Atjan

More like the 'big boot on a small car' look.

I've driven the 5 door Corollas a number of times and rear visibility is enough: you can see a car behind you very easily. The bottom of the window is no lower than a Commodore, for instance. What more do you need to see? Its got a reverse camera for reversing and you can't see the floor from any car. You won't see a small child out any car's rear window, SUVs being the worst example of that, even something like a LR Disco that probably has the biggest rear glass of any car out there. The window is that small to try and maximize boot size, which is a very practical thing for young families. Much more important than being able to see the number plate on a car that is tailgating you. I suppose if you want to complain about something that has no practical impact, you can. But there is no accounting for taste. I've seen a few C-HRs now and I think its one of the most exciting designs on the road. You can't have toast with vegemite for every meal. Try some wasabe on your toast for a change. ;D

I'll take it, will pm as well.

I like quirky looking cars and am a Toyota fan, so I would definitely not mind driving it. ;p Speaking of form over function, the wider use of CVT is, apart from the recent spate of full electric cars, imo, the 2 most important advances in function over 'other' considerations in the automotive world for the past 2 decades. As such, both will take a little while to refine and to become widely accepted (either accepted or the old timers will die off who don't like them). After that brief period of discomfort, we will look back at the complicated internal combustion engines and cumbersome autos/manuals of old and wonder why we took so long to move on. To illustrate, I saw someone arriving at a service center yesterday with a complaint related to his 4yr old Q3. The dealerships claims he needs a new gearbox ($20k). The service center won't touch the car with a 12 foot barge pole (they are complicated machines and the dealers are not keen to share info, which makes it often unprofitable and risky to get involved). He's had the car for 3 or 4 months and it seems he's going to be out of pocket for big bucks because of his complicated gearbox. CVTs don't have many moving parts and don't require many clutches to quickly change ratios. The sound of an engine running at max power/torque for more than a few seconds can sound strange, but that is in fact the dream and the reason every new German car seems to have a higher number of auto gear ratios. The fact that they are not staying with the pack and developing their CVTs, simply mean they will either become even more expensive to own out of warranty over time or fall off the bus completely.

If your main concern is sound quality, I think you'd be good with most high-end speakers (may need some restoration) younger than about 20-25 years. At that point computer simulations started kicking off and there were good advances from a technical standpoint. Its not to say older speakers can't be good. If they are still highly regarded now and older than 25yrs, chances are they sound good as well.

Ok, just checking. Please continue, unencumbered by facts or personal experience. [emoji6]

Have you driven one yet and was rear visibility really that much of a problem?

After having driven a Hyundai Accent CVT last week, I have to withdraw the above as a blanket statement. It was not a pleasant experience whenever I had to call on a bit of acceleration.... The Commodore SV6 auto this week is a whole different kettle of fish. >;D It still holds for new Toyota and Nissan CVTs I'd driven though.

As far as I've been able to ascertain, there is no actual perceivable change to the output of the electronics. There is some argument to be made for speaker burn-in, although the effects are generally in the bass region due to the suspension becoming a bit more compliant over the first 10 hours or so. After that the effects are in the last 5% or so which is not perceivable by human ears with any level of certainty. Have you noticed how you take a while to get used to someone's system when you first sit down and listen? My understanding is that the effects one sometimes experiences from burn-in is predominantly a product of psycho-acoustics. There is nothing wrong with you if you get used to how something sounds or if your hearing or perception of sound is not the same every day. In fact, you are normal. If this is not the case with you, you are not normal. The purpose of hifi is to make music more enjoyable. Over analysis of stuff that does not contribute detracts from it.

Just SS pre/power amps, DACs and network streamers. They are just general electronics and are used in other forms for mission critital purposes that require high precision. All the while shaking around like its no-ones business. Then you have people who listen to speakers (which by all acounts suffer from realtively high distortion levels - even the really good ones) and they can hear the difference micro-fibrations make. I don't understand the thinking behind it.

I have a question: what is the deal with reducing vibrations in general electronics? I get the logic behind keeping vibration out of CD players turn tables and even tube electronics on acount of microphonics. But general electronics?

Yep, thats the sort of rating I like. Thing is if 2x max power output at 4 Ohm is higher than max power draw, then something is amiss.

See, that's what I suggested, but not quite cat-footy enough I suppose. I think most of us have had those amazing sessions where you sit down and your system just sounds amazing. The next day you come back and its flat. Its then you start lifting cables and checking polarity, forming theories about capacitance between speaker cable strands and trying out power cables and things. The answer is that the most fundamental thing about sound is your own physiology and psychology. If the stars align there, you are in heaven. I'm not saying no tweak works, far from it, but it seems to me the whole point of the thread was that the tweak must not be rooted in accepted science. I suppose its then simply not somewhere I should be posting.

If any tweak that is not explainable by physics actually works, it still has to pass the psycho accoustics test. There's much better ways to waste time than on cable lifters and activated carbon absorbers. Beer, anyone?

Optical illusion or not, it looks really cool! Are you making the cabs from scratch or are you buying them ready made?

Very nice build! That transformer looks the size of a birthday cake!

It is always a bit disappointing when a manufacturer lists a peak power rating that can only be sustained for a fraction of a second.

Tell you what, I prefer CVTs over regular autos. Much smoother and responsive. I've also never picked up the drone people seem to complain about. At least not on Australian highways where you are generally confined to speeds below the point where engine noise becomes apparent. If you can hear your car's engine at under 2000rpm, you should not have an auto or cvt in it anyway.

I like it. But then I like cars that are a bit different from the German 'one look fits all' generic styling. And I am a big Toyota fan. I like tough cars that are cheap to run, safe to be in and have good resale value. But that's just me.

Beautiful amps you have there! The stuff of dreams I reckon. What is with the power ratings on the Accuphase and Luxman being higher than max power draw though? Or are those power ratings of the 'for a split second while we drain the caps' kind? I'd be kind of surprised if it is.

That is a beautiful piece of kit! I'm sure it will sound fantastic as well. I was a bit confused about the DAC when there was no digital inputs listed. The pics rectified that for me. Pricewise, I think it is not unreasonable considering that you have both a DAC and pre in one package. On manufacturing cost - there is so much that can be done to contain cost on local production. It pains me that people seem to want to jump to off-shoring work immediately rather than keeping work here. If you do that, you loose a lot more than just local jobs. There's also control and IP implications. There is a pharmasuticals company in Melbourne that has streamlined their processes to the extent that they are bringing production in from India and China because it is cheaper for them to do it here. There is no reason why other manufacturers can't do the same.

I've got an identical set in black. Very nice speakers. The towers have a great laid back sound and plenty of bass. I have them in my irregularly used tv room and am always pleased with how they sound when I listen to music there. This is a very good buy- I very much doubt you could do better in the used market.

If I think about bashing my head against a blunt object to stop the music, I think about this: