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Does anyone have an opinion about the Dynaudio Xeo series? I'm very interested in the concept of a wireless speaker, but not if they're terrible.
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Nov 29, 2012 11:36
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Hob_Gadling posted:For the asking price of €2950 per pair and sender unit there's a hell of a lot of choice. The speakers aren't bad, but they're certainly against some tough competition. I'm sorry, tough competition against other wired speakers in that price range or against other wireless options? I'm just starting to look at speakers again after 10 something years so I don't know what's out there.
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Nov 29, 2012 21:50
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Stupid question here. I have a Rotel pre-amp (RC-1070, back panel here), it's over ten years old so it's pre-HDMI. Is it possible for me to get the sound from my PS3 into it? I don't know anything about audio connectors, converting between jacks, anything like that.
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Feb 15, 2013 10:45
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What's the story with tube CD players? Are these things snake oil or would I be able to tell the difference? My ears are not super sensitive.
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Mar 1, 2013 04:19
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I bought a Rotel CD player, if I remember correctly for about $600; this was at least ten years ago, maybe 2002. It just recently stopped playing discs. Would the cost of trying to get it repaired be stupid compared to just replacing it?
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Jun 6, 2013 06:27
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Hob_Gadling posted:Can you give a little more detail on what exactly happens when you turn the unit on, insert a disc and hit play? At which stage does it stop working? The exact model would also help. The unit turns on fine, it's the RCC-955. The carousel seems to rotate fine. Some CDs it just plain does not detect- the carousel will rotate to the disc, and after a moment, it just moves on to the next tray as if there was no disc loaded. This is consistent for the disc- if I move it to another tray, the player will not detect it in the new tray. It's not a problem with the tray either because discs that are detected and player do so regardless of the tray into which they are loaded. For some discs, the player will detect it, and be able to read and correctly display the track data, but when I actually hit play, there is a faint ticking noise and then the player moves on to the next tray. So some discs will be detected but not played, and it sounds like the player is trying but failing to do something, which leads to the disc skip. The other day- what prompted me to post- I turned the player on and it refused to play anything, I could hear the faint ticking and then it would skip to the next disc, and go through the entire carousel. Today it's back to playing some discs and not others. I bought it as part of a full Rotel system, but since then my hearing has not fared well- too many heavy metal shows- and I'm not sure I could tell the difference any more in higher end components. So if it were to cost me, for instance, $400 to get it repaired, I might just be better off picking up that Onkyo that was recommended. It may not be worth my money getting another audiophile-rated player. The only thing that would push me that way again are vacuum tube players, which I've just heard about, such as this one from Jolida. But are these things snake oil?
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Jun 8, 2013 01:36
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I've been using the analog outputs.KillHour posted:I have no idea why the gently caress anybody would buy a cd player with vacuum tubes other than to say they own a cd player with vacuum tubes. That player even has a digital output. Seriously, what the gently caress? That's what I figured, but I literally just heard about them and hadn't looked into them to see if I was missing something. It didn't make much sense but I don't pay attention to a lot of the tech. Thanks for the Onkyo link, I appreciate it. Listerine fucked around with this message at 06:36 on Jun 8, 2013 |
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Jun 8, 2013 06:34
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It's looking more likely that my disc player has crapped out. I appreciate the recommendation for the Onkyo C-7030, but I see that it doesn't support HDCD or SACD playback. I'd like to keep that playback in my replacement, is there anything recommended?
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Jun 12, 2013 09:09
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I'm having trouble finding a source player that will handle SACD, HDCD, etc. that isn't some audiophile high end disgustingly priced component. The Oppo BDP-103 that was linked earlier in the thread is the best I've found so far (still not cheap, but within my disposable income range), and since it's a blu-ray player it has the added attraction of being able to replace the PS3 I have on my living room TV, freeing that up to be the player on my bedroom TV. Digging into reviews, some people are critical of the DAC this player uses. If for whatever reason I'm actually able to discriminate the difference in sound they're talking about, I could always plug this into a standalone DAC right?
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Jul 9, 2013 07:37
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The Dude posted:Edit: I've found some old posts on other forums that say some players convert SACD to PCM and send that to the digital output, but the Oppo's manual implies that it can't do that: "Due to copyright restrictions, SACD audio cannot be sent through the coaxial or optical digital audio output. To listen to SACDs, please use the HDMI or analog audio connections." Thanks for this- my stereo pre-amp is old and doesn't have HDMI so I guess I'm fine as long as I stick to the analogue outputs, and only have to worry if I actually have any issues with the DAC.
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Jul 10, 2013 00:34
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The Dude posted:
By the way, how do you like the picture from this? I've been using PS3 for blu-ray since at the time it was the best player- do you think I'd see a difference in video quality with one?
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Jul 13, 2013 07:18
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I'm still trying to figure out what to do about a source, but I've been leaning towards using a computer hooked up to a DAC. If I went that route, are there any recommendations as far as what to get on the computer side? I was talking to a guy who was swearing by J River Media player, for instance, but honestly I don't know what matters as far as playback of computer files goes, and what kind of hardware in terms of getting the digital signal out of the computer and into the DAC. Anyone here have any recommendations?
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Aug 4, 2013 05:20
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jonathan posted:I may have missed the original question. Why do you feel you need a DAC ? Why won't a basic receiver do the job ? JRiver is a very feature rich media player, but if you're simply looking for bit-perfect output, Foobar2000 does the job, as does XBMC. I have a pre-amp and power amp that work fine, my CD player is dying- sometimes it plays discs, sometimes it doesn't, and the discs it decides to play are random. I can't figure it out but I can't depend on it to play what I want, when I want, so it's got to go. I was thinking of ripping my discs to flac and using a digital source instead of buying a new disc player. So I would be looking to replace the CD player; I have a bunch of extra computers lying around but I don't know what I would need for software to play digital files and I don't know what I would need as far as soundcards or whatever for a digital out to a DAC which I would then feed into my pre-amp.
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Aug 4, 2013 09:06
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Wasabi the J posted:Foobar is the least resource intensive, does bit-perfect playback, and can manage your iPod/iPhone if you have one. I love it, and it's free; with a little know how, you can configure it to be extremely full featured. I would probably go for an external DAC anyway since I've also got a PS3 I'd like to connect as well, and I might make some other changes too. I haven't made up my mind yet but if I were to go with a standalone DAC, do I have to care about the motherboard beyond making sure it has a digital output? That is, is anything happening before the digital output that I need to care about quality-wise? Also I'd love your opinion on how well Foobar manages iPods. I've been using Copy Trans Manager which is a little clunky so would love to know if Foobar would be an improvement or just a lateral move.
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Aug 7, 2013 02:44
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I need some advice on subwoofer placement. I picked up a Klipsch rw12d when they were on sale at newegg recently, but I'm a little restricted on where I can put it. I'm renting an apartment that has a bit of an odd layout, I'm attaching a quick draft of my setup (not to scale) as a .png. The possible locations I have for the sub are the green rectangles marked 1 and 2; this is due to the availability of wall outlets and other restrictions- absent from the bottom half of the image are a dining table, another chair, bookcases, fireplace, etc. Originally I had the sub between the speakers (marked S) just to verify connections and such but I'm not getting the bass that I want from it, so I really need to get it up against a wall. Problem with position S1 is that then it is only about 8 inches away from the closest floorstanding speaker. Problem with position 2 is that now the sub would be behind the TV on its stand. Asterisks mark the location of wall outlets. Is having the sub partially behind a piece of furniture better than having it near another speaker? I should probably point out that because only one of those wall outlets accommodates 3 pronged plugs, I cannot move the hifi to the other wall outlet and put the sub where the hifi currently is. Listerine fucked around with this message at 00:26 on Aug 28, 2013 |
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Aug 28, 2013 00:24
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DizzyBum posted:Can I get a recommendation on a decent 3.1 soundbar? I would like a real audio system, but we're space-conscious and I'd prefer to wait until we actually own a house before getting a bunch of speakers. I just want to get something that sounds better than my 55" Vizio's crappy speakers that can tide us over for a few years. I'd like a recommendation in this vein as well, or if anyone can point to a reputable reviewer of such products, that would be cool too. Haven't looked at stereo equipment in some time, not sure who to trust on reviews.
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May 15, 2017 03:16
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Hob_Gadling posted:Try Yamaha. I mentioned this earlier: I have a dedicated stereo (Rotel components, Dynaudio speakers) for music in a separate room. In my new apartment the TV is in a small nook off the larger living room, not a lot of space to set up multiple speakers, and terrible acoustics anyway due to the weird shape of the nook and lots of bare surfaces for sound to bounce off, so I was just looking for something cheap to improve on the sound from my TV speakers. This would be for watching movies/PS4, I don't ever see myself playing music through it. Thank you for the rec, I'll check it out.
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May 16, 2017 00:37
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Hob_Gadling posted:Try Yamaha. I mentioned this earlier: Would this Yamaha YAS-203 be a comparable product? It seems to have decent reviews.
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May 16, 2017 22:20
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Hob_Gadling posted:Try Yamaha. I mentioned this earlier: How much heat would one of these give off? This would just fit on my console, but be real close to the bevel of my TV's front panel.
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May 23, 2017 10:18
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Schiit makes a number of DACs ranging from cheap on up. I can't remember which one I have but I like it.
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May 29, 2017 07:17
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A couple questions: 1) I was thinking of getting a soundbar for my TV since I wasn't planning to play music through it, didn't want to deal with lots of wires, and figured it would just be easier, but now I'm wondering if I should get a receiver with surround sound capability for the future when I have a larger room to watch movies in. Is there a minimum size for 3.1/5.1 setups? My current room is pretty small. 2) If get a 5.1 or 7.1 receiver, can I use it for just 3.1? That is, will the receiver be smart enough to adapt to the reduced number of channels that are actually wired to speakers? I don't know anything about how home theater receivers actually handle the different channels of sound.
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May 30, 2017 09:24
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Wibla posted:2) you set the amp up for the speakers you have, 2.0, 2.1, 3.0, 3.1 etc etc doesn't matter much. Starting with 3.1 is a smart move, the front row (+ sub) is the most important bit for audio quality. The surround channels are cool too, but not as critical, at least not to start with. What happens to the sound that would ordinarily go to the surround channels if I only have a receiver sending sound to 3.1 channels? Is it just lost, or would it get sent to the front channels? For example, if there was a car horn sound that was supposed to be in one of the back surround speakers, if I only have fronts and center channel, would I just not hear the car horn during playback or would the receiver realize there were no back speakers connected and just send that to one of the fronts as well?
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May 30, 2017 10:17
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What do I need in terms of wattage for a receiver for home theater- I'm looking to start with 3.1 in a small space, my TV "room" is a nook off my main living/dining space, probably about 12 feet by 12 feet.
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Aug 1, 2017 23:05
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qirex posted:Not much as long as you get fairly efficient speakers [most anything not Elac or KEF]. Pay more attention to reliability and user experience. What speakers are you planning on using? Haven't gotten that far yet, but I saw some Klipsch mentioned in the previous pages, and a friend of mine used to recommend them, so I was going to start there as far as hunting reviews go. I'd like to stay at $300 as a budget limit for the front pair.
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Aug 1, 2017 23:29
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Panty Saluter posted:Klipsch in a small space is a special brand of hell, unless you just happen to love the Klipsch sound. Even then it would only be a very small audience. I'll look into Paradigm. Any other recs from the goon hivemind? I'm in the LA area so shouldn't be hard to find most things.
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Aug 2, 2017 00:31
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Any thoughts on Cambridge Audio as a brand? Also has anyone heard any of the Sumiko subwoofers by Sonus Faber? I was really impressed with a pair of their floor standing speakers that I listened to 5 years ago, these subwoofers are surprisingly in my range. Listerine fucked around with this message at 04:51 on Aug 3, 2017 |
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Aug 3, 2017 04:47
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I just looked at the Ascend CMT-340 (yeah, their website is definitely not good, makes it look like a fake business in this day and age) and I see that they are bi-wireable with two pairs of posts- I have no idea what that means, I've only ever used speakers with a single pair of posts. Is it difficult to bi-wire? And do I have to use both pairs of posts, or if I use one pair will the speaker default to that?
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Jan 4, 2018 21:26
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TheMadMilkman posted:The two sets of binding posts have a piece of metal connecting them. You can see it on the picture here: Thanks for this, it was very helpful. Does anyone have a preferred source for reviews? I need to start planning out what I want in a home theater receiver. I haven't bought a receiver since 2001 so I'm kind of behind on the available features.
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Jan 4, 2018 21:57
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Spent a little bit of time looking at receivers online this afternoon, and was looking through the Yamaha line, it's a little intimidating how much stuff is out there and the spec sheets are overwhelming. Can anyone tell me what the real difference is between the the Yamaha RX-V681 and the Yamaha A770? They seem to have all the same features and only really differ in the power and a couple little things (like a mini jack input on the front for the A770). Trying to figure out what the 300 dollar price gap actually buys. Are the differences in power really that much?
