New Speakers, The Ledge, True Art, Life, Pretty Birds, and other random events.

Today is usually the day we celebrate that fateful day in September of 1973  when Billy Jean King beat Bobby Riggs in battle-of-sexes tennis match proving just who was the better man, but today I was feeling a bit philosophical.
There are things that bring meaning to life. Things that are unrelated to your survival. Ideas like art and literature and why does that funny cloud look like a duck. You know, the deeper things of life.
Sometimes I fancy myself as an audiophile. Not really a high caliber audiophile but a bottom feeding amateur stereo scrounger who wishes to hear that one perfect note on a set a garage sale speakers.
Today MuddyValley brought me a set of DCM Time Frame 350 Speakers. I abandoned my project of bleeding the brakes on the 1967 Ford Truck and we hauled them into the house and hooked them up.
My test record was one I grabbed randomly off the shelf. A slightly worn Venture's album.
They did sound better than my old Baby Advents but the Advents were never top of the line.
I waited with increasing anticipation for 12 noon when I could escape to the house and really see what these speakers would sound like.
As I remember the DCM Time Frame speaker had a devoted following in the 1980's. It is a tall but shallow speaker which has a small footprint but has a reputation for excellent sound. I remember hearing them in the listening room of small audio store in Salem when I was in college. Of course they were way out of my price range at that time.
Apparently MuddyValley found a pair on craigslist for a really reasonable price and found an occasion to pass them on to a somewhat undeserving recipient.
So it was with considerable excitement that I warmed up the Dynaco PAS2 and searched for an album which would provide a true audiophile experience.
I started with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Symphonion Dream. 
This album has always been a good sounding album and has a lot of the midrange guitar sound which I enjoy hearing reproduced on a good sounding speaker. I was amazed at the stereo imaging and sensation of actually being able to hear what they mean when they refer to a "sound stage."
But today was not really the day for hippie/country/rock even if I was in fact wearing a purple and pink tie-dye t-shirt my daughter had made for me.
Today was more a day for "The Ledge."
The Legendary Stardust Cowboy's 1980's release Rock-it To Stardom features a wide range of his vocal abilities, from the psychotic warbling on "Paralyzed," to his spoken word poetry on "I take a ride on the Space Shuttle," and his interpretation of the Sinatra (I believe) standard, "Fly Me to the Moon."
I was really quite impressed, actually amazed. The Ledge usually has a pretty tight backup band which provides an interesting contrast with the dissonance of his singing and poetry.
I was impressed by the excellent reproduction of the jazz inspired bass tracks on "I took a Trip on the Space Shuttle," which launches right into a twangy  country guitar on "Cast-Iron Apron."
Carl Odam half singing sort of speaking, "When I roast wieners on my old patio my baby tracks me down like radar," had a crispness and quality had not heard before, and it was kind of cool to hear him singing from slightly ahead of and to the right of my stack of 16mm movies that I need to rewind, and hear the guitar to the left of and a little behind the crane I have been building with a vintage erector set.
I was listening to "Who's Knocking on my Door," when the phone rang. It was my Uncle wondering if I was home as a neighboring farmer was actually knocking on my door with information that was sure to put a stop to "Landfill Park."
So I turned down the Ledge and opened the door.
I was going to ask him into the stereo room and ask his opinion of the stereo imaging and tonal quality of my new speakers but I remembered the advice given to my by my daughter when she pointed out that many people do not actually care about things like old tube amplifiers, Marx toy cowboys, old steamshovels, battles of the Crimean war or Studebakers, and no one wants to hear the Legendary Stardust cowboy. (Speaking of which, on this day in 1854 the British and French defeated Russians at Alma, in Crimea and on September 20th 1859 George Simpson patented the electric range)
But, I digress...
About then the Ledge started hollering about Dynamite and the farmer got a funny look in his eye and asked me if he was interrupting my lunch.
I quickly shut off the stereo and was going to blame the noise on reruns of Angry Beavers but thought I would just let that one go.
We had quite the interesting discussion. He likened the political process to having a government official hand you a bar of soap to take a shower and then once you get in turning on the gas. Only not quite.
I was a bit shocked at first but now that I've have a few hours to think about it I think he has pretty good point.
You do realize that the history he is referring to is not the popular idea of extremists suddenly stripping away everyone's personal freedoms. Rather it is the loss of personal freedom and the democratic process by very orderly and law abiding people who trusted those in authority to do what was best for them. But, of course the popular interpretation of history misses what should be the most truly frightening aspect of that whole series of events.
So if you were wondering just what it is I do all day, yes-I eat beans, wear tie-dyed t-shirts, and I sit around listening to the Legendary Stardust Cowboy formulating dissent. Pull my finger?

Back to my regular programming... Things go wrong, old stereo stuff, and so on, and on and on...

I suppose I will have to go back and delete the previous posts as the search engine will bring people who don't really care about old farm equipment and farming.
I am back to my usual activities, grinding feed, old music, dynaco stereo equipment, and sitting on my arse in the easy chair.
I had to make feed the other day and hooked up the Super. The M670 super has a lot more bottom end than the IH 656. Actually it has quite a bit more horsepower all the way around.
I've been rebuilding the PTO on the 656. It comes out in one piece. I had it all back together and then knocked it off the bench busting off top of the control rod. A new control rod costs $100. I did jump back quickly so it did not land on my feet. I suppose new feet would cost more than $100.

Later I rebuilt my baby Advent speakers. I bought a kit on eBay which was well reviewed. It came with new tweeters and woofers and crossovers and not real good instructions. The family helped me install them.

I was so enthused that I decided to take my Dynaco stuff off of the table and install it in the bookshelf. The Dynaco components are not very deep and will fit nicely on a bookshelf.
I soon discovered why those bookshelves were such a good deal... They are crap!

Stormy Friday, as opposed to Stormy Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday...

I'm setting in my old Lazy Boy, (avocado green, salvaged from my uncle) listening to Al Green's "Precious Lord" album on LP. I just picked it up at GoodWill. It is in really good shape.
I have my Dynaco 120A Amp and Dynakit PAS-2 preamp and the vintage Dual 1019 and craigslist special Dynaco A-25 speakers. It could be 1965, except that Precious Lord was released in 1982 and I would not be all that old in 1965 and in 1982 I would not have been caught dead listening to Al Green.
Sometimes i wonder if the reason I am broke all the time is due to the lost productivity which results from me continually "flogging a dead horse."
LP records, tube amps, second rate 1960's technology, and beat up lazyboy recliners have got to be a pretty much a waste of time. Frankly the whole setup just does not sound all that good. Plus, I've got so much crap stuffed in the "den" that my wife won't let me bring anyone in to listen to my vintage tunes anyway. She really does make a good point...
Anyway, a real farmer would be researching soil mycrozial functions and pouring over soil tests. Heck a real farmer would have moved his dead truck off the river bottom before water flowed though the cab. Well it is dead... Sure as heck won't catch on fire this evening...

I would like to attend his church sometime. I wonder if I wrote him a letter he would come to ours... Probably not...

Another Vintage Stereo Post

This whole vintage stereo thing is getting a little out of hand. I actually spent money!
My wife seems a bit bemused by the whole thing. I have not made a big deal about the latest addition as I am a little sensitive about the amount of Crap I drag home. However, I almost never spend more than $25 on anything.
I found a Dynaco ST-120 amp on craigslist. The fellow I bought it from was really interesting. I talked to him for something like two hours and I couldn't really back out of the deal at that point. He was asking $75. The ad has been on for several weeks at $100 and I doubt he got many calls.
The Dynaco ST-120 was Dynaco's first attempt at a solid state amplifier. There were some problems. Plus it was a kit and often there were problems with the amateur soldering jobs.
I got it home an connected it to my amplifier. I hooked it into the headphone socket since my KA3500 does not have a preamp output. I turned the volume control down and switched on the Dynaco. There was a loud pop though the speakers and buzzing noise.
I tried a record and one speaker rattled badly. I switched the amp off and waited a minute for the caps to drain and then turned it back on. I got pretty good sound which then faded in volume and became quite fuzzy. There is no fuse on the output of the amp and I think this is how the powersupply deals with a short circuit. I don't really understand it but I think it increases the voltage but decrease the amperage to keep it from burning anything up.
I disconnected the Dynaco 120 and hooked the speakers back up the KA3500 now I had distortion in my right speaker. I kind of freaked out a bit. I scored a pair of Dynaco A-25's which are kind of ugly but sound incredible. I'm not going to be able to touch another pair for less than $200 which is hard to do on a $35 budget.
Muddy Valley suggested that since it was an intermittent problem I turn the offending speaker face down and run it to see if something had stuck in the voice coil. Wonder of wonders it worked.
I pulled the cage off of the Dynaco 120 and discovered the solder had melted where the power supply capacitor lead was soldered to the circuit board.
Sunday afternoon I resoldered it and low and behold it worked.

