n_maher

Thanks for all the kind words folks, it was a lot of fun getting back to the lathe after a long absence. Of course the coolest development to come out of all of this was a greatly refined process of how to make the cups. Most of this refinement was a result of buying a Nova chuck and soft jaws which eliminates the need to dill the cups on my press. The drill press was always the weak link in the process and the most frustrating. In fact, between Ian and myself we've got more than just a couple of sets of cups that we'd previous abandoned because we didn't feel like drilling them or the walls were too thin to drill. Given some time I hope to have a go at a few of those and see if they're salvageable and we'll see what happens to them after that. Larry's not going to be pleased... I've got a small collection of the plastic cups in a drawer. The only metal-cupped ones I've modded have been my own and I've sold the cups afterwards to recoup costs.

30 min. each way, 45 if I'm on the bike and take back roads.

Dan's got the right idea with not mowing all of it. Even I abandoned a part of my 2.5 acres of green shit in order to keep me sane.

Bah, he doesn't need a stinking plastic JD.

It's going to be a challenge to get the little Neutriks to work, I'd guess the wires are all 24ga. I'll try to grab the calipers later tonight and post what the o.d. of the cable is but it's fat.

Todd had 2 pairs of HD800s, I balanced one but the other one stayed single-ended for the duration of the meet.

FYI the new cables are so much larger in diameter because they now have 8 wires inside them. No clue why, but they use 4 blue for ground (2 to each cup) and 2-white/2-red for the signal wires. Pretty bizzare since I've generally been told all this does is increase the capacitance of the cable although I suppose in theory it lowers the resistance.

I wonder if this isn't just the various mechanical parts loosening up a bit? Not saying it isn't annoying but it may just be par for the course. I'd give it a couple of days before really worrying about it.

It's not a rights violation if they ask you if they can search the car. If they do it without permission that would be a different story (and even then I believe they can act on probable cause, me no lawyer). You would have been well within your rights to turn down their search request.

Nice! But no need for the smiley, were you ever under the impression that I was missing them?

$1000+ custom IEM = 100% no go for my wallet. IEMs by nature are just too fragile (in my book) to put that kind of investment in. Certainly part of that is due to how I use them (mowing the grass, snow blowing the driveway) so my sensitivity to that risk is probably above average.

The only info I have is from their website which lists the Compass at $330 + shipping which can't be cheap for something that big from way across the pond. [url=http://www.audio-gd.com/enweb/Pricelist.htm]

Not particularly touchy but it did strike me as a bit odd that I should be expected to go online and read a FAQ to figure out one of the primary functions of a product. I will say that the unit in general appeared to be well built and if it was working would probably represent good value for the $$. Not that ~$400 is "cheap as chips" but for an integrated desktop amp/dac it certainly looks the part.

My semi-educated guess is that one could easily spend the better part of a grand or more building a Buffalo 32. The base module kit is $569, then you'll need a chassis ($100 easy), ins, outs, potentially source selection of some kind, trafos, wiring, etc, etc.

I did not see a FAQ in the box, excuse me if I expect a product to come with something approaching a manual. I didn't realize that was too much to ask.

I have another option for you should you find the Pimeta inadequate. Of course this raises the question as to where the balanced mini3 went to? I can't keep track of you lawyers and your gear whoring ways.

What are you worried about?

Agreed.

No, it was a Compass. USB input wouldn't work, switch on the front panel had four stops instead of the 3 it should have (mystery input?) and Gene's quote after listening for a bit with the HF-2 was, "Wow, that sounded like shit." I wouldn't hold him to that initial impression but functionally it was not at all impressive. No instructions and not particularly intuitive - what the hell does the "S" button do?

This is nonsense, you were my lawyer first.

Gene and I were not impressed with whatever his raffle prize was.

WTF ever made you Google that, for images!?!?! Wait... I don't want to know.

I believe the clamps are there to keep the table cloth in place so that it cannot be ripped off by the weight of the flesh-tone cable monsters. Nate hopes he cannot be sued for using the term "monster" in connection with something clearly audio related.

It's not my grammatical fail. And I'm sure David would correct the other stuff if someone pointed it out to him, I didn't say anything about Neko or Manley.

Yup, but I don't have it here at work.