Posted on Thursday, 31st August 2006 by Jimmy Auw

I’ve heard about Toshiba SD-3950/3960 DVD Player from many modders on the web. Sadly, the SD-3950/3960 is only available on the US. For sure, the voltage is going to be 110 Volt. Here, in my country (Indonesia), we use 220 Volt. So, I can’t use that player without a step down transformer. And for your information, a step down transformer will reduce the sonic quality. That’s why, I always avoid the usage of step up/down transformer.

About last year, I saw the SD-2960 on local electronic store. I didn’t have any intention to buy that at that moment. Few weeks ago, I read again about this Toshiba on the web (the SD-3950/3960, not the SD-2960 that I saw at local store). Didn’t know why, but I asked my friend who worked near the store to check the availability on SD-2960. My phone rang and he told me that he found it. I didn’t have to think twice, then I asked him to buy it and sent it to me.

Here’s my SD-2960 picture below:

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Posted on Tuesday, 29th August 2006 by Jimmy Auw

Have you ever checked the capacitors on your motherboard? If not, then check it now. You might see some “overweight” or “fat” capacitors. They seem want to blow up (eat too much hey Miss Capacitor?;)). Prepare to get new motherboard if you see such capacitors on your motherboard. Or if you have some soldering skill, you might be able to fix it a relatively low cost.

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Posted on Monday, 28th August 2006 by Jimmy Auw

I visited the monthly audio blind test held by DIY community in my country last Saturday. The topic was interconnect cable. Very interesting Why? Because, not many people believe and put a lot of interest in cable. They think that as long as your cable is not broken, then you don’t have to consider to get another one. This is a mistake, a very BIG mistake.

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Posted on Tuesday, 22nd August 2006 by Jimmy Auw

Well, we have heard the news. Asus works together with Gigabyte to build a new company. On 2007, they will produce motherboard and graphics card with Gigabyte’s brand. What makes this thing so interesting?

It’s unlikely to see Tom and Jerry to sit together, right? Or, perhaps you will be surprised if you see Tweety and Sylvester eat on the same table. But in business, two enemies may sit together to fight against bigger enemy. This is the real example based on my own analysis. Most of my analysis are based on the rumors, so the truth should be accepted as-is.
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Posted on Tuesday, 22nd August 2006 by Jimmy Auw

Printed media business is booming last year (and early this year). Everyone who has extra money to be invested will look for this field (in my country, Indonesia precisely - I don’t know abroad). Well, why not? This business promises quite fast break even period. Very interesting!

I’m not surprised with this phenomena. I will tell you the secret why this business could be looked so interesting and why I’m saying that it’s near its end.
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Posted on Monday, 21st August 2006 by Jimmy Auw

Well, nothing special here Just upload the photo of my fishes and plants. I think we are all busy with our daily life. Work problem, social problem, traffic jam problem, friendship problem, love problem, economic problem, and etc etc.

There’s no better thing than seeing the fishes swimming nicely and asking for food from you (the owner) or spraying water to your thirsty plants. Actually, I don’t do such things before. I prefer to sleep or listen music. But after few days, I start to enjoy this. You can try this kind of hobbies to. They can relax your stiff nerves and maybe can longer your life (due to less stress).

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Posted on Sunday, 20th August 2006 by Jimmy Auw

Every relationship needs a good contact. This happens not in personal love life, but also in elcctronics. So bad contact may screw you

I just charged my Ni-MH rechargeable batteries yesterday. After over 2 hours charging time, I tried the batteries. But my batteries were still empty. How come? I was so sure that my charger was ok (and I was so sure that my batteries were ok to). Then I decided to check my batteries condition. The temperature was cool enough (should be warm to hot after they were charged). Then I checked the batteries contacts. Well, I found dust and rust there. I see the problem

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Posted on Friday, 18th August 2006 by Jimmy Auw

When you see or hear MP3, what’s the first thing on your mind? iPod? Perhaps We have to admit that iPod is very sensational in terms or brand awareness. For sound quality, I think we easily can see others MP3 player with same or even better sound quality.

I just visited Samsung’s factory yesterday and got their new MP3 player, Yepp YP-U2 fresh from the oven. FYI, this MP3 was built here in Indonesia. I saw myself the production of this player, but simply it’s out of our scope to discuss it.

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Posted on Tuesday, 15th August 2006 by Jimmy Auw

Artist: Various Artists
Album: Audiophile Reference II (Popular Music)
Publisher: FIM
Recording Technology: HDCD 24K Gold Disc

About this album:
This is the second compilation from FIM for Audiophile’s reference. The first was classical, and this one contains more popular music. I think FIM realizes that not all people love classic. So, this one contains more popular musics. Surely, FIM hopes that this album can be accepted by most listener, not just for an audiophile.

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Posted on Monday, 14th August 2006 by Jimmy Auw

After spending over 8 months on research, finally I finished my first complete speakers project. I chose Vifa XT25 for tweeter and PL18 for woofer. I think they both are perfectly matched each others. Sadly the XT25 is 4 Ohm only, so I need to spend more money on crossover

The crossover was designed from an intensive research. All components are premium audio grade class, like Auricap, Wondercap, Alpha Core inductor, Dale wire wound resistor, WBT silver solder, high quality 18 AWG copper internal cable, and Shark rhodium binding post terminal. If you are a DIYer, I think you should know about the quality (and price) of those brand. As additional, the input also support bi-wire and bi-amping capability.

Red with gloss surface is choosen as finishing color. I will upgrade the box with better materials from specific wood soon (currently, the materials is 25mm MDF).

Overall, I’m quite pleased with her performance. The low is very extend, tight, and full of definition. The mid is very warm with excellent detail (I have no doubt that this speakers have outstanding mid vocal). The high is also warm, soft, and quite extend.

After hours of listening test, the high-end response has not reached my expectation (I expect more or maybe I’m not used with Ring Radiator’s characteristic? I also have some problem with my room’s acoustic, I will try to add some treatment in the near future). I think I need to experiment with her high pass filter. With the help of spectrum analyzer (soon will come), I think I can do the experiment faster and more efficient, especially to tune up the crossover and my room’s acoustic. Will update here soon.

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Posted on Saturday, 12th August 2006 by Jimmy Auw

This post isn’t intended to someone or some organization. Just a piece of my analysis. So take it or leave it.

Before we discuss the main idea, there’s no mistake to give some introduction. Just like in any business, media business needs money. But in media, you just can’t rely on customers (or readers, precisely) who read/buy your media (either printed or online media). Yes there are some media who can live themself from readers only, but simply there’s no much of such case. Media should have more income, and the advertisers shall be the answer.

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Posted on Saturday, 12th August 2006 by Jimmy Auw

This post is calling opera users. Maybe almost of computers users know the “Undo” function. And perhaps most of them know how to use it (usually you will clik “Edit” from top pull-down menu and choose “Undo”). Maybe some of you know that this function also can be called by using “Ctrl-Z” keyboard shortcut combination

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