[~misfit~[_3_]]

Once upon a time on usenet Peter Wieck wrote:
a) How many here actually have used a soldering iron on their own
electronics in cold blood?

My main soldering iron is used at least twice a week. My hot air station
twice a fortnight.

b) How many here can read and understand a schematic well enough to
make parts and quality decisions?

Yeah mostly.

c) How many here believe that there is a direct (if not necessarily
linear) correlation between sound and cost?

Yes but with diminishing returns (unfortunately they start to diminish
considerably at a point that is well out of my reach as an invalid on
welfare - thank the gods for 'tunable' vintage gear!).

d) How many here have dedicated (single-purpose) listening rooms?

No. I have a dual purpose room for audio and video with dual audio systems
(stereo and 5.1). I also have quite reasonable sound systems in four rooms
of the house - two in one open-plan room.

Cheers,
--
Shaun.

"Humans will have advanced a long, long way when religious belief has a cozy
little classification in the DSM*."
David Melville (in r.a.s.f1)
(*Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders)

Asked in the spirit of curiosity. And, going first:

Most everything I have or own with a few specific exceptions did not
come to me in reliable working condition. Some were little more than
hulks (but with good transformers), some needed only minor tweaks.
But I have, in my time and directly, re-wound solenoids, re-wound
voice-coils, reconed and re-surrounded speakers, the usual recapping,
turned moving parts on a lathe, milled others. and more. I can (but
seldom need to) match tubes properly. So, Yes to a)

Yes - but, to b) I can read a schematic, I can identify marginal
quality parts if due to age, what is available now, and other
reasons. But I am not a circuit designer. I prefer to restore or
improve a good basic design over creating one of my own.

c) Lots of variations here. It does take a certain amount of time,
treasure and trouble to execute a good basic design. To that extent,
I believe there is a linear relationship to cost and quality -
transformers being one example easily understood. BUT: after a
certain point, there are only but so many things that can go in a
box, and those things can cost only but so much.

d) No, almost emphatically. We have three listening venues 'at home'
being the Library, which also contains the altar for the television,
the living room which is a relaxing area for reading, napping, and
guests when in the house. Then there is my workshop (a small bedroom
upstairs) wherein are three active systems - one of which consists of
things that are heading to, or recently from the bench and being
burnt in, tested or verified as fit for polite society.

At our summer house we have two venues - one being sound
reinforcement for the DVD player, the other being an indoor-outdoor
(switchable) system in the bedroom that also feeds the side yard and
deck.

Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA