What you did there looks good Carl, I can appreciate your attention to detail and the desire to do the job right, even if it is overkill, I am the same way. But as for the tip on making sure the wires are the same length, that is a good one I would not have initially considered. Thanks. This is a project I am going for soon, my pool is open, I am hardpiping my heater in and will be finished as soon as I can, it is raining now. I will have a test water jet, then I want to work on tunes...
Audio options?
- Thread starter TheOne
- Start date
sevver said:
Thanks!...but
Overkill? MOI???? 8) It took me all of about half a day to install it! The hardest part was getting the wire through the conduit--I should have used the next size up! Lots of WD-40 did the trick. Had it been overkill I would have routed it to the main HT system in the family room. Instead, I dug up a bunch of old equipment I had in the basement and used that. It's right inside that sliding glass door in the picture so I can get to it easily. I DID have to remake a stereo table from Circuit City so my wife would let me put it in the Family room.
Amp: Dynaco ST-400--Power amp with 200wpch--can easily drown out the "Rap-Album Producer"s nonsense up the street.
Pre-Amp: Dynaco PAT-4--the VW Beetle of solid-state pre-amps for over 30 years.
Tuner: Dynaco AF-6--the AM/FM version of the FM-5--so I can listen to ball games!
Cassete: Nakamichi RX-505--the amazing single-direction auto-reversing deck--flips the tape!
CD-Changer: Generic modern cheapie.
Great old stuff. No remotes, old-fashioned switches and pots, two-channel only. Awesome sound.
The same-length cable concept is SO often forgotten by most people and it really degrades the sound and forces you to use the balance control. ALSO REMEMBER TO PHASE THE SPEAKERS AS WELL! Out of phase speakers sound muddy and have less volume. Usually, just keep the wire colors straight is enough (red to red to red, white to white to white.) You can always use a battery (D or 9V) to check. The speaker will go in (a sucking sound that goes up) or out (a popping sound that goes down). Both speakers must go the same way.
I always wire the speakers the same, I did not know that was phasing them, just made sense to me.
Tapes! I remember them, I had some when I was in 8th grade!!!!
Tapes! I remember them, I had some when I was in 8th grade!!!!
sevver said:
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
Cassette tapes were still a new idea when I was in 8th grade! Reel-to-reel was the ONLY way to go for decent sound. And Video Tape recorders were B&W, cost $5000, and needed a special TV with A/V outs to record off the air! The tape was 1" wide and on reels, not cassetes.
CDs were still 10 years away....Armstrong hadn't reached the moon, Woodstock was an artist colony near Kingston, and the '69 Mets had yet to thrill New York.
What lovely old Dynaco stuff - bet that sounds great! Did you have the Dynaco A-25 speakers as well?
We are showing our ages!!
We are showing our ages!!
Well, I don't exactly consider myself young, middle aged I would say, not that I act like it sometimes.
waterbug said:What lovely old Dynaco stuff - bet that sounds great! Did you have the Dynaco A-25 speakers as well?
We are showing our ages!!
No, but I do have the Advents--the last of the originals were "The New Advent" full size, and the Advent/1s. Plus I restored a pair of AR2s (the Advents are better).
Besides, I wouldn't put any of the above outside!
The Dynaco stuff is sweet--and their tube stuff was even sweeter!
Yeah, this was dream stuff when I was a kid!
I had a couple different people tell me to just run 16-2 direct bury wire for speaker wire. I had no idea I should keep them the same lenght. Will this still work? Thanks
induce said:
No audio-phile EVER admitted that 8-track players even EXISTED! It took YEARS for them to accept that cassettes could keep up with reel-to-reel--and it was Dolby Noise Reduction that did it.
8-tracks were for muscle cars and semis. I think all they can play is "Born to Be Wild" and Willie Nelson! :lol:
The reason for keeping the wiring the same length is that even copper wire has resistance, and over distance that resistance is emphasized. Thicker wire (14 or 12 gauge) has a much lower resistance than 16 and this shows up the longer the run. But the difference in length will show up in reduced volume to the speaker that has the longer run. A foot or two won't be too noticable, especially over a 30' or longer run. But if you have a 10' or more discrepancy in lengths it will probably be VERY noticeable. There are two compensations:
1) Use the balance control to keep the sides at equal levels.
2) Some of the newer receivers have some sort of automatic balance control--you set it once and forget it. The unit compensates digitally to send more power to the longer run rather than by keeping a higher resistance on one side, which the balance does. I have no idea how it works beyond that.
If you've already done the work and buried the conduit those are your options. You COULD splice in more wire on the short side, but then you must be very careful that your connections are solid and impervious. Twisting wires together and wrapping them with electrical tape will fail sooner or later. Crush fittings, like the auto-sound guys use, are better.
Oh my we could do a whole new topic on speakers alone. I had a pair of the New Large Advents - they were my first serious speakers...........currently have Vandersteen 2ce signatures. AAAAAAAAAAah those first Advents. My brother still uses them.
I've got a pair of Norman Laboratories (no longer in business) that have been in the family for about 20 years and still sound great.
SeanB said:
There are lots of great speakers, (but even more mediocre ones). The best are the ones you like. I've noticed that most modern ones seem to finding ways to get good sound from thinner units and lots of small drivers. I'm not crazy about the sound--sometimes too metallic and sharp-edged--I think that's over-emphasis on very, very high freqs. But many are getting amazing sound from small packages. No more 12" woofers (ah, the good old days!)
But I have yet to hear a good sat/Sub system that compared to full-range front speakers. They have no mid-range. I have nothing against sub-woofers--I use one to compensate for a cathedral ceiling family room--just enough so it fills the gap, but not enough so you hear it.
A set of Bozaks passed through my hands a few years ago. While really well-made I didn't like their sound.
CarlD:
Thanks for the information about wire lenghts. Its already in the ground but not hooked up. The runs are far apart, hopefully I can cut the extra on one and spool the extra on the other. I have been on this and PF about hunderd times and learn something new everyday. As a first time pool owner the water chemisty makes my head hurt. I know am at the right place when we finnaly get are pool open. Thanks to everybody that takes the time to help out.
Thanks for the information about wire lenghts. Its already in the ground but not hooked up. The runs are far apart, hopefully I can cut the extra on one and spool the extra on the other. I have been on this and PF about hunderd times and learn something new everyday. As a first time pool owner the water chemisty makes my head hurt. I know am at the right place when we finnaly get are pool open. Thanks to everybody that takes the time to help out.
haybird said:
It's actually all simpler than most people think. There's no magic, no secret formula.
Basically, you worry about Chlorine and pH--and everything else is ancillary to that.
Chlorine is controlled with bleach. Levels can safely be much higher than pool stores and pool books tell you. You can use nothing but bleach as your chlorine forever.
pH is raised with ordinary 20 Mule Team Borax, lowered with ordinary Muriatic Acid (available at hardware stores and Home Depot/Lowes).
Total Alkalinity is merely (mainly) a buffer to keep pH stable--raise T/A with Arm&Hammer baking soda. Lower it--well that's trickier.
CYA/Stabilizer keeps chlorine from breaking down too fast. But it's a 2-edged sword and the CYA level affects the ideal chlorine level. Easy to add, tough to lower
Calcium is needed for concrete pools, irrelevant for vinyl pools.
Most other chemicals are useless junk. The ones that aren't junk are ONLY useful if something's messed up.
"Shock" is a verb, not a noun. You don't buy "Shock". You "Shock" your pool by raising the chlorine level high enough to kill everything growing in it.
And you can't do anything right without a proper test kit.
That's it in what? Nine lines.
Wow: When you put it like that its seems a lot simpler. I think I am reading to much about everybodys different situation,and losing my focus. I am sure I will be in touch within the next few weeks. Thanks again
haybird said:
Another Convert! Yay! That's because it IS simple! It doesn't need to be tough and confusing.
BTW, You are very welcome.
haybird said:
The truth is that it's even simpler than it sounds. Once you get a feel for your pool, you'll know what it's going to need and can quickly see problems in the making. 2 minutes a day is about all it takes.
