Uncle Erik

I had one client get hauled in for a probation violation hearing for failing to attend alcohol rehab classes as part of his DUI diversion. He showed up to the hearing drunk.

Since you're on something of a budget, have a limited workshop, and want to build P2P, why not find an old case/device and repurpose it? You can find quite a few old electronic devices and test gear if you visit Hamfests and surplus stores. Gut it, and then you should be able to build the amp with terminal strips mounted on small aluminum panels you can get at hobby and hardware stores. You'd be able to do most of it with a hand drill and a couple of files.

Have you plugged a K-1000 into the amp yet? I'd like to know how that sounds. The one reservation I had about buying the ZD was that it doesn't drive the K-1000 well, but still put a reservation on the current run. The plan is to pick it up in person. If Craig has a HD2 around, I'll beg and plead for a listen. Also, I'm impressed by the point-to-point work inside. Reminds me of the old boatanchors I like to work on.

Reading Masters of Atlantis, by Charles Portis. Portis is not nearly as well known as he deserves to be. The book is hysterical, as are his other novels except for True Grit. That one is serious, but worth reading.

Anyone want to give an over/under for when it'll be back up?

We're socked in with heavy fog tonight... supposed to rain heavily through the weekend. So much for painting a case this weekend.

Mostly Radiohead. I own a few of their albums, like a song here and there, nothing offends me or sounds bad, but their music has never grabbed me. Some bands/albums do that right away, others take time. To me, it sounds like generic indie rock, almost like background music. Too bad, I wanted to like Radiohead. Usually like the cultish bands, but not this one. Then again, I didn't like Bach for the longest time. Just caught on one day and he's my favorite classical composer now.

I'm still on the fence with the HD-650. It was the first "good" headphone I bought and was completely blown away by it at the time. Then I picked up some AKGs and Grados. Suddenly, they did not sound as good and they've spent a lot of time back in the box. The RS-1 was probably the death blow. I've given the HD-650 a few more listens lately, and will keep it around until the Zana Deux shows up. I hear there's great synergy with them, so I'll give it a shot and then decide whether to sell them.

I'd go with a K-501. NOS ones turn up on eBay and there are usually a few used ones around. It has a similar signature to the K-1000 and she would probably like that. Or how about a DT880? A little more forward up top, but fairly lean and tight at the low end.

I came in to recommend the Firebird Suite as well - it's a log time favorite and was my intro to 20th century. Have you bought and listened to it yet? For 20th century, I'd also recommend Arvo Part. Different from Stravinsky, but I've been buying more and more of his discs. Great stuff, check him out.

I like the Domke photographer bags. I keep audio and photography gear in them. They wear like iron and I like the plain, ballistic black nylon ones. Their "journalist" line doesn't have any noticeable logos or tags on them, either. As for other bags, Tom Bihn (http://www.tombihn.com/) makes nice ones, and I have a great laptop case from Acme Made (http://www.acmemade.com/). Acme Made makes a few messenger bags and others that might suit your needs. Great build quality, too.

How about an Alessandro MS-1?

The "o'clock" varies by what headphones I have plugged in; they all have varying sensitivity. I keep it pretty low with headphones. My test is speaking a few words at a normal level with the music playing. If I can hear myself about at regular conversation level, I leave it there. If I'm hard to hear, I turn it down. I'm also careful with classical because of the huge dynamics. Occasionally, I have to crank it for a song or passage, but I usually save loud listening for the speakers or in the car.

Dusty - the inspiration for that one was probably the classic Doxa Grafic that came out in the mid-60s. Slightly different, but you can see the similarity in case shape, markers and offset date window. I think they re-released the Grafic a few years back, as well. Still, the Nixon looks pretty nice and the price is fair. Post some pics if you pick one up.

I was Googling stuff for a DIY amp and a few links here came up. Took a look around and saw a lot of names from the old threads at Head-Fi. Had been wondering where all the really experienced guys that stopped posting had gotten to, and then it all made sense. So I lurked here for awhile, came to like this forum and registered.

Check out eBay, it turns up in the business and industrial section. One drawback is that you can't always specify the size you want. But it's often much cheaper to buy leftovers and offcuts then take them to your local machine shop to cut them to size. And hey, post some pics when you finish!

I really like the idea of an e-book reader, but it's not quite practical yet. For one, the success of the iPod and other DAPs depended a lot on consumers loading the devices with digital music they already owned. I've bought a few tracks off iTunes, but really prefer loading my own discs. I like them as a permanent, inviolable, backup and still spin them in a disc player in my rig. I've got a few thousand books, but there is no practical way of putting them on an e-book. I'd have to repurchase everything, which I will not do. Second, the Kindle is wrapped in layers of DRM. I get the point, but the problem is that if the Kindle doesn't turn a profit, it'll be killed. That will, most likely, make everything you've ever bought for it unreadable. They'll kill the newspaper, magazine, et al. subscriptions and then you'll be stuck with a $400 brick. I dont mind greyscale displays, though. I still keep a NeXT Cube alive and don't mind the greyscale at all, I find it soothing when you just need to concentrate on text.

Have you considered the DIY route? I'm planning to get started on my first balanced amp in a week or two. It'll be a Dynamid (more info, PCBs, build guide here: http://www.djgardner.com/headphone/gilmore/) running off a pair of STEPS power supplies. I have the STEPS power supplies built and ready and in the morning, will put in the orders for everything else so I can stuff them over the long weekend. I've built a Dynalo and the build is mostly painless. Think I have about $130 into the power supplies and it'll be another $150 or so for the amps. You can repurpose another case to go the cheap route with enclosures, but I'll probably drop another $100 or so there. If you're careful and re-use something from a thrift store, you should be able to piece one together around $300. You can balance other designs, as well, but this one comes in around your budget and should be a keeper. If the Dynalo is anything to judge by, the Dynamid should be excellent.

Try PimpZilla. http://www.pimpzilla.nl/

I've squirrels and other pest animals run off with a strobe light. Most critters hate them. I'd pick up a cheapie at Radio Shack and set it up with a motion sensor. No mess, no cruelty. Water is effective, too. I don't know exactly how to set up a motion-sensitive sprinkler, but that would absolutely keep cats away.

I just made the jump, as well. I dropped off earlier this year due to some extreme hours at work and tons of family stuff. Nothing bad, just unholy busy. Still lurked to keep up on the latest every week or two. And I *never* stopped listening to the cans. It is good to see a lot of familiar faces here.