Red Rose Music Spirit Studio Monitors, LS-1 FS (French Sycamore, Pair)

Red Rose Music Spirit Studio Monitors, LS-1 FS (French Sycamore, Pair)
Manufacturer: Red Rose Music
Product Type: CE

Editorial Review:
Product Description
Based upon the outstanding Red Rose Music Rosebud speaker, the Spirit LS1 uses lower cost components and a simplified cabinet. Overall dimensions are identical to the original Rosebud. The finish is French Sycamore.
Amazon.com Review
Beautiful to see and even more beautiful to hear, the Spirit studio monitor from Mark Levinson's Red Rose Music is easily one of the finest speakers ever fashioned. Flawless design, solid engineering, and careful component selection unite in a speaker that's nothing if not profoundly musical--stunningly coherent and utterly convincing in its delivery of nearly any program.

Levinson has had his hands in high-end audio for more than 30 years now, and his deep commitment to musical rightness as well as sonic accuracy serves the Spirit well.

The Spirit, also available in rosewood, is all about smoothness and detail, muscularity as well as sensitivity. In our listening, the Spirit showed itself capable of being nearly all things to all music, as the music and our recordings required. Its appreciable bass output extends below 50 Hz, and--largely because of the speaker's uncanny way with sound--we found that only the most bass-intensive music (dance and techno music, certain organ works) demanded a bigger speaker.

Key to the speaker's success is its tweeter, a hand-formed aluminum ribbon rather than the traditional small fabric dome. Voices and acoustic instruments sound downright holographic, their natural harmonics both present and balanced, owing as much to the high quality of the crossover (which splits the incoming signal between the 5-inch woofer and the tweeter) as to the speaker's impressive high-frequency extension. Sounds often lost or unnoticed in playback through lesser speakers seem to appear out of nowhere, giving important (if subtle) spatial cues that help define a sense of space around the music.

If the tweeter sounds delicate, know that it is--you won't want to blow on it or place the speaker where it will be in danger of being bumped or jostled. Keep the speaker clear of TVs and computer monitors as well, since the tweeters require strong magnetic fields that can distort video signals.

Red Rose makes short, custom speaker stands for the Spirit in French sycamore, rosewood, and transparent Plexiglas, though they also sound great on sturdy ear-level stands.

The only caveat we noted in listening is the distance from the speaker to the listening position. For best effect, the Spirit deserves to be heard relatively near field (from five to eight feet away) and in a fairly nonreflective environment--carpeting and bookshelves are a plus. The off-axis response changes pretty radically along the vertical plane, so be sure to position the pair carefully, according to your taste or to the sage guidelines in the Spirit's manual.

Even at more than a thousand dollars a pair, the Spirit is not just a strong value, but a true bargain. You won't find anything approaching this degree of refinement and musical ability at anything close to this low a price. If you're serious about music, the only question you'll have later is how you ever lived so long without it. --Michael Mikesell

Pros:

Jaw-droppingly refined sound
Holographic stereo "imaging"
Impressive bass heft for their size
Superb drivers
Simple setup
Premium-quality cosmetics and construction

Cons:

Slightly limited bass output
Off-axis sound changes quickly

Average customer rating: 3.5

Look for the best price, everywhere...
Compaq Presario C50272 15.4 Notebook PC
Poor PC
Good computer for the price
great laptop- needs more memory

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What i use for school

Compaq Presario C502US 15.4" Notebook PC (Celeron M Processor 440, 512 MB RAM, 80 GB Hard Drive, DVD/CD Combo Drive, Vista Basic)

Manufacturer: Hewlett Packard Office
Product Group: Personal Computer
Binding: Personal Computers
ASIN: B000M7RZS6
2007-01-30

Related Categories:

Notebooks

Presario Notebooks

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HP Notebooks

Amazon.com Product Description

Wherever your hectic schedule takes you, you'll stay productive thanks to reliable Compaq Presario C502US notebook PC, which offers all the basics at a nicely affordable price. Optimized for mobile performance, this 6.6-pound laptop is powered by the battery sipping 1.86 GHz Intel Celeron M 440 processor and features 54g wireless networking (802.11b/g), enabling you to stay connected at coffeeshop and airport hotspots. Its 15.4-inch WXGA BrightView display supports High-Definition playback enhanced by Altec Lansing audio. Other features include an 80 GB hard drive, 512 MB of installed RAM (2 GB maximum), Intel GMA 950 video processor with up to 64 MB of shared video RAM, and a DVD/CD-RW combo drive.

This laptop also comes preinstalled with Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic, which delivers a safer, more reliable, and more productive computing environment. It integrates new search tools throughout the operating system, includes new parental control features, and offers new tools that can warn you of impending hardware failures.

