Stereo System: Time to make some changes: Dynaco Stereo 200 PLUS Banana Plug lesson.

Gentle reader,

I just posted a list of all my blogs about my stereo equipment adventures. After this, why not take a look: UPDATED Every Stereo Equipment Blog post I have done!

Here's the deal. I started looking into PROTON equipment because the same company that made them also made the revitalized Dynaco line when Panor Corp. bought the name rights. I always wanted some of that new Dynaco equipment and at last found a Stereo 200 power amplifier on eBay and snatched it up! It was part of the all-new audiophile equipment they were putting out as well as selling new Stereo 70 tube amplifiers. By the name, one can tell a Dynaco amp's output, the 200 is 100 watts-per-channel.

So, I found a PROTON D540 integrated amplifier which has their phenomenal "Dynamic Power On Demand" circuitry. I bought it to use as a preamplifier to replace my Yamaha C-45. After a while, I decided to try it as it was designed. Well, the stuff works. That little amplifier is amazing at producing prodigious power! It took everything I threw at it and asked, "Is that all you got?" OK, I may be being a little silly. If you Google PROTON D540, you too can learn about the magic they achieve from a 40 watts-per-channel amp.

So, anyway, I was playing LP after LP and all of a sudden there was a roaring noise, like Pink Noise, along with the music, but only on the Phono circuit. Fortunately, I had bought a spare D540, via eBay, so I wasn't too concerned.

Since I was going to unwire everything I decided to put the Stereo 200 back to work. I rearranged somethings too. Took me many hours. Here's what it all looks like now, and yes, I DO have the cover for the Discwasher components:
The OPPO universal player (has headphones on top of it) and the Adcom power supply were moved from the right side. The TDK CD recorder was moved from the left side and the D540 was moved (and replaced) from the top right to where you see it now. The Dynaco (and the D540 before) has to be on top to hook up all the speaker cables.

Here's the wide angle  view of the above photo for reference:
And here's what it looked like before, except those Philips speakers now live elsewhere:
One thing I do not like about the PROTON models is the speaker terminals LOOK like they have three-way banana/binding posts, but they do not. They accept bare wire from the top down into the terminal OR some fancy bent-pin terminals as seen below:

As you can see, it makes for some odd restriction on how one hooks up speakers. Nope, one cannot slide banana plugs in those holes. They do not fit, and there is no continuity in those holes either. They just allow the red and black knobs to rotate.
Below is a close-up of the best conducting banana plug in the world next to the bent-pin terminal. Both are made for Nakamichi in China. I know, I had to get the bent-pin terminals all the way from China.
You see that split zig-zag? They make for ultimate connectivity. Sometimes a little too much as they can be hard to pull back out. Note how the outside cover for the bent-pin units have to be slid onto the wire/cable before putting the terminal on the bare copper. The banana plugs go on first and then the outer cover screws on. For the BEST banana-shaped banana plugs, Nakamichi also sells these:
No, they are not levitating. Though the magic of Photoshop, I rotated the photos 180 degrees. MOST banana plugs, even Monster Cable's do not look like these. If you look closely, the have a little bump on the end and the expanded part can spin around. This makes for easy assembly but poor contact. 
Banana Plug lesson is over. Please let me continue the tale by showing how I wire my system to be able to drive up to four pairs of speakers with no danger of too low impedance for the amplifier to handle.
Above and below is the LEGEND LE412 speaker switch I found years ago. Go ahead and try and find one yourself. They seem to have been all sold. What's unique is it has three-way binding/banana terminals AND they are spaced 3/4 for using double-banana plugs which is what you see plugged into it. They are Monster Cable brand and yes, they have spinners.
To secure the switch to the top of the amp, I made round feet out of Blu-Tak which is sticky Playdoh-like material. It sticks but does not leave residue. Those funny looking things on top of the front of the switch are iron weights. I do not remember what they came out of, but they are perfect to prevent the LE412 switch from rearing up like it's doing a wheelie. The LEGEND switch designers never figured someone would use heavy cables like I do. 

