Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[capt bullshot]

🎵🎶Someone is getting a package🎵🎶
🎵🎶Someone is getting a package🎵🎶

Someone got a package

(not been thrown over the hedge and not been dropped into the pond)
ATM I don't have the time to check the contents, more later or tomorow.

So now, let's see what's inside:
Well packaged, perfect fit due to the self inflating foam bags. Easy to reuse when it'll have to travel on.
I'd consider the packaging "throw over the hedge" - safe. Not sure about the pond.



Next layer:



Would have saved the unit from the water in the pond at least for a short time.

[bd139]

On turntables, I can suggest bolting the record to an angle grinder and using a stanley knife as the needle to play the god awful circular disks of crap.  At no point do I want to listen to another bloody LP even if it's being played on a machine which floats on Jesus' farts.

[Specmaster]

On turntables, I can suggest bolting the record to an angle grinder and using a stanley knife as the needle to play the god awful circular disks of crap.  At no point do I want to listen to another bloody LP even if it's being played on a machine which floats on Jesus' farts.

LP's sound better than MP3's, unless they are scratched badly and full of dust.

[TERRA Operative]

Yeah nah, not if your MP3 is encoded at 320Kbps, I'll take clean digital over hiss and pop any day.

But FLAC is where it's at IMO.


Having said that, once my long-term stereo tube amp project gets assembled, I think it'll pair nicely with a reel to reel machine.

[capt bullshot]

So here it is, completely unpacked:

The Yokogawa WT1600: Typical Yokogawa knobs and button design. If you know their oscilloscopes, this should look familiar. The user manual found by your favourite internet seach engine reveals first rev. from 2001, this should approximate the date when the unit hit the market. It was discontinued ten years later in 2011 according to the Yokogawa website.



The cal sticker is dated 2010, so it'll be interesting to see how accurate this unit still is.



Alas, only one input element is fitted, and no other options.
For all the timenuts, the BNC labelled "EXT CLK" is not a 10MHz reference input, but rather an input to synchronize the unit to e.g. the fundamental frequency of measurement signals. Useful e.g. if you have quickly jumping amplitudes or heavily distorted signals. Normally the unit synchronizes its internal measurements to one of the input elements, U or I - one can select this through the menus.

[Specmaster]

Yeah nah, not if your MP3 is encoded at 320Kbps, I'll take clean digital over hiss and pop any day.

But FLAC is where it's at IMO.


Having said that, once my long-term stereo tube amp project gets assembled, I think it'll pair nicely with a reel to reel machine.

Yeah, 320Kbps is fine, but so many are not anywhere that, and internet radio can be quite as well.

[TERRA Operative]

So here it is, completely unpacked:

The Yokogawa WT1600: Typical Yokogawa knobs and button design. If you know their oscilloscopes, this should look familiar. The user manual found by your favourite internet seach engine reveals first rev. from 2001, this should approximate the date when the unit hit the market. It was discontinued ten years later in 2011 according to the Yokogawa website.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/test-equipment-anonymous-(tea)-group-therapy-thread/?action=dlattach;attach=1485556;image

The cal sticker is dated 2010, so it'll be interesting to see how accurate this unit still is.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/test-equipment-anonymous-(tea)-group-therapy-thread/?action=dlattach;attach=1485562;image

Alas, only one input element is fitted, and no other options.
For all the timenuts, the BNC labelled "EXT CLK" is not a 10MHz reference input, but rather an input to synchronize the unit to e.g. the fundamental frequency of measurement signals. Useful e.g. if you have quickly jumping amplitudes or heavily distorted signals. Normally the unit synchronizes its internal measurements to one of the input elements, U or I - one can select this through the menus.

Want this one then?

https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/r1051366861

Currently at 7500yen with 2 days to go, no idea what it'll actually go for...

[Ice-Tea]

Want this one then?

https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/r1051366861

Currently at 7500yen with 2 days to go, no idea what it'll actually go for...

A *lot* more

[Zucca]

         

Have y'all seen these speaker enclosures being sold all over AliEx? It looks to me like someone is leveraging local availability to make a business doing something I did as a side hustle when I was a teen...

Why nobody is mentioning the ESL speakers?
even DIY?
https://hackaday.com/2016/08/03/electrostatic-loudspeakers-high-end-hifi-you-can-build-yourself/

popcorn and fresh drink time now for me...

[mnementh]

The idea that drove Bose was that if the distance between the drivers is much less than a wavelength, they will sum slightly less badly. Hence, their puny 4" drivers will play LF at a level that is impressive for the size, but pathetic compared to a real, say 15" or so, driver...

Y'all do know that Bose made lots of other models than the 901, right? And that most were conventional designs?

mnem
CV makes the rockin' world go round...

They look different, but most are based on the basic idea of 'many 4" drivers not playing coherently and a too high "sub" crossover';

Furthermore, at this advanced stage of computer modelling, Bose has leveraged their R&D and science to build conventional speakers that sound as bad as their original designs.

The idea that drove Bose was that if the distance between the drivers is much less than a wavelength, they will sum slightly less badly. Hence, their puny 4" drivers will play LF at a level that is impressive for the size, but pathetic compared to a real, say 15" or so, driver...

Y'all do know that Bose made lots of other models than the 901, right? And that most were conventional designs?

mnem
CV makes the rockin' world go round...

you sure that yer not mixing up Bose with B&W ? Bose sucks. B&W has reasonable offerings ...

I'm not saying Bose doesn't suck to a rock & roll crowd like us... I loved my CV monsters, personally. 

I'm just saying that all you lot banging on the "big piles of 4 1/2" drivers"  concept like that's all they ever made sound as ignorant as we think most audiophools are. I don't like Bose in general either, aside from a set of 301 Series 1s I use as surrounds along with a decent set of towers. But most of the classic Bose designs were conventional, with 6.5-8" drivers and actual tweets and sometimes mids.

               

These are the "classic" Bose speakers I "know": 201, 301, 401, 501, 601, 701... only the 801 & 901 (and derivatives) were the "big piles of 4 1/2" drivers" design.

Now whether you like the "Direct/Reflecting" design concept or not... that's a whole 'nuther argument. 

But cheez... at least know the thing you're ragging on, guys.

mnem

[bd139]

Yeah nah, not if your MP3 is encoded at 320Kbps, I'll take clean digital over hiss and pop any day.

But FLAC is where it's at IMO.


Having said that, once my long-term stereo tube amp project gets assembled, I think it'll pair nicely with a reel to reel machine.

Yeah, 320Kbps is fine, but so many are not anywhere that, and internet radio can be quite as well.

All mine are AAC (mp4) or ALAC (lossless) now and cached streamed. Quality is far far better than muddy horrible mp3s.

[mnementh]

Yeah... I'm in desperate need of a decent 3/4 horse bench grinder; something can handle a 8 or 10" wire wheel. I'll prolly have to build that myself too, unless I get really lucky on Craigslist. 

mnem
"damn... another hole in my hide..."

I would rather have a slow-running grinder. I had access to one in only one place where I worked once and it was totally amazing what you could achieve with it. I still have several tools (pliers, cutters, tweezers and sccrewdrivers) which were reground on it. It does not cause thermal damage and allows very controllable grinding. It is the next best thing to a real tool grinding machine without the setup time and angular calculations.
Remark: a short review of offerings told me that the definitions vary considerably. I a not referring to those machines which run at 1450/min but merely several 100s. They are mostly used with a wet wheel, only some diamond wheels on a metal basis might be an exception.

Completely different use case; comparing apples and ocelots. 

If you're using a bench grinder to sharpen decent tools you should be drawn & quartered. Then shot. And/or stabbed. But first, doused in turpentine and set ablaze.



Something like this to get a decent hollow grind or flat grind depending on purpose... preferably with a water drizzle/sump. Then the final edge wet-honed on flat diamond plates.

mnem
 

[AVGresponding]

Now see, this is what happens when you don't trim your beard; you need to go faster and faster to keep the airflow to your face constant!

[mnementh]

On turntables, I can suggest bolting the record to an angle grinder and using a stanley knife as the needle to play the god awful circular disks of crap.  At no point do I want to listen to another bloody LP even if it's being played on a machine which floats on Jesus' farts.

I used to be able to tell the difference... and I preferred vinyl. In a time when low-rate MP3 were all the rage for convenience (and ease of pirating), even CDs sounded "flat" to me.

But decades of dB drags, too many evenings mere feet away from the stacks at clubs and concerts, and even my own little "home concert hall" piddlings have beaten my eardrums and cilia to a fine paste. As my threshold for personal misery decreases, and the pain noise floor increases, I grow less and less tolerant of all the misery that "fine music listening" costs... even assache as simple as hunting down and collecting decent-quality digitized audio is just more than I have time for right now...

As I near my own final extraction point, I have to admit, I am less and less inclined to give a flying fuck about that extra 10% of fidelity when I can pick almost any album I feel like listening to on a $49 tablet, and it will play that through whatever speakers I can conveniently connect to it, and it will continue to autoplay "similar" music after that album is done until I can be arsed to walk over and pick a different album.

Short of selling my soul to Alexa, that is as much additional assache as I'm willing to put up with right now, especially when just standing and walking to do what must be done makes everything hurt like fire from my ankle to my knee to my actual arse.

mnem

[med6753]

Yeah nah, not if your MP3 is encoded at 320Kbps, I'll take clean digital over hiss and pop any day.

But FLAC is where it's at IMO.


Having said that, once my long-term stereo tube amp project gets assembled, I think it'll pair nicely with a reel to reel machine.

Yeah, 320Kbps is fine, but so many are not anywhere that, and internet radio can be quite as well.

All mine are AAC (mp4) or ALAC (lossless) now and cached streamed. Quality is far far better than muddy horrible mp3s.

"Old school" here. Music on the media PC is resource hog .wav files on a separate HD. Music in the CR-V is MP3 only because the sound system can't handle .wav. Music in the Civic is throw back CD, CD-R, etc.

[Peter_O]

99% of my some 1000 records, most bought preloved, are without any hiss or pop. You can listen to them and you will not know if it's vinyl or digital from the noise. It's all about the diamond's cut, the turntable of course and the record cleaning machines.

But arguments don't matter. It's all about listening. What you like better is better.

I've a very decent DAC, playing 24/192 when avalable.
Visitors are excited when listening to it and understand imediately that CD 16/44 is a very poor format and MP3 is a real problem.
But when I switch to the turntable, all discussions and arguments stop. People are just stunned. And nobody ever wanted to listen to digital again the same evening. First visitor preferring digital needs to be found.

I prefer vinyl by far. But when music is available only digital, it's digital of course.

[med6753]

99% of my some 1000 records, most bought preloved, are without any hiss or pop. You can listen to them and you will not know if it's vinyl or digital from the noise. It's all about the diamond's cut, the turntable of course and the record cleaning machines.

But arguments don't matter. It's all about listening. What you like better is better.

I've a very decent DAC, playing 24/192 when avalable.
Visitors are excited when listening to it and understand imediately that CD 16/44 is a very poor format and MP3 is a real problem.
But when I switch to the turntable, all discussions and arguments stop. People are just stunned. And nobody ever wanted to listen to digital again the same evening. First visitor preferring digital needs to be found.

I prefer vinyl by far. But when music is available only digital, it's digital of course.

But of course. Music is analog. It was never meant to be sampled and broken up into 1's and 0's and then reassembled before passing to an analog amplifier, analog speaker, and analog listener. And I agree that a high quality turntable and quality vinyl pressing can blow any digital format into the weeds.

[Cerebus]

Now see, this is what happens when you don't trim your beard; you need to go faster and faster to keep the airflow to your face constant!

I've just climbed out of the bath and I was going to trim my beard next. Now I can see that's the last thing I ought to do.

[Robert763]

So here it is, completely unpacked:

The Yokogawa WT1600: Typical Yokogawa knobs and button design. If you know their oscilloscopes, this should look familiar. The user manual found by your favourite internet seach engine reveals first rev. from 2001, this should approximate the date when the unit hit the market. It was discontinued ten years later in 2011 according to the Yokogawa website.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/test-equipment-anonymous-(tea)-group-therapy-thread/?action=dlattach;attach=1485556;image

The cal sticker is dated 2010, so it'll be interesting to see how accurate this unit still is.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/test-equipment-anonymous-(tea)-group-therapy-thread/?action=dlattach;attach=1485562;image

Alas, only one input element is fitted, and no other options.
For all the timenuts, the BNC labelled "EXT CLK" is not a 10MHz reference input, but rather an input to synchronize the unit to e.g. the fundamental frequency of measurement signals. Useful e.g. if you have quickly jumping amplitudes or heavily distorted signals. Normally the unit synchronizes its internal measurements to one of the input elements, U or I - one can select this through the menus.

Want this one then?

https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/r1051366861

Currently at 7500yen with 2 days to go, no idea what it'll actually go for...

If it's not too high you could send capt bullshot a couple of input modules and still flip it for a profit.

[Cerebus]

99% of my some 1000 records, most bought preloved, are without any hiss or pop. You can listen to them and you will not know if it's vinyl or digital from the noise. It's all about the diamond's cut, the turntable of course and the record cleaning machines.

But arguments don't matter. It's all about listening. What you like better is better.

I've a very decent DAC, playing 24/192 when avalable.
Visitors are excited when listening to it and understand imediately that CD 16/44 is a very poor format and MP3 is a real problem.
But when I switch to the turntable, all discussions and arguments stop. People are just stunned. And nobody ever wanted to listen to digital again the same evening. First visitor preferring digital needs to be found.

I prefer vinyl by far. But when music is available only digital, it's digital of course.

But of course. Music is analog. It was never meant to be sampled and broken up into 1's and 0's and then reassembled before passing to an analog amplifier, analog speaker, and analog listener. And I agree that a high quality turntable and quality vinyl pressing can blow any digital format into the weeds.

I hate to break it to you, but the first thing your ears do is a Fourier analysis in the cochlear, then your nerves translate that into a set of digital PCM signals and finally your brain tries to reconstruct the signal using a neural network to comprehend it. So any arguments that the whole natural signal chain is analogue fall apart.

[tggzzz]

But of course. Music is analog. It was never meant to be sampled and broken up into 1's and 0's and then reassembled before passing to an analog amplifier, analog speaker, and analog listener. And I agree that a high quality turntable and quality vinyl pressing can blow any digital format into the weeds.

Let's bring that back to TE...

But of course. Waveforms are analog. It was never meant to be sampled and broken up into 1's and 0's and then reassembled before passing to an analog amplifier, analog display, and analog viewer. And I agree that a high quality scope and probes can blow any digital scope into the weeds.

[tggzzz]

I hate to break it to you, but the first thing your ears do is a Fourier analysis in the cochlear, then your nerves translate that into a set of digital PCM signals and finally your brain tries to reconstruct the signal using a neural network to comprehend it. So any arguments that the whole natural signal chain is analogue fall apart.

Quite.

Add in that the whole ear-brain system is horribly non-linear in every dimension you can think of. If it wasn't, audio compression wouldn't work!

[Vince]

Oops... I got carried away.... no I am not going to move on to sorting the ICs. Just remembered I had a couple bins of more trannystors to sort first ! 
TO3 and TO220 packages. some salvaged and usable (long enough legs), but mostly intact legs so must be old stock.
At least these packages are easier to grab and to read the part number from, than all these pesky TO92 I just sorted.

OK so I am done with the TO3 packages now. Started with the TO3 as much less of them than the TO220 packages... low hanging fruits first ! 

23 of them in total. 3 that I could not identify, if people can help, you are most welcome. If not... straight to the junk bin, since an unidentified anything is as useful as a rock. Maybe I could saw them open out of curiosity...

Anyway as you can see they are :

- S-1828 made by " SI " in 1974. Or so I understand.

Then a couple made by RCA :

- CVT.......... 418
- CXK ....... 3M

So I am left with 20 that I could identify. Not always easily. Some don't have datasheets that Google can find me, so I have to rely on databases that give basic specs for old stuff. Problem is these sites don't always agree... and by a long shot. One gave a collector current of 15A max and the other pretended it was 45A.... 

I have a BD142-7 but the datasheet doesn't say anything about any suffixes, so don't know if the -7 suffix has any importance... I fear it has but will never know what it means 

Who knows what an SFC2309 is ?! A 5V voltage regulator of course ! What, nobody knew that ?!    We learn a little something new every day.

Was surprised that I got many Darlingtons  ! Didn't think these were so common    Or maybe they aren't and it's just Murphy manipulating me again.

I have no less than 5 different types ! MJ1001 and MJ3000, BDX62A and BDX65B, and a 2N6059.

As for the bad ass award, yesterday's 20 amps for that 2N3772, has been wiped off the face of the earth with my new contender : I have here a BUX20 50Amps 350W !!!! 
Is that even real ?! How can the pins on a TO3 package even carry that much current without melting  ?!


Other than that, I just received a couple items in the mailbox from Germany : some axial caps to complete the recap of my Tek 180A Time Mark Generator, and also a can of Deoxit because I have completely run out of the stuff, keeping me from working on my old hollow state stuff, which is a shame isn't it.

OK so now let's get started with these 200+ TO220 packages, oh dear me ..... 


You may now resume your normal Audiophool-phile activities.

[med6753]

I hate to break it to you, but the first thing your ears do is a Fourier analysis in the cochlear, then your nerves translate that into a set of digital PCM signals and finally your brain tries to reconstruct the signal using a neural network to comprehend it. So any arguments that the whole natural signal chain is analogue fall apart.

Quite.

Add in that the whole ear-brain system is horribly non-linear in every dimension you can think of. If it wasn't, audio compression wouldn't work!

Perhaps so. But has anyone determined our hearing's sample rate? Bet it's infinitely better than any digital format. After all, billions of years of evolution.

[mansaxel]

Yeah... I'm in desperate need of a decent 3/4 horse bench grinder; something can handle a 8 or 10" wire wheel. I'll prolly have to build that myself too, unless I get really lucky on Craigslist. 

mnem
"damn... another hole in my hide..."

I would rather have a slow-running grinder. I had access to one in only one place where I worked once and it was totally amazing what you could achieve with it. I still have several tools (pliers, cutters, tweezers and sccrewdrivers) which were reground on it. It does not cause thermal damage and allows very controllable grinding. It is the next best thing to a real tool grinding machine without the setup time and angular calculations.
Remark: a short review of offerings told me that the definitions vary considerably. I a not referring to those machines which run at 1450/min but merely several 100s. They are mostly used with a wet wheel, only some diamond wheels on a metal basis might be an exception.

I have a Tormek. Crazy things can be made with it. Shitty pot-metal knives get sharp, stay sharp, and are a joy to use.  I only need to get the jig for chisels and planes, then it's complete.