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Genetics are not destiny. My Dad was a hardworking, thrifty and abstemious man and my Mom was a pillar of the Catholic church. QED.

It's funny though. The Parsons Russell is said to play fetch until your arm falls off, and they're prone to chewing household items if not kept entertained. Suzy has 0 interest in fetching or even playing with a ball or stick. She prefers to tear the sqeakers out of plush toys. She has never chewed anything in my house, other than her own before mentioned plush toys. She does have the intelligence of the Parsons and the Border Collie. And the sweet disposition of the Bulldog.

The current crew. Rufus (black)runs things. Hugo Z Hackenbush (Maine Coon) is the baby and gets into just about everything. Molly (brown tabby) stays out their way

Just got Suzy's DNA results. She is 0% Jack Russel. However she is between 37-74% Parsons Russell. I tend to think it's closer to 74%, as she looks exactly like many of the photos. She's also between 10-20% Border Collie and between 10-20% Bulldog. Who knew? She's a Border Bull Russell.

David Graeber. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/sep/03/david-graeber-anthropologist-and-author-of-bullshit-jobs-dies-aged-59 Edit: A favorite Graeber article: https://thebaffler.com/salvos/whats-the-point-if-we-cant-have-fun

If it's not New Yello, is it Old Yeller?

This one time at bandcamp...

Do you listen to anything old?

New Pineapple Thief New Pain of Salvation New SPC ECO New Yello Life is good

Well, like Lemond said, it never gets easier, you just go faster...

As mandated, for legality purposes...

it’s amazing how this training stuff works. i got back from my 15 mile ride this morning, feeling like it was a slow one and strava told me i’m getting faster.

I think there is another even more ridiculous pair of speakers in front of those speakers. The children's play area foam mats give it away.

Oh. So you are saying it is a Microsoft designed product?

Off axis? Or perhaps he did?

https://www.musicradar.com/news/10-classic-synth-riffs-that-are-actually-stupidly-easy-to-play

Speaking of getting old.

Neither nature nor nurture!

Yes, I have the TR-3D

The YouTube hive mind shared this unlikely "gift" with me earlier today... I decided not to purchase Enya's Watermark: The kids are alright Fast Car – Tracy Chapman (imy2 cover) Obligatory rick roll

“Hold my beer...” I do not recommend listening to the above. This is crap of the crappiest order. Crappy crap.

I would be for just one person .

In the sidebar this just looked like one very ambitious dish.

Mango Crab Salad Bacon Cheeseburger & Garlic Fries

Why has no one mentioned the elephant cat in the room? Steve: is that the Gallo subwoofer? I have the TR-1 as well.....

I have the same subwoofer.

Don't mean to change the topic but I have moved my setup to the living room for the next three months and I'm excited. As you were. Better photo.

Wife tried to get sympathy from the kids by saying "daddy made me go to the gym with him, isn't he mean to mommy" Girl #1 response "but mommy can I tell you something? You need to get stronger" In the parenting competition with the wife I'm pulling a big lead..

Disclosure - ENERGY

Well the CD1700 actually does not have any weakness after the recabled work that I did. As wonderful as the Cd3000 with similar mod, the treble still can be annoying from time to time. I don’t encounter any issue with the CD1700. The presentation is actually effortless, relaxed, and analog sounding. If you guys come across one and willing to do a bit of DIY, you will be very pleased with the results. They can easily compete with any headphones under a grand and then some.

