Thursday, January 29, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
The Book of Treasure Maps
My brother and I started a little Tunnels & Trolls campaign this week. Check it out: The Book of Treasure Maps
The purpose of the campaign is to get a feel for the T&T system in a play-by-wiki game and to test drive some of the house rules that will eventually be used in the Finsterschmerzen campaign. He's using the party of characters that I posted here a while back, but he shuffled some of the randomly generated names around a little bit so they make more sense.
Sound the trumpets...his characters have gained 10 xp from Saving Rolls already.
The purpose of the campaign is to get a feel for the T&T system in a play-by-wiki game and to test drive some of the house rules that will eventually be used in the Finsterschmerzen campaign. He's using the party of characters that I posted here a while back, but he shuffled some of the randomly generated names around a little bit so they make more sense.
Sound the trumpets...his characters have gained 10 xp from Saving Rolls already.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Four views of my home
The 2008 calendar on my office wall was of Japanese woodblock prints from the 17th to 19th centuries. I found these two large frames sitting empty in the garage, so I cropped the calendar pictures and inserted them into the frames. The result is hanging in our dining area:
The theme of the left frame is rivers and bridges. The right frame's theme is Mount Fuji, as shown in this close up:
Some of pictures I didn't have the heart to crop because they worked better as a whole. For them I found some nice 8x10 frames on sale and now they hang near our front door:
The print on the upper left is a popular image of wave towering over boat and mountain. The print in the bottom center is of a waterfall, and is a favorite of mine with its tourists standing above and below.
One of the things that I like about these woodblock prints of landscapes is the combination of the foreground's fine detail and the background's somewhat abstracted shapes and colors. My imagination resides in between.
I'll need more frames when the time comes to display pictures from the 2009 calendar.
The theme of the left frame is rivers and bridges. The right frame's theme is Mount Fuji, as shown in this close up:
Some of pictures I didn't have the heart to crop because they worked better as a whole. For them I found some nice 8x10 frames on sale and now they hang near our front door:
The print on the upper left is a popular image of wave towering over boat and mountain. The print in the bottom center is of a waterfall, and is a favorite of mine with its tourists standing above and below.
One of the things that I like about these woodblock prints of landscapes is the combination of the foreground's fine detail and the background's somewhat abstracted shapes and colors. My imagination resides in between.
I'll need more frames when the time comes to display pictures from the 2009 calendar.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
The vibrations of a needle on plastic, amplified in a glowing airtight jar
Here's what I got for my birthday:
Yeah, a gumball machine full of Skittles. And a vintage stereo system.
Sometime in November I discovered that the left channel of my Jolida 502 amp was quiet. Basic troubleshooting revealed that it wasn't a defective tube, input source, speaker or speaker wire. Something internal. Maybe it's time to send it in to the manufacturer for a complete repair and tuneup. I bought it used more than ten years ago and it probably needs some capacitors replaced. But the dang thing weighs an Irish ton and I'd have to pay shipping to and from Maryland. I'm still debating sending it in or not.
Around that time, my wife was asking what I wanted for my birthday and Christmas. Then I had a great idea: "How about pitching in to help me buy this vintage tube amp on ebay? Mine is acting up and I'll need a backup system. Oh, and I have this ebay coupon for 10% off electronics." She agreed and so I ordered this Knight 333 for $143:
It was made at the Pioneer factory in Japan from 1973-1975 and is nearly identical to the Pioneer SX-34, just rebranded for an American reseller. In addition to its several input jacks and power amp, it has a built-in tube radio and phono stage pre-amp. It also has the green-glowing tuning eye tube and a nice wood cabinet. It sounds great, but some of its 13 tubes could use replacing. Due to its age, it will also likely need new capacitors before too long. I also laid down $20 for a service manual and circuit schematic to help me with maintenance.
This amp puts out about 15 watts per channel, so requires speakers with high sensitivity to achieve adequate volume. My current Bowers & Wilkins mini-monitors have a sensitivity rating of 91 dB which is considered high by modern standards. I think I could get by with them on the Knight 333, but saw these Pioneer cs-77 speakers (picture shows only one of the two) on craigslist for $50 and snatched them up:
With a sensitivity rating of 108 dB they get loud very easy. This model dates back to 1969. They sold for $59 at the time so were considered entry-level hi-fi. Many of the reviews online mention that they were purchased by soldiers in Vietnam and shipped back to the States. Sure enough, the man I bought them from did the same. The trellis woodwork was symbolic of hi-fi Japanese speakers from this era. I like the look and they sound nice.
Since the Knight 333 amp has the phone stage pre-amp, I figured I might as well get a component turntable to complete the system. For $60 I got a fine deal on ebay for this Dual 1218:
Made in the Black Forest, Germany in 1971-72 and sold for $189 at the time, so was considered moderately hi-fi. It could use an internal cleaning and relube to get the automatic play mechanism functioning properly, but works great manually. I just need to get up and stop it at the end of each side. Poor me. I'm looking forward to getting it all cleaned, lubed, and the multiplay spindle installed so I can sit back and enjoy six sides without having to flip or change records.
Altogether, it's a vintage tube system for less than $300. Should I have gotten an iPod instead? Not a chance! Now I can take my Spirit of St. Louis to work to serve as the office sound system:
Yeah, a gumball machine full of Skittles. And a vintage stereo system.
Sometime in November I discovered that the left channel of my Jolida 502 amp was quiet. Basic troubleshooting revealed that it wasn't a defective tube, input source, speaker or speaker wire. Something internal. Maybe it's time to send it in to the manufacturer for a complete repair and tuneup. I bought it used more than ten years ago and it probably needs some capacitors replaced. But the dang thing weighs an Irish ton and I'd have to pay shipping to and from Maryland. I'm still debating sending it in or not.
Around that time, my wife was asking what I wanted for my birthday and Christmas. Then I had a great idea: "How about pitching in to help me buy this vintage tube amp on ebay? Mine is acting up and I'll need a backup system. Oh, and I have this ebay coupon for 10% off electronics." She agreed and so I ordered this Knight 333 for $143:
It was made at the Pioneer factory in Japan from 1973-1975 and is nearly identical to the Pioneer SX-34, just rebranded for an American reseller. In addition to its several input jacks and power amp, it has a built-in tube radio and phono stage pre-amp. It also has the green-glowing tuning eye tube and a nice wood cabinet. It sounds great, but some of its 13 tubes could use replacing. Due to its age, it will also likely need new capacitors before too long. I also laid down $20 for a service manual and circuit schematic to help me with maintenance.
This amp puts out about 15 watts per channel, so requires speakers with high sensitivity to achieve adequate volume. My current Bowers & Wilkins mini-monitors have a sensitivity rating of 91 dB which is considered high by modern standards. I think I could get by with them on the Knight 333, but saw these Pioneer cs-77 speakers (picture shows only one of the two) on craigslist for $50 and snatched them up:
With a sensitivity rating of 108 dB they get loud very easy. This model dates back to 1969. They sold for $59 at the time so were considered entry-level hi-fi. Many of the reviews online mention that they were purchased by soldiers in Vietnam and shipped back to the States. Sure enough, the man I bought them from did the same. The trellis woodwork was symbolic of hi-fi Japanese speakers from this era. I like the look and they sound nice.
Since the Knight 333 amp has the phone stage pre-amp, I figured I might as well get a component turntable to complete the system. For $60 I got a fine deal on ebay for this Dual 1218:
Made in the Black Forest, Germany in 1971-72 and sold for $189 at the time, so was considered moderately hi-fi. It could use an internal cleaning and relube to get the automatic play mechanism functioning properly, but works great manually. I just need to get up and stop it at the end of each side. Poor me. I'm looking forward to getting it all cleaned, lubed, and the multiplay spindle installed so I can sit back and enjoy six sides without having to flip or change records.
Altogether, it's a vintage tube system for less than $300. Should I have gotten an iPod instead? Not a chance! Now I can take my Spirit of St. Louis to work to serve as the office sound system:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
