Miscellaneous

Interesting item for sale found on Ken Rockwell's pages... of all places. Some cool pictures included in this .pdf http://www.kenrockwe...ube-factory.pdf Quote from the page... "My buddy who founded and owned Groove Tubes retired, and had bought all the original GE production equipment used for certain kinds of audio vacuum tubes. If you'd like to bring tube production back to the USA (or anywhere else), here's your chance to do it, with the original equipment! Interested? Phone or email Raffie at Industrial Odds & Ends at (818) 253-5692."

Because some companies just don't get it, this thread is dedicated to the weird, the "you missed the concept" and the WTF. For starters: "...with a retro-vacuum tube look"

Sorry if this is repetitive. I am looking for a new camera. I have pretty specific wants and I have thus far not been able to find what i am looking for. The background is that this will be replacing my trusty Contax G1, and I basically want that camera with a digital back. So, I would like digital, interchangeable lenses of good quality, compact (mirrorless most likely as SLRs are too bulky), a system that won't become obsolete, etc. More specifically, I want to control aperture and shutter speed "mechanically" meaning I don't want to toggle through an LCD screen to set them. Bonus points if the aperture control is a ring on the lens. I also am primarily intereste…

Yep, that is right, toilets. We need a new one. I know some people have done some remodels lately and Steve seems to be the bathroom remodel king queen. So I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions or models/brands to avoid.

Do you guys have any recommendations for spill proof travel mugs? I have a few spilltastic mugs but they don't perform to hot in my backpack while riding a motorcycle. Currently I'm using a Contigo. I love the thing except it's starting to lose it's seal after 4 months or so of off and on use. The mouth valve bit leaks sometimes as well as the threads for the cap itself.

Earlier this week, I was trying to order the Apex Peak/Volcano from Todd's website and I couldn't change any of my personal information (including password, address which happens to be incomplete for some reason). I just gave up and decided that it probably meant that I shouldn't get the P/V right now. Anyone have similar problems? Do certain browsers work or do I actually have to use the phone to make an order.

I've got a Studer amp to keep my Stax menagerie under control via the SRD-7 Spritzer. It has always had quite marked mechanical hum when run at 240V (Australia's mains voltage). I have a 240 -> 110V transformer and the Studer is able to be configured to almost any possible mains voltage via a rotary switch and with a change of fuse. Did that. NO FREAKIN' HUM! $2.50 for 2 new fuses! Love it.

Any good ones to recommend for a ground floor bedroom? Thanks.

Anyone know of a portable sound recorder that lets you rewind and playback events from a live recording while still recording the main track? This is an ability that may help me when expressing my thoughts in discussions, it will be voice recording and on a budget of £200 ($300) or less. Something digital with inbuilt speaker would be what I'd need. Douglas p.s. I won't be able to converse much

And the Fire is official. Out November 15, 2011. "GDGT's Ryan Block notes that the WiFi-only Kindle Fire is merely a "stopgap" product, hence its pre-holiday release. Writes Block, "[M]y sources tell me the second-gen Kindle tablet [...] will be out in Q1 of 2012 -- yes, that soon."

Hey guys! I dont know anything about video recording so hopefully I can get some help from you guys. My parents have been looking for a good video camera that can record for more than 2 hours of high quality HD video on a single charge. They've been using the 5d mkii as a video camera but its limited by the 10-12 min limit per recording (for HD video). The video camera doesnt need to have any pro features like xlr inputs or anything but a 3.5mm mic input would be pretty nice. Budget is up to $1.5k (for something thats high quality and built well) Thanks!

I'm in the market for a two person (rated for ~400-450lbs.) outdoor hammock with stand... I've tried various hardware & sporting goods stores to no avail...there are many places that offer hammocks online but do not keep a supply in-store...I'm not against ordering it online, but would prefer to have a strong firsthand recommendation before going that route... price isn't much of an issue & I should have enough space for most models... any help would be appreciated...& no, I haven't tried the Hammock District...

MIT gets a present. http://ow.ly/1sLw73

Kinda useful, especially if you EQ... http://ow.ly/1sEFRQ or http://www.independentrecording.net/irn/resources/freqchart/main_display.htm

So my girlfriend's birthday is coming up and I was going to get her some books and wine, but this past weekend while we were at the grocery store she specifically mentioned wanting an indoor herb garden. Now I'm barely capable of cooking for myself and quite honestly don't know shit about herbs, let alone herb gardens... but I was looking around and something like this seems to be pretty much what she is looking for. I'm a little concerned about this particular unit's noise and lighting, but otherwise it looks like a decent product. Anyone used anything like this or have suggestions for alternatives? The extent of additional info I can provide on what she wants is tha…

