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Paid a lot of money for a condo. Final closing paperwork tomorrow. Son and his GF will do some painting and maybe minor work, then move in ~mid-August. Thinking/hoping a ring is next!!

More the weekend, but we got a fatty mass surgically removed from the doggo, but 2 nights in of course she rips out the stitches AND her drain tube (and most likely ate it lol) requiring her to go back in and get stapled but as you can see she is doing well 🤣

Brother came up this morning on his way to his place in NH. Dropped off 2 bottles of Ardbeg 25, plus additional surprises! The Ardbeg 25's come in a lovely Russian Doll type box set, the inner box has a nice metal design on it. The top of that inner box looks to click open and close on a hinged cover. The Smokiverse is another limited edition, this was an open bottle from a sampling day that one of his clients had. Looking forward to trying it, there's only a tiny bit left.

Next up on "doing good shit for family" agenda: just gifted Karen's car (2018 Toyota RAV4) to my nephew and niece. Came up in a conversation last night that my brother was helping the kids look for a car. I asked what they were interested in, and based on his reply offered it up. Filled out the title paperwork and tax exemption for gift (though depending on blue book value I may have to pay a bit for being over the gift threshold). Kids came by and grabbed it today. The payback is "future considerations," but after chatting a bit my brother will get me a pair of Ardbeg 25 bottles he recently scrounged up at work. Yum!

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.

Well, they have arrived: First off, they smell terrible. I don't know what they are using in those new earpads but it smells awful, deep and nasty chemical smell. Might be the foam but yeah... this isn't great. Now for the new arc... ehhh it's alright. The fitment is similar to the old one and it does the job. I have the same problem as with all other 007's though, it's too wide for my rather gigantic head so I'll need to bend it bit to make it taller. Small thing and I'll get to check out how it is to manhandle it a bit. Now for the sound... I'm only a few tracks in but initial impressions were not great. Way too boomy but it settled down when I pressed the top of the drivers towards the head, hence the arc issue I always have. The port is gone though so get the fitment right and the bass should be just fine. In terms of tone they are not as bad as the X9000 or 009S, more forward than the 007A with a port mod though and the excellent depth perception of the older models might be lacking here. Not sure, need to do some listening but the sound is certainly more "in your face" than the older ones. They don't seem to have the resolution of the older one either, this is on my usual Denafrips Terminator and Carbon CC setup, and I have this distinct feeling that something is lacking. Now I know how all of the 007's sound like the back of my hand and detail that should be there... just isn't. It's subtle though. Sound stage is just fine but I have this nagging sensation that it isn't as precise as a nice 007Mk1 or Mk2/A. The sound is also not as smooth and balanced as the older ones. Push it with something demanding (now I'm playing Knopfler - Going Home) and this isn't brilliant. The whole fun bit about this song is to crank it a bit in volume once it gets going and it kinda falls apart, becomes harsh and grading while loosing cohesion. A good 007Mk1 can play this at stupid volume levels on this setup and no problems at all. Sorry for the stream of consciousness but I just wrote what came to mind. Overall... this is a much better effort than the X9000 though and time will tell how I get on with them. Not talking about burn in... that shit doesn't exist. Finally I grabbed the nearest 007 which just happened to be a Mk2.9 007A for comparison: The structure is clearly very different but I'll have to investigate further later on. Finally, that stench from the earpads is driving me fucking nuts!!

Spent the 4th up in Maine, our condo association had a mini-parade of kids and golf carts (~ a dozen carts, several made up quite well); also a pic of my next-door neighbor Michelle and her two - used to have 4 - Samoyeds, beautiful pups! Also visited one of Karen and my favorite places, Cape Porpoise....sat and contemplated life a bit there.

Finished 11th out of 44 drivers at my last autocross. Goal was top 15 so I’m happy. Turns out putting better tires on the car makes a big difference. Who could have guessed? You can brake harder, carry more speed, and get back on power earlier. These aren’t even that fast of a tire too!

Update on the bathroom vanity cabinet, and some shots of two matching white oak linen closet doors with a slat design. Not fully assembled in these shots but you can get the gist.

Latest additions. GT4RS and BAC Mono I do fit the Mono, just can’t breath

No handles yet, but Steve will hopefully help with the install and then put on the handles in place. He will also frame the closet doorway and hang the doors when the time comes. Photos aren't great but you can get a sense of the finish and how the Rubio oyster pigment works into the grain and enriches the overall tone of the white oak. Pretty darn happy with the results, and the "clients" are going to check it out tomorrow so hoping they feel the same.

