The One and Only Big D Thread

I have been doing 'Top Secret" testing in the Big D Labs all night long.
You could buy a car with this stuff
OMG
It is so funny
Secret Stuff is so not treble
Smooth is more like it
Holy Shit it is almost too smooth
Less is more, I guess

With this new equipment I'm testing....

I put Albums on for hours,,,,,
I could go to my Office and enjoy the Music from a distance.....
I'm listening to Albums from start to finish again... like with Vinyl in the old days

Could this be real?
Yes it is happening......
3 Albums in, and I find it cool
I think I could change my mind about how to listen to music

Note: Friends and not friends....
Music is why we are here
I still buy CDs
I want to get the gist of what the musician is trying to tell us
Now that I have been put into a expensive system that has taken me to the higher ground all throughout the home.....
I wonder...
Whole Album listening could be my calling again
I really like the flavor of that venue again and I thought that I was not into that anymore.....

This is my observation of my latest experiencees with Music in the nth degree.
Understand that the dogma is the peace involved with Music Listening.
It is a Drug.
A Pill for the masses.
But it costs to buy the reproductive system to hear it.
All I can say is that..... my sentence underneath every post stands true.

"You never know where you're going till you get there"

So apt, for this discussion....

Goodnight all.

 

Time for music...

 

Good news:
My Lady is off the Ventilator and breathing on her own. Weeeeee.

 

@Deep Funk
Wow. How appropriate. I have 2 Guitars (Martin Dreadnought clones) showing up today. I'm just so excited to play again. Finger picking and banging the deck is my cup of tea. You nailed it.

2 days ago, I was listening to Michael Hedges "Taproot". I'm trying to get a handle of some of the songs. That guy was deep. So you have to go real abstract with some of his riffs.

Last night, one of the albums I put on for a full listen........

JT (1977)
James Taylor
I was 19 at the time



What a great album, and his young voice is so silky smooth.
"Bartender's Blues" get's a lot of playback on my Logans
The REL Subs eat this song up.... It just sounds glorious

 

@Nbees
I'm now the proud owner of 2 Krell amps. Krell KST-100 / Krell KSA-200S w/new capacitors
$1,360.00 / $2,820.00 Shipped and both serviced
They sound so freakn' good
Bought a Mark Levinson No.331 and sold it the next day
Didn't click with my Martin Logans. Bought another Krell
Mark Levinson No.331 amp was $1,980 shipped w/new capacitors

This is a reply to a post in another section, as to not offend the moderators.

 

Musician Update....

I have delivered most of the Musician setup. Hopefully by Friday, all parts will be here. The one Credit Card company, I put the wrong PIN in one time..... they shut my whole system down. Good thing I have more Credit Cards. I'm at that Bank tomorrow, again. Just last week, I pushed the number wrong. Woops. I'm a busy man at this point. Your motor skills with a PIN Pad is not the end all every once in a while. My Lady is Critical in the ICU, and my Motor Skills are just a little off. So go F%$$K yourself damn Banks.

By default, I ordered the wrong Guitar 6 String Martin Dreadnought clone the first order. Got it today. Son of a bitch has me do "Signature Required". I had to not move out of my House, and wait for the piece of equipment. If this guy only knew. I have a special setup that is for deliveries. It is a safety net that all delivery companies are schooled. OMG. What a waste of 7 hours. If I wasn't retired... It could of cost me thousands. Yikes. Anyway, all I kept out of that Guitar Deal was the Guitar Case.
What?
All that for a Case?
Yes.......
Gotta Resell the Guitar on Reverb.com
For a Profit though.....

From Amazon I get today the Seagull S6 Slim Q1
This is the same model with the electric module to hook up to my Marshall Amp...... weeeee
Brand New..... $489.000

Marshall AS100D Acoustic Amplifier (Used) Perfect Condition $499.00
This Marshall shows up today from West Virginia via Reverb.com


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Musician Equipment Setup......

2 Acoustic Guitars.......
Both Dreadnought Design
Seagull S6 Original Q1 6 String Acoustic Electric Guitar
Martin Martin D12X1AE 12 String Acoustic Electric Guitar

Amplifier............

Marshall AS100D (always on backorder)
Great amp for getting the most out of an acoustic guitar

Elixr Custom Light Strings (4 Packs)
Nordic Essentials (2 Pack) Guitar Capo Aluminium
Fender Picks (40 Pack)
Donner Celluloid (16 Pack)
Pig Hog XLR and Guitar Cables (Both 10')


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Some Pics,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,



Seagull S6 Original Qi Acoustic Electric





Martin Dreadnought 12 String Acoustic Electric Guitar




Marshall AS100D Amplifier....

This is a way to literally shape your Guitar sound into something really cool.
You would be surprised how this is really a tool for an Acoustic Guitar.

Well it should it finish arriving by Friday, and with my Lady still in Critical Condition.....
Who the hell knows when I will get to starting the process of being a Musician again.
Nevertheless......
I look forward to the endless hours of finger pickin' and slamin' my freakin' hand against some wood. It is a thrill since I have been little.
It begins again.....

My Lady is still not out of the woods....
I can only hope that the grace of my maker will bring her back to me. It was so hard for me today. Tough is an understatement at the Hospital today.
Oh well. Life is not always going to have the smell of fresh coffee. Man, that coffee was about 2 days old today to me......

Lots of hugs needed in this corral.

 

Big D Labs are at a standstill with the "Top Secret System"....

Son of a Gun, the repair company, that is a Krell repair company.....

I called on last Thursday. He was out of town. He said on Monday he would send the "Shorting Pins" for my Krell KSA-200S that were supposed to come with the amplifier I bought from them. This allows for Single Ended Connection (RCA Conncection). I have very expensive Morrow Audio MA4 Reference Cables with RCA connectors. I have ordered the XLR version, but that takes 3 weeks for the build and the Burn-In. He says,,,,, "I'll send the "Shorting Pins" out Monday". It's Wednesday and he lives about 100 miles away and I know he is bullshitting me. I'm testing the most expensive equipment to ever be in my livingroom. Holy hell.

My Pro Audio Canaire cables are not as good as the Morrow Audio Reference MA4 Reference Cables. Transparency is just not there. I have the Morrow Audio cables coming now from the Modi Multibit to the Freya, but not to the Krell amp. I also have the Morrow Audio coming from the SingXer SU-1 USB Bridge to the Modi Multibit, but the snot is the Freya to the Krell. It is like a Linebacker on the front line in the SuperBowl blocking you from getting to the quarterback. The transparency just can't get thru......

I ordered Cardas Shorting Pins tonight, and FedEx Express Saver for shipping. I'm done screwing around. Let's hear what this system in my Labs has to offer. I will let you know how it all pans out. I'll have a setup once I get a true Morrow Audio from start to finish..... more of a Reference system. I will be able to judge what is good, and what is bad. End of story. It will be a setup for testing, and also some nice smooth digital.

 

Just crunched the numbers of what the costs were for the Musician's System

It is much more than anticipated.
I only paid $580.00 shipped for the Martin 12 String Guitar
Good thing is that this is a full build and no more parts will be needed
Unlike the 2 Channel Stereo world.... 2 Channel Stereo is just is an endless quest for sonic perfection

 

For all of you Windows 10 Users, the New Big Update to Windows 10 will be starting to roll out April 11. It is the called "Windows Creators Update". Edge Browser will be much faster....... and lots more.
Here's a link.....

http://www.guru3d.com/news-story/microsoft-officially-announces-windows-10-creators-update.html

 

If you are a power user on the computer.....
There is a few hours left on this Sale.....
New Egg has a Sale on Wavlink USB 3 Drive Cloner
Put that into the search, and $27.99 Free Shipping
I have 4 of them. They're great. 3 hours left

 

We are a microsoft-free household!

 

Go Pro, fix the privacy settings and throw out the junk. Microsoft misjudged the nerds.

Get rid of MSN and I forgive Microsoft. As long as they keep MSN I refuse their browser...

 

I use Firefox with ABP (AdBlockPlus) myself mostly. It's nice though the Edge browser, compared to the older offerings. Some of the features are very handy at times when I want to use them. Firefox with ABP just gets all the snot out of my browsing and links up all my machines nicely with Bookmark just like my Microsoft Account. It is a win for both sides. To me the File System in Microsoft Windows allows more flexibility and speed. This is what I need, personally. I like no barriers with what I can do, as well. Meh. My two cents.

