Warehouse Sale

I'm offering the following drivers for sale. Prices do not include shipping. I accept Paypal, cashiers check/money order, personal check (shipping to await check to clear). I have a good reputation on Madisound and PE boards, as well as eBay - my user ID is the_original_speakerman if you'd like to see my feedback rating (44 - 100% positive)
NIB = New In Box

Pair of NIB Dayton 10" DVC Subwoofer, 295-485. See here for more info.
$30 for the pair

Pair of NIB Dayton PT2 Planar Tweeter, 275-085. See here for more info.
$35 for the pair
**SOLD**

Pair of NIB Dayton 7" Aluminum midbass/woofer, 295-335. See here for more info.
$20 for the pair ($15/pair if you buy both pairs)
**SOLD**
Second pair of same 295-335 above.
$20 for the pair ($15/pair if you buy both pairs)
**SOLD**

(1) Vifa XT18WO09-08, 7" XT paper pulp cone midrange/midbass/woofer. See here for more info. The outside edge of the frame has been cracked (about 3/4" long x 1/16" wide). The pieces are still there due to the adhesive bead that's part of the basket construction. With some "Goop" glue and careful hands it could be repaired. The damage is purely cosmetic. Pics to come. These are now sold under the Peerless label from Madisound for $82 each. You can have this one for a bargain $25.
**SOLD**

(1) Peerless 831724 10" CC series woofer. I found the below information here. This driver used to sell for around $40 new from Madisound. Poly cone, rubber surround. It'd make a great little sub... 47Hz from a sealed 1.8cuft enclosure - not bad. This was used for testing (like on a Woofer Tester) only, and has been sitting for many years on my shelf. Yours for $10.

F3	F10	Vb	Cf3	Fb	Port Length	Driver Name	Fs	Xmax	Vas	Re	Qts
Hz		Ltr	cf^3	Hz	3"				Ltr

47

29

50

1.8

53

Sealed

Peerless 831724 WR 250 33 10"

28

5.5

127

6.3

0.43

(1) Clarion OEM 10" Sub, 2ohm, 1 1/2" voice coil, 125 Wrms, butyl rubber surround, poly dust cap, poly MICA cone, 30 oz. magnet, vented voice coil
Re: 1.5 ohm
Vas: 21 liters
Fs: 31.5 Hz
Qms: 9.256
Qes: 0.339
Qts: 0.327
BL: 8.27
Sd: 0.213 m^2
Cms: 325.91 uM/N
SPL: 91.8db @ 2.83V
Le: 1.62 mH @ 1kHz
Mms: 78.2 gr
Yours for a bargain $20 - reduced price

Pair of Hi-Vi Research SK8R 8" Kevlar woofers
60Wrms
SPL: 89dB/W/m
Fs: 40Hz
Re: 4.8 ohm
Qts: 0.50
Mms: 24g
These are shielded, with a vented voice coil. These are used - no damage other than a few screw-hole mounting scratches. These work great with a Morel MDT-30, 2nd order (electrical) Bessel network at 3kHz. They have very deep, tight, musical bass in a about a 1 cuft stuffed sealed box. The pair is yours for $50.

Pair of Eton 8-472 hexacone. See here for more info. These sell for $222/ea new at Madisound. This pair is NEW, unused, but no boxes. These use Eton's innovative honeycomb cone structure design. They'll be wrapped with great care and love for shipping. The pair is yours for $250.
**PENDING SALE**

Pair of NIB Scan Speak 8" 21W/8555-01 woofers. See here for more info. These sell for $195/ea new at Madisound. The pair is yours for $270.
**PENDING SALE**

Sucks to be you.

So, I got this great deal on eBay last night! WOOHOO! I’ve been looking for a new amp for my DJ service for the last 6 months or so (I’ve got another gig the end of May). So, that’s the background – and here’s the story…

I’ve been looking at Crown amps. Crown is pretty much has the best PA amps you can buy – robust, dependable, good sound, lots of power, great protection features, upgradeable filter options… the works. You know those crazy Metallica and “Fitty-cent” concerts where the music is so loud that the speakers thumping suck the air right out of your lungs? Yeah, you can bet it’s Crown MacroTec amps making those speakers thump – entire racks of them, we’re talking probably 50,000 Watts of REAL power (not the 100W rating you see from Pioneer receiver at Best Buy that only puts out 12 Watts) running those speakers in a setting like that. Go to your local THX Ultrascreen cinema – it’s probably Crown XLS amps running the system. Olympic stadiums… ball parks… churches… auditoriums… the best all use Crown.

One of the great things about them is that they’re all made right here in the USA – Elkhart, IN. [enter in “God Bless the USA” background music]. I actually had a job lined up there out of school as a design engineer (thank you MSOE for being on my resume). Unfortunately, Crown suffered from 9/11 just like everybody else and lost a bunch of funding. Well, technically, Crown was doing pretty well – but the mothership “Harmon Industries” (i.e. Harmon Kardon, JBL, dbx, AKG, lexicon, etc) was doing poorly as a whole – and Harmon had just recently acquired Crown. Anyway, budget reductions… They killed my position (that was pending the budget update), another entry level position, as well as “letting go” of a few people. Hard times. It’s disappointing that I didn’t get my dream job out of school… but who knows what my life would be like now if I were in Elkhart, IN. Let’s hope I still would have met the girl of my dreams on eHarmony… I’m pretty sure God would have worked that out somehow again. He’s cool like that.

Anyway, I have been watching prices for months… and was just about to make a purchase last night. I had decided on the XLS-602 for subwoofer duty on my DJ rig. I have two other mono amps that currently run the subs, but was going to move those to the main full-range cabinets in the interim until I got another gig to pay for an XLS-402 amp to run the mains. I found a good deal (not incredible) and was going to “Buy It Now” on eBay… but I just got this notion – “What the heck, let’s see if they have any Parasounds up for sale…”

I currently am using a Parasound HCA-1500A to run my main stereo pair of speakers. I have fallen in love with Parasound amps. I also have an HCA-855A on my rack that runs the center and surround channels. When I got the 1500A, I had always planned to find a mate for it. The 1500A can be bridged into mono operation… giving a much better sound quality – and boost the power rating to 600W (from 200W/ch). I don’t need the power at all, but just wanted the better sound from bridged mode. It produces a much wider sound stage and reduces distortion considerably… a wonderful thing.

One of the reasons I love the 1500A is because it was designed by legendary audio designer John Curl. I’ve had the privilege to pick his brain online a few times on various audio forums that I frequent. I’ve read a lot of his posts and find his design philosophies to be ingenious. And it’s all backed up with the incredible sound quality that comes out of Parasound’s amps. Granted, Parasound “tweaks” things from his proposed designs to reduce cost on a few components, but the heart of the matter remains.

That said, as I scrolled through my search query, I came across a 1500A with an incredible “Buy It Now” price on eBay. I was stunned. It was meant to be. 1500A’s are rarely for sale because everybody that owns one wants to keep it. It’s perfect. Now I can use the two 1500A’s in bridged mode at home for audio nirvana… and be able to use the bridged mode “on the road” for DJ gigs to take advantage of the incredible power. Boo ya!

This also means I don’t have to make a new crossover circuit for the DJ setup (which I would have had to do if I would have gone the other route). The downfall is that I do’t have dedicated gear for the DJ setup… but if I keep getting gigs, I’ll be able to afford some dedicated gear for that that’s better suited to the task. Crown will definitely come into play if that road is in my future.

Check out the Parsound HCA-1500A specs here.


And in case you didn't get a clear message with the booked airline ticket post a few weeks ago...
This is me next Wednesday...

This is you next Wednesday - love those spring days in Wisconsin.


OK, fine - best case, this is you next Wednsday...