Work has been continuing to use photos that I’ve been shooting for publicity and Congressional communication so I decided that rather than keep shooting with my personal camera that it was high time to request a replacement. They asked what I wanted so I spec’d the following: 1. Body - Sony A7R5 - I’ve gotten used to the Sony ecosystem through my A7IV and figured what the heck, might as well have all the megapixels. I don’t need 120FPS so the A9 series was not compelling and while it would have been fun to shoot with an A1II budget was somewhat of a consideration. 2. Lenses - I’ll continue to shoot my A7IV with it’s 24-240mm so figured I should cover an expanded range with this rig and be able to shoot high(er) quality. So a 24-70mm F2.8 GMII and a 100-4000mm F4.5/5.6 coupled with a 2x teleconverter round out the bag. I’ve got the whole shebang with me on vacation to get used to the platform and find its limits (me) but sheesh, 60MP is a lot to work with. Initial impression is that it’s all very similar to the A7 but doesn’t shoot low light as well. That won’t be much of a concern at work and if/when night time becomes the right time I’ll switch back to my A7 for those situations. The 100-400 has as lot of pull and with the 2x, it’s pretty absurd. That was lightly touched in LR and just a quick handheld at sunset. I’ll have to contribute more to the HC coffers if I start pushing up 40MB drink photos. And 12,800 starts to get a bit noisy so I’ve reduced the max ISO to 3200 for now to see what I can still grab. And [EDIT] seems like the forum software intelligently down-sampled that image to a more manageable 5MB. It is wild what you can do for fun crops with this much real estate.

Sending a hug your way @skullguise.

Had some free time so on went the 007Mk1 pads: These are the 71xxx type but fitted with new foam so not stock, not that a 20+ year old stock set would be fine now. First impressions are okey, the sound has a tad more space around it and the top end might be a bit better but a particular frequency range has that "sheen" to it that is not natural. I'll spend some more time with this setup Comparison of the stock pads on the right and 007Mk1's on the left (with new foam so a bit puffier than normal). Now the Kennerton pads vs. the stock ones. This is with 007 mesh installed but much smaller opening area. Thicker leather too. Finally I wanted to try and show just how shit the stock pads are: The red line on the right hand pad, that's the edge of the foam and where the leather should start. It's off by some 5mm or so in the middle and the same on the other side. I'm not sure if the foam is simply rotated out of alignment or if it is cut incorrectly but the pads are sealed so no way to simply peel them open like the older pads. Both pads are also crooked and just cheap crap. Stax you can do so much better...

My 007's might be here by Thursday but in the meantime I found these pics: Same cable as the SR-X1 and I really like the all black flight case...

Well it's earlier than I expected. I'll miss all of you! But I'm here at the pearly gates, talking to St. Peter. I've had a good life! What's that? Oh, just Peter? Peter Johnson? What? I have to leave now? I can't stay here for eternity? You say that you close at 5:00? Oh, OK. Can I come back sometime? Oh cool, thanks. See you next time Peter! Well everyone has their own idea of heaven I suppose. I'm gathering supplies to build a multi-function table saw jig.

One of the guys on the UK Vintage Radio forum posted: "A little story. In my teens I was a big Black Sabbath fan. I'd heard that Ozzy lived at Ranton, a village near Stafford not too far from where I live. Me and a mate got on our bikes and rode over there. In a field a guy who looked like Ozzy was riding around on a monkey bike that was popular at the time. It was Ozzy's brother and he asked if we wanted to meet Ozzy. Of course we did. So we went in and for half an hour I chatted to him as he lay on a settee plucking aimlessly at a guitar. I kinda interviewed him. After a while his wife (first wife not Sharon) came into the room and said, "We have to go to Billy's now". Obviously Bill Ward, the drummer in Black Sabbath. Ozzy sent us on our way with signed stickers. A day to remember."

Bill Cosby can go fuck himself, but that is a sad way to go for MJW. RIP

More found fun....

My son has two cats. He also plays bass guitar, and has a monster loudspeaker with a massive port on the bottom. You can guess the punchline. One of the cats went missing. After a search of the house and outdoors - no cat. Lots of weeping and wailing. Was the cat dead somewhere? It had actually made a nice warm nest in the loudspeaker wadding. Only discovered when my son fired up the amp and did some playing. Cat shot out of the port. Mystery solved.

We went to Musaafer in the Galleria (Indian). It had been a few years and I have to say they have upped their game which was not too shabby previously. We went the tasting menu route and had to take the main dishes to go we got so full....first world problems. Here are a few of the dishes. HS

Not yet open but I have one client, and he just happens to be a bit of a car guy. Every time I show up at his garage some new amazing car shows up. Came in today and these showed up. They also arrived with a new 911 Turbo S, but that was at his house.

Having friends over tomorrow, needed dessert.

A few of a real kitty. My son and GF's cat June, looking in on her while they are on vacation. You can see it a bit in the pics, the kids have a hot dog pillow that is awesome!

Still haven’t tinkered with downsampling or much else but nature is putting on a show this week.

Anyone remember this little gem. Extra poignant today but also distracted by how hot Lita Ford is...