 

@Deep Funk
MSN is crap now..... since the Trump got in, I can't even go there. Just crap and more crap.
I do some Fox TV news, some CBS TV news and some Fox web. MSN, I stopped using them as a News Outlet.
I think NBC is involved. They have a vendetta against our new President.

 

I use Firefox, but its days are numbered.

I never accepted the lets-all-look-like-crome "Australis" design. I never accepted putting the tabs further away from the content. Classic Theme Restorer to the rescue! Now all those add-ins are dead. The ESR channel is maintaining that support for a year or so. But support for ALSA (it's a Linux sound thing) is gone, and Mozilla's response to the complaints: Like it or suck it. That's Mozilla now.

I hate Why?-because-we-can-and-will user interface changes. A very quick glance at my screen might make you think I was using Windows XP*. Watch for a while, and you'd realise that no, there are big differences. But not the changes that Microsoft made, and not the Changes that Ubuntu made either. WinXP is obviously the grand-daddy of my desktop, but it has evolved from that model slowly and according to my usability preferences and aesthetic taste. The people who make the "MATE" desktop for Linux have made that possible for me.

Microsoft, Ununtu/Unity, Mozilla: here's the new thing, you will like it and we don't give a toss if you don't. Edging them out. Succeeding, mostly.

First task after an OS upgrade: make it look like the previous one. First task when getting a new (Android) phone: install my favourite launcher (Nova) and make it look like the old one. Does that mean I'm a fossil? No: New version of Nova? I want to know if there is something new that is good for me. New version of Linux Mint or MATE? Same thing. But changes are made according to my desires, not those of some corporate marketing guys.

Their motto is do it our way or else.

My motto is let me do it my way or else



I'll have to change some ways of working when switching to PaleMoon browser sometime soon. Can't be helped. But at least the thing has kept the basics right and not gone crazy like Mozilla.




*Actually you wouldn't. The bar at the bottom with a menu icon is hidden unless I move the mouse there. There is only one visible bar: at the top, with system information. There is nothing on the desktop. Regularly used programs are on a bar (panel) to the right, but that is hidden until the mouse goes there.

 

@Thad E Ginathom
Apple is fine.
I have...
Ipad Gen3 Retina
Ipod Gen4
Ipod Classic 160GB

I don't invest into the whole Apple Eco-system due to the fact that I prefer the Windows model.
But Apple works just fine if you invest in the whole system.
My good friend that I would hang with all the time, have a nice Apple Workstation, and I would come over and use it all the time to learn the Apple OS. It works with the Graphic Design programs just the same as my Windows ones. So it is a win ffor both sides.

When I was in business......
My Main Workstation (Lain Li Aluminium Tower)
2 Rocket RAID Cards with RAID 0 arrays running (4) 500GB 7,200 WD Black
3 10,000rpm WD Raptors, 2 500GB WD Blacks, 3 External Firewire Drives
2 Removable Drive Trays
Pioneer Blu-Ray Burner
BenQ DVD Burner
1 Neon WD External Drive
Epson Scanner
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Sound Card
Firewire Compact Flash Card Reader
USB Mult-Format Card Reader
Sony Memory Stick Card Reader
2 Sony Pocket Voice Recorders
Wacom Drawing Tablet
Klipsch Promedia 2.1 Speakers
Konica/Minolta Color Laser Printer
Canon Wide Format Photo Printer
Canon Photo Printer
HP Wide Format Photo Printer
Epson Photo Printer
Opti-UPS 2200VA UPS
Opti-UPS 1500 UPS
Opti-UPS 1000 UPS
Monster Cable Power Strip Pro
Lacie 21" Pro Monitor

Thad,
I had a very complex Windows Workstation with so much software on it for so many types of work. 2 other heavy duty Windows Workstations with less Horsepower sat on each side of the main Windows Workstation.

Here's the fields that I was involved in..... all at the same time

Animation
Video Creation
Website Design
Graphic Design
3D Modeling
3D Landscape Design
3D Animation
Mechanical Drawing of Home Interiors and Product Dimensions
Vecter Drawing Modeling of Procucts
Magazine Marketing
Real Estate Web Production
Action Sports Representative for Planet Skate

Lot of the software I used was not made by Apple. And the hardware called for very high horsepower systems. And I needed to back things up in packs of 3.
Sheesh. I was a very busy man, that manipulated 3 Workstations like a robot from the future. That is why Microsoft.

 

@Thad E Ginathom
I still like my Win7 Workstation. I like Win10 for when I'm not working. Win7 is more like WinXP. Like you said. The WinXP was fine, and Win& is pretty much more of the same. But I have about $15K of software that won't work with Win7. Aye Corumba.

 

Somehow it never crossed my path. Really... almost never. I've spent about half an hour ever sitting in front of an apple machine. Just happened that way, and I didn't seek it out.

But I also never believed all my colleagues who went on about how Apple was on its last legs. The only Apple thing I really regret not buying is stock!

In work, I never had much on the desktop, because the stuff I looked after was in the server room. In fact... sat in front of a green-screen dumb terminal for a long time!

If you have to go Microsoft or Apple because that's where the software you need to use us, then there is no question. Like it or not, that's what you do. Don't know why, though, with a Unix background, I kept MS on my desktop for so long since retiring. Just inertia. And my early attempts at Linux were not happy.

My life and Linux Audio, with a Firewire device, is another story

 

@Thad E Ginathom
Yea, I never got into Linux. When it came it, I used to hang out all the time at a custom build computer shop. One of the guys there said when Linux first came out.... 'This is going to really be something some day, you'll see. I just never felt like putting the time into it. Years ago I put a whole lot of my time into Macromedia Flash Animation. I was obsessed with it. I even hung out with the Macromedia guys and Johnny Flash himself up in New York City. We were so excited on programming Animation with Flash. It was so easy when you got the hang of it, and the possibilities were endless. I would make interfaces and have such a collection of buttons on file, that I could reference. All kinds of setups of complex animations that I could reuse that I had cataloged on CD. Back then I had to burn literally hundreds of CDs of graphic work to go back to. Makes for designing made easier when you have the templates semi-built from previous graphic work. I had a large suitcase filled with CDs all cataloged just for my clients work, and my T-Shirt Business. I used to sell Custom Color Heat Transfer T-Shirts using ALPs Resin Ink Ribbon Printers. Amazing Color and held up like a champ.

Server Room, eh? A good friend of mine took the Network Designer route in life, and said that I should get involved. He said the money is out of this world. Well he is so rich now, it's absolutely crazy. He was really good at what he designed for very large corporations. Gigantic Networks. Me personally I did Networking Design for SMB for 25 Seats and under. No more SMB Seats than that. Maintaining more SMB Seats than that is too much for me. I did about maybe 45 SMB Networks when I was a Microsoft Partner. It was just a good supplemental income. And the Training money was huge. I loved to build Custom Computers for clients with RAID Arrays, that was fun. I was good at picking a good cost effective machine that was all their own. Kind of like CyberPower PC is doing now. I just use them now for any person that wants a Custom Computer. Cheers.

 

People used to tell me the money was in contracting, and I could get a job easily. But I wanted it easy, like be able to have bad days and days when I didn't feel like doing much, and being able to tell people: sorry, I'm just not doing that! Not to mention sick leave and paid holidays. So no big money. Small office. European subsidiary of a vast Japanese company looking after clients there. About 40-50 people, maybe a hundred devices, A couple of Unix servers. And I knew the accounting package, so I could do clever stuff with the data when required.

People doing my job in London City trading companies would get five time what I earned, but they would not get away with telling the boss that, sorry, I have other stuff in life to do and I am going now: see you tomorrow morning. Different pay, different scenes.

(Not that I haven't ever worked half the night, and, once, through an entire weekend, because there is a responsibility to the company and the people one works with. But I could also be very bolshy. And was )

It was also a job for life. Well, it was. Until the merger happened. But hey, without that, I wouldn't be sitting here in India now. Which is a whole anuther nuther story. And even less to do with audio --- although not less to do with music, as it was South Indian classical music that brought me to this part of the world in the first place.