The One and Only Big D Thread

Latest News.....
My lady is in ICU and stable.
She is out cold and sedated. Bad infection was found. AntiBiotics Intravenous is the go right now.
It is still pretty Critical, but the odds are in our favor.

2 Channel News.....
JBL 3 Series 308 Speakers showed up
JBL subwoofer was due to show up and did not.
FedEx said "to be announced at 6"00pm"
What does that mean?
Anyway, I have the JBL 308 Speakers needing the stands....
The stands will be coming tomorrow...
Hopefully the JBL subwoofer will be coming as well
I have the 2 sets of XLR cables and all the wiring all waiting....
This is just a stones throw away from the JBL 3 Series to be running.....
The JBL 308 Speaker construction seems good. I like it. Solid. With the proper stands, I expect some excitement with Rock.....
We shall see very soon.... that's if the FedEx truck with my sub didn't crash. Never had such a response from FedEx as I have had today.

This is for Marvey and the other car guys......
@Marvey
I have a large problem with my future plans.
It has to do with getting a convertible 2016 Porsche Boxster Sypder. The new 2017 must really suck. They are for sale everywhere, and the 2016 is rising in price as we speak. The 2016 Boxster Spyder is what I want to buy when I sell my 2012 Rousch Mustang at the Palm Beach Auction in about 8 years. The problem I'm having now is that the new turbo that Porsche is putting in the cars to reduce emissions and gas mileage, I'm guessing is not what the customer wants. So the last year of the naturally aspirated motors is going to be worth it's weight in gold. Now the 2016 Spyder has the 375hp engine that no other lightweight open top Porsche has. The darn price is rising faster than a pancake at Denny's.

Below is the cheapest, and safest bet for me to get out of this conundrum. Just have to think this thing out on how to pull this off. And do I really want the service pricing that Porsche charges. The top prices now are up to $114,000.00 for this same car. The Porsche community does not like the new turbo models at all. It's a freakin' war. I don't think I should involve myself. But the last time this happened. It was a $100K loss for all of us that were stupid at the time.

Here are some pics...... with an interesting video... the video with entertain everyone.... this car is Da Bomb..... You will see..... Not as fast as my Roush (not even close)

But who even cares with the top down....... Here goes the price increase.... this was MSRP $90.000.00 (Color and Car I want, Damn)



This is another color that I would consider: White......







OK. So, I have a video that depicts a good review the 375hp 2016 Spyder. I get about 9/10 with my FRS in the excitement, but no top down.,,,,,,,



I'm pretty bummed that Porsche may have messed up my future plans to drive a 2016 Spyder around the roads of North Florida. This pricing is going to do nothing but keep rising as I see it. Fu*&^K. I think that this dream has to go bye bye. It seems that it is not going to ever happen, and I am going to get some shit Boxster that all of the shitheads own. Not a killer 375hp 2016 Spyder. So close, yet so far. Porsche and your turbo shit, you suck.

 

I now want an Alfa Romeo Giulia

 

Never really got that... Why are Alfa Romeos historically so prized and respected? They don't seem to exude a sportscar image around them...

 

Top Gear says you've never really enjoyed driving until you've driven an Alfa Romeo.

 

@Marvey
I saw a 4C for the 1st time about 9 das ago in the flesh. Weeeeeee.
My FRS is my coupe of choice. Open air is something I want to explore when selling my Rousch. I have seen the 2016 Spyder around here in white. I like the silver one myself, but it is my favorite vert, and that Porsche 911 motor (fun to wring out).

Boxster has gotten bigger over the years, along with the 911.
Cars like my FRS are smaller and lighter
Alpha Romeo 4C is even a touch smaller (me like this car too).
Smaller makes and lighter makes for a great driving experience.

Just love to push my FRS as hard as I can and see what happens.
If it lets loose..... the handling in a drift is the easiest to control out of any I have ever driven.

Cars are fun. Make sure you have the experience behind the wheel when hooning.

 

@Marvey
For the record.... I bought the FRS before seeing this video.
One of the first in Florida to have a Red Manual.

Chris Harris is British, and has some serious driving skills. He can jump into a car he has never driven before and eke out it to 95% in minutes.
He also has the enthusiasm of a high school teenager that just got laid by the hottest girl in the school. He is my absolute favorite video reviewer. If you can keep up with his pace and real joy of automotive life..... his reviews are more than gold, they are titanium. Put's a smile on my face every time. TV now has scooped him up. Hope it don't change such an entertaining individual.

