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M4 Mini finally arrived today. It only took AMZN a month to ship it. I've had a longstanding tradition of naming my Mac Minis (now 4 in number) after film directors. Previous machines were Kubrick, Fellini and Ulmer. The M4 is Kurosawa. I'd say I forgot how much of a PITA it is to set up a new machine, but that'd be a lie. I remember, and it always is one. Google is reasonably painless. Still haven't gotten my password manage up and running yet. Steam initially locked up and refused to play nice, but after a force quit and restart it acted fine. I have no real interest on gaming on this machine but I figured I'd give it a bash. Tomb Raider 2013 works just fine and looks quite good. It's not really my kind of game (I got it free with the GPU I bought in late '13 and played it for 38 minutes) but trying out again it seems ...fine. The M4 plays it at 1080p constantly above 120FPS. The real headaches will be slsk, Transmission (torrent client), inheriting my Backblaze backup state and ...actually setting up Kurosawa s a server to replace Fellini. I have to get my two Windows boxes to play nice with it as well. This process should take well into next year.

A few words regarding filament supplies I’m using with 2A3 and 300B tubes. 9 VAC => unregulated 11 VDC => XL4015 DCtoDC step down converter... ... with trimmers for output voltage and current limiter. It’s easy to set voltage to correct voltage depending of tube and also to trim current to achieve a sort of soft start. So far it works ok.

Joanne made Ina Garten’s Seafood Gratin for Book Club

No output transformer. There are output electrolytics to headphone. Schematically it looks something like this. Reason for three KSC2690A in CCS is to distribute the heat, so no heat sink needed. At the moment I only use two transistors in CCS due to insufficient transformers. I don’t know how to optimize the circuit, but I’m happy with the result.

I have tried every possibility to optimize the circuit, but finally STAX has chosen the worst one. I'm pretty sure that STAX has gone with SMDs, it all fine, most parts in working will not generate lots heat, also SMDs significantly reduces the distributed inductance caused by PCB board through holes. ...... there some analyze and questions: 1, 4 large sized 7W 47kΩ resistors work as plate loads for 6SN7s, but higher value must be better, for example, two series 33K as 006T, or at least 62K 7W will far better than 47K, because 47K means too much current flow through 6SN7s, in my simulation is 9.5-10ma (grid at -9V), it's fine for 12AU7 or 12BH7, but 6SN7GT....hmmmm. 2, There are limited choice for input differential Jfets, I like using Toshiba 2SK2145 in my design, but the common sink package doesn't work here, also there are SMDs, so I guess they would better swapped to HN1C01 BJTs from Toshiba, the same thing may happened with Q6 and Q7, these components might be replaced with TTA010. Don't ask why not BC846BS, they are Japs......, local brands first as always. 3, In simulation I placed two 1815s on Q8 and Q9, but if you want to save cost and place, 2SC4944 will be better, by the way, you can also save 1 100Ω resistor due to the common emitter design. 4, The negative rail load R19 perhaps still wafer resistor in real life, which power dissipation will reach 500mW, hope they put a large size here, don't let the T2 tragedy happen again. Extra: I didn't see any improve on original 006T or T1, there are nothing wrong with 6FQ7, the 6SN7 only consume more filament current and......in some old Chinese 12BH7s, they only swap the glass package to 9 pins, inside stuff was 6SN7 or 6N6, so in my opinion , most modern 6SN7=12BH7=6FQ7......so use 6SN7 in 700T is pointless.

How F1’s 2026 Changes Are Redefining Performance Limits

Aerial picture of a balanced amplifier for dynamic headphones. Only light from LEDs and tubes. ISO-25600, F4, 1/13 sek. And in day light. 4 x 2A3, 4 x 12BH7, 8 x switch mode filament supplies, 2 x GRHV and 4 x transformers. DIY is still fun.

Different drivers, different housing, and different pads? Never affected the sound of a Grado before. 🙃

Steak day two.. Yesterday's was a little heavy on the smoke for me. So I set the Chimp again to 225 until internal probe temp of 115f, but at a lower smoke setting. Then used cast iron pan on induction stove top to sear for 2 min {30 sec per side}. Steak flavors much more in balance with just a touch of smoke. Very close to what I wanted. Science!

Those were contractors, saving the large earth moving machines you can see in the background. Those were being used to make walls around the town to try and steer the lava away from it so they might come in handy later. The latest news claim the smaller fissure inside the town has pretty much closed at this point and most of the lava is running to the west so above the houses.

my daughter has the Frank Ocean album blonde on her Christmas wishlist. It's $160, which is nuts.

RIP Zakir Hussain way too young at 73. The tabla legend (and son of a legend) crossed so many musical boundaries and was amazing to see perform. He also seemed like a really nice man at SFJAZZ events. Our own prodigal member @neilvg did some work with him and but I don't know if he'll even get pinged from this reference. In any event, RIP to the legend. https://www.sfchronicle.com/entertainment/article/zakir-hussain-hindustani-scion-extended-reach-19982466.php

If a tree falls down in a forest, and there's nobody there to hear it,: does it still make a noise? Google says Scientifically, the answer would be yes. Just because there is no one in the forest to hear the sound does not mean that the sound did not take place. If once places a tape recorder in the forest, then later plays the recording after a tree fell, then we know that the sound occurred. It seems that postjack got highjacked from this thread... Last seen August 28 2023.😟