I bought some lovely Kef coaxials. Less lovely after being shipped. ..what a shame, was really looking forward to these
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Careful with those cheap custom keyboards Randy, I got burned with the Blackweb software not talking to apps reliably as an example. I had previously thought Blackweb was a name brand; back I went to Logitech.
As for me, normal odds and ends: an Azzurri hat from Aliex (quite cheap as they keep missing the World Cup 😀), and a Netgear gigabit dual WAN router from the electronics recyclers. Not the best specs, gigabit electrically but max throughput is 350 Mbps. Also a bear to configure, uses outdated, forced SSL connection. Luckily Firefox still supports all the way back to TLS 1.0. Only $21.
As for me, normal odds and ends: an Azzurri hat from Aliex (quite cheap as they keep missing the World Cup 😀), and a Netgear gigabit dual WAN router from the electronics recyclers. Not the best specs, gigabit electrically but max throughput is 350 Mbps. Also a bear to configure, uses outdated, forced SSL connection. Luckily Firefox still supports all the way back to TLS 1.0. Only $21.
An Xduoo mu-604. I wanted a line powered dac to try to eliminate pc noise and my old dac was about 10 years old. At the time light years ahead of pc motherboard sound, now, not so much. It did the trick, no pc noise. It seems DACS have improved massively in the last 10 years, even though it isn't an expensive one. This new DAC is a similar improvement over my contemporary motherboard sound card which to be fair is actually quite good and suffers less pc noise than the old external dac. I'm happy with my purchase!
The 7Hz Timeless planar IEM for the planar aspect. Not sure I'm board with the Olive bass contour but otherwise impressive for the price.
Pioneer VSX-521-K AV receiver, $27.99 less 20% coupon. I hesitated, but then I added up the benefits, like remote source switching and volume control, DTS-MA and TrueHD support, subwoofer output, equalization, and enough inputs for all my sources, that it made sense even with a 2.0 setup. Too bad it lacks upscaling, and only outputs the setup OSD over baseband video, which my monitor can't use. It'll displace 3 boxes and 3 power supplies too (HDMI switch, DAC, and T-amp).
Sony BDP-S1700 Blu-ray player, $9, but no remote, and 12V power jack is broken. I didn't notice that until I got home; I have a spare power supply and remote (thanks to thrifting), but replacing the power input jack with a more common 5.5/2.1 coaxial would be an improvement anyway.
Logitech Harmony Ultimate touch-screen remote c/w Harmony hub and IR blasters. $4. Looks like it hadn't been used since 2014, but thankfully the lithium cell takes a charge, and I was able to update the firmware, copy over the devices from another Harmony, and it works.
Merkury Smart Wi-Fi LED Strip, $12. 2m of RGB/WW/CW powered from 5V USB adapter. Opened up the brain, and there's a TYWE3S module, so it's possible to flash it with Tasmota firmware and not depend on the Geeni app (and internet access) to use it. Firmware has to be done via serial/USB, not over-the-air, on this revision. I've got it linked to Alexa so I can turn it on and change colors without lifting a finger.
Bose Quietcomfort headphone case, to hopefully go with the NC headphones I rescued from a recycling bin a few years ago. If not, I think my Sony MDR-V500 'phones would fit in there.
And two Hawaiian short-sleeve shirts, both made in Hawaii. One looks '70s, the other '90s (guessing from the colours).
And jugs of salsa, which are about 50% more expensive than the last time I bought them. But that brand is about the lowest in sodium, so I don't have much choice. I like my mouth to burn from hot peppers, not salt.
Sony BDP-S1700 Blu-ray player, $9, but no remote, and 12V power jack is broken. I didn't notice that until I got home; I have a spare power supply and remote (thanks to thrifting), but replacing the power input jack with a more common 5.5/2.1 coaxial would be an improvement anyway.
Logitech Harmony Ultimate touch-screen remote c/w Harmony hub and IR blasters. $4. Looks like it hadn't been used since 2014, but thankfully the lithium cell takes a charge, and I was able to update the firmware, copy over the devices from another Harmony, and it works.
