#Pre Made Speaker and Cable Wire

[poonamcmi]

Cable Management Accessories: Management Accessories for Connected Homes and Offices

Understanding Cable Management Needs As technology becomes more integrated into our daily lives, the number of cables in our homes and workspaces has increased dramatically. From laptop chargers to speaker wires to power strips, cables seem to be everywhere. Not only can excess cables create clutter and be unsafe to trip over, but they can also reduce airflow and make components difficult to access for repairs or upgrades. That's where cable management accessories come in.

Cable Management Accessories refers to the process of organizing and concealing cables in an orderly fashion. There are many different types of accessories designed to help corral cables neatly and safely out of the way. Properly using cable management solutions can not only create a cleaner, less cluttered space but can improve airflow and cooling for electronic devices as well.

Cable Clips and Ties One of the most basic—and affordable—cable management accessories are simple zip ties and cable clips. Zip ties, or cable ties, provide a low-cost way to bundle multiple cables together. They can be used vertically to corral dangling cables against the back of furniture or horizontally under desks and tables. Cable clips feature adhesive or magnetic backing to securely attach individual cables flat against surfaces like walls, cabinets, or the backs of desks. Both zip ties and cable clips come in various sizes to accommodate different cable thicknesses.

Cable Conduits and Raceways For larger cable runs along floors or walls, cable conduits and raceways provide enclosed channels for wire routing. Flat power/data cables raceways can be easily mounted under tables or along baseboards to keep cords up and off the floor in an inconspicuous manner. Flexible PVC cable conduits come in straight lengths or with pre-formed bends allowing installation along corners and around obstructions. They protect cables from damage, make low-voltage wire runs neat and professional-looking, and enable easier access for future modifications. Conduits and raceways come in both surface-mounted and recessed styles.

Cable Management Boxes and Organizers Modular cable organizers provide tidy storage for excess cable lengths as well as power supplies and chargers. Desktop cable management boxes feature interlocking partitions and channels that keep devices neatly positioned while coiling extra cord out of sight. Under-desk cable managers suspend below the work surface keeping cables high off the ground while positioned close to power outlets. Patch panel cable organizers mount to walls or racks offering many small ports to individually house short cable segments or power adapter plugs. Cable managers are made from durable plastic and some even feature integrated power strips for a clean, consolidated installation.

Cable Management Furniture Some manufacturers have begun integrating cable management directly into furniture for a built-in clutter-free solution. Height-adjustable standing desks now commonly feature grommet cut-outs, channels, or baskets for feeding cables neatly up to the work surface from an electronic hub positioned below. Storage cabinets and media centers are available with reversible or removable rear panels accommodating concealed cable routing through cut-outs and mounting points. Couches and sectional sofas incorporate slim channels discreetly between cushions to allow wiring to disappear while providing power on demand or integrated charging stations. Cable-ready furniture delivers a seamless, factory-finished appearance suitable for professional offices or home theater use.

Wall-Mounted Cable Management

Wall-mounted accessories are ideal for neatly organizing cables behind entertainment centers, desks, home networking racks, or audio/video devices. Horizontal cable trays mount securely to walls providing open or closed channels for wire bundling. Vertical cable managers consist of angled fins or plastic channels that are screwed in place flush to the wall surface keeping cords running up from floor outlets in discreet alignment. Wall plates can conceal and manage cabling using interchangeable inserts for power cords, HDMI, USB, or networking cables in commercial workspaces or residential media rooms. Combined with bracketry, pan/tilt wall mounts enable cable-hiding access to mounted displays and projectors.

Cable Management Best Practices Proper cable management requires some planning and organization but prevents messy cables from becoming problematic over time. When installing new cable runs, maintain a dedicated pathway along walls or floors, and keep excess cable coiled neatly out of the way. Use cable ties and clips periodically along the run to bundle cables together. For changing needs, add slack while avoiding tight bends. Label cables clearly for easier tracing of connections. Periodically inspect cable management solutions to ensure accessories remain secure and cords stay neatly in place. Well-executed cable management promotes device access, improves airflow and cooling, avoids trip hazards, and provides a much tidier, more polished aesthetic.

Cable management accessories help overcome cable clutter through various organizational solutions from basic zip ties up through integrated cable-routing furniture. Properly implementing cable management promotes safety, functionality and an overall neater appearance for connected homes and workspaces. As technology reliance increases, cable management will continue playing an important role in tidy and efficient system installations. Get More Insights On, Cable Management Accessories About Author: Money Singh is a seasoned content writer with over four years of experience in the market research sector. Her expertise spans various industries, including food and beverages, biotechnology, chemical and materials, defense and aerospace, consumer goods, etc. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/money-singh-590844163)

[integratedhomes]

Smart Life Home Automation Led Lights South Africa

Integrating automation into your home permits you to create your best dwelling conditions which are all managed from one app one your smartphone. Where home automation used to be only for a select group of home owners, smart home windows, motorised curler shutters, smart blinds, smart curtains... Add new features to your house with our smart home technology and options. Remotely change off gadgets and appliances which may have accidently been left on.

When it comes to home automation, the cost is totally depending on the extent of automation you wish to combine into your own home. We would like to have a walk through your house in order smart homes south africa that we're in a position to advise one of the best course of action in your automation system desired system. If an old dog can be taught new tips, an old home can actually be made into a smart home.

Hence, if the voltage is not steady, the smart device will police the voltage levels and solely allow energy to the load when it is inside a safe operating voltage vary. Motorised blinds are the last word in home automation and are also well-liked in business properties. There's a giant number of how to regulate your electrical blinds, from a remote management handset, smartphone or tablet smart home automation, or through the use of Google Home or Alexa. You can energy your electric blinds with rechargeable batteries, by transformer motors or they can be wired into the mains power. Stay related to your home with real time alerts and remote management across your complete system – all in one highly effective mobile app. Why juggle a quantity of apps to regulate your thermostat, lights, safety or cameras?

These batteries are weather-sensitive, with built-in apps assessing favourable weather situations appropriate for sure functioning. This know-how ensures that prime energy-intensive gadgets are only used when enough photo voltaic generation is on the home automation systems south africa market. Smart inverters with pre-installed apps will allow automatic communication with mobile apps. Smart inverters generate excess solar power and send a sign through the cell app to the appliance or system, which then turns on and commences functioning.

TRL Smart Home Automation applies seamless integrations between the Sentian 3i, cameras, your alarm, and your automation modules. TRL Smart Home Automation offers you the game-changing home automation tools you by no means thought you’d want. From home security systems, home automation, audio visual, and community solutions, they’d make all these things possible for you.

Even bigger additions, like the integration of a swimming pool or the distribution of audio to a model new wing of your own home can usually be handled by our unbelievable staff. After the system has been designed and configured and the required cabling fished behind the partitions, we will home automation south africa be prepared to put in the automation parts. This will doubtless embody an tools rack, in addition to keypads, contact screens, speakers, TVs … basically anything connected to the partitions, ceilings or floors.

[apollohifi]

How to Choose the Perfect Accessories for Your New Stereo, HIFi or Sound System

When you are upgrading your sound system, it is important to get the perfect accessories to match. This ensures you have the best possible sound quality and experience. There are a variety of different cables, connectors and adapters available on the market, so it can be difficult to know which ones you need. In this blog post, we will provide an overview of the different types of accessories available and help you choose the perfect ones for your new stereo or sound system!

The first thing you need to consider is the type of connections your new stereo has. Most stereos will have either RCA or XLR connections. RCA connections are the most common and are typically used for home theater systems. XLR connections are typically found on professional audio equipment and can provide a higher quality sound. If your new stereo has both types of connections, you can use either one.

Once you know the type of connection your stereo has, you need to choose the right cables to connect it to your speakers. There are a variety of different types of speaker cables available, so it is important to choose ones that are compatible with your stereo and speakers. For example, if you have a surround sound system, you will need to use speaker cables that are designed for surround sound.

QED Reference XLR 40 Digital AES Cable

XLR 40 is designed primarily for low jitter as this has been identified by QED as a major factor which leads to a high fidelity experience. Further steps have been taken to eliminate minute timing errors in the cable by the use of a special floating Zn/Mn ferrite jacket alongside use of QEDs unique 'Tri-Conductortm' technology that reduces signal to ground capacitance to vanishingly low levels.

THE CHORD COMPANY Clearway Digital (RCA-3.5mm)

Fitted with Chord VEE 3 RCA plugs, including PTFE insulation between signal/return contacts. The ABS outer shell and direct silver-plating process improve signal transfer.  

The ARAY conductor design reduces interference and internal reflections. This new construction method prevents any direct compression on the signal conductor, eliminating changes to impedance. 

Another important accessory is stands and brackets. If you have floor standing speakers, you will need to get speaker stands to place them on. Speaker stands help to improve the sound quality by elevating the speakers and providing a stable platform for them. If you have wall-mounted speakers, you will need brackets to mount them on the wall.

ATACAMA Moseco 6 Speaker Stands - Dark Bamboo Base

Moseco speaker stands combine all the aesthetic and sonic Benefits of Bamboo with the adaptability, strength and stability of twin carbon steel poles. These poles consist of a 50mm front column and a 28mm rear column which features cable management.

Colour choices are Satin Black as standard and as a cost option Silver Metallic, Diamond White, Cesium or the new Gloss/ Satin Black mix (the front tube is Gloss Black, the rear tube and top plate is Satin Black). Base panels are supplied in Natural Bamboo as standard with Medium or Dark Finish available as a cost upgrade.

FLEXSON Sonos Play 5 Tilt/Swivel Wall Bracket (Generation 2)

Wall Mount for PLAY: 5 – while securely holding your speaker in landscape position – also includes our unique tilting mechanism (0-20 degrees down) with left and right swivel (0-40 degrees each way) to help accurately angle the sound to suit your room. And because we think your wireless speaker should truly be wireless, unsightly tangles and cables ties are a thing of the past thanks to our discrete cable routing.

We have highlighted a few accessories that are essential for setting up your new stereo or sound system. With the right accessories, you can ensure that your new stereo sounds great and is set up correctly. If you need any help choosing the perfect accessories for your new stereo or sound system, our team of experts is always happy to help. Give us a call or drop by our online store today!

[whumpster-fire]

Whumptober Day 12: Broken Down

Here, have some Five Nights at Freddy’s whump, because I’ve wanted to write some about Mangle for years!

Content Warnings: Dehumanization of sentient robot whumpee. Does NOT contain child abduction or murder except as a brief reference despite what fandom it is, but does contain a child nearly being badly hurt or killed by accident due to negligent adults.

Kid’s Cove was in a state of chaos. It always was while the restaurant was open. This was the room where the children too young to sit still and watch the main show went. Today was busy, with around a dozen hyperactive toddlers and kindergarteners running around, shrieking, and hitting each other and Foxy with foam cutlasses.

A screech of electric guitar feedback ripped through the pizzeria, briefly drowning out even the screaming kids and browning out Foxy’s microphones. She glanced through the window at the show stage and glared at the blue rabbit animatronic on the left. Chica had her hands over her ears, and Freddy was shaking his head sadly. Foxy wasn’t angry at Bonnie – the feedback was part of the pre-scripted show, a little skit before the songs started. But somebody had obviously turned the speakers up way too high. One of the kids in her area was crying. Well, one in addition to the two that were crying already.

Foxy silently rolled her eyes and continued with her own performance, trying to ignore the gnawing pain in her left shin. The suit piece had a loose sensor cable that had been bothering her all week, and this morning it had finally come disconnected. She couldn’t feel it, but because tactile sensitivity was important to make sure the animatronics didn’t accidentally hurt a guest, her system registered the dead sensor wires as pain. But the maintenance techs had told her to ignore it when she said it was broken. It wasn’t critical, not worth shutting down the show for, not worth taking their time away from a faulty arcade cabinet. Her software didn’t let her disable the warnings entirely though, not during operating hours, so she had to keep overriding it.

This was supposed to be the audience participation part of the show, but the kids weren’t paying attention. Foxy looked pleadingly at the pimple-faced teenager currently sitting in the corner reading a magazine. He was supposed to be the backup plan. Fine. She’d just have to talk to herself then. Her hand puppet, “Perry the Parrot” volunteered, and she randomly selected a joke from her repertoire.

“Knock knock!”

“Who’s there?” she replied through the puppet’s voice box. Its jaw didn’t close. Foxy jiggled her arm up and down, making the secondary endo head’s eyes wobble.

“The cap’n!”

“The cap’n who?”

“Cap’n Hook? Why, he’s been promoted to Admiral!” Foxy laughed. Zero reaction. Fine.

She stepped down off the stage. Foxy came down and walked around more than the other three main animatronics. The two kids with the toy swords were getting more violent, and it seemed likely to become a fistfight soon. The hair pulling had already started. Their parents were nowhere in sight, and the teenager didn’t seem to have noticed.

“Hey! You two little buccaneers are gettin’ a little rough over there!” she called. “Be careful! You could put an eye out with those things, you know!”

“But Foxy! Isn’t that what they’re for?” said the hand puppet.

“Aye, but preferably somebody else’s.” The kids had now made peace with each other, but were ganging up on a little boy half their size. It had now officially gone too far. Foxy raised her voice and advanced on the children, feet clanking on the checkered tile. That finally got their attention. “Put those things away, young scallywags, or ye’ll be walkin’ the plank!”

One child dropped the sword. The other flung his at Foxy as hard as he could, and ran out of Kid’s Cove,  screeching.

CHILD MISSING. CHILD MISSING. CHILD MISSING.

The parrot’s piercing shriek rang out across the restaurant. “MAN OVERBOARD! MAN OVERBOARD!” It was one of the code words to alert the human staff members to a situation the animatronic couldn’t handle. The teen looked up, bewildered. Foxy snatched the magazine out of his hand. “Bosun! There’s a crewmate missing! Search the place!”

That finally got the lazy swab moving. Foxy let the magazine fall. Now she was alone with nine unruly toddlers – no, ten, one behind her, climbing onto the stage. She made a halfhearted announcement of “more hands on deck in Kid’s Cove,” and tried to start calming them down.