Yup - pretty sure it sucks to be you...

Busy week

Lazy bum all week for blogging... well, I've been busy - so there.

Tuesday I had a meeting with the customer in IL again this week, so I got to see Christina a little bit extra - which is always good :-). While I was waiting for her Tuesday evening to get done from work, I made my way into Borders and managed to find Berlin Philharmonic's recording on Deutsche Grammephone label doing the Holst Planets. I have a copy that I picked up in Germany in 1997, but it got damaged about 2 years ago, and I haven't been able to enjoy it since. This was the first place I've seen it in those two years... I was VERY excited.

And I finally got to meet up with my "core group" member from church on Wednesday. We've had some scheduling difficulties the last few weeks. We kind of just got to know each other a little bit and discussed some future plans for the men's ministry leadership team, which I am now a part of (he's in charge of the ministry). And we managed to pick out a book to use for studying on a weekly basis. Don't ask me what it is - I still have to pick that up this weekend...

Thursday was another world class hosting of a party to watch this week's episode of The Office. It was a really good one this week. And we had good company to match. Afterwards, we settled in to watch the Jackal.


My Denon DVD-2900 DVD player was on the fritz last night. I actually said a prayer for it last night... and this morning. Heck, why not? God can handle it - total confidence.


This player produces the most beautiful picture known (via analog component outputs) for standard DVD's... and it plays both DVD-Audio discs and SACD discs - pretty rare. It's a little upsetting to see it suffering. Hopefully, it just didn't like the disc last night. It didn't seem to be a dirty disc problem, or dirty lens problem. Although, there may be something on the lens yet after the cleaning - never know. I'm wondering if it was an overheating/over-usage issue, cuz it was running for about 5hrs straight yesterday (in the background). Perhaps all it needs is a power off reboot - no, wait - it doesn't run on Windows. Hm.

So, with it constantly locking up, I had to switch to a "standard" DVD player, my Sony DVP-NC650V (which has lots of sentimental value as it was one of the first players I ever upgraded the audio outputs for). I was grumbling and mumbling about switching DVD players, anticipating the change in video quality. The amusing part was when the guests realized - "You have more than one DVD player?!?!?" Which was followed up with, "Of course - this is Scott we're talking about here!" So great. (Shhhhh - don't tell them about the Pioneer DV-565A-S I'm lending Mom... or the Panasonic RP-62 I'm lending Christina... or the Panasonic F-85 in the storage room... or....) Anyway - everyone kind of was like "Wow - that's a lot worse!" when I made the switch. It was almost a nightmare for me [shudder, shake]

Anyway - speaking of movies, GO SEE "EXPELLED" this weekend!

And here's the acheivement of the last 10 months at work - the In-Flight Entertainment Rack #1 for Air France's A380 fleet. These racks are linefit assemblies, going directly to the aircraft assembly line in Hamburg, Germany. Cool.

Time to finish up a few things before heading down to see my girl this weekend... Peace out.

"Whoa - that's heavy..."

Thinking about the upcoming weekend, makes me think of Marty McFly in the movie, Back to the Future:
Marty: "Whoa - that's heavy."
1955's Doc Brown: "There's that word again...'heavy' - why is everything heavy in the future? Is there something wrong with the Earth's gravitational pull?"

Or is there just some really great translation of life's experiences into great music? Well, that's the case for this weekend.

On the docket for tonight, is "Grande Messe des morts," by Hector Berlioz. Loosely translated (a little rusty on my French...) it means: Grand Mass for the Dead. (Yeah for Latin to help decode...) "Mass" refers to Roman Catholic Mass - and this work is referred to as a requiem.

While having limited exposure to his works, I am a huge fan of Berlioz. In Wind Symphony (high school days), we performed a concert band arrangement of his work called "Damnation of Faust," a musical translation of Goethe's poem, Faust. It is considered a "dramatic legend" as opposed to an opera or symphony. Whatever that means... who cares - it's good music.

