- What technical features/characteristics motivated your choice?
I had previously owned the O2, also from M-Audio, and so what i really wanted here was a keyboard that worked...with no latency...with velocity curves you can choose...and keys that actually had some sort of touch to them.
Well, the Axiom has all that and more, although i'm not sure the 25 model has the adjustable velocity...check before buying cos that is one hell of a feature.

- What connection types are there (MIDI, pedals...)?...
USB, MIDI out, MIDI In, Expression jack, Sustain jack, power in, on-off switch, all on rear.

After my disastrous experience with the O2, i wanted to check this one out thoroughly and went round stores asking a lot of questions...and demanded to try it.
I tried some other keyboards in the process, of course, some of which were top of the range very expensive synths...none were as good as this except this with a proper heavy piano touch. But you can't compare them, really: this was the best of all the semi-weighted ones.

Haven't used it extensively yet but everything seems simple.

The endless rotary knobs are a plus. You even have pads! Loads of buttons all over the place...you also have faders! The array of assignable switches is virtually perfect.

- What technical features/characteristics motivated your choice?
I wanted a small, possibly portable keyboard with a fair amount of assignable knobs & things. Oh, and i needed it to be cheap.
This one has those 'features'.

- What connection types are there (MIDI, pedals...)?...
Now i sold this so check before you buy...there is a USB connector, that's for sure, and i think there is also a MIDI out but i'm not sure anymore.

It's quite basic but, still, it has quite a lot of buttons & knobs to fiddle with.

- Is the action/feel of the keyboard nice? Does it suit your needs?
Ouch.
Need i say more? This keyboard is small, light & cheap, and that's exactly what the keys are: small & cheap.
Hard to talk of a 'feel' at this stage. I have very little experience with keyboards (i own a Yamaha PSR-90...which says a lot, doesn't it?...and a MicroKorg) but this is the worst i've ever touched.

- Is the general configuration/setup simple?
Using it is simple, very simple, but beware: no Windows 2000 drivers. You need XP. They probably have Vista drivers by now but that wasn't out when i had mine.

- Is the channel/patch selection simple?
Seemed simple enough, i didn't keep it long enough to really say, though...sorry.

- Is the manual clear and sufficient?...
Same as above.

I have had the D-lite 2000 for 2 1/2 now.

What I like most about this system Is how light It Is. It Is very light to transport

I did try other models before I bought this system such as EAW, Mackie, Yorkville, QSC.

The System Is very good and reliable, but I think that system Is a bit over price.

Knowing what I know now I would still buy that system, but I would now from the get go also purchased the Powermax controller too, or the DSP244, or the DSP260 to go with the D-lite system.
The signal proccessor I had was a DBX PA system was not compatible with the Dynacord system
I also added an Aphex 204 to the system to get full bass and kick out of the system.

Unfortunately, I've never been able to afford a full DW kit. I've only admired them from afar, and played them on many handfuls of occasions by way of friend's kits and music stores.
The DW Collector's Series is their "flagship" line of course and is available in really in configuration of sizes you could dream up, with the option of all maple shells versus all birch shells, a huge variety of finishes from laquers, to satin oil, 'finishply' wrapped finishes, and even graphics, and a choice of chrome hardware or gold.
The set I played most recently was a Collector's 5 piece in a fairly standard configuration: 22x18 Bass Drum, toms in 10x9, 12x10, and 14x12, and a steel 14x6 snare. They had chrome hardware, and featured 'finishply' wrap in Silver Sparkle.
Sitting down at the kit, I noticed the 14" floor tom was supported by legs rather than a RIMS hanging mount which I'm used to seeing on DW kits for toms this small. I prefer for the toms to be mounted off cymbal stands because it prevents it from "creeping" around when playing aggressively like a leg supported tom would do.
Launching into playing, I was instantly reminded of what makes DW such a leader in drummaking. A deep, full, but punchy bass drum sound from the lightly muffled 22" drum filled the room. The maple-shelled toms thankfully, were tuned fairly well and I was welcomed with crisp attack with moderate sustain, very balanced between attack and sustain. DW drums always seem to be very balanced. They are never so lively to my ears that they have to be muffled.
If anything, DW is making even better and better drums these days. I've played Collector's drums before, and if anything the low-end response is becoming even more present- probably thanks to innovations like VLT or Vertical Low Timbre Technology where the plies of the shell are laminated diagonally, avoiding horzontal plies which increase shell tension and raise the pitch. Whatever they are doing, it works. I don't think I've ever gotten such a low fundamental tone from 10" and 12" toms without tuning the heads quite low as I did playing one of the new Collector's kits.
As far as value for the price- when no one else can match what the DWs do tonally, or aesthetically then its hard to compare it with other drummakers. I was a bit put off by the 3400.00 price tag, but this was for the full kit with hardware, not just shells. The 4-piece of Bass and Toms would probably have run 1800 or more. Can you get a drumset cheaper? Most definitely. Are you going to get the quality, tone, projection, and options available in the Collector's Series? No. If you are seriously considering purchasing drums that are on this level, then you already know what I know, and your opinion on value counts more than mine.

