Leaderboard

Some progress on my end, the amp is up and running now. It only took a new KGSSHV psu, new transformer, new power switch and I also swapped out the Stax socket as that nylon one just bugged me. I also dropped the voltage from +/-400V to +/-350V as hacking up the amplifier boards would have been a lot of work and the lower voltage negates most of that. Couple if funny things, the sheer number of misspellings on these boards is hilarious, bias is always written "Bisa" and look carefully at the text on those amp boards for some hilarity. One other thing, I was going over the PSU board and noticed one thing, the caps for the bias supply are 630V rated... now to generate the bias this is a voltage doubler, it takes the raw AC input (which is 325V or so) and doubles it. For that the parts need to be rated at least double the input voltage and guess what... 2*325V is more than 630V. That is assuming the line voltage remains stable and there are no spikes. Yeah everything done to save just a little bit of money.

I'm the owner of the KGSSHV Mini in question. The origin of the unit is the AU store MyHeadFi. It is quite the story for me, so I'll post the events of what happened incrementally if I get the time. I posted the e-receipt of the order that was placed. Long story short, I owned the unit for less than 3 weeks before it died completely on me. The seller absolutely 100% refused to issued a refund (Vance from MyheadFi) and I had no choice but to ask visa to file a dispute for the lost funds in questions. He was unhelpful and demeaning all around (more on that to come). I eventually won the case, but at the cost of considerable time, money, and sanity. Visa's requirement to file a claim was such that a 3rd party must analyze the ordered product and determine whether it was in proper working condition. The second requirement was that this 3rd party had to be a qualified vendor with an online store that sold a similar product. The problem with these 2 requirements was that, as far as I'm aware, Mjolnir Audio is literally the ONLY 3rd party on the face of this planet that was qualified to provide a statement to Visa because he is the only vendor of these amps with an online store and the only vendor of these amps that designed them. Spritzer and Kevin Gilmore worked in conjunction to design these amps, and, as such, every other 3rd party or diy builder either wouldn't have a registered store of their own or wouldn't be qualified to assess a defective unit. Spritzer was kind enough to do me a favor and provide evidence to visa that the amplifier in question was in fact 100% defective and in non working order. I have to pay over 200$ to have the amplifier rushed out to Spritzer and analyzed within the timeframe visa had requested, which is quite the hefty shipping fee. Now lets fast forward to just about 24 hours after I received notification from visa that I had won the dispute with the seller and things start to get even more interesting. I did get all of the funds back from visa after they issued a chargeback for the full amount. However, I started to receive threatening emails from the seller. I also I opened up my visa statement to find some fun surprises. Low and behold, I saw the thing I suspected I would see: Even more fraudulent charges on my account! Why did I suspect this? Well, because the seller still had all of my credit card information and boy was he still pissed at me. So in total he managed to rack up about $2000 to $3000 worth of Sony Entertainment charges, which I can only assume are related to Playstation digital goods, as well as a couple of food delivery charges for a company that doesn't exist where I live. Let me be clear in stating that I do not own a Sony Playstation, but instead own a high end PC with a brand new 3090, so it stands to reason I would never stoop that low ; ) Anyway, as I write this now I am STILL in the process of disputing all of these fresh fraudulent charges on my visa statement. I was assured by visa that all of this will go away soon enough, but it's still a huge pain to deal with. Ironically I also read what happens to online game accounts like PS4 and PS5 accounts that are flag for fraud or initiate chargebacks. Essentially their accounts get blocked until they end up covering the lost funds, so these accounts become unusable. If they spent considerable money on these accounts prior to the fraud, their library of digital goods is basically forfeit and they shoot themselves in the foot. So if you're reading this, have fun with that, I guess? Moral of the story? Don't buy knockoff goods from crooks and scammers. Buy only from legit places or sellers you already know. Steer clear from MyHeadFi. Jr. Audio products are total utter trash. My unit failed in various ways over the course of a few days during light usage. If you want to risk it after reading this, you deserve what happens next. Remember that you get what you pay for.

Still Wish You Were Here - A Tribute To Pink Floyd Various Artists 2021 Interesting album. Falls short mostly on the various vocal performances. Example: Welcome to the Machine · Todd Rundgren · Rick Wakeman · Tony Levin

I'm going to exhume by dormant HF account and post a comment saying that having experienced a JR Audio amp, I deem it to be equal in every way to a ca. 2008 McAlister product.

Very moving performance.

So many better things to do in Colorado like skiing, hiking, drinking, and smoking. You can listen to music while doing them all.

I love Roon. I don't dig too deep into the possible "improvements", but as a front end for browsing music it's top notch. Makes the whole experience more satisfying for me. I could easily watch locally stored movies on my computer by browsing the file structure and playing them through VLC, too, but I like Plex. I also make my own bed every day and set the table even when I'm eating by myself. These sorts of little things are not to be disregarded.

I love it in the right dish. Fried up with mac and cheese? Yes please. 90% of the time I eat spam these days (which is still only once every six months or so) I'm eating a Hong Kong-style spam and egg sandwich. Something about junk food being from a foreign culture allows me to rationalize it as haute cuisine.

In today's episode of what a mask will do to your name ... (Truncated / Clipped / Charles?) At least they got something right

Looks like a Chinese company that’s pricing using AUD. I have wondered how they made their amps so cheap. What a steaming pile of crap.

If you want to let it go, I'd love to take it off your hands.

I wouldn't. And I love Pink Floyd, but it looks like it was recycled from one of those tribute albums from the 90's/2000's. I mean, Edgar Froese is dead. (RIP) They're just trying to milk blood from a stone. (...stone...stone...stone...stone...stone...) Here, listen to this instead, it's actually creative: I especially liked their versions of "Pigs (Three Different Ones)" (kinda made it a trip-hop version) and "Sheep" (won't spoiler it).

I will check that out, just for the varied musicians involved! I have never seen Rat Scabies of the Damned do something like this..... And Bootsy Collins too.....?

This is my friends amp. I'll continue to encourage him to get some Stax

I really need to find a McAlister amp for the collection.... 😉

Hold it at a restaurant with lots of goofy shit on the walls and mozzarella sticks. Hopefully nobody gets pistol whipped. * This really sucks, if it is indeed permanent; I always wanted to make it to a RMAF. But given where COVID is trending, I'm not sure they had a choice.

She is Serious about Schumann and Brahms Schumann: Kreisleriana - Brahms: Two Rhapsodies, Seven Fantasies Elena Fischer-Dieskau 2021 Example:

Happy caffeinating! HS

OK, I am ready to toss my current grinder out the window so I need some recommendations. I currently use the Chemex for brewing so I need a grinder that does medium coarse grinds, is electric because I don't want to work for my morning brew and my price point is between $300 to $500. I like the LAGOM Mini so far but want to know what else you people like. Thanks for any recomendations and remember, friends don't let friends drink Starbucks.

^ I've requested that at several cover band shows and wedding receptions! _____ Someone in '76 thought the world needed a Happy Days-Welcome Back, Kotter cross over song (though they took place in different decades). The Fonzerelli Slide...

i will be posting more about this one next week. The filaments for a megatron MUST BE FLOATING! And this one has them all tied together and referenced to ground. Just like the mikhail esx. And the power supply is half wave with the power caps seeing multiple amperes of peak current. Both power transformers will have to be replaced. The gain tubes have 400v between the cathodes and filaments. (data sheet says 100v max) the mcalister is actually repairable, but its a bunch of work. And those tubes are just about impossible to find.