Knuckledragger

I have 3 sets of Sennheisers (actually more, but 3 are the subject here.) 2004 650s (long suffering, still working), 20?? 580s (the cans I use the most) and some 800s I just got from aimless1. I have a silly collection of amps: 2004 GLite Mk I, HeadRoom Balanced Desktop and the HR Millet(t) Hybrid I've mentioned recently. The first and third are SE, the middle one is dual XLR balanced. My problem is that WRT balanced headphone amps, the world has gone 4 pin XLR. I understand why. It's a less annoying arrangement. There's no shortage of Senn-to-4pin XLR cables, at all price points. There are fuck-all options for dual XLR ones. I have looked into dual (male) 3 pin XLR to (female) XLR4. Amazon has an interesting selection of Chinesium, but none of the options they have are right. There's XLR male to XLR male (cute, but useless), XLR3 female to XLR4 male (absolutely backwards) and a number of other odd arrangements. I saw one that had the right connectors, but several review said it was not wired correctly. It painfully important to have the right pins attached in adapters like this. There is one "white whale" cable that's perfect, but it's ...unavailable. There is one listing that's exactly right, but it has zero reviews or ratings, and the images make me wonder about the strain relief. Anyone on head-case have a suggestion where I could get a reasonably well main dual XLR (male) to XLR4 (female) cable that is wired correctly for balanced headphone cables and doesn't cost $180? I also need to get some SE cables, but those are fortunately much more widely available.

One thing's for certain, it sure AF won't open the pod bay doors for you.

Speaking of paying real money for things, anyone want to buy a fisheye lens? It can see behind itself. Careful, that front element is a little fragile. 130,000 Euros and counting.

I was able to source a pesky CR123A on-island. I spent considerable time cleaning the Leica C3 and reading the manual. Being a Leica product, there is no official PDF to download. Fortunately, some kind soul scanned the paper manual and put that on line as a PDF. The C3 really is a "crappy consumer point and shoot" as envisioned by Leica. It has no exposure settings. Everything is automatic. It is possible to disable the flash. Similarly, the horrific date stamp is on by default but can also be defeated. What separates the C3 from the legion of similar e-waste (besides that little round logo) is its lens. It's a weird, slow zoom, which is something I'd hate normally. Also I don't think it's possible to attach filters, which is a really big downside for a film camera. Also the aperture gets pathetically small at the long end. With that said, by all accounts it's a really good piece of glass. I loaded a 24 exposure roll of long expired Fuji ISO 200 ...something. I will probably shoot it all at the wide end (28mm.)

One of the neat things about living in such a famous place is that people do things like jump in a small airplane, fly around and photograph the town with a fisheye lens:

That's a lot of woofer.

I see this meme pop up reasonably often, often in non-audio spaces. I knew I recognized the center photo. The guy in the image is not some unmarried audio snob with too much disposable income. It's MoT Dave Lavry, as photographed by the owner of a certain headphone site in Jude of 2009. That wasn't a typo. I have never heard a single piece of Lavry kit, so I cannot comment further. What I CAN remark on is that the amp in the photo is a is an RSA Emmeline II "Raptor." The entire image takes me back to the late 00s and reminded me of a completely biased impression I made at the time. I straight up do not trust amps where the PSU is that much better than the amp chassis. It looks weird and makes me wonder why there are so few components in the amplifier itself. I know about as much about amplifier design as I do about driving Formula 1 race cars, but it's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.

Neat setup completely outshone by that WTF statue.

Mr. TV Size Queen here has got his speakers pushed too far into the corners. Also, I suspect that's not a good spot for the sub.

This is going to be a long walk, and kind of a gross one. In the second half of the 00s, as everyone was ditching film, a friend gave me a Canon EOS Rebel K2. It's a very consumer grade film SLR. I put a few rolls through it, but I've never been a committed film photographer. 35mm just isn't worth the cost and effort, and larger formats require one's own darkroom. In a slightly different universe, I would shoot medium format and ULF. I took about 10 years off from photography. The reasons were many, and not all good. I've begun to pick it up on 2023. Part of that process has involved me going through all my old kit. I've carefully cleaned off my IR-modied 5D (I still need to give its sensor one last cleaning) and many of my lenses. I also unearthed the old Rebel K2. Its batteries (it uses a pair of expensive and annoying CR2s) were long dead. I spent considerable time on Amazon, looking at rechargeable options. My interest was primarily in getting a battery for the Leica C3 I picked up a few days ago. The C3 uses a single CR123(A). There are a number of well reviewed options for rechargeables, buuut ...they're considered hazardous materials and can't be shipped to a PO box. This is a recurring problem with island life. I will solve the issue of the C3 one way or another (it's too cool to not use). Even if I just buy a package of lithium CR123s and deal with their annoyingly short lifespan, it will be worth it in the short term. The K2 presents a decidedly different problem. It's not a very good camera. It was never a very good one. I do have an army of glass I can attach to it, but I don't really want to do so. With that said, there is a roll of slide film in it that I started in 2011 that I have yet to finish. I'd not bother, but most of the exposures on it were taken while I was visiting MV in 2011. I have a text file on my Google Drive detailing the date, time, location and exposure settings of all of them. I really want to finish this roll, even if there's a strong chance that the shots are no good. Slide film does not keep forever. As part of of the process of getting re-acquainted with my camera gear, I've been going through the pile of camera bags and lens cases I have amassed. A number of them were stored in an upstairs closet on my mainland house and they're a bit ...stinky. I've been emptying them out and airing them out today. The Vineyard is a very breezy place, and it clears out most odors quickly. Inside one of the camera bags was my old K2. I picked it up and made a horrible discovery. It has a shitty "rubberized" grip, and whatever coating Canon saw fit to put on it 20+ years ago has turned into black goo. Handling it is an absolute nightmare. I dug up a bottle of iso alcohol and and old rag. I spent a good 20 minutes carefully cleaning off the disgusting grip. I am pleased to announce that I am victorious over The Black Goo. Mostly. I also found an unopened pair of CR2 batteries and after 3 tries I got the K2's battery compartment open. The K2 came to life and said "Yep, still got 3 exposures here, boss." I'm gonna hafta attach my 17-40L to it and finish it off. Then I'm tasked with finding an outfit that will develop, scan and return the film to me.

