Most liked posts in thread: What's new Pussycat too?

Coloured vinyls, loved them when the 12-inch singles came out. As for Rush, I'm not really a fan of hard rock, but I have exceptions. As for recreating record collections, tell me, lost all my records, gave up on buying them and started getting the lossless FLAC versions, still missing bits here and there but overall I'm happy.

And an early Happy Birthday to you, my old friend.. Enjoy the old gear whiles It's around or not super expensive..

 

Though 7800 Ballblazer has a higher resolution (with the ball and Rotofoils anyway), I too prefer the A8 version just because it was my first experience, and everything else is identical. Plus, since the Pokey would be going into my Dragonfly device for the 7800, I still get to play Ballblazer with Pokey sound on my 7800!

Anyway, The DIY Dual Pokey, piggyback style, that I'm doing is the original, pre-dual-Pokey-boards, from 1989 by C. Steinman of DataQue, the directions originally appearing on Genie network, pre-Internet. He (sold by his company DataQue) also did the original 65816 CPU accelerator board in the early 90's, a feature in the short-lived Atari Classics magazine. Of course I downloaded them off of some site on the internet back when I first got into the 8-bit scene again in 2016, after a 4-5 year hiatus.

The only modification to his original project that I changed is the use of a socket piggy-backing the original Pokey (also in a socket) and so where in Steinman's instructions he calls to bend up and cut off pins of the second Pokey chip, I do that to the socket leaving the 2nd Pokey fully intact to return to it's origin if I so choose. The first Pokey has a socket soldered to half it's pins on top, but also fully intact.

A 74(LS/HC/F)14 inverter also gets piggy-backed to another conveniently located 74LSXX I.C. for only VCC and ground (other pins all go to the Pokey's or CPU. I don't bother with a socket on these as I have dozens of 74 series I.C.'s in my electronics inventory. And the amount of spare 74LS continues to grow as I replace them as I go along in all my machines, with 74HCXX or now 74FXX's for less power consumption and less latency which is needed especially in my machines that are heavily upgraded putting greater strain on the PSU's and also helps deter PHI2 signal degeneration throughout.

Of course the Pokey BallBlazer music is even better on the A8, if you have a Pokeymax as they turn old mono-Pokey songs into stereo! Something real multiple Pokey's can't do. The games have to be hacked to do stereo with real Pokey's. If you haven't played A8 Ballblazer with a Pokeymax board yet, you are in for a treat if and when you do @Vyper68 ! With the algorithmic tune panning between the speakers and fading in and out while the bass line fades in and out and pans as well.

Of course which speaker any given voice plays from depends on how you set up the features of Pokeymax, and which voices you choose to play on the left or right speakers. There are a few different choices. And then this musical magic pumping through a Hi-Fi or amped PC speakers (must have a subwoofer too) sounds incredible! Anyway I've been enjoying all the old 4 voice mono music and sound effects from legacy software a lot over the last year or two since I installed a Pokeymax in my 800 (when my machines were running) with the new depth of 4 voice stereo music and effects.

 

This week I got a wall mounted monitor swivel stand. The two initial reasons where for more desktop real-estate and to position my monitor vertically for Rastaconverter image creation on my PC and of course for viewing on my 800CX for horizontally oriented images.

 

Well, it's been a busy season for me, but with the scorching summer heat finally coming to an end here in Oklahoma, which means I'm not so drained from a days work in the evenings that I have a bit of time for my hobbies again.

So over the past week I decided to start a new project. I'm building a subwoofer for my stereo system. Though these are a staple of the modern home audio systems, due to the nature of modern surround speakers being so small, it's not needed on my late 70's vintage JVC system with the large floor speakers with large woofers. However, since I temporarily replaced my JVC JA-S22 integrated amplifier with a Pyle surround amplifier which has an output for an active (self powered) subwoofer, I decided it would be cool to have one hidden directly under my theatre reclining chair (plenty of open space down there) and feel the bass through the chair.

Instead of just going and buying a subwoofer though, I decided to build my own as I have extra everything I need to do so except for the amp circuit board itself, which I just purchased for about $20.

I'm using the box from the old karaoke machine I acquired last year, though after removing the top and face plate I had to complete the box. I added bass reflex tubes to the top where I added an old car speaker, and kept the original speaker from the karaoke machine as well as adding another speaker that came out of a small, broken PC subwoofer I had (box too small to use it).

They will all three be hooked up in parallel, not series like a 3-way speaker as this gives the maximum power to each speaker and in fact makes them work together like one larger woofer speaker of the same surface area. I'm using the transformer from the karaoke machine to power it, adding my own on-off switch since the original is part of the karaoke face plate. The entire thing only costing me the price of the amp board!

I'm not concerned with the box's aesthetics since it will be hidden. And the amplifier for it should arrive tomorrow. It's up to 150 watts, dependent on the PSU size chosen between 12-24V. The karaoke PSU is 18V at 1.5A, which comes to 27 watts. All other speakers on my system are 40 watt each, so it will fit in fine since I never have the volume up more than a 1/4 anyway (plenty loud for my room).



In the meantime, I decided it was time to start working on my JVC amplifier. Eventually I will have it and the Pyle surround amp working together, but the Pyle amp will only control the 3 surround speakers (which also means more watts to those speakers instead of being spread across all 5) and use the subwoofer output. Since my JVC doesn't have surround sound, with both working together from the same audio source I can have a much more power system than one or the other amp alone.

I also just bought a replacement equalizer for the one I lost that went with the JVC system, though not as good an equalizer as it is 7-band and works across all speakers and my original was 14-band and could adjust for left and right separately. But it's better than none, and it's a JVC component that matches the rest of my late 70's system.

It needs some restoration, but I'm going to restore all my components to like-new mint at this point anyway, as while doing research I discovered my entire system will be worth about $2000 fully restored! Apparently it's a sought-for system by many audiophiles, especially my JVC JA-SA22 amp which is highly regarded as having incredible sound due to some of the high quality components it uses. Apparently one of the two tape deck components I have (2 for dubbing) is also a highly prized cassette deck.

 

I don't know where you get the energy from Matt, always got something on the go..

Loving the old audio gear, I was never able to own some quality stuff until the 80's, or the mat black era as I know it, all the silver stuff like yours was now mat black because that was so much more cool (yeah right). My mate Tony has a nice setup with a couple of Wharfdale E90 speakers. You can feel his music from down the road, but clear as day.

Not much of a music blaster these days (to be honest never really ever was) as I have lived next to folk, so it would be seen as a bit rude...Now if I was where you are I'd have the home cinema and the speakers going

These days it's just a cheap 5.1 surround system, it's got enough punch to annoy the idiots above but I rarely turn it on as we have a couple of shift workers in the block.

Happy building and have a great time restoring the system, but I bet you never sell it.. Who would after all that work

 

Nice bit of work Matt, good to see you getting into the hobby stuff again as the summer season draws to a close.
I've been busy with work as well the last couple of months but the last couple of days have found some time to tinker with my Playstation 2. Now got it running games from an SD card via one of the memory card slots. Means I can do away with the network adaptor and hard drive that I used before and it's also easier to add games now by just popping the SD into my pc.

I'm thinking about removing the Gotek from my Atari ST as well and putting a floppy drive back in then trying to get some old pirate menus on 3.5" disks together to recreate the full 80s/90s atmosphere.

 

Crack Cocaine. And vitamins.

I spent the first half of the day doing yard work, and the second half cleaning up the equalizer, it looks great on the outside now, and you'll never guess what I used to replace the two missing silver tips from two of the sliders.



I opened it up, prepared to do a deep clean to the inside and found it was pristine inside! The previous owner must have kept the top in an entertainment system or something to keep the dust out for all those years.

I also started to trouble shoot my JVC amp, and discovered it was totally disgusting inside. At some point something was spilled all over one of the PCB boards and the rest were covered in years of dust a couple millimeters thick! Probably all those years in storage. But luckily whenever and whomever spilled soda or something in there, luckily it wasn't turned on until it had all dried, since I used it for years without issue. She's all clean now and tomorrow evening I do the actual trouble shooting now that I can see the boards!



I'm also adding some LED lighting to the amp and equalizer, to light up behind the knobs, switches and sliders. I'll eventually do the same to all the components to match. The same type LED's I used in the past with a remote and 16 colors or fade/flash through colors. I decided to do this as the original LED lights that lit up the needle meters for decibels had burned out and instead of getting new ones I hade LED strips on hand to substitute, and far too much for just the meters. So I decided on back lighting for the rest too.



The amp works, it's just one of the stereo channels isn't. Most likely a regulator went out. I'll have a show-and-tell when it's all done. Anyway, I also got the amp board for my DIY subwoofer, so I'll finish that project up soon, hopefully get all the components ready to go at the same time.

But I figured, even though all the other components for the stereo work, since I now know just how much they are worth in excellent cosmetic and working condition, they all get a good cleaning and refurbish. It's time to turn them into true collector's items instead of making do with a damp cloth wipe off on the outside and putting up with sticking switches and twitchy dials, and making sure they are ready for another 45 years of use.

 

I really must connect the 5.1 up, I LOVE a surround film and would love a 7.1 system (but hey, I aint won the lottery) . Slowly but surely purchased all the Marvel films and want to see them with surround..

Not listened to music on big speakers in years..

 

I found a few more Rush album deals and I had a bit extra money so I decided to get them, as they are the best prices I've seen for each and prices are on a drastic increase in the audio market now too, for vintage and new remasters/limited editions of classic artists.

So I have a remastered CD version of Caress of Steel coming (I have the original pressing on vinyl), Presto audiophile class on LP and Different Stages, a 1998 release of live performances covering much of their history.

 

You keep mentioning you're not into metal music. You do realize Rush is NOT metal don't you? I didn't give it much thought the previous times, just thinking, as you, "to each their own", but if you are referring to Rush as a metal band, then you must have never heard them and someone told you wrong. They are Progressive Rock, like Yes and Kansas, with a bit of Led Zeppelin thrown in. But if you have heard some of their work and you consider it to be "metal" then you must consider the Beach Boys and Simon & Garfunkel as "hard rock!"

They were a HUGE influence on bands like The Foo Fighters. They have some harder tunes I'd call "hard rock" but they are not a metal band. This is NOT like Slayer or Iron Maiden or Metallica: Metal bands.

Not only do they make progressive music, but their music itself progressed as Rock music progressed. You can tell by the sound and style what era of Rush you are listening too. In the 70's, 80, 90's and 2000's their music never got stale, it progressed with the times which is how they stayed relevant with hit record after hit record for 40+ years.

Here are links to a few of their more well known songs:

(If you like any Rock music at all @Paul "Mclaneinc" Irvine , give these 5 songs a listen and give Rush a chance. If you aren't a fan of Rush after you listen to them, I will buy and send you any music CD you want. If you are a fan, after, I'll send you one of their "best of/greatest hits" CD's. It's win-win for you, all I ask is that you listen to all 5 before you pass judgement, to give you a taste of different sounds from them)

Fan favorite:
Closer to the Heart


My favorite:
Red Barchetta


Radio hit:
Spirit of Radio



Radio hit:
Tom Sawyer


Radio hit:
Limelight


Those songs above, are what are known as their "radio friendly" songs, meaning there length is 5 minutes or less, like the top 40 radio stations prefer (2-3 minute average). They are VERY well known for their long, epic, story-driven songs that are anywhere from 10-20 minutes long with many transitions to the music, so it doesn't get old like you are listening to a 2 minute song dragged out to 10 minutes. The type of songs you set aside time to just sit in your easy chair or on your bed and kick back, close your eyes and let the music take you on a journey.

