Friday, July 20, 2012

Bang & Olufsen update.

Yes, yes, I know its not been 12 months, but I just had to share.

The new B&O hi-fi is an absolute babe!

Now 99% fixed (...there is a slight dry joint on one side still...), so I invested in a pair of brand new Wharfedale Diamond 9.1 speakers.  ...And the result?


Awesome!

I really think these older B&O's sound much better than the modern ones (...and I'm going to get geeky here...) because they use discrete transistor outputs rather than the modern way of just whacking in a ready-made Japanese one-chip amplifier.

The Beocenter 9000 I had for many years (...until a thieving landlord stole it...) used the modern SDK... devices, and sounded, well, Japanese.  Too much 'tizz' and with horrible mid-range phase distortion.

This Beocenter 1900 (Built in 1981, I think) sounds much better.

IMHO

And the cat seems to like it anyway.

And there's no problem with the new-found fingernails as there are no buttons or knobs on it.

So, its connected to the computer (obviously) and I can listen to 'Groove Salad' on SomaFM via the Internet whilst happily coding away.

Now I just need to find a coffee percolator and donut maker powered by USB...

Saturday, June 30, 2012

Onwards & upwards

...And another 365 days flies past!

So, whats been happening?

In a word: Lots.

For the official story, then check out LEAF Sheffield (...see link below...).

For the unofficial story, then I'm afraid you're going to have to get to know me better than this.

You're going to have to go out of your way to buy me a coffee, and be prepared to sit through quite frankly unbelievable tales of fun and frolics.

But then, why should you want to?

So lets just leave it there, eh?

Gone are the days of high madness, then coming straight back here to tell the world about it.

I'm enjoying a quiet retirement.

But a very quick potted history of the last 12 months?  Here goes...

My cat, Alfie, is still a rat, and all the more beautiful because of it. He loves his dad, and that's the main thing.

I have a 'new' Bang & Olufsen Hi-Fi (!) It's an old Beocenter 1900 I picked up from eBay for a ridiculously paltry sum.  It wasn't working when it arrived (...hence the paltry sum), but I'm resurrecting it gradually.

A very enjoyable job that keeps me off the streets at night.

I have my own allotment over at the same site as LEAF. It's all planted up, but I need to get down there pretty soon because of the weeds threatening everything.

My alcohol intake has dwindled down to nothing. ...Completely dry for the last three months exactly.

And finally, I don't know quite why this has happened, but I appear to have stopped biting my finger nails.

Minor in the whole scheme of things, but when you consider I'd bitten them for forty years, you've just got to ask yourself; 'Why now??'

Bizarre, but there we go.

Anyway, I'd better get off.

I'll maybe check back with you in, say, a years time?