading partners more prominently. So, how would the above affect audio? There will be little, if any, predictability or advance notice on the next tax/tariff. The flow of goods will also be sporadic and unpredictable should the rifts deepen. The price of in stock gear will rise and the supply of new gear with the potential for disruption or embargo will make then nervous too and they may actually stock up. Then, should the disruption to new supply not materialize, there may be sales with price reductions to clear it out. Also, depending on how deep the trade rift becomes, it may involve parts tariffs which will affect every manufacturer everywhere and could materially harm American manufacturers using internationally sourced parts. Of course, this will bode well for used gear maintaining its value with the potential of appreciation. Sort of like the car program “cash for clunkers” establishing a floor to used car pricing. Let’s not kid ourselves though, this is home hifi and its an industry that at best is a rounding error in any conversation about any topic.of course, there may alternative truths...who knew that was a thing? |
World trade was always an inevitability because of innovation. IT greatly increased the diffusion of knowledge which led to decreased costs for trade seeking firms. Add in lower labor costs in less developed nations and you have a perfect recipe for worker and capital displacement. I recall the 1980's and 90's when the common mantra preached in the US was let the less developed nations do the manufacturing, we'll be the innovators, the idea nation. People employed in manufacturing would now be working in some new nebulous 'high tech' job yet to be created. My thoughts at the time were, this was going to be the greatest redistribution of wealth the world had ever known. Elites are certainly good at reading history, they understand the appeal of exhortations of national exceptionalism. A promised great new future where we do all the thinking for the rest of the world was a grand delusion. Still, even the elites were fooled into believing their own mantras. They were all too willing to enter into Faustian bargains, trading proprietary property rights for greater profits. They didn't steal our knowledge, we gave it to them. Chinese were playing by a new Capitalism playbook, we played along. Consumers played their role as well. My, how we love lower cost consumer goods. And so, this bargain seemed to work until rather recent times. Suddenly the middle classes of developed nations discovered they weren't as secure as they imagined themselves. A lifetime of work for what? And so, who to blame? Well, we'll blame the immigrants and those who cheated us in trade. And so now they want to kill the golden goose of world trade and return to a protectionist and primitive trade policy. Bad times are inevitable in this world, a less competitive world won't make us richer. We must understand free trade has greatly increased wealth in this world. The question as always is how that wealth has been redistributed. We will never get out of the quagmire until we find new ways to assign equity to resources. Think about the coming AI revolution, who will have ownership of this valuable resource? |
Tarriffs are always a tax on your own people. (Not a problem if you are a person who never pays their fair share) You and I will pay more for products that are artificially price inflated. Total rejection of capitalistic principles based on supply and demand and 'market freedom'. And even the most American products are full of Asian parts. And if you want a nice tube amplifier you will of course depend on Russian vacuum tubes. |
Get with it people: you’re following a pied piper of the worst kind. No idea who you’re talking to--maybe yourself--but you type tens of thousands of words which ultimately reduce to "whoever I disagree with is obviously a Nazi and should not be allowed a voice." A major appeal of an audio site is that we’re spared this kind of smug, intolerant cant. Well, at least we’re normally spared the political variety. You and a few others here need to go to political sites to share your bloviating. |
I haven't read through this whole thread but from what I have read, there are some who believe that if you just buy American made you're not impacted. I'm in Australia and some American companies have increased their prices here because their parts come from China and that pushes up the cost. Someone else here wrote that the tariffs are paid for by the Chinese, not Americans. That's completely wrong. The customer pays. It's a tax on Americans. The idea is that Americans will prefer to buy American goods instead of Chinese if Chines products are more expensive but that doesn't work because so much doesn't even get manufactured in America anymore. China is the only supplier of so many goods, there's no getting away from buying Chinese made. |
There’s a documentary about the 8th Air Force on cable (I think it’s HBO). It’s called The Cold Blue. Did anyone know that more airmen died than Marines? Of the 12,000 bomber crews, about 5,000 were shot down over Europe. Each B-17 held about 10 crew members. It never got above -20° and usually ran -60°. Frostbite took 10 minutes. It was like climbing Everest. Once a bomber started to spin your were doomed. Centrifugal force pinned you against the fuselage as you spun 6 miles to your death. That is the price we paid for fighting fascists, which are whining about losing their spot on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. Get with it people: you’re following a pied piper of the worst kind. All the best, Nonoise |
