@Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 Wix or MANN for the win. AC-Delco and Ford Motorcraft also make quality products. I've cut lots and lots of them open myself. Carquest is also rebranded WIX. Life is too short to risk that Allied Signal junk. It will only matter to you when it FAILS.

@Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 I don't know, maybe it was just my radio, but it sounded broken it was so bad

but then again, I'm also a sound engineer, so even listening to flac audio, the bose speakers bother me

not as much as the satelite radio does, but it's a noticeable stiffness to the speakers

listening to the satelite radio I was actually disappointed in my entire purchase of the car until I realized it was just the satelite radio's poor quality that was the issue making it sound so horrible

but I'm also the exception rather than the rule... most people can't reliably tell you the difference between no only 192kbps and 320kbps audio, but also between 320kbps and flac and also between flak and live

(though it does depend on listening environment for some of the higher grade ones. I certainly couldn't tell the difference between 320 and flak or even 320 and live going down the highway on the bose speakers

probably not even between 192 and 320 since the rattle in bose paper cones causes a loss in the subtle details that distinguish them

@SteveRacer Have you any experience with UFI filters?

@SteveRacer - Wix are great filters. NAPA filters are made by WIX (IIRC). ACDelco make good filters, but I've had a problem with them where they reduce oil pressure in my '06 Silverado by about 10-15psi at any given engine speed.

@AJHenderson - You must have great hearing, is all I can say (which you probably need for your job). Between working on vehicles in a shop environment, bad ear infections when I was a kid, and tinnitus as an adult, I don't have much issue with the sound quality of satellite radio. Besides, most of the music I hear is probably heard through my minds eye rather than what my ears actually pick up.

@Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 it's partly having really good hearing, but it's more knowing what to listen to. There are slight alterations to the sound from the encodings

if you know what you are listening for it's much easier to notice

you don't notice so much from the lack of detail as it's very hard to recognize what is missing, but the artifacts that are introduced are much more noticeable

but I've mixed sound anywhere from hours a day to 7-14 hours a month for the last 25 years or so

@AJHenderson - I know they have to do audio clipping in the music in order to make it less expensive to transmit it ... at least I assume they do the same "type" of thing as what occurs when you rip mp3's from audio recordings to save space.

@Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 yeah, they discard information from frequencies that people listen to less (normally) and parts that hold subtler details

so things like brush strokes on cymbols or string noise on a string instrument get lost early on

@AJHenderson - I've talked to enough sound engineer types to know it drives you guys nuts, lol!

I'm sure it bugs @RoryAlsop to no end as well ;-)

and as it gets more aggressive, it starts dropping out entire parts of the sound just leaving the general tone and enough of the syblance that people can understand what it is

where as trained musicians and sound engineers are listening to all those nuances and working to bring them out, so when we hear something where they are missing, it's pretty awefull

fortunately, most people don't actually listen that closely and aren't used to focusing on all of that

music wouldn't sound as good if you didn't have people who know to listen for that stuff working on making it, but most of it is lost on the general public

@Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 we're an odd breed though since audiophiles also drive us nuts

the one group just is oblivious to what they are missing and the other group likes to mess it all up from being a realistic sound and color it on overpriced hardware that just distorts things in a way they like

Anyone who knows professionally about something is more sensitive to what they do. For me, watching movies where they start talking things I know about drives me nuts, because they invariably get it wrong.

@Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 it's horrific enough that I cannot listen to iPods (or any Apple music product), smartphone MP3 players, most other MP3 players...

@RoryAlsop - Hey, Bro. You doing well

?

Absolutely - 10 days into my new job and just about able to draw a breath

They reckon I'll be settled in in about 9-12 months

:-)

@RoryAlsop oh yeah, I forgot you switched jobs, been so distracted with everything I've had going on

How are you @Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 and @AJHenderson

@RoryAlsop - Heh, don't breathe now, you don't have time!!!

(and I just proved my head isn't working)

just finished a color grade on a short film that's getting submitted to some festivals and picked up a new CX-9 to have room for the daughter in June

the old 3 hatchback wasn't going to hold a carseat behind the driver's seat very well for someone 5'11"

@RoryAlsop - I'm doing okay. Recovering from a sinus infection. Been on antibiotics for about 3 days now, so they are starting to kick in pretty well.

Even just the acronym list here is nuts - not surprising as we have 4000 offices in 70 countries... But still

Haha, nice

@AJHenderson that reminds me. With my eldest now 6ft5in, we got my wife a new used car. The Kia Venga. Not my kind of car but a really good city car that has head- and legroom

wait, i thought you were staying at the same place but shifting jobs, or did you actually end up getting something else?

Same gig, but going from one of the biggest UK banks to one of the biggest global banks. And my remit is now fully global...

ah

still bummed about the Bliz thing

that would have been pretty cool since I've run out of contacts there

Yeah. That would have been really good fun

My kids are gutted

after my Sr. Producer buddy left to, oddly enough, work in the financial sector

Well, FS pays much better...

indeed

@RoryAlsop - Hopefully this all came with a heft pay raise?

;-)

Oh yes :-)

I know your side gig prolly doesn't pay like you'd want yet, lol!

Looks like it will shorten my mortgage by 8 years

"only"

Noice

lol, do bands ever pay what you wish they would?

@Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 some day...

@AJHenderson not unless you are Kiss, or Rolling Stones etc

@RoryAlsop - Keep it as a labor of love ... when it has to pay the bills is when people start hating what they love. This is the reason I don't work as a mechanic.

