Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) : Discussion and Group Therapy Thread

[bd139]

We need an equivalent of mailinator for phone numbers.

I’ve got an effectively unlimited supply of phone numbers (giffgaff sims) but it means admin work so urgh.

[bd139]

Well it appears not to ask again this morning which makes their security claims lies and their motivations obvious.

[Specmaster]

Well it appears not to ask again this morning which makes their security claims lies and their motivations obvious.

If indeed it was them doing it and they had not been hacked.

[mnementh]

(SNIP)



Also in Kingston, a Printed Circuit Bear

Yeah, there's a similar "art incubator" project been going on worldwide for over 25 years now; CowParade. San Antonio and later Austin & Houston were host cities while I lived there, but they've been everywhere from Switzerland To Peru, from what I understand; the last one was in Boston. It is now a huge commercial thing, of course; it was a lot smaller and more about the art when they came to San Antonio & Austin.

TL:DR is life-size fiberglas cows and art supplies are provided to artisans and art incubators local to the host city, who then decorate them. There is evidently some oversight by local artist incubators to keep hate-speech, thuggery and vulgarity to a minimum; these cows are to be placed in public spaces for the duration of the parade, then most will be auctioned off to pay for the CowParade art incubation subsidy, but mostly to benefit the Jimmy Fund childhood cancer thing. Also sold off are miniature versions of those which win some awards.

Weird synchronicity for the tinkerdwagon too; they are based literally a few miles from where I live now.

mnem
moo...?

[mnementh]

Well it appears not to ask again this morning which makes their security claims lies and their motivations obvious.

Yeah, just a heads-up; MS Defender recently popped up advisories aboot having quarantined some files carrying Trojan:Win32/Casdet!rfn; I'm pretty positive these were images I attempted to save from our Discord.

So they may have had some malicious activity in the last couple weeks causing them to step up at least the appearance of heightened security.

mnem
Or they may just be DipshitCord being DipshitCord...

[bd139]

Definitely sent my youngest to the right school. They are time nuts. The school clock has milliseconds and is provided by NPL

IMG_0791.jpeg

[tggzzz]

(SNIP)



Also in Kingston, a Printed Circuit Bear

Yeah, there's a similar "art incubator" project been going on worldwide for over 25 years now; CowParade. San Antonio and later Austin & Houston were host cities while I lived there, but they've been everywhere from Switzerland To Peru, from what I understand; the last one was in Boston. It is now a huge commercial thing, of course; it was a lot smaller and more about the art when they came to San Antonio & Austin.

TL:DR is life-size fiberglas cows and art supplies are provided to artisans and art incubators local to the host city, who then decorate them. There is evidently some oversight by local artist incubators to keep hate-speech, thuggery and vulgarity to a minimum; these cows are to be placed in public spaces for the duration of the parade, then most will be auctioned off to pay for the CowParade art incubation subsidy, but mostly to benefit the Jimmy Fund childhood cancer thing. Also sold off are miniature versions of those which win some awards.

Weird synchronicity for the tinkerdwagon too; they are based literally a few miles from where I live now.

mnem
moo...?

That's Johnny-come-lately fibreglass. Fibreglass is cheap and nasty temporary stuff - except when exquisitely shaped top ensure laminar flow, of course.

I'd vote for the seminal example from 1978: concrete cows.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concrete_Cows

[mnementh]

Well, that's interesting, but it has absolutely zero in common with that installation aside from being cows.

The entire point of the CowParade cows is that they are a canvas for the artisan to work on and bring their message directly into the communities where their individual cow installation is placed. There are typically over 100 cows placed in a host city at the time of CowParade; the specific placement of a cow and the local culture its art represents, as well as being a part of the "herd" in a specific city and the ephemeral nature of the entire event, is what the "art" part of the whole thing is about.

mnem

[tggzzz]

Well, that's interesting, but it has absolutely zero in common with that installation aside from being cows.

The entire point of the CowParade cows is that they are a canvas for the artisan to work on and bring their message directly into the communities where their individual cow installation is placed. There are typically over 100 cows placed in a host city at the time of CowParade; the specific placement of a cow and the local culture its art represents, as well as being a part of the "herd" in a specific city and the ephemeral nature of the entire event, is what the "art" part of the whole thing is about.

mnem

Have a look at the link provided. You will see it isn't as clear cut as you think.

