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It's a small and crazy world! Many of you know that I've semi-retired as a Carpenter, and am working at a Lumber Yard/Hardware store here in Fairfax, CA. I help a lot of Contractors locally, and being a small town, many have heard of my work, because of Jack Irving, who I worked with on Al's house years back. Some that I'm close to have seen pics of many of my past projects. Today I got a call from an older, local Contractor/Musician (there are many in the area). He was at Linda Ronstadt's house in San Francisco yesterday. He's been her Contractor and her friend for decades. She was telling him about some bookshelves that she saw at a bookstore in the Sunset district. She wanted to know if he could build some like them? So they went to look them over. Upon arriving, the store owner recognized Linda and struck up a conversation. Linda explained how she loved the custom shelving. The owner told her about the man that built them, but that he wasn't working with the same Contractor anymore. She showed Linda more of his work at the bookstore, and then invited them to her house a few blocks away for lunch, and to see all of the custom work he'd done there. During lunch she informed her that she still had his phone number and said she'd call to see if it was OK to give it out. In doing so she mentioned his full name. Her Contractor and friend Andy Giddings said "wait, I know him, he works at the lumber counter of my local lumber yard". Today Andy Giddings got my number from my employers after explaining the story, and he called me to tell me that Linda Rondstadt would love to have me build her some bookshelves, and maybe more. He told me that I was going to love her, and she me. We talked about possibly working together on that project. He was also impressed with my work. It's a funny world. I'm not actively seeking weekend projects, but who's going to turn down Linda Ronstadt?

The funny thing is, I don't really find those bookshelves to be anything special. But people like what they like. But the bookstore owner is one of my favorite past clients. She and I collaborated on many of the things I built at her stunning $8,000,000 home. It's literally across the street from the ocean on the Great Highway. The bookstore she owns is a coffee shop as well, where I was awarded free coffee for life.🙂 It was my first big project after the pandemic, and she told my boss that on that project I would be her employee, so that we didn't have to run our ideas through the company. She paid me more than I made with the company, and we only grew closer in that time period.

It’s still rocking. I just released the hookers and blow into the 6th floor.

Well, nothing has happened yet except a phone call from another Contractor. But I'm excited just to meet her. I watched her documentary a little while back and was even more intrigued with her life than previously. I'd be extremely honored to build anything for her, but there are some time hurdles to jump over before anything is going to happen. Still, I can't imagine not jumping a few hurdles to make this happen.

As for me... played with my kids all day (my back is broken from sitting on the floor). Rachel is helping her Parents move all weekend, so I'm solo. Just ate dinner and am cleaning up. May stream later, but may be too tired. Not a bad day, but no fucking 'contacted by Linda Rondsadt's people' kind of day, haha.

A few worthy photos from CAF this weekend…

Thanks all. Hope all is well with everyone! Trying to start a program related to my headphone correction research back in the day actually.

This is just plain beautiful! All pales in comparison 💕

Happy shared birthday Chris. Happy smoked salmon to me. opened a half bottle that has been kicking around for a couple decades. 1968 BV Burgundy cheers

The New AirPods Pro 3 are night-and-day better than the previous generation in sound, fit and seal (for me). Absolute no brainer upgrade.

She sure is, Key-Lime Pie Girl and I have been together since then. Good memory! Rachel remembers you as well and was part of the push for me reaching out to Renato et al. and coming back here. Takes good care of me. We actually got married recently as she wanted her Dad to walk her down the aisle (he has Parkinsons).

Went to hear Wynton tonite .. spotted Paul Simon in the crowd

Great shots. Back from another PhotoFair, just throw shit on the table edition. Also their 50th anniversary. I was good and only bought two $5 “tabletop” old tripods (the only type I seem to use anymore). That justifies buying the ridiculous new lens I really want, right?

Remember when I mentioned 19th century railroad bridges a few months ago? A part of my re-visiting of photos I took in 2010, I ran a few shots I took of the Chester Arches and water below through modern software. Luminar 4 is a fine tool if one wrangles it properly. I'm still not much enamored by Luminar Neo. Watch out for that train! Tune in next time for a walk around town with a not very good Tamron superzoom "vacation" lens.

I don't know anything about D&D or One Piece, but I can tell you're a good dad!

Maybe….

Non Fiction - Piano Concerto in Four Movements by Hania Rani (2025) https://open.qobuz.com/album/xnmzga8qy8r2a Not an Example - but a mini doc: Released Yesterday. A pretty serious work. It will be interesting to see how this settles for my in the future.

