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Showing posts from June, 2024

Stereo Building for Dummies

I got asked the other day by a coworker about how I go about building an audio system, and I realized that while I've been working on this for more than a year, that I never actually posted it. So here it is. A tier list is coming soon.  [ Caveat 1: go talk to your local hifi shop about the used gear they have available *after* you’ve thought about the basic questions below. I know the knock on stereo stores is that they’re full of arrogant assholes who talk down to anyone who doesn’t share their expertise , but that has genuinely not been my experience. They can help you figure out something in your budget that will play nicely together, they can setup and let you listen to things you’re interested in, and they know the local market. I’ll recommend some shops where I’ve had good experiences at the bottom of this post. Caveat 2: all of this gets really complicated really quickly and has a lot of nuance. This is a thousand-foot view of my personal attitude towards hi fi systems. Yo...

Minimum Viable Manhood

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  I got a new pair of shoes a few weeks ago. They’re Merrell Nova 3 Trail Shoes * and I love them. They’re super comfy and rainbow colored. Last week someone asked me why I, a cis-het white dude, bought rainbow running shoes. The glib answer is that these happened to be on sale at REI, and I do appreciate a bargain. The slightly-less glib answer is that they’re really, really comfortable. They’re super light and very stable on my feet, and Merrell is one of the few companies that make toe-boxes that fit my weird-ass feet. The soles are also thin enough that I can feel the clutch pedal in my Subaru (I was unaware of how much this matters, but wow does it). REI only had my size in rainbow, so that’s what I ordered. But the real answer? A little more complicated. I’m a big white dude with mostly white hair (and who is staring down a near future of having to start shaving my head; thanks, Grandpa Ted!). I have a forearm tattoo in a dead Germanic language; mostly wear Duluth Trading C...

Dali Spektor 2 Stand Mount Speakers

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[MSRP $500] [Tl;dr: great pair of stand mount speakers. No particular complaints or suggestions, but may benefit from an amp with a fair amount of power, or in a smaller room/in near-field.]                                                        Scores: Cost-agnostic: 9 out of 10 Denalis Cost-sensitive: 9 out of 10 Denalis Intro. About a year ago, the powered studio monitors that live on my computer desk (Kef LSX) started throwing the flashing red ring of death. Kef is notoriously painful to work with on repairs, so in the meantime I wanted something to live on my desk for playing games or listening to music while I work. I’ve generally not been super impressed with most powered monitors I’ve heard in the sub-$1000 range, and I have a bunch of amplifiers sitting around the house, so I decided to give a pair of passive monit...