Category: Tech

Between Two Ears

Pioneer SX-440 receiver; Pioneer SE-20A headphones; Garrard 40B turntable with Shure M91ED cartridge; Realistic MC-1000 speakers

Behind the high school version of me in the picture above was a pair of Realistic MC-1000 speakers from Radio Shack. MC-1000’s are now a butt of jokes in audio circles, but only my steady girlfriend had more of my undivided attention than my stereo system did at that time.

Consumer Reports gave the MC-1000 a Best Buy rating. I bought a pair with money earned working at a restaurant (following my night working as a carny). At the time they cost $100. That’s equivalent to $600 today, which will still buy a very good pair of speakers.

Radio Shack 1972 catalog

When I quit the restaurant at the end of high school I was earning $1.85/hour, or about $11.50 today. The summer after graduation I worked for the town’s school system at the incredible rate of $3.00/hour, or $18 when adjusted for inflation. I could easily have been killed by an accident that happened while doing unsupervised and dangerous work for that job, but I escaped unscathed.

Even with the money spent on girlfriends, comic books and related items, and the stereo and records for it, I managed to save $2500 for college. That’s $15,000 in today’s money, which wouldn’t get anyone past their freshman year at even a public 4-year college.

P.S. to mih — We met 50 years ago this month. You were the one who told me I should get a job.

Screen Size Matters

I have spent uncountable hours of my life babysitting Windows operating system updates and restarts. I spent most of today doing more of the same on the previously mentioned Dell all-in-one computer. My son ran a factory restore procedure on the machine, which itself took many hours, and now I’ve reversed that process.

I’m pleased that the compact Bluetooth keyboard is working as well with Windows 10 as it did for me with the Lenovo Yoga 3 tablet, running Android 6. It was my ultra-portable setup that I used in Arizona. It was also ultra-affordable, with a total cost of $165. Since then the tablet has been used in my bedroom and the keyboard has been idle.

The idea behind this new setup is to try a Wacom Intuos Medium digital drawing tablet, which I should be doing this time tomorrow. So there’s no need for a full-sized keyboard and mouse.

A Dusty Record

Do records sound “better?” Here is a comparison that is completely invalid in every technical sense, but is nevertheless worth hearing.

First, the official copy on YouTube.

Now from vinyl, that may have been, for all I know, mastered from a digital source.

On my Logitech Z-3 computer speakers I’m hearing the same difference I’ve always heard between CD and LP.

Needle Exchange

I posted this in the Turntables group on Facebook. It’s a “private” group with almost 13,000 members. Is it any wonder that records continue their hold over obsessive hobbyists, against other music formats?

For a few years after college I earned a very modest living talking into a mic at an AM radio station. The format was Adult Contemporary, and the program manager let the DJ’s take whatever records we wanted the station couldn’t play. Recently I was asked if the DJ demo records of old were “hot stampers.” From the records I got from work long ago, and still have, I’d say yes.

For example, there is my copy of Elvis Costello & The Attractions, Live at Hollywood High. In my Pioneer PL-112D turntable I like using P-Mount cartridges with standard adapters. The VTA [vertical tracking angle] hits nicely with the fixed height of the tonearm. My Grado Green completely falls apart on the hot grooves of “Accidents Will Happen.” It buzzes like crazy on Elvis’ vocal! Swapping in my humble Audio-Technica AT-92ECD, installed in a spare head shell, it easily sails right through the same track.

For Once In My Life, Spare Me

Ah, NOS. That self-contradictory term, New Old Stock.

It’s a spindle/bearing assembly for my 1976 vintage Pioneer PL-112D turntable. The old assembly is in the picture. It had a bothersome spur on the top edge. I tried to smooth it out but, of course, that only made things worse.

Fortunately, an eBay seller has some Pioneer NOS spare parts at a reasonable price. An easy 10-minute job, even with replacing the original oil that still looked fresh after more than 40 years. The oil in the old spindle/bearing was black.

The book is Joel Whitburn’s authoritative compilation of 1960’s music charts from Billboard magazine. A gift from good, ol’ Denro. I got it out after Pandora played Frank Sinatra doing “For Once in My Life,” from his 1969 album My Way.

[“Frank Sinatra saved my life once. He said, ‘Okay, boys. That’s enough.'” – Shecky Greene]

Stevie Wonder had a #2 hit with the tune, released November 2, 1968. It stayed on the charts for 14 weeks.

But wait, was Stevie the first to release the song as a single? Jackie Wilson’s recording of “For Once in My Life” came out THE VERY SAME DAY, but it lasted only 3 weeks, reaching #70 on Billboard.

But wait again. Sinatra’s pal Tony Bennett beat Stevie and Jackie by more than a year, with his record coming out on September 9, 1967. Tony’s take on the song lasted for 19 weeks on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart, and it reached #8.

You may have heard that Tony, who is 94, has Alzheimer’s Disease. If Bennett dies tonight Denro will blame me, and rightly so, given my track record of famous people dying soon after I mention them. It’s my deadly superpower.