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verb · January 2018

Intermission.

Tony M · January 2018

verb wrote: »

Tony M wrote: »

My brother went to the viewing area that day. He has that terrible memory of seeing it live in person. That was a bad thing that NASA let the world view it live also on every TV. Schools were letting all students watch it too.

I know it was a huge shock, but this special just on TV the other night had a man that said he recommended to them NOT to launch. The higher-ups ignored his request!

Just a simple o-ring!!! Interesting the new design has features that detect leaks, unlike the previous one.

This copy has my post in the show previous quotes. I copied the wrong post but..anyway, it's there about my Brother. This was the second response to your pic. of that album cover. You must have forgot or didn't read it fully as many people don't seem to do anymore.

I'm good now.

verb · January 2018

I did read the entire post @tonyb about your brother and I'm with ya. I too was touched after this event. I remember President Reagan's speech afterwards, it will always be with me. I was studying to be an aerospace engineer at the time so it hit me even more.

I know that @Viking64 meant no offense. He's got a great sense of humor and I like reading his posts. I also know he can take it as he surely dishes it out!

I'm happy that you're good, I do appreciate your comments on CP!

verb · January 2018

And yes, who else but Drew Barrymore for a little time out!

Tony M · January 2018

Thanks, @verb.

I started to get @Viking64's sense of humor after a couple of posts. I saw he really meant no harm. So I relaxed.

It was almost POPCORN time again.

verb · January 2018

We love you @Tony M !

Tony M · January 2018

vcwatkins · February 2018

I SUCK at the whole video thing, but I went ahead and put three snippets from the Sunshine Music Fest on Youtube. It was very cold, but the music and bourbon were excellent.

Medeski Martin & Wood

https://youtu.be/abep5yk9G1I

Tedeschi Trucks Band

https://youtu.be/e3Ct2COEFF4

TTB w/ Jorma & Jack

https://youtu.be/AnxWvZxq8ug

mhardy6647 · February 2018

Just heard this tonight on VPR's All the Traditions -- thought it was hysterical. YMMV, though, of course

https://youtu.be/gnZ1STg8UIA

Tony M · February 2018

That was Awesome Scientific logical implementation on designing and playing a particular vinyl record recording at its finest! They might be on to something! That's thinking out of the box!
This "Calvin and Hobbs" cartoon immediately came to my mind!

mhardy6647 · February 2018

^^^ and that cartoon explains the root of "inner groove distortion"

Clipdat · February 2018

Reminds me of DJing with strictly vinyl when I was first starting. When you're mixing out the first track into the other and beatmatching, the BPM on the outgoing track increases slightly as the needle is reaching the grooves closer to the label, so you have to account for that and accommodate with subtle pitch adjustment sometimes.

verb · February 2018

mhardy6647 wrote: »

^^^ and that cartoon explains the root of "inner groove distortion"

Clipdat wrote: »

Reminds me of DJing with strictly vinyl when I was first starting. When you're mixing out the first track into the other and beatmatching, the BPM on the outgoing track increases slightly as the needle is reaching the grooves closer to the label, so you have to account for that and accommodate with subtle pitch adjustment sometimes.

Interesting subject for a TT neophyte. Makes sense as the linear velocity would double along the inner grooves since the radius is halved, at constant rpm.

How do TT's compensate for this (auto pitch)? Or do the actual records (recording speed) varies?

Just throwing some thoughts out there, cause I'm intrigued.

mhardy6647 · February 2018

Since the record cutting lathe and the playback turntable spin at the same angular velocity, it all comes out in the wash, so to speak. The change in linear velocity, however and the decreasing radius of curvature put extreme demands on the tracking system towards the end of the record side... and that's the (not at all uncommon) audible consequence.

verb · February 2018

Ahhh, makes sense. Thanks doc. Playback process emulates the manufacturing process.

To the other point of tracking, interesting that the tonearm pivot seems to be placed at varying distances (perpendicular radii) from the platter center. Is there a sweet spot for the tonearm pivot? Mass aside, seems like tonearm length is also a factor.

Geometrically I would think there is an optimized location.

Tony M · February 2018

If they told us how it works, they'd have to k**l us.

mhardy6647 · February 2018

verb wrote: »

Ahhh, makes sense. Thanks doc. Playback process emulates the manufacturing process.

To the other point of tracking, interesting that the tonearm pivot seems to be placed at varying distances (perpendicular radii) from the platter center. Is there a sweet spot for the tonearm pivot? Mass aside, seems like tonearm length is also a factor.

Geometrically I would think there is an optimized location.

You are correct in principle -- in practice, there is an alignment process to get the stylus as tangent as possible to the groove across as much of the playing surface of the record as possible.

Since with a swingin' arm this represents a compromise (there will always be tracking error in terms of tangency, except at one, or more likely two points across the record's surface) - there are multiple "standards" (i.e., no standard

) and the different alignment strategies/schemes are debated and defended with religious fervor by the vinylista.

So it goes.

You can get alignment protractors ranging from internet downloads to expensive store-bought gizmos.

Have you spent some quality time at www.vinylengine.com or Steve Hoffman's forums, e.g.? Fun to be had, boy howdy

mhardy6647 · February 2018

Thinking about offset and alignment on tonearms (more to the point, styli) puts me to mind of -- windshield wipers. Windshield wipers have all sorts of clever alignments to let them wipe as much window as possible with as short an arm as
possible.

I've long been fascinated by the wipers on buses that use a pantograph (edit: guess parallelogram is more accurate!) style design to mimic, essentially, an infinitely long pivoted arm.

Good old Garrard, of course, used the pantograph parallelogram concept to engineer the infamous "zero tracking error" pivoted arm. Not a bad idea, but the execution left -- a lot to be desired.

I don't think I have a photo of the one that passed through here

Here's a borrowed image of one, and that engineering marvel arm

Just because something can be done does not mean that it should be done.

verb · February 2018

Thank you doc for the historical theory. Yes very interesting. The Garrard mechanism (looks like a 4-bar link) inherently provides more linear travel at the the sylus. Looks expensive.

As with any system, material cost is weighed against many other attibutes, including performance. I love the wiper analogy, spot on. Being in the automotive business, I've had many debates with wiper system engineers on those very same issues. Can you say Pugh Matrix?

Vinyl engine here I go! Further down the rabbit hole!

mhardy6647 · February 2018

verb wrote: »

Thank you doc for the historical theory. Yes very interesting. The Garrard mechanism (looks like a 4-bar link) inherently provides more linear travel at the the sylus. Looks expensive.

As with any system, material cost is weighed against many other attibutes, including performance. I love the wiper analogy, spot on. Being in the automotive business, I've had many debates with wiper system engineers on those very same issues. Can you say Pugh Matrix?

Vinyl engine here I go! Further down the rabbit hole!

The "zero" turntables (there were a couple-three models over its fairly short lifespan) weren't horrifically expensive -- which was probably part of the problem. That fine British craftsmanship

doesn't come cheap, and Garrard ('way past its peak by the early 1970s) probably horrifically underinvested at every turn to value engineer the final product.

The arm as a commercial product had a couple of flaws: it was heavy (despite, if memory serves, being made of magnesium) and (again, if memory serves) the bearings were pretty awful. The former isn't an immense problem (given that there are low compliance cartridges!) but the latter was pretty much, I think, a deal-breaker.