This place normally discusses "this test equipment is better than that test equipment". I'm loathe to extend that to "this art is better than that art". In general I'm not a fan of art critics

[bd139]

Well, that's interesting, but it has absolutely zero in common with that installation aside from being cows.

The entire point of the CowParade cows is that they are a canvas for the artisan to work on and bring their message directly into the communities where their individual cow installation is placed. There are typically over 100 cows placed in a host city at the time of CowParade; the specific placement of a cow and the local culture its art represents, as well as being a part of the "herd" in a specific city and the ephemeral nature of the entire event, is what the "art" part of the whole thing is about.

mnem

Have a look at the link provided. You will see it isn't as clear cut as you think.

This place normally discusses "this test equipment is better than that test equipment". I'm loathe to extend that to "this art is better than that art". In general I'm not a fan of art critics

I am a an art critic critic and I agree

[Zenith]

That's Johnny-come-lately fibreglass. Fibreglass is cheap and nasty temporary stuff - except when exquisitely shaped top ensure laminar flow, of course.

I'd vote for the seminal example from 1978: concrete cows.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concrete_Cows

MK was a new town and those cows were generally considered to be hilariously naff and just what you'd expect from such a place. I've driven through MK several times, but never the same route twice as far as I recall. It's all straight roads connecting roundabouts. I did pass the concrete cows once.

Does anyone remember the jaunty TV ads in the early 80s talking about the delights of Milton Keynes? I always thought of it as nowhereville.

[Zenith]

The entire point of the CowParade cows is that they are a canvas for the artisan to work on and bring their message directly into the communities where their individual cow installation is placed. There are typically over 100 cows placed in a host city at the time of CowParade; the specific placement of a cow and the local culture its art represents, as well as being a part of the "herd" in a specific city and the ephemeral nature of the entire event, is what the "art" part of the whole thing is about.

Reminds me of Marcel Duchamps and his readymades. One was a urinal and another was a drying rack from a dairy. These things are considered important in the history of art. I always thought he was sending the whole thing up. A more recent example is Tracey Emin's "My Bed" which is in The Tate and was nominated for a Turner Prize.

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/em ... min-my-bed

Colour me old-fashioned, even reactionary, but I could never see what was supposed to be particularly interesting about some trollop's unmade bed with cigarette packets, empty whisky bottles and even less pleasant things.

[tggzzz]

That's Johnny-come-lately fibreglass. Fibreglass is cheap and nasty temporary stuff - except when exquisitely shaped top ensure laminar flow, of course.

I'd vote for the seminal example from 1978: concrete cows.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concrete_Cows

MK was a new town and those cows were generally considered to be hilariously naff and just what you'd expect from such a place. I've driven through MK several times, but never the same route twice as far as I recall. It's all straight roads connecting roundabouts. I did pass the concrete cows once.

Does anyone remember the jaunty TV ads in the early 80s talking about the delights of Milton Keynes? I always thought of it as nowhereville.

I've driven through MK many times,on the way to Cambridge. When telling someone else how to get through, I said something like "you will need to turn right at a roundaboit, then left at the next roundabout, then go straight on. It isn't important which roundabout you turn right at". Much the same can be said for many US cities laid out on a grid.

The other description is "you are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike".

I regarded those adverts as a deprecating self parody in the vein of the local adverts they used to show in cinemas before the film. The classic example was for an exotic(!) Indian restaurant, with a generic voiceover followed by a click and a different voice giving the restaurants name and address.

[tggzzz]

Well, that's interesting, but it has absolutely zero in common with that installation aside from being cows.

The entire point of the CowParade cows is that they are a canvas for the artisan to work on and bring their message directly into the communities where their individual cow installation is placed. There are typically over 100 cows placed in a host city at the time of CowParade; the specific placement of a cow and the local culture its art represents, as well as being a part of the "herd" in a specific city and the ephemeral nature of the entire event, is what the "art" part of the whole thing is about.

mnem

Have a look at the link provided. You will see it isn't as clear cut as you think.

This place normally discusses "this test equipment is better than that test equipment". I'm loathe to extend that to "this art is better than that art". In general I'm not a fan of art critics

I am a an art critic critic and I agree

I've just been trying and failing to resurrect a Rega Apollo CD player. It was skipping on early tracks, but not on late ones.

I was willing to punt for a £10 replacement mechanism, but before it arrived I found some audiofool stuff indicating it was a common fault. Some of them had convinced themselves that their mains power was the cause of their problem, others found reflowing the controller solved the problem! Then I found a receipt indicating a service engineer technician had already reflowed it (allegedly).

My conclusion: the homebrew controller in the £1000 player was marginal. The early tracks are where the disk is rotating fastest, so the disc wobble is fastest and the laser focussing has to be fastest. Anybody want to have a play with it?

Anyway, so effin what? Made me realise there is a lot in common between audiophools, art critics, and wine critics

[vk6zgo]

That's Johnny-come-lately fibreglass. Fibreglass is cheap and nasty temporary stuff - except when exquisitely shaped top ensure laminar flow, of course.

I'd vote for the seminal example from 1978: concrete cows.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concrete_Cows

In Brunswick Junction in West Oz, there is a similar cow, but mounted upon a pedestal, commemorating the fairly substantial local dairy industry.
Every year, the cow mysteriously receives a coat of paint in the colours of the team who won the Premiership in the regional Aussie Rules football competition.
The Shire Council dutifully repaints the cow black & white each year.

[Zenith]

My conclusion: the homebrew controller in the £1000 player was marginal. The early tracks are where the disk is rotating fastest, so the disc wobble is fastest and the laser focussing has to be fastest. Anybody want to have a play with it?

I'm slightly tempted to have a play with it, but on reflection - no thanks. It seems like a flawed design and I've got the impression that CD mechanisms are a world of their own, which I don't wish to enter, and I have things on the to do list, which would quite possibly prove more fruitful.

Getting a few quid for it "Parts Only" on fleabay seems the most practical option.

Anyway, so effin what? Made me realise there is a lot in common between audiophools, art critics, and wine critics

A slippery slope. There's a difference between cheap stuff and better stuff. The Law of Diminishing Returns sets in rapidly. They end up talking about barely perceptible or imaginary differences, between very expensive things. Personal taste comes into it as well. Then some of these things are valuable because they are valuable and are seen as an investment. Nothing to do with enjoying wine in any normal sense.

https://www.invaluable.com/blog/most-expensive-wine/

[tggzzz]

My conclusion: the homebrew controller in the £1000 player was marginal. The early tracks are where the disk is rotating fastest, so the disc wobble is fastest and the laser focussing has to be fastest. Anybody want to have a play with it?

I'm slightly tempted to have a play with it, but on reflection - no thanks. It seems like a flawed design and I've got the impression that CD mechanisms are a world of their own, which I don't wish to enter, and I have things on the to do list, which would quite possibly prove more fruitful.

Getting a few quid for it "Parts Only" on fleabay seems the most practical option.

I only see "working fine" on fleabay; I presume the faults are well-known amongst those likely to waste money on buy the treasure. I don't think I can be arsed; I'd like the space more.

Looks like the remotes have been sold, though. Might try that.

Might try to flog the Memorex dual cassette recorder through Gumtree. Can 't be arsed to package the thing properly for the £15 I might get on fleabay.

[Zenith]

That's Johnny-come-lately fibreglass. Fibreglass is cheap and nasty temporary stuff - except when exquisitely shaped top ensure laminar flow, of course.

I'd vote for the seminal example from 1978: concrete cows.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concrete_Cows

It reminds me of the 1972 18ft fibreglass model of King Kong in Birmingham Bull Ring.

Monro's brief was to make something "city orientated" and he says that he "immediately thought of King Kong".

Many things spring to mind when Birmingham is mentioned, but King Kong is not one of them.

I recall the city council was not impressed and didn't want it. The general view was that it was totally unsuitable. When I saw it, it was on the site of a used car dealership in Birmingham, which had been renamed King Kong Motors. It didn't look as if it had been exquisitely shaped to ensure laminar flow.

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/whats- ... g-16489635

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Kong_statue

[Cubdriver]

Got an HP 5246L from the wallet sucking site. 'Free' shipping. The guy literally put a single layer of bubble wrap around it, then folded corrugated cardboard tightly around the instrument.

From this angle, you can clearly see that it's wider at the back of the pic than the front - the sides taper as the rack ears (at the location near the back where you can see the matching holes in the cardboard) forced it to be wider at the front of the counter.




One of the rack ears needs some hammer and dolly work to straighten it out, but other than that it miraculously arrived unscathed.


