Sublime Times In The Valley Of The Sun 15Feb24-21Feb24

Wednesday, Valentine's Day, Kala & I drove to Phoenix trading 3 hr stints behind the wheel. We went down to the desert a smidge early this year as her company's go-live at work is in April and she needs to be back in COS for the work up to culmination. We VRBOed a cheesy but satisfactory bed and shower condo in Old Town Scottsdale this year for its central locale and low burden on locals.

Thursday featured time with Marinick and Kesterson. Michael & I climbed the iconic Camelback Mtn from the Cholla TH. This is a rigorous and exposed hike with 1500 ft of vert over 1.5 miles with plenty of Class 3 moves over granite ~ it was a blast and provided great 360° views of Phoenix and surrounding towns. Below is a pan south and our hands on the missing benchmark @ the summit. The brown cloud of winter was evident. Kala visited Hoyt at the venerable Duck & Decanter (no pics). Afterward we met up with Michael & Maria for a great dinner and visit at The Gladly downtown. Delicious and wonderful discussions with our friends (no pics).

Friday after breakfast and sugarless coffee (more non-stocked items at the condo) we headed past McCormick Ranch where we held our wedding reception 43 years ago. Nice grounds which haven't changed much in those few years.

For this day's hike we chose to scramble around the Phx Mtn Preserve from our old neighborhood at 32nd St & Shea. We did a stout hike up & along one of the larger E-W ridgelines. We stopped at "Matt's Pk," up to the point where a young Matt used to hike, and then we climbed. The expansive views north were not as socked with the brown cloud. It brought back great memories of hiking and riding here, including those for Kala when she and Karen hiked with their young Matt & Jeff in backpacks. As we are early, we didn't see any desert bloom yet but the views were sublime on another great day. It was keen seeing ocotillos, saguaros, chollas, barrels, and hedgehogs again.

After hiking, we grabbed a good pizza and salad with David at a local spot and shared what old folks often do, tales of health changes. It was good to grab some time with our old friend David.

That evening we celebrated Karen's birthday with her and Jimmy... we started at the nice Blue Water Grill and got a fancy G&T for the birthday girl. Then we were off to Richardson's for dinner. This was Kala's & my favorite restaurant in Phoenix and a reprise was warranted ~ especially when combined with a night out with Karen. These days it is a mob scene with densely packed valet parking and tough reservation rules, but we were able to sit in the original bar area, as we often had. Great vibe, great friends, and great food, if not replete with big prices these days.

Saturday we went over to sister Letha's for a day of games, kibitzing, and walking. She showed us around her keenly appointed home with perfectly matching colors and accoutrements. We had lunch in, and we played a wicked game of hearts. The cats remained behind the scenes... fully hidden. We even introduced her to Torchy's, a site of which was nearby. It was great seeing my sister who seems damn good; she's a lil' devil though.

Sunday Karen had a big day planned for us ~ we started at the famous Olive Mill in Queen Creek, AZ. A solo artist was playing covers on the huge olive covered patio area and we enjoyed excellent brunch items while sampling plenty of their olive oils, hot sauces, and other wares. We even walked around and checked out the grounds and items growing. It was very nice. After brunch we headed out "in the vicinity," according to Karen, to the Lost Dutchman St Pk at the base of the Superstition Mtns and took and excellent hike up to some rock formations. It was a fine hike and I even toted a treat for the team. See Four Pks in the background, right of the jumping cholla ~ Kala & I hiked up and camped in the saddle to the left there 40 years ago... so cool. Great views all around ~ great time with great friends.

We headed back to Karen's for happy hour and a great steak salad dinner with stellar dressing (which we copied). We were fortunate to catch Jeff, who'd headed back early from his work site in Pinetop. Awesome.

Monday, President's Day, was spent with long-time great friends Steve & Anne. Steve and I played golf @ Foothills while the ladies did tennis stuff and walked the Gordon's neighborhood. All the quail, dove, and roadrunners seemed to have moved to Steve's Weiskopf-designed club. It took me 20 more strokes than Steve ~ but that's my game of hackery. I even had to wrestle an errant shot from a dead pile of bougainvillea & ocotillo ~ the pile won while I added blood to my golf towel.

We had a killer 2012 cabernet sauvignon after a nice lunch and ultimately headed back to Scottsdale for a dinner downtown at Citizen Public. That too was excellent. We caught up on so many issues with our great friends.

Tuesday we met up with my dear friend Swish. These rare encounters are always cherished. We've been close friends since meeting and forming the Becht Gang in our 'hood 60 years ago (no pics). Kala & I then jetted home for a change and saw a nice century plant in the courtyard shooting its 100 yr stalk ~ awesome. We headed north to the Scottsdale Fine Arts Festival... OMG 100 stellar current artisans, many from AZ and all from the west, convened to do work, show work, and sell work... one of the coolest displays of modern art we've attended (thanks MM). We had a blast reviewing the entire set of works ~ Kala even chatted up management and got our entrance comped. So, it was well worth the $0 we paid. We met up with M&M's artist friend Trevor Swanson of the AZ birds and landscapes.

After a trip around the canvases and sculptures we contemplated fire pits and water fountains but nah. We headed out for a brewery tour and a stop at Bianca for pizza Tuesday, a religion of mine, lest we replace that with taco Tuesday. What a blast at The Wren House (super good hazy named Spellbinder, best in the Valley IMO), Bianco margarita pizza, and (new to us) Goldwater Brewing (hazy IPA called Golden Fox), near the condo.

