codehead

hehe--reminds me of when I got my first listen of 901's (dang, about 25 years ago--I'm getting up there). I dropped off a car amp to a guy and he invited me to hear his system. I had to be civil and nod my head and smile when the guy ask, "nice, huh?", while I was thinking to myself, "how can this guy listen to this crap?" A fundamentally flawed design, well marketed. It's like those tiny-speakered Bose surround systems sold everywhere--Costco, etc.--people stand around and go "wow" cuz they're so tiny, but don't seem to notice they also sound like crap.

My home audio system hasn't been updated since the 80's--never have time to listen to it anyway. Canton CT-1000 (er, I think that's right--I said 2000 first...) speakers. I didn't have the bucks to spend at the time, but I feel in love with them. The last time I was looking for Canton, on the web, it appeared that they have changed to the consumer low-fi biz and car audio. (Pereaux amp, PS Audio pre.)

Oh man, since I was in my teens and discovered hifi, B&W has been one of my very very favorite speakers. I don't know if that's changed in the last 10 years, but probably not. Love 'em. Never heard Martin Logan speakers--I haven't kept up on the hifi scene in a long time. But if you use them in the same sentence as B&W, I'll assume they're good.

codehead

Yeah, the interior looks surpisingly cheesey from the coupe pix with the straight dash and all, but I though maybe it would be more substantial in person. And the sedan looked pretty similar in the interior flash on the tv commercials--sorry to hear it's cheesey in person.

JerryL

codehead:
See if there is a 5 speed 330I sedan with the sport package to drive. The coupes have the sport suspension standard, so if you want to compare the ride, make sure it has a sport package.

SiGGy

heh, ya

I'm not putting the CLS leather on a high pedistal though. Its fairly cheezy. but nice...

and fact reamins others purchased the car for $38.5k

granted i was off a small margin it didn't change the fact the bimmer has better resale. As I initially said the TLS has good resale the CLS just isn't very good... I can only imagine the 330i will be even further ahead when the 04 CLS's come out. But thats just my speculation. And since I own a CLS I sure as hell hope I'm wrong!

Ya I dunno about his deals on the bimmer over dealer cost. But I have met a few other people who have the same car for under $40k


The initial point of this conversation was to prove re-sale. And the bimmer has it. Regardless of the nit-nack prices we keep going through... As good as the conversation has been. It was the initial argument. (WAY... back when...) heh

SiGGy

http://www.genelec.com/

is what I own and listen too, and I have a pair fo stax electro static headphones.

good systems start with at least a preamp and an amp, or some amps, and a external digital to anaglog converter. preferably tube...


B&W still makes great speakers... but I don't like the metal tweets... they have some peaks in them. Silk is a much better choice for a driver so it doesn't resonate. They make some crazy artsy speakers too, fricken wild looking.

SiGGy

yup,

leather, wood, and wheels!

thanks!

But the dash has wood on it anyway standard which what I was trying to say...

The wood package adds more. I was more trying to say they don't use fake wood. However very little of it you do get standard

SiGGy

LMFAO

ya, umm OOPS! But I just copied and pasted that... Guess someone made a typo at BMW. heheh

re: CLS windows

Ya on the drivers side only.... but they're getting the idea. And be nice if they did the same for the roof rack. Then also do what BMW allows and let you pimp the car from the remote... I.E. my friend does this all the time on his 3 series. He hold a few buttons on the remote and the windows/roof will auto go up/shut, and auto open.

Kinda stupid too, but I think it's cool.

SiGGy

LOL, no problem.

I have really thick skin. And I appreciate the fact you are debating this instead of just blatently swearing at me. As others have done to try and prove their point with hash words intead of facts. Which accomplishes nothing. You have had some very valid points.

Ya the german know what they are doing. And they don't cut cost with cheap materials.

However the BMW paint is about the same quality as our Acuras. Which just sucks for both of us.

cnatra

So do the Canton's have built in AMPS ??

I've been looking at http://www.definitivetech.com

and http://www.martinlogan.com

I love the sound of the Martin Logans but those electrostatics
are NOT efficient(90db) & have a nominal impedence of about 2-4ohms.
Need a big hight current amp. The Definitive's sound very good
& have built in amps for the subs. The bipolar arrangement sounds surprisingly good.
I've got an old pair of Infinity RSIIIb's & an Adcom amp/preamp/tuner

here's http://www.bwspeakers.com

later

codehead

Yeah, I would expect the 330 to do better on resale, especially the first couple of years or so. I think teh fact that most people have to order and wait for them and pay over list helps the resale--same with Mercedes.

