I Had No Idea 'She Sells Seashells By The Seashore' Actually Meant THIS! Fascinating...
Come on old fellas. I want to hear some old timey music I haven't heard yet. Preferably on 78 rpm records or wax cylinders or passed down medleys.
If you are reading this and are 81 years or older, just make an account so we can get at least one on the uhm... the.. damn now I'm getting old... the ballot or ballotta depending upon which century you are from.
Aye or Nay.
Come on old fellas. I want to hear some old timey music I haven't heard yet. Preferably on 78 rpm records or wax cylinders or passed down medleys.
If you are reading this and are 81 years or older, just make an account so we can get at least one on the uhm... the.. damn now I'm getting old... the ballot or ballotta depending upon which century you are from.
Aye or Nay.
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Not to worry. I'm quite happy with what I've put together over the past 20+ years. It appears that many of us have a similar outlook as far as enjoying the hobby, and conservation of hearing and health. I have noticed a bit of hearing loss above 12k or 15k, as one might expect approaching 60.
I have a feeling that hearing loss may be hereditary in my case. Without his hearing aids, my dad probably couldn't hear me shouting. To some extent, I'm sure that his exposure to the big guns and mortars he dealt with during WWII probably contributed to his hearing loss in the long run.
I am mindful to use hearing protection around noisy machinery at home and at work. I want to be able to enjoy this audio hobby for as long as I can.
Not a bad sound there chief. Really rollin' in it. Real Hotsy-Totsy.
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I'm 65 and I have all of these.......
Parts keep getting smaller, so Motorola kept getting me a better microscope. Somewhere around 0603 (.030 X .060 inches) the peak to peak vibration at the end of the tweezers equaled the size of the parts. Then came 0204. OK, I laid out my own boards, so I avoided the smallest parts unless I absolutely needed them. I had a friend who could solder the small stuff for me.....and he was 4 years older than me! Life sucked when he retired.
The turnover in our factory was extreme in the early years, and for the first 10 years, I was Mr. Fixit for all the test equipment used on the entire production floor for second shift, so I interacted with everybody. I can still remember most of the memorable people, whether they knew what they were doing or not, how they dressed, and often the make, model and color of the car they drove, but often not their name. Why? Because everyone in the place had to wear a name tag. You didn't have it, you didn't get in the front door. Forgot it 2 or 3 times.....fired! I never learned how to remember names!
1993, I woke up in the middle of the night, head spinning, throwing up, couldn't get out of bed, loud tinnitus and other unnatural sounds in my head .....it lasted a week, and slowly subsided, leaving a marked hearing loss, dizzy spells, and a general uneasy feeling behind. Multiple doctors, hospitals, tests, scans........the diagnosis, Meniere's Disease. A degenerative middle ear disorder, causing severe balance problems, hearing loss, and tinnitus. Every time the dizziness comes, it takes some more of my hearing with it. On the positive side, the doctors said that I would be totally deaf by now, so I'm beating the odds.
I can still enjoy music, I just have to wain until Sherri is not home and crank it loud enough to mask the tinnitus.
Too many people are so busy chasing success that they don't take care of themselves (or their kids).....then when they finally get to success, they are too stressed, sick, or worse to enjoy it.
My wife found me passed out in the back yard one Saturday morning. I had taken my bicycle out of the shed to ride to work, that's the last thing I remember. I often did this on weekends. We worked 7 days a week when we were starting up the Nextel phone system.
A trip to the hospital for a suspected heart attack turned up nothing. It was called a "stress attack," and I was sent home. WAKE UP CALL!!!!! I would leave the phone group within a year due to the stress. I got into a group I actually liked, doing something I liked to do.....building things (prototypes and test boards).
Motorola put in a gym, and said it was free to employees. I went for an hour or so every work day. I left Motorola over 3 years ago, but I still got to a gym 4 or 5 days a week. I get outside and do something every day I can. It's a sad site to find 5 cars in the gym parking lot at 7 AM, but a 2 block long line waiting to turn in to McDonalds.......And people wonder why West Virginia has more than it's share of overweight people. Too many smokers too.
DIY, I have been building electrical stuff since the paper clip met the wall outlet at age 4 or 5. I will be building stuff until I can't do it any longer.
Walking is great, I go for a walk every day for 1-2km.
But if anyone tells me that butter is bad for you again I'll quite literally punch them in the face. Its just churned cows milk which last time I checked was a HELL of a lot safer than the synthetic (nauturally pasty-white before they add yellow colouring to make it look like butter) recycled engine oil that people call "margarine" or the "healthy alternative"..... get a life people! We're humans! not machines!
I walk near my mums tv occasionally and every now again I see a margarine ad on tv touting it as "healthy" and "smooth" but I just want to hurl when I see them.
The worst offender would have to be that disgusting mix called Lurpak. Revolting stuff, tastes terrible.
But if anyone tells me that butter is bad for you again I'll quite literally punch them in the face. Its just churned cows milk which last time I checked was a HELL of a lot safer than the synthetic (nauturally pasty-white before they add yellow colouring to make it look like butter) recycled engine oil that people call "margarine" or the "healthy alternative"..... get a life people! We're humans! not machines!
I walk near my mums tv occasionally and every now again I see a margarine ad on tv touting it as "healthy" and "smooth" but I just want to hurl when I see them.
The worst offender would have to be that disgusting mix called Lurpak. Revolting stuff, tastes terrible.
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built my first amp (ELC82) when i was nine, from parts collected out of obduction of radio's. could not afford transistors. then built amps for guiter friends.
make a living designing implantable stimulators for various applications, including wireless charging. always did the audio on the side, taking finemechanics and acoustics classes at university. always been teaching audio for students wanting to become a studio or live engineer.
make a living designing implantable stimulators for various applications, including wireless charging. always did the audio on the side, taking finemechanics and acoustics classes at university. always been teaching audio for students wanting to become a studio or live engineer.
Nice to see so many people participating in this poll. Yet, few members below 30 is not a good sigh to grow this forum.
I find most of us here concentrate in audio related projects but what do young people (below 30) need nowadays? I don't have a clue and I leave it to the forum owner to figure it out. What about robots? What about gyro control?
Listening to music (other than using headphone) is getting more expensive in Hong Kong today. An apartment with only 221 sq. ft. net located not in prime location is costing as much as a crazy US$1.2 million! How can anyone afford to talk about sound stage?
Besides we need space to listen to music, the space we need to run our DIY hobby is something quite luxury too. My working bench is about 20 sq ft plus the space needed for my pigeon hole storage and storage boxes. I think this is why people are staying away from HiFi in Hong Kong today.
Anyway, I will stay on until my hands get shaky and eyes get blur.
I find most of us here concentrate in audio related projects but what do young people (below 30) need nowadays? I don't have a clue and I leave it to the forum owner to figure it out. What about robots? What about gyro control?
Listening to music (other than using headphone) is getting more expensive in Hong Kong today. An apartment with only 221 sq. ft. net located not in prime location is costing as much as a crazy US$1.2 million! How can anyone afford to talk about sound stage?
Besides we need space to listen to music, the space we need to run our DIY hobby is something quite luxury too. My working bench is about 20 sq ft plus the space needed for my pigeon hole storage and storage boxes. I think this is why people are staying away from HiFi in Hong Kong today.
Anyway, I will stay on until my hands get shaky and eyes get blur.
It was almost fifty years ago when I started an electronic hobby. Now I'm sixty which is one of a memorable year of the Chinese zodiac. I can manage to solder SMD like 0402, with the help of a magnifier. I suppose my hands still have a sense of soldering though my eyes got blurry as time went by.
When I was an electronic engineer, I didn't have enough time for audio. After retiring, I have returned to a DIY world successfully. My thirty years career as an engineer, which is very helpful for DIY, may be a gift for long service. But now time is not in my favour again.
One of my college professors commented on the ironic situation for many audio enthusiasts.
"By the time you have enough money to buy the audio gear that you want, your hearing probably isn't good enough to enjoy it fully."
When I was an electronic engineer, I didn't have enough time for audio. After retiring, I have returned to a DIY world successfully.
My thirty years career as an engineer, which is very helpful for DIY, may be a gift for long service. But now time is not in my favour again.Punching someone in the face over dairy/non dairy products is a little over the top?
But then again you have mentioned several times that you was not the full ticket.
I refer to it as plastic, but it is a "modified corn oil" product. The old way of turning a liquid oil into a semi solid was hydrogenation, which creates extremely harmful trans fats. Is the new way any better?......usually it takes 20 to 50 years to find out.
There are very few things in life worth getting violent over.
Look to the "maker" movement, the suppliers of parts and services for that group, and their forums for some of those answers. Wearable electronics, anything with lots of LED's, amateur robotics, low powered RF, non traditional musical instruments, devices to control things.... Look at SparkFun, Adafruit, PJRC, and any Arduino forum to see what people are making.
The young people today seem to be satisfied with their MP3 players, and multi gigawatt home theater systems. Both are currently priced well below the DIY threshold, so there is little incentive to make them. The true HiFi industry is and always has been threatened by the mass marketing geniuses. There will always be a small percentage of people not satisfied with their stuff who DIY.
Other industries were threatened, or are currently under attack by the winds of change will always leave the true believers with DIY as the only option, or affordable choice.
Today the most popular "camera" is the iPhone. Several traditional camera makers have released cameras in phone like formats. I must admit that my DSLR sees little use today, and my phone has about 3000 pictures stored in its micro SD card.
The young generation tends to shy away from traditional musical instruments. The current trend is toward a beat box instead of a drum set, and a computer full of software and a MIDI controller instead of a guitar or traditional synthesizer. ALL of these are DIYable, and there is a growing DIY movement, especially in the modular synthesizer arena. Gibson still makes guitars, but acquired the largest US DAW company a few years ago. Fender recently announced the formation of "Fender Digital" who knows where that will go.
I started tinkering at around age 13, began my first job as a "technician" (repairing jukeboxes & pinball machines for a local guy) as a senior in high school. After a couple of years I started working for a local music store as a musical instrument electronics tech, and that's what I'm still doing now, having just turned 60. I specialize in keyboard instruments, but I've also done a fair bit of work on guitar amps, PA equipment and studio gear. I have been self-employed for a few years, though, since the local brick & mortar music stores no longer sell much of the type of stuff I repair.
My first stereo (age 17 or so) was a Garrard 40B w/Shure M55E, a Heathkit AA-29 integrated amp, and a pair of Large Advents. Before long it was upgraded to a Dual 1229/ Shure M91HE, Crown DC-300 power, and double Advents. (That was a fun setup, heh.)
These days I consider myself very fortunate, health-wise. My hearing is still reasonably good, up around 12 or 13KHz, and I have to take my glasses off to see close up. I believe my homebrew iced coffee recipe, which I enjoy 2 or 3 times per day, may have undocumented therapeutic benefits.
My first stereo (age 17 or so) was a Garrard 40B w/Shure M55E, a Heathkit AA-29 integrated amp, and a pair of Large Advents. Before long it was upgraded to a Dual 1229/ Shure M91HE, Crown DC-300 power, and double Advents. (That was a fun setup, heh.)
These days I consider myself very fortunate, health-wise. My hearing is still reasonably good, up around 12 or 13KHz, and I have to take my glasses off to see close up. I believe my homebrew iced coffee recipe, which I enjoy 2 or 3 times per day, may have undocumented therapeutic benefits.
I am 58, in better shape than most people around here half my age, and my ears seem to be holding up well. When I last tested them a year or so ago I could hear to 14.75 KHz where it simply stopped, and they seem sensitive - I have to ask people to turn things down all the time. I'm the person in the room that can hear the pin drop. My wife is always telling me that my extreme hearing is some kind of adult autism artifact. It annoys her. Even better for diy audio, I am oblivious to distortion - I just don't hear it, so I don't have to chase stuff in search of "perfection". Not that I would, anyway. This in spite of decades of small arms fire, aviation, loud rock concerts of groups in their hay day starting about age 15 ( think the Who when Keith Moon was alive ).
My grandfather grew up in the depression, and DIY was a survival thing around here. I am OK at framing and non finish carpentry, roofing, basic plumbing, and single phase electric. I can repair appliances, some hvac, cars, and am pretty proficient with Jaguars. My area has been in an economic depression since 2008, and this has come in pretty handy.
My undergrad degree was in agriculture, so I can grow food if need be, and I still know how to cut a hog.
I have a five year old, and some grand kids, and a son in law that are interested in aviation, and would like to build an airplane. I figure a tube and fabric kit I can handle and successfully complete. This will be difficult though as a recent break in at my warehouse caused ALL of my tools ( jerks even stole my brooms ), except a real 220 volt welder and oxy acetylene torch, to leave in the back of MY truck. I got the truck back, but that was it ..... This will have to wait until our local economy recovers ( finally starting ) and I am out of the severe hole of the last eight years.
My electronics DIY started in earnest about 1983, and has ebbed and flowed since that time. I'm still not very good at it, but still learning .....
Win W5JAG
My grandfather grew up in the depression, and DIY was a survival thing around here. I am OK at framing and non finish carpentry, roofing, basic plumbing, and single phase electric. I can repair appliances, some hvac, cars, and am pretty proficient with Jaguars. My area has been in an economic depression since 2008, and this has come in pretty handy.
My undergrad degree was in agriculture, so I can grow food if need be, and I still know how to cut a hog.
I have a five year old, and some grand kids, and a son in law that are interested in aviation, and would like to build an airplane. I figure a tube and fabric kit I can handle and successfully complete. This will be difficult though as a recent break in at my warehouse caused ALL of my tools ( jerks even stole my brooms ), except a real 220 volt welder and oxy acetylene torch, to leave in the back of MY truck. I got the truck back, but that was it ..... This will have to wait until our local economy recovers ( finally starting ) and I am out of the severe hole of the last eight years.
My electronics DIY started in earnest about 1983, and has ebbed and flowed since that time. I'm still not very good at it, but still learning .....
Win W5JAG
I wonder if we are not making a bit too much of the under 30 thing?
I know there are a lot more distractions vying for people's attention these days, but I also remember being more interested in the opposite sex during the decade of my 20s - i.e. life gets in the way. I also remember a time in my early 40s where I was the same way - i.e. life gets in the way.
One's life needs to be stable in order to have the time to pursue any discretionary activity; looking for the person you want to spend your life with (hopefully) is a time consuming full time task if you are going to make a good choice.
I came back as soon as I was able. I'm old now, and have stability in my life and the money if not exactly the time (I make time) for this hobby.
Factor in that many newly married couples in their 20s still start families soon after marriage I think you see why people in that age group are not here in force.
Those with the inclination will find us, and I hope the predictions are more dire than the reality.
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@venusfly
I've survived some serious health challenges in recent years which has perhaps changed my perspective a bit, but I can think of very few things that are worth punching someone over, certainly not margarine. I don't like margarine much, but butter comes with its own set of serious animal welfare and potential hygiene issues, this often isn't the product of some big hearted family farmer who treats his animals well.
My wife is Vegan and has given up a lot of foods she loved because she is concerned about animal welfare. The consequence for me is that I probably eat healthier as a result. There are a few accommodations like milk for my cereal and stuff for sandwiches, but I eat fully Vegan about 20% of the time and about 40% of time vegetarian.
I know there are a lot more distractions vying for people's attention these days, but I also remember being more interested in the opposite sex during the decade of my 20s - i.e. life gets in the way. I also remember a time in my early 40s where I was the same way - i.e. life gets in the way.
One's life needs to be stable in order to have the time to pursue any discretionary activity; looking for the person you want to spend your life with (hopefully) is a time consuming full time task if you are going to make a good choice.
I came back as soon as I was able. I'm old now, and have stability in my life and the money if not exactly the time (I make time) for this hobby.
Factor in that many newly married couples in their 20s still start families soon after marriage I think you see why people in that age group are not here in force.
Those with the inclination will find us, and I hope the predictions are more dire than the reality.
-------
@venusfly
I've survived some serious health challenges in recent years which has perhaps changed my perspective a bit, but I can think of very few things that are worth punching someone over, certainly not margarine. I don't like margarine much, but butter comes with its own set of serious animal welfare and potential hygiene issues, this often isn't the product of some big hearted family farmer who treats his animals well.
My wife is Vegan and has given up a lot of foods she loved because she is concerned about animal welfare. The consequence for me is that I probably eat healthier as a result. There are a few accommodations like milk for my cereal and stuff for sandwiches, but I eat fully Vegan about 20% of the time and about 40% of time vegetarian.
I' m 46. Hearing is very good but vision? It's not rare I need magnifying lens for through hole parts! Fortunatelly, my hands are stable. I used to mess with many different hobbies. I had been a passionate painter, I never bought bookshelves and drawers, I still use a diy bicycle, I' ve built model ships etc... I started with electronics at the age of twelve. I had it running along with my other interests. But during the last decade, audio dominates my spare time and myself. I don't know what does this mean. My father suffered from dementia. I guess time will show if electrocution can cure Alzheimer's disease...
Just seen this post. I turned 78 on Oct24. My brain thinks Im 30 but my back thinks Im 130! Im a electronic engineer by trade and I worked for IBM for 26 years first as an engineer then management and finally marketing. Been interested in Hi Fi for a long time but didnt have the spare time for much DIY while I was working.
Anyway took early retirement in 1992 and then took up the hobby seriously. Joined the London DIY group which had just been set up ( Morgan Jones and Thorsten Loesch were fellow members ). Initially was mainly interested in solid state power amps. Designed, built and blew up lots of designs but finally I was converted to valve's by fellow group members particularly SET's. In between did a bit of consultancy for a couple of manufacturers for such things as an active crossover for electrostatic speaker.
Now my home built system is fairly settled but now working on a new phono stage, with home made step up transformers and a discrete R2R ladder DAC.
Luckily I dont have any major health issues and hopefully Ill still keep DIYing for a few years yet. One of my fellow London DIYers Jon is over 80 and still going strong. While another (quite brilliant ) DIYer Tom Im in regular contact with is around 30.
Anyway took early retirement in 1992 and then took up the hobby seriously. Joined the London DIY group which had just been set up ( Morgan Jones and Thorsten Loesch were fellow members ). Initially was mainly interested in solid state power amps. Designed, built and blew up lots of designs but finally I was converted to valve's by fellow group members particularly SET's. In between did a bit of consultancy for a couple of manufacturers for such things as an active crossover for electrostatic speaker.
Now my home built system is fairly settled but now working on a new phono stage, with home made step up transformers and a discrete R2R ladder DAC.
Luckily I dont have any major health issues and hopefully Ill still keep DIYing for a few years yet. One of my fellow London DIYers Jon is over 80 and still going strong. While another (quite brilliant ) DIYer Tom Im in regular contact with is around 30.
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