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This past weekend was the Maryhill Spring Free-4-All, during which I rode some skateboards down a fast and sketchy hill. There were shenanigans. https://imgur.com/a/Mqb6MDD

Can't find the right bolts and screws as usual :/ next up are the heatsinks Oh yeah and I forgot, happy belated birthday to Kevin!

Filet Mignon tornedor, bacon and pappardelli

Sous vide flat iron steak

...because it kinda is?

Draft of dual 6922 input (similar to T2 input), with current tunnel (as Carbon etc.) Voltage cross 2sa1486 580V and 700mW of heat.

I've given myself a sideways reverse mohawk before. Ever so briefly.

I made some modifications to my Megatron. Most of them are under the hood. changed the CCS tubes filament supply transformers from 25VA Antek AN 0206 to 50VA AS 0506 (one for each channel). Now the under-load filament voltage is at 6.15v. changed the transformer supplying the front end filament and current sink to 50VA Antek 0512 to accommodate the higher filament supply when using E80CC in place of the 12AU7 and drill some holes on the PSU chassis to help with cooling. added an LED indicator on the amp chassis which comes on when HV supply is on.

Anyone else notice their headphone hearing changes after a haircut? It's gotten so I anticipate it each time I'm due... it was pretty bad this time, being about two months overdue. However, the benefit is that my Alessandro MS-1 sound a lot better today (at the same volume level)... highs and overall clarity and imaging improve. Having longer hair must have some kind of HRTF effect (I made sure my hair was never covering my ears when it was long).

/\ /\ /\ My Monday mornings /\ /\ /\

First time Winnipeg has made it to round 2, including the old pre-1996 team before they moved to Phoenix. I never pay attention to hockey, but I'm paying attention now. A bit.

AKA "You never go full retard"

You can check this thread at the other place If that actually tells us anything, the hybrid / all-tube DIY electrostatic amps seem to change hands a lot less (and quicker) than the solid-state ones.

"Thy knotted and combined locks to part, and each particular hair to stand an end like quills upon the fretful porpentine" That's what you need before listening

You make it sound like it's deliberate -- it ain't. Stupidity is at a molecular level. (MHO)

The GRHV is fed 350v AC supplies and regulated to 430VDC rails.The GRHV transistors are bolted to the bottom panel of the chassis and that’s enough for heatsinking.

Fractional Reserve Stupidity?

Nah, there's always some stupidity held in reserve.

I decided to stop messing around and put my favorite album in (after using Duran Duran's Greatest CD as a warmup... inconclusive results there due to low volume): The thing you have to know is that the SACD layer of Roxy Music's Avalon is a different mix. It took me about a third of the album to realize that... at first I was just, like, whoa, blown away. Bryan Ferry's voice sounds clearer, the familiar instruments are better separated, drums are more impactful, and there is even a sense of vertical space added. I've listened to this album over a hundred times, but only on the Red Book layer. If you're only familiar with the CD or the vinyl versions, it's going to be an odd experience. It's exactly the same album, but everything is a little different. Wikipedia claims the stereo mix is identical, but I am telling you that it is not. I wasn't expecting much from my cheap Sony player, but this session told me that I've been missing a lot on my hybrid SACD discs. I thought that it was a downmix of the surround version, but if Wikipedia says the stereo mix is identical to the original, then the difference must come solely from the SACD encoding. I don't actually believe that, though, because many of the stereo elements sound like they are placed differently (and each voice or instrument fades in or out more distinctly, like Andy Mckay's distinctive oboe)... perhaps the UHP-H1 is ignoring the stereo mix and downmixing the surround mix anyway. The principal impressions I got from the SACD layer are clarity and separation. Voices and instruments that are mixed together in the original version seem to be pulled apart and they are more clearly defined... the effect is not that subtle. Once again, it's more theatrical, like a concert performance. I'm not entirely sure if I like it, since I'm so familiar with the original mix. I'll have to listen to it a few more times, especially on my headphones. If you have this SACD, I strongly recommend flipping between the layers if your player allows you. It's a bit like getting two albums for the price of one. This album is probably even more fun with a 5.1 surround system. I'm not usually one for gimmickry, but this was fun. I'm hoping the next few SACDs are as entertaining as this one.

