First Vlog for Fantasy

The Hippie Cruiser

I found this in a shed behind my house. I didn't really look at it until recently, and when I did, I noticed that it was actually in great shape. It's a new hippie cruiser, made to look old. The reason it was left? Taco'd front rim. Well, $25 at the local bike shop is going to fix that, and then there will be white walled tires on the front and the back. From there, don't know where it will go. It has a rear shifter with six speeds. It rides smooooth. I think Danielle would enjoy riding it. Perhaps it will get a basket?

On the other hand it might make a good high ticket item at our garage sale or on craigslist once we get to Raleigh. Any idea how much someone would spend on this bike? Is it worth it to replace the rim? Like I said, other than the bent rim, it's spotless.

Agent Hero

Last night, Gilbert Arenas drained a three from about 4 feet beyond the arc with a hand in his face and 1.8 seconds on the clock to beat Utah. This was his second buzzer-beater of the month. This guy is amazing, and he's turning in performances in which he simply wills his team to win. Oh, and he's on my fantasy team.

Work (Almost) Complete

So I build this headphone amplifier from a schematic because I wanted a headphone amplifier and because it was a simple and well documented online project that I could cut my build-from-scratch teeth on. It uses a tube and solid state dections for amplification, and sounds pretty sweet. I can also use it as a preamplifier to beef up the signal from my iPod when I want to play it through my low-power tube amp. Below, the obligatory "in the dark" shot to show off the tube and my totally gamer blue LED power indicator.

My Dream System(s)

So recently, to avoid facing reality, I have again turned to dreaming about my ideal audio system. The first system is based around the Acoustic Research AR3 speakers, a 3-way system that was a huge innovation when it came on the market in 1958 as one of the first, if not the first, to use a dome-style tweeter. This was on top of their 12" acoustic suspension woofer which was the first of its kind and is how pretty much all speakers still produce low and accurate bass to this day. (Read all about it here)

Anyway, I have heard a pair of these speakers before, and they were incredibly warm and room filling. In the 60s, AR held a bunch of "blind taste tests" in which they used a live string quartet and the AR3s and asked people to blindly choose which was the live music and which was the reproduced sound. Listeners were largely unable to tell the difference. Oh, and, in my opinion, they are beautiful:Acoustic suspension speakers are, by their nature, quite inefficient. And driving a 12" woofer is no easy task either, so these need power. But it needs to be nice clean power. Just to keep it classic, it would be fun to drive these with the Dynaco ST-70 tube power amp:This was the popular amp of the time, and it was probably the best reasonably priced option to drive the speakers. It puts out 35 clean watts per channel, which some might argue is still a little under-powered for the AR3s.

After that it's a bit of a wash. You could go with a record player to stay authentic, but the sound coming out of this pair will be warm no matter what you drive it with. These would not be party speakers, and they may not even be hard, fast rock and roll speakers. These are slowly sipping an aged bottle of scotch or perfect bottle of wine in front of a fire place on a cold day speakers...and seriously, that's how they would sound, especially powered by the Dynaco amp.

The drawback here is that they will lack some clarity and "imaging" that people really are in love with. The upside is that they will sound great no matter where you are in the room with them, whereas most "imaging" speakers require that you sit in a fairly small sweet spot to get the full effect.

I'm also kind of obsessed with this system because I think they would be an endpoint. There wouldn't be a need to add on a subwoofer or something. No need to upgrade anything. Also, they have the whole package because they look good, too. They would blend nicely into a room's furnishing while still making a statement of their own. Finally, their authenticity as a vintage system allows that last bit of completeness that I don't think you can get if you go chasing the hottest new speaker or the most perfectly clear speaker and fanciest new amp, or even the "best" tube amp.

So while there may be other complements of stereo equipment I could see myself wanting, I would probably sell everything else I currently have if I could get my hands on this system.

Finished Product

Here are a couple of close-ups of my finished speakers, and then I'll be done with boring speaker posts. I rubbed on Tung Oil with rags after sanding them down quite a bit and removing as much glue as I could. The nice thing about an oil finish is that it is incredibly easy to apply and repair if scratched. Or in my case, since I didn't get all the glue off and you can see that, I can go back in and sand some more and not have to worry about ruining the finish. I'll just add a little more oil and it will blend right in. I chose Tung Oil over the more popular Linseed oil because it is supposed to cure faster and I'm impatient. The oil has really made the grain pop.

Speaker Porn

Work Complete! Well, except for sanding and staining. I built the tall skinny speakers in these pictures. The sound is amazing, especially considering the drivers are only 3 inches wide. Still, an acquired taste in this day and age of bass heavy system. Bass is simply audible and musical instead of boomy and overpowering. Not that I'm knocking bass heavy systems; they have their place. And hell, I even miss hearing the room shake for some things. But as far as accurate and clean reproduction with a little warmth, these things are a joy. Sorry to bore with the jargon...a close up: