monitors

Revisiting an old love: JBL Studio Monitors

JBL 705P QuarterIt happens from time to time. I become entranced by some little thing. Something so special. An elegant piece of engineering. And admirable work of art. It’s happened again. This is the back story.

As a young person, I had a fascination with media technology. In fact, my teen years read like a rough draft of Wayne’s World. I volunteered/hung around the small town cable TV studio, learning to use their gear. Shot and edited little programs. Volunteered as a DJ. Lots of hands-on with the media technology the time.

So, when it came time to consider College, I decided that I wanted to study media production. There weren’t many options for media arts education at the time. My friend and I selected a private school in Toronto. It was good. All the teachers were active in the business. But it didn’t have its own facilities beyond classrooms.

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The Logitech Squeezebox Lives On

squeezebox_mr.jpgThis past week I bought our fifth Squeezebox streaming music player. It’s a used Squeezebox Classic sourced via E-Bay for a rather approachable $89. This new-to-us Squeezebox replaces a Squeezebox Touch model that failed a few months ago.

We now have three in service and two that have failed. Two failures over about eight years is completely tolerable. We remain committed to using the Squeezeboxen even if Logitech has discontinued the line.

I think that Logitech stumbled in their decision to discontinue the Squeezebox line. The product range has a substantial and very loyal user base. It will continue to do so since they have ported both the Squeeze Center Server and Squeezebox player software to the little Raspberry Pi SBC.

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Reality Check: Computer Speakers vs Hi-Fi

Lower East Side Air Overview This morning’s news dump finds me distracted by an Engadget story about Audyssey releasing a new AirPlay-capable powered speaker system called “Lower East Side Air.”

This is the second time such an announcement from this company has caused my brow to wrinkle. The first time the company caught my attention was when Tech Crunch reviewed their Lower East Side Media Speakers.

Going beyond the press release I had a look at the companies’ web site for some greater depth on the Lower East Side Air product. I was surprised to find that there really wasn’t anything more to be had.

 

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An afternoons comparative listening to 5 pairs of powered audio monitors

This past weekend a friend and I spent an afternoon listening comparatively to a collection of powered audio monitors. It was by no means a scientific study, just a casual session of listing to music in a focused manner.

We used three Slim Devices Squeezebox 3s as sources, all playing in sync from a music server. The SB3s were running Squeeze Center v7. We setup a playlist of music we both knew well then switched between monitors in pairs.

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The Path To Whole House Audio: Part 6 – Whole House Audio

Some time ago I had installed a couple of in-ceiling speakers into our living room. I did it one Saturday while my wife was out. That was a mistake.

When she got home she was disappointed that I had done this without consulting her. I had mistakenly thought that built-in gear would be inconspicuous and so desirable from her perspective. She, on the other hand, felt that cutting holes in the ceiling of our vintage 1920s craftsman style house was a bad idea. She’d rather leave it as original as possible.

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The Path To Whole House Audio: Part 5- Verification By Measurement

My brother-in-law Fred is something of an audiophile. Not the ridiculous, “I-paid-a months-wages-for-that-rca-lead cantcha-just-feel-the-increased-sonic-emotion*” kind of guy, more pragmatic but with an open mind.

*see Pear Audio Cables vs James Randi for details

A few years ago Fred built a set of speakers from a kit. It was a pricey kit but they sound great so why quibble. They look great, too. He had fun making them and the reward of making something exceptional with your own two hands cannot be overstated.

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