Geek with Family

Don’t feel like paying $350 for the Apple iPod Hi-Fi Powered speaker system? Make one yourself (and save $50).

Found this on Hack a Day:

This DIYer made a beautiful real oak tube mono amp and iPod dock atop a single matching speaker:

After pricing everything out, I decided to build a single mono channel to see how it sounded. $100 for the amp, $100 for the speaker parts, $100 for wood (real oak, just couldn’t use that compressed saw dust stuff). I ordered the parts and went to work. After about two weeks of working in the evenings this is what I came up with.

Though not as shiny as the Fatman iTube, this is still a cool looking project (I bet it sounds nice too) that gives the iPod some old-school hi-fi style.

Popularity: 9% [?]

I just finished an Headphone Amp lens on Squidoo. It focuses on DIY headphone amp tutorials and forums and collects some of my archived posts on portable audio. I’m really enjoying making lenses on Squidoo, you should join too and boost the lens population on audiophile subjects (seems like I’m the only one so far).

My other lenses: DIY Acoustics, PSP/Airtunes and an Audiophle Group.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Since all of my hi-fi, home theater and video game magazine subscriptions have run out, mail-order catalogs are my only reading material. Out of the pounds of catalog paper we get every day (you try using credit cards, e-commerce, buying a house, and having babies and see how many mailing lists you get on), Uncommon Goods caught my eye. Their cover features 45 RPM record label key chains.

Inside they sell this great lamp:

Tube Lamp: With its Bakelite black box, toggle switch, mirror top, dimmer knob (a factory replacement for a Fender Telecaster guitar) and bulbs that evoke the vacuum tubes of high-end amplifiers, this lamp was designed as a tribute to high-end audio amplifiers. Illuminate your home with the minimalist design and retro style of this creation from scientist-turned-artist Nik Willmore. Made in New York City. Uses nine standard 25W bulbs, included. $195

Too expensive for me but cool and a great idea for a DIY/Ikea scavenging project.

Note: We had a new addition (baby boy) to the family last Wednesday, so posting may be more sporadic than normal.

Popularity: 5% [?]

My DIY acoustic panels and bass traps are a burden. They are too ugly (according to my wife, I think they're works of art) to keep in our listening room when not in use. So every time I want to begin or finish a listening session I am forced to drag the panels and traps between the utility room and the listening room. It's my cross to bear.

What if I could have the same effectiveness of the bass traps (wave absorption below 200 Hz) but in a much smaller and inconspicuous package?

Continue reading Nucore Cathedral Sound Room Dampening Panels Too Good to be True?

Popularity: 11% [?]

Any audio expert will tell you that the best way to train your ears and brain to recognize fine audio components is to attend live music events. More specifically, live events with no amplification. You could go to the orchestra or a jazz club or a piano bar, whatever. Just get your ear in front of percussion, brass, strings and woods to develop a sense memory of these live events. For me this hasn't been very easy, I don't have the time or resources (or taste) to seek out these events.

Instead I stumble across live music that is unnecessarily amplified. If anything, these music sessions are ruining my ears instead of improving. Some examples:

Continue reading Who Else Wants an Audiophile Trained Ear?

Popularity: 16% [?]

I am a streaming, losslessly compressed, digital audio playback evangelist. I believe you can improve upon the data that's trapped on your CD collection by ripping it to a hard drive and then playing it back through an affordable remote network device, like the Apple Airport Express or the Slim Devices Squeezebox 3. My advocacy for this method of musical enjoyment is tame and assertive when compared to Slim Devices' forum.

Continue reading Slim Devices Threatens High End Audio Establishment

Popularity: 9% [?]

You may have guessed by now that I own very few jazz or classical music albums. Anime soundtracks featuring Yoko Kano compositions dominate my catalog, but I’m always wary of the CD’s fidelity (it’s hard to tell if your buying a Taiwanese bootleg or the Japanese original). The original Broadway recording of West Side Story is the one non-anime album I have (recommended by some audio magazine a few years ago as a great recording, so I can trust it to reveal system change benefits).

With my six acoustic panels in place I sat in my sweet spot Saturday morning to listen to the Broadway soundtrack. I was curious if the panels would clarify the soundstage of complicated recordings like an orchestra and a musical theater cast.

Continue reading DIY Acoustic Panels Reveal Depth and Clarity in Orchestral Recordings

Popularity: 14% [?]

Is it a bad sign that I’m worried about copyright violations when watching this DVD that promises to explain analog audio and issues around its transformation into digital? The Family Guy’s evil pointing closet monkey and R. Crumb’s “Keep on Trucking” dude show up in a few slides of this poorly produced Powerpoint presentation. Yes, Audio: the Movie is a Powerpoint presentation. It makes every Powerpoint mistake in the book: literally illustrating whatever the narrator is talking about with Microsoft’s included stock art and photos (many don’t even make sense like a picture of a sleeping baby whenever the disc warns of math), blue and purple gradients on text slides with dithered, drop shadowed triangles and circles framing bullet point after bullet point, all full motion screen grabs of the company’s audio editing application, DC Six, are pixelated and unreadable. Worst of all, the narrator’s voice track isn’t well recorded.

Continue reading Audio: The Movie DVD Review

Popularity: 11% [?]

My Vandersteen 1c loudspeakers deliver as accurate an audio signal as you can get for under $1000. The 1c’s accomplish this through the combination of their flat frequency response down to 40 Hz, time aligned high quality drivers, phase correct cross over design and diffraction free, baffleless exterior. Since I am relatively ignorant of how you could invent these loudspeaker technical features, I’m excited to hear Richard Vandersteen speak at Quintessence Audio next Thursday.

As audiophiles, we buy our favorite high end home audio components based on a mysterious mix of subjective critical listening, technical measurements and the underlying philosophy and prowess of the manufacturer’s designers. The critical listening is usually only possible after you’ve made your investment and convinced yourself it was a good idea. Measurements are important and it’s essential that you understand all those charts in Stereophile reviews, but I’m the only person I know who gets excited by a step response graph. The most interesting product a small high end manufacturer can offer is their thoughts.

Continue reading What Everybody Ought to Know About Vandersteen Audio

Popularity: 5% [?]