On the Ball

lonewolfny42 · « **on:** 7 Dec 2003, 09:26 am »

Hey DAM, Been SOOO quite over here ! Snowed'in , sleeping ,ski ' in , listening , slow at typing (like me

) ? What's going on ? Even Pez has not been heard from lately !

Fill us in , or is just the winter blues ?

mgalusha · « **Reply #1 on:** 7 Dec 2003, 04:54 pm »

Hmm... The weather has actually been pretty good considering the time of year. I took advantage of the long Thanksgiving weekend and put in some HexFred bridges in my Odyssey Extreme's. Another case of too much time on my hands.

The results were quite good IMO.

I know Wayne is busy working up some mods for the Panasonic receiver and I hope to hear that in the near future.

Mike G.

Pez · « **Reply #2 on:** 8 Dec 2003, 09:46 pm »

I've been busy with a new job. Also watching my girlfriends niece and nephew a lot. Man I tell you kids are fun, but I don't want any of my own anytime soon.

On top of all of this after moving back in with my folks my system setup has been less than optimal

Tyson · « **Reply #3 on:** 8 Dec 2003, 10:28 pm »

Been checking out the new "R" upgrade to my AVA gear. Also been doing a serious amount of headphone listening, from amps, to sources, to lots of headphones. Unfortunately not many people on the board here were very interested in my findings. But I am now the happy owner of 4 sets of headphones, and 4 sets of amps

mgalusha · « **Reply #4 on:** 8 Dec 2003, 10:53 pm »

Looks like I spoke too soon, the snow is coming down pretty good right now. Won't be nearly as bad as the east coast but rush hour will suck.

Finally got SuSE Linux running on my main workstation. Using Mozilla Firebird to hit the site and it seems to be working well.

Tyson, I've been collecting the parts for a PPA. It should be pretty nice once it comes together. I'm going to drop the GoldPoint stepped attenuator in and may drop the $$ on some Riken Ohm resistors. Maybe some BG caps but that causes much wallet pain.

Mike

Tyson · « **Reply #5 on:** 8 Dec 2003, 11:26 pm »

Why did you go w/SuSE? I had it a while back, and I gotta say that the new RH 9 is a big improvement over the SuSE I had. I haven't kept up w/the SuSE releases, so not sure if they have improved as much in the last 12 months as the RH releases have (RH 7.x and prior kinda sucked, IMO).

Anyway, at some point I want to get a "real" power supply for my PPA, are you going to build one for yourself? Or are you sticking with the wall wart?

I also got the headphone output from my AVA T7 fixed, it's a pretty good headphone amp, I'll have to let you hear it when you come over sometime. I guess technically that means I have 5 different headphone amps now

PeteG · « **Reply #6 on:** 9 Dec 2003, 03:47 am »

Quote from: Tyson

I also got the headphone output from my AVA T7 fixed, it's a pretty good headphone amp

I've been using a pair of HD600 with the T7 headphone amp and been very happy so far.

Quote from: mgalusha

Looks like I spoke too soon, the snow is coming down pretty good right now. Won't be nearly as bad as the east coast but rush hour will suck.

I put on a set of yokohama snow tires on my STi today so you know
what I was doing

mgalusha · « **Reply #7 on:** 9 Dec 2003, 03:58 am »

Tyson,

I picked up SuSE 8.1 about a year ago as I didn't care for the RedHat distros that I had tried, the new ones are probably much better. It has been running on a box in my shop since then and has been totally stable. I wanted to have some kind of Linux on my desktop machine but couldn't afford to completely nuke Windows. Still need too many of the programs.

Over the summer I bought an external wide SCSI disk at a garage sale for $2.00 and decided to plug this in. Worked out nicely, LILO lives on the boot partition of the IDE drive and Linux is installed on the SCSI disk. No problems with dual boot and so far it's running great. One of my co-workers is encouraging me to try Gentoo Linux but I think I'd want a dedicated machine for that.

As for a real power supply for the PPA, I am investigating the updated version of the Jung super regulator designed by Andy Weekes in the UK. Link here. This is a highly refined design and I have read good things about it. I need to shoot him an email and find out availability and cost as he doesn't list it on the web site. The PPA is supposed to have excellent ripple and noise rejection, so I don't know how much improvement this would offer over the Elpac wall wart but it's worth investigating.

How does the headphone jack on the T7 do in comparison of the Xin or the XCAN? A guy on Head-Fi posted about using an older Marantz integrated as a headphone amp. I have an old Marantz 1060 so I figured what the hell, why not give it a try. It's better than the headphone jack in my Denon pre/pro but the META 42 and the XCANS are both better. BTW, how does the XCAN sound with some break in time on the new parts?

Mike

mgalusha · « **Reply #8 on:** 9 Dec 2003, 04:13 am »

Quote from: PeteG

I put on a set of yokohama snow tires on my STi today so you know what I was doing

Oh yea, that would be fun. I miss the WRX and I'm sure the STi is even more fun. Of course I don't miss the fuel problems that it had but what a ball to drive.

Mike

PeteG · « **Reply #9 on:** 10 Dec 2003, 03:40 am »

Mike
Sorry to hear about the fuel problem, do you know what it was.

dwk · « **Reply #10 on:** 10 Dec 2003, 04:55 pm »

Uhhhh, just checking, but do you have to be a Subaru/Linux guy to join AC if you're in Denver??
Silver WRX 'wagon' here, and I'm generally moving to gentoo from RH. Don't even think about gentoo unless you have broadband, though.

BradJudy · « **Reply #11 on:** 10 Dec 2003, 07:16 pm »

Interesting, I have a Subaru as well (Outback Sport). I guess it's just because they are so popular in Colorado. No Linux here though - I'm a Windows person.

Tyson · « **Reply #12 on:** 10 Dec 2003, 08:12 pm »

I've got an Acura, but I do have Linux and Windows, guess I'm a walking contradiction

mgalusha · « **Reply #13 on:** 10 Dec 2003, 08:38 pm »

Quote from: PeteG

Mike
Sorry to hear about the fuel problem, do you know what it was.

Pete,

Every time it would get below about 15*F it would leak raw fuel under the manifold. It was so bad the car was practically undriveable. Not because it wouldn't run, but because the driver was nearly overcome.

Apparently a problem on a number of the '02 WRX's. Three trips to the dealer and it still wasn't fixed. Even worse is I told them what was wrong and what was needed and they still didn't do it.

Traded it in on a PT Cruiser Turbo. Not as much fun as the Subie but a bit more practical. It does have a lot more bottom end torque tho.

Mike G.

mgalusha · « **Reply #14 on:** 10 Dec 2003, 08:41 pm »

Actually I'm mostly a Windows guy but I have two Linux boxes as well. Fortunately I do have broadband, so the gentoo is a possibility. Not sure if I want another PC running and I'm not going to mess with the existing systems. They just run and I like it that way.

Mike

Marbles · « **Reply #15 on:** 10 Dec 2003, 09:00 pm »

Mike,

I never noticed you were from Centennial. I had a very brief and ugly time in your town!

In 1981 I was visiting my sister and Brother in law (BIL) who lived in Denver.

We decided to drive to Steamboat Springs for a day of skiing but got whited out in Winter Park. We pulled into a Mexican restaurant/Bar and the 3 of us proceeded to spend $200 on Marguirita's (charged it to my dads Amex Card

)

Anyway on the way back to Denver my BIL decides to stop at a bar in Centennial. My sister and I decided to sleep...OK pass out in the car.
Tap Tap Tap...the cops knocks on the car window and tells us we can't park in this no parking zone.

Anyway we move the car and I go into the bar to fetch my BIL. I walk up to the bar and the first thing I do is ralph into a big Coors ashtray. The waitress does not blink, she just took it away and set another one in front of me which I proceeded to fill up

Then I proceed to go over to my BIL who's shooting pool. I'm like come on man it's time to go, but he is 6'5" and still partying on. I talked him into shooting a game of pool, if he wins we stay and drink some more, if I win we go.

I think he won the first game..I had to shut one eye to shoot, then I won the second game.

Anyway, on the way back into Denver, I-70 split with some other highway, two lanes went left, two stayed straight, and my BIL went right into and onto the guardrail. We stopped broadside on the highway with a semi stopping about 6" from my side of the car. My dumbass BIL decides to then go the wrong way (against traffic) about a 1/4 mile to where there was an exit. We parked the car (which had a bent frame and was leaking gas) on the exit ramp. He then proceeded to take the plates off and take the registration etc.. Then we hitched a ride (within seconds) the 3 miles to his house..oh yea, we would have missed our exit except the wreck.

Anyway shooting pool and ralphing is what I remember about Centennial!

MaxCast · « **Reply #16 on:** 10 Dec 2003, 10:22 pm »

PeteG · « **Reply #17 on:** 11 Dec 2003, 01:04 am »

Quote from: mgalusha

it would leak raw fuel under the manifold

Man thats CRAZY, it seems being so dangerous the dealership would be
all over that. I never new the cruiser had a turbo, I'm sure thats a option.

Quote from: Marbles

my BIL went right into and onto the guardrail. We stopped broadside on the highway

Hey, was he on I25 & 120th today

Marbles · « **Reply #18 on:** 11 Dec 2003, 01:08 am »

Maybe, but he now is a very respected member of St. Louis's greats and near greats.....go figure

lonewolfny42 · « **Reply #19 on:** 11 Dec 2003, 05:37 am »

Hello, After reading all your posts, I see you guy's have been busy! Well, Season's Greetings to All , and Have a Happy New Year !!

(By the way, I'm a Windows guy too ! But mine are a little different!

)