yekim

in jazz circles, its simply called 'smooth jazz' - fourplay is made up of some the best smooth jazz musicians including bob james, lee ritenour and others. im not much of a fourplay fan but 'heartfelt' is one of their better ceedees, imho of course, only because it is more improvisational than their work on other ceedees. the best place to read up on ANY kind of music or musician/group is www.allmusic.com search for the artiste and read on

excellent stuff by a bunch of very polished polish jazzmen - very earthy and introspective

hi ahgoh - it should fit but you can mod it by making a hole in the centre which opens up the sound - cut enough to expose the round white netted area - the hole on my senn pads is about 1.75 " in diameter, find some object like a glass with that kind of diameter to work with - use a sharp cutter - take your time and you will have a perfect round hole . oh and make sure that the bottom of the pad has some support before you cut - i used a jam jar lid - look for the right size that fits nicely - you'll need a lot of support before you start cutting. that is if youre going to take this route.

andrew hill - a beautiful day

ahgoh - the flat pads are not the same as the comfy pads which come with the sr60s. the flat pads are i think sold only by todd at http://www.toddthevinyljunkie.com/ going @ us$30 apair tropicalrips- yes they do after a while if used in the conventional manner - its a little better when inverted - i think because there's a little less of the foam that comes into contact with the ears when inverted.

donald byrd and the 125th street nyc - funky jazz with soulful vocals - old recording though - found it at the old gramaphone in oub basement -part of the stock that theyre clearing - $1.95 - yep you heard me right - their junk obviously - my treasure

pat metheny group - we live here

amazing

forgot to add that i tried the sock mod too as found over at headwize - it was a no go for me - the bass went all mushy and the mid bass more prominent - the highs didnt benefit either - but the mod was very comfortable but the trade off in sound was a bit too much.

hi, i have been using the grado sr80s for the last 6 months or so--the bowls although uncomfortable can be made tolerable if squished under a heavy weight - i squished mine under about 25kg of weight for about a week and that softened the hardness of the bowls. the senn pads are comfy but i prefer using them inverted, ie, with the original hole resting over the ears - you still have to make a hole in it to get it on the cup. by far the best upgrade was the flat pads. my rating would be: 1 - flat pads 2 - senn pads but inverted 3 - bowls - note even when squished good and proper, the bowls still exhibit the same grittiness at the top end, which the senns and the flats smooth out nicely. but ymmv. ps: anyone tried dyeing their yellow senn pads? what dye do you use? i tried dyeing mine with dylon -black and it turned army green well at least it isnt canary yellow

rollins band - weight

tuck & patti

medeski martin n wood - friday afternoon in the universe - first rate groove jazz with excellent improv work

wireless phones do not quite cut it in terms of sound quality over corded headphones. they are not, imo anyway, for serious listening but they are convenient for listening to music whilst working about the house or movies. they are also great if you do not want to disturb your significant other who is sleeping and youre watching the telly. sennheiser rs45 is not bad - my wife uses one and i know its good because it doesnt bother me when she wants to stay up watching tv. philips has some nice models - take a trip to mustaffa's - the last time i went there, they appeared to have a decent range. the only caveat with the sennheisers is that they use a proprietary chargeable battery which doesnt last very long - which means you would need to purchase at least a spare if not spares and have one charged battery on standby. philips and some of the other brands use regular batteries - i think these may be more suitable. most of the models would fall within your budget quite comfortably.

jazz? try cassandra wilson - very acoustic dee dee bridgewater - a livewire but aoustic rameish's choice of helen merrill is excellent - a musician's singer joni mitchell's recent foray into jazz with 'both sides now' is a nice listen but its not a small acoustic set- its got orchestral backing others worth checking out are: nina simone sarah vaughan ella fitzgerald radka toneff has an excellent and heart tugging recording in 'fairy tales' but is a difficult to find gem rickie lee jones

that is very very neat soldering work - i wish my joints looked as neat

U2 - achtung baby - its a goood night

bobby previte & bump - 'counter clockwise' an excellent prog jazz recording on palmetto

mackie, thanks for the response - i auditioned it very briefly once and found it 'different' in a nice way from hd600 and grado 80 but it was, as said, a very brief audition. i am hoping that those who own this can give their views. if i do get the opportunity to audition it, i will post my views. as for a price range, i reckon anywhere up to $400.00. my taste in music is a rojak of sorts - 70's soul - think tower of power, brass construction, o jays, isley brothers etc, to rock - u2, steely dan, alan parsons etc, mainstream, thirdstream, avantgarde and progressive jazz - think john coltrane, miles, oscar peterson, pat metheny, john scofield, matthew shipp steve coleman etc to classical - albeniz to zoltan kodaly. this may help in narrowing down recommendations. thanks

hi, i wanted to get a feel of how you folks would rate akg 271s. i love my senn 600 and grado 80 but have an itch to get something different - i cant rationalise this - its one of those things addicts do i guess another reason that prompts me to consider the 271s is that its a sealed design - useful in that i will not be disturbing my wife if i plan on some late night into the early hours listening session - the senn and the grado leaks a fair bit, the grado more so than the senn. thanks y

bach - goldberg variations - with THE man, glenn gould at the ivories. very therapeutic

augustineRS, ygpm

agree with naz - canare plugs are great - they look good and are value for money. if youd like to go all the way, consider cardas rhodium plugs/jacks - pricey but top dog. cheers

shouldnt be a problem - i got my consonance ella shipped in a kit form from hk. brian cherry the owner is a very helpful chap and prompt with his emails. the chazz is indeed beautiful but im still enjoying my diy morgan jones a lot - sigh