My Initial impressions of the mini T2. Listening on my stax 007a mk2, normal caveats apply. There is no point comparing it to the Stax srm007 its like comparing a Bentley to a slug. Compared to my hi-amp alpha centauri there is also no competition. The mini T2 out does it in every department as does my Blue Hawaii. I will compare the mini T2 to the Blue Hawaii (mini t2 (golden ref HV and LV, kevin gilmore synchronous rectifiers in the LV tkd volume, cardas hookup wire, groove tubes el34s, electro harmonix gold pin 6922s, simulated single box - transformers piled on top of each other 😞) (blue hawaii, (golden ref HV and LV, kevin gilmore synchronous rectifiers in the LV tkd volume, cardas hookup wire, groove tubes el34s single box) The t2 has more smoothness, and yet more detailed and faster treble with a little more sparkle than the BH. The treble speed is not done via a bright hardness but rather its just fast and articulate and is very musical and "valve like". Mid range is equally strong with more smoothness and more detail than the hawaii. Bass is good, not necessarily much better than the blue hawaii, perhaps the BH goes deeper but the mini T2 is again more rounded and smooth. I think the upper bass is better on the mini t2 which partly makes up for the slight lack of depth. The mini T2 does not shout or dazzle, its just fast and natural. It makes you want to turn the volume up, not because its missing something but because it sounds like its not straining and just wants to sing. Micro dynamics are much better than my BH, Macro dynamics are perhaps a bit more restrained than the BH but the compromise works for me because the micro is so much better then the BH. The mini T2 loves strings and acoustic music. I can’t comment much beyond this since I only listen to Jazz and classical. Image placement is like a blanket around the listener, the Mini has the ability to present the sound stage close to the listener when the recording is close. With the BH everything seems about the same distance regardless of the recording. When the recording has the sound stage further back the mini T2 presents a very wide, detailed soundstage but does not hyper focus on individual instruments, there is detail and yet the acoustic of the venue comes through. I feel the mini T 2is less analytical than the BH, interplay between instruments is better presented, its more musical and makes you want to play at whatever volume you want. there is much less of a volume sweet spot than the BH. Some suggested listening for what this amp can do Rodrigo guitar concertos academy of st martin in the fields philips - beautiful guitar sounds with detail and fantastic plucked strings. Hank Thompson live at the golden nugget. - the mini t2 pulls off the orange blossom special without brightness and the level of detail shows you it’s a packed venue with gambling noises everywhere. j c Bach trio sonatas on chandos - mini t2 shows the mid range warmth that the blue hawaii missing, the recording is on original instruments and can sound a little thin... no so with the mini t2 paul desmond bossa antigua, tape hiss is separate from the instruments, centre drums are articulate, it’s a warm sound but not dull or muddy. The sound is beautiful there is detail but it’s not thrown at you. I am very glad I started this project - even though I had very little smd soldering experience. Everything worked first time no smoke no drama. Now all I need is some cnc machining for the case. the mini T2 consumes about 25W less than the BH and runs cooler too. Conclusion, both the BH and mini T2 are very very good. Building a blue hawaii is easier - there is almost no smd parts and will be cheaper: one less psu board, less transformer windings, less valves and can be built in one box. But the mini T2 is better sounding..... If you have the time, money, skill and equipment give the mini T2 some serious consideration. Now I have to build a full T2 with modern components.... and finally a very large thank you to JoaMat for providing me the mini t2 boards and for his help and support during this build. Best regards and happy building James

I wasn't sure about posting this but it kinda had to be done. Pic is from HF and the usual nonsense in the peanut gallery there: So this is the Sirrah V3 from high-amp.de...aka yet another slight twist on the Stax SRM-1 Mk2 or derivatives. For me it is just the build here and well... the total shitbox we have here. First off, what's up with all the hotglue? As somebody who has built hundreds of amps at this point... I don't even own a hotglue gun nor would I ever think of using this crap. Some other goodies, top of the transformer sanded for it to fit in the chassis, no insulation on the mains plug which means this would fail even the basic CE tests, nice bit of cloth underneath the pot there to presumably stop it from shorting something on the board and I just love all the transformer leads, not twisted in any way, coming really close to the input wiring. The hand cut heatpads on the output transistors are also nice and I very much doubt that tiny ballast resistor for the bias supply is rated to 600V.... On top of that, look up the design of this thing. Basically a SRM-212 with a full size power supply and some things changed. +/-200V rails, no CCS for the VAS stage and very little power.

RIP Tom Seaver, apparently had Dementia (the same type Robin Williams had) and COVID.....fuck both of those diseases! https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/02/obituaries/tom-seaver-dead.html