Holy dog's bollocks. I just got a Leica C3 at the local second hand shop. For $6.

The reason I always write it as "Millet(t) Hybrid" is because my HRDMH was a production sample and in addition to having the "Home" upgrade, it also bears a typo: When I contacted Headroom a decade ago when I bought it, the staff member I spoke to expressed surprise that it had been sold. It still smells faintly of pot smoke.

800s landed. Preliminary tests make me think "gee, these sound pretty good." This is using my 2004 GLite Mk I and Pico DAC (quality, but ultimately humble kit.) I really need to re-tube my HR Millet(t) Hybrid serial #1 and see how it drives the 800s. What I remember is that the HRMH makes everything sound more lush.

Squeak squeak. Apple's energy efficiency is nothing short of amazing, but their marketing is crap. Squeak.

I have exactly one neighbor. His name is Gary. He's a genuine boomer, turning 70 this year. He is some kind of special needs. In his day, on Marthas Vineyard, there wasn't much in the way of diagnosis so he just kind of got by. He lived with his mother until she passed on my birthday this year at the age of 93(!) Now Gary lives alone, and I live here on MV. Gary does okay, but my (sainted, octogenarian) mother does have some worries about him. He mentioned to her that his electric bill was over $200 this month. She said to me "you have an awful lot of spare LED bulbs, you should see if Gary would let us replace some of his incandescents." She wasn't wrong. For reasons not entirely worth explaining, I have 3-4 boxes of LED bulbs I brought with me to the Vineyard. My father was a hoarder of antique furniture. He built barns to hold it all: In spite of the thousands of records and CDs I own, not to mention the nightclub's worth of lighting gear (and all the stereo equipment) I own, I have always rejected the notion that I am a hoarder. Except for lightbulbs. I have to cop to it. I compulsively bought CFL bulbs when those were a thing, and then moved on to LED bulbs when they arrived. I have done some pretty neat things with them. I restored a bunch of antique lamps: (For colored bulbs, CFLs are better than LED. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.) Even with the lamps above and many more, I have a vast excess of LED bulbs. Today, with Gary's permission I went through his house and wrote down all of the bulbs I thought he could use. Then I went up to my attic where it was 115 goddamn degrees and dragged down a few boxes. I then spent an hour replacing the bulbs in most of Gary's house. I did most of the living area, and discussed with him a few spots I could not get to (the garage and basement.) He seemed pleased. Also I have (slightly) fewer bulbs kicking around now.

Thanks for the info. I should not be surprised that C clamps are basically useless these days. My father was a very (mid) 20th century man, and was highly resistant to change. He got away with it primarily by being the smartest person in the room, and never above using that to his advantage. Upon reflection this is only a small part of his collection, which means there's a bunch more I still need to unearth. I should add he never did any original construction with these, they were use to repair antique furniture.

Serious question for wood workers of HC: How much do good cast iron C-clamps cost these days? Sizes 4" to 12" with a few odd bigger ones. My father had a bunch, which were made in the 1980s. Many are quite deep. I don't have much use for them, but stubborn idiot that I am, I took every last one of them to MV with me. I left behind his bar clamp collection ...for now. I've seen a lot of C-clamps for sale online, many for less than $25. Most of them look like pure sintered Chinesium to me. Where do serious woodworkers go to buy clamps these days?

This song will now get stuck in your head.

Somebody turns 80 today. There's certainly no other earthly reason I'd post this particular album cover. No siree....

I have internets again.

Still on 128kbsp internet for now. https://i.imgur.com/SnNidmm.jpg Also I am a terrible person.

This is more "Burn in Hell" than RIP, but it is noteworthy: NH Nazi Leader Dead Day After Teatotaller Incident in Concord. Now there's a line. There's a zoomer meme that's appropriate here.

I heard that if the Stax Mafia were real, that they use old Krell amps as cement shoes. Good thing for you they don't exist, huh?

I absolutely loathe most modern pickup trucks. me_irl