Good point about the mesh and that it might be even more restrictive. I for one have never felt there to be any real benefit to the mesh in practice but it's hard to know for sure without direct A-B comparisons of identical units except for the stators. In other news, the shitty cable is gone now in favor of a Stax SRE-950S extension cable. I did cut about 1M off it but now it actually reaches my amps... Here is what you get with your 4K$ headphones... It does weigh almost nothing but then again...there is nothing there. With a bit of force I managed to just pull the cables out of the cable entry so no molding going on there. Pull back the techflex and it is just loose wires with the heatshrink at the end used to hold it all together and to secure the cable in the cable entry. Three layers there that I count. Nothing else holding the cable in place unless I missed some glue but I don't think so. The insulation on the wires is also pretty thin and it feels like cheap PVC, it certainly melts easily. The outside diameter of the wires is 0.9mm and the wire itself is 0.3mm so the same on each side to insulate it. Me thinks this is not rated for 1000V+ use but I'd have to break out the HV test jig and zap it multiple times to see how it holds up. One other note, the drivers are wired up as inverted. I decided to keep it like that as it was simply easier to fit the much thicker Stax cables that way in the cups but it should make little to no difference.

The thump shouldn't do any damage but it might be a good idea to follow the original and add some relays to the output. Stax used a 4PDT Omron relay but it is rated to nowhere near the specs we really need.

I finished processing my recordings from The Monterey Jazz Festival back in Sept. and a few tracks from the 2016 festival too. That year I was in the middle of packing up my home in San Jose and dolling it up to sell so I figured I just combine the two. If you go to my SoundCloud page I posted 6 new tracks 2 from the Joshua Redman Quartet 2016 2 from Regina Carter's Southern Comfort Band 2017 2 from a fantastic tribute to Quincy Jones with Christian McBride bass, Hubert Laws flute, Dave Grusin keys, James Carter tenor sax, Lewis Nash drums and Valerie Simpson lead vocals. Here's a taste of Josh Redman playing in one of the medium sized venues ending 2016

Fish & Chips Fish & Not Chips On the deck @ Sams Anchor Cafe , Tiburon

Eggs and leftover tri-tip. Waste not want not!

On my DAC

They were propped up by two smashed potatoes, which went uneaten. Currently working on this. Being able to get USDA Prime tri-tip in fucking Safeway is one of my favorite things about California, and that includes the wine.

Breakfast Pizza with added Bacon

Meanwhile ... The important music news http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-43924609

Salted caramel cheesecake shake. YUM!

Well... I dug out the screwdrivers... Sorry for the crappy pictures, I just had the iphone to hand. First off, the true quality Stax plug: So that disk there normally sits flush with the plug as the pins are too long. They had that problem with the Jade so nothing has changed in a decade... Pure class. It is also incredibly crude. Funny how King Sound could make a ribbon cable and a proper plug at 1/8th the price... Speaking off the cable, you can barely make out the loose wires in there when I press it together. Here's the earpads...well one of them. They are pretty comfy but they do stink quite badly. No expense spared here... I did order some new pads to try out. Here is the baffle and the cable entry. The latter seems to not be molded around the cable so I might be able to remove this cable and put in a proper ribbon. Very long screws... They go all the way to the back of the housing which is plastic and has nice metal inserts. Now the baffle is off and it has this nice rubber gasket to maintain baffle seal. Now we can see the cable and the metal frame which provides the bulk of the assembly. Here is the back of the protective mesh. These are not the stators so why Hifiman uses this in the promo's as the stators is beyond me... Another gasket here which is good. Here we have the driver. There is a protective mesh but it is odd. It's not a solid sheet but some sort of a porous membrane. Copper mesh stators and the pitch is very fine. Finally the back of the drivers and the second protective mesh. You can also see the plastic frame which holds it all together. The drivers are glued together so I didn't want to mess with them more at this time. One funny thing, the cables inside the cups are really long. Like 10cm even though they would need only about 2cm or so... Over all, I'm impressed by the build quality. It's not Stax quality but they are getting better. I eagerly wait for the Mk2 version next month...

