Electronics – Tao and Zen

Friday, May 2nd 2025…

I was thinking that I want to increase the soundstage, so I will have to drop a different preamp on the stack so I can add an extra set of speakers. In my own way, that means that I’m going to swap the Carver CT-3 (single pre-outs) for a Pioneer C-77 (2 sets of pre-outs). I’m going to add the Walsh Ohm 2 speakers to the mix. And, I still want the option of adding streamed music to the mix! So i have to run ethernet to a switch and connect the NADs. I also saw that the Sony disk changer supports SACD’s! Bonus.

-Rat

Wednesday, April 30th 2025…audio update…

So, last night, I busted out some sweet new speaker grills and replaced the battered and bruised ones on my HPM-100’s. The new ones are Olive in color, and although they don’t look designer – they look awesome. I think I may get 2 more pairs. I was thinking of sending my old ones in to get reclothed in the standard black fabric and order a new pair of orange, like JBL used on their 100’s back in the day. I moved my Sony disk changer and the Nak over to the stack – which is getting quite high, I might add. I have to wait for some new cables before I can hook everything up. I think I will probably also move the Vault down there. It’s nice to have upstairs, but I think I am going to grab a Node or some other streamer. I’m debating if I am going to stick with BlueSound. I used to have a crapload of mini-disks and now I can’t find them. I’ll have to put some pix up tomorrow.

I got some cables delivered this morning – my wife says, “you got more cables?” I said, “cables to an audio guy are like saws to a carpenter…”

-Rat

Monday, April 28th 2025… never a dull moment…

<<Updates…>> You know, you’d think that after I grabbed my Pioneer HPM 100 Speakers, I’d be listening to them nonstop. You’d be wrong. I haven’t made any time for it << I made time for it, this weekend>>. They have been sitting there for 3 weeks. Which for me is very bizarre. I ordered some speaker stands that would support these behemoths. They were just sitting there on the floor looking at me with their unloaded speaker stands (so, I actually put them on, on Friday afternoon). Tonight, when I get home, I think that I am going to pair a Carver CT-3 preamp together with one of the Carver TFM-25 amps and attach the NAD M-50 stack, the Sony 400 disk DVP-CX995V disk changer, a Nakamichi RX-505 tape deck, and an ADC SS-315 EQ. << So, I set the components up on a small roller cabinet >> This will allow me to test several things – first, does my TFM 25 really have a bad channel or is it the receiver that has a bad preamp out? <<As it turns out – the receiver is starting to go bad, and the amp is still kicking ass!>> What is the best way to hook up the NAD streamer stack to the preamp? <<Didn’t connect the streamer stack because I would need to run ethernet and I was feeling lazy>> Also, what are the best ways to utilize my equalizer, DVD/CD changer and my tape deck? Do I throw a mini-disk recorder into the mix – I love my mini-disks! <<Also, I didn’t connect the Sony or the Nak yet. However, I did connect the mini disk recorder and the EQ>>

I will say a couple of things – the Pioneer speakers sound sweet – especially if you are sitting in the sweet spot. Off axis, I was unimpressed. Unless you are way off axis – like upstairs. They are as clear as a bell. I was listening to Wynton Marsalis Standard Time Vol 1, Vol 2, Journey – Escape, George Michael – Faith, and Deep Forest – Boheme. Nice separation, range, clarity, and punch. The base is not sloppy, the upper midrange frequencies were clear, the highs were ringing without causing fatigue. The equalizer helps with some of the recording deficiencies. Mini disks rock! Ill connect the CD/DVD changer and see what I think tonight.

-Rat

Monday, March 31st 2025… March is going out like a lion…

It’s a high of 48 degrees today (last day of March) with yesterday’s high of 75 degrees. Saturday afternoon, we went and saw a Fleetwood Mac tribute band at the Lyric in Blue Island. It was also a nice venue for the mobility challenged.

One thing this weekend (on a different note), that I didn’t expect was for it to be such a pain in the ass to do my taxes with software that I wanted downloaded – everything now is so cloud centric that I had to hunt for a download solution from H&R Block. I have zero confidence in cloud-based software that also protects my personal financials. I wonder how others feel about this. And no, I’m not allowing comments. It was a rhetorical question.

One other thing that I didn’t anticipate (on a separate, and different note) was that when I bought and hooked up the digital ASU/XLR cables that connect the NAD M51 to the NAD M50, my audio sounds way worse. The musical resolution is crappy, full of static, and heavy on one channel. Hopefully, my receiver isn’t dying on me because the first symptom would have been the one channel on the preamp dying. Which may mean (now that i think about it) that the amp is actually good, and the receiver is garbage.

-Rat

Friday, February 28th 2025…I never would have guessed…

So, I put in my Energy replacement (v.1989) tweeter yesterday and I noticed 2 things. First, the replacement tweeter (v.2020) that was in my other speaker has better sound and fidelity, second was it was louder so it’s more efficient! That’s why it sounds so much better. The downside to replacement tweeters (v.2020) is 2-fold, first is that the original tweeters (v.1989) have different connections, so the stock connectors won’t work, and second the wires are so short coming from the crossover that I have to be careful replacing the connectors, oh and did I mention that also there is no marked polarity on the old tweeter- wtf? Maybe I’ll ride with the new/old tweeter (v.1989) until it craps out, send the pair in for rebuild in the meantime. When it craps out, I will replace it with the new replacement (v.2020).

Oh, and either my left channel on my amp is failing, the cable is failing, or my receiver’s left channel is failing – ugh! It’s not the wiring – at least I know that. It’s always something.

-Rat

Thursday, February 27th 2025…Can’t wait!…

So, when I get home today, I am going to do 2 things – first, replace my Energy 22 Reference tweeter (I just got an extra one used via eBay) and second, pack up my other tweeters and get them ready to ship off to the guy who will recondition them. And while I’m doing that listen to some music. I need to treadmill it and sling some weights around – I have MEPS to get! (flipping MyZone). I am also doing a class centered on electronic circuits – it’s funny how much stuff I forgot. Also, it’s kind of interesting using this software called Tinkercad that can do some of the circuit analysis – it’s all virtual! It kind of floors me – yeah, I know that I should expect things like this, but I remember doing all this stuff by hand – meaning with pencil and paper. My original electronics teacher from COD was an engineer at Bell Labs and was on one of the teams that worked on a part the development of the integrated semiconductor. He was probably in his 70s at that time. He had some interesting tales.

-Rat