You know what "Rock Operas" are I'm sure, like The Who's Tommy. Well, these are not Rock Operas (operas done to rock music), these are "Opera's of Rock" (story telling in Opera-esque form through rock music) or "Rock Symphonies." They are musical stories of fantasy or sci-fi in nature.

Rush's third album 'Caress of Steel' (in no way referring to "heavy metal," they caress the strings...well maybe a bit of making them scream) was the first with a couple of long "rock symphonies" on it. One of my and many a true fan's favorite albums, but it was a commercial failure. Mercury Records, at the time, gave them one more chance, ordering them to keep all the songs short and "radio friendly" for singles to be released, etc. and in rebellion, Rush decided they were going to do music their way or not at all and decided if they were going down, they would go down in flames making their dream album instead.

The album was 2112, and an entire side took up the 20 minute song by the same title, in like six chapters. The album was a hit, eventually becoming triple-platinum the first in a loong list of consecutive gold and platinum albums. After that, Mercury records gave Rush all the freedom they wanted and they went on to have a 40+ year career and became a super-group in the end, selling out stadium shows averaging 40 thousand people per show, their largest ever was in 2003 in Rio Brazil where they played three nights with crowds of 40 thousands the first two nights and 60 thousand the last night, a record, I believe. (for a single band concert with no opening acts at all) They are actually considered to be one of the best live acts ever, and are consistently considered to be better sounding live in concert than even on their studio albums (practice, practice, practice!).

They changed from Mercury to Atlantic Records in 1989 when they achieved "super group" status, out growing arenas and theatres and filling stadiums and amphitheatres. They formed in 1968 in high school, but their first albums wasn't released until 1974, with one to two albums per year until 1989! After that they slowed down to about 3 new albums per decade.

They always kept the epics to one side of the album though, and had shorter songs on the other side...until their very last studio album in 2012, 'Clockwork Angels' where for the first time in their history, and last, they made a full concept album instead of half of one. But they did arrange it more so there are individual songs or parts that can stand alone as singles.

They were inducted into the Rock and Roll hall of fame in 2013, and are number 3 behind only the Beatles and the Rolling Stones for the most consecutive Gold and Platinum albums in a discography! With 14 reaching Gold or Platinum and 3, 3x multi-platinum albums, consecutively! (20 studio albums; one being a cover album of 60's bands they grew up with, so 19 of original content) They also have multiple greatest/best of albums by both Mercury and Atlantic records and about 7 live compilation and full single concert albums released.

They are widely considered to be GOAT's (greatest of all time) with the drummer Neil Peart being at least in the top 5 if not number 1 drummer in history. Did you notice how clean, precise, and on time it all sounds? And how full it all sounds from just 3 members? They play multiple instruments each.

The Drummer, Neil Peart, (P-ear-t, not "Purt") also wrote the vast majority of their songs and the other two wrote the music. Guitarist/keyboards/back-up vocalist Alex Lifeson and Bassist/keyboards/vocalist Geddy Lee regarded as top 10 on their instruments.

Below is a fan favorite of one of their songs live in concert. This song is an instrumental and just see how the crowd reacts to even a non-vocal song by Rush! If you choose not to listen to the others, or not all of them, you must at least watch this video below, this is a must see performance that will blow your mind as to what a real concert is! And as an added bonus for you Brits, the song is titled "YYZ" and yes, it is pronounced correctly the British way as YYZED! They are a Canadian band after all...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eSlvoO3Vw8

Yes, all the information I just shared about the band is all correct and off the top of my head, that's how big a fan I am of them. I can even give you a full biography of each of their lives. I can tell you what their favorite pass-time activities are, too, and list not only every album in chronological order off the top of my head, but all the songs on each album too, in order, for at least half their albums! I can tell you what any given song of theirs is, in three notes or less. with an average of 8 songs an album, over 19 albums...you do the math...about 150 songs...

 

I shall be giving RUSH a good going over this weekend, Matt. My mate Johnny was always a big fan (he of Oric and Spooky Mansion fame). In fact, Jumpin Johnny liked the band Rush so much... he named his dawg after the band. Cheers for the recommendations and video short cuts - they will be on my playlist this weekend after I have returned from Sunderland and also fixed the god damn DVD/VHS player which has swallowed (and jammed within) a ruddy "slipped disc"... just my luck

 

So old school Andy, the kids these days are into those new fangled Laserdisc movies I hear.

 

You are the one in red, correct? The HAIR! Still, it's better than my late 80's mullet! Unfortunately the mullet is making a come back!

And Coco Loco certainly fits me to a "T" since I also own a vintage Coco computer!

I still need a VHS deck because I have several VHS collections that are out of print in any media format, like National Geographic tapes and American Civil war, WWI, WW2, Vietnam film collections and other military videos on all sorts of military machines, old Nasa stuff, etc.

And then there are collections that I could replace with newer media, but it would just be so damned expensive. Like my John Wayne box set movie collections and other various box-sets. Actually the same is true with my Laserdisc and DVD collections too. New Blu-rays would be great, but the cost would be enormous. But also, like my recently acquired RUSH Laserdisc, which has been out-of-print since the age of the VHS and Laserdisc. I couldn't get it on DVD or Blu-ray if I wanted, or I would have...

 

Loving the setup Matt, especially those older cabinets. Very nice.

 

@Andy Barr We are just the few and the proud who go against the disposable culture of everything these days, and see the value in what we have, remember the hard work we put in to have the money to purchase our material possessions or if it was used and given or found, the hard work we put in repairing and restoring it. And all the years of care that has kept them in good condition now.

We look at material possessions as our ancestors did before disposable mass-production and built-in obsolescence, that they should be truly owned and expect that we should have them for the rest of our lives and maybe even leave them as an inheritance to future generations. In the disposable mind-set of modern society nothing is truly owned, because when it breaks they pay for another, when it loses it's luster, instead of restoring and maintaining, throw it out and replace it, if something that they perceive as better comes along they replace it.

To me this is not ownership, it's leasing, just like leasing a car and you move on to the next in a few years, forever paying instead of enjoying material possessions that are payed for and owned so you can use your money on more important things. We few take advantage and gain unwanted material possessions from others and make them like new and enjoy them knowing they were free, we truly own them, and take pride in their repair, restoration and use until the end of our days.

But I also wonder how many vintage electronic or any other material possession collector's and user's only care for that vintage stuff, and still treat modern stuff as disposable, not seeing the writing on the wall that it will all be vintage one day and ultimately maintain or grow in value?

The most ironic to me being electronics, especially computers and consoles, that are market failures and most people ignore them and go for the winners, even though they know from their vintage collections that the failures, do to lack of sales, also become the most valuable rarities in years to come? That's why I always jump at close-out bargain-bin opportunities! One simple example is my Atari Jaguar Pro-controller that I payed $5 for out of a bargain bin in the late 90's and actively sells for $500 on ebay now.

I take care of everything I own, the best I can because I look to the future as well as the past with my hobbies and ownership of possessions old and new. And I took the time to educate myself to be the guy that can fix and maintain it all. I have never owned a new vehicle in my life, never made a car payment and the most I have ever payed for one is $2000.00.

And I know for a fact that the average I spent monthly on repairing and maintaining my vehicles is far less than a monthly car payment all my life would have cost. I've saved/gained a couple hundred thousand in my life already by not paying for new cars costing tens of thousands plus interest and tax on top, and still having to pay for repairs and maintenance until it's payed off and the process is repeated: doing the same thing over expecting different results is the definition of insanity!

