Congratulations, T Cobe!

Good move. I'll be you'll love how well the sound envelope sounds in all movie and music venues!

Happy listening!

Rick

A little off topic here, not sure where best to post... My wife and I went to see a live performance of "Lord of the Dance" (Michael Flatley ...my wife loves dancing) the other night. The sound system was VERY good; bass was deep, clean and powerful (big speakers, several folks in the sound/audio control booth). Most times out, especially movie theaters, I am disappointed with sound systems compared to what I can hear at home with my GEt speakers.

Well, after listening all night, the best complement I can give what I heard at the show is that it sounded AS GOOD AS my own system, and that for me is saying something. I'm sure the sound system at the show was expensive, and folks really responded to loud, bassy portions. For the first time in my life, after being at a show with GREAT sound system, I thought to myself, "my sound system can do that too!!".

I remain SO impressed with what GEt speakers can do, even compared to expensive stuff at shows. If I had never heard or purchased GEt speakers, what I heard at the show would have been the best I have ever heard. Well, I can hear that at home also, and that just blows my mind.

Rick

I've owned Creed for about a week and finally got around to watching it. The Rocky franchise has been a bit hit and miss through the years. The films are always heavy handed and formulaic but it's a classic formula that entertains.



PQ was pretty good and the location and cinematography certainly helped. Colors, details, and black levels were good as were the skin tones. It was a bit grainy at times but pretty solid. 4/5

SQ was decent as well. There was nothing reference or demo quality but the surround during the fight scenes was good and there was a club scene or two that drew in some LFE. In all, not a very dynamic soundtrack but it supported the film. 3.5/5

If you're a fan of the franchise and enjoy the ability to wax nostalgic, you'll enjoy this film. The one part that really ruined it for me was the terrible fight choreography. While the casting was good and most fighters looked the part, the action in the ring was quite pathetic. It was pretty distracting. I'll give this one a lackluster recommendation. It may be better to wait for this one to show up on a pay channel.

Cheers,

T Cobe

I just finished watching perhaps Claudio Abbado's last concert directing the Lucerne Festival Orchestra (the pieces were from Brahms, Schoenberg, and Beethoven). He succumbed to cancer shortly thereafter. Claudio had described how he falls in love with the music he chooses. It remains a mystery to me how he could MEMORIZE entire scores, knowing the progression of the whole piece, what each section is to play and when, when even the musicians themselves need sheet music for their individual pieces! I've yet to see him have any scores in front of him. Virtually all conductors have the scores in front of them as they conduct.

As always, SQ is amazing. Just watching Claudio do his thing, a genius at work, is amazing.

Thanks again, Wayne, for introducing me to Claudio's music!

Watched Straight Outta Compton last night with my wife and my sister. We all enjoyed it. I didn't really know the story at all. I know Dre and Ice Cube but didn't honestly know who was in NWA. Didn't really know the rest of the group except being peripherally aware of Eazy-E.

The movie is 2.5 hours but never feels slow. There's also plenty to focus on the main plot, the making of the music, etc. without going into a lot of side stories. When there are biopics about solo artists there is often a side story about their personal relationships. When there is a "super group" so to speak, there wasn't a need nor an opportunity really, to do that.

The movie will make full use of your surround system. They did a fantastic job IMO mixing the sound in scenes in the studio vs. scenes taking place at a live concert.

It was difficult to see the way the police acted in this film which is probably not an exaggeration. And it is disheartening to think how little progress we've made.

On a side note, hopefully Paul Giamatti can move away from the "controlling manager" role. He played a similar role in Love and Mercy.

Unless you have a strong negative feeling about this kind of music, I can give a strong recommendation to see this film.

Watched In the Heart of the Sea this evening. I went for the fake 3D version, as Wayne would say, and this version was not so impressive so I won't dwell on that. It was a decent period drama telling the tale of telling the tale of Moby Dick.

PQ was respectable. The amount of detail on actual characters and objects was good quality seemed a bit erratic and some of that was probably due to the 3D manipulation post production but there was also a lot of CGI. The color of this film was good in parts but a lot of times had a dingy yellowish green dominance to the color scheme that was distracting. I'll call this a 3.5/5.

SQ was good. As with many movies set on ships, there was a lot of surround sound throughout the movie to help create ambiance and immersion. The effects were good. There were a few scenes with some good LFE and other dynamic moments but the surround sound stole the stage. Luckily I have all of my Aons in place to enjoy the surround sound quality. I'll go 4/5 on this one for SQ.

Skip the 3D version and crank up the volume. Enjoy the film for what it is: a period drama that tells the tale of the story that inspired the tale of Moby Dick. The lack of action and the variance in picture quality prevented this from getting an enthusiastic recommendation but it is worth a couple of hours if you're caught up on your watchlist.

Cheers,

T Cobe