Leaderboard

I got SO lucky with a local listing. Altec A7-500, and I added the supertweeter.

Between yesterday and today, giving and feeling good. I've been talking to two different (one partially) homeless people for several months, always giving a 10 or 20 when I see them. At my son's insistence (!) I just gave one of them $300 in cash. To say the least, he was amazed and driven to tears and hugs. As I walked back to my car, this woman drives up to me and chats with me. "He's not REALLY homeless..." she says. I knew that; he has a wife and a dog, and his father in law lets him stay at his place at times. Otherwise, they live in a van. I acknowledged that, but also just said that people need some help now and then. A man came out of the passenger seat, she told me it was her son, and he has autism, so don't be put off. He was fairly high functioning, but you could tell he'd always need help. Anyway, we got to talking and this woman has a home, but also has had a tough time of things. So, I took the other $300 I had and gave it to her. We both started tearing up. Now I need to pull ANOTHER chunk out to give to the other person. He knows me by name, knows I lost my wife, and like the first guy I give him something whenever I see him. He also told me that - even though he's homeless and has limited capability to help - if I ever needed something he could provide, to not hesitate to ask. These folks are amazing. So yeah, I'll get him something that I hope will help him this winter. On top of all that, today my son (staying with me while condo being worked on) has a friend over and they are listening to a few of my systems. Son brought back some speakers I gave him, so offering them to his friend. TL;DR version: it feels fucking great to give and help others as long as I can!

In the consumerism thread, I mentioned tracking down a copy of The Pillar by Stephen Gill, a self-published photobook that made waves a few years ago. Thought some of you may enjoy a few shots also. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/photo-booth/karl-ove-knausgaard-on-stephen-gills-bird-images-in-the-pillar https://www.1854.photography/2019/07/the-pillar-by-stephen-gill/ https://www.photohastings.org/book-review-the-pillar-by-stephen-gill/

That's how I felt after hearing Oswald Mill Audio Imperia speakers at his loft space in DUMBO years ago with JP#s. Big speakers with intimate live sound.

Completed servo controlled grid voltage. Works with EL34, 2A3, 300B and EML 20B-V4.

so here is the latest version of the kgsshv-carbon with the c3m series parts including the current source. Good for up to +/-600v power supplies. kgsshvcarbonv6.1c3cs - CADCAM.ZIP kgsshvcarbon600v.PDF

Joseph Crowe Audio horns. Heard these at an audio show last week and they've basically wrecked everything I thought I knew about audio and redefined what is possible. The performance ceiling in high-end audio is far higher than I ever imagined and much closer to live sound than I thought.

I'm not sure anyone cares, but here are even more pictures of the jig demonstrating the various uses. Tenon, mortise, bridle joint, etc. Splining miter joints L-fence for ripping straight edges or long miters And a gratuitous shot of Steve on Grindr

Thanks all! It was a nice day, someone tried to beat me to the presents though: IMG_4844.mov

Great video for all you Stax fans. Very rare insight which actually shows proper parts of the factory

Need time to setup the GoFundMe

On No Kings day, Claire and I made an exception for Kingfish, aka Christone Ingraham. He's an amazing blues guitarist and a great singer to boot. I was very happy to hear some great blues and if the video works for you, it was a blast when he walked out into the audience while playing and ended up two feet from me. IMG_7503.mov

RIP to the other Mrs. Robinson

The wind is just giving you bonus training. 😁 Seriously though, don't worry, it's not a race. I get the frustration though as 9/10 rides home from work are into the wind of some sort. Today for me was a quick rip around town as I didn't have time for a long ride and my back still hasn't totally recovered from last weekend so I'm trying to mostly take it easy on it. Garmin's guess at the wind was way off. I'd say the seat of the pants feel was more like 10mph steady with some swirling/gusting going on. Still a beautiful day for a ride.

I'm pretty sure everyone has done this at one time. Hung onto a headphone or piece of gear that You want to like, but don't. Mine is a q701 I bought used 12 years ago real cheap. Cheap because it smelled like an ashtray. Pulled it apart and cleaned it well, and did the bass port mod. I don't like the sound. Put it away and then tried it out again when I changed DACs and amps. I still don't like it. I'm trying real hard to make myself get rid of it. It's hard to be a horder.

Martin Denny - Exotic Moog ex.

Hey, hey, wanna waste some time with me?

Is anyone still buying video physical media? If so, Criterion has a 24 hour 50% off sale for anything in stock. https://www.criterion.com

Task (HBO) - wow, intense watch...

Three kinds of switching mode filament supplies made in my kitchen. Right: Traco brick, only 5V with some fine adjustment, designed by Kevin Gilmore and slightly modified by me. Left: DC-DC Step Down Converter XL4015, adjustable voltage and current limiter, have used it for 2.5V to 6.3V. Middle: TPS62913 Low Ripple Buck Converter (green board) My own design but done with help of TI datasheet (all info needed is there). Copper color board is an Elekit regulator with 2A3 and 300B auto detection. I’ve added a trimmer for fine adjustment of voltage. All three seem to work all right with my electrostatic amplifiers. I also have Pete Millett, Tentlabs and Coleman filament regulators. They are all bulky with heat sinks and produces a lot of heat. Yes, I do agree. Yes, at some point it (probably) will be a different matter.