Lamb Shoulder, Lemon Potatoes and veggies Rabbit Kalamakia - Rabbit Loin surrounded by lamb sausage and wrapped in bacon. Moussaka Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Sous vide waygu burger

Fishes. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Done! These are not just your standard two ways. Instead, Marc has paired basically a full range driver and a super tweeter, then customized a crossover to take best advantage of that pairing. These drivers have to stretch their legs before I can really assess them, but so far I'm impressed. They're bigger than I had originally thought I'd build them, but still, make a pretty good nearfield monitor. Bass is far better than I expected. Eventually, they will darken to match the Parasound case. The window will speed that process up.

Heisenberg, Schrodinger, and Ohm are in a car. They get pulled over. Heisenberg is driving and the cop asks him "Do you know how fast you were going?" "No, but I know exactly where I am" Heisenberg replies. The cop says "You were doing 55 in a 35." Heisenberg throws up his hands and shouts "Great! Now I'm lost!" The cop thinks this is suspicious and orders him to pop open the trunk. He checks it out and says "Do you know you have a dead cat back here?" "We do now, asshole!" shouts Schrodinger. The cop moves to arrest them. Ohm resists.

We did end up buying the hand made, foam and latex free bed. It was over the top, but, after daily back pain for years, to suddenly realize my back has not hurt since the day we got it has made the price worth it.

Second day in Sydney, lovely city this is. We're very close to the Harbor....when we got here, we took a walk down to the harbor and looked through a nice local market at an area called the Rocks. Got some absolutely amazing licorice there, the maker is a fucking genius at bringing some of the most unexpected ingredients together to make a delicious treat. Then got a distant pic of the Opera House (we'll tour it later), but some big-ass thing was in the way. Today, we did a hop-on-hop-off tour of the city, stopped in a few places including Bondi Beach, Chinatown, several market areas, and then I walked back to the hotel while Karen is still shopping Lot of walking, but enjoying this a lot!

Refurbished my Ruger 10/22 Ruger BX Trigger, extended magazine release, skeletonized charging handle, Tactical Solutions threaded and fluted bull barrel, Hogue overmolded rubber thumbhole stock, picatinny optic mount, Nikon Prostaff Rimfire 3-9x BDC scope. I think it came out pretty nice. I should have taken a before picture.

Nothing wrong with liking garbage, just look at SBAF and HF where people think Cavalli Audio made something that approaches high fidelity equipment. You liking doesn't change the fact that it is a joke product and the only reason somebody would compare it to the T8000 or the BHSE is its price. We've seen this before with the Woo WES, one out of three owners I've talked to thought it was the bee's knees but the other 2/3's...thought it was a broken piece of shit. So why would it be on the same par as the BHSE? Because it cost more... Like the Trilogy or not, I could not care less but remember one thing, this is the exact same circuit that Schiit thought was too bad to sell for 1k$ and their implementation was far superior.

Meanwhile ... Gibson files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection. "As NPR has noted in the past, filing for Chapter 11 protection does not mean that a company is doomed to fail; instead, "it's a way for companies that can't pay their bills to not die." The petition, filed on Tuesday, notes that the company currently has up to $500 million in debt ... https://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2018/05/01/607373593/gibson-guitars-files-for-bankruptcy-protection http://variety.com/2018/biz/news/gibson-iconic-guitar-company-files-for-chapter-11-bankruptcy-protection-1202793510/ https://www.twice.com/industry/gibson-files-for-bankruptcy-protection

https://www.shure.co.uk/company/press/2018/phono-statement Well, THAT sucks. Shure has been the de facto choice for vinyl DJs for decades.

How similar is the circuit to the woo, the darkvoice, and the Millet?