The gray, (or is it grey?) cables are Monster Cable M-Series and are 10-gauge copper with different sizes of wires making up the conductors. The theory is bass will flow on thick wire, treble on thinner. Can't prove it, but is sells cables.

Here are the various cables on the wall waiting to be reattached: 
The black cables are Monster Cable Z-Series and go to the subwoofer and from there to the modified Minimus 7W speakers. Both Minimus speaker sets and others I have modified can be found in the links as seen in: UPDATED Every Stereo Equipment Blog post I have done!
Here is a close-up of the Monster Cable Z-Series:
"Z1R Reference Energy Time Coherent Time Correct Winding" is what it says. Again, it sells cables. And they DO sound fantastic which is why they connect to the incredible and ONLY ones in the world, modified Minimus 7W speakers.
The thicker blue and white ones are the larger BLE Design units comprised of ten separate conductors woven together. They are for the Cerwin-Vega LS-12 speakers. The ones sheathed in clear plastic which my wife says looks like umbilical cord, go through the attic into this room and connect to the BOSE 301 speakers in here. My wife bought the 301 speakers for me. She's like that, and yes she does have two older sisters. One is not married. The smaller BLE Designs cables go to the modified Minimus 11 (silver) speakers.  

Below shows the much neater cabling as plugged into the Dynaco with proper speaker terminals:
Those particular Monster Cable M-Series cables are not marked for polarity. So, red and black Sharpies to the rescue. If you are into stereo/surround speakers, buy a digital ohmmeter. They make it easy to determine polarity on speaker wiring.
So you may be wondering just how can I run up to eight speakers at a time? Well, I don't actually. The Dynaco and PROTON both have speaker selector switches which are designed to handle two pairs of speakers in parallel. The LEGEND LE412 speaker switch also has internal resistance for the same purpose. The load never drops to a dangerous level.

You also may be wondering what's up with the black cables plugged into the double-banana plugs on the inputs of the LEGEND LE412 speaker switch? As stated above, the cables go to the subwoofer and then on to the Minimus 7W speakers. To play just those speakers, I choose B on the amp and do not press either switch on the LE412. Should I choose to play the Minimus 11 and/or the BOSE 301 speakers, I simply slide the red plugs out of the double-banana plugs and choose switch 1 or switch 2 or both on the LE412. Also, of course choosing B on the amp. Confused yet? Believe me, it works and I measured the impedance in each case, all is well. Here are the terminals on the back of the subwoofer:
Aren't Nakamichi speaker terminals lovely to look at? They truly are the best and I highly recommend them. As you can see, the Monster Cable Z-Series IS marked for polarity.

To quote the famous and fictitious, Forrest Gump, "That's all I've got to say about that."  

Thanks for looking!

Scott 

 
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INDEX PART ONE To Every Article: Stereo, Quad, Home Theater, Speakers And More

Updated April 3, 2020

Gentle reader,
The largest collection of articles are a passion I have had since 1975: Good stereo sound on a budget. As a result, I have had to divide the list of links into THREE PARTS.
 
Early on, I did not know how to add photos to the articles and I was not very verbose in my titles. I have learned a lot since 2008.
 
PART ONE: The list starts with the oldest at the top to newest at the bottom.
 
Thank you SO much for your interest in my humble blog!

Scott
April 3, 2020
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BACK to: My First Stereo 1976 Dynaco PAT-5 SWTPC Tiger 01

Gentle reader,
My previous post: COMPLETED: Creating a searchable database of all my thousands of LP recordings. has generated unprecedented response from readers with almost 400 page views the first day which pushed page views to over 100,000! I am VERY grateful to you and all the others around the world that take the time to read my humble blog. When I started I figured very few would be interested. You all have proved me wrong and I am SO happy about that!

I attended High School in the Mile High city of Denver, Colorado in the 1970's. My family moved from there right after I graduated in 1974, to Richmond, Virginia. At the time, I had a plastic fold-up suitcase style stereo that I was perfectly happy with. Or so I thought.

