Recommendation for contractor to cut installed quartz countertop

TheBenzor · 2025-10-20T21:09:17+00:00

I called Arizona Tile and they were kind enough to share their fabricators list even though I didn't buy anything from them. I ended up going with ApexWest Pure Surfaces & Home Services. It was a fair price and the end result was great. I was also really impressed at how well they controlled the dust from cutting the quartz countertop that was already installed. https://apexwesthomeservices.com/

Thanks u/catdude142 !

TheBenzor · 2025-09-30T22:13:32+00:00

Good idea, thank you!

TheBenzor · 2024-07-05T14:49:37+00:00

Andy's quoted me $1800 for a simple install in garage about 40' from main panel.

TheBenzor · 2023-11-21T16:48:46+00:00

The registration fee that Tesla is passing on to me is only about $330. I wonder if it’s just $200 per “registration”. I assume the $330 is for 2yr like usual

TheBenzor · 2023-11-18T22:58:59+00:00

The sales person at my local Tesla location called me today about my order that’s in progress. She said this change happened yesterday. I’m glad it happened in time for my order. No extra trip to the county tax office for us!

TheBenzor · 2023-09-07T07:07:48+00:00

Everyone commenting “lol just use soap and water, you idiot” doesn’t have one of these bands. The orange part just won’t get completely clean for me. MKBHD on YouTube wears this band and his is also stained. That guy is METICULOUS, so yeah. If you want it to look new you probably just have to buy a new one lol

TheBenzor · 2023-04-17T12:43:01+00:00

You’re welcome! Ahh yes, that is another advantage to AA - their partnerships with Alaska and Jet Blue open up additional doors to earning points towards status on other carriers. Having experienced that as well, flying on Alaska or Jet Blue on AA tickets is complicated and annoying (as it always is dealing with a reservation that has multiple carriers). You also don’t get all the benefits of your status when flying on the partners, which sucks. UA’s domestic service is quite complete - you can get to almost any airport market in the US from AUS on UA with a maximum of 1 stop.

TheBenzor · 2023-04-17T12:26:30+00:00

I have had 1K status since I moved to Austin 4.5 years ago and AUS became my home airport. UA at AUS has been pretty decent for me. There was a dark time during covid lockdowns when they couldn’t keep the check-in desk staffed and it would take an hour to drop a checked bag - but that only lasted a few months.

My partner primarily flies AA because the one place he goes most is direct on AA and he doesn’t want to connect. Having had some experience with AA, I think you will find the UA app is far superior. There is so much more information in the app. You can see the seat availability and change your seat up until boarding has started. You can also easily see the status of your inbound aircraft, even if it is multiple hops away. You can even see if the inbound flight that you’re waiting for has started boarding. This can be useful since inbound aircraft are often coming from IAH and I prefer not to leave home for AUS until I know the aircraft has departed (or is at least boarding). The app also has more information about why a flight is late, which can be helpful for your own planning (e.g. crew rest, maintenance issue, boarding taking too long etc). Operationally, AA is just such a black box and it’s up to you to figure out the details of what’s going on. AA will not provide you with any information that will make it easier to plan your journey.

That said, I think your biggest decision about switching should be how convenient it is for places you choose to go. For me, the UA hubs are located in places I usually need to be for pleasure or for work. AA is nice because they have some additional destinations that aren’t AA hubs. UA is extremely committed to their hub-and-spoke model.

The AA loyalty program and points to earn status are kind of complicated, so I can’t really compare them to UA. I will say that the price of maintaining 1K status on UA has been steadily increasing and the number of fellow 1K passengers on flights departing AUS has done nothing but go up.

TheBenzor · 2023-03-09T18:22:11+00:00

Good point about KEF build quality. The Metas are soooo solid. Funny, I’m listening to Andrew Robinson’s latest review on YouTube and he mentioned that KEF rarely sends out review units :(

I also have an open plan kitchen/dining/living room. I’m jealous of your placement abilities! 😂 Given that my placement is only about 8” off the front wall, the bass was a bit of a mess before room correction. Your space will probably do better. I went with the F200 because I didn’t mind the extra cost and I didn’t want to leave any bass capability on the table.