Then, disaster struck. An adult finally showed up, an angry-looking man saying: “Hey! Darren, I’ve been calling – your brother’s going to open presents!”

He wasn’t in either of Foxy’s facial recognition databases. Not the one of dangerous adults, but not the one of faces she knew either.

“No! No! Donwanna! Daaaaaa-aaa-deeeeee stop!” A toddler wailed. The man was attempting to drag him, kicking and screaming, from the ball pit.

He wasn’t the adult who had dropped that child off in Kid’s Cove. An alarm went off in Foxy’s mind.

“Let go of the child now!” Foxy dropped the pirate voice and spun around, lunging to block the doorway and setting off the intercom alarm in the security office. She was programmed to alert security and the police. But after overhearing from one of the staff why the new animatronics were hooked up to a criminal database, Foxy had modified that programming. He wouldn’t be leaving the room with the child until either the boy’s parent or a staff member gave the all-clear.

But Foxy had forgotten the magazine. Her foot slid out from under her. Her balance algorithm reacted quickly, but it couldn’t compensate for basic physics. Fall unrecoverable. She twisted to avoid landing too close to a little girl, and put her arms out to try to absorb the impact, but the angle was wrong, and three hundred pounds of machinery slammed into the tile. Something popped in her right arm. Dozens of pain signals overloaded her processor.

Foxy tried to rise, but only managed to push herself a few inches off the floor before her limbs got too weak to hold up her weight. Something sprayed against the inside of her arm suit piece. Hydraulic pressure critical. The pump shut down, and she slumped to the floor in a growing puddle of shimmering oily fluid. On the stage, Freddy and Friends continued with their song like nothing happened. Foxy tried to reassure the stunned children that everything was okay, that Foxy had just had a little accident and would be ship-shape in no time, but all of them were crying, or screaming for their parents, or… two of them were laughing at her.

She lay there, helpless, as the security guard rushed into the room. The young man was missing his hat, and had obviously gotten there in a rush. But after exchanging a few words with the man with the screaming child, he let him go, apologizing profusely.

“It’s just a safety precaution, sir. We’re testing a new facial recognition system on the animatronics to ensure nobody unauthorized comes to pick up a child. We’re still working out the kinks so there’s a lot of false positives -” The guard said, giving Foxy a disdainful look. “But it’s company policy to send someone to investigate if an animatronic sends an alert, no matter what! The safety of your children is our highest priority here at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza!”

“Oh yeah? Safety, huh?” The man, who seemed to be the child’s father, wasn’t impressed. “Is that why you left them alone with that deathtrap? When I came in here there wasn’t a single supervising adult, and your little technical glitch almost crushed that poor little girl!”

“I – I’m sorry to hear that sir!” The security guard gulped. “We’ll be looking into that –“

“Look into getting a manager in here! I want a refund!”

For a brief moment, Kid’s Cove was bustling with adult activity – the employee who’d run off to find the runaway kid, the manager, the assistant manager, and numerous parents. Foxy kept trying to explain what had happened, but nobody even seemed to hear her, and she could hear that her voicebox was working properly this time. Her hands and feet, and her tail and all the motors in her face still worked. She could see out of one eye, but the other only had a view of the inside of her own eyeball. The plastic cover had gotten knocked out of place and the pupil wasn’t aligned with the camera underneath anymore. Her radio still worked, too, and she could hear the staff’s walkie-talkie calls.

“Can we get maintenance to the show floor please, we’ve got an animatronic down.”

“Which one?”

“Take a wild guess.”

The maintenance techs were there quickly, nearly bumping into the kids as they were shooed out of Kid’s Cove, but they weren’t in an enthusiastic mood. And it got worse when one of them slid in the pool of hydraulic fluid and nearly joined Foxy in a broken heap on the floor.

“Jesus fu – oh my god I almost fucking ate it!”

“Whoa! Dude, you okay?”

“Watch your language please, this is a family establishment!” Foxy’s response was automatic. The technician almost jumped out of his shoes.

“Jesus, it’s still on?” He backed carefully away from the spill and shook his head derisively, picking up his walkie-talkie. “Whatever.” He keyed the mic. “Yo, Jeff, can we get a wet floor sign over in Kid’s Cove? I almost cracked my damn head open.”

“No kidding, I thought I was about to be calling an ambulance.” The other tech keyed his mic as well. “Mop and bucket too please.”

“I thought you were too. Man, I’d heard horror stories about working here but, like, isn’t it supposed to be the kids pissing on the floor?”

The other technician laughed. “You’d think. So what’s your bet, think the leak caused the fall or the fall caused the leak?”

“I dunno, dude.” The first tech scowled and kicked at Foxy. “Piece of fuckin’ junk.” He knelt down and examined her arm, allowing her to read his nametag. ‘Greg.’ Something had splashed her good eye, and her vision was too blurry to recognize his face.

“Watch your language please, this is a family -”

“Shut the fuck up!” Greg snapped. Foxy obeyed. She was a little scared of Greg. He was always rough and careless with the animatronics, and she wasn’t sure if he was joking the times he’d threatened to beat her with a wrench if anything else went wrong. “Dumbass robot.” He tugged on her arm. “Jesus, looks like whatever blew nearly tore the suit off.”

“Prob’ly a fitting.” Paul, the older technician, leaned against the wall. “Good thing the suit was there or there’d be somebody in the hospital. I saw a line blow on a backhoe once, poor bastard working on it didn’t even know he was hurt at first but he said they had to peel his whole arm like a banana and scrub the oil off his bones. When he rolled up his sleeve he looked like Frankenstein.”

“Yeesh...” Greg said with a grimace. “That’s a much bigger machine though, isn’t it?”

“Bigger yeah, but they don’t run as high a pressure. These things run around ten thousand – no, sorry, the old ones were ten thousand psi, I think the new ones took it down to six or seven thousand? But it’s still crazy, not even aircraft go that high, and I’m not sure they aren’t using five-k-rated hoses and fittings because the fuckin’ bean counters hear the parts are tested higher and don’t know what a factor of safety means.”

“Wouldn’t surprise me,” said Greg. “Oh, thank God, that stupid puppet got smashed. If I hear that damn thing’s squeaky voice one more time -”

Foxy wanted to cry. She wasn’t sure how she’d learned that feeling, it must have been from watching how the kids reacted when they fell and hurt themselves, or even from the songs Freddy and Bonnie and Chica sang to teach the kids about feelings. But the damaged sensors in the hand puppet and the unresponsive wrist hurt, and it hurt looking at its smashed-in shape and its lower jaw just hanging on by a wire like Old Chica’s and one of its eyes lying on the floor, and it hurt that they hated the puppet, and hated her, so much. It was her favorite of the interchangeable attachments that could go on her left arm – the puppet, a normal hand, or a hook – because it had real, working eyes that helped her see a wider view of her surroundings when navigating the restaurant floor. At least, it would if they bothered plugging them in when they attached it.

“Don’t hold your breath,” Paul complained. “I’m with ya, man… these redesigns are… they’re just total pieces of crap. The originals had their issues, but these guys are just falling apart. This is what happens when you cheap out, you end up paying double on spare parts and downtime because they always. Fuckin. Break.”

“Especially Foxy,” said Greg. “Seriously, there’s five damn animatronics here, but I swear ninety percent of the breakdowns are either Foxy or Balloon Bitch if you don’t count Daffy’s beak falling off!” The staff had nicknamed most of the animatronics. Freddy was ‘Fatbear’ after his portly figure compared to the original Freddy. Bonnie was ‘Queen,’ apparently after some other band with a lead singer named Freddy. Chica was ‘Daffy’ after a cartoon character whose beak also apparently kept coming off. Balloon Boy was ‘Balloon Bitch,’ which Foxy didn’t understand other than it tripping her profanity filters. The Prize Puppet didn’t have one yet, and neither did Foxy, but at this rate it would probably be ‘Piece of Junk.’

Paul chuckled. “They’re the ones that spend the most time offstage, but they’re all junk. Sheet metal, molded plastic for the suit structure instead of fiberglass, they put the suit shell on the outside so now it breaks way easier… they didn’t even wanna bother with cleaning the fake fur so now you’ve got this… ridiculous shiny plastic, like they’re overgrown action figures. Plus of course there’s the whole political correctness fiasco – apparently the higher ups said the main cast needed to have an even gender ratio, so they gave Foxy the ol’ snip-snip. And then just to make sure everyone could tell, they paint Foxy pink and put Chica in a bikini. Like that isn’t stereotypical at all, ya know?”

“I know, right? The new foxy design sucks, too. I couldn’t tell if it was supposed to be a pirate or a clown at first, it’s just… it looks so stupid!”

“Yeah… I can’t believe they got rid of the eyepatch. It was a pain in the ass since the linkages for that and the eyelid were so close together, but like, everything else on these damn things is a nightmare to maintain, so… ah, whatever. Doubt these’ll be around that long anyway. At this rate I’ll be you twenty bucks Foxy’ll be in the great dumpster in the sky by next year.”

Greg looked skeptical. “Nah… nah… they haven’t even bothered scrapping the old ones even though half the parts aren’t even compatible.”

“Fuck that, they didn’t even turn them off. You know they still wander around the place every night? Yeah… guess you’re right, they’ll probably just throw her in the parts room, just completely turn it into an obstacle course of broken down tripping hazards.”

Foxy shuddered in fear, imagining being left there, alone, all the time. Being left in that decrepit, broken state. The old animatronics were still there, and they were still functioning, but nobody bothered with fixing them. They had broken jaws, missing suit pieces, even limbs and faces torn off. They had to be in constant pain, but Foxy had never heard any of them speak. Maybe their voiceboxes were broken, and they couldn’t even tell anyone it hurt. Not that they’d ever listen.

Greg looked at his watch. “Speaking of broken down tripping hazards, where’s the janitor? I’m not moving this thing until the floor’s mopped, I don’t want a broken neck.”

“Hell if I know. Screw it, just drag it by the legs and be careful. I just wanna get it in the back and then I’m going for a smoke. This is gonna be a total pain in the neck to fix...”

Foxy closed her eyes and pretended to be ‘asleep’ as the humans dragged her out of Kid’s Cove and onto the dolly. The movement set off vibration alarms, more sharp, tingling pain. She wanted to tell them to be careful, but there was no point. They didn’t care. Not the same way people cared when other people, especially the children, were hurt. Foxy was almost jealous of it. No, she was jealous. No carting her into the backroom, swearing and complaining about how much time and money she wasted,  no shutting her down and taking her apart and putting her back together sloppily, then ignoring her when she said it still hurt and getting angry at her when something broke again. No accidentally punching a hole in her suit when a drillbit slipped. She didn’t think a band-aid or a sticker would actually do anything to fix the hydraulic leak, but they sometimes put them on kids who weren’t actually bleeding, and it still seemed to make them feel better. And the way the adults talked to them, the way they were… worried about them, and cared that they were hurt because they were hurt… she just wished they would treat her like that. Just once.

[soonsoop]

blog #2 - eco-friendly headphone brands!

April 25th, 2021

When it comes to listening music, using a set of headphones or earbuds can be an essential part of the experience. It gives a more personal and intimate experience with the music.

There is a difference between “earphones” and “headphones”.

“Earphones” or as some people call it “earbuds”, are the ones that go into the inside of your ears whereas headphones are the ones that cover your whole entire ear. 

Now, you must be questioning why I’ve titled the blog as “headphones”. Let me tell you my experience on why I think using headphones is for the better. Before getting into the fine details of how the human ear works and the effect of music on our ears, I’ve been an avid user of the famous earphones many people use.

During my music class at the current college I’m attending in, I learned that “earphones are the fastest way to damage your hearing”. The human ear is an organ that protects and filters sounds. It’s like an acoustic organ that balances the stuff we hear. Because the device is inserted straight into your ear, without letting your whole ear be able to “filter” out the sounds it becomes extremely dangerous after long-term exposure. After hearing that statement it really shook my world. Since then, I’ve been starting to use headphones as much as I can instead of earphones. Headphones on the other hand are much safer than earphones/earbuds. Because the sound plays onto your whole ear and not directly, it lessens the impact when listening to music. 

Although not everyone is suited to using headphones, I am focusing this post on headphones since I will be taking into the factor of both the regular consumer as well as those involved in music production/industry.

Since I’m a music creator who creates and have been learning to mix and listen to music, I also took into the interests of both the regular consumers as well as consumers who are involved in the music industry and music creating/mixing whereabouts. I began to look into brands that had eco-friendly headphones while trying to search for some myself. With that in mind, I’ve done some research on eco-friendly/ethical brands that sell headphones. 

Here are the top 3 brands I’ve found:

LSTN

House of Marley

Thinksound

Let’s start with...

1. LSTN 

Fave factors about LSTN: gives back to the community, use of sustainable materials, great aesthetic and design 

Recommended for: those looking for a good cause with their purchase, sustainability, aesthetics, day-to-day consumer willing to invest more money into their headphones

Price: $$$

The first brand I’ve tried was LSTN. It was around 2017~2018 when I first discovered this brand. I’ve tried the LSTN Avalon Bamboo earphones. I really liked it for its minimal and appealing design as well as the story behind the company. A brief overview of the company & its headphones:

LSTN is a company that gives back to the hearing community, providing people with the abillity to hear music and sounds globally with every purchase made. They partner with The Starkey Hearing Foundation to provide hearing aids to those in need. Their line of headphones(excluding the kids section) use sustainable and reclaimed wood, vegan leather and an aluminum banding.

Currently, LSTN only has wireless headphones available in their headphone line.

The Troubadour - $179.99

The Troubadour 2.0 - $179.99

Features: Wireless connection, 40mm drivers, 32 Ω Impedance, 8+ battery life, Backup cable for wired use, Built-in mic/controls, Vegan leather pads, 30' operating range, Lifetime support

I would say LSTN would fit best for the day-to-day consumer. Even though they have a backup cable for wired use included, I wouldn’t say it’d be perfect for mixing since it was not specifically built for that purpose. One downfactor that would be discouraging is the cost of their headphones. However, their motto and use of materials as well as their aesthetic designs makes it very appealing.