The Martin DCX1-E is a smaller bodied acoustic guitar made with mostly composite materials. The top is solid sitka spruce, but the back and sides are a high-pressure laminate or "HPL" with a textured mahogany appearance, the neck is made of "stratabond" which is a fancy way of saying they glued up a bunch of scrap and milled a neck out of it, and the fingerboard is made of something called "black micarta". I have not a clue what that is or if any tree was used for its creation. Even the face of the headstock is some synthetic veneer. This guitar has 20 frets, 14 of which are easily accesible by the cutaway.
It features a Fishman Classic 4 pickup/preamp. I noticed the no-frills approach to this guitar, with it having no inlays, no binding, and a simple rosette. Martin cut all kinds of corners to keep this guitar under 700.00 I guess.

The neck had a nice feel to it, a smooth finish (if you could call it that) that allowed for easy movement up and down the neck. The cutaway is convenient for playing higher than a standard acoustic would allow. The body seemed fairly thin to me, compared to my 1970's Martin Sigma, and it was quite comfortable to play sitting down, or standing up.
I was impressed with the sound as I played it, to the point that it made me scratch my head wondering how they can make a guitar sound so typically "martin-esque" when most of it is not even WOOD!

To be honest, I kinda want to hate this guitar. The materials in it are fairly untested and unfamiliar to me so I don't know how well they will hold up compared to more expensive Martin models that are, umm.... actually made with wood. But I do like its sound. Though not spectacular by any means, it is fairly warm and full, and by all counts very sweet and mellow sounding. It seemed to lack a bit of volume and projection since its got less cavity size than most guitars. Though there are exceptions; my ears usually don't have much patience for most guitars in the $500 range, or even <$1000 range for Martin. So I was suprised when I didn't want to put this guitar down. I could have sat and played it all day because whether it was chords, or single note runs, or graceful fingerpicking there was a sweetness of tone shining through. I genuinely enjoyed this guitar.

I've had this for about 6 or 7 years.

This pair of headphones is open, despite appearances: if you look carefully you can see all the little holes on each side. So forget about using this for recording, this is purely for listening. You can hear all that's going on around you and people around you can hear the music, even when listening at low volume.

I've had the Audio Technica ATHM-40, a closed pair made for tracking but they were no good for mixing or anything, really, so i sold them and now i'm using this for mixing or for checking mixes, and i have a cheap pair of Sennheiser HD-201's for tracking: they're closed enough and although they're rubbish they're more reliable soundwise than the ATHM-40! I shudder to think that i paid £75 for those... :-|
Have tried the Sony 7506 and compared to this they're rubbish. Of course, they are closed too so you don't use them for the same applications, but i've never heard better phones than these. They were £130 when they came out (200 €) so you'd expect them to be quite good...

I paid a lot less (£70) so i'd say the value is good. Yes, i would definitely buy them again.

They are extremely comfortable...to the point that you forget you're even wearing them!
The sound is never tiring, always detailed & precise, very airy. It's a pleasure to listen with these, but your source better be perfect or else...

The only thing i can think of that i don't like about these is the slight lack of bass. But as long as you know you shouldn't add any bass in your mix, then you're ok. You can hear anything that's going wrong with these.

Overall, an EXCELLENT pair of phones. If you come across something as good as this but closed then please drop me a line! Everything else i've tried has let me down...

- In What Country was it made? (USA, Japan, Mexico, France...)
Like Seagull and various other brands, Norman is basically Godin, so Canadian/US.

This is just a regular dreadnought, but it has a fairly large body and a very thin varnish, so the guitar has bass, it's dynamic (loud when needed) and the top let's the sound through thanks to that thin varnish, something you won't get on most guitars (especially not the black ones with the thick paint...).

The finish is nothing fancy but i really like that basic feel, without being rough: it's not trying to look fancy, and it sounds 'honest'. No messin around!

The neck is ok, although if you want a really easy guitar to play you might want to try a £2000 Taylor... ;-) This is ok, though. The frets on mine were getting worn and it was so expensive to replace them that it was cheaper to change the guitar...!

The neck is quite wide, with jumbo frets. Forget about accessing the higher notes on this one. Norman do cutaway guitars too but they're probably not quite so loud...

The body is quite wide so it can be a little uncomfortable to play when sitting down...

Thanks to the wide body and thin varnish, and choice of woods, this guitar has a very well balanced sound: plenty of bass, of treble and of mids.
Might sound like something you would take for granted but from my experience this isn't often the case. A lot of guitars have no bass or treble and sound aggressive. This one sounds great for pop rhythm, and if you're good enough you can probably get away with a nice solo too, although i haven't really done that much on this one.

The GS 330S is fairly plain and non-descript, with a satin finished cedar top, nato back and sides, no inlays, and a simple rosette, this guitar is no frills. Takamine put there money where it counted for a budget guitar like this.

The neck had a nice feel, fairly similar to a Japanese-made Martin I have. Very adequate.

I think the biggest contributor to the sound of this guitar is the satin finish cedar top. In this price range guitarmakers usually use lower quality and a thick glossy finish is applied to "dress it up" but Takamine has put a very light finish on their cedar top. First of all, cedar is a bit more mellower sounding than spruce and applying such a thin finish allows the top to reverberate more freely, giving a more "open" sound thats not stiff It also equates to more volume, which definitely is the case here as the Takamine projects quite well and respond very well to picking dynamics and fingerpicking.
The GS can handle everything from folk strumming, to single note blues runs.
My only complaint was that I thought it was a bit "thin" sounding, probably due to nato being used for the back and sides instead of more traditional mahogany, which is darker in tone. Selecting the right strings could help compensate, and the guitar was fairly balanced across the spectrum so my perceived lack of "thump" from this model doesn't mean it was shrill or harsh. It was actually quite sweet sounding overall.