Goodwill/Garage Sales & Old Audio

Not too long ago I found the Audiokarma forums and have spent a lot of time over there reading about what others have been doing with audio. As it turns out, it seems to be populated by a bunch of "cranks" like me who not only like audio, but love the gear that makes it come alive. On top of that, there seems to be a bunch of folks who enjoy the game of finding older gear at out-of-the-way places like garage sales and thrift stores like Goodwill.

After this inspiration, and made a couple of stops which netted me some pretty amazing finds. First, I had a honey-do which involved having to go to Goodwill to drop of a bunch of kids clothing that had been out-grown, so of course, I took the opportunity to look around. At the one where I did the drop-off, I didn't find anything noteworthy. But on the way home, I decided to swing by another one that was pretty much "on the way" where I found.....a very nice Onkyo cassette deck of fairly recent manufacture in full working condition for $8!

Then on Saturday, while working through my list of honey-dos (again), I decided to stop in at a garage sales that I saw, largely because it was in an old section of town....and was rewarded with the discovery of a pair of old Cerwin-Vega HED U-6 "bookshelf" speakers. I paid $25 for them after a short negotiation, mostly due to the fact that they looked to be in fair condition with surrounds that are still in good shape.

I'll have to say that I'm not a big C-V fan, or really much of a fan of the old-guard American speaker manufacturers, such as Altec-Lansing, Klipsch, Cerwin-Vega, etc, since my personal opinion of them is that they then to be very much like late 60's/early 70's American muscle cars....long on muscle/short on finesse. But at least, these were acoustic suspension bookshelf, vs. the big floor-standers with the 15" woofers and ports.

Personally, I tend to lean toward the "New England" sound that's more geared for accuracy and detail or even a "British" sound, but hey, I'm not going to stare a gift-horse in the mouth. Given their size, price and in all probability ability to handle abuse (if they hold up to the C-V reputation), they'll probably become the speakers to a first system for Josh. He seems to have a bent for music and at age 8, its probably time for him to move up from his Lego shelf-radio/cd player! I did come across another garage sale last week that had a fairly recent Yamaha receiver, but I think, I'm going to hold out for something a little more vintage for his first system.

Great Audio on the Trailing Edge

Here we go. I'm not even certain where I want to go with this, but its a subject that I love and am passionate about as much or more than anything else. Sure, I use the home theater function of my system more and absolutely use the "system" in the bedroom more than the "big rig" in the living room. But when its time to get serious, there's nothing quite like firing up a set of "full-range" speakers with a really fast sub that's capable of getting LOW.

So, sources or more accurately, source of choice? Why; vinyl of course.....do you even need to ask,, but not for the reasons that you might think? Not necessarily because I set out to be on of those dyed-in-the-wool, nothing but vinyl "blue-bloods", but mostly because I figured out that I enjoy IT more. The "IT"? ......that would be the elusive combination of the reproduction, artistry and action that gives the listener the satisfaction that the person is seeking. "Action" you say? What the.......well......for me at least, a series of often repetitive actions that psychologically prepares us for something, anything. It could be the warm-up, routine that a ballplayer or musician goes through before performance, or a writer, getting her/his cup of tea and cleaning off the desk before the actual writing begins. Most of us NEED it, just to clear the head and get ready to do the thing is.....that needs doing......yeah, that's it's!

For, me, its the whole turning on the receiver, and letting it warm up the speakers, by playing a radio station or something on the iPod while I'm getting ready for the main event. Getting something hot to drink in the cold months, or cold to drink in the hot months, getting out the correct remote(s), then on to the final stages......going through my record collection and finding the albums I want to listen to. Finally, the act of cleaning the record. I don't think that most people understand how important this series of actions are to the enjoyment of the music. It doesn't just "get you in the mood", but more importantly, it puts you in a mindset to EXPECT to enjoy it.

WHAT THE......as my esteemed brother-in-law would say! So, I'll answer that question with a question: why do we laugh at a comedian telling a joke and often groan at a co-worker telling the same joke at the coffee pot? Of course, the comedian has impeccable timing since he/she is a professional, but that's actually not the main reason. Psychological studies have found that the main reason is that when we turn on the TV or better yet go to see a comedian, we go with the expectation AND the anticipation that we will laugh. We've discussed this for some time, we get all ready to go, we sit in the audience with others expecting to be bowled over with mirth, then.....we are!

Its the same thing with music......when we take some time to prep ourselves vs. just throwing a CD into the tray or worse yet, pulling up a "playlist" on the iPod, we are primed to be astounded, by; the wonderful "fluidity" that is analog, the immense "sound-stage" of the well mic'd recording, the amazing "tonal range" of the performer at the height of their artistic prowess. You name it, we'll come up with a reason. Of course, it is self-evident that we must have well done system to get you to that point, but my contention is that once you get above a certain stage of investment the law of diminishing returns hits like a ton of bricks though! However, I will say that (as with the music itself), the acquisition of good gear in and of itself certainly can (and does) contribute to the "placebo effect"! Therefore the same can be said of going out and using the acquisition of the "software" can contribute greatly to this effect. Therefore, those hours of searching out that, "just right" jewel of a record at the store and then getting it home, is by extension, part of the process.

Try it! Get out there and find a nicely functioning turntable at Goodwill, connect it to that unused input marked "phono", visit your local version of half-priced books and find a few recordings that you love (for me, that'd be Steely Dan or maybe Dire Straits), then have at it! Trust me, it works.

Some things are just Weird....

Let me start by saying that I've always had a little bit of an obsession (not that kind you pervert!), with oddities. All manner of oddities really; such as British cars, Italian appliances,German stereo equipment, but the ones that I really love to play around with are computer oddities. Old ThinkPads, magneto optical drives; need I say more?

Back in the old days...say 1970's and early '80's, most anything in the computing world was odd. You'll find this is pretty much true of any "new" product category. Standardization and commoditization (is there such a word), hasn't taken hold and you get all manner of wild ideas. Back in the good old days of "personal computing", when people routinely constructed them out of kits and guys started companies in their garages, there were lots of really interesting products. Don't believe me? Just spend a little time at this website:

http://oldcomputers.net/

See what I mean! Lots of weird stuff. But its one particular type of computer that's always had a strange hold on me: it's the "Portable Computer". What's so weird about that you say? You don't think I used those quotes accidentally did you? If you'll Google that, you'll come to a definition that doesn't mean the common everyday "laptop" (which are really "notebook" computers anyway), but a classification that really means a full desktop, complete with monitor crammed into a case that looks suspiciously your mom's sewing machine.
The Compaq Portable introduced in Nov. of 1982. Yeah, yeah, I know there were other portables, such as the Osborne1 (first truly portable computer), and even the IBM 5110 & 5120, but the Compaq was the first to be fully compatible with the IBM PC. Oddly enough, I have a connection with this little (I use that term loosely since it weighed 28lbs) machine. My first job out of college was for a cotton company could be considered bleeding edge in those day. We not only has a mini computer (complete with disk-packs), but a PC AT, PC, and a Compaq Portable! Although it was never used anywhere but in the office, it was the coolest thing ever (at that point anyway) with it's fold down keyboard and onboard monochrome green CRT.
Just like this one, but ours had a hard drive in place of one of those floppies. Maybe its because I was never allowed to work on that one, I don't know. Anyway, I've been a little CooCoo over these quasi-desktops ever since.

Fast forward another 15 years or so, and I'm actually teaching myself to work on computers. Two areas that I don't know much about is servers and laptops. Of course one of the truisms of the computing field is that anything involving servers, is that they and anything having to do with them is expensive. So, I find myself gathering parts to get an old IBM PS/2 MCA (Microchannel Architecture) server up and running so I can get some practice on an actual server OS. I can't afford Windows NT4, or God Forbid Netware, so I get an old copy of Windows NT 3.51 and one of those giant Sybex manuals. Why the heck IBM PS/2!?! If you read my other blog you already know why: it's well built (duh...IBM), and it's cheap, because PS/2 has failed miserably in the marketplace and they are trying to get out from under that albatross as quickly as possible! After a year or 2 of plugging away at this, miracle of miracles I manage to get a job in IT!

And you know what? When you are around computers 24/7, you learn where to find them cheap (or free) and you end up with computer stuff literally up to your eyeballs. At this point, my obsession rears it's ugly head and I find the Holy Grail of PS/2-dom: the IBM PS/2 P75 "Mobile Server"!!!
OK, this image is really of the P70 (which was a 386 and I had one of those too), but the P75 was physically identical with the exception of the backside that was significantly expanded. What you can't see in this image is the really cool/weird red screen, because it was....wait for it.....PLASMA! Mine had a 400Mb SCSI HDD in it and a whopping 32Mb of RAM! Let me tell you that RAM for these boogers aren't easy to find or cheap when you do manage to find it. Anyway, after several years of toting this 30lb monster around in all the various moves during my Higher Ed days, I gave in and sold both the P75 and partially working P70. But I never forgot it.