Merkury Smart Wi-Fi LED Strip, $12. 2m of RGB/WW/CW powered from 5V USB adapter. Opened up the brain, and there's a TYWE3S module, so it's possible to flash it with Tasmota firmware and not depend on the Geeni app (and internet access) to use it. Firmware has to be done via serial/USB, not over-the-air, on this revision. I've got it linked to Alexa so I can turn it on and change colors without lifting a finger.
Bose Quietcomfort headphone case, to hopefully go with the NC headphones I rescued from a recycling bin a few years ago. If not, I think my Sony MDR-V500 'phones would fit in there.
And two Hawaiian short-sleeve shirts, both made in Hawaii. One looks '70s, the other '90s (guessing from the colours).
And jugs of salsa, which are about 50% more expensive than the last time I bought them. But that brand is about the lowest in sodium, so I don't have much choice. I like my mouth to burn from hot peppers, not salt.
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I bought an old Sharp 47" LCD TV display for $40 at Goodwill. I didnt just take a chance on it, I brought my laptop, an extension cord, an IEC cord, a HDMI cable there to see it work, before purchase. They said go for it! It had sat for a couple weeks...
I can run it at 1776 X 1000 and everything's square and to the edge. Driven by a used MSI Bazooka MB from Value Village, new W10 install / activation using the W7 key on the $14.99 box it was in, with an I3 6100 that came on it. It brings me at least halfway to the L&G generation procs from Intel.
I had to buy a couple of 8G DDR4 memory sticks off ebay for ~$35, to get it running. Boots plenty fast enough with some old 120G Samsung SSD I pulled from a long ago upgraded and sold laptop. (Note to self; copy that disk for a backup before your free copy of Macrium Reflect expires)
WOT will probably chime in and say "I wouldnt give you 40 cents for that POS". It was a $1000 TV at one time after all, even read reviews where someone paid that much for one retail - and liked it. It's fluorescent backlit, and supposedly has 60K Hr lifetime. Makes you wonder if someone could have actually just left it on 24/7 for 5 years, burning out 2/3 of its backlight service.
Hoping to recoup some of it by selling the Corsair power supply that came in the box with the MSI MB. I came up to speed at Intel testing ATX power supplies and this one has 60+A 12V output capability, a test current loading which was unheard of way back when. Hopefully I can get a whole $35 for it...help pay for the memory sticks at least.
Just trying to outdo the fellow upstairs in this thread, in the context of "cheap". I'm all set to do some PCB layouts! - Not.
I can run it at 1776 X 1000 and everything's square and to the edge. Driven by a used MSI Bazooka MB from Value Village, new W10 install / activation using the W7 key on the $14.99 box it was in, with an I3 6100 that came on it. It brings me at least halfway to the L&G generation procs from Intel.
I had to buy a couple of 8G DDR4 memory sticks off ebay for ~$35, to get it running. Boots plenty fast enough with some old 120G Samsung SSD I pulled from a long ago upgraded and sold laptop. (Note to self; copy that disk for a backup before your free copy of Macrium Reflect expires)
WOT will probably chime in and say "I wouldnt give you 40 cents for that POS". It was a $1000 TV at one time after all, even read reviews where someone paid that much for one retail - and liked it. It's fluorescent backlit, and supposedly has 60K Hr lifetime. Makes you wonder if someone could have actually just left it on 24/7 for 5 years, burning out 2/3 of its backlight service.
Hoping to recoup some of it by selling the Corsair power supply that came in the box with the MSI MB. I came up to speed at Intel testing ATX power supplies and this one has 60+A 12V output capability, a test current loading which was unheard of way back when. Hopefully I can get a whole $35 for it...help pay for the memory sticks at least.
Just trying to outdo the fellow upstairs in this thread, in the context of "cheap". I'm all set to do some PCB layouts! - Not.
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That GW on 56th has always delivered…
We are still using a 15 year old Sharp 37” daily, still working fine.
Today I bought a few more runs of 4” plastic drain pipe to use in my yard. And another more restrictive muffler to attempt to increase WAF on the noisy motorhome.
Bunch of cheap electronics on Aliex:
Wifi sync LED clock
Jacob's ladder kit
Tesla coil kit
Non contact voltage detector
Wifi sync LED clock
Jacob's ladder kit
Tesla coil kit
Non contact voltage detector
I have a some of those cheap and cheerful cube storage 4x2 units that I wanted to convert into workbenches with storage. Went to the hardware and found melamine in the offcuts rack. The fella cut them down to my sizes and each piece worked out about a dollar. Enough to clad and top three of these cube storage units. I have some laminate coming in from Ali to turn these into timber and granite look
We have something called Bunnings in Australia that ubbered the traditional hardware model back in the years. Now we just have Bunnings. A positive has been prices, though. They have their house brand in power tools that has proven to be a work horse for half the money when compared to the brand names and a very customer friendly returns and warranty policy, making it a no-brainer for those on a budget. The build is up to the brand names, and there are items that can't be found in brand names. I decided to buy into the brushless 18v lithium-ion ecosystem of their Ozito brand
And I found something amazing to with them! I don't know what it's like for the overseas guys, but here in Australia, the set of bits usually contain around 80% junk items that one would never need to use. It usually means buying single bit sizes in loose or qty packs to get the needed ones. So how cool is this Diablo bit kit? $30 for size 1, 2, and 3 in Phillips, square, hex and torx only and double qty for all the size 2s. Not a single junk bit!! Made by Bosch! Tradies in the same aisle recommended that and mentioned that they have all switched to this brand as it holds it tip better than the others
View attachment 1161750
This morning I wend and added another animal to the ecosystem
View attachment 1161752
I think I will probably end up with the full set, as I find that the right tool for the job always makes for something that is easier to get motivated to work on
And I found something amazing to with them! I don't know what it's like for the overseas guys, but here in Australia, the set of bits usually contain around 80% junk items that one would never need to use. It usually means buying single bit sizes in loose or qty packs to get the needed ones. So how cool is this Diablo bit kit? $30 for size 1, 2, and 3 in Phillips, square, hex and torx only and double qty for all the size 2s. Not a single junk bit!! Made by Bosch! Tradies in the same aisle recommended that and mentioned that they have all switched to this brand as it holds it tip better than the others
View attachment 1161750
This morning I wend and added another animal to the ecosystem
View attachment 1161752
I think I will probably end up with the full set, as I find that the right tool for the job always makes for something that is easier to get motivated to work on
Whelp (slaps knees) Goodwill doesnt always turn out most fortunate. Bought an AKG wireless set; headset mic, transmitter and receiver in what looked to be never-ever used condition. Powered on the receiver at GW, found some batteries sitting on a shelf that got me a red LED indicator on the transmitter when switched on, also checked before purchase.
Get it home and no RF output from the transmitter. Nada, Zero. I happened to have a Nady transmitter at one of the frequencies the AKG receiver could be set to, which popped right up on line. I could get a weak, intermittent signal connection from the AKG transmitter if I wrapped its antenna wire around one of the receiver's antennae. That at least allowed me to see that the headset microphone part still worked.
Hoping to have put this in what did you last repair, but I really have no idea how a little fairly complex transmitter made of all SMD components running off two 1.5V batteries could fail with no RF output simply due to age. For gosh sakes, tube stuff hangs in there longer. Looks like I have a mini-XLR cabled headset microphone and a extra receiver for my Nady box for my $20 bill. $500 music store tag on the box, said $799 retail. For that money, I'd expect the solid-state promise!
Get it home and no RF output from the transmitter. Nada, Zero. I happened to have a Nady transmitter at one of the frequencies the AKG receiver could be set to, which popped right up on line. I could get a weak, intermittent signal connection from the AKG transmitter if I wrapped its antenna wire around one of the receiver's antennae. That at least allowed me to see that the headset microphone part still worked.
Hoping to have put this in what did you last repair, but I really have no idea how a little fairly complex transmitter made of all SMD components running off two 1.5V batteries could fail with no RF output simply due to age. For gosh sakes, tube stuff hangs in there longer. Looks like I have a mini-XLR cabled headset microphone and a extra receiver for my Nady box for my $20 bill. $500 music store tag on the box, said $799 retail. For that money, I'd expect the solid-state promise!
A Bosch router. Cause I liked it better than equal priced Makita.
But now seeing this advert I may of got beat, I paid $169.00 + sales tax so it was close to 200. https://www.mississaugahardware.com...KlAVxhylt4T1Nw6wgs5ty2FsvSAKJdD4aAgE2EALw_wcB
This place has it for 129.00 LOL Figures that I've already used it. Did not see that prior, either.
But now seeing this advert I may of got beat, I paid $169.00 + sales tax so it was close to 200. https://www.mississaugahardware.com...KlAVxhylt4T1Nw6wgs5ty2FsvSAKJdD4aAgE2EALw_wcB
This place has it for 129.00 LOL Figures that I've already used it. Did not see that prior, either.
The edit expired.
A Bosch router. Cause I liked it better than equal priced Makita.
Anywho,
Now seeing this advert after the fact I may of gotten beat, I paid $169.00 + sales tax so it was close to 200. https://www.mississaugahardware.com...KlAVxhylt4T1Nw6wgs5ty2FsvSAKJdD4aAgE2EALw_wcB
This place has it for 129.00 LOL Did not see that listing prior, either. Everywhere but this one place online has the bosch colt comparatively & competitively priced except that posted.
A Bosch router. Cause I liked it better than equal priced Makita.
Anywho,
Now seeing this advert after the fact I may of gotten beat, I paid $169.00 + sales tax so it was close to 200. https://www.mississaugahardware.com...KlAVxhylt4T1Nw6wgs5ty2FsvSAKJdD4aAgE2EALw_wcB
This place has it for 129.00 LOL Did not see that listing prior, either. Everywhere but this one place online has the bosch colt comparatively & competitively priced except that posted.
Speaking of tools
Got me a Milwaukee track saw today with a couple of tracks and track joiners plus track carry bag... clamps not available in Australia yet on back order
Come in at over $1100 🙄 without any batteries lucky my toolbox is full of red plastic already(Im a handyman)
Got me a Milwaukee track saw today with a couple of tracks and track joiners plus track carry bag... clamps not available in Australia yet on back order
Come in at over $1100 🙄 without any batteries lucky my toolbox is full of red plastic already(Im a handyman)
jjasniew, sorry the headphone setup didn’t work out there. With luck, you’ll be able to lift a signal out via other means.
Today was a couple all expense paid trips to the local dump, with a car loads of kids play structures, trampoline.
A sad day having firmly come to realize that the younger years are officially over. Yard looks better now I suppose.
Today was a couple all expense paid trips to the local dump, with a car loads of kids play structures, trampoline.
A sad day having firmly come to realize that the younger years are officially over. Yard looks better now I suppose.
Thanks, comes with the territory. I suspect it's glaringly unused condition likely meant it never worked. Perhaps someone bought it, never got around to returning it and it sat on a shelf for a couple-few decades. At least they took the batteries out; terminals perfect.
Though frustrating, there is some entertainment in wringing out what's going on with something; try to get it to work. The transmitter has a PIC microprocessor on its PCB! The device, operating on the ~170 MHz bands is so old you cant even find the bits used as easily as more modern equivalents. It also had the Phillips compander chip in there, where I assume they compress on the transmitter side, expand on the receiver side to keep the RF modulation level as steady as possible.
A technique I've suggested to surround other audio circuitry. Like, can one get a "tape" sound by running a signal through a pair of mechanically and therefore magnetically coupled tape heads? Probably not, but it would be that kind of non-linear distortion element one might want to put a companding system around, er, just like they do in a real tape recorder.
The Nady system does the same, though I'm pretty sure it uses a different chip. Mismatching compander techniques? So What. FAAKs, maybe sounds better that way with electric guitar, by the way things happen to add up.
Placed speaker parts order with Amazon. I was very anxious to get right away, it said the next day but delay delay delay, to learn 4 days later the order got screwed up on their side somehow. Had to re-order at a five dollar higher price because it since changed. Never ever again, I hate amazon, until the next time. They make it way too easy...usually.