nikongod

Makes me think of fancy beer-glasses with laser-etched patterns IN the glass (nucleated bottom) to keep the bubbles forming & retain head longer. http://www.ratebeer.com/forums/etching-on-the-bottom-of-a-beer-glass_210550.htm

There is some cool stuff going on in the circuit. I wish more people would post more stuff like it. Whats up with B+ on the bottom and B- on the top. Whoever drew it deserves to have their eyes clamped open clockwork orange style and made to watch someone take their slide rule out of their desk, reset it, and put it back in a different drawer. If they happen to have a copy of A Million Random Digits with 100,000 Normal Deviates (Paperback) they should be forced to find the number: 1164562923 (row11710, column 3&4) and then told that they should have just googled it where they would have found this post. If it were any decent human being, I would also question such harsh punishment, but don't feel any sympathy, they deserve far worse than this. Why 10M90 instead of the BJT CCS in the gain stage? It is in series with that 68Kohm resistor, which is high enough to make the CCS little more than a fine tuning device. Even if you increase the current and change the 68Kohm resistor to compensate the resistor will STILL be big enough to be good enough. STAX probably used the 2SA1156 here to save stocking a better part, but I dont see why not a better BJT CCS then You already have the LED from the next stage. That is kind of the most open ended question in the history of ever. What part of the circuit don't you understand? Type that into google. If you *really* dont understand anything, start with ohms law. Ohms law is good for lots of stuff. Then start reading about how transistors (BJT & FET) work in various simple circuits. You could read about tubes too, if you like to do things the better way. NTTAWWT (not that theres anything wrong with transistors.) Since that (probably) wont cover differential pairs, Constant Current Sources (CCS), or voltage shifters read about them too. People will help you a lot if you can show that you have put forth a reasonable effort on your own.

Happy Birthday David!

They don't convert cleanly. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candela_per_square_metre http://www.unitconversion.org/luminance/nits-to-lumens-per-square-foot-per-steradian-conversion.html Lumens has very little meaning for comparing devices. A 96" TV putting out 1000lumens is not as bright as a 48" TV only putting out 700lumens... By a reallly wide margin.

Left handed keyboard. http://www.fentek-ind.com/modular.htm#kblhusbsb

Does anyone know of a high quality keyboard with the number-pad on the left?

If you sold all of your Grado headphones* you would have no Grado headphones. I'd say that puts you ahead. *Excludes RS-1 (vintage) HP1000 and SR-60 (pink driver) These 3 you should keep.

This is something I have seen in many kinds of expensive hobbies. I get the impression that lots of people could not spend enough money on a (insert desirable thing to spend lots of money on) so they send it off *IMMEDIATELY* after receiving it to get it upgraded or fix a problem they once heard one guy might have had. Cameras, Cars, Audio, Bikes, you name it. It is kind of disgusting with vintage gear. At best it dries up repair parts for people who actually wear their shit out. At worst it just makes your own gear worthless, or your guru disappears with your gear. PS: Totally guilty and hypocritical for what I did to my Melos. Just saying.

I borrowed a GoPro Hero2 the other weekend for some street shooting. It is a very fun little camera if you like fisheye lenses. Supposedly the Hero3+ has infinitely better high ISO performance, which sounds reasonable because the 2 has pretty bad noise - pretty much anywhere but base ISO has obvious noise. Otherwise it is wonderful. ZERO AF lag. stupid-high frame rate (10FPS@11mp, 30FPS@12mp for the 3+) and a big fat fisheye lens. So much fun. Really tempted to get a 3+ Click through for a few more pics.

Whats not to like about tube amps for electrostatic headphones? The only thing I can think of is that tubes need replacing every few-thousand hours? Big deal. A few dollars spent on tubes ever other year. Instead of going to that jazz club you have a nagging feeling is too expensive, don't. Once. Or don't buy 3 new records and its even. Nit-picking Almost any STAX amp you will ever see with tubes in it is a hybrid. Its sort of worth note. Anyways. First rebias the amp. Or Bias the amp, as the case may be. There are instructions on Head-fail. I cant be bothered to find them. If you have already done that try different tubes. I'm also not a tube roller, but tubes do wear out eventually.... New tubes should last like foreverlong. Years of average use.