Years later, the dormant obsession (along with a few other things) were stirred up from watching a relatively cheesy computer movie called Hackers where a bunch of "elite" high school kids get their jollies...you guessed it...hacking into computers. Anyway, the protagonist (played by Johnny Lee Miller who was briefly married to Angelina Jolie) used one of those portable computers for his exploits. I know; sick isn't it, that the lasting thing I get out of this movie was a computer and not the pre-augmented Angelina Jolie (although I must say that see looks great in this flick).

OK, finally to the nitty-gritty. These types of computers are usually used by professional networking specialists or the military out in the field where conditions are rough, but they need full-on desktop power. Therefore, they are rare as the proverbial hen's teeth, and tend to be pricey when you find them. Don't believe me? Just do a search for Dolch on eBay and see what you find. But never the less, I'm on the trail of one now. There seems to be a barebones, case and screen only on eBay that's affordable. If it remains affordable, I'm going to try and snag it and put new guts in it.
It looks something like an older version of this. I know.....weird! Stay tuned!

The Trailing Edge

I’m going to give this a shot to see if there are any other old curmudgeons out there who think the same way I do and might find it interesting. What's "interesting"…..that might be the question that you are asking? Well, the concept is; as much as I love technology, I often feel like it’s so driven by profit making and “innovation” that very good, if not better performing technologies are push out of the marketplace by things that are newer and/or better marketed items. So I’m going to try and do this blog about those things. The “trailing edge”, quite literally are things are not only, NOT leading/bleeding edge, but are about to or maybe even having fallen off of the “wing” all together! Of course, I’ll be drawing from my own interest and experiences, but I’m really going to need help in a participatory way from others of you who have experience in area that I’m not well versed in. An example would be my friend Eric who was a big Amiga believer/user and knows far more about it than my miniscule puddle of knowledge in that department. So, yes, I would love to have “guest” bloggers on here as well as my misc. ramblings!

So, my first and maybe most emotionally attached topic? The vinyl record of course! Yes; I’m the proud owner of 2 turntables, as well as an accumulation of some parts (read- non-working turntables). And yes, I have actually bought some vinyl records in the last 6 months since we have that favorite of old geeks like me; Half Price Books. I could happily go down there and spend all or most of an entire day in their flagship store on Northwest Highway, off of 75 (Dallas). They not only have old stuff (like records), but books about the old stuff as well! My ideal day would be to spend the morning of a Saturday at the computer flea market downtown, eat lunch at some random diner or dive, then the afternoon at Half Price Books! That is of course, after securing royal blessing from “the boss” and I don’t mean Springsteen!

The fact of the matter is that I think “Vinyl” is a victim of a culture change and not supplanted by a superior medium. It represents a conscious decision to “listen to music” (meaning, by definition, you are serious) in order to devote the time to that activity. Let me break down the steps:

1. Turn on your rig so that it has time to “warm up” while you look for the album(s) that you intend on listening to.

2. Peruse you collection of albums until you find just the right one(s) for that time. Oh, did I forget that you should have already opened your bottle of wine so that it can breathe while this is going on?

3. Put the first album on the turntable, and go through your cleaning ritual. This is of course an important part of the process since it all helps you get into “the mood”, builds the anticipation, foreplay…whatever you want to call it. Let the platter spin and cue up the track, but don’t drop that needle so that the belt gets nice and warmed up on the idler/spindle, while you go and pour the wine, and cut the cheese (maybe I should have gone with “slice” the cheese).

4. Come back with your wine/beer/Coke, whatever, drop (not really “drop” but you know what I mean), and enjoy the bliss for 20 minutes or so….until it’s time to flip sides.

5. Start the process all over again until the stress in your life has been removed by the magic.

Today’s digital medium has no ability to do these things for you. You spin the dial of your iPod, select the track and punch the button, or more likely, you find a previously created “playlist” and click on it, then walk around the house doing various chores until you run out of time. There’s no comittment to devote the time and energy to relaxation and entertainment. Its like, when you go see a comedian; why do you laugh at the same jokes that you see on forwarded emails which are merely amusing? Because you are invested and EXPECT to laugh! Don’t get me wrong, I love my iPod and its ability to hold my entire library of music in the box the size of a shaver, but its not only the impersonal delivery of the music, but the lack of investment in the process that leave it uninvolving. Yes, yes, I fully understand that it’s really not that good in terms of delivery and fidelity, but I really think it’s all the other “stuff” around it that makes it seem cold.