Scott - thanks for taking time to reply

I appreciate your comments on the EV's and Mackies - was also interested to read the post from the fella using Barbettas - though I have the 31 and not the 32 he does. I note the Ev's are only about 8 lbs. lighter than the Mackies - what do they cost - I can buy the Mackie 450's up here for 580 each. I do realize that perfection for all conditions is unrealistic so I might stick with the Barbies for the time being.

I do want to buy an arranger in the next 2 weeks. If chord recognition and sounds on the GEM are not great I will hold off there. If so - I have decided against the Technics 6500 - its 2495 at Sound Center in Mississippi - but where do I go for service in Alaska? - and dealing with Technics and Matsushita has been appalling for me - just trying to get dealer info. I believe that I will end up with an SD1 unless U-Dave convinces me that I can lift 49 pounds of psr9000pro as I get older. I must admit - I like the drum sounds on the SD1 better - but I like the strings and horns better on the 9000.

But I'll make a wager here - if the Genesys is ready - it will support full chord recognition options, it will have a fine sequencer, simple layout, straight forward ops, it will be vastly improved in the sound department, it will have full cross platform style conversion, video out, hard drive, and easy toggling between midi-playback and full on live arranger function, and perhaps the performance pads of the KN series.

Okay - a small wager -
regards
MH