Visited the spiritual successor to Fry's in the Bay Area It did not disappoint

This is the 12th eruption and we have reached the point where people are protesting unfair police closures. It's well away from anything and already fizzling out so nobody is worried.

wow, you take off 2 hours to watch a movie and then all of this. if that class B output section could actually deliver 1 amp or more that is required for just about every single planar or ribbon then maybe it might actually perform correctly. but the opamp cannot possibly supply enough current to drive the output stage. all the feedback in the world won't help. and for real world loads R2 actually makes it worse. multiple feedback loops and it looks just like the squarewave of the nfca module. more like a stair step. something the AP cannot possibly measure. hint: look at the quad current dumper. class B output section. performs well within its power limit. all this to reduce the current capabilities of the power supply. all this to reduce the heat generated because the heatsinks are way to small. yes its a piece of unreliable garbage.

The slatted door style has a lot of intricacies and places for failure. It looks simpler than the actual design. Many dados and places where parts have to fit exactly. But they went together easier than either of us expected. Not an accident, but Al's planning and forthought. Absolutely worth the effort, as they'll be an eye catcher for sure. This has been a rewarding project in several ways. Now that I'm no longer working as a carpenter, it's my much needed release for creativity. And Al and I are really enjoying the woodworking and smashburgers.

More HDD cleanup

The hobby is fucked, but it also opens up the opportunity for others to come in and sell stuff that isn't bullshit. That's kinda where we see stuff like ES Labs come in (though here in the US the tariffs make it harder, but that's another brand of bullshit). Basically, the old guard can go ahead and price themselves into the stratosphere, but smart people will take advantage of it and outcompete them. Or so I hope. Maybe it's just the booze talking. I'm usually not optimistic.

For Your Pleasure by Roxy Music (1973) https://album.link/q4k7kdbzzrrhh Example: More of an Early Genesis prog sound than I was expecting. Much enjoyed {most of it}

Aumkar suggested to apply it with an airbrush, but I simply put a little on microfiber cloth and wipe it on the diaphragm. After it dries, I buff it off. It’s dirt cheap and working very well.

Holy shitballs! He found those in the trash...???!!! I've owned a couple Legacy speakers in my days: The Legacy Classic (Kevlar midrange edition, I think that was the second version of it), Karen actually got it for me as our engagement gift! Then very briefly the Signature 3's, and then the Studio HD's. I also remember going to a Head-Fi'er acquaintances place south of Boston, he had a pair of Legacy Focus (Focii?), driven by Krell KMA-100 mono's and a nice VAC preamp. Don't even remember his front end. That combo filled a small room surprisingly well! Such full sound, top to bottom; but still very relaxed and effortless sounding. The Whispers are nice-looking, would love to hear them. Also had read about a less deep bass response....

This is absolutely crazy. Th Those are Legacy Whispers. I'm enough of a nerd to remember when they came out in the early 90s. They were Legacy's statement model. They're actually not as bassy as the Focus model (which I have coveted for 35 years now) but they excel in more or less every other aspect. Of course, the way to get around the lack of bass is:

Lucy Dacus - Limerence

Before: 2 After: Greek Sheet Pan Chicken Instant Pot Lemon Rice

Chicken Tikka Masala

I'm still in the honeymoon stage with my DAP to really know how I'm going to feel about it, but just in case anyone else is considering separating out portable audio old school/cassette/MiniDisc/iPod style from the phone and notifications and with headphone outs and decent power, the often recommended HiBy R4 is on sale for Prime Days for $199. Not the model I went with, but then again this wasn't on sale then or I may have. You just have to get around the "anime" design and a little weight.

Figured i'd finally go through my tubes, sort them out a bit. Too many to catalogue properly in one go (which is why i never bothered) Was never quite meant to become the hoard it is, but.. left Luxman with crates worth of stuff, left ML with yet more crates, then isn't life funny when none are what you "wanted" for your then current system a few years later, so there you go buying more when they were still crazy cheap. Then you buy yet some more, because what if, right? You haven't got everything. And, yeah Sorted four 24"x16"x16" crates full of NOS tubes. I'd say 6-7 more to go; some other time. It's 23:28 and i'm spent. (actually 60x40x40 in cents, but i figure that's close enough?) So far am going with input/output/rec, US-EU/RU. It's gonna take some time. One of many things i miss dearly? Proper packing cartons. Yes, really. Nothing decent in EU. ECT/load-rated? Don't even ask, they'll think you're so funny. Not sure they know what this is down here:

Was going to put these in the Slow Forum thread but figured we could use some kitty posts

The pads are slighly angled, similar to the older 007 ones and they are perfectly circular on the inside. I'm not thrilled with the quality of them (aside from the smell) and that vinyl back lip does point to a specific OEM in China. The pads simply pull off like the older units but are a bit more of a pain to install even though there is no spring as the housing doesn't rotate. That makes the top next to the headband rather annoying to deal with. Still no 009/X9000 in terms annoyance though. I've taken to doing A-B comparisons against the 007A and yeah, the older unit is much smoother and more coherent. Still the bass on the 007S is tuneful and "fun" plus the bright nature isn't overly annoying.

No pics of the actual dinner (last night) and lunch (today), but had some very yummy sausage. Standalone last night, and in a wrap with apple BBQ sauce today for lunch.

Balanced meal??