Category: Miscellaneous babble

Random mutterings

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Descent into audiophile-dom

This is how it begins, right? You’re in one of your favourite thrift stores just browsing around one day, and you spot this sweet looking piece of gear just sitting there on the shelf. It’s really cool looking. Your brain (and your wife) goes “Dude, get it”. Nevermind that you don’t know the first thing about audio except that it’s something your ears detect.

So now I’m the owner of what appears to be a double sided, very slick looking audio amp.

  • Audio amp
    Audio amp
  • Audio amp top view
    Audio amp top view
  • Audio amp front panel
    Audio amp front panel
  • Audio amp top view
    Audio amp top view
  • Audio amp back view
    Audio amp back view
  • Audio amp back input/outputs
    Audio amp back input/outputs

It’s a pretty hefty unit. The only labels on the amp are the DSM logo and a name plate saying who the amp was made for.

Audio amp name plate: Custom built for William H. Moody by DSM
Audio amp name plate: Custom built for William H. Moody by DSM

All the tubes emited a nice soothing warm reddish glow when I plugged the unit in and turned it on. Guessing that’s probably a good sign.

  • 5V4 tube
    5V4 tube
  • More tubes
    More tubes
  • Capacitor
    Capacitor
  • 6SN7 tube
    6SN7 tube
  • Glowing tubes
    Glowing tubes
  • Glowing tubes
    Glowing tubes
  • Glowing tubes
    Glowing tubes
  • Glowing tubes
    Glowing tubes

After thinking about it for a bit, I’m realizing that each side of the amp corresponds to the left and right channel coming from each device going into the unit.

I don’t know who William H. Moody is, and it’s unlikely I’ll ever find out. Whoever he was though, he probably liked his audio.

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New Year hops

2019 hops

Noticed some new hops flowers on the vines at the hops tower as I was walking by this afternoon.

2019 hops
2019 hops at the MUSC Medicinal Garden hops tower
2019 hops
2019 hops at the MUSC Medicinal Garden hops tower
2019 hops
2019 hops at the MUSC Medicinal Garden hops tower
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Back to school birthday

The first day of the 2019 spring semester happens to be the same day as my birthday. Connie had a great idea to do one of those First Day of School/Back to School photos that you see parents post of their kids on the first day of school. Seemed like a cute and fun idea.

She found a nice chalk board sign online and this morning we took a photo of me heading off to work on my first day of Back to PhD School.

Back to school birthday
Back to school day on my 49th birthday

Even though today is officially the start getting back to the PhD, I’ve been at it for a few weeks now. Most of my Christmas break was spent reading papers and finding out about the state of radiation dosimetry in dental radiography (a topic for another blog post).

49 years behind me. Heading into Year 50. Should be an interesting one.

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Binging

Another year, another binge.