Getting groovy

Yes, there was no extra edition on Friday simply because I was too pawley tm to write one and do all links across sites for the entry never mind being unable to do any written work in my studying this weekend gone.
Meanwhile back to the this weeks entry..
The last time I touched on the topic of vinyl reproduction was on May 5th 2013 when I talked about a 'plug and play' cartridge for tone arms with screw fitting headshell, saving some of the work involved in setting up your turntable.
Link: The Shallow Memory special
Quite a few things have happened since then like adding new sources for digital reproduction and gosh! getting a cassette deck but this last week saw something else arrive

 There always has been a turntable in my stereo systems from the first I had when I was ten when it was the only decent source of hearing pre-recorded music to my more recent system where unlike some people it's not just about playing 'legacy' albums and 45's but even getting new recordings on vinyl.
Since around 2006 that role had been taken by a Pioneer PL12D turntable from the 1970's as too many Hifi turntables new lacked easy speed changing for 45's and albums and I find being able to change cartridges say for more worn 45's rather than my very well looked after album collection is handy.
I had been considering getting a new turntable more like that for around £300 of which there a few reasonable models out their by people like Pioneer and Audio Technica when rather suddenly a family friend died who had a lot of Hifi and Ham radio stuff finding they'd left this in the Will for me.
The Marantz 6170 is what is called a Direct Drive turntable so the motor directly moves the platter your record is on without using a belt or Idler to transmit the motor movement to cause it to turn around.
This removes any slight slipping from a belt and noise from being transmitted by it.
The other big advantage is the speed is monitored and adjusted in real time electronically so it is absolutely constant having been set by an electronic circuit precisely.
The funny display toward the front right is the illuminate strobe used to visually confirm the settings are spot on.
In practical terms this means the reproduction of percussion as they are struck sounds rock solid in its timing.
The arm may offend mainly UK based purists but is a low mass 'S' shaped arm which is lowered and raised by push buttons, which is good for damaged pawed of us and it has the option of being sat over the record where it will lower and start playing and then lift and turn itself off at the end although you can do it by hand if you prefer.  It certainly felt freer than the one on the Pioneer.
It takes almost universal SME screw type headshells that easy to get being used in 'classic'  record based DJing which meant I could just screw my old ones straight in, just adjusting the downforce and anti-skate if needed.
On the left there is slot to house a spare headshell ready to swap over.
It just required a smidgen of tlc, it cleaning up, making sure any parts that needed to be free were and the output plugs changing to decent RCA plugs to plug to my Rotel phono stage before entering my amplifier (it has no built in circuit for record decks).
It does sound really good having heard a few  extra details from albums I'm very familiar with and is proving to very enjoyable to use.
A few comments on my main system:
Currently it has a Stanton 681EEE cartridge in it and it needs something to make its output much bigger and adjust the sound from the cartridge so it matches that the record was cut with (when you cut a record you reduce the low notes and increase the high ones to reduce surface noise and increase playing time). I had such a unit by Hart Electronics but the output was too high causing distortion and even putting reducers in the output leads didn't quite cure it all as I think it was getting a little distorted in its internal circuits.
As it happened Rotel made a unit specifically for my integrated amplifier and a few similar products whose output matched exactly the sort it's input stage was designed for.

 It needless to say is a perfect visual match for my integrated amplifier.

The unit can handle standard Moving magnet as well as dearer Moving Coil cartridges selected using a switch at the rear. Its previous owner was only selling it cos he had another similar unit so it was spare.
After quickly plugging the wires in and connecting the grounding tag on the record deck to a special connector on the unit, I tried a few records I know well. The obvious thing was the loss of a niggling feeling of harshness in the louder passages where the other unit was close to overloading, sweeter high notes and a better sense of where in a stereo mix the different instruments are located in space.
To be honest, had I of planned to have gotten this amplifier first I'd of gotten this unit straightaway.
It makes listening to records old or new ones such as David Bowie's The Next Day that I have on vinyl so much more enjoyable.

Locked out!

Today's not as planned as the FA business has just gotten more complicated  as resulting from a cyber attack that is alleged to have compromised the security of everyones account  had we not had a lengthy outage it has been decide to have everyone go through a password resetting tool to change it.
Normally this is little more than just changing your password but FA wants you to a tool that is meant to go to the email you are registered at but a fair number of people are finding the request isn't arriving at their inbox. I've tried three times and it hasn't come through even though I have my original activation email there and can't recall changing the email details but it isn't working so I'll have to contact a human if they feel like helping out as I have a lot stuff there.
On the other hand I did study this weekend looking at capacity and volume for rectangles and cubes and doing a practice paper for English on Soccer that I got 85% on.

Down our wood

It's been a week of the streaming eyes thanks to hay fever which is something I do suffer from as much as love being out of doors but the outdoor life is the one I prefer not least when it's so relaxing.

I'm fortunate this part of the North-west Midlands has lovely countryside even woods in walking distance I can just visit and just spent time just watching nature at its own more less hectic timescale.

Pay attention Jo (yet another study weekend)

This was typed between bit of spare time this weekend where it was bright and sunny although not exactly warm here not that it stops his Gingerness from being out for hours at a time.

"Cheer up, Girls, it can't surely be that bad" is the thought that enters my mind looking at that picture and the desks we sat at one by one until my secondary education were similar for those of us brought up with rote learning and the notion the teacher delivering the lesson to the class.
This weekend I've been studying  with an English practice on an extract from Oscar Wilde's The Picture  of Dorian Gray which was more about how to answer questions long answers where there is not a clue in the question as the what in the extract you need to look at and where necessary quote from.
Not wishing to sound like I'm on repeat, but my reading age is barely in double digits so reading it for the gest of the story was very hard going but I managed 90% in this.
The other part of the study is my favourite subject  -NOT- Math looking at working out Areas, Circumferences, Diameters and Radius using formulas for squares, circles, rectangles and triangles (right angled and others) in addition to learning about Solids and Nets which involves having to use ordinary math.
Although part of the formula wasn't properly explained so I had to work it out for myself, I did actually get 100% on this unit which is pretty amazing.
I'd like to thank Papa Bear for his supporting me, he's a lovely, firm but fair guy who believes in me probably more I've done in the  past to be honest and everyone else who does helping me grow.

Top shelf edition! (Very SFW!)

Been a bit busy this week tidying a few things up, sorting  somethings I don't really use but are in great shape for charity and dusting -atchoo! - the top shelf in my room.

 Well when doing that I found something I hadn't mentioned before on here that is I just loved Sesame Street even when you get it with NTSC colour on our tv and 26th letter of the American Language (some of us spell from Eh to Zed!) for the characters and especially the message it put over in what could be  very selfish and commercial set of values found elsewhere.
Big Bird was one of my favourites from the show always taking an interest and a care in the people and situations which kinda rubbed off with me.
A few years ago my folks bought me this Big Bird plushie as they gradually are becoming more accepting of this middle/little side that's central to my life and I thought it deserved an airing.

May study weekend

I don't actually know where to put myself today as the weekends events have left me feeling very different about me (and some of this will go elsewhere), what I can do and really about my life so far in.
As well all know, the one big difference this year with the exception of days when I am truly too unwell to work or away on meets such as Camp, my weekends  are taken up with something deliberately challenging.
Two days of concentrated study where I pretty much have to work on just that, sat at a desk, in uniform with no distractions working from the study guides with just fixed recess periods with no dawdling, back chat or refusing to start being accepted.

Really.
This weekend has seen me work on my English looking at how people who write stories try to draw you into the character, getting you to think you were involved and learning how to compare and contrast different texts on the same subject by style, language, use of humour and summarize any differences effectively.
I had set questions to answer on it and I managed 90%.
Sunday after breakfast saw me start work on the great Basic Math revision test going over the whole of the unit from addition, subtraction, long multiplication and  long division (makes numbers look more like snakes and ladders!), formulars, factors, square, cubed and prime numbers and ratios.
That's because I now have Area to get to grips with as the next unit in my studying and you need to understanding these more everyday concepts first.
It also involved knowing how to use a calculator correctly and paper/mental arthritic!
Now this has been marked at...92%
I even got the formulas and long division right  it's so unlike the me I knew, who flunked Math spectacularly at high school not that there are not good reasons why I struggle with it but more the leap in the argument that starts by saying "She'll struggle" moves though "Won't achieve" and finishes at "It doesn't matter".
It doesn't say "Is struggling", "Will help her to master it" and "We will put our foot down if she doesn't make a honest attempt at doing it" which is really the difference now in my life.

Blossoming pink

Spring has finally sprung here at chez Jo's with what might be a warm mini season this weekend which will be welcomed  after last weekends damp squid so the layers can come off and the gingham dresses go on.
This entry is very much hot of the press as I went out this morning first thing with an idea in mind for this blog entry, put my shoes on and took a few pictures. One I liked was that of our cherry blossoms as I just love the shade of pink they have being a highlight of year when they emerge.
Mr.Marmalade has been out a bit too, rolling about in the grass and sunbathing on the mat.

May Bank Holiday edition

It's a May Bank Holiday and I have things to be doing today not least a few things for the local community which at least keep me fitter than if I didn't  even if the weather as ever is all over the place.
Charming considering this weekend people in part of the North-west Midlands are out celebrating 1000 years of the history of Staffordshire which in its original form is the home two large urban conurbations at its far ends and was ranked as the fifth most populous County in England.
From Flash to Enville and from Gnosall (but sadly have they have no Gnu's) to Uttoxeter it is a country rich in contrasts, countryside and industrial heritage.
 In Lichfield, the county has a most wonderful cathedral.

 This is a oldish picture of a lovely woolen  plaid tartan pencil skirt the bigger side of me likes which you don't see much of on this blog.