About the leatherette: Maybe someone can chime in who knows--I don't--but... When I looked a year and a half ago, the 330s were just coming in and they only had one and I think it was sold so they were sitting me in 328s and trying to bump me to low-end 5-series and used 5-series. The base 5-series they had on the floor for $40k was non-leather (don't know if they called it leatherette)--it was black vinyl with little bumps on it that bore no resemblance to leather, and you would expect on outdoor patio furniture maybe. The salesman defended it as being tough, but it was really awful. Now, "leatherette" can mean anything. Maybe they're improved it in the newer models, but the way I understand it, leatherette usually mean completely synthetic, which can sometimes be farily decent at first but doesn't hold up like the real thing. Am I wrong here?

Doesn't matter, just curious. When you said leather standard, I'm just saying I don't think leatherette means leather at all--I could be wrong.

codehead

No, they are your standard 3-way passive crossover, wid the mid in a separate chamber ported out the back. Pretty traditional, metal tweeter, 12" woofer, but with a thick & heavy cabinet--good frequency range and flat--a little sizzly in the high end, as usual with metal tweeter, but tight low end and no bumps in the response.

When I redo the kitchen (which will move the door into the living room and alter the living room orientation), I'll have to look into sound system. I've never gotten a surround system for the DVD cuz I've always found such systems to be at odds with accurate music reproduction. I haven't looked in a long time though.

My office/studio is the one with the biamped system--8-in with coaxial tweet in the top cabs and 15" woof in the bottom cabs, external active crossover and amps. Mainly a near-field monitoring setup.

codehead

hehe, metal tweets--worse, my drummer in an old band had the old wide, squat, shallow Dahlquist speaks--piezo tweets!

Yeah, I've spent a lot of time with Genelecs as studio monitors. I had a pair for my non-home office/studio for a long time--not the dinky ones but in the middle--it was... 103xA (1031?). Pretty good in the range, but I really wished for the subs when I needed to check low-end detail. Well, actually I made them get me the Genelecs cuz they had Alesis and Event monitors which were unusable for detail--the Genelecs did the job, 'cept for the lows obviously. (Geez, I heardo bring in one of Cantons to check low end detail on a guitar processing device I was making, had the gain too hot, got a burst of feeback right off the bat and blew the mid's voice coil. bummer)

You have their home stuff?

2001AudiS4

Buy Audi

codehead

Yeah, the S4's in there (too bad about the extra doors). I've been discussing Cl/BMW/Audi with my ex-bro-in-law in Germany--he sez:

"We're getting the new Audi S4 in fall with a 4.2 liter V-8 and 340 hp!... My old Audi S6 is also an Avant. I'm also looking to eventually replace it, but my real wish car is out of my reach pricewise for now. This is the new (coming here this summer) Audi RS6 with a 4.2 liter V-8 biturbo and 450 HP and 560 Nm of torque!"

2001AudiS4

I am actually pretty happy about the extra doors. I went from a 92 legend coupe to the S4. I loved my legend, but having the extra doors is really nice at times. The car is small and the backseat doesn't leave much room, but it is much easier to get in and out of. Normally I like the 2 door look better, but I do love the look of the S4.

codehead

OK, I'm lined up to drive one tomorrow.

codehead

I drove the G35 sedan this evening. Yeah, the interior was an odd mixture of cheese and nice. Nice wood trim on the doors, cheesey dashboard, etc. The coupe looks anout the same, but maybe replacing the wood with metal (looked like it maybe in the pix). I didn't take it through the twisties or much turning at all--it was starting to get dark, and I just wanted a quick feel of the car. The engine sounded nice, but I was out of sorts driving an automatic. I didn't get much chance to corner with it, but I have a gut feeling the CL-S 6MT would put it to shame. I could be wrong, of course, and rear wheel drive requires a different kind of aggression in aggressive turns...

(Normally I'd prefer rear drive, but the 6MT's limited slip differential seem to strike a good compromise.)

codehead

And, oh yeah--that 275-280hp they're saying it might have is not final, which I already knew, but the salesman shrugged and said that's what they said the G35 sedan would be, but it ended up being 260... we'll see...