Re: Something good

On 2007-12-12, Rowland McDonnell <real-address-in-sig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Whiskers <catwheezel@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Rowland McDonnell <real-address-in-sig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Whiskers <catwheezel@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Rowland McDonnell <real-address-in-sig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I didn't get to see Led Zeppelin last night. But I have played some on
CD.

Dear god! It's been a long time since my LPs of Led Zep got rather
badly worn, and I've got a much better amp than I've ever had before
(speakers still as excellent as I was used to in the 1980s, mind).

There's just so much there. And in Honky Chateau by Elton John. Wow.
I never knew just how bloody good the musicians he had playing for him
were back then. Some of those session bods really are staggering good
at what they do.

So I got a bit of a smile. Oh yeah, and the pace at which this 'ere Mac
can rip CDs is `not slow', so I'm not unhappy about that either.

Rowland.

Is it safe for me to remove the ear-plugs yet? ;))

My stereo doesn't get turned up that loudly very often at all. Most
people find it hard to believe the speakers are only rated at 10W rms,
given the thunderous wall of sound they can kick out.

You mean you haven't even got any of those compressed-air things to boost
your bass up to destructive levels?

Ummm - no. What on *Earth* is one of them?

I'm not entirely sure, but there's a shop near where I live that sells
'in-car entertainment' equipment; the things look rather like scuba gas
bottles with electronic gubbins on the nozzle so I wonder if they use a
jet of compressed air to drive a diaphragm or air-chamber of some sort,
instead of a puny electro-magnet? They're compact enough to get one or
two into the boot of a small hatch-back, which seem to be the preferred
vehicle of the twits who go in for over-amplified 'sounds' in their cars.

I've considered a
sub-woofer, but the current room layout is such that we couldn't put it
in the place it'd need to be. And with my speakers, a sub-woofer is
actually just what's needed. Not many people have a real use for one,
but those of use with old fashioned and rather small (as horn speakers
go; big from all other points of view) horn speakers are missing deep
bass - apparently, my cabinets do kick out sound below 60Hz, but it's
falling of rapidly at that point.

It'd probably be more straightforward to buy some bigger horn speakers.
But that'd cost money and the ones I want might not fit in the room
given the 1967-ness of this house and its consequent low ceilings.

Buy the houses on either side and use them to contain your biggest horns.
You might have to buy the houses on the far side of them too, to avoid
complaints from the neighbours, of course. You could use the spare space
for all those bike bits ;))

Have you seen the 'listening chairs' that are available now? Direct body
contact with the sound output. I first heard of them when Evelyn Glennie
mentioned using one - but she does have the excuse of being severely Deaf
already. They seem to be getting more affordable.

But the downside
for rock music and the upside for folk and the neighbours is that
despite their huge size, they've got rather weak deep bass so they don't
thump through the walls all that much.

Unlike the car stereos in the street outside - not that I often hear the
thumping bass indicative of the fact that another prat of a young man
has his pratmobile outside, but when I do, he's parked outside the house
opposite and often tooting his horn for someone to come out.

One day I should do something artistic with an iron bar.

I've had thoughts of emptying ready-mix into those ghastly things. Then
use them for flood defence or coastal erosion control or something useful.

<cackle> Yes, I like that idea. There was a Frenchman who made a big
lump of concrete (I think it was a wall) with cars embedded in it - that
sort of thing, too, maybe?

Yes indeed; I believe there's a 'car henge' somewhere in the USA built of
up-ended cars, so there are obviously people with suitable ideas.

When they get me really annoyed I don't want to give the prats time to get
out first, either.

<shocked>! And there was me assuming you were not going to let *any* of
them get out first. It'd be for the best overall, I promise you. Think
of it as accelerated evolution - annoyingly antisocial people like that
really ought to be dealt with using social pressure - like sudden death
delivered by the community.

Perhaps three strikes and you're out (or rather 'in' the cement)? The
pain of watching their costly pride and joy being turned into abstract
sculpture is something I think they should be required to experience.

(It'll be their own fault, they won't hear me coming
and their sight must be blurred at the very least, being subject to all
that vibration).

<cackle> (again).

'ere, I've just seen this - I think you'll be interested, especially in
the external links at the bottom of the page:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutating_disc_engine>

Fascinating! :)) I've seen a coin nutating on a (cheap) speaker cabinet -
is that what led you to drift the discussion in this direction?

My guess is that the 19th century inventors saw the waggling motion of the
spindles in their spinning and weaving machines and reasoned that if power
coming in could make a thing waggle smoothly, then a waggling thing should
be able to deliver power - but there's a huge leap from that idea to
making the thing actually work.

--
-- ^^^^^^^^^^
-- Whiskers
-- ~~~~~~~~~~
.