My favourite band in the world had their friend Clint Carney make a video for them as part of their Kickstarter. The song itself already tugged at my tear ducts, it's so powerful, and the video is everything I would have wished for and more: For those that don't know, or haven't followed Al1ce since 2020 (like I do), it is very rare that Tash goes without her stage makeup. I think there is meaning behind that choice in the video... For reference, the previous video that Clint Carney made for them is also a favourite:

Got a chance to hear these at an audio show a few days ago and in short, they suck. I'd heard the Stax amps are less than ideal so I did plug them into the Mjolnir audio amp at the Audeze table which improved things but not nearly enough to make them listenable. My main problem with them is they suck at dynamics & impact, especially in the lower midrange to bass region. Metal, rock, reggae, anything with kettle drums, all that stuff gets ruined since there's not nearly enough weight or impact down low. There's also some kind of wonky resonance in the midrange & treble which pops up from time to time, it sounds a bit like the cuppy or slightly out of phase sound you get from most closed headphones, not nearly as bad but still enough to annoy me. Didn't pay much attention to soundstaging, imaging, or detail & resolution. There were just way too many issues with the frequency response & lack of dynamics for me to really care about that stuff. Overall, I'd have to say it was one of the bigger disappointments I've had in the headphone world.

Today Al and I pretty much finished up the table saw jig that I started a while back. This is basically where I left off... Today we mortised for the tracks, made the arched dados for the tenoning portion of the jig and fitted the L fence and splining accessories that Al made on Friday.

and the power supply that goes with it. standard off the shelf antek transformers are $44. need 2 circlotronpsupdated.pdf kgsshv600vpower - CADCAM.ZIP

In case y'all don't think I'm eating (enough) (Round a friend's)

Can someone check on Grahame? He obviously hasn't eaten in 3 days!

The Diplomat (season 3) Escape from a world of improbable geopolitics where "The President is about to do something apocalyptically dumb" to this fictional reality of improbable geopolitics where "The President is about to do something apocalyptically dumb" Anglo American hi jinks with smart writing, an exceptional cast and great locations. But don't take my word for it. The Diplomat season three review – Keri Russell’s nail-biting political thriller is a ludicrous treat | Television | The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/oct/16/the-diplomat-season-three-review-netflix-thriller-keri-russells

^^^ This. I generally ride in the low 70s, spinning faster doesn't feel good for me or my legs. I've tried to train up to a faster cadence via Zwift and it just feels wrong. So I don't fight it. I'm fast enough to where I want to be fitness-wise w/ no aches and pains - from cycling anyway.

One more Stephen Gill post as I find his work fascinating and you may too. He followed the above with Please Notify the Sun. "It was in 2017 that I began to have an inkling that a single fish might contain a universe of infinite proportions and how amazing a journey within its body could be. So I started to research everything I would need to embark on such an expedition. By January 2020 I had built a work top, obtained a microscope, a camera, optics, lights and fridge." https://collectordaily.com/stephen-gill-please-notify-the-sun/ https://americansuburbx.com/2021/02/stephen-gills-sublime-decay-please-notify-the-sun.html

Deck Chicken / Pepper pan bake with brown rice and guac.

Listened to the CRBN again this year, but with a Mjolnir Audio amp this time instead of whatever they were using last year. It's mostly the same but better and the improvements are what one would expect from an amp upgrade. Dynamics are better, bass is filled in and hits harder, and it pretty much sounds like my home setup with the LCD-XC. Take my LCD-XC, remove the last traces of the closed headphone sound, move the perspective back a row or so, add more resolution, and that's the CRBN.

With all the great analysis videos out there is it time for a separate thread?

Extension of a Man by Donny Hathaway (1973) https://open.qobuz.com/album/0603497936687 Example: Someday Donny, someday.

Haven't you heard of intermittent fasting? /s NYT Vegetable soup.

LOVED this. As someone the same age and in the same stage of my professional life as the three main characters this hit uncomfortably close to home.

The one-trimmer control board above adjusted voltage for both 2A3 and 300B at the same time. No way to adjust voltage for one without effecting the other. I assumed that it should be possible to set voltages for one tube and have the other unaffected. But as my brain isn’t as fast as the two comparators in LM2903 I made a test board with seven trimmers. After some trimming back and forth I found one trimmer that adjusted voltage for both tubes and an another that just affected 300B, So, next is a two-trimmer control board, same size as the one-trimmer. If you don’t understand how a circuit works, the trial-and-error method might help you.

Laksa

Anything over 60 is fine, people stress way too much over cadence when it's really not that important until you're years into your cycling hobby. As a mountain biker, my cadence will go anywhere from 40-ish to well over 100 on any given ride, it's not a big deal. Yes there's an ideal cadence for max efficiency at higher power outputs which is around 85-90rpm, that's what you'd ride at if you're training hard or trying to win a race but for recreational riding and especially as a novice, it just doesn't matter yet. Ride whatever cadence feels best until you get serious enough about cycling that you're shaving your arms & legs for drag reduction & extra speed. 70rpm is perfectly fine and it's not going to wreck your joints or cause any bio-mechanical issues.

Looks like I had better get the hot air gun and soldering iron out . . .

I thought his name was Michael Knight

I had recently posted on FB about a visit to an Audio store where I heard a system approaching $500K list price. A hometown friend pinged me and - among other things - said he has a friend/classmate (Princeton I'd assume) who "runs Oswald Mills Audio." Maybe you can get a friend-of-friend-of-friend discount 🤣

No, I don't think so, but that's okay, their fanbase has grown by like a Brazillion since 2020, and I'm happy for them for that. Thanks everyone!

Wild Palms (1993)

A Jazz Portrait Of Frank Sinatra by Oscar Peterson (1959) https://open.qobuz.com/album/0060254747135 Example: Jaunty morning jazz.

My vote is received and counted!

I was perusing one of the digital rags in my inbox and came across this gem in one of the articles. I very much like the dial and the size. HS