I know this is sacrilegious in audio circles but I decided to put a MiniDSP between my source and pre-amp in my desktop nearfield listing rig. It makes a huge difference, like not subtle it’s huge! You can easily A/B it by disabling Dirac on the MiniDSP. If you have anything that can do Dirac room correction you owe it to yourself to just give it a try. You will need a calibrated mic, mic stand and and about an hour to run the software and place the mic around the room.
Tove Lo
Just picked up Tove Lo’s Sunshine Kitty and Queen of the Clouds albums on vyinal. I’m a huge fan of her music and her attention to the quality of the pressings. Absolutely stunning sound on vyinal. I also picked up a used copy of Was (Not Was) “What up Dog?” so I can have a copy of Walk the dinosaur! Used to love that song. Probably going to play Lights A6 album next. Got a first pressing and she signed it as well. 😬 I have some of here test pressings in my collection too. She’s another artist that really cares about quality. Anyway time to get back to listening.
Record cleaning
I have been trying to come up with the perfect process to clean records. I think I found it! I was thinking about one of the fancy ultrasonic cleaners but what I found is perfect. Here how I do it if your interested. First you are going to need a few things. One is kinda pricy but not anywhere near a ultrasonic unit.
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- Okki Nokki record cleaning machine (any vacuum style cleaner will work here)
- Okki Nokki record cleaning solution
- Revolve record cleaning solution
- Distilled water
- ClearAudio cleaning brush
- Revolv goat hair cleaning brush
- Small spray bottle.
- High quality microfiber cloth
- Milty Zerostat
- DS Audio ST50 stylus cleaner
- Mofi Master Sleeves
- Mofi Archival Sleeves
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This process will make the vyinal dead quiet with almost no pops and clicks. It does involve a bit of work but I find it enjoyable.
Step 1
Make sure the platter on your Okki Nokki is clean and dust free. No sense in putting a record on a dirty platter and pressing that dust in the grooves. Place your record on the platter and tighten down the record clamp.
Step 2
Add distilled water into your spray bottle and wet your brushes. Both the Revolv goat hair and the Clearaudio brushes. Don’t put them on the record dry.
Step 3
Start the platter in CCW direction on the Okki Nokki. Add the Okki Nokki cleaner to the surface of the record. Now use the goat hair brush. When I see light bubbles I change directions to CW and start the vacuum. Suck up the dirty fluid and add fresh. Brush again with the goat hair brush until you get some small bubbles. Once you do vacuum up the solution.
Step 4
Do the same thing as step 3 with the Revolv solution. You will not get bubbles however. Use the ClearAudio brush. You will notice that the he water doesn’t bead, it sticks and spreads out. Do both directions and vacuum between directions.
Step 5
With the Okki Nokki platter spinning CW spray the surface with a light coat of distilled water then vacuum it up. Remove and repeat step 1-5 for side 2.
Step 6
With record off the Okki Nokki hit it with the ZeroStat gun I give 4 trigger pulls. One in the center about 6 inches away, and then a triangle starting at the top, then left then right. Now it’s ready to play.
Step 7
Before you play clean your stylus with the DS Audio ST50. Place it on the platter and drop the arm into it twice. Now you are ready to listen. Enjoy the fruits of your labor!
Step 8
When done listening place your record in a mofi master inner sleave and put your jacket in a mofi archival sleeve. I slip the inner sleeve in the back of the jacket to prevent ring ware.
That’s it. If you try this let me know how it goes! Happy listening.
Labubu spotted at the mall!
New Pop Mart store is coming to the Bridgewater mall!
Dynaco ST-70 listening impressions
Got this old girl all warmed up and just had a good listen to it. First impressions is this is not a modern amp. I listened to some Tasha Sultana and boy does this amp pair well with her type of music. Absolutely beautiful, smooth warm and holographic sound. Very good match. Going to listen to some more electronic music and see how it does. I get the feeling it might not do as well. Will report back but I need to power it down now. It’s hot as balls in here now!
Dynaco ST-70 project
Just got a crusty old Dynaco ST-70 tube amp off e-bay to rebuild. It’s a project I’ve wanted to do for a long time. It’s amazing that you can still get replacement parts for something so old. The unit I got is in good shape electrically, but needs a new chassis. The chrome is old and pitted with rust here ans there. The output transformers also need a nice coat of paint too. Going to listen to it for awhile then do a transplant into a new chassis. It will. Give me the opertunity to replace older components while I’m in there.
I have been looking over the schematics and it’s a really simple design. Elegant simplicity that has stood the test of time. Will take some pictures when I get the chance. Plan on using it on my main workstation. Currently using an Emotiva integrated amp but I think it’s more interesting to use a preamp and amp here. Going to use a cheap Schitt amp for now and maybe get a vintage Dynaco pre-amp to rebuild later on down the road. I have also been eying a Dynaco Stereo 400’s on e-bay but that’s way down the road.
Want to get more into repairing old vintage equipment. Might hit some estate sales and garage sales this year and see what I can find… Not much in terms of deals in e-bay… Most people know what they have. Someday maybe a Sanusi AU X11! That’s a grail for me. Anyway that’s enough for now.
Latest project completed
Finally finished a project I have been dragging my feet on for awhile. The surround on my Vandersteen’s midrange detached. I have tried my hand at re-foaming speakers before and didn’t have very good luck with it. I decided to remove the drivers are send them back to Vandersteen.
Above is me testing them once I got the drivers back and re-installed. Richard Vandersteen really is brilliant with this design. Everything is well build but he saves so much money on the finishing just covering it with a sock and some fancy top and bottom plates!
Above you see them under test after I installed the new socks and top and bottom plates. They sound as good as ever even without proper placement. Still working on getting this system back up and running. I have some really nice vintage amplification going on them soon and my highly modified Rega P3 as the main source.
It’s been a minute!
Been super busy for awhile! Finally got a chance to check in here and make sure things are still running smoothly. Will do a better update when I can but for now just letting people know that I am still alive and well
Doing some site cleanup
Been awhile since I have posted here. The server needed a bit of TCL. It was running Ubuntu 16.04 so needed a urgent refresh. If you have any issues with anything loading please let me know. Not sure if I migrated everything over.
Will give an update to what I have been doing soon.
Crazy days in the courts
Yesterday was a surprise, hopefully people don’t go balistic and start riots again. Have to see how this progresses. 😅
Took a week off after I got some big projects off my back. Had people breathing down my neck to get things done early… Had to play let’s make a deal between different projects because hardware is in such short supply. Lead time for Arista hardware is something like 18 months if you order today! Crazy!
My car is leaking coolant because the body shop that did the work after my deer strike didn’t fix the clips on the lower radiator. Been rolling the dice nothing will happen because nobody can get me in… Have an appointment for next Monday so hopefully they can get the parts!
Not much else new around here. Been cutting services and cooking at home now. With the wonderful job Biden has been doing and my crazy commute I wanted to cut back before we have $10 gas. I would go electric but I don’t think that will work really well for my commute. Plus why should I have to go electric to support Brandon’s tree hugging adgenda. He’s going to cause rolling black outs and make this country feel like the 3rd world. People… Wind and solar do not make good baseload power… 😅
Anyway, keep cool… It’s a hot one today!