"Don Pearce" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 22 May 2006 16:40:36 +0100, "Keith G"
wrote:

???

No idea! But it doesn't have a clock. I'm sure I've heard this noise on
some
PVR playback and then when I tried to record 'open mic', otherwise I
hadn't
noticed it!!


The open mic thing is bothering me a bit. The frequency does seem very
low to be picked up by a mic. Are you sure this isn't being generated
in the mic circuit side of things rather than the Argos box?


If I didn't 'recognise' the sound from when I was playing back PVR
recordings (I'm sure I do) I'd think *mic* straightaway - it ain't right and
(I think) doesn't work properly in 'stereo' anyway. I'll have to check it
out, but see below...


Or with
the wick wound up, can you see the speaker cones jumping in time with
the sound?


No.



Here's another one - I have a Hauppage WinTV card in this machine and have
just tried to install the crappy software (WinTV2000!!??) that came with
it.
I might have aerial issues (whenever not?) but is there any better
software
available to use with this card before I start crawling about in the loft?
I
was using ShowShifter on the old machine but seems to have gone tits up!!




I bought one of those Hauppauge cards a while back - totally screwed
two PCs before I finally threw it where it belonged.


Hah!!


It did work once
for about ten minutes, but never kept its channel list when I turned
off.


....I have ****ed so much time away on this POS I feel nauseous!

Sandwiched between this poxy thing and the truly *appalling* weather, I
would have done summat totally different (and a damn sight more
productive/useful) today, if I had known how it was going to go!!

"Jim Lesurf" wrote in message
...
In article , Keith G
wrote:

"Jim Lesurf" wrote in message
...


Yes, I'd agree. I was just pointing out that some people have an
aversion to anything 'digital',


They *do*....???

(How strange!! ;-)

Well, you said it... :-)


FWIW, I've had a fair amount of (mild) grief myself from carbon volume
and tone pots - not to mention hard-wired input selector switches!!

So have I, mainly due to a willingness to use quite 'old' equipment at
times. However I'd hope that any decent audio equipment made in recent
decades would be using the newer materials which don't degrade or cause
problems as in days of yore... :-)


When these buggers play up it is a serious inconvenience (especially to
non-DIYers) and the effects on sound quality can be quite severe -
silence on one channel or the volume blasting through flat out on both,
for instance!! (Been there, done all of that!!)

I can recall days when the advice you might get would be to use '3-in-1
oil' to 'mend' a duff carbon pot. :-)


That'll be 'WD40' now!! :-)


However for some time now, unless
you are using very old (or cheap) items nothing like this should arise.


Put me down for the 'cheap' option!!



Perhaps I'm naive, but I think the days of truly dodgy electronics are
well past us.

It would be nice to think so. I also hope for peace and the end of
poverty,
too... :-)



Well, ****e PC TV cards aside (actually, it's the software) I hafta say I
find most things work pretty well most of the time. I can remember the (B&W)
days when you sat just waiting for the 'tube' to go on your telly!! :-)


It's still possible to buy crap of course, but mostly I
think we are getting more bang for our bucks than ever before and I
don't think manufacturers playing in an international arena are going
to risk their grip on the markets with anything too pooey....??

Having a world market actually helps those who wish to flog duff or
counterfeit or out-of-spec goods. They can keep changing brand name or
market, or simply fake/falsify things... If you read IEEE Spectrum you
would be aware that this is now a very serious problem, and one that is
quite hard to deal with.


Yes fake *everything* is a big problem these days! I trust in 'respectable'
suppliers and the 12 months warranty that comes from them. usually. I don't
buy extra warranty - who TH wants 'electronics' to last 3 years these days?
Most of it it has been superceded by the time you get it home!!



Yes, there are lots of good quality. cheap, items on sale. But in with it
will be items using second-hand or faked components, and/or made with no
real regard for actual performance beyond the point of sale. Having a well
known brand name on the box may well help. But even that may not in some
cases since they may have bought in faked components without knowing so.


Sure.

On Mon, 22 May 2006 17:02:44 +0100, "Keith G"
wrote:

All too well. For myself, I have taken what is probably the commonest
compromise path these days. I have professionally built speakers
(Sonus Faber Amators), and a home-built sub. There is no alternative
to home building for this sub because it is built into a concrete
under-stairs cupboard space. As such it has a huge internal volume and
works in effectively infinite baffle mode. This makes it very
non-boomy - musical in fact. It also goes very, very low in frequency.
It does need quite a few of those "expensive" watts, though ;-)


I don't need a sub for music, but then I've never really had a decent one!!
(We don't even use one on the Cinema setup, the afore-mentioned Ruarks do a
pretty good job without one.)

I think you would be pleasantly surprised by a decent sub (not one of
those horrid little home cinema things). It is a much easier project
than a full range speaker and once you get it dialled in (turn it down
until you can't hear it, then turn it up just a bit) it really does
add to the music, particularly for speakers that don't cover the
bottom couple of octaves like your horns.

d

--
Pearce Consulting
http://www.pearce.uk.com

On Mon, 22 May 2006 17:19:37 +0100, "Keith G"
wrote:

Yes fake *everything* is a big problem these days! I trust in 'respectable'
suppliers and the 12 months warranty that comes from them. usually. I don't
buy extra warranty - who TH wants 'electronics' to last 3 years these days?
Most of it it has been superceded by the time you get it home!!


A survey was done a couple of years ago of stock at Lockheed-Girling's
aircraft brakes stores. Quite a number of fake items were found. They
had been ordered, delivered, then returned to stock.

d

--
Pearce Consulting
http://www.pearce.uk.com

"Don Pearce" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 22 May 2006 17:19:37 +0100, "Keith G"
wrote:

Yes fake *everything* is a big problem these days! I trust in
'respectable'
suppliers and the 12 months warranty that comes from them. usually. I
don't
buy extra warranty - who TH wants 'electronics' to last 3 years these
days?
Most of it it has been superceded by the time you get it home!!


A survey was done a couple of years ago of stock at Lockheed-Girling's
aircraft brakes stores. Quite a number of fake items were found. They
had been ordered, delivered, then returned to stock.


And I believe a bunch of 'fake' disk brakes was discovered either badged as
Ford (?) spares or simply being fitted and charged as genuine parts - when
the investigation was carried out they were found to come from the same
Eastern European factory as the 'official' versions?

Don't know that for certain - it's a hazy memory I've got but it was only a
few years back, perhaps someone knows more??

"Don Pearce" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 22 May 2006 17:02:44 +0100, "Keith G"
wrote:

All too well. For myself, I have taken what is probably the commonest
compromise path these days. I have professionally built speakers
(Sonus Faber Amators), and a home-built sub. There is no alternative
to home building for this sub because it is built into a concrete
under-stairs cupboard space. As such it has a huge internal volume and
works in effectively infinite baffle mode. This makes it very
non-boomy - musical in fact. It also goes very, very low in frequency.
It does need quite a few of those "expensive" watts, though ;-)


I don't need a sub for music, but then I've never really had a decent
one!!
(We don't even use one on the Cinema setup, the afore-mentioned Ruarks do
a
pretty good job without one.)

I think you would be pleasantly surprised by a decent sub (not one of
those horrid little home cinema things). It is a much easier project
than a full range speaker and once you get it dialled in (turn it down
until you can't hear it, then turn it up just a bit) it really does
add to the music, particularly for speakers that don't cover the
bottom couple of octaves like your horns.


I would need to hear just such a 'decent' sub before I could be convinced I
needed one - I ain't heard a sub yet that wuz singing from the same hymn
sheet!!

"Keith G" wrote in message
news

"Stewart Pinkerton" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 20 May 2006 18:45:18 +0100, Adrian C
wrote:

Keith G wrote:
Some people want to climb a mountain because it is there. The people
that put a wall around that idea don't understand the enjoyment one gets
in making the journey - no matter how ill looking the end looks (or
not!)

Sure they do - but they also understand that a home-built car will not
win at Le Mans.............



Bit disappointing from an engineer - why ever not, if it was built by
someone with the same (or better) expertise and resources as the
'professionals'....??? (I believe it happens from time to time in the
motorcycle world on possibly lesser events than the WSB, but I can't call
up
and specific examples - a bit of Googling might come up with summat??)


One of these (kit cars) might do it:
http://www.ultimasports.co.uk/company/

"Philip North" wrote in message
...

"Keith G" wrote in message
news

"Stewart Pinkerton" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 20 May 2006 18:45:18 +0100, Adrian C
wrote:

Keith G wrote:
Some people want to climb a mountain because it is there. The people
that put a wall around that idea don't understand the enjoyment one
gets
in making the journey - no matter how ill looking the end looks (or
not!)

Sure they do - but they also understand that a home-built car will not
win at Le Mans.............



Bit disappointing from an engineer - why ever not, if it was built by
someone with the same (or better) expertise and resources as the
'professionals'....??? (I believe it happens from time to time in the
motorcycle world on possibly lesser events than the WSB, but I can't call
up
and specific examples - a bit of Googling might come up with summat??)


One of these (kit cars) might do it:
http://www.ultimasports.co.uk/company/


'Kinell! :-)

As to audio quality, a conductive plastic pot will have zero effect on
audio quality.

Here's another view from Allen Wright (designs amps)
"Vishay cermet are good. One of the biggest con acts has been the
pushing of conductive plastic pots to the audio industry. I don't care
what the brand is - if they make a CP and a cermet (or even a quality
carbon) then my experience is that the cermet KILLS the CP for sonic
quality. The VISHAY cerment (made by their french wing Sfernice))
sounds. like two good fixed resistors, the identical looking CP sounds
like ****! Allen

Try to get past this 'mutual exclusivity' thing

Would be useful - modern valve amps are full of SS parts.