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Hardware finally arrived so we installed pulls and stops and we're done with this project.

Not sure if this is the best place to continue this discussion....but I love love love this woman and her sarcasm. There's another clip I saw on FB where she goes on factually to show why he doesn't deserve it. But even this part is great.

^ Yes, far be it for Head-Case to ever veer off on a tangent. 😝

Are you having a Good Time, San Carlos? The Sounds of Chicago And Steely Dan With Aja Vu

As a wise man once said: ”Qobuz was always the answer.”

If Henry Kissinger can get it.....

He has to live that long.

38 drivers not including the additional subs in the back. That is a lot of dust catchers...

Sorry to hear. Maybe Hall, Reds, or Looking for Mr. Goodbar here.

I decided to test out the new electric razor's self cleaning pod. The old one sucked because after you opened the pod of liquid and installed it in the cleaning module, it would basically be good for one cleaning, as it would evaporate in a few days. And those cartridges are expensive. This new Razor has a better designed module, but still has a small slit for the liquid to enter the blades. I try not to give Bezos much business these days, but remembered these silicone lids for storage of leftover food. My Mother had some and I found a set of various sizes on Amazon several years ago, so... No more money evaporating into the air. Also several years ago on Amazon, I found these... You simply add a small portion to 70% rubbing alcohol, and you have very inexpensive cleaning solution that works every bit as good as the expensive pods. And the lemon scent is nicer too.

That's sad news. Maybe I'm ready to watch Annie Hall again. ☹️ RIP

^^ Hoping things combust internally for him and the administration by 2026 Nobel voting.... But for now, moar HDD stuph

This morning before finishing up our bathroom remodel cabinetry project, I prepped and Al cooked breakfast on the flattop. Kind of a mimic of Waffle House's Smothered, covered, loaded hashbrowns. All the eds were used. Bell peppers, onions, tomatoes, mushrooms, smoked cheddar and scrambled eggs and bacon on the side. We made a ton, and I think that I hurt myself a little bit, as our project required me to move and conform in ways that I found difficult. Lot's of groaning and weezing involved. But we prevailed. The homeowners left fresh baked chocolate chip cookies, which I still can't quite consume, even though they look amazing.

Freakin' sweet work!

Wait, has anyone watched The Hunting Wives? Suddenly it seems interesting.

The problem is that there is people in Europe, and probably other continents, who believe he’s doing great for the interests of his voters. People that are willing to vote to parties in the extreme right to do the same here. And the amount of such people is increasing. Look at Argentina and how Trump bought time for Milei Such people may have influence to get a Nobel for Trump. I hope I’m wrong, but I’m very afraid I am not.

I believe R41, FB2, C16 and C17 are connected as red line shows.

There's an awful lot of solder on your SMD parts.

Always loved her, beautiful woman!! For me, Looking For Mr. Goodbar and Baby Boom may be my faves. RIP......

Unfortunately he may get it in 2026.

After the morning jaunt, the plan was to start with Dan Tyminski but I took a nap instead. Claire went and enjoyed it. I arrived at the blanket one minute before Cimafunk started, which was pretty ideal. They are from Cuba but live in New Orleans now apparently. Fun stuff. Made our way to the adjacent stage in time for Tweedy to come out and bore the snot out of everyone. The sun was in his face and his deathly pallor clearly indicated that was not routine. When he finally spoke, he said that he didn't know the sun would be here and "that's not cool, man." Wilco's California Stars was the only song that got the crowd going. At the end of the show he said that it was the first show touring for his new triple album, and thanked us for listening to a lot of new stuff. Definitely the weakest of many Tweedy shows I have seen with Wilco, solo, and with this band with his two sons that he used to call Tweedy. Oh well.

In an effort to try and finish up some of the gigantic pile of projects, here is a fully DC/DC powered KGSSHV. The unit is close to 10 years old but not really used at all as it ended up at Kevin's with some transformer trouble. A couple of years ago I made an effort to bring all those amps home so I stripped it down for transport and the transformer went in the trash to save on weight. Then I found those lovely 400V DC/DC bricks, added one for 600V bias (with a bit of a trim and filtering) and one for +/-15V, all driven off a 90W 24VDC Meanwell brick. I had to lower the output stage current a bit from stock and there is a tiny bit of coil whine coming from those HV supplies but it works well. The B+ supply is the hottest part in there at 60°C.

