07.30.2005

Audio Stuff

by Aaron

For those of you interested, I thought I’d share a little about my home audio system. Here are the current contents of my HT system.

Speakers:
2 NHT SB3 bookshelf speakers (Left and Right Fronts)
2 NHT SB2 bookshelf speakers (Left and Right Rears)
1 NHT SC2 Center Speaker (Center, obviously)

Components:
NAD T 742 Amplifier (It’s black, not silver like in the picture)
Yamaha DV-C6770 5-disc DVD player (This is a different model#, but the specs seem to be the same)

All this combines to make some really decent sound. The next upgrade will be a subwoofer and I’ll probably get a matching NHT SB12 subwoofer.

Of course, after that, there are still things to be upgraded. Mainly, the amplifier and DVD player. The amp isn’t quite powerful enough for what the speakers want, so I’ll eventually upgrade that. I’m leary about upgrading the DVD player anytime seoon as there is a format war currently going on and I want to wait until that is settled before I do anything with a newer DVD player and/or television.

I recently saw some pics of the new NAD “Master Series”, which I can’t find any specs of, but I’ll include pictures of them for you here. These things make me drool. A lot. If you ever think, “I’d sure like to get Aaron something really nice,” here is a suggestion!

07.15.2005

So, I took my truck to one of those places where you drive in and wash the vehicle yourself. Having never done this before, I didn’t know quite what to expect. The instructions weren’t too clear as to how long I’d get and I’d only brought along $3 in quarters.

I stick in $2 — the minimum required and right away the clock starts ticking — 4:00, 3:59, 3:58…

I grab the long-handled blue sprayer and try to pre-soak all of the care before a minute is up — hopefully leaving me with 3 minutes to scrub and put the final spot-free rinse.
2:48, 2:47, 2:46…

Well, it takes me about one minute to spray all the car. Then I have to run over and push the button to change to the foaming scrub brush. I run around trying to scrub all the car — this part definitely took the longest.
0:51, 0:50, 0:49…

I’m still scrubbing just as fast as I can and then I see that I’m almost out of time. I stick in another quarter. Ah, it added 30 seconds. I wonder if it’s the same amount from the beginning…Doh! I just used up 20 seconds thinking about that. I stick in ANOTHER quarter…
0:57, 0:56, 0:55…

I finish up with the scrub brush, not being able to tell where I’ve scrubbed really good because it’s all covered in a white foamy mess. I switch back to the sprayer and push the button for high-powered rinse. That really shoots! I should of used that when I was spraying at the beginning. I rinse off the car and run out of time.
0:04, 0:03, 0:02…

Has anyone else ever used one of these things? I guess you can buy $1 tokens and then putting those in is like 4 quarters. Seems like that would be more efficient.

It kind of reminds me of the time I went to the Grand Canyon and they had quarter showers. No mention of how long they last so you just shower as fast as you can, hoping you don’t end up with shampoo in your hair and no more quarters!