I SERIOUSLY doubt that it will result in moar DACses. Certainly, every MFR who could afford to buy the apple-chips necessary to get the digital stream off of ipods will have a DAC. So maybe we get 4 or 5 new DACs and another ipod-SPDIF converter... WOW. The really cool thing (for apple) is that after you buy those $350 headphones you are gauranteed to buy another ipod so you dont have to obsolete your headphones when you upgrade to an Android.

Bob Carver vs stereophile. Very broadly, with the exception of very obviously experimental stuff, amp designers do have a rough idea of what their new creations will sound like before they make them. Most of these designers have heard something similar before, and they have used circuit components they intend to change before, and with the smallest element of skill and knowledge they form an educated guess of how things will turn out. That being said, they often like to build amps "their way." Ignoring what amounts to "stupid engineering tricks" why would they want to build an amp like someone else? There is nobody better at being me than me. Nobody better at being George than George. Nobody better at being Steve than Steve... You get the point. Could Steve build an amp in his own style that sounded like one of George's amps? Of course! But why would he? Steve has "found his sound" so why play with someone else's shit? Can you define what "warmth" is? Yea, you can design that into an amp. Soundstage and detail are better dealt with by getting headphones that are not abject crap, but you have some control over them in amp design. We were hoping for a better question.

Do you have a spare power supply to swap into the computer?

While not directly related to tesla or the vaporware road-tiles, at all, my local school district has covered pretty much all of their parking lots with awnings made of solar panels. It looks quite nice, no doubt shades the cars a bit in the summer, and obviously eats some sunlight.

I miss my MDR-F1 sometimes.

I camp really light from years of backpacking. I don't think I will need to carry much food (I will always be able to stop in a grocery store so worst case is a few meals) so I'm pretty much just looking at camping gear. I have a rear rack for 1 standard bike pannier right in the middle, and a front rack for what is basically a gigantic handle-bar bag. The combined weight ratings on the racks is a bit less than 50lbs, which is WAY more than I would backpack anyways, so I guess about 70lbs would be a good guess for bike & gear.

When I got the Brompton it had the $40 Lumotec Lyt Basic ("only" rated at 15lux, and about the cheapest dynamo lamp from any reputable MFR) which was brighter than just about any battery light I have ever seen. My only complaint is that the beam was kind of narrow which was a bit of a problem riding along some walking paths - its nice to be able to see the edges. Since then, I have upgraded to the Edilux 1, and like it a lot. It is more than wide enough to see both edges of a very wide path, and it does shine a decent bit further too. I have mixed feelings about the "senso" feature*, and just leave the lamp on 24/7, but that's kind of a standard thing on nicer lights. For city use, or on roads, I don't think you can really go wrong. I am mostly concerned with "beam pattern" and less concerned with total output. If you will be locking the bike up outside, I would think about how it looks to a thief Maybe just making it look like its held together with duck-tape will be adequate. Although it has not been a problem yet, I wish it had a built in USB charger for some camping trips I want to go on. The majority of my trips are short enough that I don't need to charge anything so it has not been a problem yet. OTOH, this is a nice point for the Luxos-U. The Luxos-U also has a nicer day-time-running-lamp system, which runs the lamp at reduced power. The Edilux is either full-blast or nothing I would not get the E3-triple for road. The circular beam tends to blind oncoming drivers. The other Supernova lights are nice. Supernova works with their own tail light, where other headlamps seem a bit more flexible. I STILL have the cheap stock Brompton rear lamp, and will keep it as long as possible. People riding behind me say that it is incredibly bright. * the sensor is too quick! It turns the light on when you drive through an intersection. It would be PERFECT if there was a 30 second delay...

I really like the stripey light.

It seems you have found our little corner of the internet. and not the welcome PM. Allow me to summarize: First you do the second thing 3 times with the hose. Then you begin the third thing second but not before you chicken milkshake the straphead with the case of peanuts! Never before the case of peanuts! With the coffee pot you waterproof down mailing tube. Kingsize sharpie the dry erase board before you insulated cup the folding sunglasses. When you drink the ice rock never starship pencil. No, seriously, don't. Finally take the metal puzzle and cheese it cracker the forearm trainer while you calculator trombone the insulated bottle. Hope that was helpful.

Happy Birthday Ben!

I am intrigued by the unicomp keyboards. https://www.pckeyboard.com/ But really like compact layouts without the numberpad. grumbles.

This may be my exit strategy for my D200. Not that I need another camera...