Brought it up on a variac and at first brush it works to some extent.

-Pat

<edit - typo>

[BU508A]

Packaging idiots. All the time. Everywhere.

Sounds like a movie from ZAZ (Zucker, Abrahams, Zucker).

[bd139]

I've just been trying and failing to resurrect a Rega Apollo CD player. It was skipping on early tracks, but not on late ones.

I was willing to punt for a £10 replacement mechanism, but before it arrived I found some audiofool stuff indicating it was a common fault. Some of them had convinced themselves that their mains power was the cause of their problem, others found reflowing the controller solved the problem! Then I found a receipt indicating a service engineer technician had already reflowed it (allegedly).

My conclusion: the homebrew controller in the £1000 player was marginal. The early tracks are where the disk is rotating fastest, so the disc wobble is fastest and the laser focussing has to be fastest.

In these scenarios I tend to use the highly technical assessment that "the transport is fucked" and then evaluate if the transport or the entire unit is cheaper to replace. That trick only works if you start far left on the problem domain which is "buy something cheap to start with". Historically NAD and Technics CD players which were ubiquitous, cheap and used a cheap transport. Anything pretending to be more is misery.

Anybody want to have a play with it?

No

Anyway, so effin what? Made me realise there is a lot in common between audiophools, art critics, and wine critics

Confusing subjectivity for objectivity mostly.

My personal philosophy applies to all three things:

wine -> all wine tastes the same after the first half a bottle

audio -> all sound systems sound the same after you've spent a certain amount of cash

art -> all looks the same until you look at the artist's name.

[tggzzz]

I've just been trying and failing to resurrect a Rega Apollo CD player. It was skipping on early tracks, but not on late ones.

I was willing to punt for a £10 replacement mechanism, but before it arrived I found some audiofool stuff indicating it was a common fault. Some of them had convinced themselves that their mains power was the cause of their problem, others found reflowing the controller solved the problem! Then I found a receipt indicating a service engineer technician had already reflowed it (allegedly).

My conclusion: the homebrew controller in the £1000 player was marginal. The early tracks are where the disk is rotating fastest, so the disc wobble is fastest and the laser focussing has to be fastest.

In these scenarios I tend to use the highly technical assessment that "the transport is fucked" and then evaluate if the transport or the entire unit is cheaper to replace. That trick only works if you start far left on the problem domain which is "buy something cheap to start with".

Pretty much my attitude.

Fleabay has laser mechanisms defined as suitable for that thing, at £40 each. Given the problems mentioned on forums (even after discounting "we decided my mains supply was the cause(!)", that was too expensive for a possible £500 sale.

I found a generic transport (laser and motors) for £10, and that was worth a punt. Still failed.

Anybody want to have a play with it?

No

Just as well; it would be too late now!

Anyway, so effin what? Made me realise there is a lot in common between audiophools, art critics, and wine critics

Confusing subjectivity for objectivity mostly.

My personal philosophy applies to all three things:

wine -> all wine tastes the same after the first half a bottle

audio -> all sound systems sound the same after you've spent a certain amount of cash

art -> all looks the same until you look at the artist's name.

Respectively: yes; for me the amount of cash is minimal[1] ; and the other useful discriminant is "could I do that".

For the last, Jackson Pollock=yes I could, Piet Mondrian=no I couldn't.

[1] if it wasn't, I'd keep the Quad 405-II, Quad 34, Quad FM4.

[Zenith]

In these scenarios I tend to use the highly technical assessment that "the transport is fucked" and then evaluate if the transport or the entire unit is cheaper to replace. That trick only works if you start far left on the problem domain which is "buy something cheap to start with". Historically NAD and Technics CD players which were ubiquitous, cheap and used a cheap transport. Anything pretending to be more is misery.

Philips were good and cheap, as well. I had a couple from new, each of which lasted about ten years of regular use. The mechanisms died in each case. With the second I replaced the mech with a generic Cheapanese one. It worked but skipped sometimes and was just irritating. Apparently, sometimes the replacement mechanisms are great and sometimes rubbish. I wasn't going to chance another £15 on a mechanism and bought an Onkyo for £200, which is towards the low end these days.

I really don't believe there's much difference between CD players, or that they could be distinguished in blind tests.

[mnementh]

I got rid of my last "CD Player" over a decade ago. Problem solved.

mnem

[mnementh]

mnem
this placed here without warning or context...