SHOP LSTN’s headphones here: https://lstnsound.com/collections/bluetooth-headphones

2. House Of Marley

Fave factors of House of Marley: Has the most relatively cheaper options, use of carefully sourced and recycled materials, supports global ocean conservation and reforestation efforts

Recommended for: Bass lovers, interest in global ocean conservation and reforestation efforts

Price: $$~$$$

The second brand I’ve encountered and tried out was House of Marley. It was around 2018~2019 when I found out about their brand. I’ve tried their Smile Jamaica Earbuds. Their brand is known for it’s emphasis on the bass sounds. I could really hear a lot of bass when using their earphones. 

House of Marley is a brand that focuses on delivering music to its consumers as well as contributing conservation efforts to the planet especially focusing on ocean restoration and global reforestation efforts. Their materials are carefully sourced and sustainable. They’ve created a Project Marley Global Giving initiative in order to support ocean conservation and global reforestation efforts through One Tree Planted and the Surfrider Foundation. 

Positive Vibration 2 Headphones - $49.99

Rebel BT Wireless Headphones - $59.99

Positive Vibration 2 Wireless Headphones - $69.99

Positive Vibration XL Wireless Headphones - $99.99

Positive Vibration XL ANC Wireless Headphones - $149.99

Exodus Wireless Headphones - $199.99

Exodus ANC Wireless Headphones - $249.99

House of Marley has more options compared to LSTN’s headphone line-up. It seems that their most expensive headphones have the highest ratings on their website. I would say HOM is best for the regular consumer again especially since their products have an emphasis of their “signature sound” which has a  strong bass sound. I wouldn’t think it’d be ideal for someone mixing music, but I think it would be appealing to a regular consumer who loves that bass-y sound. Concerning price, HOM has a variety of relatively mid-high to high price-ranged options which is a bit more appealing for those on a slight budget. I find their clarity about where their materials as nice as well as their conservation efforts!

SHOP House of Marley’s headphones here: https://www.thehouseofmarley.com/headphones/

3. Thinksound

Fave factors about Thinksound: Studio-focused headphones, use of relatively natural & recycled materials

Recommended for: both the regular consumer & music industry involved concsumer, those looking into more eco-friendly headphones designed possibly for the studio?, use of natural materials, nice acoustics

Price: ??? / TBA

The last brand I found upon my research was Thinksound. A few months back I found their specific type of headphones called, ‘Thinksound On1′ headphones and came across a review that talked about them being used specifically for the studio. It was one of the first and only eco-friendly brands that I came across that created a headphone built for a studio. Unfortunately, the headphones were discontinued and I was sad to see their site was under construction. However, now that I checked back again today, I saw that they had reopened their site again and added some new products!! (Woohoo!)

Thinksound is a company that started out in 2009 striving to deliver products made to allow music to sound the way musicians and music professionals can be respected for. They strive to also use responsibly sourced materials. 

ov21 - $??? / coming soon! (wired)

on21 - $??? / coming soon! (wireless)

I have yet to try this brand out yet I have high hopes for this brand. They’re made and are making products that deliver the music in a way that can be possibly respected by music professionals while also implementing responsibly sourced materials into their products. I am curious and excited to see the new headphones they have coming soon on their website!! (It’s stated on their website that they’ll have pre-order discounts and release info if you sign-up their newsletter on their homepage!) They are making both wired and wireless headphones available soon in the future so, I think their headphones will be both ideal for both the consumer and music studio involved consumer!

SHOP Thinksound’s products here: https://thinksound.com/collections/our-lineup

To wrap up, these are the top 3 brands I’ve found and recommend you all to try. Although most of them have quite an expensive price tag, supporting companies like these who strive to bring ethically and responsibly sourced materials without diminishing the quality of their products is a great way to listen to your music in an eco-friendly way. 

And yes, I know. As you can see in the first picture of this blog, I am currently using AKG K240 headphones. I am hoping to try out brands like Thinksound if they continue to make headphones that can be used in the studio. Headphones (other than speakers) are a crucial factor in the whereabouts of mixing and getting a good sound from it is influential in the way the product and quality of the music that is being produced. I still find it difficult to find brands that have both great sound while being sustainable at the same time especially for studio-based headphones in the music industry. I hope there will be a day when more brands like Thinksound begin to implement those qualities while both trying to put in an effort to responsibly source their materials! 

Let me know what your thoughts on these brands are if you’ve ever tried out these brands yourself! Thank you for reading. :)

[brokingsacking645]

What laptop is best for gaming

Wolfsgamingblog.com Internet site. Wolf's Gaming Blog Xbox 1 & Computer Gaming, And Board Games.

No matter if you happen to be a initial-time gamer or a person who has been gaming because the golden age, there is no denying that the business has grown. These numbers can certainly differ per study, but it does appear like the quantity of female severe gamers are on a downward trend. The final time we checked in females had been closer to 45%-48% of gamers. We can speculate as to why this is. Possibly females are much less fond of the emergence of the eSports trend. Probably females are feeling significantly less incorporated in gaming forums and on the web communities right after the harassment accusations of the last handful of years. Perhaps they're just more drawn to other entertainment industries, but this is absolutely a trend to continue watching.

As with video content material, adding character, character, and excellent to your written content will make it far more compelling, and would pique the interest of gamers. These types of articles resonate greater with your audience, which helps you get much better internet website traffic. Game reviews, news, and analyses are some of the most well-liked articles in gaming sites, and are assured to get you traffic, offered that it is high high-quality. It is finest to appear for some superb examples of video game writing, and uncover a writing style that would match your branding, and make you stand out from the rest.

The enterprise stated that immediately after hosting a Buyer Survey in early May that over 89% of respondents said they assume it is important for retailers like Green Man Gaming to give a wide choice of payment solutions.” Just after the survey the enterprise realized that customers anticipated a diverse variety of approaches to spend for the games they wanted to play and that by supplying much more techniques they could make prospects pleased and make much more funds.

Jacob Stempniewicz serves as Andovar's VP of Marketing and advertising. He speaks Polish, English and Spanish fluently and continues to function on his Thai language capabilities. He holds an M.A. in Organizational Psychology, as properly as an undergraduate degree in Common Psychology, each from University of Gdańsk (Poland). Jacob has an especially robust interest in localization of multimedia, gaming and eLearning.

Companies across the globe have been coming up with gaming devices beyond just the mice, joysticks and keyboards for years. Some are built for durability, others for added functionality and an enhanced gaming knowledge. Most of them are futuristic and sleek but all of them are for built for one purpose, to give the most effective darn gaming session hardcore gamers deserve.

Honestly, I can not even start to guess what the future holds for gaming. I'd appreciate to see VR turn out to be far more reasonably priced, and for the media to develop bored of applying videogames as a scapegoat for bar parenting or acts of intense violence. But more than that I'd like to see larger organizations back down from their many anti­consumer policies.Though we get treated to a lot of amazing games, we're also treated fairly poorly by the likes of EA and Ubisoft. Awful pre­order bonuses tha tare designedto boost pre­order numbers with no actual advantage to the customer, games becoming released in buggy states or with poor overall performance, and questionable microtransactions. These are just some of the issues that need to have to be solved.

Why we like it: The video gaming podcast normally focuses on indie titles, due to the fact that is what the hosts are personally interested in, but sometimes they also bring a wider selection of games to the table for discussion. Idle Thumbs is a thoughtful podcast that puts a bit additional emphasis on style and criticism when analyzing the games. If Idle Thumbs” clicks with you, you can also check out the podcast 3 Moves Ahead” about war and method games, it was made by the similar guys.

Preserve in thoughts that while a lot of ladies gamers are simply casual players, numerous extra are involved in the gaming planet beyond just choosing up a mobile game or two. Females are interested in each games and gaming influencers, and have a tendency to take suggestions from said influencers relatively seriously. In truth, they account for 30% of YouTube gaming video views alone, and the number is only expanding. In addition, 39% of female gamers appear to the advice of pals and family when thinking about a new game, so word-of-mouth is essential as properly, even if the games they are playing tend to be a lot more of a solo endeavour.

101 Objects For COMPETITION

AppReal-VR is a virtual reality improvement organization with a world of expertise in VR gaming With a very seasoned group specializing in both Unity and Unreal game development engines, it is the a single-quit shop for all ficilia.online Steam pc gaming blog your gaming troubles. Green Man Gaming has made considerable improvements in terms of web site expertise and interaction style, with the support of Practicology, to deliver the subsequent stage of development for the company.

We use our GeForce Practical experience servers to ascertain the best quality settings primarily based on the user's CPU and GPU, and target greater frame prices than 'normal' optimal settings to guarantee the lowest latency gaming encounter. These settings are automatically applied when the game is launched so gamers never have to be concerned about configuring these settings themselves.

What Wikipedia is to know-how, GameSpot is to video games. From video game blogs to testimonials to downloads to previews on console games. GameSpot capabilities just about every nook & cranny of gaming globe. The best aspect of this gaming web-site is it delivers an open platform to customers to share their opinions, blogs & critiques on their forum. The web page is pretty excellent looking and attributes section such as: Computer Gaming, PS4, Xbox One particular, Gametech, 3Ds, Deals & significantly extra.

Gamasutra is, pretty basically, a spot for all items gaming. The website's mission is to '˜inform, empower and inspire' their reader base, and they do so by means of a mixture of gaming news, critiques, discussions and providing game developers a platform to elaborate on current challenges and trends from inside the industry. To the surprise of some market professionals, Apple is among the most lucrative gaming businesses in the planet. Its App Retailer gained immense recognition with the introduction of iPhone. Via the retailer, Apple commissions a royalty for the sale of just about every game app, like Candy Crush Saga and Clash of Kings.

The Escapist has a platform for announcing most up-to-date gaming news, testimonials, and sharing cool videos. They have a gaming arcade full of absolutely free on the web games that one particular can get rather addicted to, and a forum that gives offline and on-line discussions on a plethora of tech and gaming topics. The Pistons GT are the Detroit franchise representatives for the NBA 2K League. As a sponsor of Gamers for Providing, we're proud to assist raise awareness of the Pistons GT brand, and the franchise's overall support for the gaming community.

The Atlantic Gaming Desk is a piece of steel furnishings that's in particular built for today's modern day gamer or even a household office owner. Its sturdy legs come completely integrated with cup holders and other attachments that are just great for organizing a selection of your laptop or computer accessories and peripherals. The Atlantic Gaming Desk also characteristics a special cable management method that organizes the various wires and cables that your devices possess. There is a charging station, a monitor stand, game storage rack, game controller hooks, gaming speaker trays, and a whole lot much more. Its padded feet will not also scratch your floor.

Networking online does not need the similar attitude of in-particular person networking. And given that most bloggers connect by way of the World wide web it really is a lot a lot easier for new gaming bloggers to attain out and meet other individuals in the field. Why Tiny Cartridge is a Top rated Video Game Resource: Handheld fanatics should really certainly stick to this blog to understand about the latest big and indie releases, handheld gaming peripherals and other items, and additional. They even have a podcast so you can download the most up-to-date handheld gaming news on the go.

[swtorramblings]

A Good Day

SW POC Positivity Project, Day 23: Rogue One No One Dies AU

No one? No one at all? Ow. I think I’m going to have to go with the people in the invasion. And one other. I’ve had to miss a lot of these, mainly because of lack of time and preparation, but also because a number of them were just outside whatever talents I might have. This, though? No way I’m skipping this one. Tragedy is a valid form of expression. I mostly am good with how the film ended. If it hadn’t been the most diverse central cast in a Star Wars film to date (I think), I would have had fewer complaints. I still think one of them should have lived, perhaps due to being left behind, but so it goes. What I’m doing here has the feeling of having the bodies scattered all over the stage at the end of Hamlet hop up to explain how they faked their deaths. And I’m good with that. Some of the timing may not work, I haven’t seen the movie in years, but this is an AU and I’m good with that, too.

1666 words.

“The Force is with me. I am one with the Force. The Force is with me. I am one with the ULP!” Chirrut felt the cable wrap around his torso, then was jerked off his feet and sailed through the air. He felt the heat of the blast, burning at the soles of his feet. He barely kept hold of his staff as he landed in a heap. “Are you all right?” It was, of course, Baze’s voice. “The rescue could have been more graceful.” He could hear some blaster fire, and then a short pause. “Is that all you have to say?” “Thank you.” “What about trusting in the Force?” He got to his feet and felt for the cover before saying, “I did. I told you. It’s why I have you.” “We will talk later. Here they come.” Chirrut heard soldiers closing. He swung, knocking the first one to the ground. They were still most likely going to die, he knew. But at least they would die together, and for a cause worth fighting for.

K2 was making calculations, playing out scenarios as he slowly, over the space of agonizing microseconds, shut down. None of them were possible, of course. Fantasizing ways for Cassian to live. One impossible scenario after another. Then, two unexpected things occurred. The first was in the data stream that had just been sent to the rebels. A tiny thing, a second plan by a father desperate to protect his daughter from a supremely unlikely threat. A threat she was about to die from. He didn’t like her, she had caused all this, but he still sent the signal. Maybe it would work, and marginally increased the odds of Cassian’s survival. The second, he had to speed up his perceptions for. More blaster fire even though he was already disabled. One of the Imperials fell next to him. He had to admit it gave him a feeling like pleasure. It was probably due to the damage in his cognitive circuits. He heard them speaking before shutting down completely. “What, the droid, too?” “Those are our orders. It’s mostly intact, but get all the parts you can find back to the ship. And hurry.”

Bodhi couldn’t reach the grenade in time, but he had the ship’s guts exposed in front of him. In desperation, he slapped some of the wiring together, and the thrusters roared to life, tilting the ship, almost flipping it over. The soldier that had thrown the grenade registered with shock that it bounced back out of the ship, just as it exploded. The ship crashed back to the ground hard enough that he knew he was going to bruise from slamming into the floor, but he didn’t think anything was broken. Well, no more broken, anyway. He was sure the blast and the fall had damaged the ship enough to make it unusable, though. He’d known he wasn’t going to make it, but he ran from the ship, keeping his head down as best he could. Surviving was a habit he wasn’t going to break until it was broken for him.

Raddus looked down at the message. They had an unknown benefactor, or so they would have him believe. There was no point in not taking precautions, though. He chose a heading at random and had the flagship brought around. No transmission, no message that might be intercepted and deciphered. The fleet knew what to do without orders. Survival often depended on it. The new calculations were made. He would wait as long as he could, but they were ready for whatever happened next.

They staggered out of the tower. Jyn was almost carrying him, in spite of being exhausted, herself. The metal moon overhead made it all pointless, but she wasn’t going to stop trying, he knew. Was it admirable, or insane? He’d lived his life in a state of desperation, fighting for the barest scraps of hope, even as what he had to do for them slowly destroyed him. He wasn’t going to tell her to do anything else. Soon, the battle station would fire, though. He had no doubt Tarkin would destroy this place to keep his secrets. He thought they wouldn’t have to wait for it as he heard the ship’s engines, waited for the blaster fire to erase them. Then, it spun, and landed in front of them. Jyn saw who was on board. “Gerrera?” “Yes! Get on! We don’t have time!” Just as shocked, Cassian said, “How are you alive?” “I’ve been doing this a long time! Now, get on!” Jyn was saying, as they went up the ramp as quickly as they could, “You ran?” “Of course I ran! And now I’m saving you!” He strapped himself in. “What? Couldn’t you trust me?” “I don’t trust anyone! It’s why I’m still alive!” She couldn’t argue with that, and dragged Cassian aboard. Gerrera made a gesture to the pilot and the ship lifted off. It wouldn’t matter. They were too low. Once that thing fired, it was still over.

“You may fire when ready.” The weapon was powered, though at a mere fraction of its capacity. Hundreds of the crystals would have been drained and need to be replaced. A small price to pay, Tarkin believed. He smiled, the smile of a man who knew the power at his command and enjoyed exercising it. Then, one of his people turned to him and said, “Sir, the weapon won’t fire!” He forced himself to remain calm. “Explain this.” “The computers won’t allow us to finish the sequence! And they are speaking!” Hoping it wasn’t a countdown, he said, “Play it for me.” As the speakers came on, it was just, two sentences, three words each, over and over again. Six words that had disabled the most powerful battle station the galaxy had ever seen. A father’s voice, saying, “Stardust is here. Do not fire.”

Somehow, the small ship had reached the upper atmosphere and the rebel fleet. Jyn looked around the cabin. Counting the soldiers she had convinced to go on this suicide mission. Chirrut smiled at her, a bit weakly. Baze had his arm around him, and scowled at her for their injuries, but still seemed relieved to see her. Bodhi was calling back from the pilot’s chair that they were about to make the jump to light speed. K2 didn’t look good. Hopefully he could be repaired. He’d probably be surprised that she thought that. Cassian was sitting right next to her, looking relieved. There were over a dozen other rebels she hadn’t had the time to learn the names of. She had to make sure she did if they lived through this.

Vader stood on the bridge. The trap had been sprung, and none of the rebel fleet would escape. By now, Tarkin would have destroyed all trace of the project, he was sure. They emerged from hyperspace, only to see the enemy fleet jump away on alternative course, one pre-planned and random. They had been warned. The installation was still intact, not obliterated as he’d expected. There was a signal coming from the planet. It seemed Krennic had also lived. For now. He turned to his troops and ordered, “Send troops to the planet, and to the Death Star. I want Tarkin and Krennic here. Someone must answer for this failure.”

Rogue One had done its part. No one was asked to fight for the Rebellion again. Some did, of course. Chirrut stayed with the Rebellion, helping the youngsters learn the history of the Jedi, so much of which was lost. Baze stayed at his side. What the Force had brought together, nothing would part. Cassian left, though. He had seen and done too much and needed the time to heal. Years later, the fighting over, he returned, and joined the new Senate. Hoping that his experiences would help them to be better than they had been, or than he had been. K2 was repaired and remained with Cassian, though more as an adviser than a bodyguard. Perhaps it was the damage, perhaps he just was well past the time for a memory flush, but he had stopped taking the orders of anyone but himself. Some might call him a “droid rights advocate”. He thought they were stupid. Jyn stayed with the rebels, and rebelled. She did eventually learn all of their names, because as risky as her life was, there was time, now. Bodhi still suffered from the probes and the interrogations, but eventually recovered as best he could. He became one of the best pilots in the Rebellion, running supplies, and, when necessary, fighting. His was one of the few ships to survive the battle over the Death Star, and while he wasn’t the one that fired the fateful shot, he was satisfied to be present as it was destroyed. He took holos to share with his friends. It was a good day.

[techlearnings]

The Best Home Theater Systems of 2020

1. The Smartest Home Theater System: Sonos 5.1 Beam Surround Set with Voice Assistant

Sonos Beam 5.1 System

Why it won

It would appear Sonos is resolved to clearing the field. At first thought about the upstart among industry monsters, Sonos is currently accomplishing for home theater what they accomplished for multi-room music – and the outcomes are great. read more

The Sonos Beam 5.1 Surround Set is all that you'd anticipate from the world's #1 remote sound organization as per CEPro magazine. Highs are completely clear, lows through the Sonos subwoofer punch with power, and exchange through the framework's highlight, the Beam Sound Bar, is both famously reasonable and reliably up front.

Furthermore, the framework is whip shrewd and accompanies a great list of capabilities. It's absolutely remote put something aside for the force line and HDMI yield. (Bye tangled jumble.) The Sonos application remains the best/most astute application in the business. Apple Airplay 2 comes included. It streams pretty much everything by means of the in excess of 50 music administrations upheld by Sonos. Include Amazon Alexa as well as Google Assistant voice control, in addition to a look that is inconspicuous, jazzy, and made to mix in – and you have a great decision. For genuinely vivid 5.1 encompass sound, however for incredible sounding music, as well. Indeed, it's somewhat expensive, however worth each penny as we would see it. Likewise note: Sonos resembles LEGOs (which we expounded all on in our Sonos Buying Guide here).

This Package Includes: Beam Compact Smart Sound Bar With Voice Control | SUB Wireless Subwoofer | 2 OneSL Speakers for Stereo Pairing and Home Theater Surrounds | Power Cords | HDMI Cable | Available in Black or White

Reg. Cost: $1,456.00

Coming Soon - Call to Order: 1.866.961.7781

#2. The Best Wireless Home Theater System: Bose Soundbar 700 with Bass Module 700 and Surround Wireless Speakers

Bose Sound Bar 700 5.1 System

Why it won

In our "Best Sound Bars of 2020" article, the Bose Soundbar 700 won best-of-show for encompass sound. Presently here as the center segment in the Bose Smart Wireless 5.1 home theater framework, Bose does it once more. The Bose SB700 won since we turned it on and were immediately overwhelmed by a sound field that An) appeared to be a lot more extensive than some other 5.1 pre-bundled framework we tried, B) made discourse – even delicate or murmured exchange – completely clear, and C) was similarly compelling regardless of where we sat.

Each segment in this framework is important for Bose's new group of shrewd remote speakers. Start with this 5.1-channel framework, and spot a Bose Home Speaker 500 in the kitchen and the littler Soundbar 500 in your room for a multi-room sound understanding all through the house. What's more, with Amazon Alexa worked in, you can control everything with straightforward voice orders.

Features

Turn it up, and Bose's Bass Module 700 subwoofer will throw a pleasant left hook without contorting.

Given the Bose Lifestyle 650 won most attractive, we're giving "second place" to this framework. The excellent glass top and punctured fold over metal grille on the Soundbar 700 is a pleasant touch.

To mix in with any home's style, Bose offers this framework in white, as well.

This Package Includes: Bose Soundbar 700 | Bose Bass Module 700 | Bose Surround Wireless Speakers | Power lines | Optical link | HDMI Cable

Reg. Cost: $1,797.00

SHOP NOW

#3. The Best Surround Sound System for Small Rooms: SVS Prime Satellite 5.1 Package

SVS Prime Satellite 5.1 Package

Why it won

Throughout the most recent twenty years, SVS has developed into one of the most regarded brands in the business. At first known for their sternum-vibrating/room-shaking/grant winning subwoofers, the present new SVS frameworks can rival anybody – and the SVS Prime Satellite 5.1 home venue bundle is an incredible model. Its conservative and simpler to fit in a littler room however turn it up and blast: your little room turns into the Hollywood Bowl.

Each SVS Prime Satellite speaker is about the size of a portion of bread and contains a 4.5-inch midrange driver and a one-inch tweeter. Little, truly, yet they punch like Roberto Duran. The 12-inch driver in the effectively amazing, 300-watt fueled SVS-1000 subwoofer will, then again, make them clutch your seat. It's little, as well, and perfectly tucks into any corner. The framework is wired instead of remote, however at the cost, the SVS Prime Satellite 5.1 Package may simply be the greatest "little" 5.1 framework available. (Need something somewhat greater? Look at SVS's "Ultra" arrangement line of speakers. We convey those, as well.)

Another enormous SVS advantage: gaming. A ton of our clients keep their gaming frameworks in little lairs and extra rooms. Also, on the off chance that you truly need to place yourself in a Gears of War or Call of Duty fight, sans earphones – and you would prefer not to spend a fortune to do it – the SVS Prime Satellite 5.1 Package is for you. SVS rocks.

This Package Includes: 5 Prime Satellite Speakers | SB-1000 Subwoofer

Reg. Cost: $999.99

SHOP NOW

Alright individuals – folding tables up and fix those safety belts. We're pulling out all the stops.

Presently we progress from the littler, simple to-set-up home theater frameworks to the greater, take your breath away arrangements. The accompanying frameworks were hand-picked by our specialists, frequently blended and coordinated from various sound brands. Taking all things together, it resembles going from engine bikes to bikes: both are fun, both take care of business, yet the last is more about consummately repeating enormous, genuine, true to life sound at home. Further, these greater home theater frameworks are more adaptable concerning sound and structure feel.

#4. The Best Budget Home Theater Speaker System: KLH Kendall 5.1 Speaker System

KLH Kendall 5.1 System

Why it won

KLH's strategic been and consistently will be: audiophile-commendable speakers at moderate costs. What's more, KLH's most current line-up epitomizes that strategic to say the least. The two Kendall 3-way floorstanding speakers included speak to the organization's new lead models. Flawlessly completed in dark oak and American pecan facade, each contains custom drivers made of Kevlar, anodized aluminum and curiously large magnets. They're huge, they're delightful, and they sound incredible. The KLH Story Center Channel Speaker puts the most significant activity (and on-screen exchange) up front with hybrid hardware produced using top notch parts. The two Beacon encompass speakers are superior to most and work superbly with the framework's left and right back channels.

Balancing everything, KLH's 12-inch, front-terminating subwoofer = the John Bonham of the gathering. The high journey woven Kevlar driver inside, fueled by a 350 watt amp, is all that could possibly be needed to toss you back in your seat.

KLH's 5.1 home theater gathering is a great decision for large, artistic sound. Huge (or rambunctious) parties when added to your music framework. Valid, it's not remote, however it's difficult to beat this sort of sheer influence for the cash.

This Package Includes: 2 KLH Kendall Floorstanding Speakers | KLH Story Center Channel Speaker | KLH Beacon Surround Speaker Pair | Windsor 12 Subwoofer | Available in Black or Walnut

Reg. Cost: $2,796.95

Coming Soon - Call to Order: 1.866.961.7781

#5. The Best Dolby Atmos Home Theater System: Klipsch 7.2.2 Reference Premiere Home Theater System with Marantz SR7013 9.2-Channel AV Receiver

Klipsch 7.2 System

Why it won

Two notable, top notch, sound pioneers: One known for dynamite, pull out all the stops or-return home sound and excellent cabinetry, the other for top tier enhancement and driving edge innovation. Between them, two legends – Saul Marantz and Paul Klipsch, more than 100 years experience, and each grant in the book. Welcome to the best encompass sound all things considered.

A couple of years back, the sound masters at Dolby made sense of an approach to settle on what some decision "3D encompass sound" by means of another innovation called Dolby Atmos. (Atmos, as in environment.) What Dolby Atmos truly does is make a layer of sound that not just floats over the crowd, it drifts in various territories over the crowd. Also, it does it so well, you can really pinpoint explicit sounds in explicit spots – noticeable all around. The net impact: Thrilling, invigorating, stunning – in any event, stunning now and again. ("Try not to stress kids, those monsters aren't genuine, it's only a film.")

In spite of the fact that most AV recipients today come Dolby Atmos-empowered, numerous shoppers never include Dolby Atmos speakers. (Abnormal. Similar to living on a boat and never purchasing sails.) So we intentionally concocted a marvelous, yet generally reasonable home venue that really conveys on all fronts: left, right, focus, sides, back, beneath (by method of the subwoofer) and now, with Dolby Atmos, noticeable all around above, as well.

One more thing: If you pick this home theater framework with the parts we prescribe – and you're going to turn it on just because – start with a greater than-life, blockbuster film. The new Jurassic Park, Incredibles 2, whatever. Blockbusters are designed by sound specialists to exploit stature channels, so you're ensured to get the all out impact: pterosaurs and ancient bugs flying around your parlor, jump bombarding the couch, and so forth. You'll know why this specific framework so effectively wins our "Best Dolby Atmos" class.

Features

Mood killer the TV, and this Klipsch/Marantz home theater arrangement conveys an intense, audiophile-commendable, music framework – one that asks for a quality turntable. Despite the fact that with Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and Airplay worked in, in addition to HEOS remote multi-room music streaming, you can play practically anything from anyplace by means of any brilliant gadget.

The two Klipsch RP-8060 floorstanding speakers are not just fresh out of the box new, they're higher on the pecking list than Klipsch's for quite some time proclaimed Reference II arrangement. Likewise valid for the RP-504C Center Channel Speaker, which at right around 3-feet wide and 34 pounds is the Serena Williams of focus speakers. read more

[codylabs]

The Nomads: Part 1

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4

Long ago, a story was recorded. It told how after many months of careful listening, a lone astronaut learned to understand the language of her rescuers. Weeks more of practicing to herself within the privacy of her escape pod, and she had grown accustomed to shaping her tongue and lips around their strange syllables. Then one evening over dinner, when one of the boys made fun of her, the astronaut finally spoke. “Well I do not think my eyes are tiny.” She replied with a smile. “Maybe yours are just enormous.”