I Because I fix, restore, maintain and care for them. I currently own 6 vehicles with only 3 running, all I've owned since I grew wise to the disposable society and stopped playing along. And all are there and will eventually be repaired and be back-ups for when others break, and I will have them until I die, a couple are already classics and worth much more than I payed for them even in their current non-functional state.

But I don't feel the need to impress others or keep up with the Jones' so I just repair and maintain and I have never made a car payment in my life, all bought with cash on the barrelhead. I didn't buy a house someone else built for hundreds of thousands, I built my own for mere tens of thousands. 100% owned, no mortgage.

My way of life I have very little owed to others, I own all I need and only ever have to worry about paying utilities, insurance and food & clothing and of course, taxes. anything money beyond that is mine to do with what I choose. I can choose to work only part-time and and still manage without financial worries. People who go along with the disposable society have much more constant worry and stress because they always have to pay for stuff, never really owning, just leasing their way through life.

And all of this modern-age tech that others dispose of and I save has allowed me to live on the money most would consider to be that of a pauper and have a standard of living far beyond what even the kings of old could have imagined. Of course that's true of anyone, even the poor (with exception of the truly homeless) in modern first-world countries, I've just managed to do it paying even less than most, being as self-sufficient as possible.

My frugality is what has made it possible, even when business is slow, over the past few years, to be able to buy all the new and vintage hardware, software and media pretty much any time I want, and be able to pay for a $100 vinyl collector's item on an almost weekly or bi-weekly schedule. Something I would never consider wasting money on if I had more bills and loans to pay and didn't own all of my possessions outright.

I'm definitely considered poor by American standards, just above what is considered the poverty line honestly. Only averaging an income of about $25,000-$30,000 and year, I think I made just under $50,000 as the largest yearly income in my life; a good year for business. Of course this is me, myself and I drumming up business and income for myself from scratch, doing it all myself and working for myself, not some ready-made steady job with guaranteed income as long as I was a good employee, from others.

But with everything owned out-right and me being single to boot, I have the expendable cash of someone making $150,000 a year, with family, mortgage, leased car, etc. Of course my house and cars aren't nearly as nice, but I don't care about that because the pride and satisfaction I have of building and maintaining all myself and owning outright makes up for it in spades.

My standard of being successful in life has always been to be well educated and never stop teaching oneself, self-sufficient in all ways possible, doing for myself instead of paying other's to do, and owing no man for anything. I would rather prove to myself I'm as good or better than any man walking the earth because of the mindset if they can do it, so can I. I'll just have to teach myself how. I feel less a man if I pay a plumber for something I know I have the ability to learn and do myself. That's how I feel about everything. I let myself down if I pay to have others do what I should be able to do myself.

What? Pay for an airline ticket and let someone fly me? I'd rather spend the money on flying lessons and find an old prop plane for cheap to learn to fix and then fly myself! Yes, an extreme example that will never come to fruition, just to show my attitude about life. I haven't flown in over a decade anyway and chances are never will again with all the headaches of that type of public travel these days. Besides, the journey to me is more important than the destination. I'd rather spend a week driving instead of missing the journey in a Fuselage waiting room for two hours and come out at the destination.

It is true that no man is or can be an island, but I've managed to become a peninsula with a very narrow passage to the mainland.

Well, now that I've managed to turn a post about owning vintage electronics into my entire philosophy of a successful life being an independent Renaissance Man, I will leave you all to the rest of your day or evening...I can't believe you read it all to here!

 

I would call it a comparatively great price, but paying over $30 for even an audiophile quality record is a bit ridiculous, prices are high to start and if you don't get them when the remasters are first released, then $50 is a bargain considering the scalping prices they go for these days.

But then, they are short runs and so rare, compared to the heyday of LP's...or any physical media. It's probably only one percent of music listeners that buy records anymore. LP's are seeing a resurgence among audio fans like me, i.e. old farts and a very few of the younger generation discovering them.

So the fact that new vinyl can be had at all is amazing. And with old used prints of the media selling for as much as these bargains for limited edition remasters, it really is a great deal for $50. The better deal here was the Permanent Waves Rush box set, with 3 records I got for $50 too. Also a deal amongst sellers wanting double or triple that price, for even used versions, since most of these "new" remasters have been out for 5-10, or more, years now themselves.

Rush did release a new collector's version of the 2112 album just this past year though. I have the original from 1976 myself and so I bought the much cheaper CD/DVD combo remaster that was released in 2012. No vinyl for the 2012 release though. But it was released by Rush's original publisher Mercury Records, not Rush and Atlantic which they have partnered with starting in 1989 with the Presto Album above.

All re-releases from Atlantic have vinyl versions unlike the Mercury re-releases. Apparently Rush still retains rights to release re-release old Mercury recordings of their music to release under the Atlantic label, but Mercury obviously still has rights to re-release any of their albums pre-'89.

Well anyway, comparative bargains or not, my busy business season is coming to a close, with lawns and plants going dormant for the winter these last few items I've purchased are going to be it for non-essential purchases this year. No more expendable income until next spring.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Of course, though I haven't been doing a show-and-tell with you guys over them, I haven't just been purchasing frivolous personal items, but I have been doing investments in business equipment too, so next year the business will expand and I should make more money. I started the year with 2 riding mowers and now have 4.

I also started with one trailer and now have two with the purchase of a larger one, I also purchased a small tractor (which is why I needed the larger trailer for hauling) that can use attachments like buckets and bulldozer blade and more to expand the business into land clearing jobs. I also purchased a second vehicle so I have the equipment now to higher on a second crew of workers, assuming I grow the business with the new equipment.

Of course the mowers and vehicle I bought weren't purchased with expansion in mind, but because my Blazer and mowers broke down and I didn't have time for repairs with work I to accomplish, so I bought the larger truck and two mowers until I get them all working again to keep the business going. Having it to expand the business is a bonus side-effect. The Blazer (transmission issue) I will repair during the off season so it is ready come next spring. I also still have my old pick-up truck I intend to repair this winter as well, so I will have two back-up vehicles, or at least one back-up should I hire on a second crew.

But it was actually a very bad year for me for business. At first it was one thing breaking down after another at the same time as a much wetter spring than usual, and combined delays between rainy days and break-downs cost business (delays push everything back so you aren't mowing a job as many times as normal a month or season) and money and a few unreasonable customers. So the business actually shrank this year. And we went from over-saturation to drought the last 4 months (first rain in 4 months came this past weekend) so there was nothing to mow. But luckily we were able to take on other maintenance work to keep us busy. Anywho, I lost money this year and all the equipment was purchased with $5000 I had saved, but I only recouped about half of it so far since. So it's a net loss for me this year. But my life style I outlined in the last long reply was still less expensive than what I made, so I still had some expendable cash. Some of the $2500 I did recover from my spent savings never found it's way back into the saving's account.

Other machines were also purchased so I can do things I was paying others to do; a new tire changer and air compressor to do my own tire repair and replacements, a portable generator for using power tools in remote areas without power, battery jump booster in case a battery goes dead on a mower so it can still be started "in the field." I almost forgot, I also purchased a tig welder so I can do my own welding repairs on broken metal equipment. And new hand tools and drill bit sets, etc. and even more.

The mowers, tractor and vehicle were all used of course, and all but one mower were in need of repair before they worked (I had to buy one working mower to be able to work), which is why I got great deals and was able to buy it all with $5000. All the tools and machines were purchased new. The vehicle of course ran, but it had been in an accident and I had to run to a vehicle salvage yard and buy some replacement body parts and install them before it was street legal. That all wasted two days of work. All are working now, as I write this, except for the Blazer and the tractor that I'll work on this off season.

And like the Craftsman riding mower and attachment trailer I showed you guys that I had fully restored, these mowers I bought and the tractor will get the same full treatment, fully restored and looking new. I have to keep up the company image of being professional and successful, and people have been more impressed with old equipment that has been restored and/or well maintained. Mainly most of my male customers, because it shows my work ethic and ability and attention to detail in running of the business. I've been offered more than one light construction job after they've seen my unique wooden mower trailer I built from a boat trailer, and find out I built it myself, with scrap wood left over from rebuilding my house or salvaged! I have to get the Suburban's replacement body parts painted to match the rest of the truck still too. That is best left to a body shop though, since I don't have a professional paint sprayer. Though I have a compressor to use with one now if I did buy one. But I don't think it's something I'd use enough to justify the investment.

The nice thing about all those purchases of course is they are tax deductible. Though since taxes owed to the state are less than the amount I could deduct, due to the lost business this year, I'll have to wait and claim some purchases on next year's taxes. But if the business grows next year due to the investments in expansion, taxes will also grow.

 

That was a canny bargain Andy, well done!

I picked up a cheap Philips mini system a while back and love listening to my CD collection on it. Mainly 80's stuff and more recent Country music. Only got a handful of tapes though (no big loss as I don't have a tape player anyway).

Happy listening lads

 

ANRS....Sorry, I just see ANUS...(and dead people)

Mind you, I just broke wind and actually enjoyed the smell...I fear senility is on the way..

Love the old kit you guys have, will take pics of my gear (for what it's worth) Good old Bob, always purchased top gear..

 

Just picked up a slightly yellowed, loose VIC 20 with no psu or accessories. It is the cost reduced version that takes the same Power Supply as my C64 so I took a punt and it works fine. I converted it to output SVideo instead of Composite as the standard composite output wasn’t great. I built a DIY 32K RAM pack and my Tapuino an Pi1541 work already so it’s been worth the gamble.

 

Bloody brilliant, Rich, with that Vic set-up and your homebrew RAM pack and loading system - spot on.
I will keep my eyes open for such a Rotel as I'm really getting back into my HI-FI at the mo and am BOUND to get my retro computer kit up and running in that there retro bar before long too as the long winter nights are calling me down the bottom of the garden with the sounds and the grog on tap. Matt - I will review my response to the remarkable RUSH soon!

Couple of decent Rotel examples here on FaceAche Marketplace, Rich - any good?

 

I had never used a VIC 20 except under emulation with VICE and I always wanted to have a play with the 64’s little brother. C16 is next on my shopping list.

 

Just started listening to this old classic from 1977, guys:



Wonderful start.

Will feedback laters.

Have a relaxing sunny Sunday, guys.

 

I'm a big Pole Position fan so after trading some unused stuff into CEX I bought Namco 50th Anniversary and a Mad Catz steering wheel for the Playstation 2. The Namco collection has both Pole Position 1 and 2 arcade versions on it.
Neither game disappoints but the steering wheel was in a bit of a mess....





But then as luck would have it I went for a wee wander round the (in)famous Barra's Market in Glasgow yesterday and came across another colour of the steering wheel and pedals, fully boxed and never used! Trader wanted £20 but after some negotiation I got it down to £12



There is a yearly Gaming Market event on just a couple of miles down the road from me next Saturday so going to go along and see if I can spot any bargains or grab a copy of the Secret History of Mac Gaming if Bitmap Books have a stall.

 

Excellent bartering, trading and results there, Al.

Very well done indeed.

I'm enjoying listening to Rush (Cygnus X1) in the background whilst I list some Oric tapes on the Samaritan's "DON'T DO IT, YOU DESPERADO" website... ;-)

It's like some wondrous space opera, Matt, that maybe only Queen could have got anywhere near.

Hey, I picked up another fruit machine bandit today from Lincolnshire:



Won't say what I paid for it but let's just say it's an ex-Japanese casino machine, runs off tokens and it makes one helluva racket.

This bitch clearly takes no prisoners.

More (noise) to follow!

 

Something we all strive for....