[And now what did you do TODAY?]

God I hate installing carts

Managed not to blow anything up, as the pass ono requires opening the top to access the MC settings and add a jumper for setting gain 🤦‍♂️ at least the cart was pretty easy to install due to threaded mounting holes and the cart pins actually lining up directly with the headshell pins. 
 

gratuitous doggie pics!

[What are you reading now?]

Not necessarily reading, but some good stuff in there 

[What are you listening to Part the Third]

Music Matters Jazz Reissues, final SRX drops were today!

[And now what did you do TODAY?]

We adopted a dog! Her name is Olive 🥰

[ATC speakers]

The ATC room has always been the highlight for me at the past few axponas. I’m a fan of the actives only because you get to rid of a box. Some of the “cheaper” ones don’t have the same kind of bass extension, so I’d recommend getting the most expensive ones you can afford 😭

[Grado Question]

Bryan is correct - mineral oil is what’s recommended, at least for the wooden cupped headphones. 
 

EDIT: the stuff is pretty viscous and goopy, start with a small amount on say a q tip and just work it through slowly. 

[Happy Birthday Pars!]

Happy birthday Chris! Hopefully you’ll have some time away from the soldering gun to enjoy this weather!

[Speaker Porn]

20 hours ago, Craig Sawyers said:

Thank you! Using hide glue is actually a darn sight easier if you make a mistake - plenty of water and a clothes iron (I have 2 really cheap ones in the workshop) re-liquifies the glue and the veneer can be peeled off. If you use regular white wood glue, the only way to recover is to sand the veneer off with a belt sander.

If you look closely you'll see the veneer is book matched too. That involves making an invisible seam right down the middle of the baffle. That is standard everyday practice for a professional cabinetmaker. It is more of a difficulty for me as a trained amateur who veneers infrequently.

Yes! My biggest familiarity with woodworking is through luthier friends, I have a bud that makes cellos and another that is an accomplished guitar maker. The guitar guy uses hide glue construction exclusively, and typically his solid tops and backs are perfectly bookmatched to ensure that nice consistent look. Cheers!

[Speaker Porn]

On 5/4/2020 at 5:06 PM, Aura said:

if i ever get more speakers there's a good chance they will be from daedalus. look great, pretty flexible on power handling, and most importantly they always demo well (at least they did for me) and have good, natural tone.

You’ve got me missing axpona now  the daedalus speakers in person really highlight the quality of the wood and overall craftsmanship. Sorry Bryan but I ain’t helping you bring them down into the listening room.

[Speaker Porn]

8 minutes ago, Craig Sawyers said:

Not only own - built from first priniciples. The bridge and baffle are traditional hammer veneered using hide glue, and then French Polished. The dark wood around the forward tweeter and the baffle support is Cocobolo, and the bridge feet are Goncalo Alves. The bass unit is spray painted satin back, and then coated in buffed in wax polish.

I was going to just paint the whole thing black, but Mrs S said she'd like wood finish - so I used that as an excuse to learn traditional veneering and French polishing.

 Much respect to the hide glue. Old school construction, kudos. 

[What are you listening to Part the Third]

It’s a Matthew sweet 90’s kind of day:

[Which Cooking Are You?]

Rice in microwave works for me. 2:1 water to rice ratio (family of 4 we do 1 cup rice 2 cups water) microwave on high for 5 minutes, take out and stir, 10 minutes at 50% power, voila! Kind of shaming my Filipino ancestry but what can you do...

[The Never Ending Search for a Music Server]

Compressed Apple Music 9.99 a moth ftmfw right hurr

[What are you reading now?]

[What are you listening to Part the Third]

[What are you listening to Part the Third]

Classic

[The analog thread.]

12 hours ago, Pars said:

Have just gotten the Project setup, thru my new untested (and in typical Pars tradition, uncased as of yet) Salas phono stage. I have to check the arm setup, but powered it all on and couldn't detect any noise or hum (yet). I've done some reading on the Project and in addition to the sorbothane washers, apparently there is a damping trough for these arms that is ~$200 ish and seems to be very promising.

I was reading a very interesting thread on diyaudio last night regarding a guy building what looks to be an interesting tonearm, which is pivoted but provides perfectly tangential tracking: https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/analogue-source/327684-revolutionary-pivoting-tangential-tone-arm.html

 

 

That head shell is pretty trippy man

[Coffee Drinkers? (or other hot beverages)]

Local roaster shut down services recently, and have transitioned successfully to Dunkin’ Donuts original blend lol. Surprisingly balanced and a smooth and easy enough drink for me personally. 

[What are you listening to Part the Third]

The last 3 nights have all concluded with some John Prine 😥

jazzing it up with some sidewinder 

[What are you listening to Part the Third]

Hang in there bud 🙏

[And now what did you do TODAY?]

Fire and vinyl

[Big Al's Birthday]

HBD to the big guy! Here’s hoping we can do a cheers in June!

[What are you listening to Part the Third]

On a Matthew Sweet kick...

[What are you listening to Part the Third]

[RIP someone or another]

I’m spinning all my BN catalog with Tyner in memoriam tonight  started with real McCoy, finishing up some side work with Freddie Hubbard, and will next move on to his work with Wayne shorter. RIP