Haha, It's been a trip Steve! You really need to figure out your own shit when you have little ones to look after. They both look much more like Mom, but they each have half of my brain. I've come to realize that I'm basically a shaman and a hunter trapped in the same body. Jack/Jackson (my 9yo, soon to be 10) is the shaman. He's super deep and sensitive, always reading or drawing, has spoken like an adult since he was 5 and has most of them wrapped around his finger. Most of the girls in his class and probably a few of the boys have crushes on him and he has absolutely no idea, lol. We're currently reading together while I have my morning coffee. Westley/West (my 4yo) is most definately the hunter. He's like a force of nature, full of personality, turn your back for a second and he's gone, always climbing the highest thing he can find but rarely gets hurt. Lies compulsively, but is *terrible* at it. Lately has been bringing home school library books without taking them out properly and tells us that his friends are giving them to him. They certainly keep us on our toes.

I wished Dinny happy birthday by text. I mentioned that Philodox has reappeared, and suggested that he do the same. He claimed he would take me up on the suggestion and in the meantime he asked me for say hi to the HC crew. So hello mothersfucker!

Chris Rea - Dancing with Strangers

vinyl

Happy AI Birthday, AI Chris, and AI Mikey. AI.

Two episodes are out for Vince Gilligan‘s Pluribus (Apple TV) and they set up a likely very fun season.

Does that lift the veil? 🙃

My reward for getting up and getting my laundry done early. A scramble of orange bell pepper, shallot, tomato, avocado and eggs. Bacon, biscuits and fried potatoes with shallots. Iced coffee with Irish Cream Liqueur.

Learning about the Melungeons.

Happy autumn everybody...

Working through my FLAC catalog and doing a little hunt and peck for some of my favourites. (currently in A ) Anoushka Shankar & Karsh Kale - Breathing Under Water Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra - Who is this America? Archive - Londinium Asian Dub Foundation - Community Music

God we are all getting old. Jarvis is starting to make me think of Kipling's "a rag and a bone and a hank of hair."

No, that's not what I mean. Your little orange haired gnome can stuff it.

Inkjet printing? How very 2005! I print everything on a 3D printer now. Gay porn on a 3D printer is especially mind altering.

Years and years of hoarding!!!

£220 ‘for a cut-up sock' - Apple's new iPhone Pocket ridiculed online https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn97ndgpnq7o

I know they are canceled, but every now and again I still like to revisit the sheer lunacy of Die Antwoord. This was the anti- ritual circumcision PSA.

Recently I had been toying with the idea of streaming and making videos, but had been dragging my feet on actually starting... Then around a week ago I was watching elybeatmaker, a streamer I enjoy, and he decided to raid me when he finished. Ended up being an absolute blast and I think I was actually decent at it. Figured this might be a good way to reconnect with some of the friends I've left behind along the way and rekindle/reapply some of my previous 'obsessions'. Not to say that I don't listen to music anymore, but I'm not as picky as I once was and tend to spin vinyl with the kids on some modest speakers while the ThunderCougerFalconBi... *ahem* McAlister Audio Massive Attack sadly collects dust for the most part. Hoping to change that soon though. Anyway, the shameless plug: [philodox42 on Twitch] I've only had three streams so far, and one was largely a technical test. I'd recommend watching the first bit of the long one as that's when the raid hit and you can see me scramble. I'm actually pretty close to Affiliate after that raid, so a follow would really help and it would be a great way to catch up with some old friends. I can also post here the next time I stream in case anyone wants to chat. Doesn't have to have anything to do with Minecraft... and if anyone here does play Minecraft, lmk and I can send you an invite to my server. PS. If the links aren't allowed, please strip them from the post.

At least it's not ipodBJ

I can't play the embedded version, nor know what this is, but in case others can play on YT... youtu.be/9gJq_BMVY7I?si=her4S2d9uLJj9v2e youtube.com/watch?v=ABZT8IoL2dg

Just ordered that Mustache toner from 123ink, so I'll let you know how it is.

Last I remember you had recently separated from your wife, and had just met 'Keylime Pie'. Is Keylime Pie Mommy, or has another dessert stolen your heart?

I really tried to understand Steve, no success. But I laughed hard.

Digesting the Johann Johannsson Retrospective II set... ... so tonight...

Forgot to mention, my oldest son is turning 10 this month and we are throwing him a One Piece themed B-Day party... I'm going to run a One Piece themed game for him and 4-5 of his friends. SUPER NERVOUS! Ten year olds are harsh critics, lol. Also a little rusty, but I used to be quite good, so we'll see what I can come up with. EDIT: HA! You can double post here, excellent. Suck it Head-Fi!

