New here

[john blackburn]

Hello all.

I came by this forum after seeing it at a mates house so thought I would pop along and see what goes on.

I'm newish to this audio lark, mainly into the diy side of it. So far I've got a few LM3875 and LM1875 chipamps, a modded playstation, Dual 505 turntable with diy phonostage done on stripboard to the ESP P06 schematic with CSS FR125s living in Bib boxes. The first attempt at the phonostage oscillated itself to death. Lessons were learned about opamp decoupling and the second version works like a treat. Very nice sounding in my opinion but only suitable for MM cartridges. The oscillation problem was purely my fault.

I fancy a try at a lightspeed attenuator next, they seem to be getting a lot of interest so I would like to see what all the fuss is about. My first chipamp was paired with a jfet active pre amp, after trying one with a passive pre I think I prefer the sound. Hence the interest in the Lightspeed......

That's about all there is to tell for now.

John

[Spectral Morn]

Hi John


Welcome to AOS.


What kind of music do you like ?


Regards D S D L

[aquapiranha]

Hi John! glad you made it.

Steve

[DSJR]

Ello, and welcome to the best audio nuthouse on the web..:)

[john blackburn]

Hello all and ta for the welcomes.

My taste in music is wider than is perhaps healthy. If it's played by real musicians that's normally enough, that said I also have a love of the strange. Try Googling "Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine" Their version of Insane in the membrane is very special.

About the only thing I don't gel with is Jazz, maybe I just haven't heard the good stuff yet. Anyone got any suggestions? I inherited a dead mates vinyl a couple of years back. He was a classically trained cello player but then discovered LSD and Jack Bruce. Things got a bit strange for the next thirty odd years, then he died.

He played his last gig and said after he thought it was the most enjoyable session he had ever played. He fell ill that night and was taken to hospital where he blagged enough opiates from the NHS to kill a horse. He tripped his tits off for two days and died with a smile on his face!

Anyway, he had loads of classical and orchestral vinyl so I am trying that for size at the minute. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky is good but a bugger to spell.

John

[The Grand Wazoo]

Hi John,
Welcome to the Art of Sound!

The Music section of this forum is great!
If you're trying to get to grips with classical & orchestral music, you should maybe have a read of some of Jeremy Marchant's threads here - he gave a lot of members a new insight into that.

What sort of jazz have you tried? I'm sure some of us can help you with that too!

Cheers

[john blackburn]

I must admit I haven't actively tried any. I don't get on with the Cleo Lane type stuff but have enjoyed what I was told was Dixieland.

I have just seen in the ethos thread that photos are welcome. There's nothing really hifi in mine but there is a Dutch woman wearing a plastic nose and carrying a fish in a birdcage. It's not something you see everyday.

They are here..... http://s703.photobucket.com/albums/ww35/Jblackburn_photos/

I will have a read at the recommended threads as time allows and will chuck some shots up when I get my latest LM3875 looking presentable. They don't normally get past being screwed to a lump of wood "just to test" and then stay that way. There's something to be said for amps that Cash Converters wouldn't buy from burglars though.

John

[Alex_UK]

Welcome aboard, John. You'll fit in fine, I'm sure!

[DSJR]

The only jazz I get along with is the 1950's "bebop" stuff (I think it's called). There are some fantastic recordings where the musicians went in the studio, laid the tracks down cleanly and simply with little to no overdubs and this comes through on well preserved vinyl and carefully prepared CD's too. I must admit to not having played my 50 or so jazz discs in years as herself doesn't like them..

[Barry]

Hello John,

Welcome to AoS.

"My taste in music is wider than is perhaps healthy." Don't feel self-concious or worried about this; you're in good company here on AoS, there are more of us than you suspect.

Regarding your coments concerning 'classical' or 'jazz', there is no 'must' about any music. Some people are put off these genres as they perceive them as being 'high brow' or 'intellectual'. This is of course nonsense; you either like what you hear or you do not.

Pop into your local library, borrow a few discs and give them a try. If you want a 'beginners' list, then I'm sure members will be only too happy to make some suggestions.

Enjoy the forum

[john blackburn]

Hello all.

