obsolete gear going nowhere
I guess everyone has projects that take months, if not years to complete (well, everyone who does a project once in a while). And of course, I’ve got them too. Actually, I’ve got several of those and almost all of them have to do with obsolete hardware. Maybe that’s the problem right there actually. Because they’re obsolote hardware projects, there’s no barrier or such. Once I’m finished, even if it takes me 10 years, it’ll still be an obsolete hardware project! ^_^
Anyway, not long ago I started thinking it’s a shame that I’ve collected so much stuff over the years and have it all hidden away on my topfloor (weeeell, in my bedroom actually). Then I started to *hachoo* ‘envision’ a room full of obsolete but once great gear and that thought somehow stuck.
So, I’m not sure when I will have it all in up&running condition, but this afternoon I made a start and started putting everything in the right place. Somehow I’m looking forward to spend a great deal of time there but you probably know how these things go, even if you plan it or such, there’s always more current stuff to do which seems a good enough reason to delay projects with stuff like this even more.
I could actually still use an extra reason or motivation for this although some plans already have popped to my mind…
there’s a small list of what’s what in my hinv (hardware inventory) section of this site
We’ll just see where it goes from here. This gear isn’t going anywhere, that’s for sure! ^_^
a humble upgrade for my stereo
Well, you know, when I’m fed up with computers (yes, that does happen sometimes) or when I just don’t know what to do, I like to spend some time, wandering around in audioland.
Now my home stereo has grown throughout the years to something which for me is a very pleasing set. Everything in my set has been on a budget and somehow I guess that’s half the fun. When I see these pics of almost perfect setups on home theater forums or such that’s all very nice and I’m not criticizing it either (I would probably be in an audio store the day after I would win the lottery) but still… sometimes it’s just too damn simple, expensive amplifier brand, expensive speaker brand and tada! look at my perfect setup… right. Finding parts second hand, combining stuff which should match according to your own theories and just try your luck here and there is a lot of fun! (and a whole lot healthier for your budget)
Anyway, this weekend I added some ‘new’ rear speakers. They are Mission 700s, speakers which get some pretty good reviews all over the place. Since these speakers weren’t too expensive to begin with when they were new, these can be picked up for very little money. I was really surprised actually and now, after two days of listening (I’ve also listened a long time just to the rears) I’m even more surprised. It’s just that good, really!
Mission 700
click to enlarge
A while ago I also purchased (at the same audio store actually) a solid center speaker. It’s a Tannoy Saturn S6LCR, a center speaker out of Tannoy Saturn S6-serie. Now I’ve been experimenting with all kinds of speakers for my center, even though I knew a center speaker is almost the most important piece in any home theater setup. And now I finally have a solid center speaker myself I can only add to that advice… Personally I’ve been waiting way too long with that. If you enjoy watching movies, invest in a solid center speaker! You won’t regret it.
click to enlarge
Now, how does such a set, all of my speakers are from different brands, combine? My front speakers are from 1984 (although I upgraded the tweeters once) and build by a Dutch manufacturer called BNS and they match wonderfully well with my just acquired Mission 700s. The Tannoy, when I test it by playing the same music through my center, sounds a little different from my fronts, but normally there’s hardly coming music from the center, only dialogue. As a center speaker it does it’s job rather well actually. The sound which now comes from this speaker is a much ‘fuller’ sound (it can fill my room on it’s own!) than what any of the speakers I’ve been experimenting with earlier on could do. I’ve been a cheapskate when it comes to my center speaker way too long, really.
the front-end of my set
click to enlarge
In total, I guess this will be the speaker pack I will use until I finally find the money to have a truly homogenic set all round, the real problem is that my taste is a little expensive I guess… ^_^ I’ve been looking into building my own speakers also, you can save a lot of money by going that way. Still it will be something I might be doing once in my life and when I do, I want to build an ultimate speaker pack (imho) and believe me, even when you build them yourself, ultimate speakers cost a lot of money ^_^
I guess I can say the same about speakers or audio-equipment in general as what I sometimes use as an anology referring to how I buy a lot of my equipment “I’d rather drive a second hand BMW 7-series than a brand new VW Golf (they probably cost the same)”
So, until I win the lottery, keep them second hand BMWs coming! *^_^*
speakers wanted!