Then I met Phillip. He invited me to see/hear his stereo. His poor parents and neighbors. Phillip had constructed huge plywood speakers with eighteen inch woofers, a six inch midrange and I don't recall what kind of tweeter. Driven by a Pioneer integrated amp that put out 60 watts per channel. He had a Revox fifteen inch reel-to-reel tape deck and I don't recall what type of turntable. He played Pure Prairie League's Two Lane Highway for me and I was completely blown away! It was SO LOUD and clear! I went home, looked at my plastic piece of crap and sighed.

Being short on money, I started with a Quadraphonic receiver, Electrophonic, I think was the brand, it was cheap, had a built-in 8-track which also played Quad tapes, and had a ceramic phono input. Came with four matching speakers. Sounded OK to me. Here is a link to one that seems to be the same one I remember:
Vintage Morse Electrophonic AM FM Multiplex Stereo Receiver 447 & 8 Track Player • $51.00 - PicClick

I found an ad in Stereo Review for a book called Audio Alternative by Mark Tobek and ordered it. With knowledge gained by that book, I set out to build a stereo. 

After thoroughly studying the book and the author's results from his testing and listening, I decided upon a kit Dynaco PAT-5 which was their new flagship solid state preamplifier. Since I couldn't also afford their ST-120 power amplifier, I instead chose South West Technical Products Company's Tiger .01 mono amplifier kits. Two mono 60 watt amps verses the Stereo 120 which had the same output in one stereo chassis.

I built the PAT-5 first which was a good thing because it was much easier and gave me lots of soldering practice. I took it to Audio Art in Southside Richmond. Here is a link to their FaceBook page: Audio Art They tested it and pronounced it ready to use.

Next, I tackled the two Tiger mono power amp kits. I was just 19 and had little electrical knowledge, but even so managed to get them both built and Audio Art stated they each slightly exceeded their rated output.
Above is a photo of a later PAT-5 I owned for a while. Here is a photo of the rear:
I won't go into all the specifics of the PAT-5, but note the speaker terminals which allowed for switching to another pair via a switch on the preamp.

Below are a couple of photos of the plans for the SWTPC Tiger .01 mono amps that I found on the "Tigers that Roar" website:

A clever compact design made so four side-by-side could fit on a 19" wide rack-mount shelf for a Quadraphonic system. Remember, Quad was all the rage in the 1970's a was what eventually became Dolby Surround Sound.

I did not own a camera, other than a JCPenny 110 film camera in the 1980's, until April, 1995. So, below are photos of my stereo in the basement apartment I lived in:
Note that my first PAT-5 had a silver faceplate without the beveled top and bottom edges seen on the one at the top of the page. It is all that remained of my original stereo. The Tigers had died of some unknown reason.
Note one of the two Dynaco A-25 speakers that I also chose based upon Audio Alternative recommendations. I bought the pair from Dixie HiFi also in Richmond. They were floor samples so I got them for $99.00 for the pair. I found out decades later that they had substituted the drivers in one with cheaper ones and stuffed that cabinet with fiberglass. The grilles were glued on at the factory so it wasn't until I detected a buzzing in one woofer and pried off the grilles did I see what they had done. So much for my having "golden ears"! 
I don't recall the brands of any of the other components, other than the Dynaco FM-5 I added later. Note in the photo below that the PAT-5 is missing. One channel had stopped working and I eventually sold it via eBay.
Below the FM-5 is my first CD player. Below is the genuine SEAS woofer and tweeter from the unmolested A-25 that I sold on eBay as well. The cabinets were so bad, I didn't consider finding and buying a pair of the correct drivers. I wish I had.
As far as turntables, and the book's advice, I chose a B.I.C. 940 and I sprang for the walnut base and smoke dustcover. It came with a cartridge, but I don't recall which one it was. Here is a photo from the web of a 980 I found on this blogger's page:POLITICS / THE USA / SPORTS / WEATHER / TRUCKING / LIFE / HEALTH / FAITH/ GOD: 12/1/09 - 1/1/10
I do not know how to credit the photo other than including a link to the page I found it on. I hope that he/she is OK with my using it.
Above is a photo of one of our "mitten kitten" cats, Leah, squeezing past one of the reel-to-reel tape players I owned later. Not clear enough picture to tell any brands. This photo was made with that JCPenny 110 camera.

Below, are the A-25 speakers atop a pair of the infamous "white van" speakers I found in a thrift store. Again, since I do not have "golden ears" those sounded fine to me too:
This image is from this room. At the time, the kids still lived here, so no listening room.

A LOT of equipment has come and gone in the decades since. I've lost a lot of hair too! We do tend to nostalgically wish we could go back in time and tell our then selves to NOT get rid of things, don't we?

Of course, my current components blow away anything I had then, as seen below:
The Philips speakers are gone now and the modified Minimus 11 speakers now sit there.
Since completing them, the screws/washers have been painted black. Here is a link to the final results of the extensive rebuild: NOW finished: Upgrading old diecast Realistic Minimus 11 speakers Part 2.5 

Thanks for looking!

Scott 
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COMPLETED: Creating a searchable database of all my thousands of LP recordings.

Gentle reader,

After many, many hours over several days, I have at last completed the task of entering every LP record (plus the few ten and seven inch records) into a searchable database. It was a daunting task, but one I vowed I would complete once I was retired.


Rather than have you have to go back to the first one, here are photos of the LP collection:
Above is the Classical records. Housed in the only commercially made shelf.
 Above is Jazz, Herb Alpert, Baja Marimba Band, Al Hirt, Big Band, and others.
Above is the Classic Rock/Pop on the top shelves and film/TV scores/soundtracks on the bottom shelves.

The shelf I made in 1976 or so, with the help of my then-girlfriend's father. He was a wonderful man and shaped my life in several positive ways. He sold me the white walnut board that were from a tree he felled and had a sawmill cut into rough boards.

I'd started with the Classical records because they are the largest group and I had to start somewhere. Then the Jazz, etc. shelf both of which are in the listening room. I finished with the horizontal shelf (directly above) is next to me in the other room that comprises my double-man-caves.  Below are the results. There are many more fields that they could be broken down to, but frankly, I'm kind of tired!

While all my numbers were perfectly lined up in Word Perfect, here in Blog land, that doesn't happen. My partially-COD brain is SO OK with that.

CLASSICAL RECORD COLLECTION
860 INDIVIDUAL RECORD ALBUMS CONSISTING OF:

BOX SETS                                                    66
DOUBLE ALBUMS                                    14
TOTAL                                                         80

TOTAL ALBUMS                                     860
1+EXTRA DISCS                                     256
TOTAL DISCS                      1116   
PROMOTIONAL                                         8
AUDIOPHILE                                            22
DIRECT METAL MASTER                       2   
COLORED/CLEAR VINYL                       2
NOT RIAA CURVE (NAB)                         1
1812 OVER. W/CANNONS                      18
MONO                                                       136
QUADRAPHONIC                                    26
FOREIGN                                                 344
JAZZ RECORD COLLECTION   

ALBUMS                                                 384
DOUBLE ALBUMS                                 19
TOTAL DISCS                      403
PROMOTIONAL                                     11
AUDIOPHILE                                            1
DIRECT METAL MASTER                     1   
COLORED/CLEAR VINYL                     1
MONO                                                       68
QUADRAPHONIC                                    1
FOREIGN                                                 30
HERB ALPERT RECORD COLLECTION

ALBUMS                                                 55
DOUBLE ALBUM                                   1
FIVE LP BOX SET                                  1
TOTAL DISCS                      60
MONO                                                       8
FOREIGN                                               15


BAJA MARIMBA BAND COLLECTION

ALBUMS                                                12

TIJUANA BAND SPIN-OFFS/TRIBUTES COLLECTION
ALBUMS                                                 6
FOREIGN                                               3

AL HIRT RECORD COLLECTION

ALBUMS                                              24
DOUBLE ALBUM                                1
TOTAL                                25
FOREIGN                                             4
BIG BAND RECORD COLLECTION

ALBUMS                                           182
DOUBLE ALBUMS                           12 TOTAL                              220
5 LP BOX SETS                                   2
TRIPLE ALBUMS                              1
6 LP BOX SET                                     1
10 LP BOX SET                                   1

COMEDY RECORD COLLECTION

ALBUMS                                           48
DOUBLE ALBUMS                           2TOTAL                               50

INTERNATIONAL + BLUEGRASS RECORD COLLECTION
ALBUMS                                         18
FOREIGN                                       15
BLUEGRASS                                   3

MISCELLANEOUS/TEST RECORD COLLECTION
ALBUMS                                       18
DOUBLE ALBUM                         1TOTAL                                          19

CLASSIC ROCK/POP RECORD COLLECTION
ALBUMS                                    257   
DOUBLE ALBUMS                   15
TOTAL                        270
FOREIGN                                   81
MONO                                          7
QUADRAPHONIC                     1
AUDIOPHILE                             1       
CLEAR/COLORED VINYL      1

MOVIE/TV SCORE/SOUNDTRACK COLLECTION

ALBUMS                                 328
DOUBLE ALBUMS                 15
TOTAL                       343
PROMOTIONAL                     11
MONO                                       50
PICTURE DISC                         2

GRAND TOTAL                                      2,199
TOTAL DISCS                                         2,554
                   I decided that I might as well at least COUNT the CD collection. 
I did not count the INDIVIDUAL discs, nor any other parameters such as I have with the LPs.
COMPACT DISCS

BIG BAND                                11
CLASSICAL                           280
COMEDY                                   3
COUNTRY*                              2
HERB ALPERT                       27
JAZZ                                       260
POP                                           35
ROCK                                       59
SOUNDTRACK/SCORE      195
TEST                                         12
WESTERN                                 5
TOTAL                      890
SACD                                        22
HDCD                                       18
GRAND TOTAL                                       3089 
That number is total CONTAINERS holding one or more LP or CD, regardless of the sub categories such as STEREO, MONO, QUADRAPHONIC, FOREIGN,SACD or HDCD, etcetera. 

I decided to stop actively collecting LP records when I looked around and gauged how many I already had. I have bought some CDs but I never cataloged them.

I DID buy a replacement for a Doobie Brothers LP because the one I had was in bad shape. Plus, I plan to buy a replacement for another Classic Rock LP for the same reason. Finally, I plan to buy two Steely Dan LPs to complete the collection. That will bring the LP collection to 2,101.  

I'm almost 61, now retired and even if I played TEN LPs a day, which would be hard to do, it would take me more than 200 days to do so. I DID decide to start playing ALL of the SOUNDTRACK/SCORE LPs starting with the first 007 soundtrack/score. Once I have listened to all 343 LPs and 195 CDs, THEN I will decide what to listen to next.

Thanks once again, for your kindness and patience with my humble blog. SOON another milestone will be passed: Page Views are rapidly approaching 100,000! ALL THANKS TO YOU, MY GENTLE READERS!

Scott

June 30, 2017 
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PART TWO: Creating a searchable database of all my thousands of LP recordings.

Gentle reader,

My last post introduced to you what I've been up to lately. Normally I write about the latest stereo equipment, etcetera. But quite frankly, or as one of the made up names I'd give if being interviewed on TV News: "Frank Quitely", I am COMPLETELY SATISFIED with the stereo. I know my wife won't believe me, but I am. In fact, of the three pairs of speakers in the Listening Room, the modified Minimus 11 speakers are my favorite. They and the modified Minimus 7 speakers that I also wrote about are some of my most read of my posts. But I digress.

I have successfully completed the listing of CLASSICAL music LP records. It took many hours over many days and each and every one of the records was carried from the the shelf in the other room, in groups of ten, laid in front of me on the desk and each cover examined, each record pulled out and also examined. Then the needed data was typed in to each category.

The categories for Classical music are: COMPOSER, MUSIC PLAYED, ORCHESTRA, CONDUCTOR (and soloist if there was one) RECORD CONDITION, PRESSING NUMBER (if present) YEAR MADE, WHERE RECORDED/MADE, CHANNEL NUMBER and NOTES.

Below is a photograph of a small part of the database:
Photo made handheld with my fantastic Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3 camera with it's extremely sharp Leica DC VARIO-SUMMICRON lens. f2.0 @ 1/100th of a second.

This is only a small slice of the list. AND, this is only the beginning. I wanted to give you an update and will continue to as each shelf of LPs is entered. And yes, I DO like Tchaikovsky. As a young man in Richmond, Virginia, every Forth of July, we would go to a place called Dogwood Dell where there is a natural amphitheater converted to a usable one (can't have people sliding down the rocky face, now can we?). Anyway, the Richmond Symphony selected a smaller group of musicians, call them "Pops" if you will, to give a 4th of July concert. Like they do in Washington, D.C. every year. Like that performance it always ends with the 1812 Overture by Tchaikovsky. Behind the band shell were placed two Howitzer cannons manned by and provided by Soldiers from Fort Lee. I could go on, but being THAT close to real, modern cannons firing is quite an experience!

Back to what I'm supposed to be writing about. Here is what I deduced from reviewing all that data I painstakingly entered:
CLASSICAL RECORD COLLECTION

860 INDIVIDUAL RECORD PACKAGES CONSISTING OF:

BOXED SETS OF RECORDS:                                        66
DOUBLE ALBUMS:                                                         14
TOTAL ALBUMS WITH MORE THAN ONE LP:             80 

TOTAL NUMBER OF CLASSICAL ALBUMS:              860
NUMBER OF LPs IN ADDITION TO SINGLES:           256 
TOTAL NUMBER OF DISCS:                                      1116 

PROMOTIONAL ALBUMS (NOT FOR SALE):               8
AUDIOPHILE REISSUE ALBUMS:                               22
DIRECT METAL MASTER ALBUMS:                             2
COLORED AND/OR CLEAR ALBUMS (RED):              2
ALBUMS WITH NON-RIAA CURVE (NAB):                   1
1812 OVERTURE WITH REAL CANNONS:                 18 
THE OLDEST RECORD IN GROUP:                        1949 
QUADRAPHONIC (FOUR CHANNEL) ALBUMS:        26
MONOPHONIC (SINGLE CHANNEL) ALBUMS:       153

With respect to the last entry above, I would like to have a separate MONO system to play just MONO albums but realize it's silly. Plus, unless it is something I really want to hear that I only have in MONO, I generally don't play them. 

Now, if that word: QUADRAPHONIC is puzzling you. A brief explanation. In the early 1970's or late 1960's record companies and electronic companies worked on ways to expand simple stereo music reproduction into "Surround Sound". Stereo speakers in front, two Rear Channel speakers behind the listeners. While most everyone has experienced that phenomena today, back then it was a wild idea. Google it for more info if you wish. There were numerous ways they came up with to achieve the goal  and like so many competing electronic "wars" later on, one came out the winner. That was Sansui's QS. Dolby later bought their algorithms or whatever and came out with their Pro Logic Surround  Sound for home movies on VHS (which won the videotape "war" over Sony's Betamax). 

 The black device seen in the photo below the end of this posting is a modern update to Dynaco Electronics answer to "active" Quad by their Dynaquad box with passively simulated Quad.

 But enough about that. I have other posts about that and many other subject you can read if you wish. For specifics, Google The Robb Collections and add whatever word or subject to see if I once wrote about it. Or look through the listing of most often read postings listed below.

 Thanks for looking!

 Scott
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Creating a searchable database of all my thousands of LP recordings.

Gentle reader,

Since I've retired, I've been doing a lot of cleaning, organizing and fixing things in and around the house. Outside, my wife and I created a dry creek bed to control rain runoff. We've been getting an unprecedented amount of rain and unusually cool weather for the month of May in Virginia, U.S.A., 2017. I wrote about that project here:
It is working very well and being tested daily. Believe me, I am enjoying this mild weather for the end of May in the South!
 
In the past, I have shown the various new shelves and racks I have found to house the (then) ever growing music collection. The very first one, shown below, I made back when I was nineteen in 1975. My then-girlfriend's dad was a very skilled woodworker and he taught me much. I bought white walnut* boards from him and with his training and assistance I built it:
Back then, it was all glued and clamped. But after many decades of moving it, always painstakingly emptying it first, the top began to loosen. I tried to stabilize it with the metal brackets you see above. Then I finally added screws from the top into the walls.

*White Walnut comes from the kind of trees that grow walnuts that we eat. Black walnut is what often people think of as "Walnut" in furniture. Black walnut are inside a very hard husk and inside that are traditional shells. Inside the shells are the "meat". I don't know if black walnuts are edible. Back to the shelf, I finished it with Tung oil and boy was I thirsty when I got done! That's a little joke.

The shelf, which sits to my left as I type this, is 60 inches long, 36 inches tall and 20 inches deep. I chose those measurements to fit the widest (19 inch rack-mount) audio equipment I might buy someday. Plus the bottom shelves would hold ALL my LP records. Obviously as a teen I did not have a lot of money to buy music. But I knew as time went by the collection would grow. I never dreamed to this extent! Vast majority are from thrift stores. Most cost less than one dollar. As far as the Classical, 95% are in excellent to mint condition.

A couple lucky or perhaps, destined thrift store finds over the years netted me the two tall shelves shown below:
The first find was this unfinished (no stain or oil/varnish applied to it) shelf that was obviously hand made by someone to hold LP records. It now sits in the closet of the Listening Room. It is 35 inches wide (wider at the top trim), 72 inches tall and 13 inches deep.

The next one, factory made, was also obviously made to hold a record collection. It is actually two shelves made to be joined to look like one massive shelf. 
It is beautifully finished and from the sides due to clever construction, looks far deeper than it actually is. Measures 45 inches wide (trim at the top is wider) 19 inches deep (actually 15 inches) and 76 inches high. Each of the ten shelves are 21 inches wide. They can hold a large number of LPs.

So, the original wide shelf that I built holds Classic Rock and other Popular music records on the top three shelves. The bottom shelves contain TV and Film music scores. A few are "Music from the Film..." which is often popular or jazz music and not the usually orchestral music that adds to the story of the films or TV episodes. As an example, the Films Forrest Gump and M.I.B. offered TWO different CDs with music from each film. One labeled: SCORE, the other MUSIC FROM. Get it?

The unfinished shelf in the closet holds: Jazz, Big Band music, international music, some Pop artists like Herb Alpert and comedy records. That and some miscellaneous records.

The largest and best finished shelf hold only Classical music. The term "Classical" is a generic term for Western music (NOT Country and Western) written often long ago and performed by solo artist, small groups (chamber music) and medium and large orchestras. It dates back to the Renaissance and "Classical" is still being written today. There is an era called Classical, just as there is one called Romantic. But to most Classical covers the many hundreds of years that this type of music was and is written.

Some time ago, it came to me to list every LP record that I owned. It was a precursor to doing the project in the computer. I hand wrote 88 pages for JUST the LPs! After finishing the list, I decided that I have ENOUGH RECORDS! And have only bought ONE since.
When was the last time you did any actual writing with a pen and real paper? With so much done via computers and "devices" hand writing is a dying art.

So, as I said, I'm starting with the Classical LPs as they are the biggest collection. I am using Word Perfect's program Quattro Pro. Microsoft has Excel as their spreadsheet program.

I've created eleven columns. Left to right they are: RECORD LABEL, COMPOSER, TITLE OF ALBUM OR MUSIC ON IT, ORCHESTRA, CONDUCTOR; PLUS SOLOIST IF THERE WAS ONE, RECORD CONDITION (MINT EXCELLENT, GOOD, FAIR), PRESSING #) YEAR MADE, COUNTRY MADE IN, FORMAT (STEREO, MONO QUADRAPHONIC) and lastly, NOTES. The last one is for things like Promotional, Audiophile pressing, etc.

Short of taking a photograph of my screen with a digital camera, I don't know how to visually show you the program and process.

One of the cool and time saving things about this program is it remembers not only things you typed before, but which conductors worked with certain orchestras and other time savers.

At the time this photo was made, I'd just pulled the first of the "D" albums. At first, I was carrying an many as I could from the listening room to this room. Then I realized for health sake, it made more sense to only bring TEN at a time. That way I was getting up and down and moving much more often. IT is a medical fact that sitting for a long period of time is bad for us. Suggested is for every 20 minutes of sitting 2 minutes of getting up and moving is the best way to go.

 I am now up to Mahler which is on the forth shelf. You can see the letter dividers if your screen is big enough. That's 333 rows completed. Now it's time to get up and move, so I'm going to post this.

 Thanks for looking! Page views are approaching 98,000 since I began! The most popular post is this one: A "Modern" Dynaco Amp, Onkyo cassette and Amplifiers I have known at 4,233 page views! It truly humbles me! 

 Scott
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SLEEPER Volvo V50 T5 meets C30 T5, Little Brother

Gentle reader,

This will be brief. In July, 2014, I bought my first Volvo, a 2005 V50 T5 with a Six-Speed manual transmission. I wrote about it here:

While I would not choose grey (or is it gray, I never can remember) as a car color finding any Volvo wagon with a manual transmission is hard enough, let alone the V50 model that I sought. Yet the color which I dubbed: Anonymous Grey works to further the sleeper-ness of this car.
 
But, the reason I write is that I finally came across a parked Volvo C30 T5, my car's little brother. This one may be newer, but they didn't change them much. It too has the Six-Speed.

So, I took the opportunity to photograph them side-by-side for comparison. They are indistinguishable from the front, so I did not shoot the front view.

NOTE: If you click on any picture, an overlapping window will open showing the photos in a much larger size.
Above, the rear view is the most different. The C30 was the spiritual successor to what many consider Volvo's most beautiful car, the 1800 ES of the early 1970's. Note the body on both gets narrower towards the rear, but the C30 more so. The back window is also narrower, and echoes the 1800 ES' large glass hatch. Thus the taillight assemblies are quite different. 
While both have the same engine: 2.5 liter turbocharged five-cylinder, the exhaust tips of the C30 are more prevalent. The V50's more subtly aimed somewhat downward below the bumper. 
C30 features a small spoiler above the back glass (called "back light" in the car business). The V50 offered an optional spoiler that mimicked the larger 300 horsepower V70R T5 model's rear spoiler, but mine lacks it. Someday I may buy one for it.
I aimed to park mine exactly lined up with the C30. By the looks of this one's front end it is one of the later models which gained a more unique front end look.
To my surprise, they are virtually the same length. Yet due to the extreme slope of the C30's roof, back seat headroom and shoulder room suffers. Both cars have defroster elements on the rear side windows. I assume coming from Sweden, they have a need for that.
I have a 1/24th scale diecast of a C30 and it seemed too large to me. But I now see the major extremities are about the same. 

I also wrote about my 1/43rd scale diecast Volvo collection which can be seen here:

That's it for today, just thought you might be interested. Thanks for looking,

Scott 
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Earbuds In-Ear Verses Over-Ear Headphones Which Ones Sound Better?

 October 8, 2026 #553 Gentle reader, I have been in the best-sounding-enjoyment-of-recorded-music-I-can-afford, hobby for fifty years. I do ...