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

lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
AC INFINITY AIRCOM S8 COOLER!!!...it sucks heat from the bottom and blows it out back!! Now, my receiver stays cool and I can also stack my blu-ray/sacd player on top of it!!! Prior to this cooler, I was unable to stack anything on top of it (for fear of overheating)

I also got a second one for my Class A power amplifier. You can easily cook your Jimmy Deans on top of this hot beast in the morning. Hopefully, this cooler will keep things a tad bit cooler and prolong component lifespan.

OMG, OMG, OMG.....What a wonderful day!
Good golly just build a set of shelves rather than the stack!
 
KEW

KEW

Audioholic Overlord
I decided the time/technology is right to go electric.
Was doing some deep research until I found this deal on a competent (but not the best) mower that made it an easy decision
Being over 60, living in hot, humid Georgia and with a steep front yard I decided to go with a self-propelled mower.
Most of the neighbors have riding mowers, but we are generally talking less than 1/2 acre of grass and I don't see the point ... and I've always preferred to be accomplishing something when I exercise as opposed to exercise for the sake of exercise (I know, it is a character flaw; personal fitness is clearly a worthwhile accomplishment in its own right!).

In any case, Mower was normally $600, discounted at my local store to $417, and I signed up for a Lowe's credit card (20% discount for initial purchase) to get the price down to $333!

A few features that make this a good option (but certainly not unique to this model only) are:
1) Adaptive motor speed - If the grass gets denser, the blade speed increases
2) 6 Amp-hr 80V battery is rated for 60 minutes (I estimate about 30 minutes required for my lawn). It should be a few years before the battery weakens enough for me to need a second battery.
3) The blade does not need to be engaged to propel the mower - this is nice because I have to go down a steep section of driveway before I get to the grass. If the mower is off and freewheeling it tends to lift up the front wheels going down the hill as I am holding it back by the handle, and it is difficult to push a mower up a steep hill at the handle without lifting the rear wheels up (unless you deliberately push the handle down so the front wheels are in the air before pushing it up the hill). However, if it is being driven at the rear wheels, all I have to do is control the direction!
4) Battery charger has built-in fan to cool the battery as it charges.
5) Thumb lever to set drive speed.
6) Since there are no fluids (gas or oil) to leak out, it is designed for the deck to stand upright (flat against the wall) to minimize storage space required.

And, of course a major benefit of going electric is the noise level is lower by around 10dB from a quiet gas mower which means I can enjoy listening to music via earbuds while mowing!
I might end up getting the Amazon Echo Ear buds which use Bose noise cancellation to really get the noise level down, but I'll see how it goes with plain earbuds first!

But the real thrill is not having to yank the cord repeatedly, run the gas out or add gas stabilizer to "winterize" the engine, or worry about fouled spark plugs, air filter, or mixing oil!

This seems like a pretty well thought out review for anyone curious about this model (or electric mowers in general):
 
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Alex2507

Alex2507

Audioholic Slumlord
But the real thrill is not having to yank the cord repeatedly, run the gas out or add gas stabilizer to "winterize" the engine, or worry about fouled spark plugs, air filter, or mixing oil!
... but that's the part I'm good at!

That Ludd guy had a point.
 
slipperybidness

slipperybidness

Audioholic Warlord
I decided the time/technology is right to go electric.
Was doing some deep research until I found this deal on a competent (but not the best) mower that made it an easy decision
Being over 60, living in hot, humid Georgia and with a steep front yard I decided to go with a self-propelled mower.
Most of the neighbors have riding mowers, but we are generally talking less than 1/2 acre of grass and I don't see the point ... and I've always preferred to be accomplishing something when I exercise as opposed to exercise for the sake of exercise (I know, it is a character flaw; personal fitness is clearly a worthwhile accomplishment in its own right!).

In any case, Mower was normally $600, discounted at my local store to $417 (not sure why as the on-line discounted price is $429), and I signed up for a Lowe's credit card (20% discount for initial purchase) to get the price down to $333!

A few features that make this a good option (but certainly not unique to this model only) are:
1) Adaptive motor speed - If the grass gets denser, the blade speed increases
2) 6 Amp-hr 80V battery is rated for 60 minutes (I estimate about 30 minutes required for my lawn). It should be a few years before the battery weakens enough for me to need a second battery.
3) The blade does not need to be engaged to propel the mower - this is nice because I have to go down a steep section of driveway before I get to the grass. If the mower is off and freewheeling it tends to lift up the front wheels going down the hill as I am holding it back by the handle, and it is difficult to push a mower up a steep hill at the handle without lifting the rear wheels up (unless you deliberately push the handle down so the front wheels are in the air before pushing it up the hill). However, if it is being driven at the rear wheels, all I have to do is control the direction!
4) Battery charger has built-in fan to cool the battery as it charges.
5) Thumb lever to set drive speed.
6) Since there are no fluids (gas or oil) to leak out, it is designed for the deck to stand upright (flat against the wall) to minimize storage space required.