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Jan 5, 2018 03:21
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skipdogg posted:There are some minor differences. The aventage line is Yamaha’s premium line, so some of it is name, I think the warranty is longer, and the A770 has 3 2.2 HDR inputs. Not sure if the 681 only has 1 or of it has more Sorry, I meant there is a 300 dollar difference for the prices on Amazon, which is where I'm planning to buy since I have a lot of gift credit there. So if I don't care about an extra year warranty, and only would need 1 2.2 HDR input anyways, then I'm probably better off going with the 681 I think. Listerine fucked around with this message at 05:20 on Jan 5, 2018 |
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Jan 5, 2018 05:17
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What exactly defines a speaker as being a studio monitor per se?
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Jan 12, 2018 09:23
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Does anyone have any recommendations for surrounds? I have a lead on a pair of Audioengine HDP6 speakers for cheap but not sure if they're too big.
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Jan 13, 2018 23:35
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GnarlyCharlie4u posted:I'd seriously consider getting something from the same manufacturer as your mains. You want the surrounds to timbre match. If you're doing atmos then those don't matter quite as much. Okay, for some reason I thought it actually wasn't important for surrounds to match. Decision made then.
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Jan 15, 2018 02:19
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I picked up the Ascend Acoustics CMT-340 SE mains and center for a 3.1 setup (I've got a 5 year old Klipsch subwoofer but due to the TV nook sharing a wall with a neighboring townhouse I can't run it too much or too loud). When I've saved up a bit more I'm going to get a pair for the surrounds. The CBM-170 SE are the cheapest option, so I could afford to get them that much quicker; but I was also considering saving a little longer and going with a pair of either Sierra 1 or 2 for the fronts and moving the CMT-340 SE mains to the surround position. Would there be an issue with using Sierra 1 or 2 as mains but still using the CMT-340 SE center? Is there any reason I would have to replace the center with one of the sierra centers as well, in terms of matching the sound? Has anyone here listened to both the Sierra 1 and 2 and could comment on how much better the 2s are?
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Jan 15, 2018 23:09
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Did any of you guys that went with Sierra 1 or 2s go with the NrT tweeter upgrade?
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Jan 30, 2018 01:50
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I'm thinking of adding Sierra1 or 2 monitors to my home theater setup. I got the TP-24 stands for the pair of CMT-340s last month, and they work well enough, but I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations on monitor stands that were height adjustable?
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Feb 5, 2018 00:36
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A question about adding Surround back speakers to go from 5.1 to 7.1. Do they have to be the same model as the surrounds? For example if I have Ascend 340 SEs for my surrounds, do I need to add another pair of 340SEs as my surround back speakers or could I go with the cheaper 170 SEs?
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May 11, 2018 02:39
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TheMadMilkman posted:The 170 and 340 use the same drivers, don’t they? They should have very similar character, so go ahead and use the cheaper option. I guess I should also ask, what's the difference between the sound that goes to the surrounds and what goes to the surround back speakers? Is there any reason to want say a beefier speaker for one position versus another?
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May 12, 2018 03:03
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Amazon has a deal of the day on select Klipsch speakers, I don't know how good the speakers are but the price cuts are like 40% off.
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Jun 2, 2018 22:49
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| # ¿ May 13, 2025 02:07 |
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Olympic Mathlete posted:There's an awful lot of psychology involved in selling things, I've been through the training for it (in the audio world specifically) and man, a good salesman will take your money because he'll get you saying "yes" to questions so your brain goes 'I can accept this'. Then there was the guy when I first was looking to buy a stereo system that looked at me, decided I was poor, and spent zero effort. He let me use his listening room, but when I tried asking questions he just said "buying a stereo for the first time is like buying your first computer, you don't know what you're doing so just buy whatever and learn from there". There's an audiophile shop in Santa Monica, the guys there are pretty cool, the dude that helped me let me listen to a variety of speakers and never tried that "can you hear this?" poo poo. He just swapped the cables blind for me and let me figure it out. But when I was done he said, hey come with me for a sec, and took me into a separate room where they had a setup for some rich dude they were testing- $250,000 price tag all told- and we hung out listening to a bunch of stuff; and the difference in fidelity was stunning. I don't know that it was 250k stunning, but yeah, best system I've ever heard. Radiohead's "Reckoner" was seriously transcendent, close my eyes and I could have sworn Thom Yorke was in the room. The salesman joked that he just ruined me on anything else and he was sorta right. There's another high end shop in Scottsdale where the sales staff were really cool and didn't push anything or try to upsell.
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Oct 19, 2018 01:50
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