So, back to Grande Messe des morts. This piece is the real deal - scored for 4 sections of antiphonal brass, 12 french horns, over 100 strings, over 200 vocalists in the choir... we're talking "heavy" equipment. In the premier performance, there were over 400 vocalists. Wow. Within 6 months of each other, Berlioz had also composed an opera, Benvenuto Cellini, drastically different in style and taste. The gift that God has bestowed upon our history's composers over time just absolutely blows my mind.

The French Minister of Interior asked Berlioz to compose a piece in remembrance of the souls whom perished during the French Revolution (1830s). Interestingly, Berlioz had received partial commission for the work upfront in March of 1837 from the Minister of the Interior. Berlioz and the Minister had to fight against a more profound and well known French composer with political connections to earn the commission for the piece. There was so much tension created that the government eventually canceled the event. The left Berlioz in a world of financial trouble, as he had already used the partial payment given to pay musicians during the early stages of development and practice of the work. The capture of the city of Constantine in October of 1837 inspired the French Minister of War to hold a memorial service for the men who had fallen in that battle. So, the Minister of War pursued Berlioz again. The work was finally premiered on December 5th. Eventually, Berlioz received payment in full for his efforts from the government.

An interesting event took place during this performance, from Berlioz's memoirs:

There are, perhaps, one thousand bars in my Requiem. Precisely in that of which I have just been speaking, when the movement broadens out, and the bras burst in which their terribloe fanfare; in fact, just in the one bar where the conductor's direction is absoluttely indispensable, Habeneck puts down his baton, quietly takes out his snuff-box, and procees to take a pinch of snuff. I had never taken my eyes off him: instantly... springing forward before him, I stretched out myt arm and marked the four great beats of the new movement. The orchestras followed me... I conducted the piece to the end, and the effect which I had dreamed of was produced.

Then comes Saturday. We're catching the MSO's (Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra) , accompanied by MSO Women's Choir) performance of Gustavus von Holst's orchestral work called, "The Planets." They're also featuring a couple works by Richard Strauss. Holst is (partially) a man after my own heart. Holst conducted the LSO (London Symphony Orchestra) in the works' first electrical recording in 1926. Holst was frustrated with the inadequacies of the recording and playback equipment to reproduce the dynamic range that he required. He ended up messing with the levels of the LSO and chorus enough so that something other than nothing could be heard upon playback. Nonetheless, it was a great discouragement for him.

While Holst himself was raised in England, his paternal family was from Latvia... escaping by pilgrimage through Sweden. "Gustav" was named after his grandfather Gustavus von Holst, a famous harpist and composer. His father Adolph von Holst was an organist, pianist, and choirmaster; his mother was an immensely talented (apparently) vocalist. That's quite the gene pool. And out comes Gustavus von Holst. Initially, a quite talented pianist, he developed some nerve damage in his hand making it quite difficult to play. He gave it up for the trombone. Gustavus began composing at age 12. Wow.

So, "The name doesn't match up to what's on my CD" you say? A noted patriot, Gustavus applied for military service in WWI. He was denied for service due to bad eyes, bad lungs and bad congestion. This brought upon his already prominent name - he was pursuaded to drop the "von" from his name, and shorten his first name to Gustav. The government believed that it aroused suspicion. So, there you have it.

History lesson over, and so is lunch break... I'm SOOOO excited for these performances this weekend :-)

It's finally posted

Anyone interested in a Rumble Bee?

Click here.

The Drousy Chaperone

Christina scored some free tickets (holy good seats, Batman) to The Drowsy Chaperone (musical) performance at the Cadillac Palace Theater in Chicago last night. Turns out Tuesday is date night anyway :-) Traffic was a bear, but we made it down town by a little after 7pm somehow... early (well - on time, really) for the 7:30pm showing. It was pretty entertaining... lots of laughs... and enjoyably something different in concept.

Here's a link to some more info on the show...

And here's a shot of the theater as we came into town last night! :-)

3 years later...

So, I got these wine glass racks for a birthday present 3 years ago. They're supposed to hang under a cabinet, but my counter space is filled (or regularly used) under my cabinets, so I never had a place for them. The last 8 or 10 months I've been putting more effort towards some major cleaning and organizing. I was sick of these things sitting on top of my fridge. It was either throw them in the bin for Good Will or give them a place in my home.

............beeep buuuuup BUP blupe beep krreeeeep blaaaaaahhh eeeeeek aahhh bluuuup eh wwaaaaaaaauuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhh........ kshhhhhhhhhhhh.... (that's supposed to be an onomatopoeia for a modem dial-up - oh stop laughing, say it out loud - it kinda works) [engineer brain dial-up to central processor unit]

And here's what my brain came up with. Turns out there's lots of room on the ceiling. :-) Check out those gorgeous Riedel wine glasses! (Thanks Unc & OC!)

Nancy's home!

Nancy and Joy arrived 10 minutes early at O'Hare on Friday. Christina was nice enough to pick them up on her way (sorta, roundabout kinda' way) up here for the weekend. First stop - Culver's. We met at the one near my business park, which is kind of a half-way point on the way home from O'Hare. And since we were in the neighborhood, I gave the three girls a tour of ECS after our custard treats. Mmmmmm. Poor Christina had to suffer as it was her second tour ...

While Joy was out doing some errands and getting a manicure on Saturday, Nancy, Christina and myself took off for some quality time. Yummy bagels and the ONLY chai (at least as far as Christina and I are concerned)... Oregon Chai. So yummy. We had some great discussion and I was so glad for these two important gals in my life to have a chance to spend some more time with each other - And me, of course :-)

On Sunday, Christina and I went to a presentation that Joy and Nancy did for some ministry partners in Mequon (technically it was Thiensville according to Google Maps - a cause of some frustration in trying to get directions...). So, yeah. What an amazing experience. I love seeing the faces of all these people that have been touched by God's grace. Before we left, several of us gathered around Christina for healing prayer. It was quite an experience - Lord, we believe in Your healing power and we believe that You are working and have worked in Christina's body already. Thank You!

So, Monday night, Nancy (and Joy ;-) ) did an abbreviated presentation for the family (Mom, Kenny, OC, Chad, Dill). I really think they were blessed in seeing all that God's doing through their beloved Nancy. Here's a couple crummy pics from my phone in night mode (sorry, room was dark).





That's my story. Lord, please continue to protect and bless Joy and Nancy as they continue sharing this week. Give them Your energy as their bodies are recuperating and recharging; give them Your protection as they travel! Amen!

Cell phones during flight...

So, another one of my projects finally made it into the public domain.

Air France started flying and Airbus A318 aircraft in European airspace with the ability to use cell phones during flight. My company did the design for the system, particularly the "business end" -- the rack. My mechanical counterpart and I developed this rack to fit in one of the overhead bagbins of the aircraft... all within very explicit, tight restrictions and requirements from Airbus. With this system, we are actually certified to be placed on the aircraft on the assembly line - so our rack and the system is delivered to the customer (Air France, in this case) directly from Airbus. It's now an option when ordering planes from Airbus... kind of like the checkbox for a sunroof when ordering a car nowadays... OK - a so it's a million dollar sunroof option.

Of note, my primary achievement was developing a new smoke detection system for our company. It's pretty sophisticated, if I do say so myself. [pat on back]

Here's a link to a video of the first flight on Air France's plane that initiated the use of this system on the aircraft.

And, here's a few pictures. of the rack!

Johnny 5 still alive!!!

Woo hoo!!! Short Circuit remake!!! Check out this link.

P.S. Thanks for the update, Al...

EXPELLED - fallacies of Darwinism finally coming to light?

Check out the super trailer for Ben Stein's new movie, EXPELLED. Click here to see the movie's website.