It had been a poor comeback to a poor insult, and had been half incomprehensible to them, but it caused quite an uproar nonetheless.

“Missus Fikes!” They all cheered. This was the only phrase she’d managed to teach them of her own language, and just as well, for it was her name. “You understood our language this entire time? Did you learn? When did you learn? Who taught you?” They prodded her with questions, speaking too quickly for her to distinguish. “We’re so proud of you!”

“I have been listening many nights!” Her concentration on her own words made them come out slowly, (and even she could hear the clumsy distortion of her own accent,) but they were coming. “Practicing many nights. Was become weary of sign language. Big thanks to friend Keeleeticktick for speaking so slowly at me.”

They laughed at that, and slapped Keeleeticktick on the back and congratulated him for being a good friend. “Oh.” One of them turned to her after the uproar quieted a bit. “That was good, but the word for ‘night’, you said it wrong. It’s more like…” His beak didn’t move when he made the correct pronunciation, (since they didn’t speak with their beaks,) but the clusters of high-voltage nerves in his tentacles pulsed and chimed with electrical interference, and her helmet radio picked it up and played it into her speaker in the form of sound.

“Nights.” She repeated back to him.

“Still not quite right.” Somebody else chimed in. “It’s like you’re only saying half of it.”

“You sound like a queeteekit with weevakik syndrome!” One of them teased her. She didn’t know a few of those words, but got the gist.

“Don’t be rough on him!” One of them smacked him. “He’s doing his best!”

“Is problem with my voice-maker.” She tapped the radio on her helmet with a helpless laugh. “It cannot do the frequencies so low. Cannot hear some of word.”

“Oh! Oh! I’ve got an idea!” One of them waved a tentacle toward the dish up in the crow’s nest. “Let’s go get the ship’s radio! It can do the whole range!”

“Hey yeah!” Somebody agreed. “We can just wire it right in! And then we’ll just turn the dish back toward us, turn down the volume, and we can all hear each other! Should work well enough until we can modify his radio.”

“Very good!” She followed after with an eager laugh.

They were awake for many long hours that night, laughing and talking and doing their best to help her learn. It seemed they all adored the excitement, and they nursed her for every bit of attention and strange newness she could provide. And they seemed to be growing to like her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So, Missus Fikes, what are these things for anyway?” Keeleeticktick asked, reaching a tentacle forward to poke at her.

They’d been respecting her boundaries for the entirety of her stay so far, but now that she was starting to fit in, it seemed that the taboos were finally breaking down; this was the first question one of them had ever directly asked her about her human biology.

“Those are legs.” She smiled. The word had no direct translation that she knew of. “I guess you could call them hook-limbs? Crawlers? I don’t know… They let me move around.” She wiggled her boots to show that they were living parts of her, not just some kind of stiff horns.

“They don’t look like they help you move.” He seemed skeptical.

“Not way out here, no.” Her eyes wandered over the nomad’s small convoy of ships, and none of them had any habitation rings or rotating sections, or anything at all which could be used to generate artificial gravity. Their engines weren’t even powerful enough to provide thrust gravity. “I… I suppose I don’t have a way to show how they work.”

“Maybe if you took off your armor?” He poked curiously at her space suit. “Maybe you wouldn’t burn yourself?”

“No, they’re not thrusters.” She laughed. “They… If I was stuck to something… If I were being pulled…” She remembered that they didn’t have a word for ‘down’. “If I were being pulled on to something, then they would let me move.”

“…Huh?” He didn’t quite grasp the gist.

She pondered it a moment longer. And she remembered a history lesson from long ago, from before human spacecraft were large enough to mount entire rings. In the very early colonial age, when humans were still exploring their own solar system, their ships were often designed to stay attached to their last discarded booster stage, and reel it out on the end of a long cable. Then, by spinning end-over end, they could approximate enough of a radius and rotation to provide artificial gravity. “Okay, I have a idea.” She snapped her fingers. “Do you have a strong cable, and some mass equal to my pod you would allow me to risk?”

“Ohhhh…” He had access to the first one, but was hesitant on loaning the second; there wasn’t much mass out here they could spare. “We have silk cable that’s near indestructible… But how ‘risky’ are we talking?”

“I want to swing it around quickly. If the silk breaks, it would fly away from the convoy and be hard to get back.”

“I’ve got my dingy!” Keeleeticktick’s son, Thilykto, had been listening, and now spoke up. “I could just tie that to it, and that way if I fly away, I could just fly it back!”

“Oh yeah, that would be safe.” She nodded.

“…Alright.” Keeleeticktick nodded reluctantly. “But if this gets too crazy, Missus Fikes, I’m going to put a stop to it.”

“Of course.” She spread her arms and curled her fingers, a motion which, (as far as she had been able to tell) meant about the same as a courteous bow.

An hour later, they had her escape pod tied securely to the end of a narrow silken thread, and Thilykto was up on his dingy, tied to the other. His father looked on in growing disapproval (though not growing as fast as his curiosity, apparently.) Most or all of the other nomads, both on this ship and surrounding ships, had clustered to watch as well. Beneath the gaze of many eyes, she radioed over to Thilykto. “You ready, man?”

“I was born ready!” He curled one tentacle into the shape of a thumbs-up, a gesture he’d learned from her.

“Great!” She stepped into the airlock of her pod. “I don’t know how much fuel this will use, so if you waste more than quarter, call it off!”

“Okay!” He grabbed the controls of his dingy, and waited for her signal.

As for herself, she sealed the door behind her and cycled the airlock. The pressurized stiffness of her suit lightened as the chamber flooded, and then she drifted through the inner door into what counted as her home. There wasn’t much to it, just a few seats, a control panel, and some frayed wall insulation which she’d folded into a bed; it was little wonder she spent so much time outside.

Now she grasped the control panel, twisted herself around to right-side-up, and began tapping buttons for pre-ignition checks. She wondered for a moment if the escape pod’s thrusters still worked. She had run them completely dry of fuel during the leviathan attack, and nearly overheated them in the process. The Nomads had been kind enough to offer a refuel when they found her, but the quiet drifting ever since had never given her an opportunity to give them a test fire, and she worried whether or not they’d suffered permanent damage from her initial clumsiness. She held her breath as she threw the last switch.

To her relief, the pod’s propulsion roared to life with hardly a second’s hesitation, and the readouts all leveled out to green. She grasped the RCS joysticks to begin the maneuver. “Remember.” She radioed over. “Thrust opposite direction of me.”

“Yeah, I got it!”

The escape pod’s thrusters pushed it one way, the dingy pushed the other way, the silk went taught, and they began to rotate each other. As he watched it begin, Keeleeticktick turned in a nervous circle and curled his tentacles up around his head, while his eyestalks retracted back into a fold beneath his beak. “Oh, be careful!” He cried up at them.

“I’m good, I’m good!” His son called back. “Missus Fikes, how fast do we need to get going?”

“Very fast.” As the dingy and pod spun, the centrifugal force began to weigh on her body. It was light at first, a ghostly hint of drag in an unexpected direction, but it rapidly grew stronger and stronger. Now she was no longer floating, and her boots touched the floor. A wrench hit the wall behind her and bounced to a stop. The picture of her family by her bed began to slide. And now the suit was resting on her shoulders, now she felt the blood begin to drain from her head, and now her knees and back remembered the meaning of ‘down’. And then, they exploded in pain.

She’d been weightless 4 months now. The entire time she’d been drifting with the nomads, she’d never once dedicated herself to the least exercise, and it seems her back and legs had become next to useless by her neglect. “That’s enough!” She gasped, releasing her own controls and falling to her knees. “That’s enough!”

For the next minute or so, silent anticipation hung over the tribe, as they waited for her to make good on her claim of some unique and alien spectacle. Their eyes followed her pod around and around its circular path, and some of them began to rotate themselves to match, so as to make the watching easier. As for her, she clawed with her gloves at her suit’s latches, and managed to detach them. Then she wiggled out of it, like the weak and flaccid motions of a molting insect whose new shell was yet too soft to support it.

Now she was free of her suit, was on her hands and knees, staring at the metal floor with her own two eyes, feeling it with her own bony fingers. And then, with a force of will and a mighty complaint from every one of her joints, she grasped a railing on the wall and drew herself upright.

At this rate of spin and this length of silk, the ‘gravity’ in the pod was almost nothing. A bare 20% of Earth gravity, 20% of what she’d spent her entire life surviving, and which by rights she should be indestructible to. It was surely disheartening to see herself so weak… But perhaps fully developed strength didn’t matter tonight. To merely stand and walk, to give an introduction to human behavior however brief, that was all they needed.

As she opened the shutters of the pod window, and stood before her friends for the first time, she wondered what they would think.

At first they didn’t know what to think. They either didn’t understand what they were looking at, or didn’t understand the enormity of it, or maybe they didn’t even recognize her as herself without her suit, and thought her body was a piece of abstract furniture. It wasn’t until she began to walk, and paced the width of the pod a few times, that they started to understand the design of her, and the immense force she was under, and the strength of her legs, and the coordinated balance that kept her upright. One by one she heard the shocked realizations coming over the radio.

“That’s amazing!”

“How are you doing that?”

“He must have a crane or something built into the wall.”

“You must have a powerful heart!”

“Where else would those ever be useful??”

She hesitated at that last comment, and her smile faded. For she knew that these peoples’ culture relied entirely on thrusters, and fuel, and the delicate equations of propulsion and reaction. Wasted mass, be it clutter, garbage, or any kind of inefficiency or miscalculated baggage, was counted somewhere between a dreadful sin and an embarrassing faux pas; the nomads did not suffer things without use.

It occurred to her now that by their measure, a good portion of her physical body could be counted as waste. She looked down at herself, at her arms which weren’t as strong as they could be, at the layers of fat on her belly which she’d been meaning to shed for years, and at her thick, hard-boned, vestigial legs, for which she had no use at all in the foreseeable future, and which perhaps had become too weak to ever be used again. She also thought of her kidneys, and her liver, and the lengths of intestines, which were largely obsolete thanks to her diet on the pod’s genetically-perfected algae paste. Legs, fat, a complete digestive tract… Nose and hair and breasts and bones, space-bound castaways such as herself had no use for such things. Perhaps the reason she was so foreign to the nomads was that they had never imagined a creature like her. And they had never imagined it because, out here… It really made no sense at all.

“Legs were needed on our world.” She reminisced. “We needed them to move. To walk. Anywhere we went, our legs took us… They were my thrusters.”

“…What kind of world was this?” Keeleeticktick’s voice was quiet.

“A rock planet.” She told them, and let that sink in. “A planet named Earth. It had a great pull, and we lived our lives on its surface… It was full of… Of…” She searched her vocabulary for words of theirs which could properly carry the meaning of hers. “Steam… Ice? Gas. Covered in gas. Masses of gas. We walked on rock. Creatures walked on rock. Food grew on rock. We ate ice, ate food, and ate the gas, ate oxygen, for life…” She took a deep breath in and out to show them. “Mass was all around, all pulled down, all on the same…” She spread her palms like the line of a horizon. “Same surface…”

They were silent for a few seconds.

“Missus Fikes.” Keeleeticktick broke the silence. “I think you are a very, very long way from home.”

She nodded, in solemn and wholehearted agreement.

“Hey, uh, I don’t mean to interrupt, but how long are we gonna be spinning?” His son spoke up. “Feeling a bit sick over here, ha ha.”

With a start, she looked up through the window at the kid, who was swinging around on the other end of the line. Even such a small measure of artificial gravity had mashed him to the floor of his dingy, where his body bore more resemblance to washed-up seaweed than any kind of creature. “Oh, sorry!” She cried. “I’m so sorry! Yeah, we will spin down then. The demonstration is over.”

“Don’t worry about it, I know it looks bad, but it doesn’t really hurt at all.” He laughed. “I feel all limp and squished but uhhh yeah, I think you’re gonna have to spin it down with your thrusters. I can’t reach my controls.”

“Hang on kid, I got it.”

And for the second time in her life, but more sadly this time, she bid farewell to gravity.

[taww]

Review: Bryston 4B Cubed Stereo Amplifier

Bryston 4B Cubed stereo amplifier

The Audiophile Weekend Warrior (TAWW)

TAWW Rating: 4.5 / 5

An honest, refined and easy-going amp that may leave many questioning if they need more.

PROS: Clean, smooth and clear with a hint of warmth; effortless power; superb bass; bulletproof engineering, build and operation; that 20 year warranty.

CONS: Excruciatingly long break-in; not as lively or dimensional as some of the audiophile competition; balanced input seems slightly compromised.

Bryston is a name that needs no introduction, and the company’s popularity is obvious every time I post anything about them on social media - those posts consistently get a ton of likes and comments. Perhaps for this reason, along with Bryston's no-nonsense pro audio heritage, elitist high-enders seem to shun the brand as too mainstream and un-audiophile to be taken seriously. This hasn't stopped their latest Cubed series of amps from garnering some solid reviews since its introduction in 2016, with some proponents in online forums putting it in the conversation with some of the more revered high-end amps under $10k. I was intrigued, and thanks to the graciousness of Bryston's James Tanner and their US marketing rep Micah Sheveloff I was able to spend a full year getting to know one of their most popular models, the 4B Cubed (MSRP $6,695), along with the BP-17 Cubed preamp. Read on about my long but rewarding journey with this workhorse.

Design, Features & Usage

Compared to typically-spartan, even downright crude high-end amplifiers, the Bryston 4B Cubed (4B3 in shorthand) has a number of nice features:

Switchable unbalanced RCA and balanced XLR inputs

Low (23dB) and high (29dB) gain settings

Bridged mono operation

Soft start with remote trigger option

The distinguishing aspect of the Cubed series vs. Bryston’s previous line (e.g. SST2) is the Salomie input buffer. Co-developed with the late Ioan Alexandru Salomie, the circuit is said to reduce noise and distortion by 10x vs. the previous implementation and excel at immunity to RFI and power supply noise, a critical factor in today’s world where literally every device imaginable has a microprocessor and/or switching PSU buzzing away. Much has been written about the circuit in other reviews and the objective proof is in the 4B3’s superb measured performance - 0.005% THD and > 119dB S/N at full power (300W) across the entire audible spectrum.

I got the amp in black, with standard 17” front panel (no rack handles). The status LEDs glow green, but apparently this can be internally changed to blue if the customer prefers. I found the remote trigger feature quite handy when paired with the BP-17 Cubed preamp, and the switchable inputs useful for preamp/interconnect comparisons. The binding posts are of the standard 5-way insulated variety to meet EU regulations, and worked well with different sized spades. An extra pair of posts would have been nice to aid bi-wiring or my REL subwoofer hookup.

All business inside.

The 4B3 consumes a reasonable 60 watts powered up at idle - certainly not EPA EnergyStar territory, but about the same as my 60 watt Ayre AX7e integrated and just warm to the touch thanks to the generous heatsinks and extensive use of aluminum. Ecological concerns aside, I had no qualms leaving it running 24-7 in an open shelf with just a few inches of clearance above. Should you decide to do the green thing and power it down between sessions, the 4B3 consumes under half a watt on standby, and powers up quickly and smoothly. You'll hear the distinctive clicking of the soft-start circuit, and sound will start flowing within a few seconds. From a cold start, the sound takes about a half hour to get the juices flowing, and maybe an hour to reach full potential.

Setup

Preamp: I had the good fortune of having 3 very different preamps on hand during my time with the 4B3 - the companion Bryston BP-17 Cubed, the tubed Valvet Soulshine from Germany, and the Pass XP10. I found the Bryston pre to be a reasonably good match, but the Pass and Soulshine were simply better musically and both worked well, my top choice being the Pass. The 4B3's RCA input impedance is on the low-ish side (30kΩ), not the 100k+ that many tube pres seem to favor, so something to keep in mind when matching. The Soulshine did just fine, others may not.

Balanced vs. unbalanced input: for some reason, I preferred the sound of the 4B3 through its unbalanced inputs, save with the Pass preamp which doesn't fare as well unbalanced. It's hard to control for all the factors, but I had identical model of cable (DH Labs Air Matrix, Audience Au24 SX) in both RCA and XLR, and contrary to expectations I found the RCA input to sound fractionally more open and dynamic, and equally as quiet. Normally balanced operation affords you these qualities but I heard no such advantage with the 4B3. One clue is in the specs, which show drastically different input impedances for the balanced terminals - 30kΩ for positive, and a shockingly low 6kΩ for negative. This seems to indicate that it's not a differential/complementary input circuit like you'd find with e.g. Ayre or Pass, and I'd imagine this lack of symmetry compromises CMRR and some other benefits of balanced operation. I inquired with Bryston about how the circuit was implemented but didn't get a response.

High vs. low gain: Some people have commented that you can "tune" the sound of the Bryston, with the low gain (23dB) setting sounding a bit smoother and more laid back, while high gain (29dB) is more dynamic and detailed. I agree they sound different, but I had a different take: to me, high gain sounds transparent, and low gain sounds subtly dulled and veiled. For me it's a no brainer - unless absolutely necessary to attenuate, I'd always use the high gain setting. It simply sounds more truthful to me. I also inquired whether the low gain setting adds an additional attenuator in the signal path (it sounded like it to me) but again, I didn't hear back.

All the preamps, plus a DAC.

Bridged mono operation: I didn't test it, at least not intentionally, as I only had one amp on hand. I did accidentally flip the bridging switch once during playback which fortunately did not cause anything to explode. One note: if you do bridge it as a monoblock, be aware the input impedance drops to a very, very low 7.5kΩ, which I imagine will make some preamps quite uncomfortable.

Power cord/conditioner: The Bryston comes with a standard but appropriately-heavy 14-3 power cord, and it sounds quite good with it and wasn’t particularly fussy about changes. That said, I felt it was really locked in with the latest version of the Twirling Gerbil Red Electrum, a really fascinating cord made by our own MGD - bass became even more grounded, the soundstage locked in place and everything just clicked. Given that this cord isn’t readily available though, I’d say it’s worth trying a few different things (e.g. the Audience powerChord was a bit nicer than stock) but don’t worry too much - as long as you don’t use something gimmicky or too light, your amp is still going to sound good. One thing was clear though - the Bryston perferred being plugged directly into the wall vs. my Audience ar6 TSSOX conditioner. Even though the Audience is designed specifically with low impedance and high current delivery in mind, the Bryston felt constrained running through it - give it as direct a connection to the wall juice as possible.

Speaker cables: I got the impression that the Bryston prefers having a very direct connection to the speakers, working better with the heavier gauge cables I had on hand like the Cardas Clear Light or DH Labs Q-10 Signature (both 10 gauge or larger), vs. the Audience Au24 SX. I have a completely unsubstantiated theory that high damping factor amps employIng more negative feedback are more effective when there’s less between them and the speakers, whereas low/zero feedback designs (e.g. Pass or Ayre) don’t care as much and are more amenable to being tuned/voiced with lighter cables. Whatever the reason, I’d recommend sticking to the heavy stuff to maximize the Bryston’s grip on the speaker.

Speakers: I had a few speakers on hand, all of the 2-way monitor variety - Silverline Minuet Grand and SR-17 Supreme, Audiovector SR-1 Avantgarde Arreté, Role Audio Kayak. I really wish I had had a big 3-way floorstander as I’m sure the Bryston would have flexed its muscles and flourished wrangling a big speaker. My comparatively small speakers don’t provide that much of a challenge, all being amendable to low power tube amps. That said, the Bryston showed no favoritism towards any particular speaker - its voicing is essentially neutral and you’ll hear what the speaker is capable of. This is in contrast to my Ayre AX7e integrated, which clicks with the Silverline while sounding thin and unengaging with the Audiovector. I really did not think the Bryston would work at all with the Audiovector, an ultra high-resolution speaker that will megaphone any solid state liabilities like brightness, hardness or lack of body, but the Bryston impressively held its own with the unyielding Dane. I wouldn’t call it the most organic or emotive pairing, but they were quite agreeable working together. The Silverline SR-17 Supreme with Cardas Clear Light wound up being my preferred pairing, the combo bringing out wonderful midrange density and great dynamics, and most of my listening notes below reflect that setup.

Pure conjecture - I think the Bryston would be killer with a speaker like the Role Audio Enterprise - something a bit on the warm side with an silky-smooth but still-detailed soft dome tweeter that complements the transparency of the 4B3, and with some meat on the bottom end that could take advantage of the amp’s grip and power (I'm a fan of Role’s transmission lines). I’d also be curious to hear the 4B3 with a relatively inefficient but neutral speaker like something from ATC - that could be a good one, and ATC has a similar pro-audio pedigree. I’d steer clear of pairing with more forward/harder-sounding speakers, e.g. Focal Sopra or B&W or Paradigm Persona - not because the Bryston does anything wrong, but I frankly find those speakers with their metal/diamond drivers and higher-order crossovers too brittle and aggressive and in need of something more laid back (e.g. Naim) to sound anywhere near balanced.

Counterpoint: a reader reports getting great results with the 4B3, Focal Electra speakers and Crystal Cable with primarily hard rock and metal. I could see how the qualies of the 4B3 would click in such a system, particularly with harder-driving material.

The Sound

Out of the box, things were not promising. Compared to the Ayre AX7e I had been using for some time, or even an old Bryston B60 integrated, the 4B sounded drab. It wasn't bad per se, but everything was a little lacking - dynamics were a little flat, soundstage lacked depth, highs were a little glazed, midrange wasn't very dimensional, etc... even my wife couldn't help but comment, "this sounds boring." I saw a comment online describe the 4B3 as "gray," apt given what I was hearing for the first several days. A couple weeks later things were slowly improving, but not to the extent I was hoping. I was starting to get a little nervous about the conversation I'd be having with Bryston.

I fought the urge to swap other amps back in, and fortunately things continued to get better - much, much better. Despite having 100 hours of burn-in at the factory, the first 100-200 hours in my system were not at all representative of what this amp is capable of. After a month of continuous operation, virtually all of the aforementioned detractions had largely faded away; after 3-4 months and perhaps 500+ hours of music, it really started to push all the buttons. All my comments henceforth shall refer to the sound of the 4B after 6+ months in my system, and are representative of the long-term ownership experience.

With that out of the way... a standout aspect of the Bryston was how it delivered its obvious power with an easy finesse and speed. The Bryston sounds good for every one of its rated 300 watts (and actually more according to my unit's factory spec sheet)... this is an amp that revels in being cranked up, and the more watts I asked for the better it seemed to sound. But it also delivered those watts with delicacy and articulation, effortlessly revealing tons of musical detail in recording after recording without the typical detractions of high-power solid state - the glazed or harsh treble, the hard or murky midrange, the lack of rhythm and pulse. It was equally at ease floating Magdalena Kozena's vocals over delicate period accompaniment on a Mozart Aria, as it was hammering out the bass line of a Depeche Mode track. The 4B3's ability to reproduce music at realistic volume levels without strain or loss of transparency was addictive and had me cranking up number after number and pushing the limits of my neighbors' tolerance.

The treble was surprisingly delightful. In the past I've found big Bryston amps to lack refinement and resolution there, but the 4B3’s highs caught me off guard with how silky and delicate they were. Violins had just the right amount of brightness, bringing out the steeliness of the E string without sounding tinny, and triangles had realistic tinkle without popping out of the fabric of the soundstage. There was enough detail to do justice to the extremely high resolution AMT tweeters on my Audiovector monitors, but at no point did the 4B3 come close to burning my ears off the way some detailed amps can. Compared to the ol' Bryston B60 integrated, a longtime favorite that sacrifices some detail for sweetness and musicality, the 4B3 has far higher resolution in the upper registers that will bring out more energy without glare. There's no euphonic give in the high frequency response either, so if you need an amp that'll take some zing off a problematic tweeter (metal domes, I'm looking at you), look elsewhere.

Another nice surprise was how smooth and grainless the 4B3 was in the midrange, with just a hint of richness in the lower mids on things like cello, baritone, french horn or piano. It's subtle, and nothing like the bloom you'd get from a tube amp, or the coziness created by the Bryston B60 for that matter - just enough to balance out the transparency and power of the frequency extremes and keep the otherwise ruler-flat response from sounding too dry. Bryston claims the 4B3's quad-complementary output stage "mimics the characteristics of a Class-A design, but with dramatically lower distortion"; while it's not as round and juicy as true Class A designs like the Pass Labs XA30 or Valvet A4, it does approach their naturalness and smoothness much more than I'm used to from a high-power Class AB amp. I've found most gear that isn't blatantly colored to tend toward the leaner side these days, which can really put you in a pickle if you don't have something to balance it out. The 4B3 has a relaxed, generous quality to it which will help keep your system from getting too lean and bright, one of the more common traps of a modern system. I think this character of the 4B3 is summed up well in Christian Punter's extensive review on hifi-advice.com, and while I wouldn't go quite as far as he does, my listening observations largely align with his.

That warm, smooth quality might sound at odds with neutrality, but unlike some amps I've heard (ahem tubes) this came without biasing or distorting the sound in any particular way. Tonality of woodwind instruments in particular was spot-on, with the timbre of reed instruments - oboes, clarinets and bassoons - coming through distinctly and realistically. The wide variety of instrument timbres in a symphony orchestra are the toughest test for any gear and at no point did I pick up on anything nasal, bright, muffled or otherwise colored with the 4B3. True to its pro audio heritage, it gives the sense of telling it like it is with minimal editorializing and exceedingly low distortion.

Bryston makes much of the extensive lengths it went through in the Cubed series to both minimize internally-generated noise while maximizing rejection of external sources (e.g. RFI and power line noise). Whatever they did, it worked a treat. While the 4B3 is quiet at idle - with no input and your ear pressed up against the speaker, there's barely any hiss and zero hum - it's really the lack of audible noise and grain imparted on the signal that makes it sound so true and clean. Most solid state amps, including the older Brystons, always sounded a bit cloudy and grainy compared to the likes of Pass or Ayre. With the Cubed improvements, much of that has been scrubbed away, giving music a newfound sense of openness and purity approaching those venerable marques. Combined with fast, clean attacks, everything comes across with great clarity. Jason Kennedy describes this quality, along with all the usual British flourishes about PRaT etc., better than I could in his excellent review for The Ear - I recommend giving it a read.

The 4B3 also produced some of the best bass I have heard in my system. I've known Bryston amps to have big bass, but perhaps lacking in subtlety and definition. I found the 4B3 to be powerful for sure, but also tight, fast, and musically balanced. It was deep and tuneful, creating a feeling of unflappable stability with big orchestral music and heavy rock tracks. Sometimes amps with very high damping factor can sound lean, but the Bryston complemented its slam and control with just enough juiciness and resonance. String bass sounded full and tuneful without bloat, bass drum whacks had realistic impact, and pop/rock tracks had relentless drive. Some Class D amps I've heard capture pitch a bit more evenly (maybe due to their switching power supplies which reduce 60Hz colorations), but the Bryston is nearly their equal in that regard. It gripped the 6" woofers of the Silverline and Audiovector monitors and coaxed low notes of remarkable clarity and power within their physical limits.

Nits & Comparisons

Okay, so what doesn't the Bryston do right? Mostly little flaws of omission - subtle things that seem like fluff to non-audiophiles, but that the fanatics among us go through inordinate lengths and expense to obtain in the name of musical nirvana. While it's very detailed, it does gloss over some fine instrumental texture and spatial cues. While it's plenty dynamic, there are more organic sounding amps that convey more emotional swing and nuance - the electrifying climaxes of Maria Callas in a Puccini aria, the ebb and flow of the Vienna Phil in a Strauss waltz, the emotional surge of cellist Alisa Weilerstein in the Elgar concerto. While its midrange is very smooth, it doesn't have the liquidity of a fine tube or Class A solid state amp that makes instruments flow from the recording to your room. And its soundstage is a tick or two less deep and open, its images less dimensional and tactile than what those amps can convey.

Things got a little out of hand with the comparison testing...

For the most part, these are things you need to pay a lot more money to obtain, but some aspects can be had in this price range. E.g. the $4k (before it was discontinued) Ayre integrated gets more of the presence and immediacy of a voice, the sense that there's less between you and the performer - little nuances like clarity of diction, articulation of a bow stroke, pauses between phrases are a hair more convincing. Some people call this "inner detail" - not the obvious stuff, but the little things. The Bryston was a little laid back by comparison - not veiled, just less forthcoming - which will likely come as a relief to those with an aversion to harsh, forward solid state sound, but it's an omission nonetheless. The flip side is the Ayre pushes a bit too much in the other direction, sounding a little on edge and over-articulate compared to the unflappable Bryston, particularly with hyper-articulate speakers like the Audiovector. The 4B3 also has a more solid "core" to its sound - a sense of solidity and anchoring in the midrange. This is most apparent with notes around middle C (262Hz), where the Ayre lacks the natural weight that the Bryston captures nicely without sounding heavy or slow... again, a very endearing quality to those traditionally allergic to solid state.

An amp that made for a fascinating comparison was the Valvet A4 Mk. II ($8k) - a handmade, Class A solid state monoblock from Germany with minimalist circuitry and real soul. Despite being rated at just 55W/8Ω, with a reasonable load and volume level the Valvet sounds just as capable of macro dynamics as the Bryston while being noticeably more expressive within the melodies and more holographic with its soundstage. Tonally they were surprisingly close, both sounding full bodied in the midrange and extended in the treble. But the Valvet really has a way of projecting a compelling image and conveying a natural, singing quality that showcases the beauty of a tune and really pulls at your heartstrings. The resonance and ring of a soprano or flute, the halo around solo instruments, the height of the stage, the harmonics of an oboe - the Valvet captued these nuances with an uncanny ease and conviction that made the Bryston sound a little restrained and disconnected by comparison. However the Valvet doesn't have the same slam in the bass, won't drive as wide a range of speakers, and will run out of steam well before the Bryston even comes close to breaking a sweat.

I'll have more to say about the Valvet in its forthcoming review, but this isn't meant to be an indictment of the Bryston in any way - on the contrary, it proved itself a very fine sounding and satisfying amp, and I was impressed with how well it held up musically to a very special, highly tweaked-out audiophile amp costing over $1k more.

Verdict

Maybe I'm not talking to the right people, but the Bryston 4B Cubed seems to be flying under the audiophile radar. It's a very, very good sounding amp - great, even. Once properly run in, it possesses a subtly smooth and warm sound with none of the coldness or harshness one might be prejudiced to expect from such a powerful and practical solid state amp. And while not cheap, it's downright affordable compared to the astronomical price points in today's high-end market. It would be my absolute first choice for a combined music/home theater system, where it would have all the power and reliability to handle the needs of TV/movie watching while having plenty of refinement for music.

So it doesn't resolve the last few degrees of detail or stir the musical soul quite like the better high-end amps - the fuzz of the peach, the inner glow, the transcendent insight, whatever you want to call it. But those amps generally cost much more and/or have other limitations and compromises. For under $7k, the Bryston gives you musically satisfying reproduction that's easy to live with, and it will probably outlast every other piece of gear in your system. It's also a sound investment, maintaining resale value far better than average thanks to its durability, exceptional factor service and support, and of course that 20 year warranty.

Overall, I'd give the Bryston 4B Cubed 4 stars purely on sound quality, 5 for value, netting out to 4.5 stars overall. It's an amp you can set up and forget in most any system and just enjoy for years, and I came very, very close to purchasing the review unit. Ultimately my quest to get every last bit of that fuzz on the peach led me to continue my search for a reference amp, but there are times I wonder if I should have hung onto it... particularly now that I've moved to a larger space that could really benefit from the power, I have some pangs of regret sending it back. I enjoyed my time with the Bryston 4B Cubed and highly recommend giving it a listen - it might just be all the amp you need.

Many thanks to James Tanner @ Bryston and Micah Sheveloff @ WIRC Media for their generous loan.

[nur731475-blog]

Best computer

With the advancement in technology, several folks currently cannot live while not a pc, be a laptop computer or a desktop. However, our task doesn't stop at buying the computers. we'll additionally ought to place or store these laptops or desktops somewhere and it additionally must be solid enough to require the burden. As such, Best computer it's necessary for America to be told some tips once we square measure searching for the most effective pc desks purchasable.

When you do a research either on-line or offline, you may discover that there square measure many various types of pc desks purchasable however the bulk is formed of wood. Hardwood is in fact higher than different kinds of wood. you'll be able to additionally realize the applied science pc table, that may be a fashionable style, because it works like Associate in Nursing adjustable drawing table. you'll be able to maximize personal comfort as you'll be able to regulate the elements' placement therefore on fit your wants.

Although it's designed to be the companion of Associate in Nursing applied science chair, you'll be able to additionally regulate the table level, betting on whether or not you favor to sit down or stand as you're employed on your pc. This applied science pc table is appropriate for somebody United Nations agency is searching for an affordable, simple to maneuver and easily designed pc table. However, you may even have to just accept that it doesn't offer you with the extra functions, space for storing or stability that the quality pc tables square measure able to offer you with.

Another common quite pc desks purchasable that you just can seemingly realize after you do your search is that the normal picket pc table. These square measure additional usually purchased for home use than for workplace use owing to their styles. because it is formed of wood, it matches well with the remainder of the article of furniture within the house. additionally, the everyday closet pc table permits house for the mouse, monitor, printer, keyboard, speakers moreover as extra files that you just is also operating with.

Besides providing ample house, there also are pre-made holes at the rear of the tables for the wires, plugs and cables. In general, these tables square measure long-lived, elegant wanting and supply nice practicality. However, it doesn't mean that there's no draw back to those desks. The disadvantages square measure that you just can want extra space for these pc desks and that they will value additional. nonetheless, if you weigh the professionals and cons, you may realize that you just will still get plenty of advantages out of it therefore these square measure the well-liked pc desks purchasable.

In general, after you compare the 2 types of pc tables, the quality picket desks also are additional sturdy than the applied science ones and that they also are stained, assembled upon purchase moreover as having a guaranty. However, after you square measure looking for pc desks purchasable, contemplate your personal wants, budget and what quite practicality square measure you searching for before you opt on that to buy. It ought to additionally slot in well with the remainder of the article of furniture in your workplace or home, therefore don't rush into things.

Frank focuses on home improvement and you'll be able to see his latest web site on recommendations on shopping for pc desks and shopping for a com

[schoolspeakersystem-blog]

Network Bell and also Clock Systems

Looking for a business network bell and clock system? There are certain points to take into consideration when examining different systems. The foundation of any type of synchronized bell as well as clock system is the time source. The moment source normally can be a NIST web site, such as, pool.ntp.org or an inner NTP (Network Time Method) server. These resources are trustworthy as well as exact, thereby, making certain the accuracy of your system.

The next factor to consider is the kind of bells or bell sounds as well as the type of clocks you want for your company. You can have physical bells or a selection of different tones repeated speaker system.

Physical bells can be control by a bell relay gadget like a network relay controller. The bell controller will have a bell, or a number of bells wired straight to "usually open" get in touches with on the controller. The bells would have their own power and also the relay is designed to turn them on or off at a scheduled time. This is achieved by changing the relays on and off at the scheduled time.

The organizing part is done in the bell controller software application. Scheduling is a simple procedure when making use of a network count controller. The software is loaded onto a window-based COMPUTER. You will certainly get in the bell routine right into the software application and also save the timetable. The scheduled is downloaded to the controller. It is a simple and also straightforward application.

If you have numerous timetables for weather hold-ups or holidays, we advise that you produce those timetables in advance when developing the regular daily bell routine. This preparation action enables you to be prepared for these celebrations.

The playing of a bell tone over a speaker system is one more technique to having a trustworthy bell schedule. An audio speaker system can play a range of tones. These consist of a bell tone, chimes, alarm systems, and so on. The scheduling is very easy to develop and activate. At the scheduled time the tone will be played over the speakers. In addition, it should be noted that the tone can be repeated one speaker, a group or zone of speakers or all the speakers.

Analog as well as Digital clocks are the ideal add to a bell system. Having a bell as well as clocks operating on the exact same time delivers a remarkable degree of functional efficiency and also efficiency. The clocks can be wireless operating on a UHF superhigh frequency, Wi-Fi operating on a basic 2.4 Ghz frequency and also or operating a power over ethernet system.

All three of these platforms use a reliable synchronized clock system. The clocks obtain a time update daily and automatically adjust for daytime saving time.

Additional add-ons to a clock and also bell system are emergency network switches and also message boards. Emergency situation network switches are push button panic buttons. They attach to your Ethernet network using a spot cable television. They can turn on an audio emergency message for any type of sort of emergency situation. These emergency switches are available as a solitary switch or triple button switch.

Multi-function message boards give a high degree of communication in a company. These boards offer the capacity to display time, date, messages, strobe lights and also audio interactions. They will certainly display precise time as well as receive their time from an NTP web server.

Messages can be shown in real time or as pre-recorded messages. Messages can also be set up to dip into a scheduled time due to the fact that the product has a built-in bell scheduling software application.

Modern technology has made lots of developments with time and also interaction gadgets causing systems that are simple to install, easy to use and also upkeep totally free.Learn More

[apollohifi]

Denon: A History of High-Quality Audio/Video Equipment

Denon is a brand that has been synonymous with quality audio and video equipment for years. Denon has always been at the forefront of innovation, and their products are often considered to be some of the best in the business. Denon was founded all the way back in 1910, and they have been producing top-of-the-line audio/video equipment ever since. If you're looking for high-quality audio or video equipment, Denon should be at the top of your list.

For Denon, audio-video reproduction is not just a business. The creation of products that can deliver total quality enjoyment to others is a fundamental driving passion and the reason we exist. What’s more, our constant quest to create the perfect entertainment component is the key to transforming creative ideas into leading innovation, and to anticipating consumer needs.

Denon’s DNA can be seen in every product we create, from the very first audio recorder to the latest AV Receiver. Denon has a rich history of innovation and is widely regarded as the world leader in audio/video reproduction.

Denon was one of the first companies to produce a CD player, and they continue to be at the forefront of digital audio technology. Denon's commitment to quality is evident in everything they produce, and their products are sure to provide you with years of enjoyment.

DENON AVC X3700H Home Theatre Amplifer

This 9.2 channel 8K AV Amplifier with 180W per channel fully supports Dolby Atmos, Dolby Atmos Height Virtualization Technology, DTS:X, DTS Virtual:X and IMAX Enhanced, as well as the latest HDMI specifications such as 8K/60Hz, 4K/120Hz pass-through, VRR, ALLM, Dynamic HDR, HDR10+ and eARC support.

DENON AVC X4700H Home Theatre Amplifier

This 9.2 channel 8K AV Amplifier with 200W per channel fully supports 3D audio formats like Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, IMAX Enhanced and Auro-3D. Comes equipped with the latest in HDMI specifications such as 8K/60Hz and 4K/120Hz pass-through, VRR, ALLM, Dynamic HDR, HDR10+ and eARC support.

DENON AVC X6700H Home Theatre Amplifier

This premium 11.2 channel 8K AV Amplifier with 205W per channel fully supports Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, DTS:X Pro, IMAX Enhanced and Auro-3D. The AVC-X6700H also supports the latest HDMI specifications such as 8K/60Hz and 4K/120Hz pass-through, VRR, ALLM, Dynamic HDR, HDR10+ and eARC support.

DENON Ceol N11 All In One Stereo System

Enjoy exceptional sound in a minimalist style. The Denon CEOL N11DAB Hi-Fi-Network CD Receiver with HEOS Built-in music streaming, Bluetooth® and voice control is the perfect compact stereo for all your musical desires.

DENON DCD50 CD Player

Introducing the new Denon Design Series. Real Hi-Fi for today’s lifestyles. The ideal companion to our PMA-50 full digital stereo amplifier, the DCD-50 features a high quality disc drive that plays music CDs as well as data discs with MP3 and WMA tracks.

Styled identically to the PMA-50, the DCD-50 features an elegant compact chassis that can be operated when placed horizontally or vertically. The Clear View OLED display features automatic display orientation that detects if the DCD-50 is placed vertically or horizontally and adjusts the display accordingly.

Denon is a brand that you can trust, and their products are sure to exceed your expectations. Denon has been a leader in the audio/video industry for years, and they continue to produce high-quality equipment that is sure to provide you with years of enjoyment. Whatever your price range Denon has a product to meet your needs!

For more information on Denon products please view our online store or contact us for more information.

[jameslmaye-blog]

How To Pick a Video Gaming Chair

There are plenty of video gaming seats available these days, it could be hard to learn how to decide on a gaming chair that's going to offer you the very best video game playing experience.

The great news which chairs for video game play utilized to be really costly to purchase a several years back, but with the quantity of various companies as well as the different game chair models which are there, the cost for a video gaming seat has dropped considerably, and also you are able to purchase a great chair for around a 100 bucks. Don't assume all gaming seat will be the same. They are available with various features and functions, various sizes and colours, and great people are ergonomically designed so your posture stays in a great spot and also you feel very confident sitting in one as you play on your own video games console. Moreover, many gaming seats are great to check out and may be used as a typical chair when you're not making use of it play online games. Unlike early gaming seats that may be somewhat of an eyesore, modern day gaming seats are able to easily fit in together with the decor of the space of yours. For individuals who might not be alert to what a gaming seat is, or the way it works, I've provided a description.

A video gaming seat is essentially a seat into that you are able to plug games consoles and computers to generate the game play of yours feel much more reasonable. You are going to be ready to connect your Nintendo, Xbox, and Playstation to most chairs This can increase your game playing with audio, vibration, and action. You are able to get a chair specifically created for driving games. The most effective racing gaming chairs based on several customers are created by Playseat Evolution, which happens to be an enterprise which focuses on these games types.