Well, this is a post for people living in my vicinity I guess :-)
click to enlarge
Coming friday there will be Volume V of a Pecha Kucha Night in Groningen.
I’ve written about Pecha Kucha Nights on this site before.
In short, for the coming edition we could still use one or two speakers, so, grab this chance for your 20×20 seconds of fame! (that still leaves 8 minutes and 20 seconds…)
If you aren’t sure if you dare, there’s no need for that, anything will do, especially presenting stuff you’re passionate about and it really doesn’t matter what that is. You can contact me (at mark at geektechnique dot org)
I’m not sure if this helps:
Top 5 tips for Pecha Kucha presenters (at the ever lovely Pingmag.jp)
Google NOs iNoPhone
For real, just one week ago, this query only brought up three results (not three pages, three results, with one of them pointing to this very site)(i No, I should’ve made a screenshot back then)
...and last monday I was convinced that it wasn’t good enough to get noticed in a big way (really!)
ah well, I guess now it’s a awholelottapeopleNoiNoPhone
^_^
The "eeew" starts now
I’m sorry, I couldn’t help myself but this one is just too easy… *^_^*
I just saw an inspiring pic on Boris’ blog and thought I’d respond…
First of all, I’m no marketing expert, but what on earth are you trying to say when you promote your biggest launch evah(!!! <- ballmer exclamation mark) like this? It could be a slogan for anything and I guess that what it tries to promote is exactly that, a little bit of anything ^_^
I think and also truly hope it’ll be MS’s Ford Edsel. Not that I have anything against MS, but, you know, to keep the competition a little sane and imho somebody who wants to or is going to lead the pack should’ve gotten there by innovation and I’ve seen none of that for like… well, you know what?
“One of Vista’s new features is that it shuts down in just two seconds.”
enough said ^_^
more excitement ^_^
Well, I’ll repeat myself for once(...)
direct link to the video on youtube
I mean, two frontpages in one month, what am I gonna tell my host? He must be thrilled about that, don’t you think?... ^_^
earlier on:
OMG I’m getting DDoSed!
Introducing iNoPhone
...need I say more?... ^_^
click to go to the projectpage
iBook tealight-fix: the aftermath ^_^
Right, in the comments-thread itself there are people reporting successes in repairing old iBooks with my tealight-fix. I already was a happy man when I managed to fix my own iBook (which now is sold btw), but I couldn’t have foreseen the spin-off this would get. Now of course, projects of me get blogged more often ( ^_^ ), but a lot of people looking at the stuff I do or people actually trying it out for themselves is quite a difference. Any way, I love it (even though I told everyone to not try this *^_^*) and I’d like to hear about every one succeeding in this tealight-fix.
some of the spin-off I found:
If anyone knows more attempts which’ve been put online, please drop them in the comments, I’ll change the links in hyperlinks afterwards.
click to go to the post on vanorder-san.com
In the mean time I did finish another project. This coming weekend I’m going to write it up, so expect that online about sunday afternoon or such.
We have a winner! ^_^
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it’s already been two weeks since I put the flaming iBook for sale…
The bidding went well in the comments and now, after two weeks of bidding-frenzy, we have a winner!
Max is the winner with a bid of $356
Update: Welllll… I waited for two days to get an answer from Max, but he probably forgot he bid or ran out of money or both… Anyway, I moved on to the runner-up, gmlk and he reacted right away!
I’ll get in touch to discuss the details.
But first of all, cheers to you all!
...and I’m in the middle of a project now, so I’m gonna continue to do some work, aight? ^_^
abandoned planes and skull plates
Right, we’ve had abandoned stuff over here before.
And we’ve had plates with skulls on them earlier on too (next to some homegrown skull-stuff)
Now I’m not saying there’s a connection between the two, it’s just that I found both of the following links at the same time, via the splendid notcot.org.
...and yes, I’m wondering why this bears such an attraction to me. *^_^*
