Records are a good cup of coffee.

JohnVF

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I have two different coffee grinders, they each do their seemingly simple, but not at all simple, job differently. One is a giant espresso grinder, the other a cheaper one more suited to drip or pour over. I pick the cheap one set to a medium grind. I know from repeatedly weighing grinds that two scoops of these particular beans with this particular scoop will be about right. I grind them. I heat the water to just off a boil, with the little bubbles but not big bubbles coming to the surface. I pick the CleverDripper (a sort of lazy Pour Over device) over the Aeropress and French Press. I pour the grinds in, then the water, then stir. Then I get caught up reading something online and leave them a minute too long, which is ok because the grounds were a little too course.

It's all a bit of guesswork made less happenstance by experience. And when I taste it, it's all worked out. It's delicious! It's a nearly-perfect cup of coffee.

I have 12 different record players. Maybe 12 different cartridges. I have 4 phono stages. I use the Primare phono stage, the Sony 2251 with FR arm. I set the Primare for MM gain, standard 47k loading, with the silver cables that have just enough sparkly, just enough detail, leading to the AVC preamp. I meander through my headshells, pick the cool 9g Magnesium AT one with the Stanton 881s on it. Balancing the arm is a bit of guesswork as the cart/shell combo is light, the counterweight has to move forward to the point that it balances but obscures the downforce reading on this particular arm. I dial it in by memory, as I've used this arm enough to know about where 1.2g is on its scale from 0-2g.

It's all a bit of guesswork made less happenstance by experience., but when I listen it's all worked out. It's delicious! It's a nearly perfect listening experience.

Variables. Being a part of something's creation. Learning from having screwed it all up before, badly. Earning what you're experiencing instead of just taking it as its given.

Life is good this way.
 
I love a good cup of coffee, but I am barely disciplined enough to make it happen. I buy good coffee, sometimes ask them to grind it for me... (I know!). I scoop some coffee. I boil, I pour some water into the French Press. Usually I forget about it until I am several news stories deep, well past the intended brew time. I press, I pour... I add a touch of sugar (yep). And dang, it's good!

Coffee is life.

I have 12 different long-sleeve shirts. Maybe 8 different "casual" pants and 6 pairs of "dress" pants. Various colors, different fabrics. Stripes. Solids. I put the pants on, one leg at a time. Hold the shirts up, wonder how they'll play with the pants. This one. I choose the brown belt, my favorite. I button the shirt, cinch the belt. Socks. Shoes. Off to work...

...and damn, I realize it's all wrong. These colors don't work! Who dressed you?! Good grief, Redboy Nate, you'd think you would learn from having screwed it all up before, badly. But no. Not this time, not next. Maybe someday.
 
You need to keep your clothes all in the same color palette. Everything I have goes with everything else I have, even though I have a lot of clothes. Grab some pants, grab a shirt, socks, shoes, and everyone thinks I spent time matching it all together. Nope. It just all goes no matter what I choose.
 
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Nice to see a metaphor as opposed to a simile in your title to this thread, @JohnVF!
I mean, a metaphor is like a simile, but, then again, a metaphor is an entirely different beast.

:p

(oh, I crack myself up sometimes)

  • Records are good.
  • Coffee is good -- although (true confession) I adulterate it with milk and sweetener*
  • I wish they had Garanimals for adult clothing.

______
* the irony of a carbohydrate biochemist eschewing Nature's own sucrose for cloying chemical concoctions is not lost on... umm... this carbohydrate biochemist. :)
 
I have been roasting my own coffee for about 10 years, guess I like diy coffee like diy audio....
I haven't got to the roasting yet, but every morning starts with the sound of the grinder. Nothing fancy, but the end result makes my palate happy. In all things over-thinking and trying too hard often don't yield the desired results.
 
I haven't got to the roasting yet, but every morning starts with the sound of the grinder. Nothing fancy, but the end result makes my palate happy. In all things over-thinking and trying too hard often don't yield the desired results.
That applies to me and turntable happiness. Got an expensive one, VPI, fought with it, didn't like it in the long run. Got a pretty esoteric one (Well Tempered Super), was a pain in the butt. Now I run nice old direct drives, the kind I used to turn my nose up at. And I typically run a very nice MM or MI with them, even though I've been coached on the fallacy of that. It's all just easier to deal with for me, there's more enjoyment from the music and less time spent wondering if I have the loading and gain right. This is also why I haven't started roasting my own beans, though maybe someday. It's the last-straw variable for me... there comes a point when one too many variables ruins the fun for me.
 
Roasting has been great for me.
There is a learning curve and now days its just another thing like grinding eachday for that wonderfull first cup. I roast about 3 times a weak.
My zen is having my first cup each day in quote solitude, often with out even a light turned on.
Much like putting on a great recording and closing your eyes.
 
Roasting has been great for me.
There is a learning curve and now days its just another thing like grinding eachday for that wonderfull first cup. I roast about 3 times a weak.
My zen is having my first cup each day in quote solitude, often with out even a light turned on.
Much like putting on a great recording and closing your eyes.
I usually turn on one light. If I'm home alone, I make the coffee then with that one light on, I go and listen to a record while I drink it, sitting in my lounge chair. It's my favorite part of the day, all down hill from there.
 
... Now I run nice old direct drives, the kind I used to turn my nose up at. And I typically run a very nice MM or MI with them, even though I've been coached on the fallacy of that. It's all just easier to deal with for me, there's more enjoyment from the music and less time spent wondering if I have the loading and gain right. ...

You and me both.
As to MM/MI, I have noticed that, since I discovered Grados ca. 1977, my favorite MM cartridges have all been MI cartridges :) They get that lushness that the MCs (IMO, at any rate) are noted for.

i.e., sounds good to me!

Haven't tried roasting my own coffee -- worked with a guy in a past life who used a hot air corn popper to "roast" his beans, real time, every morning. He swore by that gambit.
 
You and me both.
As to MM/MI, I have noticed that, since I discovered Grados ca. 1977, my favorite MM cartridges have all been MI cartridges :) They get that lushness that the MCs (IMO, at any rate) are noted for.

i.e., sounds good to me!

Haven't tried roasting my own coffee -- worked with a guy in a past life who used a hot air corn popper to "roast" his beans, real time, every morning. He swore by that gambit.
The Nagaokas are also very nice MI carts.
The Stanton 881s is a MM but has the lushness of a MI, and I prefer it to their MI carts (681, etc).
 
The Stanton 881s is a MM but has the lushness of a MI, and I prefer it to their MI carts (681, etc).
Interesting. I am sure I haven't heard one in a long, long time. I was (also) thinking of the Stanton/Pickering, and the GE VR, and the b&o MMC, too :)

Heck, I still have a 13 dollar Grado FTE+ and I still think it's a good sounding cartridge (especially when they were 13 dollars). The conical morph (FCR+ -- if memory serves) was nine dollars in those days. :)

Grado stylus pull3 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr
 
I have two of those GE VR cart bodies that I've been meaning to track down a stylus for. I don't really know what to expect, but I like how rudimentary they look.
 
I have two of those GE VR cart bodies that I've been meaning to track down a stylus for. I don't really know what to expect, but I like how rudimentary they look.
I know folks who swear by 'em -- but it's definitely a horses for courses kinda thing.
I do know folks here with substantial collections of 78 rpm rekkids, you see.
 
I have two of those GE VR cart bodies that I've been meaning to track down a stylus for. I don't really know what to expect, but I like how rudimentary they look.

I have a couple of those around here - somewhere. ;)

Have heard that they are supposed to be very nice.

Are there still NOS styli out there or are you looking for aftermarket?
 
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