The drivers are genuine, there is just no way to reuse the stock rings so I had to have my own made. The 009 diaphragm rings make zero sense too as there is no way to solder to them so PCB's here make a lot more sense. Plus more insulation as the stock setup is not ideal. The stators and the case will be stock and I went for slightly thicker rings for the dust covers to add more compression to the drivers. I'm also going to replace all the o-rings with better units. One thing I want to do as well is plug that hole in the center of the stators. I don't understand the reasoning behind it and it might be one of the reason why the 009's sound so bad.

Happy birthday. Until today, I believe Andre the Giant holds several records on drinking, but I know you two can do it!

And from the comments ...

Famous Blue Raincoat. Songs of Leonard Cohen by Jennifer Warnes (1986) https://open.qobuz.com/album/0826663104905 Example: Very well recorded Jennifer.

While being stuck home, recovering for the past two weeks, I finally got round to doing some more DIY electrostatic headphones. I wanted to try out some different materials, 2um mylar and Comfort fabric softener to do the resistive coating. I must say both worked well and if the Comfort stuff holds up long term, it is a damn good coating that costs pretty much nothing. First off my long standing test drivers in a Superlux HD330 housing... as I had some donor headphones in stock. I made a few of these but this set has the Stax wide PC-OCC cable and Dekoni Fostex hybrid pads. I've made so many of these drivers over the years that they are a good benchmark and they perform flawlessly. Charge up instantly, no charge migration or issue with humidity that I can detect. The drivers are also modular so easy to assemble and test: I didn't even spring for ENIG on these but yeah, super simple design that just slots into the Supelux housing. They are just a bit on the small side for my head and the partially closed housing has issues but it's a fun set to play with. Next up is a set of SR-5's that had severe imbalance. Time for a new set of diaphragms with the thicker spacers I made 10 years ago or. I simply replace the stock diaphragm and this converts them to Pro bias too. Throw on there an old Lambda cable which had a break at the cable entry and it's a great little set of headphones. I love the SR-X Mk3 drivers and they are fun to play with. It is a bit challenging to fit the thicker spacers into the normal bias housings as it can warp the drivers but not a big deal really. Then I put on some leather earpads from my stash and yeah, a great SR-5 Pro... something Stax really should have sold back in the day. While I was making the diapgragms for those SR-5's, I made a couple of more for a spare set of drivers which resulted in this: I'm always on the lookout for cheap open back headphones which can be "easily" turned into electrostatics. This is a Fiio JT1 which was less than 60$ shipped but is not ideal for the conversion as the baffle is not flat due to how the earpads are mounted. Still nothing a circular saw can't fix: I covered the stock holes with tape to seal the baffle and keep the glue out when I fitted the driver: The PU two part adhesive covers all the baffle vents and I put some tape on the earpad attachment points to just keep the glue out of them. Worked just fine and the seal is great No damping at the back and they are open enough. I fitted strain reliefs at the cable entry and plugs to seal off the top vents in the housing as well. This one has the stock earpads and the cable is the standard silicone 6 core stuff floating around with an aluminum cable splitter for the Y split and a prototype plug I was sent a while back. Pretty nice sounding set of headphones that don't cost a lot to make. Granted you need a SR-X Mk3 to donate the drivers and some custom spacers to make it work but I'd want to make something like this with custom drivers. It would be a great DIY project to release, buy this set of headphones, rip out its guts and make your own drivers from these PCB's. The cable is easy to source, so are the cable entry glands and a Stax plug can be 3D printed with basic XLR housings. Finally, a bit of a closure for me with what is probably the final version of the HD580/600/650 electrostatic conversion above. I was always battling baffle leaks on those as it is impossible to shave the stock baffle completely flat. I might try to laser cut a neoprene gasket or something like that but on this one I simply designed a new protection grill and glued that to the baffle. Not ideal but it works nicely. Then new stators and new spacers for the diaphragms and dust covers. The cable is the King Sound KS-H4 unit so it is removable. I just shaved down the socket a bit and glued it into the stock holes. The protection grill which is glued to the baffle. Earpads are the hybrid units Drop used to sell and then sheepskin headpad. New stators with full ENIG plating and purple solder mask because reasons. :) These do sound great if I dare say so myself, very much on par with the HE60 but with a fuller sound. Same spacing at 0.5mm so sensitivity is very close too to stock Senn units. Funny for me as the HD600 was my first ever high end set of headphones, so when I found this set with broken drivers it was an ideal candidate for conversion. Full circle and all that shit...

ssdynalo mini with 2sa1349 and 2sc3381 as input devices – on the small boards marked with red arrows.