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Had a graduation party yesterday for Andrew, a good chunk of the family came. Karen and I had most of it catered, and the result was quite stress-free for us, allowing us to enjoy family. Also found out that my dad - 82 years old - just fully retired this past week from his dentistry practice! My dad and oldest brother Scott, and Andrew & me:

Marched in the Knoxville pride parade with my family and some local libertarians.

A few more pics of the Grounded Grid with the top cover on, including a side-by-side with the Blue Hawaii built using the same chassis. Got a set of tube socket rings coming. Will decide if to use them when I have them in hand. Drilled a few more holes on both the top and bottom plate of the Blue Hawaii to help ventilation inside the chassis and hope it'll run cooler. Will likely do the same for the GG.

I built this yesterday. There's some noise that I need to track down, but otherwise it seems to work. The offset adjusts to within a few volts using the balance pot; the offset pot doesn't seem to do much. Offset drifts a bit and I'm not sure I'm adjusting it right. Is there some way to disable the servo?

Fired up the vinyl rig after two years - damn I forgot just how great vinyl can be Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks! I posted about this "universal" PSU in the Carbon thread I think. It's a GRHV tuned for 400VDC rails and a GRLV tuned for 18VDC rails. It also has 2 sets of 6.3vac/4A secondaries from the Antek AS3T325 transformer (300VA, 325v/450mA x 2 and 6.3v/4A x 2). I put a switch and thermistors on the 325v secondaries to function as a manual B+ delay. I originally had one resistor in series with each of the two 6.3vac secondaries to lower the filament supply to the EL34 but have removed them a few weeks ago when I realized I was already losing a few 10th of volts between the tranny and the amp board. I bought a 7-pin female chassis socket I intend to replace the male one I am using now but have not gotten around to do it. I don't have small children in the house to worry about but I have been known to do stupid things that only 5 years old would do (according to my wife).

Went to my sister's to assemble a Hampstead corner cabinet. What a shock. The instructions were clear and all of the parts were there. So it went together pretty easily.

some pictures that others posted from the parade that seemed relevant:

Summer time...

Not far off. So after the ride yesterday I get a message from another dad/son biker friend and we went to the pump track. What a great day! **BRENT**

Father's Day steak dinner

Another ride, another fucking tire blowout, this time on the Litespeed and 12 miles from home. At least had tube this time. I think the bike thing is done for me now. New hobby upcoming. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Fat, drunk and stupid seems like a great way to go through the afterlife. RIP Flounder

That's mine

Put on the shim and FSA seatpost. Now this bike rides as nicely as I remember the DeSalvo rolling. Shaved a few ounces off from the tree trunk of the seat post I took off as well. Somehow managed to shave 8 seconds off my PR on my neighborhood climb so those few ounces must have been some really heavy ounces. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

i had no luck in my quest for used carts. i guess they trade them back in for a discount when they are done with them or something like that. lots of other fun stuff though

happy it works. now for a version with tubes as the constant current sources And a cherub has just informed me a t8000 is headed my way I like retirement. going to a hamfest tomorrow to see what I can find to update some of my very antique test gear

Some progress. The terrible unbalance was due to an unconnected small tube pin. During the milling process the CNC machine drilled a couple of unauthorized holes which I completely forgot when soldering the board. When corrected the amplifier works. The offset is done by opto servo and it works as supposed. Balance control is also done by servo and I've no trimmer. I've same balance servo here as in my amplifiers with LSK389 input and there it works without any problem. With the tube input you can probably expect more differences between the sides. First tube I tried gave 260 V unbalance (offset worked, so +130V and -130V) and the second tube gave 30V unbalance. The balance servo (in current version) is not capable to make it balanced if the tube isn't enough matched. The input is supplied by +100V/-15 and all components there are surface mounted. Current source is 01N100D/LT1021. GG to the left and tube input GG to the right.

i also went to tokyo recently, and the used record shopping was even better then i had hoped for! so many shops everywhere! well stocked, organized and best of all, properly graded! surprisingly, i didn't find much (old) japanese music though, which was a shame, as i really wanted some Taeko Ohnuki records (i already have them on cd, but i want vinyl too!) i also bought a AT33 mono, as it was so cheap down there.

Had a brief respite from man's inhumanity to man by taking a walk among the giant Sequoia's in Calaveras Big Tree State Park.

Wow! That looks delicious!

I can't wait to drink the tears of all the keyboard warriors pushing their lame group-think agenda and spamming the HF Z1R thread when they finally realize Jude's measuring setup is slightly better than pieces of leather, some foam, and a mannequin head they stole from a Macy's. Coincidentally, Sony's measuring setup is a bit better as well.

back from the dead - rise thread rise ! Any new thoughts on this topic? I use an Ikea poang now but find it really bothers my forearms and elbows during long sessions in a way that Mike's Eames knock off did not. Look at a knock off/reproduction Eames any suggestions - the Manhattan Design version looks really good but on the pricier end for a knock off. http://www.manhattanhomedesign.com/eames-lounge-chair-and-ottoman.html

Congrat Andrew! Congrat Andrew's Grandfather!

I think of this sample every time I read the words, "quit being poor", finally got tired of not knowing what the song was, so I Googled it.

May I have ten thousand marbles, please?

You just bought a new fatbike instead of getting new wheels, so that doesn't really count. And your trainer wheels are worth more than my vehicle with the bike on the rack, so DIAF. **BRENT**

Hah. Just realized the easiest way to get Jeff to buy new wheels: "Hey Jeff, I have those Shimano R500 wheels on my bike too!" On another​ note, been a bike heavy day today. Had a swap meet and bought 40$ of stuff for 30$, then went and ride with Xavier and one of good friends and their family. **BRENT**

Another Grounded Grid lives. Have been listening to it for about a week. Powered by the same GRHV/GRLV PSU I use to power my KGSSHV, Carbon and Blue Hawaii. 400VDC rails and 20mA plate current. Using EH 6CA7 - the true beam tetrode not pentode. Runs much cooler than the Blue Hawaii. A tough job remains to drill the holes on the top plate. This is one fine sounding amp!

Welcome @Cattler! Welcome to head-case. Hope everything is chill with you. Do you meditate regularly? I think its pretty cool to do so. I look forward to it now. For a fun and easy tex-mex meal, cut up some chicken breast into cubes and saute in the pan with salt and pepper. They'll cook quick. Then cut up an avocado or two, add salsa and tortilla chips of your choice and VOILA, you have a tasty and reasonably healthy dinner. Works great for leftovers except for avocados which turn into a goddamn horror show 20 minutes after you cut them open. What is the deal with that? @Cattler lets get to work on an avocado that stays good for longer. Thanks for your time.

Ooops

I got in some time with Ether Stat before the room got loud. First of all, I prefer the 007 to the 009 if that helps understand my preferences. The 007 and ES were actually somewhat similar. I preferred the ES for two reasons. 1. The sound stage width and depth was considerable better on ES. I was somewhat surprised at this. Possibly because I listened before the room got loud I was able to observe this difference more so. Once the room got noisy the cavernous sound stage of the ES seemed to get drowned out. 2. I prefer the mids on ES, especially on the BH that Justin brought. I mostly listen to vocal centric music, jazz and modern folk/Americana. I was hearing voices that were more naturally rendered with lot's of detail. Breathing between notes, chesty guttural notes from deep in the chest. I still love the 007 and it remains my favorite production stat. I'm hoping that it can be improved on with something modern and at a friendly price point.