What made your day a good one

donnie_arko said:
What is your valve preamp/ class D amp you have
Click to expand...

US made Audio Research valve pre and Accoustic Reality D-Class from Denmark. Using B&O chips.

There still a few valve suppliers I know of, but hopefully never have to go there again.

I'm not too much of a Hifi nut anymore but I still like to keep what I have alive. Otherwise happy to use the kitchen radio.
donnie_arko said:
I bought a valve Fender amp the year before (so had it for 22 years), and it also is still going strong!
Click to expand...

Not quite as old but have a Blackstar stage 60. Needed a big amp as my son's guitarist in his jazz band used it outside ocassionally. Loved his Vox but said it was too unreliable
 
Satanfriendly said:
US made Audio Research valve pre and Accoustic Reality D-Class from Denmark. Using B&O chips.

There still a few valve suppliers I know of, but hopefully never have to go there again.

I'm not too much of a Hifi nut anymore but I still like to keep what I have alive. Otherwise happy to use the kitchen radio.


Not quite as old but have a Blackstar stage 60. Needed a big amp as my son's guitarist in his jazz band used it outside ocassionally. Loved his Vox but said it was too unreliable
Click to expand...

Cheers for the info, I didn't know about the hifi rabbit hole! Pleased to hear your amps, hifi and guitar do the job and bring you pleasure.

I've never enjoyed discovering new music as much as now in some ways, Bandcamp and YouTube seemed to have opened an almost infinite number of new directions to explore, but with the often compressed formats the sound quality isn't always the best but it's a trade off that is tiny to the riches those sites seems to provide.
 
Yeah shaving is a part time toe in the water type of rabbit hole compared to those who constantly seek audio perfection. Many end up with a gear obsession, never happy, arguing about arcane theories with fanboi or even cult-like levels of cut'n'paste dogma, always skint and spend fortunes on new gear instead of spending it on records or going to see bands. My system has only had incremental upgrades based on sound advice (pun intended) from people I know in the industry. However it's a hard place to make business in these days I think, as most people nowadays want ever-larger TVs rather than insane audiophile systems. It's not like it was in the 90s where bankers would spend their bonuses on single ended triode amps and improbably large horn speakers or electrostatics. Everyone seems to have gone down the convenience and hi tech streaming path, or "one smart speaker in every room" approach with Tidal, Spotify etc. However one guy I know just went to a customer's house this weekend to install a £10,000 stylus, so it does still go on... but not mainstream.
 
hotmetal said:
Yeah shaving is a part time toe in the water type of rabbit hole compared to those who constantly seek audio perfection. Many end up with a gear obsession, never happy, arguing about arcane theories with fanboi or even cult-like levels of cut'n'paste dogma, always skint and spend fortunes on new gear instead of spending it on records or going to see bands. My system has only had incremental upgrades based on sound advice (pun intended) from people I know in the industry. However it's a hard place to make business in these days I think, as most people nowadays want ever-larger TVs rather than insane audiophile systems. It's not like it was in the 90s where bankers would spend their bonuses on single ended triode amps and improbably large horn speakers or electrostatics. Everyone seems to have gone down the convenience and hi tech streaming path, or "one smart speaker in every room" approach with Tidal, Spotify etc. However one guy I know just went to a customer's house this weekend to install a £10,000 stylus, so it does still go on... but not mainstream.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've seen some of that kind of tone chasing in my main hobby - guitars, and I've done some of it myself. I spent a ridiculous sum on an exquisite nylon string guitar, built by a monk with 18th century chisels living in the mountains in Spain or something like that, it was a work of art but the moment in landed in my lap it still sounded shite, as I can't play nylon string guitar aside from a few bum notes. I learnt a (very expensive) lesson from that experience though, not to get too caught up in chasing perfection and just enjoy the items you have in whichever hobby you have in front of you. Which is easier said than done all things considered!
 
Yeah, I agree. I like to learn what's important, get a setup I'm happy with, then try to extract my money's worth from it for as many years as possible after that. Same goes for hifi, espresso (there be dragons if you've the budget to splash, same as hifi ). I think it's good to learn from knowledgeable people, find what works for you, and enjoy it. I've paid for quality kit as and when I could, but step away from thinking the next thing will be better, which is where forums and magazines will lure you if you let them.

None of which had stopped me from acquiring 3 straights, 5 brushes and rather more soaps and splashes than I actually need *ahem*
- but at least a soap is maybe £20 and a razor maybe a couple of hundred. Coffee, bikes and hifi come with an extra couple of zeroes on the end.
 
hotmetal said:
Yeah, I agree. I like to learn what's important, get a setup I'm happy with, then try to extract my money's worth from it for as many years as possible after that. Same goes for hifi, espresso (there be dragons if you've the budget to splash, same as hifi ). I think it's good to learn from knowledgeable people, find what works for you, and enjoy it. I've paid for quality kit as and when I could, but step away from thinking the next thing will be better, which is where forums and magazines will lure you if you let them.

