Another Newbie enters the fray...

[alphaGeek]

Hello!

As a professional computer programmer I've always been sad that my best work isn't very tangible or durable. (Meaning that my grandkids will never rumage through the attic and find my best code!) So I decided that I needed a hobby that created something more solid. I always have loved music and audio, and wanted to try my hand at woodworking, so speaker building seemed a great thing to attempt.

I'm about 3/4 finished with my first DIY project, a Vifa 2way designed by Shamrock Audio (the SE-1). I'm having a great time with it, but am learning very quickly how much I _don't_ know. For example, this project is the first time I've used a table saw, and the first time I've used a soldering iron. Coming into the hobby knowing nothing about electronics has been especially challenging. So much to learn!

I'm so excited to find this community full of enthusiastic DIY'ers. I know from my programming life that nothing gets you through a steep learning curve better than being able to ask someone who knows more than you do. I'm going to have to spend some time looking through old posts, 'cause right now I have so many questions I'm dying to ask that I can't see straight!

My mental list of future projects includes:
- powered computer speakers
- music only mini-monitor / sub combo
- low cost home theater speaker sets for friends and family

My current audio setup is:
- B&W Nautilus 804s
- Conrad Johnson PV-10a preamp
- Sonographe SA-250 power amp
- NAD 515 CD player

I hope this isn't too much of an intro.

Pete

 

[planet10]

Welcome

What kind of stuff do you code?

dave

 

[alphaGeek]

I develop mostly web and n-tier OLTP apps.

Most of the my coding is done in SQL, VB, ASP, etc. My company has been working the last few months toward converting to the newer MS .net languages. Generally, I like the .net versions better.

I also know just enough PERL and Java to be dangerous. But mostly I'm a Microsoft *****.

Are there a lot of developer types in the DIY audio community?

 

[planet10]

Are there a lot of developer types in the DIY audio community?

There are more than a few. I do a bit -- nowadays mostly large financial models in an object-oriented environment almost nobody has heard of (Trapeze) - i have yet to find anything as capable for the job. Would like to get some time to do some programs up for OS X using Java/Cocoa. I avoid MS like it were a plague and wouldn't trust it at all for a web or server platform.

But we can agree that DIY audio is great

dave

 

[alphaGeek]

I do a bit -- nowadays mostly large financial models in an object-oriented environment

I have heard of Trapeze, but never knew anyone who actually used it. Cool. OO design is mostly new for me, but I'm doing more and more now that VB supports true inheritance. I'm adding a bunch of 'geek' to my vocabulary too, my wife just rolls her eyes when I tell people that our son is really just an instantiation of my subclass.

I avoid MS like it were a plague and wouldn't trust it at all for a web or server platform.

I can't believe that I'm about to defend MS. (Am currently waiting for lightning to strike me dead. ) But, I find that their server products get an unfair bad rap. Yeah, the products are insecure out of the box, but the horrible security problems we all hear about are the fault of lazy admins, not MS. I have many IIS servers running NT or Win2k that enjoy uptimes of 6-12 months at a time.

However, that being said, there is no doubt that MS in general is pure evil!

 

[planet10]

I have heard of Trapeze, but never knew anyone who actually used it

Wow! The last bit is why it is not around today (last version shipped in 1988). I keep a couple 100 MHz '040 machines around just to run it, and its age is starting to show. It is still faster to develop on (hours instead of weeks) than anything else i have found that runs on my G4.

I have many IIS servers running NT or Win2k that enjoy uptimes of 6-12 months at a time

My little beater Mac server (a G3 smurf) running WS4D gets similar up-time even runnng OS9. I expect it will get way better when i can switch to OS X (UNIX). The big kicker is the admin time it requires, which probably runs to 20 hrs a year.

dave

 

[multiplexor]

e-commerce java programmer over here

i know enough java to basically create my own file sharing network using sockets and stuff...

i do alot of vb program as well (side project out of work i made a call center application for a college. using vb/sql server)

love ASP programming. it's a little too much fun and i seem to get a little giddy everytime i program in it hehe

welcome aboard. Speaker design and enclosure design is always a ton of fun.

personally i find looknig at bose speakers and their enclosures is a great idea. they seem to make good boxes

anywho, welcome hehe

 

[alphaGeek]

Hey multiplexor! Sorry for the late reply. That darn work thing keeps getting in my way .

Why Java? Is it the OO ability you love or the cross-platform stuff?

Thanks to all for the warm welcome. This speaker stuff is so much more fun than work!

 

[multiplexor]

Hey multiplexor! Sorry for the late reply. That darn work thing keeps getting in my way .

Why Java? Is it the OO ability you love or the cross-platform stuff?

Thanks to all for the warm welcome. This speaker stuff is so much more fun than work!

Oh, the company I work at uses java.... ;-) Though if I had a choice, I would still program in java. It's agreat language, very OO, and great for multi-platform programming. We do all our development on NT. Once the code is finished and ready to deploy, we put the files on a unix server to run.

Much easier to program in than C

 

[moses]

Heh, that is the first time I've ever heard someoen say it is easier to program in Java then C, heh. BTW, if you like ASP, use PHP one time. For web development, nothing can beat PHP .