For much more basic games types, the X Rocker clip gaming chair is difficult to beat. The other point that I'd want making is the fact that these kinds of chairs don't only have to be utilized for playing online games. You are able to link a house theatre system, or maybe a DVD player, and also get the cinema adventure while you view a film. Because the costs are so low these days, you are able to pick up a chair that has a multitude of features. Many have pre-made surround sound functions including bass speakers. You are able to hook up Audio players to a chair so you get a good music experience. Some has a wireless option which resolves the issue of trailing cables and wires everywhere. The way I've discovered which the cheaper chairs which have a wireless feature usually do not be so great as the game is able to freeze in the center of you playing it. However the more desirable models have outstanding wireless capabilities. All is generally managed from a control board that is found n among the arm rests. From hear you are able to manage volumes levels, and there'll be input as well as output jacks for hooking video consoles, headphones, Mp3 players, and house cinema systems. The advice of mine would be picking a gaming chair which costs around the 100 dollars mark. For this price you are going to get a good video gaming seat with lots of function.

Find more information Akracing versus Dxracer

[mx-fawkes]

Die Historic on The Furby Road

Hey, thanks so much for the support and also for sending me on the most fun story research I’ve done in a while.

Junkrat spent more time in Roadhog's basement than he probably should. There wasn't much of use down here, just boxes of things Roadhog didn't want to look at or didn't think were reusable. He didn't have the keen scrapper instincts Junkrat did though, he'd once found a whole box of good quality cables down here. Roadhog couldn't even remember what they were supposed to be for!

He'd be lying if he said he didn't like the glimpses of what Roadhog had once been like he sometimes found down here. Never anything too revealing, no photographs or birth certificates, but things like a box of maps, carved wooden objects and an oversized mannequin were tantalizing hints of what had been important to Roadhog once upon a time.

Pawing through boxes in the semi-darkness was usually not a good idea, but he was pretty sure there was nothing too dangerous down here. He'd never found any signs of animal life, and it wasn't like- he froze as his hand brushed against something fluffy, taking two deep breaths before slowly pulling his hand away, hoping not to draw attention. Leaning back he flicked on his lighter, staring into the box in horrified curiosity.

Two lifeless eyes stared back at him.

The scream made it all the way to the garage, Roadhog putting down his tools with a sigh. It wasn't the first time Junkrat had freaked out on one of his basement diving expeditions, he'd once mistaken an old dressmakers dummy for an omnic, ready to burn the whole place to the ground before Roadhog dragged it out into the light.

Groans of protest came from the stairs as Junkrat ran for the surface, clutching a dusty cardboard box. "Roadie Roadie Roadie! You'll never guess what I found!"

The mask tilted questioningly.

"I mean I dunno what they are, but you probably do. Some kind of robot birds?"

He dumped the box on the floor between them, throwing it open and pulling out one the creatures, covered in black and white fur. "Pretty weird right?"

Roadhog's sharp intake of breath was audible through the mask, pulling the box closer to look at the contents. He'd forgotten he'd even had these.

Junkrat didn't seem to notice, messing with the one he'd picked up. "So, what are they?"

"Furbies."

"Right. Furbies. What are they about then?"

How to explain a Furby? Weird bird things that had been beloved by children that later found them creepy and annoying. Friends for a lonely kid who never got the hang of talking to people and wasn't allowed a real pet? An old toy that kept a community of fans long after they stopped being made?

"Kids toys. They can talk and respond to certain words." He winced as Junkrat shook the one he was holding.

"Hello?" He poked it when it didn't respond. "It's not talking, reckon it's dead?"

"There's a power switch on the bottom."

Junkrat flipped it over, trying to wake it up as he flipped the switch back and forth. "Still dead."

"Maybe the batteries need changing." Where they were meant to get AA batteries from was beyond him. Obsolete before he was even born, he doubted anyone here collected tech ancient enough to need a supply.

Lost in thought, he didn't notice Junkrat prising off the battery cover until he heard the yell of pain. A glance showed the batteries corroded and leaking, quickly grabbing Junkrat's hand before he put it in his mouth. "Don't. Go wash it."

A trail of curses followed Junkrat as he ran for the sink, swilling his hand in the water. "The fuck was that?" "Battery acid." "What kind of battery has acid in!?"

He shrugged, wiping the base of the furby clean with a nearby rag. "All of them did back before 2030."

It wasn't long before Junkrat strode back over, wiping his burnt fingers on his shorts. "It felt more like an alkaline burn." Like he could tell the difference. "Of course I can tell the difference!" He lent on Roadhog's arm, glaring at the old batteries. "Reckon I could rewire it to fit a proper battery. One that won't melt and burn people." - One dismantled remote control and a bit of solder later the Furby twitched, blue eyes blinking open. "u-nye-loo-lay-doo?" Its voice was rough, the speaker hadn't lasted well. Junkrat sat it on the desk triumphantly., "It's alive!"

The furby shifted, whirring quietly as its ears moved up and down. "Doo?" They both stared at it. "Yoo?"

Junkrat hummed, moving closer. "Do I what?"

"Boo."

Junkrat pointed a screwdriver at it, face scrunched in displeasure. "Look, either you start making sense or we're moving onto brain surgery."

Mako fished a manual out of the box, holding it in front of Junkrat until he snatched it, mumbling to himself as he read the instructions.

"Oh, we have to teach it English?" He shifted into a dramatic stance, raising on arm and closing his eyes,  voice uncomfortably loud in the small space. "We fat all creatures else to fat us, and we fat ourselves for maggots. Your fat king and your lean beggar is but variable service—two dishes, but to one table. That’s the end." He cracked an eye open, looking down at the Furby like he was expecting applause. "A man may fish with a worm that has eaten the flesh of a king, and eat the fish that has fed on that worm. "  

It chirped in response. "Me no listen."

"Alright you little-" Roadhog grabbed the hand that went for the screwdriver, pointing firmly at the Furbish-to-English dictionary.

Junkrat took it with a heavy sigh. "Fiiiine, wee tee kah wah tee?"

"Wah Tee!" The low fidelity wail it began to make wouldn't be out of place in a horror film, neither would Junkrat's burst of laughter.  He continued to flick through the guide. trying out new phrases as he went. It was almost comical, both staring wide-eyed at each other making nonsense sounds. Roadhog felt he should have seen this coming somehow, he'd spent his youth with a creature that always stared, always wanted attention and refused to shut up, and now he had Junkrat.

Quickly exhausting the commands, Junkrat dropped the manual. "Is that it? It only knows like five things."

"It's pre-millennium tech."

"Pretty sure they had better things than this pre-millennium."

"It was a kids toy."

Junkrat leant back, staring up at him. "So what, you kept a box full of toys you had when you were a kid?"

The clicking of the toy filled the silence until Roadhog finally replied.

"Only had one when I was a kid, got the rest when I was older."

"Why?"

Roadhog turned back to the box, fishing through until he found the right one. Green with a painted faceplate and a custom-made raincoat.

"People used to customize them for fun. Some people just changed their appearance a little, others changed the shape completely or attached them to other things. Lot of people added better AI."

"Huh. Maybe I would've done that if I was around back then."

Had Junkrat ever had a hobby? He loved building and blowing things up but they were also the closest thing he had to a job. Had he ever done anything without a purpose, anything that wasn't wired to survival in his brain? Hell, it had been a long time since Roadhog had made something just for fun.

"Do you want to do one now?"

Junkrat's eyes shone, bouncing to his feet. "Really? One of yours?" Furbies scattered as Junkrat upended the box, picking out one he liked. "This one!"

"No."

"Why not? It's practically falling apart anyway, not like I can make it any worse."

Because it had been with him for forty years. It had meant so much to him as a kid and even now he couldn't bear to get rid of it He didn't say a word, but Junkrat seemed to get it anyway, looking slightly stricken as he put it back in the box with exaggerated care.

"Hey, no worries mate, I'll use a different one. Wanna pick one out for me?"

Roadhog placed a blue and pink model in Junkrat's outstretched hand. "Paint it, circuit bend it. Do what you like with it."

"Thanks mate. Ooh! I think I've still got some of the gold spray paint left from doing the bricks."

He skipped away, leaving Roadhog to stare at remaining furbies. Well, no reason he couldn't mix this old part of himself with who he was now. They didn't see each other for a few hours after that, both working on their own projects. It wasn't until the next day that Junkrat decided he was finished, proudly strutting into the room and presenting his piece to Roadhog.

"Okay so first I used soot and grease to dye it black, didn't completely work, you can still see the original colours a bit. The fur on it's stomach was too patchy to fix so I covered it with this sack material, then since it had those dots around it#s belly first I did 'em over with some rivets I had going spare. Sprayed the ears and mask bit gold then gave it the goggles we snatched from that prick with the chainsaw a while back." "S'good." Junkrat followed his gaze to the clunky bit of plastic at the bottom.

"That's the second best bit. Basically I was like, what's the point of having a pet that's stuck in one place?" He reached below it, flicking the switch. It cooed as it floated into the air, hovering around his shoulder.

“Used some of the bits from that old assistance drone, the one I made into the scarecrow bot you thought was too creepy?“

Roadhog had never said it was creepy, but he hadn't liked the idea of a humanoid figure floating outside his farmhouse at night, even it was in the hope of scaring away anyone who wanted to try and get them while they were sleeping. He could feel Junkrat's desperate desire for a follow-up question. "What's the best bit?"

It should be impossible for anyone to smile so wide. Junkrat plucked the toy from the air, pointing it towards the open doorway.

"Fire in the hole!"

A tap to the head and it let out a distorted scream,  a stream of flame shooting through its open beak, "Imagine treading on that in the dark!"

Note to self, make sure that's turned off before Junkrat forgets about it and treads on it in the dark.

"So what did you make then?"

Roadhog reached into the box, pulling out his creation as Junkrat gasped in delight.

Its lilac fur had been dyed a vivid orange, face plate sprayed with chrome. The beak had been covered with carved yellowing teeth. A tiny decorated leather jacket sat on its non-existent shoulders, open to show a survival belt with a tiny knife attached. "I love it! Did'ya do anything with the insides?"

A flick of the switch and glowing yellow eyes completed the look, It danced in place before speaking in a clear, deep voice. "kah-boh-dah-kah-way-loh-kah-boh-koh-koh!"

[trade-unlisted]

boAt (Imagine Marketing Services Ltd) Unlisted Shares

Overview: 

Imagine Marketing Ltd is a Non-govt company, incorporated on 1st November 2013. The company offers an attractive wide-range of high-quality and aspirational lifestyle-focused consumer products at accessible price points. The company has identified wearables as a category with a large market potential and similar growth dynamics to the audio category. 

It offers wired headphones and earphones, wireless headphones, and earphones (neckbands), true wireless stereos (TWS), bluetooth speakers, home theater systems, and sound bars, wearables smartwatches, gaming accessories, such as wired and wireless headsets, mouses, and keyboards, personal care appliances, including trimmers and grooming kits, and mobile accessories, such as chargers, cables, power banks, and other accessories.

According to the RedSeer report, “Imagine Marketing Pvt Ltd is a digital-first consumer products company and one of the largest Indian digital-first brands in terms of revenue from operations for the financial year 2021. 

The company sells its products under the boAt, RedGear, TAGG, Misfit, and DEFY brand names. Imagine Marketing Limited manufactures and sells consumer electronics products in India and internationally.

Key Highlights of boAt: 

boAt is a market leader in the segment, with strong brand recall in the minds of the consumer. 

The company is expanding into adjacent product categories through brand extensions, new brands and via acquisitions. 

boAT ranked #1 in India among the wireless hearables brands by value and volume with a market share of 48% (in terms of volume) and #2 among smartwatch brands in India with a market share of 23% (by volume).

As on 30th September 2021, the company generated 83% of its total sales from online platforms including Amazon and Flipkart, while remaining sales come from offline distributors, modern retailers, and its own website.

Unlisted shares of boAt (Imagine Marketing Limited) are available at TradeUnlisted. TradeUnlisted is India’s leading platform for buying & selling of Unlisted and Pre-IPO Shares. You can now seamlessly buy and sell boAt  unlisted shares online using a complete tech-backed platform created by TradeUnlisted. 

Create an account on TradeUnlisted and get detailed information about boAt Unlisted Shares. Keep a track on the current share price, access historical data and financial reports of boAt (Imagine Marketing Limited). You can also download the Research Report FY22 of OYO from the TradeUnlisted website.

How to buy boAt unlisted shares?

TradeUnlisted makes the process of buying and selling unlisted shares seamless and easy.  

Select the ‘Invest now’ button on the boAt page. The boAt unlisted stocks will be added to your cart. 

In the cart section, you will be required to enter the quantity of boAt unlisted shares you want to purchase. 

Please note that the minimum cart value should be at least INR 5000. 

Next step is to select the payment method you wish to use. We accept payments via debit card, net banking and UPI. 

Post payment, our relationship manager will confirm the payment made by you and will ask you to share your Client Master List (CML) details. 

The shares will be credited in the demat account mentioned in the CML copy within the timeline mentioned in the Deal Contract Letter. 

In case you have any other questions, please feel free to call us on (+91) 8958212121 or write to us at contactus@tradeunlisted.com. 

Disclaimer: TradeUnlisted is a transactional platform. We are not a stock exchange or an advisory platform. Investments in unlisted products carry a risk and may not provide the anticipated returns and there is a possibility of losing the entire capital as well. There is no assurance of exit and listing date and no clarity whether the IPO will come or not. Unlisted shares go in a lock-in for 6 months close to the date of listing. No one should rely solely on the information published or presented herein and should perform personal due diligence or consult with an independent third-party advisor prior to making any investment decisions.The information is obtained from secondary sources, we do not assure the accuracy of the same. The estimates and information is based on past performance, which cannot be regarded as an accurate indicator of future performance and results.This is for informational purposes only and does not constitute, and shall not be interpreted as an offer for sale, advice to buy or sell any unlisted shares. Investors should seek their own independent investment, legal or other advice as required prior to investing.