Knuckledragger

A pair of UP1203s just arrived at my doorstep. Unlike with the last pair of Unisounds I ordered from ThingFling, FedEx managed to arrive when I was home and awake. That's pretty quick given that I ordered then on Wednesday. Initial impressions are: Build quality is good, but below the AU265s. Finish is nowhere near as good. Apparently the two 1203s are different revisions. One has binding posts the same as the AU265s, while the other has bigger, heavier (and TBH, more ungainly) all metal ones. Right now I am listening to them with the following setup: iTunes/laptop -> Pico DAC -> Rotel HT pre -> Rotel 125WPC amp. Not the most high falutin' sound system in the house, but it sounds pretty good to my tin ears. I have not burned in the speakers at all. I have a house guest at the moment, and he's staying in the room where I burn in speakers. I have the feeling he might object to speakers blaring white noise for the next four days. Maybe later I will lug the 1203s upstairs and plug them into my Outlaw RR2150.

Lab tests have determined that Ayre units have a higher WAF value, it looks like.

Remember that picture I posted of the two raccoons a few weeks back? Those were the kits of a mother raccoon that invaded one of my barns and set up a nest there. I believe I have now "raccoon proofed" the barns (though there is more to do) but I haven't even started cleaning up after the &*#$% things. There is are two HUGE piles of raccoon shit I have to clean up. One is on a formerly nice antique chair. Also, the entire barn (which is huge) has a strong animal order in it now. I am not happy about this. I didn't poison or shoot any of the coons I caught. I trapped them with a Havahart. When I begin cleanup process, I suspect I'll be wishing I had used a more brutal method.

^^ That looks like whatshisface from Mythbusters.

Wait, that's not right... That looks better.

Good job, Grawk. In the US, debt is a form of slavery. Today I have been nursing a "hangover" from yesterday's party. I'm the only person I know who can get hung over without drinking. I'm seriously wondering I have a food allergy, or am becoming diabetic. \

This link works for me: http://www.head-case.org/forums/forum.php

Click to enlarge

No, where is it? I didn't see it on the site.

New black metal band? No... it's the cover to Tim Hetherington's new book, Infidel. Supposedly, it has nothing to do with setting Norwegian churches on fire. I'm not sure I believe that. \m/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ruu9EcZj8I A gentleman of leisure, he's there for your pleasure But go easy on old Eezer he's the love you could lose Extraordinary fellow, like Mr. Punchinello He's the kind of geezer who must never be abused When you're in town and Ebeneezer is around You can sense a presence in the sound of the crowd He gets them all at it, the party starts rocking The people get excited it's time to shout loud E's are Good, E's are Good He's Ebeneezer Goode

I spent the last two hours disassembling my old bedroom system, cleaning out the area where it was, and installing the new gear. There was, ahem, a lot of dust behind stereo shelf (and I wonder why I have such allergy problems ). The old system was my father's: Yamaha receiver, CDP and Pinnacle speakers, all purchased in 1997. The CDP is still in the new system, but it is serving primarily as a surface to hold up the RR2150. I never really took any pictures of the old system, as it wasn't very interesting. This is the only shot I have: As an aside, the new Flickr interface is a nightmare to use. Click through for notes on what's in the photo. I lugged a recently decommissioned pair of Yamaha NS-1000s from my HT system upstairs and plunked them down on either side of the Outlaw. They're 65 lbs each. I know, just weighed the damn things. The Yammy's are a far older design than the Pinnacles, but they are a great vintage speaker that I know well and love greatly. Supposedly, their midrange driver sells for a small fortune on the used market. No, I'm not cannibalizing any of mine. They are much wider than the Pinnacles, and lack any sort of bass port. Right now I have them right up against the wall. That might change in the future, but not by a significant degree. The RR2150 is a slick looking unit. It has a restrained, art deco feel to it. There's a single blue LED lit when the unit is in standby mode and a blue LED display when it's on. Both are a deeper shade of blue than the majority of the LEDs I have seen in consumer electronics. They are also not overpoweringly bright, which is a blessing. I'm more than sick of being blinded by home electronics (I'm talking to you, Quad.) So far I have wired up the Outlaw and plugged in the speakers. There's an awful lot of additional futzing to do (plugging in the CDP and iPod dock, attaching the FM and AM antennae, etc etc). Right now I am listening to iTunes AAC files (V0 equivalent) playing through the Outlaw's USB DAC and it sounds remarkably good. Of course, I'm barely into the honeymoon stage. It'll be some time before I can offer any serious evaluation of the RR2150 sound. Bass response seems pretty significant, but that has a lot to do with the NS1000s, and my proximity to them. At some point later, I'll dig up one of my spare SL-1200s and try out the phono stage. I also have the daffy idea of taking my GLite out of cold storage and plugging it into the Outlaw's preamp outputs. Picture of the new setup will show up Real Soon Now. There's, uh, a bit more cleaning to do first.