I hooked it back up the head phone jack on the Kenwood but I hooked up my Baby Advents as I do not want to kill the Dynaco's and the Advents already have fried crossovers. It worked! Very little noise.
The Dynaco 120 is not considered a very good amp by the audiophiles but I'm not exactly "HiFi" and it fits in with the rest of my Dnyaco set up and plus, it looks cool so who cares!
I am listening to the amp at this very moment. It sounds incredibly clean hooked to my little Sansa MP3 player and playing though some little Jensen bookshelf speakers I stole from my brother. They don't have a lot of bass so I can't really work the amp very hard but it is not getting hot at volumes that don't wake the rest of the family.
I am listening to Merle and Lefty and a little Ian Tyson but have not worked up my nerve to give the Legendary Stardust cowboy a try.
It sounds pretty incredible with strong midrange guitar and vocals. I am listening to the Louvin Brothers, "The Drunkard's Prayer" right now. Excellent details in the high range. I can't hear any noise at moderate volumes. The bass is not real strong but these are little bookshelf speakers, but the tone is pretty good.

I have been otherwise occupied

Sometimes I loose my focus.
I have stuff to post about.
There was the safety training. The safety training and information was really good. The regulations are insane. The real reason we are having an economic depression is trivial over-regulation and utter failure to enforce needed regulation.
So...you can completely pollute the Gulf of Mexico due to company negligence and then you can poison the Gulf by using a toxic chemical and get by with it because it was in your spill mitigation plan?
But, woe to me if spill 50 gallons of diesel. I learn on Curious George that during storms the water will overflow the city sewer system and dump poopie directly into rivers or the ocean, but if have a dairy and your worker leaves the end plug off the irrigation line and you accidently pump a few thousand gallons of poopie into a stream you go to jail. And you certainly can't make the two bit bureaucrat feel justifiably nervous or you will get a visit from a SWAT team, and you can thank you Republicans for that one!
The whole safety seminar put me into a funk.
The real issue is not safety but it is about exerting pressure and collecting "protection" money.
So I have a whole range of topics to write about.
I even got a donation from Anonymous in Reno! (Thank You Very Much!) I'm spending it on a WWII book.
I went to the GarageSale Store and found a whole pile of virtually unplayed records from the 1960's. Two Allman Brothers records, an obscure artist from South Florida who predated the Byrds and whose name I can't remember, The Monkeys, The Ventures, and a really cool test record. For some reason I also bought a Jethro Tull album in perfect shape. It is perfect because it is so horrible and pretentious I couldn't stand to listen to more than five minutes of it and I'm sure no one else could either. Reminded me of all the idiots in college who read Tolken and wrote stupid songs about caterpillars turning into beautiful butterflies and thought they were so profound.
I also found an ammunition box. You can never have too many ammunition boxes. They are quite useful.

Then I obsessed about turntable plinths for a while. Then tube preamplifiers. I looked up Dynaco and Dynakit and attempted to figure out the difference between a PS-2 and a PS-3 preamp and what a Dynaco 120 was and how to repair the blown crossovers on my Baby Advent speakers.
Then I attempted to work on a building that should have been bulldozed in 1974. Then I attempted to clean the shop and got more depressed. Then i got a lecture about how I should sell my 1960's stereo collection to real collectors before I ruined it, and buy something modern and just download mp3's from iTunes like everyone else with half a brain. Which kind of translated well into a metaphor for our whole farming operation. Which led me to think about all the real farmers at the safety seminar which made me even more depressed.
Then this afternoon I decided that if I continued to worry about the difference in density between Baltic Birch Plywood and MDF I would never have a turntable base and so I just built one out of scrap lumber and the original plywood top which already had the cutouts.
I am not a good carpenter. 

Have a nice week.
Sometime this whole blogging thing seems like mental self-abuse. As in personal self gratification. You complain and then someone tells you that you are wonderful. In the end you still go blind...