Walt: Quote - "Their comments are usually how realistic the instruments sound, especially the horns".

The reason you did not get those kind of comments on the old 2000 was because they were not as realistic as the 7000. The closer to the original sound, the closer you have to play that instrument the way it is played. The new samples have a much broader range of harmonics captured and because the new amplification system coupled with much better speakers are capable of reproducing these more realistic sounds. I still have my 1 and 2 thousand boards. They sound good but have a more muffled sound. I find the equalizer helps if you don't like the highs. Are you sure you tried using the equalizer and don't have it mixed up with the mixer. Another big factor is age. Many, many older people get very sensitive to high pitched sounds. This is the reason older people get irritated when young kids scream and cry. My youngest daughter is an audiologist and deals with these kind of problems every day. Over the holidays I played a restaurant that had a special day for the kids and parents. Santa Claus and the whole bit. Christmas music until it was running out of my ears. The mike was on, singing and kids singing, parents singing besides my canary. Everybody commenting on the richer sounds compared to the 65 which were pretty darn good. The only one who asked to tone it down was, you guessed it, Old Santa. In his seventies I would guess. I had to increase the sound a little two times by the request of the parents and kids.

With this in mind I have a solution to this dilemma. I don't mean a partial solution. I don't mean a compromise or any such thing. I mean a full blown solution. A, can't miss way, of attacking this problem. OK! OK! What do you think? The old saying goes - Three strikes and your out. I say - Three strikes and your in. And here it is, the perfect and only way to please everybody. An old crowd, a middle aged bunch or the fifty five to one hundred year old ARP carders. A seven thousand for the swingers. A five to six thousand for the middies and the old 2 for the fogies. Have all three KN’s, one for every venue. The perfect solution. Undoubtedly the reason Ruthie has stuck with me these fifty plus years is my ability to address every problem. To smile at every difficulty. To be at peace with myself. And that’s the way I look at things.

Grandpa Doug