@RoryAlsop I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess they'd disagree with that too

I always had to laugh when the RIAA was going after google since google could literally BUY the entire recording industry

@RoryAlsop - Those are the "exceptions" ... (as you well know)

@AJHenderson - That's funny, but oh so true!

as much noise as hollywood and musicians can make, people forget just how tiny those two industries actually are

I saw someone on facebook suggest that violent movies should be taxed to pay for armed guards at schools in the US

The membership structure of royalties organisations here mate it very obvious that 98-99% of artists are in the low category, and the remainder are that other category

They make noise because they can. The only reason they can is because they are so visible (out in the lime-light).

I pointed out they could take every dollar of revenue (not even profit) from every domestic ticket sale in the US and not cover that cost

@RoryAlsop - Haha, the 1%'ers!

just to put 1 guard in each school

@Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 yeah, which btw, you could not pay me enough to do. I've seen the stress it causes people

no thanks

@Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 the huge majority can not make enough to buy a house. They have it as a second career or hobby.

artists don't crack because artists are crazy, they crack because people paint them in to having to be this thin persona all the time and that drives people insane

Yah, it has to be something you really love and can live with, that's for sure.

That said, my royalties when we brought out the Burn album were rather good for a year

@Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 you can also tell who the ones that will be ok and the ones that will go nuts are

I bet

the ones that keep themselves surrounded by real friends and real relationships do ok, the ones that surround themselves with yes men and fans go nuts

Not everyone can be Sting, who gets paid on the order of $2k/day to have Every Breath You Take played on the radio around the world.

and the ones that don't go crazy you can normally see visibly relax when they see you are just treating them like an average human being

Could you imagine getting paid that much for one song? Holy crap. Cannot imagine what the rest of his catalog pays him!

I got a small taste of it locally in highschool and decided I had no interest. I much prefer working behind the scenes on recognizable projects so I can control people's recognition of me

There you go. Though, you could have just been in the Blue Man Group and nobody would know who you are anyway.

@Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 atleast if you fit their physical requirements

a buddy of mine wanted to do that but was too tall

which is too bad because he was a really good percusionist

@AJHenderson - And at least a modicum of musical talent ;-)

@AJHenderson wearing masks helps...

@RoryAlsop true, but makes life more difficult too I'd think

hard to be expressive or see what you are doing behind a mask

though it can still work with some music

Yeah - especially with lasers for eyes. Seeing, breathing, speaking and singing are a challenge

But my singing style didn't work for this band anyway so that's fine

@RoryAlsop - I just thought you did that so you wouldn't frighten small children ... wait ... the music Metaltech makes would do that already ... ;-)

I'm hungry ... must be time for lunch. Then I need to finish my final. Great fun.

These guys are having way too much fun.

@Myself I have no experience with UFI filters. I have some expereience with UFO filters; my current fave is the Stoeger M3500 12 gauge with light-gather sights. Being able to reach out a bit farther with the 3.5" magnums is a real plus, now that those pesky Greys learned to hover at a safe distance. But Hesus, my shoulder hurts, even with the Benelli inertia compensator system. Still, Im not letting those alien B@$T@rDs invade 'Murica

@SteveRacer - That should be 'Murica :o)

lol

Thank the Lawd I was within the edit window!

How em-bare-assing.

I'm always within the edit window

@SteveRacer - I hate it when that happens.

I assume your Hurculean efforts here at least grant you infinite edit priveledge. "But you said yesterday ..." NO I DID NOT.... Go look...

@SteveRacer - Say WHAT? ;-) No, really, I don't have a clue.

5 minutes is a narrow window for us AARP folks.

I'm with you on that one. It's a narrow window for non-AARP folks as well.

And then "just" when I realize my stream-of-consciousness ramble doesn't make sense, and is actually quite sexually offensive at first glance... Panic edit attempts are naught-in-vain with the dreaded "Sowwy. Comments cannot be edited after 5 minutes. Next time be sober if you're gonna post at 3 am."

LOL

How are things?

Pretty good. I'm Employed. (always a plus). My Saabaru 92x Aero project has gone nowhere, but at least I'm making enough money to work on it- but now lack the time. One or the other, never both.

Yup. I know my son's Impreza still needs some work I haven't been able to get to. I'm putting an EG33 into his 96 Impreza (in place of the EJ22). Great fun.

Understood - I've been watching. The fact that it runs is impressive. That H6 is a killer platform. I hope you put in the 300K rated spark plugs...

Actually, they aren't hard to get to.

The last mod to get it running better was to put separate coils on it ... much cheaper at $8ea vs the $60+ for the EG33 coils.

Maybe I'm just PTSD from a customer's Eddie Baur wagon. My best time was about 2 hours, unbolting the exhaust and engine mounts and sliding the whole thing left and right.

Just to change 6 plugs.

Yah, that would be a little worthy of that.

Still, all kinds of grunt in a very low COG package. Hurry up and get a baseline - a new turbo needs to be close behind. pink injectors, tumble deletes, downpipe, aluminum flywheel....

That should be 400whp all day long.

Haha ... once it's running and reliable, it's on him. I think he's actually going to sell it to buy his wife a car. Between you and I, I think it's going to be a maintenance nightmare.

Alrighty ... time to get my final done for class ... has to be in before midnight.

Yes, perhaps. Tiggers are fun fun fun. But the most wonderful thing about a Tigger? I'm the only one... Good luck in class and have a happy St. PaTTys.

@SteveRacer - Thanks! You have a safe and sane one as well :o)