A Work in Progress

Testing it out.
I can now vouch that vinyl sounds better.

Music from a Record Player with No Electricity

Crib

I spent a couple hours building our new crib tonight. "Junior" will be sharing a room with us. We are still waiting for the UPS man to deliver the mattress.

Brief Butterflies Update

I posted a picture of me meeting Rogue Wave, on the Butterflies Blog. I met them back in May. And what the heck, I'll post one here, too. That's Gary, Liz, Rogue Wave, and Me. (Zach Rogue is holding a copy of Butterflies.)

Turntable Arrived

The fixer-upper turntable arrived in the mail today. Needs a power cord, so I couldn't really test it out... except for doing that thing, where you use a funneled paper and pin...

Amp hooked up

I now have my Marantz amp and Advent speakers connected to my iMac, and wow it sounds great. I am still waiting for my turntable, but in the meantime iTunes is sounding sweeter than ever.

It's not the prettiest setup (yet,) but the sound sure makes up for any lack of aethetics. I got the amp for really cheap, and it works perfectly well. It just needs a bit of cleaning on the volume pot.

The left speaker is over by the front door, next the fireplace.

Amplifier finally arrived

Got my amp today. Woohoo! I love the metal knobs. It will need a bit of a cleaning.

Finally Won a Decent Turntable on ebay

A while back I won a Dual 1219 on ebay, but it is not in great shape. Missing a cord, dirty... So I bought it for cheap, and I will hopefully be able to fix it up (still waiting for it to arrive.) In case it's not in fixable shape, I won another 1219 today. It's missing the dust cover, but it's in good working order. So I'll just get the best one running and re-sell the other.
I wish my amp would hurry up and get here.
Soooon... soooon....

My Vintage Sound System

You know a lot of the older stereo equipment from the 70s really rivals even today's systems, when it comes to quality of sound, especially if you compare a high quality system playing vinyl, compared to CDs.
So, I have been doing a bit of ebay shopping to acquire some equipment. One of the first things I ordered was an old amp, the Marantz 1060. What I would really love, eventually, is a sweet looking tube amp. I love the look of those things. And some audiophiles will tell you that a tube amp gives a slightly more pleasing, warmer sound than a normal amp. I've heard good things about the 1060. I am planning on replacing the current fake-wood case with a custom real-wood case, probably walnut or cherry.

I also bought some used Advent 5002 speakers from a local guy. They sound amazing. It looks like the tweeters have been replaced, so I can't be sure what exactly they sounded like originally. Probably sounds obvious, but it's incredible listening to music on good speakers. It makes you want to listen to music as an event in and of itself, rather than something to be in the background, while doing other activities. In a lot of ways, music has become background filler in our current way of life, as noted here.

And yet, vinyl is actually growing in popularity again. In fact, U2 has been issuing remasters of their albums recently, and they are releasing them on CD and 180 gram Vinyl. I have found myself on a vinyl "kick" lately, and I can't wait to get a turntable set up.

I have been trying to get one of two turntables: The Dual 1229 or Dual 1219. My dad owned a 1229 for 30 years and said it was the best turntable he ever owned. It's been challenging to get a decent one on ebay, as they are typically pushing $200. You can buy completely tuned refurbished ones from www.fixmydual.com, but they run closer to $400. Add a really nice cartridge and stylus on top that and it can be $150-200 more.

So I'm still working on that one.

How Vinyl Records are Made

For those who don't know, I am currently working on building myself a "vintage" sound system, complete with a Dual turntable from the 70s. I will post a separate entry to show a few of the components I am getting. In the mean time, I found a couple interesting videos that show how records are made.

How Vinyl Records are Made - Part 1 (from the Discovery Channel)

How Vinyl Records are Made - Part 2

Embassy Suites Commercial

This might be the funniest commercial I have ever seen.