And, of course a major benefit of going electric is the noise level is lower by 10 to 15dB from a quiet gas mower which means I can enjoy listening to music via earbuds while mowing!
I might end up getting the Amazon Echo Ear buds which use Bose noise cancellation to really get the noise level down, but I'll see how it goes with plain earbuds first!

But the real thrill is not having to yank the cord repeatedly, run the gas out or add gas stabilizer to "winterize" the engine, or worry about fouled spark plugs, air filter, or mixing oil!
Yup, I have been steadily headed all-electric! Battery capacity, weight, and recharge cycles took quite a while ot catch up, now we are in a good position, finally@

RC cars are now all battery powered.
I have the Ryobi 40V Weed Eater, Chain Saw, and Leaf Blower, and could not be happier!
 
KEW

KEW

Audioholic Overlord
Yup, I have been steadily headed all-electric! Battery capacity, weight, and recharge cycles took quite a while ot catch up, now we are in a good position, finally@

RC cars are now all battery powered.
I have the Ryobi 40V Weed Eater, Chain Saw, and Leaf Blower, and could not be happier!
I love my Chevy Volt! Even though far from SOTA, it still gives me a sense of "the future is now"!

I think the impetus to get e-cars up to speed has been a real boost to the battery industry (thanks Tesla, for giving things a badly needed jump start).

I tried one of the earliest cordless circular saws (don't remember the brand) and it would bog down after about 2-1/2 feet in 3/4" plywood. It was a decent tool for cutting baseboard/trim (infrequent quick cuts of soft pine) but that is about it. Now we have serious chainsaws and mowers running off batteries with better performance than the weaker gas models!

...and if power is what you are after you can use a cord:
 
afterlife2

afterlife2

Audioholic Warlord
Recent thrifts. LPs and Mocking I is a book is a expensive Blu-ray set. Made my crappy life a bit better.
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Kvn_Walker

Kvn_Walker

Audioholic Field Marshall
Nice! I had a pair of Allison six cubes a long time ago and they sure sounded good in a small apartment. Had them on some Bose 901 stands so they looked good too. I always liked the "Allison" sound. Good luck restoring them. :)
Thanks! I repaired the second one with the Midwest kit last night. The shims are like magic... no rubbing!
IMG_20200902_0520405_copy_1216x1216.jpg

The one on the left was repaired with the Simply Speakers kit, the other with the Midwest kit.

If I had to rate the two... the SS foam is thicker, the inner lip (that glues to the cone) is longer and thus easier to apply. But the shims that came with the MW took the uncertainty out of the equation. I need all the foolproof I can get! So it's a mixed bag. Were I to do this again, most likely I would go with the Simply Speakers, buy a dust cap from Parts Express, and use the shims I now have.
 
afterlife2

afterlife2

Audioholic Warlord
^^ Those look way better and now for the sound test. Let’s go! ;)
 
Kvn_Walker

Kvn_Walker

Audioholic Field Marshall
^^ Those look way better and now for the sound test. Let’s go! ;)
:(

I've got the woofers in one house, and the rest of the speakers in another. And no equipment in House 2.0 yet that I can hook them up to. If we get all 3 days off this weekend, I might reassemble them and bring them over just to see how they play. Whatever I do, I'll probably start a new thread so to not derail this too much.
 
MR.MAGOO

MR.MAGOO

Audioholic Field Marshall
a few new movies for the collection.
The Founder - 2016, the story of Ray Kroc
The Miles Davis Story - 2001, documentary
Go Johnny Go! - 1959, a loose storyline of "King of Rock 'n' Roll" Alan Freed's search for the next big star.
Beyond the Time Barrier - 1960, sci-fi, a military test pilot caught in a time warp finds himself in the year 2024 when a plague has sterilized the world's population.
The Black Cat - 1934, horror, Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi!
Let's Kill Uncle - 1966, horror, thriller, comedy by William Castle
IMG_2841.JPG
 
ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
Freud Router Bits!
Straight Bits, double flute: 1/4. 1/2 and 3/4"
Chamfer Bit 45º
Roundover Bit 3/4"
Rabbeting Bit 3/4" with interchangeable bearings
Flush Trim Bit 1/2"
 
MR.MAGOO

MR.MAGOO

Audioholic Field Marshall
^^Nice stuff on that rack.
Well, it's okay stuff. Seems like I buy something and a few months later it's "obsolete", Yamaha has upgraded the Aventage series, and same with Marantz. My first 5.1 surround system (Technics SA-AX720) didn't have HDMI, 5 way speaker binding posts, etc. I guess the planet isn't a total sewer if AV continues to improve.
 
ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
This should be the last part of the puzzle:
1599501063500.png


Just short of finishing work, I now have (or have access to) all the the equipment I need to build speaker cabinets!
 
killdozzer

killdozzer

Audioholic Samurai
Aaaaaahhh... Finally:
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IMG-20200907-WA0007.jpeg
As the slogan goes "Your Own Cloud Starts Here". This is one of my long term dreams, a NAS to share media files with all in the household. It's just TOO good. So far there's an old SSD of only 250GB inside just for a test drive and a TB hooked via USB to see how it all works. USB is a HDD and still it works wonders. Few users running HD and HiRes files no lag, no stutter.

Like a charm!
 
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