Re: Tires and DCC

[Glenn Kaufman <gkaufman@ftp.com>]

I have a set of AVS U+4s.  They are outstanding in the rain, have excellent
steering feel, the ride is harsh, and the dry handling is OK.   I also have
a set of Dunlop 8000s.  They are far superior to the AVS except that the AVS
is OK in the snow and the Dunlops are useless in the snow so for now the AVS
has been my winter tire.  A few yrs ago, I read a report on the AVS A+4s.
They were nothing special and lousy in the rain. 

Since both tires models have been out for many yrs, there are probably more
advanced tires available these days.  But I do like the U+4s.

 glenn


At 12:56 AM 4/21/96 -0800, you wrote:
>
>
>On Wed, 17 Apr 1996, Andre Walker wrote:
>
>> hello everyone,
>> 
>> got 2 questions for the new and improved q-list:  first, another tire 
>> query, does anyone have any experience/opinions on Yokahama AVS A Plus 
>> 4 or U Plus 4? second, has anyone heard of DCC (digital compact 
>> cassette) car stereo unit?  I know a few companies made home units, but 
>> don't know if they ever may car units.
>
>I can't answer your question about tires, but I can give you details on 
>DCC.  DCC and MiniDisk were (notice the past tense) competing music 
>formats that were introduced a few years ago.  The both offered some 
>novel ideas.  They were both digital (no suprise) and they were both 
>recordable (suprise).  They both used a form of phychoaccoustical 
>data reduction algorhythm to cram a CD's worth of music onto a smaller 
>format.  The DCC used a better sounding format, but is based on a 
>casette, which means seek times will be slower, and the tape will degrade 
>over time.  The real advantages to DCC are better sound compared to 
>MiniDisk, but not as good as CD, and the machines are backward compatable 
>with standard analog cassettes.  MiniDisk has a lot of advantages.  Very 
>small size (half the size of a 3.5" computer diskette), resistant to 
>skipping, and the ability to fragment the music, like a hard drive.  The 
>problem with both these formats are total lack of public support.  The 
>consumer doesn't want another format war (remember Beta vs. VHS?), plus 
>many people had just began to gather a collection of CD's, and didn't 
>want to  deal with another format.  VHS, BETA, VHS-C, CDV and LDV LaserDisks 
>8mm, LP, 8 tracks, casettes, analog tape, CD's, DAT, MD, DCC.  TOO MUCH 
>STUFF!!  The MD/DCC formats were basically still born.  The format may 
>dwindle, but don't expect prices to go down.  As for DCC heads, Panasonic 
>makes one for $1100.  Next year we'll see yet another new format.  This 
>one, called DVD, or Digital Video Disc, has a lot of promise.  It looks 
>just like a CD, but hold 9 gigabytes of data.  That's enough to hold a 
>feature length film, and 5.1 discrete tracks of audio, with room to spare 
>for different video formats, or different languages.  Look for a "Super 
>CD" based on the DVD to appear in a few years.  This CD will be backward 
>compatible with existing players, but will also be capable of ultra high 
>resolution, like 24 bit, 96 kHz.  It should be capable of surpassing 
>analog in ultimate resolution.  I'm excited.
>I've babbled for WAAAY too long.
>
>Just my $2000 worth.
>
>-Adam
>
>