Here is his initial test of the FRS in Spain.....
go to 3:12 to save time if needed.
The first 3 minutes are for us enamored with the FRS, or just love the wit of Chris Harris



Enjoy

 

@Marvey
Just this one more from Chris Harris
This is the lightest production car, sold over in Britian
Ariel Atom V8 1278lbs just under 500hp
Street Legal in Britian
Ariel Atom part goes only to 13:17... Noble review after is a yawn



Long Video (Just watch the Ariel Atom 1st part my recomendation) but a great way to spend time....
if you're a person that has put some time in behind the wheel of a great automobile

Go to 22:32 for Chris Harris synopsis on these two weird cars... pretty witty

 

@Marvey
When I bought the FRS (May 27, 2012) I drove my FRS home from Daytona from the car dealership for an hour on Interstate 95. In that peroid, it was quite evident, the tires were coming off the car, and lighter wheels were going on it with some track tires. Got home and within an hour ordered Kosei (built in Japan) 14lb wheels, and Dunlop Direzza Star Specs (made in Japan) tires. Got them in 2 days. Put them on. Night and day. 215's all around. It was a life changing upgrade. Safety is paramount when hooning. I had a brand new set of Direzza 225's for my Maxima sitting and ended up putting them on the back for 2 reasons. One, the 215's look kind of silly, and two, staggered looked like something I wanted to test out. Turn out that the handling didn't improve, but the car still drove the same and looked one hell of a lot better. Just a littler harder to break the rear end loose.

As far as I am concered.... the 86 is unsafe with stock tires. Get them off before you hit a pole. This car has a neutral balance that literally is going to give you the ability to learn the basics of driving. If you know the basics already, you are just going to jump for joy every time you get in the 86, It is the best balanced car I have ever driven for speeds below triple digits. There are other cars for the Autobahn. This is not one of them. If you live in the USA and do not do the Interstate or some highway all the time, you will have a car for serious drivers. No frills here. You gotta understand. This is a simple "racecar". Personalize it. Millions of parts available. Just get one, if you like driving.
Enough Said

 

Something is warming up in the Big D Labs........

See if you can find Waldo (JBL LSR310S Sub). He's somewhere. His kids JBL LSR308a and JBL LSR308b are out for all to see. Waldo is hiding. And he won't come out. Everyone is wired up and warmed up for a half hour and ready to be adjusted. The JBL Pro 3 Series is ready to be flogged. Results soon. There are adjustments on each Active Monitor and Active Sub. Going to take a while.

Waldo (JBL LSR310S Sub)



The JBL Pro 3 Series





Going into the Lab for listening and adjustments. Should be a fun time. Just my luck, I temp wired the system. And the proper cable came 5 minutes later. Sheesh.
Who cares? It's a 5 minute fix.

 

@Marvey
I love that the first FRS has the more oversteer. I feel that they kind of neutered the car with the latest adjustments. BMW M3, the older ones circa 2005 had that nice oversteer built in. I think they listened too much to Randy Probst. He liked the BRZ handling better. F$%k that. Hell no. This is a fun car that has that little bit of oversteer that makes it great.

I bought the TRD filter the first week I had it, and the ash tray. I have 2 of the Optional Pioneer BeSpoke head units. A brand new one is in my shop, in case of failure of my existing one.

Coming from a racing backround, I can't endorse the fun of the stock tires. To me they just are crap. I go out and push the limits of driving and don't want to work on my slip angles with such a crap set of tires underneath me. I have been using Direzzas since they were able to be sold in the USA. I have always been a Dunlop fan, and have used them exclusively. Tire Rack just sent me their Spring Catalog. Not sure if you get that. But there is about 4 Tires that are using the same idea as the Direzza, and are the racing 200AA rating. Toyo Proxes is a lower rating and is not allowed in most events that our cars compete. And the Toyo has no grip in the rain at all. If you don't get the Tire Rack Catalog. Just look up FRS at the website, and check the Extreme Performance Summer Tire only. There they will have the tires that I'm talking about. It used to be just BF Goodrich and Direzzas that were IMO the best tire for a middle size track. Now Bridgestone Potenza RE-71R is out and boy it sure looks just like a Direzza. Anyway, if you haven't thrown the Direzzas on the FRS, I can't tell you much more about how good the car gets. It is a completely different driving car. That's the long and short of it. 3 seconds off a mid size track lap.

When it comes to a tune. I got the new ECU tune from Toyota, when they were having problems with the motors blowing at redline. I redline all the time, and an aftermarket tune for me is out of the question. Toyota put a lot of time with Suburu to make that little Boxer run the best it could at the top revs. The torque dip, as some refer to, to me is just a great plus at low rpms we have more torque than most 4 cylinder normally aspirated cars. You press on the gas at 2000rpm and the car accelerates. Most 4 cylinder 2.0 liter engines don't have that torque available to drive the highway in style, and accelerate. It is not a dip to me. It is a built in Interstate helper at low rpm for acceleration. That is my take on why Toyota did that. The Honda S2000 sucked at low rpm driving around town and that is why I canceled my buy with this pristine silver S2000 for $20,000.00. It was mint, with that plastic protection everywhere. The FRS is such a great car to do just about anything for 2 people. If you have more than that. You need to have another car for outings. But what utility the FRS has. It really has so much room to do so much, for such a small looking car when you look at it from the street. It makes me crazy how every part was thought out by engineers for fuction. They took this project very much as to produce the pinnacle of the fun sports car with all function, NO FRILLS. I sat in the FRS in the Dealership for a half hour when the first one came in. Didn't get out of it. The salesmen were giving me stares. The FRS was an automatic, but had the Pioneer BeSpoke Stereo. Looked damn good. Dash just like a Porsche damn good. Seat / seems like I don't have to buy a racing seat. Buttons / old school but function. Vents / just right Driving position and view out / perfect. I knew I had to buy one. 2 hours later, I put a deposit on a Red Manual FRS an hour away. Found a Red. Next day took Limo and rode home in my new FRS. Weeeeee.

That's my take. I'm going to get the JDM exhaust tips. I have under car lighting, in car lighting, engine bay lighting (all remote control multi-color)
Dupont Deep Yellow Painted Calipers. I got this done when I bought the car, and brought it to the custom car place. Did a nice job with my brand new calipers.
Cost $200.00 for paint. I picked out the color from the Dupont catalog. That's all for now. FRS rule.

 

Let's get back to 2 Channel......



The JBL Pro 3 Series System was tested in the Labs for 3 hours. I think I want to take the High Frequency Trim Setting Slider to the -2db setting. I like no fatigue. Fatigue is the killer of my ears. Time and setting change will tell if that this is the little helper that I like. Sound, well it is quite clear that we are listening to hollow speakers. The construction is not something that is 40lbs/speaker. They are only 18lbs/speaker. That is minimal. It does stand out, to me in the sound representation. There are ways to fix. And Dynamat is in my shop. About 40lbs of it. Initial quality is a mixed bag. The tweeters are just too much for me right now when in my listening chair with some albums. The accuracy is there, but bright is my nemesis. So let's think that the -2db setting will fix my ills with this problem. Bass.... well it's not a REL. Does it meld with the system? Yes. It blends well. Waldo is the 308LSRs best friend. Forget about haviing the 308s without Waldo. It just won't give you the needed breadth of the intended musician's conveyance. I used Klipsch 2.1 ProMedia 2.1 for a whole lot of years with my computer Workstation. And I had Klipsch Promedia 5.1 with the additional sub on the other side of the room with my web computer for sound in my office. The full sound spectrum was not perfect, but it produced something that was full. We cannot disregard full sound. My and my son used to have Dance Partys with the 5.2 Klipsch System with an Audigy 2 Sound Card running from the computer. In the middle of the surround with 600 watts RMS and full sound..... it was an experience with MP3 files. Not perfect. But powerful and giving you a representation of what the musician wanted you to feel. This is what sound is all about. Lest us not forget. It's not all about how good it sounds. It is the experience. Truth be told. My car stereo systems have cooked so many batteries..... it's crazy...... RMS Power out the Wazzoooooooooooo...... Talk about going to the Moon..... Me and my family and friends have put audiophile car stereo to high level.

On another note...... See next post

 

No one mentioned they knew where Waldo was. No comments. Surprised Yoda is.

Here is where Waldo is hiding. Sounds good from this location.



Behind the Krell KSA-200S.... Right in front of the Fireplace. See the Candles in the Fireplace. This is the 1st time you're seeing that detail.

 

Doing some testing....

My USB Cable is turning out to be a bit of a pain. 10ft Audioquest Forest. 2nd Tier Audioquest Cable. I keep having to step over it now since upgrading system to new Krell amp, I am so tired of walking around, or stepping over the damn thing. Well there is a limit of USB distance. 15ft USB is the norm of distance before you have to buy an Active Extension USB Cord. I have bought many. But you really don't want to involve sound with this. Do you?

Well. I have been going back and forth for a month now....
Audioquest Forest 15ft or the next level Audioquest Cinnamon 15ft.

It's a $70.00 difference in price. I made the decision tonight. Screw it. I did the Audioquest Cinnamon 15ft because of one Review on Amazon that is now gone. Otherwise, I would have posted it. It was a Doctor, that used Medical Imaging. He was a constant user of Medical Imaging Equipment. He convinced me that the Audioquest Cinnamon was up to "spec", and consistent every time with his buys for his business. The data goes thru and that is all that is needed. I just don't want to trip over the freakin' cable any more. I know the price is really not justifiable in this cheapo day and age. There is something to be said for having something being "up to spec". 15ft of USB is pushing it. So you better be on your best behavior with your cable. Belkin stopped manufacturing their Gold Series 16ft Cable. WTF. But it's true. Just got another cancellation today. Been scouring the internet for months to get the F&*^kin" Cable. Not a chance.

Audioquest Cinnamon 15ft USB from my Surface 4 Clone (Acer 12) Cost $158.78



I like the USB connection with FLAC file listening.
Tablet Surface 4 Win10 with native Groove Music app running FLAC files.
QHD resolution Touchscreen.
Just great layout and so legible. Da Bomb.
It is just a few lunches and dinners away from affordable.
This is the anti-thesis of the SBAF, and I understand if there is some backlash.

But, I have put a month of thought into the yes and no's of this buy.... and screw it. It is a one time buy that will allow my computer to not have me trip over it all the time. It's worth it's price in gold.

I was starting to feel like Richard Simmons and should put on a striped shit and work out.
Every time I wanted to make an adjustment on my stereo, I needed to be on American Gladiator.

 

Update...........

This is some serious News from the Big D Labs, that some hugs would help
My lady of the last 7 years is in the ICU in Critical Condition
She is Stable and will make it, I feel
Infection is Septic
On Ventilator for 4 days tomorrow
Heavy Sedation... I am not allowed to see her
I have a kind of Jesus effect and will aggravate condtion
Tough for me
I benchmark the previous times, and am hopeful that she will recover once again

Life sometimes is not going to have a perfect health
We have to live with what we are given and go with it
I find that waking up and not thinking about what you have to accomplish is maybe a way to cope
What if you had nothing to accomplish
Then you absolutely had nothing to do
Get into that space, and you will find peace
Just a thought

Put down your Phone, first of all
Leave it at home, and go out for a drive without it
Screw it, cut the cord once a week and leave the Phone home charging
I cut the cord 4 years ago, and it was the best thing I ever did
I have 5 Smartphones, and only use them on Wi-Fi. That's it
I watch you Fu*&kers all day long carry these things like they are something
Get Real
They are your demise
I cut the cord, and I never felt better
I had 5 Bluetooth Headsets, 4 Smartphones,1 Flip-Phone and 2 Data Plans when I was in Business
I was on the shit all day long

This is just a reminder of the Smart Phone. It is not your friend. It is a little Devil in a way. If you walk across the street and don't pay attention to the road.... you a a shit. End of subject. I see it all the time. America grow up. You hold your Phone like it is your child. You hold your child less.

Anyway, my lover and best friend is at the ICU in a Hospital. It is Critical, but Stable. But she is Septic. That is touch and go. I make my stand here. Cut the crap with your selfish ways, and your peering into, and holding your Smartphone like it is GOD. One day you will have to address something hard like I am going thru right now. You are programed in some strange way. Almost like a Robot. I'm not sure who the next generation is. I can only hope we can get past the angst that has become the USA. Quite frankly..... I can't even go to MSN.com since Trump has been elected. Such bullshit. I don't soak up MSN every day like I used to. So corrupt. NBC owns it.

This is part political post and part suggestion.
Take it for what it's worth.
I cut the cord.
I was addicted heavy.
Feel better now.

 

Good luck, Big D.

 

If you all are interested.....
I have many topics that can be discussed

Sound from your TV is one of them. Putting money into a receiver and all that crap. Forget about it. Let's have a reality about why that is so wrong.

 

@Dino
Thanks