The Basics
<ul>

Processor: The Intel Celeron M Processor 440 is designed specifically for mobile computing, offering a balanced level of mobile-optimized processor technology, good mobile performance, and exceptional value. The 1.86 GHz speed is complemented by a speedy 533 MHz front-side bus (FSB) and a 1 MB L2 cache. (An L2, or secondary, cache temporarily stores data; and a larger L2 cache can help speed up your system's performance. The FSB carries data between the CPU and RAM, and a faster front-side bus will deliver better overall performance.) This processor sits near the top of its class (as of January 2007).

Hard Drive: The 80 GB Serial ATA hard drive (5400 RPM) has become the average size for notebook PCs. It provides enough capacity for storing documents, digital media files, and productivity software. This SATA hard drive also quickens the pace with a higher speed transfer of data--akin to FireWire and USB 2.0.

Memory: The 512 MB of installed RAM (1 x 512 MB DDR2) is enough to get you started, but you'll want to add more RAM to handle today's demanding multimedia and productivity suites. It provides two DIMM slots and has a 2 GB maximum RAM capacity. To receive the faster data transfer benefits of the dual-channel DDR2 RAM, any RAM additions require memory modules of same capacity and clockspeed.

DVD/CD Drive: With the included DVD-ROM/CD-RW combo drive, you'll be able to watch DVD movies as well as burn data and your favorite music mixes to CD. It has a 24x write speed for CDs.

Keyboard & Mouse: This notebook has a full-sized 101-key keyboard and touchpad with four-way scroll zone on/off button and dedicated vertical scroll up/down pad. </ul> Screen, Video & Audio
The 15.4-inch LCD offers a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels. The widescreen display gives increases the width of the notebook's display while giving the computer the form factor of a smaller computer, so it takes up less space on your desk or in your briefcase. Video is powered by the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950, which uses Intel Dynamic Video Memory Technology (DVMT) and provides up to 64 MB of shared video memory. It also offers an integrated audio card and built-in Altec Lansing speakers.

Networking, Connectivity & Expansion
This notebook has an integrated 54g wireless LAN that's fully compatible with 802.11b/g wireless networks. You get a very basic offering of connectivity options: <ul>

2 USB 2.0 ports for connecting a wide range of peripherals--from digital cameras to MP3 players

1 VGA monitor port

1 S-Video port for connecting to a TV

1 headphone jack and 1 microphone jack </ul> It also has an integrated 56K modem (V.90) and an RJ-45 LAN network port (for a 10/100 Ethernet connection to networks and DSL/cable modems).

Operating System
Windows Vista Home Basic is the operating system for users with basic computing needs, such as surfing the Internet, corresponding with friends and family using e-mail, or performing basic document creation and editing tasks. Additionally, Windows Vista Home Basic integrates new search tools throughout the operating system to help you quickly find the precise file or program you need.

Every edition of Windows Vista provides the essential tools and technologies to help protect you whether you are browsing the Internet, connecting to a wireless network, or just reading e-mail. All editions of Windows Vista include new tools that can warn you of impending hardware failures long before you have lost any important personal data. And, all Windows Vista editions include parental control features that allow you to manage and monitor your family's use of games, the Internet, instant messaging, and other activities.

Preloaded Software
Includes Microsoft Works, Microsoft Office 2007 Student and Teacher Edition (60-day trial), Muvee autoProducer DVD Edition, Sonic Digital Media Plus, PC Recovery, and Symantec Norton Internet Security 2007 (with 60 days of Live Update).

Dimensions & Weight
This notebook measures 14.1 x 10.2 x 1.38/1.77 inches (WxDxH) and weighs 6.6 pounds.

Power
It's powered by a 6-cell lithium-ion rechargeable battery, which provides between 1.5 and 2 hours of battery life (depending on usage).

What's in the Box
This package contains the HP Compaq Presario C502US notebook PC, rechargeable lithium-ion battery, AC adapter, and operating instructions. It is backed by a limited warranty for parts and labor for one year from date of purchase as well as technical telephone assistance for one year. Software is also covered for 30 days from date of purchase.

Product Description

Compaq Presario C500 series Notebook PC is an affordable notebook with a neat design and powerful performance. Mobile computing brings more flexibility and convenience to use this PC on the move, whenever and wherever.

Customer Reviews:

Look for the best price, everywhere..........2007-06-10

I bought this at a local electronic store, at the time it wasn't the worst buy in the store, but the best. Payed 4 bones for this bad boy, look for the best price before purchasing. Also known as the compaq presario c551nr.

Powered this thing up and was very disappointed at the speed, BUT fear not, the speed is not held back by the hardware, but by Vista. I've bought about three laptops in the past 2 months for friends and family, and all have been the same price/hardware range.

#1 Vista is a joke, it's worthless NOW, in about a year after MS fixes a bunch of the small issues, it may be worth something, but for now it's a over-hyped "cool looking" resource hog from he!!. Someone in here said down grading to XP would be a bad idea, well they obviously know nothing about PC's, or about speed and reliability. XP is tried and true, sure it's about 5 years old but that only means the hardware in this is more than enough for XP.

This is what I did, I bought this, went online and found a site with no old eggs, and bought a 1gig 200 pin ddr2 667 speed G. Skill stick for fortee buckaroos shipped. Sell the ONE 512mb stick in this thing to get at least half your money back on the RAM.

Wiped the drive clean and installed Windows XP Pro Sp2. Now finding the correct drivers for this was not easy, compaq/HP obviously don't like you installing XP b/c they know after you do this, the speed doubles and this is all 90% of the people using it ever need. I know this b/c they have NO xp drivers on their site for this model. It's an a scam to make you think that the price on this is for a reason, to be slow... The best thing about vista is that it requires a lot of higher end hardware to run even the basic version, so better for us people who know vista's a joke and XP is better.

I found all drivers, chipset, graphics, wireless....needed the audio and modem drivers though. I went to hp/compaqs website to find the audio and modem drivers don't work..WHY? Well they either want you to suffer through the slowness of vista, oooor pay for their tier 2 support. Well, I'm here to tell you how to get around it to prevent it and make this work perfect with XP.

Intel's website will give you the laptop chipset and graphics driver for the mobile intel 945 express chipset family.

Now go to Hp's site, support and drivers, type in presario c306us, then windows XP and download the drivers for the audio, modem and the broadcom wireless, and the hp quick launch buttons and you're set.

Cons on this laptop are the lack of connections such as pcmcia slots, but who really needs anything more than this? I think a built in card reader would have been nice, but isn't really necessary.

A gig of ram, and windows XP make this laptop worth the price I payed for it, and hp/compaq knows this so they make it difficult to use it at it's full potential, marketing is all it is. Be smart, don't pay any more than 5 benji's for a laptop and use XP. You don't need anything else unless you're a gamer or power user.

Compaq Presario C50272 15.4 Notebook PC.......2007-05-14

I was not a happy camper when I found out the Vista Basic soft were expired after 30 days. I purchase the computer with the intentions of having the software not a trial bases.

Poor PC.......2007-05-13

I bought this notebook on 04/03/07. Within one month one of the three USB ports became damaged. It was too late for me to return it to Amazon for a full refund because 30 days had elapsed. I called the manufacturer HP and they informed me that it would cost me around $400 to replace the motherboard.

I also had many compatability problems with Windows Vista. It took me over 8 hours of technical support between my ISP Verizon Online, HP and Microsoft to get me connected to the Internet. My wireless connection at hotspots like Starbucks, Borders ect. does not work.

I also had a problem configuring my Dell printer to work with Vista.
Stay clear from this laptop!

Good computer for the price.......2007-04-28

As other's have said, this computer is slow with the installed 512 meg of ram. The first thing that should be done is to upgrade the memory, so figure that as part of the investment. Vista is a resource hog. I am not knocking it, but it really is not designed to work with 512 megs of ram. I don't understand the previous comment about XP, XP will run better with 512 meg of ram than Vista, but why downgrade. You paid for Vista, so spend the extra $[...] and get another 512 meg of ram. I would also recommend spending $[...] and getting a gig of ram and replace the 512 meg. From past experience, I have found that things just work better when you do not mix brands of ram. Get a gig and try selling the 512.

Other thoughts about this computer: The keyboard is cheap feeling, but it is functional. The large display on this computer is great. For the price this is a good computer. It is not meant for intensive work, but my wife uses it for surfing the net, recipes, pictures and we even watched a movie on it. My daughter has played Zoo Typcoon on it, so games without a huge demand for graphics will work fine. This is our first machine with Vista on it. It takes a little getting used to, but does have some nice features such as the calendar and digital picture organization software. The speakers are a little disappointing. Altec Lansing usually makes a good product for the price, but these speakers are no better than most low end model laptops - but that is what this is. By the way, after rebates we got ours for under $[...].

great laptop- needs more memory.......2007-04-06

At first this computer was fast, I installed sims 2 and internet and everything was fine. But trying to switch screens between internet pages, starting up the computer took forever, when you closed the computer it took forever to get the page loaded, etc. so I got 512mb more memory, and I installed it all by myself (very easy!) I could tell the difference right away. Dont downgrade to xp once you get this because it is too slow, pay the extra $40 to get more memory! Great laptop, not cheap quality at all!

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