None of which had stopped me from acquiring 3 straights, 5 brushes and rather more soaps and splashes than I actually need *ahem*
- but at least a soap is maybe £20 and a razor maybe a couple of hundred. Coffee, bikes and hifi come with an extra couple of zeroes on the end.
Click to expand...

Spot on. It's one of the things I really like wet shaving as a hobby, well aside from items being relatively cheaper, sometimes budget items (eg boar brushes, shaving sticks) punch well above their price tags.
 
Wood Day!

I spent the day with my granddaughter. She's 8. We have 'Wood Day' where we make things out of wood. Aside from the fun of making, it's subliminally educational - today, she was inquisitive about why the wood was 1800 and why it worked really well to cut that down to 900 and 600 sections for the thing we were making. So, today, she learned about feet (the measurement) which by happy coincidence, my foot is about 30cm.

Today, we made a little den for my cats - it's 3' wide, 2' high and 2' deep. Yes, they're big cats! Easy peasy! Floor in place, fascia done and featheredge clad. I've made one already, so this was a straight copy. We looked at the one I already made, she drew it out and worked out all the pieces that we would need ... I cut the wood, but today she got her first hands on with power tools! Drilling and screwdriving! Later some good hammering ... which she really enjoys.

All well supervised, naturally, and she knows never to touch without me. Knowing good safety and instilling good practice, she'll be a natural with this stuff and hopefully a really capable maker/fixer.

Great fun, as her Dad has no idea which end you hold a screwdriver and her other Papa is a bit hands-off when it comes to making things.
 
pjgh said:
Wood Day!

I spent the day with my granddaughter. She's 8. We have 'Wood Day' where we make things out of wood. Aside from the fun of making, it's subliminally educational - today, she was inquisitive about why the wood was 1800 and why it worked really well to cut that down to 900 and 600 sections for the thing we were making. So, today, she learned about feet (the measurement) which by happy coincidence, my foot is about 30cm.

Today, we made a little den for my cats - it's 3' wide, 2' high and 2' deep. Yes, they're big cats! Easy peasy! Floor in place, fascia done and featheredge clad. I've made one already, so this was a straight copy. We looked at the one I already made, she drew it out and worked out all the pieces that we would need ... I cut the wood, but today she got her first hands on with power tools! Drilling and screwdriving! Later some good hammering ... which she really enjoys.

All well supervised, naturally, and she knows never to touch without me. Knowing good safety and instilling good practice, she'll be a natural with this stuff and hopefully a really capable maker/fixer.

Great fun, as her Dad has no idea which end you hold a screwdriver and her other Papa is a bit hands-off when it comes to making things.
Click to expand...
Awesome. My daughter was always far more interested in making things than my Son when they were younger. She is very capable these days , which is just as well as her partner is not very hands on.
 
Vampire
My godson is the same. He's actually a really good swimmer, very fast and natural at it, he doesn't realise how much better he is at it than others. He's going to be tall, he's only 12 but already as tall as his dad (not hard!) and we reckon he'll top 6 foot. At the moment he's got God-given flippers as his feet obviously know how tall he's going to be before he gets there! But try to prise him away from his laptop and Roblox, sheesh.
 
pjgh said:
Wood Day!

I spent the day with my granddaughter. She's 8. We have 'Wood Day' where we make things out of wood. Aside from the fun of making, it's subliminally educational - today, she was inquisitive about why the wood was 1800 and why it worked really well to cut that down to 900 and 600 sections for the thing we were making. So, today, she learned about feet (the measurement) which by happy coincidence, my foot is about 30cm.

Today, we made a little den for my cats - it's 3' wide, 2' high and 2' deep. Yes, they're big cats! Easy peasy! Floor in place, fascia done and featheredge clad. I've made one already, so this was a straight copy. We looked at the one I already made, she drew it out and worked out all the pieces that we would need ... I cut the wood, but today she got her first hands on with power tools! Drilling and screwdriving! Later some good hammering ... which she really enjoys.

All well supervised, naturally, and she knows never to touch without me. Knowing good safety and instilling good practice, she'll be a natural with this stuff and hopefully a really capable maker/fixer.

Great fun, as her Dad has no idea which end you hold a screwdriver and her other Papa is a bit hands-off when it comes to making things.
Click to expand...

Granddaughters? Aren't they great.

The younger (4) specialises in being a little shit. A proper little madam. The elder though(6), she'll have welding sorted before she leaves primary school.
 
Satanfriendly said:
Granddaughters? Aren't they great.

The younger (4) specialises in being a little shit. A proper little madam. The elder though(6), she'll have welding sorted before she leaves primary school.
Click to expand...
There is a phase they go through, especially a younger sister.
Biggest benefit of the "grand" generation is being able to give them back at the end of the day ... peace, ahhh.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom