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

Hi, Matt.
Thanks a lot for all that info on cassette decks and noise reducing features as most of it was completely new to me so none of it is teaching granny to suck eggs as it were.
There is so much to go at there and we've been so busy again with family members poorly of late (up and down to Sunderland to see Bev's dad and out to the coast to see my folks) so I've had precious little time to do anything with any micro or HI-FI gear but tonight I did get 30mins to faff about playing and recording from the Denon and I'm noticing the left hand stereo channel is definitely weaker/poorer/noisier than the right (this doesn't manifest itself when I play a CD for instance) so I'm thinking that Denon deck either needs some contact spray somewhere in the internals OR the heads need cleaning (tried that already) or maybe demagnitizing? Anyhow, I'll take a little look when I get a bit more time and then definitely give your Your Tube recommendations a good going over soon too.
Cheers, Matt - everyday's a learning day (as has been mentioned on this forum more than once ;-)

 

I’m trying to get hold of a Rotel RA-931 Amp as Sonia bought me a turntable for my birthday which has Bluetooth but I would like to have a proper setup again.

 

Always had a soft spot for the C16 and Plus 4. I hear some of the chips in them can be quite fragile nowadays though.

 

Yeah, the TED chip is very fragile and if that fails you are scuppered - replacements are expensive.

 

You'll have to listen to the second half of Cygnus X-1: Book Two on first side of the next album, Hemispheres.

Have you listened to Xanadu on A Farewell to Kings album yet?

The term "rock opera" or "opera" associated with rock music has always left a bad taste in my mouth, so to speak. I prefer the term rock symphonies. But yeah, Cygnus X-1 is definitely diving head first into the deep end as far as Rush goes...next step should be Rush 2112, the 20 minute rock symphony story that covers the entire first side of the album of the same name. My favorite Rush rock symphony story is on their album Caress of Steel; called The Necromancer...

Next will be time to go wading into their instrumentals including La Villa Strangiato, YYZ (YYZED), and Malignant Narcissism to name a few.

And if you didn't already know, all that incredible sound come from just 3 members in the group, all with multiple virtuoso talents to multi-task with multiple instruments.

Geddy Lee, the singer, is also the bassist and keyboards too, often switching between them in the same song, and he also uses foot-peddle keyboard synths when he has to play bass and sing at the same time too.

Alex Lifeson, the lead guitarist also sometimes plays keyboard and is back-up vocals and both him and Geddy play rhythm guitar too, often using double-neck guitars with rhythm and lead, and rhythm and bass for each. Neil Peart, the groups drummer and percussionist is the greatest drummer in the history of the world, and also is the sole lyricist for all the songs, the other two compose the music. A discography of 168 original songs and 8 cover songs covering 19 studio albums, and one studio cover album. Many more than that, but the rest are "live" albums from tours, which is actually the better way to experience Rush...

 

I just purchased my 16th Rush album (14 out of 20 studio albums and 2 out of 5 live albums. Not counting live video recordings), I just happened to find a sealed copy that could not be sold as "mint" because the cellophane wrap has a tear in it and apparently part of the sticker on the wrap is damaged, though I can't see either in the photo. But it brought the price down to $60, while all other copies of the remastered edition are selling for $100+ more. Two other albums I really want I haven't seen for less than $250, so I'm still waiting and watching. The other 4 missing studio albums I'll just get $10 CD's for. Only favorites get the royal vinyl treatment. Which includes 9 LP's out of the 16, and 7 CD's. Though I do have several albums on both vinyl and CD too; one for the home, one for the car/truck.



This sheet comes with the album, I thought I'd post it as well because it has a description of how these modern, audiophile quality LP's are made.



You may have noticed the sticker on the album that says 'Quality Records'. This is part of a company known as Acoustic Sounds that was started in middle-America a dozen years ago. They make the best records in the world and where this album above, and many of my other remasters are made by. This is why they are superior to CD's. I think you will really enjoy this video:

 

Bloody marvellous.

This post/record/artwork just oozes quality and interest and retro joy...

I will play the link sometime over weekend, Matt as am about to go out for a pre-Xmas meal with friends.

I hope everyone is keeping well.

Lurve those retro TVs in the kid's room on the cover art - I want one.

Brilliant and watch yer letterboxes over the next week or three (postal strikes permitting).

 

Well protected, Matt.

They'll last forever with those plastic covers.

The Rush CD vs LP differences - doesn't one have swirly cloud patterns whereas the other has radiating 'water' circle ripples?

A subtle background shift.

 

And not a moment too soon as I noticed some light scuffs on the edges and corners of my cardboard cased CD's too (easily seen if you zoom in on them). The LP's still had the original shrink-wrap protecting them until I got these new sleeves. But it's nice to have them all in clear, unwrinkled plastic and out of the original wrinkly shrink-wrap.

I have only one Rush box set (Permanent Waves) that is too large for the protective sleeve. The inner albums have the sleeves over them, but I'll have to buy some larger sleeves made for large box sets before I can remove the shrink-wrap from the outer box for that album. The problem is I think the minimal set of sleeves is a pack of 25-50, and I have one box set album. I may get one more Rush album box set, that I only have a CD for now, but that's a lot of unneeded sleeves left over I'll most likely never use. There aren't any other groups I like enough to pay hundreds for a box set album, and even Rush only has a few box sets themselves. I may just end up cutting up a couple sleeves and taping them together to make one that fits the box.


As per album covers: That is correct. I first noticed a different cover from a Youtube reaction video that had the clouds. But I hadn't noticed, until taking that picture, that my CD had the same clouds instead of "rain drops." I'll have to investigate further, but I think the clouds are the original release, which my CD is, and the "rain drops" was done for my special 200g double-LP audiophile version only. I personally prefer the "rain drops."

 

So sorry to hear of the fall and the damage, Matt. Just the sort of thing that happens this end when we're trying to be careful with precious stuff and then oops, slip... crash. Sod's Law. Almost like something reminding us that nothing remains perfect and lasts forever.

 

Yup, sorry to hear Matt, not good. When I did have vinyl, bitd, I had 2 shockers that decimated my beloved records. First was we had some stored in a box on top of a cabinet. I climbed up a ladder to get and the ladder had a wobble, making me drop the box. The box landed right on top of a gas fire fitting sticking out from the fireplace (there was no gas actually on, just a relic from when there was). The metal prong skewered the first four records and twisted and cracked a few more.

The second was just classic IDIOT, we were moving, and I was filling the car up with gear, brought my record box out and tried to get it in the car but it would not fit, so I put it on top of the car to make room. As it was getting very dark and late I got side tracked, totally forgot the box and it was so dark I didn't see it when I got in the car. Off I went down the M4 which was very close to where we then lived. As I sped up to get to the other place I heard a slide, off went the box down the back of the roof and off the boot in to the motorway lane, bloody great truck came along and I though was going to go over it, but the guy swerved at the last min but clipped the box, the box rolled, smashed open and sent the records spraying all over the lane and lay-by. Most ruined...Gutted..I hate vinyl..

 

LOL! What a tragic set of circumstances, Paul, but we can easily see why you and vinyl go your separate ways... ;-)

 

If that had happened to me, I might never start collecting vinyl again Paul! But I won't let one scratch, however nasty, detour me yet...

 

You do realize that had it been a box of tapes or CD's the result would have been the same in that situation, don't you Paul? My agreement if that had happened to me was more about repurchasing them all, not the format. Though tapes in their caddy cases (not outer cases) might have had a better chance of some of them surviving.

It wouldn't have made me hate the format, just the cost to replace them, so I probably wouldn't have repurchased. When many of my records were damaged in storage, I was able to save most of the LP's, after cleaning, it was the album folders that all got ruined except for just a few records that I did replace. I also had some tapes and CD's and cases that were water damaged too, the CD's I also saved, but not the inserts. The tapes were at total loss. But not all my tapes and CD's were in storage either, just all my LP's.

The silver lining was I got remastered LP's with higher quality recordings on heavy (stiffer so no warping) Vinyl.

 

Although my first music was on vinyl I was always more into tape as a youngster (was lucky enough to have a walkman that went everywhere with me) and then progressed onto CD which is my favourite media still. Mainly because you don't need to get up to turn it over halfway through the allubm

But I would love to be able to get CD's in the vinyl packaging as I prefer the 'big box' look and it's easier on my old eyes!

 

@Paul "Mclaneinc" Irvine No extra connections needed for the extra speakers, you plug all four into the two L/R connections, as long as the amp can handle them. This doesn't include the little, cheap, surround systems that can be bought at the local department store, just the larger component home theater and audio systems with real power.

Unfortunately these days most people have been suckered into buying those terrible "sound bars" that are like the old boomboxes without real stereo/surround audio separations. I roll my eyes when I see them as true audiophiles know they are crap, but they have become so popular you have to search far and wide even for 5.1 surround systems these days. I was looking for a new 5.1 surround system a few years ago before I pulled out my vintage system and I couldn't find any for sale online! Only those damned sound bars kept coming up in searches. But luckily I found my Pyle amp that is 5.1 and can use any speakers (sold separately), which I have my old component system and speakers hooked up to now and it sounds fantastic.

It can also be used as just a stereo system as it has separate connections for just that. One or both stereo/surround connections at the same time, I'm using both, the stereo side handles my large loud speakers for front L/R and the surround bit is for the smaller center rear L/R speakers. This amp is less than $100 and I've been delighted with it's performance vs. cost. They, as with other brands, have much higher end models too, but this suffices until I get my JVC amp running again. I have my large loudspeakers hooked up via the screw tightened bare wire connection, and side bookshelf speakers that plug into the ends of those same connectors. Though bare wires could just be doubled up too. As you can see, the surround speakers are just connected via bare wire ends to those "pinch" connections.

 

Wow, that's bad (IE sound bar) I just avoided them altogether. My brother has one in his room, but the only time I really listened to it was once when he brought it out by a camp fire we had going when he first moved down here. It crap, but ok for the situation, like a boombox. I didn't say anything to him because he seemed pretty proud of it. But he's the type that gets rid of old consoles and TV's and sound systems and constantly buys new with each generation of console, etc. and always thinks it's better, i.e. sound bars just because it's new and all the rage. But he's one of those know-it-all morons who's generally wrong. And a hypocrite. Exactly what I've avoided being all my adult life. It's amazing how opposite we are.

 

I think a bit more clarification is needed about what I said earlier on connecting two speakers to one channel, just in case any of you decide to try this for front and side L/R speakers. I forgot to mention that it also depends on the ohm rating of your speakers, and the ohm range the L/R outputs of your amplifier. And also if your speakers are singular or two and three way speakers (for example 3-way have bass, mid and tweeters). Two of mine are 2-way and two 3-way. But instead of me just writing it all here, I'm leaving a link that shows and describes how, with clear wiring diagrams on how to connect. The ohms change depending on how you connect the two speakers to one channel: in parallel or series. This will reduce the watt power to each speaker, but combined, it's the same watt power as with one speaker per channel if connected in parallel and the other way, connected in series, you lose some watt power overall. Hence I said it's for more powerful amplifiers, generally, than the small and cheap 5.1 surround systems bought at the local department store.

On my amplifiers, they have so much wattage potential that they'd blow my ear drums if I turned them up all the way, and they are quite loud for me in my small room, even if the volume is at 25%, so four speakers on L/R outputs just means I can turn the volume up to 50% for the same volume level I get from just two speakers for L/R.

Don't worry, you don't even need to know what ohms and watts means, just do the simple edition or subtraction as shown in the tutorial after checking the back of the speakers enclosure or on the speaker itself (on the magnet/coil end) for their ohm ratings and checking the back of the amp to make sure the speakers you are using, when added or subtracted (depending on the two ways you can connect them to one output) has the ohm range that can handle the combined speakers ohms, depending on which way you choose to connect them, in parallel or series. It may seem complicated here, but it is really not that hard and the tutorial will show you which way is best for your amplifier.

In the picture I posted of my Pyle amp, you can see by the connections the ohm range my amp can handle that allow me to do this. on my Pyle amp the range is 4-16 ohm for my L/R channels, and my speakers are all 8 ohms, so for me, I can hook them up either way. But I chose parallel giving more watts to each of the speakers. Your amp may allow the same, or only one way or the other, depending on the ohm rating of your speakers and the ohm range of your amp outputs. And the speakers don't even need to be all the same ohm rating, even though the tutorial gives example with speakers of the same ohms, they just have to be within the range the amp can handle when you add or subtract their respective ohms.

Anyway, here is a link to the easy to understand tutorial.

https://soundcertified.com/how-to-c...parallel_for_great_sound_AND_no_Ohms_problems

 

I look at it like this, if the person likes what they see or hear then it's the right item for them, that's not saying it's a good item, but if they like it then they are happy. As we know, flies swarm to shit, people are no better sometimes, sometimes the sheep-like hear a rumour that xyz is great, so they all go and get one without bothering to check it out first.

You could try and help them realise their mistake, but they tend to bond against you, so I leave them to it. They are happy and I don't need to hear their crap. I know there's much better gear out there, but I can't afford it, that's the boat most of us are in, we know the score and that is the main thing. As long as we don't let ourselves be ignorant to the possibilities, then we at least are being aware, unlike the sheep-likes.

 

I live in a flat as well so wary of pumping up the volume too much. I normally use an Anker Soundcore speaker or a pair of Philips bluetooth headphones. I'm not an audiophile (or any other kind of phile!) so both do me just fine for listening to my collection. Also have a nice little Philips hifi and portable cd player for putting my original CD's through.

 

Already given it a bit of a listen Andy

 

Although I live in a home in the middle of nowhere and no neighbors to bother, and not a flat, I rarely get a chance to turn my hi-fi up loud as I have that brother of mine, who currently, until my mother passes anyway, is in a room directly next to mine, and though there is a wall with insulation in between us, we can still here everything the other is doing in his room. For example, my bed is on the opposite side of my room from our adjacent wall, but he snores at night and I can clearly hear his snoring as if he's in the same room.

So we try and respect each other make as little noise as possible to annoy each other. On top of that, he is without a job for two reasons. One, he is here to be with my mother when I work, and two, He has no driver's license to be able to got to work at this time even if he could, so my mother's income and mine support him until she passes. Now, he's working on getting his license back, but he has to pay off $5,000 in fines, which he will only be able to do once he gets his share of life insurance and savings of my mother's when she passes. That, split among us four siblings will come to about $10,000 each, basically just a bit of buffer for us until these things are worked out and we are both able to work full-time. I'm also hoping that one day my brother will be able to own his own home on our land and have our own personal space where we don't bother each other at all, since neither of us like the other (you can love family, even to the point of sacrificing yourself for them, without liking them at all, that's what blood is all about. Though much better if you did like each other too) and would rather have our own homes.

The point being, my hi-fi won't get used to it's full potential until he takes up residence on the opposite side of the house and is also working full-time, which hopefully will give me an hour or two here and there when he's till gone, whether working, or actually getting out of the house once in a while once he get's a life, and same for me there too.

But, a good hi-fi can still sound good at lower volume in my small room with all the speaker a mere few feet away, with me in the center reclining in my theatre style recliner. Also, I'm by no means rich, or even well-off, which is why when I needed a new amplifier I bought one that was less than $100 instead of one for hundreds, and also why I still own and maintain a JVC component stereo system that is 45 years old, though also because it's better made quality and far superior than the Chinesium junk that is sold today, unless you pay thousands for good quality Japanese, German or American (there are still a few companies over hear) systems from a dedicated audio dealer.

Which is also why I learned electronics and taught myself mechanics and construction and plumbing and electrical, etc. so I can build or restore and maintain what the masses consider old obsolete junk. Also if I self build DIY stuff, I make it to last, and I like older tech anyway because quality was better back then and stuff was made to last and be maintained, and not disposable junk like we have today. I know, not everyone has the time to learn or even repair for themselves like I do, and there's nothing wrong with that, for many reasons. I do and can because I remained single and being self-employed in my business allows for me to make my own schedule and I have a lot more time on my hands during the off season of winter.

I just happen to have been able to create the life circumstances I choose, being single. And of course that has the downside of never being in love, raising a family and the joys as well as tribulations that comes with that. It also means, unlike my mother, I will have no one to take care of me in my old age and may well end up in an elderly poor-house near the end after I can no longer work. Unless I remain healthy enough to build my business into something self-sustaining with employees to do the real work and I sit behind a desk and start making enough to save for retirement. I do have the advantage already of owning my home and inheriting 10 acres of land that is paid for, even if I also share that with three other siblings, with at least one that will probably never move here anyway. Possibly two.

I make do and make the best of what I have, and have the ability to improve and upgrade and learn all the tricks to get the most out of what I have, like making a near-equivalent of a 7.1 surround sound system out of older equipment combined with a newer 5.1 amp, that I know how to integrate with my older JVC "4.0" equipment once fixed, and in combination have something very good on the cheap, like this knowledge I've shared to use more speakers with a system not necessarily designed to do so. I just like to share what I know, so if any are in a position to take advantage of the knowledge and put it to use can also improve what they have on the cheap, if they can't afford something like a great 7.1 true surround system, and are in a situation to do so. We all have to make the best of our situations and the possessions we own and time we have.

 

Here, here, Matt.
Well said, mate.
You are a true make do and mend - and improve - and waste not sorta guy - and you look to respect folks, family, boundaries and don;t like to impose yourself on peeps, rather allow them time, space and opportunities to do their thang on the understanding that they reciprocate.
You look to the future positively and like to pass on your electrical skills and knowledge to those open to listen and once more, family is often at the centre of what you do - a lot of admirable traits, mate.
Yeah, you'll do for me, fella and of course I lurve the fact you lurve and admire your retro micros and retro hi-fi and all your reasons are based on hard fact - it was better-built back then - that's why it is mainly still around and cherished to this day as opposed to the cheap imported disposable crap we are persuaded is "hip" and "essential" and the "next big thing"... you smell bullshit like the rest of us old timers, Matt.
Fair play to you, buddy and continue to shine on, you crazy diamond - your folks are very lucky to have you there to keep a steady hand on the tiller.

 

Hey, I for one will be dipping in to your latest issue later today, Daz, and I have a funny feeling that Matt might be a tad interested in an article or two, too...



Many thanks, buddy - always good to get your (valued) contributions on the Atari Owner forum, fella.

All the best, mate.

 

So far I read the editorial and the Bally article. Both quite interesting, but as I thought, I already knew most of what was talked about in it aside from the names involved. In my restoration of my Bally and researching the memory chips used I found another type of dram chip that is a pin-for-pin compatible match to the original ram chips, which just happened to be the same chips that Atari used on their 16K ram boards, with the same power requirements of 5 and 12V. Though when used you don't get 16K, the Bally only sees the first 4K of ram, but they are less rare than the original Bally chips and better than hacking the motherboard for use with 5V only chips that are not pin and power compatible as I talk about below.

Apparently the above was unknown to the Bally user community at large who were hacking the motherboards to allow the use of dram chips that used only 5V. And had never discovered my option with drop-in replacement chips, that I already knew of from doing my own hacking on Atari 16K boards to upgrade them to 64K boards (though with only 52K direct access and then the rest as bank-switchable memory with 3 4K banks allowing the use of all 64K dram.

Of course my Atari hacking did require the incompatible 64K dram chips, so in that instance I had to hack the ram board to work with only 5V chips similar to what Bally users were doing with their motherboards for another type of chip. But that meant I already had the chips on-hand for my bally ram work as the original 16K ram chips on the Atari 400/800 boards are those pin-compatible ones with the 4K ram chips used on the Bally.

As to the Atari hacking, that was all with the help of Claus Buchholz ram upgrade work he did with Atari 800's and XL's back in the 80's for extended memory and using his schematics as well as direct correspondence with Clause to do that work, which in the end I halted on before it was completed due to the Incognito boards for the 800 becoming available again, which I purchased to upgrade my 800 instead, because of all it's many extra features like a meg of ram with various compatible configurations, the CF flash drive, full XL/XE memory compatibility for a true 64K base memory, and lastly, it's built-in connector for full XL/XE PBI/ECI compatibility, which then led to me creating my own real PBI port out the back of the 800, similar to the one I had done to my 1200XL.

So being a new comer to the community I soared quickly in status among them for this reason above of finding pin-compatible ram replacements and also the way I upgraded my console with the keyboard and keypad. Not so much the keyboard part, in as much as other homebrew hardware gurus had integrated keyboards the same way as I did way back in the 80's, and in fact I used their documentation to do it. But, those DIY keyboards, integrated through the onboard keypad, in photos, always had a ribbon cable coming out the front of their systems where they had hacked the case slightly for that. But when I started doing my keyboard upgrade I was very curious as to why they did it that way because on my Bally console there is a 10-pin edge connector on the side of the consoles motherboard, but it's hidden under the case and doesn't have a "pop out" door like the expansion port on the back does. I of course just hacked a small square opening in the case which is hidden away still do to the cases slanted design on both top and bottom halves.

So I started asking why no one else doing the keyboard hacks were using this edge connector instead of a ribbon cable out the front. People were totally confused about what I was talking about, many assuming I was referring to the rear expansion edge connector originally meant for such upgrades like the Z-grass upgrade that some were making for themselves because all the documents and schematics for it were preserved on the BallyAlly site. After quite a bit of back-and-forth and me showing pictures of my motherboard and pointing out the 10-pin edge connector in the Bally's schematics, the confusion was finally cleared up on both sides. What it was all about was that apparently my motherboard was a very unique early model that no one else in the community owned, that had this edge connector that was soon removed completely from later revisions. It was labeled "keyboard connector" on the schematics and my motherboard, but since know one else had the same motherboard (which was soon discovered to have other unique features) everybody in the community into DIY hacking and upgrades ignored that bit on the motherboard schematics thinking, correctly it turns out, that this was something used only for in-house motherboard testing on the very early motherboards like the one I had and was removed for both cost cutting in later revisions and because it was no longer needed in-house for testing because by then any bugs in the design had been worked out.

It was not in fact, associated with the on-board keypad which also uses a 10-pin cable connector, which is why I naturally assumed it to be associated with it. But after I and another figured this out after collaborating in following the traces of the edge connector to their sources which in fact were not to the keypad connector as I had assumed, because may of the traces pass right by it and on quick inspection I had put two and two together and came to that original conclusion. Anyway, since I did have that edge connector, I merely cut the traces behind it and rewired the on-board keypad connector to that edge connector so I didn't have to have an ugly cable coming from the front of the Bally case.

As to the keypad part, apparently no one had ever thought of integrating a full-stroke keypad and also weren't aware that 24-key keypads (the same amount as the onboard keypad) even existed. But I decided to search for one so I could have both a full stroke keyboard and keypad as there was no way I was going to be using that terrible onboard keypad for any type of Basic or machine language programming! So that was another new thing I unwittingly introduced the entire community too, again surprising all the long-time Bally hardware Guru's amazed at the ingenuity of this Johnny-come-lately to the community. It's interesting how stuff learned and done for another machine can help to discover new ways to do things on a completely different machine and surprise an entire community as a new comer who had been doing things differently for years and a new set of eyes can help them realize things about their machines that they never realized and knew themselves.

In the end, my DIY upgrades is part Z-grass upgrade and part homebrew DIY as I did utilize the rear expansion for the 32K ram upgrade as the Z-grass upgrade would have done if it wasn't vaporware. This bit is an already available upgrade in the community though, not an invention of my own. And this upgrade of course allows large Basic programs, but also better Basic implementations have been introduced to the community, as well as a machine language cart created by those who worked on the Z-grass project and continued to support the community after the Z-grass expansion was abandoned, so that home-brewers could still expand their memory and use something other than the rudimentary Basic it had. And a multi-cart that contains the entire library of games, newer Basic implementations and many homebrew machine and Basic programs created over the years by the homebrew community. I also own the original Basic cart for the ability to connect a tape recorder for saving programs to tape, and I also have another cart that can utilize burned eproms for those machine language programs that can only be utilized through the rom cart port.

What I refer to in the paragraphs above can be seen in my blogs on AA, they are the 2nd and 3rd entries at the top: https://forums.atariage.com/blogs/blog/597-gunstars-blogs/



As to the editorial, I guess I can be included in the Guru/Sorcerer hardware group, though I don't offer services to fix anything for anyone, but of course often offer advice and knowledge on maintaining these old machines. It's basically the only reason I went to school to learn electronics; to make it a hobby and ensure I can keep my old electronics running for many years to come. And I LOATH not using original hardware.