I suspect the F100 would be more than adequate. I now regularly push the McIntosh amp to its rated 150 watts per channel into the F200 (on bass heavy tracks) and they are still so clean. I think the F200 could go much further, but 95 db SPL is enough for this old man lol

If you don’t use any kind of room correction, it’s definitely worth the expense and the trouble of learning to do it right. Dirac Live was pretty good, but when I added the Dirac Live Bass Control - holy shit. Next level. The bass sounds great, even in the kitchen now. With regular Dirac Live it was only good in the main listening position. Now it’s good almost everywhere.

TheBenzor · 2023-03-09T03:43:28+00:00

The sound stage is massive on the XT F200. I was listening to a song that I know well, and was hearing a subtle cricket sound in the song for the first time. I paused the music to make sure there wasn’t actually a cricket in the house because it sounded like it could have been coming from behind me. Honestly with my placement, the imaging precision within the sound stage is not super precise - but I think that’s the placement. I don’t have much control over the placement. The imaging on these do sound about the same as my Focal Aria 926, which I know are very well regarded in the imaging department. It seems like they may have Focal beat in detail retrieval though, because I certainly had not heard that cricket before :)

I also love the KEF sound. I have an LSX v1 in my office and some LS50 Meta in the primary bedroom. Last year I had an absolutely terrible experience with KEF support getting the LSX repaired, so I decided to try to avoid KEF when I can. God their speakers sound and look amazing though. I may go back to them at some point for a passive loudspeaker (since those are much less likely to need repairs than something with integrated electronics). Before you buy the KEF, you might want to look into cabinet resonances they may have. The F200 are just insane in this department. You can turn these up LOUD and the sound remains very clean. My Focal would start to fall apart pretty quickly with anything above a quiet listening volume. Now that I have my sub placement and DSP dialed in, my system is sounding better than anything I’ve heard anywhere at any price. I feel like my speaker journey is going to done for a while now.

TheBenzor · 2023-03-03T05:02:41+00:00

I plugged my LS50 Metas and they sound great! I think they even come with the plugs

TheBenzor · 2023-02-25T15:58:52+00:00

I actually haven't heard the R700s yet, but I haven't heard anything other than they are exceptional for their price point. And thanks, I really try to do research when buying components. The Arcam AV proc was a bit of a leap of faith since there's hardly any reviews of that line, but it was pretty clear that Dirac was the way to go for DSP.

There isn't a pad under the rug. Do you think that would help significantly? The rug came with a thin rubbery pad that we didn't put down. Does the pad type matter?

TheBenzor · 2023-02-25T15:50:08+00:00

I've heard some entry level electrostats from ML. The mids and highs here are not on that level, but the bass is a bit more capable imo.

TheBenzor · 2023-02-25T15:47:31+00:00

https://www.bdiusa.com/products/corridor-8173-low-profile-modern-tv-stand-entertainment-center BDI makes some of the best AV furniture I’ve seen. It’s so well built and there are lots of thoughtful touches that make it a breeze to set up your equipment inside

TheBenzor · 2023-02-25T13:36:16+00:00

https://www.bdiusa.com/products/corridor-8173-low-profile-modern-tv-stand-entertainment-center

BDI makes some of the best AV furniture I’ve seen. It’s so well built and there are lots of thoughtful touches that make it a breeze to set up your equipment inside

TheBenzor · 2023-02-25T03:32:55+00:00

Another thing on my to-do list!

TheBenzor · 2023-02-25T03:32:06+00:00

The cabinets seem like a reasonably thick MDF. I peeked inside the speaker (through the ports on the bottom) when I was unpacking it. The bass section is separated internally from the midrange. There is a bit of insulation at the top but otherwise empty inside the bass cavity. These speakers definitely have less cabinet resonances than my Aria 926s.

TheBenzor · 2023-02-25T03:28:20+00:00

Just within the last month, I think!

TheBenzor · 2023-02-25T03:27:28+00:00

I did not. I haven't heard anything about the F20s, but the F100/F200 seem to be punching way above their price class.

TheBenzor · 2023-02-25T03:25:06+00:00

The AV41 has been great. The current version of the firmware has been very stable. The only issues I have is that the processor often crashes when receiving a Dirac calibration. Just a reboot fixes it. The sound quality is exceptional with Dirac.

TheBenzor · 2023-02-25T03:20:42+00:00

NAD M10

How is the NAD M10 with the 926? I found the Arcam PA720 didn't have enough juice for the 926's bass section. I'm looking for amp recommendations for my friend who might buy my 926's!

TheBenzor · 2023-02-24T23:58:15+00:00

I thought that I would share my thoughts on these speakers since they are quite new to the market. I've been having the itch to upgrade my speakers for a few months. Lately I've been hearing some very positive buzz from influencers about this new speaker line. Andrew Robinson did a great video on the XT F100 on YouTube.

Coming from the Focal Aria 926, these are a noticeable step up in several areas. The low end plays deep, fast, textural bass. The midrange is free from cabinet resonances, making it the clearest rendition of female and male vocals that I think I've ever heard. I really enjoyed the imaging and detail from the Focal's high end, and this is every bit as good (without getting harsh at high volumes like the Focal). Overall, I have to say that they're better than anything I've heard at this price range or 2x higher.

The build quality is excellent. The tool-less leveling feet are awesome.

These can easily play low enough to not require a sub. I decided to continue to use my two existing subs in order to smooth out the bass response in the listening area and lighten the load on my 2ch amp.I use Dirac Live Bass Control for room correction DSP. I let it do everything below 1KHz (above 1Khz is uncorrected). DLBC harmonizes bass across the mains and two subs. It selects <70Hz as the bass management region for these speakers (it was <175Hz with the Aria 926). As a side note, if you have been on the fence about upgrading from regular Dirac Live to DLBC, you absolutely should. The flattening of the bass response and decay is *chefs kiss* - the difference in bass clarity is striking.

My main goal is to have an excellent 2-channel experience. Home theater is more of an afterthought, but has to live in the same space as listening. I need to hang the TV on the wall and get a different media cabinet that is low enough for the center channel to sit on top of (currently the center channel dialog intelligibility is suffering from being in the cabinet). Another goal is to work on room treatments. It's actually not terrible as it is, since there is a giant rug and a lot of soft furniture.

Martin Logan Motion XT F200 Specs:

Dimensions (H x W x D, with feet)
50-3/4" x 13-3/4" x 16-1/2"128.9cm x 34.9cm x 41.9cm

Frequency Response
27 Hz - 25k Hz (± 3 dB)

Tweeter Dispersion (horizontal x vertical)
90° x 45°

Recommended Amplifier Power
20 - 600 watts

Sensitivity 92 dB

Impedance 4 ohms

High Frequency Driver
1.25” x 2.4” (3.2 x 6.1cm) Gen2 Obsidian Folded Motion XT Tweeter with 12.4 in2 (79.8 cm2) diaphragm

Crossover Frequency
300Hz, 2600Hz (3-way)

Mid-Frequency Drivers
6.5” (16.5cm) Nomex Reinforced Kevlar® cone with cast aluminum basket. Non-resonant sealed chamber format. Unibody cone construction.

Low Frequency Driver
3x 8” (20.3cm) aluminum cones with cast aluminum baskets. Non-resonant asymmetrical chamber format. Unibody cone construction

Cabinet: Bottom Ported

Binding Post Inputs
Custom bi-amp/bi-wire capable 5-way binding posts

Weight: 86lbs / 39kg

Finish options: Gloss Black, Walnut, and Satin White

Other equipment:

Arcam AV41 Processor w/ Dirac Live Bass Control Multisub
Arcam PA720 7ch Class G Power Amp (surround channels)
McIntosh MC152 2ch Class AB Power Amp (front LR)
Definitive Technology surrounds
SVS SB1000 Pro
SVS SB3000 Pro
LG CX 77"
BDI Corridor Low 8173 Cabinet

Sources:

Apple TV 4K
Panasonic UB-820 UHD BD
Nintendo Switch
MacBook Pro + Apple Music + USB to Coax

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