I need to clean the vinyl before playing most of it, his house was very damp and he was a heavy smoker. I have been looking at these... http://www.analogueseduction.net/product/Knosti_Disco_Antistat_Record_Cleaning_Machine_KNOS TI Does anyone have any experience of them? The current budget doesn't allow for a vacuum device sadly.

There are some real oddities amongst his stuff, he lived in a squat that held nightly parties for a while. A good few records were forgotten by party goers who left in a tired and emotional state. There's one by a bloke called Jobriath who is credited as being the first "manufactured" pop star. He is here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jobriath It seems sales were that poor that I may have the only copy ever sold. It's pretty bad if I'm honest! There's enough other stuff to make up for that being in there mindst.

I entertain myself by sneaking inappropriate things into my badass biker mates house. So far he has had, a book called "The teddy bear lovers companion", The Smurfs Smurf Hits '97 which contains their version of the maccarana. (I know this because he made me listen to the full CD, twice) and a disc of tunes by "Father Francis the singing monk" who is accompanied by a fairly tuneless nun. I think I know what fate awaits Jobriath, it will sit nicely between all his punk albums waiting to be discovered at an inappropriate moment by one of his even more badass mates.

John

[The Grand Wazoo]

John,
That Jobriath album will be worth a bit despite what you think about its musical merit.......and of course, subject to condition. Stick it on Ebay see what happens!

I love the stunt with your biker mate, though!

You probably already own a Knosti variant & it didn't cost you 50 quid. It's called a washing up bowl, a plate rack & a stick.

[aquapiranha]

John is being modest, I have heard a couple of the amps he has built and other things besides, and they all sound fab - particularly the LM1875 amp he built recently.

[Joe]

You probably already own a Knosti variant & it didn't cost you 50 quid. It's called a washing up bowl, a plate rack & a stick.

Don't forget the pan scourer!

[john blackburn]

[QUOTE]washing up bowl, a plate rack & a stick/QUOTE]

My kind of engineering, if I can shoehorn some masking tape in there it would be perfect. My first diy amps are housed in old video players with steel front panels fitted. The inputs and volume knob on the pre amp are lovingly labeled with masking tape and marker pen. Three years later and it's still there and even my better half has got used to it. She tolerates my oddness remarkably well.

Are there any recomended recipes for cleaning fluid that work well? It seems to be another area where there is no clear cut opinion, it's audio related after all. I have heard everything from just Fairy liquid to concoctions of Isopropyl and deionised water as being the one true fluid. Stirred awidershins by the light of a full moon obviously.

I'm on with a LM3875 and possible lightspeed setup, and that involves mahogany! It was scavenged from biker mateys fire pile after his work ordered it by mistake. It sat round their stores until Cap'n Combustion got his hands on it. Apparently the teddy bear book ended up as kindling too, Father Francis and the Smurfs are now on another mates CD shelf undiscovered though.

I've had a quick glance for Jobriath on ebay and amazingly enough it looks like they have re released it on CD. You couldn't imagine why they would or who thought it to be a good idea, but it seems they have.

John

[The Grand Wazoo]

Are there any recomended recipes for cleaning fluid that work well? It seems to be another area where there is no clear cut opinion, it's audio related after all. I have heard everything from just Fairy liquid to concoctions of Isopropyl and deionised water as being the one true fluid. Stirred awidershins by the light of a full moon obviously.


As you imply everyone has their own favoured recipe. My version of alchemy, however, is a fairly common one - 25% isoprop, 2 drops of washing up liquid & up to the brim with deionised water.

Go on give the record a bit of a clean & get it on sale!

[john blackburn]

Thanks for the recomendation, I will give that recipe a shot. I will even buy a new panscrubber for the job! Dont want beans in my grooves now do I.

I had a nightmare the last time I bought Isopropyl. I ended up having to take a part built circuit board in to prove why I wanted it. I assume it can be used for explosives or somesuch nefarious activity. I could have bought loads in spray cans from Rapid Electronics which would be far more explosive, no question asked. Turn up in person to the pharmacist though and be thought to be drinking it.

I'm not sure the Jobriath is saleable really, the cover is far from mint from the damp. I will try get a photo if we ever see good daylight again. Someone must be buying it for them to bother releasing it again mindst. I hope I haven't upset any of the multitude of Jobriath fans out here in cyberspace. I apologise unreservedly if I have!

John