I've had my eye on these for the last year or so but waiting for a cheap set to come up. There are three versions they sell and I found the cheapest one for sale, brand new in the box with the transformer adapter. I'll take some pics of the system tomorrow (shortest day of the year here so... yeah not great for photos) but I've at least a pic of the headphones and the internals of the transformer box. Here they are and I quite like the looks and the build quality. They are using mini XLR's which is not ok but questionable connector choices are a theme here. The stock cable is beyond crap (more on that tomorrow) so I'm using a Stax PC-OCC off my RR-1's. They feel substantial but also light and fit my head snugly at the largest extension. Carbon Fiber headband and the leather is nice. On their site they claim the Minima is supposed to have pleather earpads but these are clearly genuine leather. These look very similar to earpads I've bought from China in the past and nothing wrong with the quality. I shone flashlight through the driver to you all could see the structure, very unusual drivers here. Now onto the adapter box... yeah this is not good. That's it... and yeah there are so many issues here. Let's start with this gem: It's hard to capture on "film" but the IEC input and the fuse holder are completely uninsulated and mere millimeters from the metal frame of the transformers. Thankfully the chassis is earthed but yeah, this is not to code and an instant CE violation there. In the first picture you can also see there is no protection for the transformers at all and we will get to why that is an issue. Now the active parts: The bias supply is driven directly off the mains, no isolation between you and the wall. Now this was commonplace in the 70's but now... I'm not sure this meets any modern standards. The bias supply is a simple voltage doubler and for 117V they just add another doubler on top. There is then a 600V zener clamp to make sure the bias doesn't rise above that threshold. None of this has the elegance of the Stax bias supplies and frankly this is just sad. For instance the LED for power indication is driven directly off the mains, through one tiny resistor. Now you might notice those 3 pin XLR's there and yup, they are the stock outputs for the Euridiche, the Stax output is just for convenience. One of my biggest gripes is with using XLR's as they are in no way rated for these voltages, especially the cheap, no-name, units they are using. Also check out the clerances on that PCB.. bias and high voltage signals less than 1mm apart. Then we have what scares me the most, see those traces which go right to the edge of the board and into pin 3 of the XLR's...? Yeah that is the bias so 600V is sitting there, pressed right up against the chassis with exposed solder connections. Sure this is after the ballast resistors (one 4m7 for the Stax and separate 10M units for each side of the XLR's) but still... They have a lot of faith in the powder coating on the chassis. Finally the Stax socket, 3D printed and fed directly off the XLR sockets. Almost no way to actually cram a Stax plug in there but you know, I almost had to use a hammer. 😉 Then we come to the final issue, on paper these appear to be Stax compatible despite the stupid XLR connectors and similar bias supply but nope... they are so inefficient that my usual test amp (Icepower 50 module with a preamp tacked onto it) was at max volume to get these to my normal listening level. I plugged in my test SR-207's as well and they were at half volume using this transformer box. As seen in the first pic, I've fitted them with a Stax plug but they make the Carbon CC work for its pay so yeah, you need a very powerful amp to drive them. Now finally, how do they sound... pretty damn nice actually. 🙂 This is off the Carbon CC prototype in my rig right now and they are very balanced sounding, slightly dark sounding but very mellow and open. They are not overly forward or bright, unless when called to be and I can listen for a few hours with nothing bad to say really. Bass is plentiful and deep, midrange has a nice presence to it and the soundstage is pretty good. Top end is a tad dark but it is very mild and they make for a relaxing and pleasant package. So TL;DR... great headphones that are let down by being too inefficient, frankly unsafe transformer box and stupid cable/connector choices. Change the cable to Stax and drive them off a powerful amp and the sound is great.

Nuff said.

This has to be the week of stupid mods, cue this 727 in for full surgery and mods. Nothing abnormal on top but below I find this: Hmmm not quite stock that input wiring In and output wires from the volume pot were simply cut and this new monstrosity was sliced into ends. The plan was clearly to bypass the volume control but this is a 727... which has a switch to turn off the volume control and bypass it!! Just flip the switch the volume control does nothing... fucking hell... One more thing, can anybody make heads or tales of this monstrosity? That's two three conductor cables, basic mic cable would do the job but why set it up like this? Each conductor is screened and they are bridging it ever 10cm or so for moar cancellation? Ground for your ground... for your ground? Also, I'm not truly prepared for the 727 to be almost 20 years old at this point. The caps in this one had a date code from early 2007.

Diane Keaton at 79

Fourier Transform Speakers....unique, be interesting to hear..... Video about it: