Dave A

Yeah I have to admit I despise fakebook but will be looking into it as an alternative. I have been told a lot of old familiar names are popping up on various forums now that used to come here.

That is an interesting point regarding what is permitted. You find out when you get a point or are blocked from a thread or the thread is deleted. However you have to guess what the rule was that was violated most of the time as no explanation is forthcoming. Rules seem to morph a lot and topics discussed freely a month ago now gone with no explanation.

I think the bigger factor by far is diaphragm material. I just got 100 DE-120's in and asked about ordering DE-10's. I took the 40 some in stock and was told they had no idea when a new order for DE-10's could be filled. I ordered the DE-120's back in January and took delivery six months later. Supply for me so far has been uninterrupted only because I have been willing to tie up lots of $ to keep them on hand. I am worried enough to consider trying a Beyma driver sent to me from a customer to see how it fares. I think things are going to get really bad in the near future and out of stock will be an even more common refrain. Guy in Denmark I talked to recently has been waiting 8 months for resistors.

One of the things I miss about SD-40 engines is that growl they had when working up grade. You could hear them in notch 8 from a long way away. Today these new engines are just not the same and lack the ground pounding noise of effort being exerted. Now mind you I still like watching engines work up grade and here are two spots I wish I could see. One that I do plan on seeing this fall is Another one I wish I could have seen is Saluda Grade which was the steepest US main line grade in it's day. Delay in block has good quality videos in general by the way.

The video above mentions Lagos and here is the current view. Judging by the China Civil gravel cars this is another hock your future away deal they will never be able to pay for.

I like the Swiss Cog railways which get way up into the mountains and don't have to stay in the valleys. I also like the smaller industrial railways such as and then also in Burma are some interesting lines. You see how real life is in various places because the rail videos show the unvarnished view. And sometimes the views are quite sad. Link only since Youtube for some reason does not allow otherwise. https://youtu.be/t2S7aqZgn2E

Distributed power is far more then that. On CSX for instance near me train sizes have jumped to nearly 200 cars at time. You are going to break knuckles pulling all that from the front end alone so mid train engines help stop that. You also have slack run out which in a train of some 200 cars means that the last cars get slammed hard by the time slack is taken up to that point. Years ago they developed rules for what cars go where to prevent those curve derailments. You do not just put empty flat cars behind the engine with numerous full cars behind the flat cars for instance.

So I looked this one up and it is a post card from years ago. About 80 miles from me is a pusher district and many times trains require help to get up the grade. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwisqfamgPD5AhWzF1kFHeDEDrwQtwJ6BAgHEAI&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DhuE6OIdVeSI&usg=AOvVaw2NpEZu1V01tziCnCtAc7h7

Youtube has a ton of cab rides from around the world. Some of the more interesting ones I have seen are

I am quite happy with my Crown XLI800 solid state doo-dah and never felt compelled to have to seek new parts for it to improve it all. I have heard some great sounding tube using setups but quite frankly nothing that beats my simple S-MWM's + Xilica and the Crowns. Watching tube users is fascinating to me and I never would do it. Seems like a rabbit hole you jump into and are then never satisfied. Like a boat I think which is a hole in the water you throw money into.

I have started seeing some price drops on speakers lately. I have some things on Craigslist that should have disappeared right away and no nibbles. Local private gun sales are getting cheaper and I think the economy is getting so bad people are not willing to try and hold out for what they could get even a half year ago. That being said Klipsch is still hard to find around here and still not cheap like I see elsewhere all of a sudden.

R2D2 speakers require nothing but the best.

If they are fiberglass coated you are 100% correct. Never duratex fiberglass just break out the can of spray paint.

PM @Chief bonehead. The sales drones often don't have a clue.

Micheal there is a train that goes from Etowah to Ducktown mines and over the loops there. Same outfit as the Summerville trains so go there and see. Very nice ride when the leaves have fallen as otherwise much of what you will see will be leaves only. I bought a fancy image stabilization video camera a few years ago for trains. Never got the stereo mike to go with it and maybe I need to. Trains passing are somewhat monural.

Hey Micheal that same train ride to Summerville was one I made a few years ago when they had a double header steam engine special. You could lean out the widow and get cinders in your eyes from the real deal steam locomotives. Museum well worth going to also. There is a place close to Knoxville where NS has it's steepest existing main line grade of over 3% I need to go see one day.

The 301 is as close to a home style speaker as 301's get and the only way to beat this one is with raw plywood you could stain. Square corners, no handles or guards and last time I saw this one in perfect shape. Likewise the 320's and 115's and all of these went to some guy in Birmingham AL originally where they never left his house and were never abused. You will not find better condition examples.

All the drivers were fine according to the customer. The picture I used was taken here but the problem was so odd I posted on it. Zeners are in the tweeter circuit. Red wires took soldering heat just fine but those black insulated wires melted like crazy.

Yes you are the lucky recipient of these electronic marvels.

YES folks that's right and no fighting over these. GEN U WHINE real OEM 2uf and 13uf caps and there are 8-2uf and 4-13uf. Pick up shipping and these little jewels can be yours. One week offer and I throw them out next Friday.

Well the crossovers arrived and are now fixed. It would not have taken much heat to melt those wire covers. Bigger then normal diameter and melted with any heat even close by. Hard to even get heat shrink stuff to work without seeing that stuff start to melt. Never saw this junk before and hope to never see them again.

I hear Crown XLI800's are pretty good ;D

Me neither. Well that was my initial thought too as there are signs of wax melt. However why the wire insulation melt just on the Zener bracket and not the whole wire? Otherwise this board is pristine and shows no sign of general extreme heat.

He is doing that but I still wanted to know what caused this.

Working on some AA crossovers today and I run across something I have not seen before. Where the two coil wires cross the Zener bracket they are literally melted onto the bracket. The Zeners and the bracket show no signs of severe heat though I have no idea what heat level would be required to melt this old insulation. So crossover guru's, what say you about this?