Yesterday I couldn't make it to work, actually I did get there then sat in my truck on the phone with my boss while I waited to feel well enough to drive back home. These episodes that I blame on withdrawal from a psychotropic, Effexor, (Wyeth labs and my former doctor should burn in hell) are suddenly becoming more frequent and severe even after 6 weeks off the stuff and now I'm thinking that the damned pills damaged me neurologically. Welll ,as Eye-gor said in Young Frankenstein, "could be worse,...could be raining..."

Feeling better last night but bored I actually got out the Hi-Fi News test record which I had tried once and tucked away a few years ago. Couldn't quite get the image centered on several recordings and thought it worth a go. The phase test made sense to me this time and I confirmed that the new crossover phase was correct. The pink noise at the beginning, middel and end of side one to check tracking distortion is essentially worthless cause I don't know what it's supposed to sound like.

I did, however, manage to zero in the image by moving the left speaker an inch or so. Go figure. I've moved the speakers all over this zip code in the past and couldn't get this result until last night. This is BIG NEWS 'cause I had shelved the ARC pre-amp and built the passive thinking the ARC had an imbalance and I bought the Classe amp thinking the 45 was similarly afflicted; haven't felt much like listening to anything lately and turned to building the Pro 4s as a palliative.

It was actually the anti-skating test that turned the trick as to which speaker to move; The Sonata couldn't track the second test track w/o the right channel buzzing, meaning I needed more anti-skate. When I increased it enough for the stylus to sail through it
and both channels failed the third test track, I knew anti-skate was eliminated as a possible cause of the channel imbalance. Skeezix!

The resonant frequency test is great fun except that I had to uncomfortably 1/2 squat (don't you just hate half-squats?) to see the stylus finally dance at 13 Hz. I know thats a smidge above optimum but nobodys perfect. Actuaslly, there was some warbling well above 13 Hz but the stylus didn't cut loose and dance until 13. I wonder if that warbling is a contributor to the lovely mid-range of the Sonata? Distortion works for SETs, don't it?

Back on the shelf went the test record and on the table went an OJC copy of

I hope you have discussed your withdrawal from Effexor with a decent physician and are stepping down your dosage over a period of weeks or more. If not, you may be experiencing a type of withdrawal rebound; it usually takes a little time for your nervous system adapt back to the non-medicated state.

Not sure if your doc has discussed this with you, but I will try to give a very brief lay-person run down for you... it has been a while for me. Neurotransmitters are chemicals that transfer a nerve signal from one nerve to another: from the synaptic end bulb (sender) - across the synaptic cleft - to receptors in the receiving nerve, which then triggers a response in the receiving nerve. The neurotransmitters are removed from the cleft by a range of mechanisms, one being uptake back into the end bulb of the sending nerve. Effexor inhibits this uptake, thereby (at least in the short term) increasing the amount of transmitter in the cleft and increasing the transmitters available to bind receptors in the receiving nerve. This causes increased stimulation of the receiving nerve, compared to a non-medicated state. There is MUCH more to this, but I am trying to keep it simple (makes it easier for me!) and I don’t have my reference texts close by!

Thing is, your synapses have regulated themselves to manage the increased serotonin and noradrenaline at their gap and may take a little time to regulate back to the lower amounts of these transmitters in the gap. That is, your nerves have gotten used to having higher levels of neurotransmitter available; now they need to get used to more 'normal' amounts. It takes time. Hang in there. Find an understanding and helpful doc.

Hope this helps in some small way. It shouldn't - your doc should have explained it to you already, tho likely did not.

Cheers
Raymond