After meeting Steve post MOA, my lovely wife got the idea to commission a headphone stand for me as a birthday gift. It also may have been from the various occasions I have said how cool it was that guzziguy's wife had done the same, but who knows. Here is how Steve described the stand: "The woods are Jobillo for the turned stalk piece, and East India Rosewood for the base and hanger. The Jobillo is usually more colorful than that piece, and the East India Rosewood is generally more of one tone (chocolate). The stalk was supposed to be the impact piece, with distinct tones of Brown, Caramel, Red and Purple, however once I started turning it I was disapointed to see t…

I've just finished recording all of our old family VHS tapes to the computer and now have about 90 gigs of video which I need to (mainly) trim bits (blanks and tv show popups) from and to make into chapters for putting onto DVDs. Windows XP had that crappy movie maker thing but Windows 7 doesn't seem to have it. I was wondering if anyone had a recommendation for a (free) bit of software which can do what I'm after. The videos are all recorded to MPEG-2.

Interesting article over on NPR's website ( read it whilst they are still around ) . http://www.npr.org/2011/03/05/134256592/whatever-happened-to-the-audiophile EDIT: add tiny url for tapatalk users http://tinyurl.com/4o8hcxj All the usual suspects are present and correct So, where have they gone or, are we all just here? Lively comments thread. The other place gets a mention

I've decided it's time to get rid of cable TV. I'm currently paying Time Warner $190.00 per month for HD cable, 2 DVR's, Phone service and 7 MB Roadrunner service. For now I'll keep Roadrunner and the phone service but plan on transitioning to the following: Mac Mini hooked up to our 2 TV watching areas in place of the DVR. I already own one and just bought another. I have an Elgato Hdhomerun box on the network and I'll watch and record OTA HD broadcasts through that. We have all the major TV networks available in our OTA broadcast area. I've been using Hulu for shows I can't get OTA and that seems to be acceptable. You can also go to the broadcasters direct web sites …

http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/web/02/22/24.bit.music/ Apple is among a group of digital music retailers in discussions with record labels to improve the sound quality of their digital offerings, according to a new report. Citing executives involved in the talks, CNN reports that the change would involve the labels supplying retailers with 24-bit audio files, as opposed to the 16-bit files that are currently distributed. “We’ve gone back now at Universal, and we’re changing our pipes to 24 bit. And Apple has been great,” said Interscope co-founder and chairman Jimmy Iovine. “We’re working with them and other digital services—download services—to change to 24 bit. And som…

Perhaps I'm too trusting of the human kind. I had an ad on Craigslist for a camera, and this guy called and wanted to a trade with his lens plus cash on my part. He says he is coming from about about an hour and half away and wants me to meet him half-way at a Starbuck's. Sounded reasonable, so I agreed. Drove 45 min to this Starbuck's and sat on my ass for 15 min, 30 min, 45 min, and finally had to leave after an hour. Apparently the guy called me from some sort of internet phone/google voice, etc because the phone number rings and goes into a beep. Messages come back "invalid." The e-mail address I got out of the guy comes back "Delivery failed." Wow, the…

Oh, snap! Has anyone noticed that today Facebook has changed their photo viewer, so that when you click on a photo to view, the bottom of the photo is cut off in order to display an ad at the lower right corner. Only way to view the entire photo is to keep pushing control/- to make the photo small. Absolute FAIL and shows where Facebook is headed! http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10100503334101314

There is an abandoned house next door that's in foreclosure. People moved out, and there is an unfinished pool in backyard, a large dig but without any concrete. After the recent rains, the hole is now full of water, apparently rife with numerous frogs. There's a dirt yard with wild bushes everywhere also. There is VERY loud frog noise intermittently throughtout day and night at all hours. Called HOA, who said they can't do anything as they can't enter the property. They (and I) called "Vector control," who do not deal with frogs but will come out "in few business days" to take a look for mosquitos. In the meanwhile, I got zero hours of sleep last night due t…

I'm setting up a listening room and need to run a dedicated power line to it. So I'm starting this thread to talk about how to do that. I assume I have to ohm out the lines going to my breaker box and then figure a way to separate some of the power lines going to that room. Then I have to install a new breaker for that circuit, and wire the ground differently for that breaker to a ground rod outside hammered into Mother Earth. Is that right?

So I am in need of a decent component video cable. It has to be somewhere between 15 and 20 feet long. The closer to 20' the better. Unfortunately, MonoPrice has 15 foot and 20 foot. I'd really rather avoid a 25' cable if I can help it. I checked on Amazon and found a few results: Amazon.com: 6M PRO SERIES COMPONENT (87206): Electronics ($22) Amazon.com: Icarus Black Carbon Component Video Cable (19.6 Feet/6 Meters): Electronics ($26) Amazon.com: Monster THX Ultra 800 16ft Ultra-High Performance Component Video Cables: Electronics ($20) Yes, Monster FTMFL, as a company, but that price is excellent. In my experience, Monster video cables are not horrid, just…