What New Stuff Have You Bought? If You Care To Share Thead! :)

[fuzz092888]

This is what I got after the movie. Wandered into a build a bear and heard they had limited edition Toothless "bears" to help promote the upcoming sequel. So clearly I needed one.

 

[rojo]

I got this several days ago:

Knocking on the baffle sounds about like knocking on a granite countertop. It plays great.

But I've got to be honest: the improvement in sound over my already clean-sounding RCA is marginal, if any. I might've noticed a more profound improvement if I did more listening at reference levels I guess, or maybe in a different room. Still, I know the Quart center's enclosure is much better braced, I'm sure the drivers can handle much more abuse, and I can't find any fault with it. I dig it.

 

[afterlife2]

Nice Rojo! Do they sych in nice with your other pair? Got this CD used today! If you like Maxwell or chill out music with a bit of profanity you'll like it.

 

[rojo]

Nice Rojo! Do they sych in nice with your other pair?

Well, just for grins I set PotPlayer to play in 5.1 so my new center would be emphasized. (I have dialog / center turned up +7.5 in my receiver.) Piano and rhythm guitar sound amazing. Trombone and other brass sounds more forward and a little less full. No, it doesn't match the timbre of my Veras. But since almost all my music listening is done in 2.1 and since voices sound natural and clear on this center for movies and TV, it's great for my evil purposes.

 

[Adam]

No, it doesn't match the timbre of my Veras.

Probably mentioned already in some other thread...but did you rerun Audyssey?

Congrats on the new speakers that you've gotten so far this year, btw! Very nice.

 

[rojo]

I did indeed. I think I'll run a couple of REW sweeps with Audyssey left on and see if I can quantify what I'm hearing....

It must be the dip around 400Hz making the tone sound thin. It's more likely a room / speaker placement problem more than a fault with the speaker.

Edit: I moved my center a couple of inches to the right. (I included my subs this time for you Adam.)

Looks like it helped. I'll have to do some more listening now.

Edit again: Yes, much better. I don't feel like re-running Audyssey again, but I suppose I ought to now that a room null has been avoided in the center channel. Audyssey might have an extra biquad or two to play with now.

 

[Adam]

Did you run those sweeps with your subs on or off? Looks like they were on.

 

[fuzz092888]

Those are some pretty serious nulls for your front three to have, and right in the midrange. No bueno.

 

[rojo]

Did you run those sweeps with your subs on or off? Looks like they were on.

Subs were off. I muted all outputs in my miniDSP, so they weren't even getting signal.

Those are some pretty serious nulls for your front three to have, and right in the midrange. No bueno.

I no, rite? It sounds better than it looks, though (thank goodness). That one at 800Hz is only the span of a minor 3rd or so I'm guessing. I don't notice it.

Edit: Just to see what I was hearing, I generated a 10-second "chirp" sweep from 500Hz - 1.2kHz in Audacity. The sweep sounded the same volume from beginning to end, but it sounded like there was some phasing variation along the sweep. I wonder if that null could be coming from my HTPC and DLP TV cooling fans, causing cancellations, but I'm still hearing reflections in that range?

I've got an XLR mic, mic pre-amp + phantom power and a Behringer USB sound card that I could use for some time domain measurements to try and find out, but it's an awfully big pain to drag all that stuff out if I'm not unhappy with the sound. Eh, if it nags me enough I'll run more tests.

 

[Lulimet]

I just ordered a pair of Boston A26 bookshelves from ac4less for $218 shipped. I will be using them in the living room with a Denon E300 receiver. Hopefully they sound better than the Teac LS-H265 speakers that I am using now.

 

[afterlife2]

35 bucks after rebate and what a GREAT deal. Bought it for my Mom, but might get another one for her. Benchmark is 44,600, can ROOT and the screen is nice too. Coming from a ICS 4.0 this is super fast. I put a link in the Any Holiday Sales Thread if interested. Last day is tomm. go for it.

