snowy sunday

[low_delta]

Cyn said it was really snowing hard when she got up at 9:00. It was still snowing when I got up at ten, but it tapered off. The roads were getting cleared pretty well by noon, so I was disappointed that Derek called of gaming on account of the weather.

I probably spent about two hours shoveling. We got 8-1/2 inches, but it was light and fluffy. It still took me a couple of hours. There was a dusting of snow around supper time.

I hooked up the turntable. The one in the entertainment center has been sitting there for who knows how long, but I never plugged it in. It was a pain, which is why I never did it. I had to thread the power cord and RCA cords through the shelves. And there are so many cords in there that receiver can't pull all the way out, so I had to get a flashlight and mirror to see the back of the thing, to figure out where to plug them in. Finally got it hooked up, and there was no sound. I had the plugs in the wrong jacks. Got that fixed without too much trouble, but the sound was really distorted. And there were loud pops when it started and stopped. Hadn't had that trouble before. Rather than disconnect it and take it apart to wire in a ground wire, I disconnected it, and put in the other turntable. The one with the ground wire that I installed a few years ago. So I threaded the power cord and ground wire back through, disconnected a few cables, so I could pull out the receiver and screw on the ground wire. Got everything put back together (including a fancy cable where the receptacle was damaged) and pushed back in. I turned it on and there was still no sound. Forgot the RCA cords. Got that hooked up, and it sounds good. Finally.

Gonna listen to some LP's over the break.

Comments

[serendipity.livejournal.com]

Cyn slept in until 9?? When did she develop such slovenly ways? ;)

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

She's not feeling well. The previous day she slept until 8, and remarked how unusual that was. Today, my alarm woke her.

[serendipity.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry she's not feeling well. But, wait, your alarm woke her an hour before you got up? Do you have a one-hour snooze button?

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

No, it just takes me that long to wake up and get out of bed.

[mummm.livejournal.com]

Your snow looks so pretty. We seem to be stuck with gloom and sog.

[penpusher.livejournal.com]

Crackle and pops can be from dust in the jacks contacting the connections. Ideally, you would use one of those compressed air sprayers to get any dust out of the plugs before you use them, especially if they've been dormant for a long while.

Happy Listening!

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Seems strange that dust can cause noise. You'd think the cables either have a connection or don't.

I'll check it out. Thanks!

[rivendweller.livejournal.com]

I bought a snow blower because my driveway is too long and steep for shoveling. Have you thought about getting a snow blower? They cut down on the shoveling time, that's for sure.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

I've thought about buying one. I must be one of the few around here who doesn't have one, since people always seem surprised I don't.

Pros: takes less time to clear the snow

Cons: the machine costs money, the gas costs money, it creates noise and exhaust, I need the exercise, I barely have any room in my garage for it

I've decided I'll get a reasonably small one, so it would fit in the garage, and I'd only use it on the heavier snowfalls like this one. But I always say "next year."

[rivendweller.livejournal.com]

I wish I could have purchased a small one, but (alas)I had to have something with lots of power to climb that hill. It was expensive: after tax and a 3-year extended warranty, $1,400. I decided on the warranty because it has lots of moving parts that could break down easily.

[roadskoller.livejournal.com]

I've got vinyl I haven't seen for years.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Bring 'em over!

[ranunculus.livejournal.com]

Sound. clean = good
Turntables run at a different signal strength than other devices. Generally a pre-amp is needed to bring record level up to line level. Line level is what the other devices on your system run on. Pre-1954 (or anything after then that was recorded using the 1954 standard) should sound fine using a "phono preamp" that is built into most turntable jacks.

[ranunculus.livejournal.com]

OOps, what I meant to say was that anything after 1954 should have been recorded to the 1954 standards, which is not to say that it actually was...

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Preamp inside the tuner, you mean? I assume that's what I've got, since I didn't have to add one, and it's a pretty good tuner.

The second turntable sounds just fine, though I had to add a ground line, a while back. Dean's suggestion about dust in the jack could be it, for the first one.

[philrancid.livejournal.com]

This sounds like how so many of my DIYs go.

Which is why I opted to NOT cut down the SIM card in my one phone to fit the new one.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Heh. Good plan.