Nonoise, it's a good way to put it. So many Chinese people died in the war too. Japanese were savage, maybe at times much worse than Nazi. Now they are kind of nice making excellent steel and transistors and transformers and enjoying American jazz. I think, America should watch them all, there might be a repetition that must be prevented. Europe is quite turbulent at present. Maybe "awkward silence" is not a bad sign, maybe what we are saying gives them a thinking regardless of what they might post next. |
"...there was a 75th Anniversary of allied forces landing in Normandy two days ago. That was a bloody and decisive campaign."There was a 75th anniversary of Monte Cassino just two or three weeks earlier. For some reason, that one is rarely mentioned. Tariffs and globalization aside, it included many countries. From Poland, across India, to New Zealand and a few more to the South and West and in between. If it were not for Roger Waters, even Anzio would have a hard time finding its way to an average audiophile home, it seems. |
Inna, our paths overlap. Nothing like a good Veen Diagram. By the way, did you notice the awkward silence? Those who have no real skin in the game can afford the price of the armchair warrior for (fill in the blank) cause. From the basement of their parents homes and the infernal pits of their imaginings (god forbid) they can rant, rave, and pontificate to their hearts desires, as long as they follow the script laid out for them, like a black and white coloring book with the prescribed colors laid out for them. Color outside the lines and they lose membership as it's a rigid formula they must adhere to. That's the basis for authoritarianism. Anyone with a passing interest can simply look it up. Ignore it all and you'll just repeat it. For some, it's the easier way to go through life. All the best, Nonoise |
@ghasley We are of kindred spirit after all! You might find it interesting that I just replaced all the tubes in my preamp with brand new tubes from Russia. They have never forsaken the art! I, too, had abandoned vinyl during the period of digital ascendancy and gave away all of my records. I was, like so many others, seduced by the signal to noise and the macrodynamics of those early CD's, especially those from Digital Music Products, Windham Hill and Private Music. Many years later, frustrated at the difficulty of finding some of my favorites from the 60's and 70's on CD, I ventured back into vinyl. My initial intent was to buy just those old album not found on CD. What I didn't realize was that my early impressions of vinyl were based on entry level equipment playing records that had seen too many frat parties. I got VPI Classic 3 with a Dynavector Te Kaitora Rua and nice Rogue Audio vacuum tube preamp. I was stunned by what I heard coming off of LPs in mint condition. Now I play vinyl almost exclusively, but it's not a religious thing with me ... I just found a copy of Medeski Martin and Wood on DVD-Audio. Played on my Oppo 203, the sound is amazing! |
@ghasley Having heard both, but not all, iterations of the two, I'll still take solid state. Although my Kinki is made in China, the designer is a big fan of the Swiss approach to solid state design and when using something like Exicon output devices, the sound is so seductive. @inna I wasn't, but my dad was a vet from the Pacific Theater. It did a number on him and anyone who saw actual combat. Not the pacified version you see nowadays, but primitive, hand to hand combat in the harshest and most miserable of environs and conditions. People shouldn't forget what fascists are, how they operate and how easy it is to be lulled by their siren songs. All the best, Nonoise |
@david_pully Tah-DAH!!! Since I know you’ve been waiting for this, I hereby, wholeheartedly, approve of your amp selection. I really like the lower power class A Pass amps and the XA25 is a work of art. I see they’ve come out with a XA25 integrated version and by the looks of it they figured out they originally underpriced the XA25. I think its over $8,000. While not nosebleed pricing for our hobby, that’ll sure buy alot red hats (I couldn’t resist). Since I’m no longer into vinyl, I need the random but occasional interaction that comes with a tube roll or bias adjustment. LOL. i’m not looking for my system to be the audio version of a crisp white shirt, I enjoy a well broken in cashmere sweater. |
@ghasley I used to feel that tubes absolutely killed solid state on tonality. But the design of solid state gear, especially with the shift from bipolar to field effect transistors, which are voltage controlled like tubes, and therefore clip into even order harmonics rather than odd, has closed the gap. My current preference is for tubes all the way up to but not including the power amps, where I find myself preferring the punch of a good solid state amp. I am, for the record, a Pass Labs fan when it comes to power amps. |
Brennan and Comey charged by whom? A valid court indictment or a birther indictment? For the record it wasnt a George Washington joke...it was actually a Sesame Street reference... “which one of these is not like the other”? Probably shouldnt have been so vague, apologies. History will show a neck and neck race between the current occupant of the white house, Andrew Johnson and James Buchanan as the worst president in history. Im betting on the current occupant because, well, he more huger! Can we all find some common ground? Surely there is something we can agree on. Like a bi-partisan 7-1 approval of Thurgood Marshall to the Supreme Court during the last year of Johnsons presidency. What about tubes absolutely kill solid state? |
SO ... does anyone else like Laurindo Almeida? There are two albums in particular that every audiophile, regardless of KoolAid preference, should have. They are both direct-to-disc and of fidelity ne plus ultra. The first is LA4 ’Just Friends’, on Concord Jazz 1978. It showcases Laurindo Almeida with Bu dShanks, Ray Brown and Jeff Hamilton. The other is Ray Brown & Laurindo Almeida ’Moonlight Serenade’ on Jeton Records, 1981. We may have our different interpretations of the same facts, but we all share a particular passion for great music superbly reproduced! |
Keep drinking that Cruel-Aid Pepe and you’ll have all the folk from 4chan and 8chan over here in no time. I’ve never seen someone so openly delusional as you. I’ve read about them but to have you representing views that have been laughed out of the mainstream press is disheartening, to say the least. What's next? Green frog and nazi avatars? All the best, Nonoise |
ghasley writes: Right. Like I am gonna copy that all over again here. As if. Because, thing is, there was a whole laundry list of tangible accomplishments- regulations slashed, judges appointed, people put to work, jobs created. Not a one of which is being challenged or disputed. Then even more shocking, the president and Secty of State- Obama and Clinton- former CIA head Brennan, former FBI head Comey, are charged with a coup attempt. Trying to overturn an American election. Apparently now this is so uncontroversial a topic we can skip right past that to making George Washington jokes. At least we know these points are now so widely known and well established even people who should want to argue know better. Good. Progress. Now if only they can admit it to themselves. |
@ghasley Commendable recommendations but I see someone crying favoritism when it would be the right thing to do. Those on the right would call it a form of affirmative action or something equally silly. Along the same lines, if we ever get off our asses and start manufacturing solar panels and the like (think light industry instead of heavy) those areas that were decimated by the very jobs they did, to support industries that turned their backs on them, should be at the top of the list when it comes to considering locations of said industry. All the best, Nonoise |
Rivers on fire? We have the Chinese beat on that one. Remember back in June of '69? The Cuyahoga River? How about tap water in some areas of the mid west being lit by a lighter for the last several years? All that good fracking and improper waste disposal that would make the Chinese blush. All the best, Nonoise |
@miilercarbon @nonoise @david-pully Miller, we can finally agree on something and I commend you for your insight. We SHOULD protect the environment and stand up for those creatures unable to protect themselves from extinction. We can all agree that a new strip mall or lead battery acid disposal site isn’t worth forcing any living creature into oblivion. And other neighbors on Earth SHOULD be careful with the air/oxygen we breathe and drink. We should live with high standards of character and human decency and expect others to do the same. In fact, we should require our friends and trading partners to be of high character and to honor their word at all times. So, we should put out a document where potential trading partners know the rules if they want to trade with us. Agree or we just won’t trade. Any tariffs raised though should be allocated completely to those fellow citizens of ours whose jobs in the steel, coal, (insert industry with displaced jobs here) were shipped overseas or rendered obsolete. There is a small but thriving buggy whip maker in Catalonia who flat out stole American jobs because they didn’t charge enough for their whips. We should tariff the heck out their whips and give it our former whip makers who are now, heaven help us, forced to turn out bridles and belts. Who could disagree with that? Otherwise, it would be a tax, a revenue generation sleight of hand and that wouldn’t be honorable. |
All I'm saying is that I don't mind paying tariffs on Chinese goods if that's what it takes to level the playing field with balanced trade agreements that give American factory workers a competitive chance. Bingo! Free trade isn't really free when one side has to comply with protecting the snail darter while the other is free to belch out enough chemicals to light a river on fire. Is there a minimum wage in China? To pick just one item from one volume from the library of regulations US businesses must comply with. We can't, nor should we, tell other countries what laws they must have to be on equal terms. But we sure can make them pay a tax if they aren't. Its only fair. |
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Ok moderators, I understand now: “He sacrificed all that putting the nation first. The last one to do anything comparable was George Washington”. I guess we slid down the slippery slope huh? Objectively @millercarbon you might have to admit that Fox News and Glenn Beck were not lifting up Obama or Clinton. It was just barely perceptible, but I think I caught the occasional barb. As to the congress and senate when Trump came in, I believe it was 3 elephants to no donkeys. You are right though, there is no credible, objective news organization NOT digging through the train car loads of “stuff”. Just too much smoke for a real journalist to leave it alone. The irony that you elected to mention Trump in the same sentence with Washington (I can not tell a lie) shouldn’t escape anyone with a sense of humor. And yes, I do find this humorous. Examining the same set of facts and arriving at completely opposite conclusions is troubling. While Im am certain I am not exactly right, I know I am not completely wrong. In the meantime I’ll pay my taxes, occasionally shake my head in disbelief at the vast chasm between reality and futility. By the way, who knew Sean Spicer was an audiophile but he must be...he is alive and well and posting occasionally on this thread. |