 

[Lulimet]

Yes I saw that deal but I needed something with a more powerful processor.
I ordered a Dell Venue 8" Android tablet for $130. It has an Intel dual core Atom processor, 2GB RAM, and Intel HD graphics. I bought it to run xbmc just with kids movies for whenever we go on long trips. I am going to figure out a way to mount it behind the driver's seat.

 

[rojo]

I vote duct tape. Are you going to pipe audio through your car's stereo over Bluetooth?

Something else great for long trips is audio books. I like fbreader with its tts plugin reading with ivona voice Amy when I only have the ebook. Anyway, audio books make a twelve-hour trip seem more like only two or three.

Sent from my LG-VS980 using Tapatalk

 

[Matt34]

 

[Lulimet]

Are you going to pipe audio through your car's stereo over Bluetooth?

Yes, I have a head unit with bluetooth.

 

[afterlife2]

Yes I saw that deal but I needed something with a more powerful processor.
I ordered a Dell Venue 8" Android tablet for $130. It has an Intel dual core Atom processor, 2GB RAM, and Intel HD graphics. I bought it to run xbmc just with kids movies for whenever we go on long trips. I am going to figure out a way to mount it behind the driver's seat.

I could buy 3 Hidense for that price. All kidding aside I was playing all day with it and it's fast for browsing, check out Puffin Free Browser(Paid Pro version has flash) or Flash Browser(No flash but fast). Everything run so smooth. Congrats and enjoy your new tablet, looks nice.

 

[fuzz092888]

Apparently my tires need a pump with a presta attachment.

 

[slipperybidness]

Apparently my tires need a pump with a presta attachment.

Yeah, it's kind of a pain. But the only 29ers that I have ever seen use the Presta fitting. It probably is a better fitting, but dang what a hassle to have 2 types to deal with. I just spent the few dollars for a dozen or so adapters
Amazon.com : Vktech 10x Converter Presta to Schrader Bicycle Bike Valve Adaptor Tube Pump Tool : Sports & Outdoors

One thing that I learned the hard way: That retaining nut that holds the valve-stem to the rim doesn't need to be super-tight. Just a little past finger tight is good. I tightened mine too tight the first time and caused a leak at the stem.

 

[fuzz092888]

Yeah, it's kind of a pain. But the only 29ers that I have ever seen use the Presta fitting. It probably is a better fitting, but dang what a hassle to have 2 types to deal with. I just spent the few dollars for a dozen or so adapters
Amazon.com : Vktech 10x Converter Presta to Schrader Bicycle Bike Valve Adaptor Tube Pump Tool : Sports & Outdoors

One thing that I learned the hard way: That retaining nut that holds the valve-stem to the rim doesn't need to be super-tight. Just a little past finger tight is good. I tightened mine too tight the first time and caused a leak at the stem.

Yes I was thinking of getting just the adapters but I couldn't find my hand pump so I thought it was a good idea to replace it. I'll have to pick up a few of the adapters anyways just to be safe.

I'll he careful with that stem. I've seen the presta valve before but never had tires with them.

 

[slipperybidness]

Yes I was thinking of getting just the adapters but I couldn't find my hand pump so I thought it was a good idea to replace it. I'll have to pick up a few of the adapters anyways just to be safe.

I'll he careful with that stem. I've seen the presta valve before but never had tires with them.

Yeah, the other thing with the presta is that they seem to be longer than the old schrader valves, so it's easier to let a hand-pump slip and bend the thing. Just like anything else, there are advantages and disadvantages to either style.

I like to run with the slime-filled tubes, and I also have thorn-proof liners on mine. You might not need it, but where I live thorns are everywhere.

I also attach my hand-pump to my water bottle mount and go without a bottle. The CO2 pumps are nice, but there is a chance that you run out and forget to buy more CO2. The hand pump is a chore, but you know it will be there in a pinch. I ride with a camelbak for my water, and keep a bike multi-tool and spare tube in my camelbak too. You only have to make a several-mile hike with your bike 1 time to learn that lesson.