Sunday, March 30, 2014

Getting Loaded

Hey all...

I finally came up with a way to make custom copper wound load resistors for loading MC cartridges.


The values are best to be kept below 1K (hey we only load the cartridge directly right!) which should cover most cases.



 Above is a 120 ohm and a190 ohm to load a Zu 103R feeding a 1:20 silver SUT.



and a peek under the black shrink.  I have some clear shrink on the way to see if the peekaboo look works.

As for the measured parameters....  They are wound in a non-inductive fashion and here is the impedance plot from 10hz-100Khz of a 190 ohm unit.


Are they perfect?  Hell no!  Am I going to lose any sleep over their imperfections?  No way... I'll just put some BS marketing spin on them like 5% tolerance throughout the entire audio spectrum... or maybe just let the audio jackals have at me for this silly idea.

 

dave



Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Learning...

.

learning a new place... learning to work metal... 
learning to work alongside new friends.... 
and learning is a goal of life, so....




messing with an amp idea...




not sure what that was about, but...




you know I cannot deal with fresh brass... gotta get that patina...




and this is learning patience... I *so* want to drag this car out and get it running...

peace,
me

Friday, February 21, 2014

The shortest distance between two points...

is not through Anchorage.

I printed this label out for a package to make a 50 mile journey south to NYC.



When it didn't show up the next day as expected I was a bit concerned.  Three days later it showed up at a sort facility 4300 miles away. 




The good news is it arrived today.

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Hummingbird....

.

because you guys (and deb) know how I love conical horns... 



psyche!

I would never do that to you guys... 

in honor of Jean-Michel Le Cleac'h:


we finally figured out how to make solid wood horns that are stiff and yet are thin enough to not crack over a century... I am excited... meet elm and walnut....


it feels good to have both the 16a and Sierra horn debacles behind me... nothing like a hard lesson to help you see the light.... woo hoo!!!

peace,
me

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Indian Rights...

Or the most rightous indian experience in NYC.
food

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Whale Rights....

thank you for the photograph, Barrett... I need to have my camera out more often at work...


peace,
me

Friday, January 24, 2014

Random says.....

seven... really?

with 34 entries seven wins it?

I call a fix.

So mister 7... if that is who you really are claim your junk... umm i mean booty.

dave

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

_All black with white socks








your first taste here is always free...  place a comment below and random.org may give them to you.



dave

Sunday, December 29, 2013

Western Electric 16a in the house.....

yep... finally... we16a.... more soon as I listen to GIP 555's and originals... and I have a sneaky idea for a mating basshorn...


peace,
me

Sunday, December 22, 2013

new job, new locale, new climate, return of an old philosophy...

.


as many of you know, I have long strived to make, in house, as absolutely many parts in my gear as possible... somehow, the past few years, in an effort to make maybe a few more things, but mostly thinking about division of labor leading to higher quality, I shopped a few parts out.... bad idea.... I lost a lot of money and all the control.... but I learned... and I learned that hard lesson relatively early in my life.. and now I am really excited to have that lesson propelling me forward.... on my old philosophy.... I now dream of having blocks of raw materials dropped off at one door and finished goods going out the other... huge blocks of brass, steel, tantalum, tungsten, copper, silver!...

reality will bring me back down eventually, (let's all hope I make some tubes first!)... but for now, I am happily learning to master this machine:


you may recognize the fellow in the background... that's my fellow hifiheroin addict..... I can't believe this is the only photo I have of the Hurco... I really like their new styling... very deco.. and I *love* hammertone grey...

the Hurco does cool stuff like this:


to within a ten thousandth of an inch!  yep, that is the tolerance to which I trammed the sub plate (Robert calls this a spoil board) that we made.... one-thirtieth of the diameter of a human hair.... so this will help me catch up on some orders that include metal work....

in general, I am finally feeling like I am again on the rails... I knew I was headed in the correct direction, but it just felt a bit like I was bumping along railroad ties.... I am finally feeling like that serene late afternoon photo above.... taken from my new spot....

oh... I almost forgot... one person is not happy about this new venture... Bessie... this is her expressing her displeasure in the form of riding low after a metal pickup.... she clearly likes walnut better than brass... I am teaching her that they go *together*...


peace,
me

Sunday, December 15, 2013

mu SUT's for charity

Our good friend John Chapman of Bent audio is offering up a pair of near unobtanium Mu SUT's in copper for a charity he supports.  100% of the bid price goes straight to the cause and he even picks up shipping out of his own pocket.  The full story is Here.

dave


Tuesday, December 3, 2013

the dog and puppy show.

This is the last coverage from RMAF from Peter at AVshowrooms.com.  I really like his videos because they give far more insight than the 50 words and 5 pictures the typical show report gives.


The funny thing was after I let the pool cue on a string comment slip I felt I needed to tell frank and he quickly corrected me that is was a broomstick on a string.  I thought for a bit and given the lengths gone through for a high end cue.... it was actually a perfect description.

dave


it's all about the bread.

and a hefty dose of sweat, oil, protection and tools.



Sunday, December 1, 2013

the yellow slide

lions and tigers and barrets.  OMI

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Friday, November 15, 2013

Monday, November 11, 2013

Bespoke on the Inside.

sorry to bore with the old school jc style rant.  the trending word these days in marketing is bespoke.  it is really easy to google the origin of the word but it is far more interesting to look at the marketing wordplay that is starting to emerge so i present the concept of bespoke on the inside as a marketing double entendre for emia.

 somehow it fits.



Saturday, November 2, 2013

What I didn't play at RMAF.

Hey... finally back in the normal groove after the show.  This is just a self serving post of room coverage both good and bad.  Of course the images sell so here are a few pics from one of the many songs I didn't get to play.





=


Dagogo
http://dagogo.com/rmaf-2013-coverage-i/2
http://dagogo.com/rmaf-2013-coverage-part-iii
http://dagogo.com/rmaf-2013-my-three-favorite-rooms

Part Time Audiophile
http://parttimeaudiophile.com/2013/10/12/rmaf-2013-say-hello-to-denver/
http://parttimeaudiophile.com/2013/10/28/rmaf-emia-saskia-schroeder-telwire/
http://parttimeaudiophile.com/2013/11/13/rmaf-2013-best-in-show-aka-the-end/
http://parttimeaudiophile.com/2013/11/11/rmaf-2013-wrapping-it-up-kirstens-best-in-show/#more-8530

Positive Feedback
http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue69/rmaf_13.htm

AV Showrooms
(Skip to 14:50 for the money shot)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=IKl4n3MXxjQ

PS Audio
http://www.pstracks.com/pauls-posts/romancing-speaker/11965/

6moons
http://www.6moons.com/industryfeatures/rmaf2013/1.html

Stereophile
http://www.stereophile.com/content/saskia-turntables-and-friends

Stereo Mojo
http://stereomojo.com/2013%20ROCKY%20MOUNTAIN%20AUDIOFEST%20SHOW%20REPORT/2013RockyMountainAudiofestShowReportPart5.htm

The Absolute Sound
http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/rmaf-report-analog-sources-pt-1/

Ultimist
http://ultimist.com/hifi/events/rocky-mountain-audio-fest-rmaf/rmaf-2013/oct-11-2013/10000/saskia-turntables-and-shroder-tonearms


My most memorable moment of music at the show was a group of "children of the 80's" singing a very out of tune version of an entire side of They Might Be Giants Lincoln played through a clapped out chevelle.   It made me young again... It made me happy.  It pissed mom and dad off in the adjoining room at 10PM and we were shushed.

I was almost a teenager again.

dave

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Friday, October 18, 2013

Somebody put it better than I could.






We may not all hear or like the same thing but music is universal.

blog post with comments.

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