What an excellent spring stop in our old haunt ~ we always have a complete blast with our desert friends, and even immensely enjoy our simple outings together here. Tomorrow we head back to COS; it is time for Kala's software go-live and my spring skiing & fishing in the Rockies.

More Outings With Summit Visitors 06Feb24-11Feb23

I stayed up in Summit Co to meet up with bro Brown and his guests, DD & Jim, and others, as well as to continue work on the NestMT, as earlier entries described. We first hit Breck with the Afton Alps ski team where Andy of the Alps, with son Carson in tow, was joined by his friend Nick and wife Donna. There was all sorts of Minnesota lore tossed about and Conor rarely was fully clothed like the rest of us. I grabbed a pan of Keystone from Pk 10 @ Breck along the way (yep too Front Range 14ers, Grays & Toreys, behind) and convinced the team to stop at Broken Compass for some ColoRADbros (no pics).

It was a blast skiing with Jim at Keystone and then joining DD again at the Key for even better runs on a fine soft day. "The MN Boyz" were across Vail Pass out in Eagle and we chose to stay close with high winds and snow forecast. We were a triple threat, all while Kala was dealing with furnace issues in COS. Jim and I met the mafia at ORB for some hazies and some brown stuff after skiing (no pics). We joined them for nice dinners too at the Lodge; I supplied nachos & cowboy caviar and Jim brought a fine bourbon.

Jim left and we got decent snow on Saturday. I applied one of my rules and despite the freshies, I hung back. Even on Sunday when the boyz hit Beaver Ck, I stayed and did stuff at the Nest. I did catch up with them afterward for a beer at Angry James... when an unexpected call came from Matt & Eline. Eline had just completed a dog sled race in Leadville with MLC a cheerleader and they were headed through Summit. I took them out to Sauce and we came back to the Nest for a quick spa soak. I got to see the light sled and meet Bruno the malamute, who's the young power on her 2 dog team.

At Steve's there were many great meals we had from chef Richard. Every meal better than the last. Steve also indicated that a pleasant surprise gift of fine glassware and wine coolers etched with this year’s markings were received from the Chatterton’s.

And so things went on toward Superbowl Sunday when DD and I joined the mafia at the Lodge for a great game (featuring formation of a dynasty) and nosh; DD supplied the tequila for fine Brown margs and I prepared some appetizers. I said my goodbyes and supplied hugs as I planned to head to COS on Mon AM. A fine week with good friends.

Nest Music Theater Part Twenty Nine ~ Derived & Discrete 5.1 Soundfield 05Feb24 - Updated/Resolved 06Mar24

Signaling & Driving  Surrounds... My Dolby DP564 suffers a failed left surround analog out so I needed to find a work around which gets me both surrounds. I did not prefer the large Denon AVR used during the NOnken surround "experiment;" I gave that to Matt anyway. I want to get the surround signals from the DP564 as it works well for the center channel already. The digital outputs of the pro DPS564 are AES3IDs with BNC connectors and carry 2 digital channels on each. So, LS & RS, are 2 channels mixed together on one AES3ID digital out. I found the Radio Design Labs HR-UDC1 converter from Prescott, AZ which accepts pro digital AES3ID and converts that to consumer SPDIF optical & COAX. Good start in a half rack form factor for this esoteric piece, though it was pretty darn expensive for what it is.

I also therefore needed a 2 channel dac/amp to take the LS/RS on SPDIF from the converter and render and drive those channels out to the surround speakers. I've had good experiences with Topping previously and selected their MX3s DAC/AMP for the task; it's a 24bit/192 KHz DAC with a 30W/chan D-amp with low distortion and full remote control. Excellent... I tested it first in measurements (as seen in the surround speaker Tri-Port building post) and it is basically equivalent to my NAD DAC/AMP. I'm running standard stereo signals on coax to the surrounds and derived or discrete surround signals on optical to the surrounds.

Derived Surround Impressions... all the pieces do their jobs well and the new surround speakers sound good rendering the Dolby PLIIx LS/RS as well as straight stereo. As noted prior in this blog, the PLIIx surround signals derived from 2 chan PCM are necessarily pretty thin. The surrounds add to the music theater experience but not as significantly as some full blown DSP efforts included in many older AVRs. I can't vary the surround sound as much as one can with those AVRs but PLIIx is one of the better, if subtler, derivations any way. I am satisfied with the expansion of the NestMT to derived 5.1 for music; it even sounds great piping stereo to the right & left surrounds. I still have the challenge to get true discrete DD 5.1 out to the center and surrounds from the my streamer however.

Discrete 5.1 Signaling... Enter digital audio extraction again. I use the OREI 102A, a 48Gbps 8K/HDR HDMI 1:2 splitter/extractor, to extract audio from HDMI out onto SPDIF optical. The HDMI audio & video are replicated to the Sony TV without loss and the audio extraction is sent to the DP564 through the Felston delay device. The DP564 "knows" what it's receiving and outputs center and surround channels appropriately from inbound DD 5.1 or derived from 2 ch PCM.

I did have to resync the center & surrounds to the mains after adding the OREI into the audio path. I used an impulse response at the listening position to measure the delay incurred in the L&R mains from processing used in its audio path vs direct extraction from HDMI by the OREI for the CC & LS/RS. It was a whopping 158msec... once I added that via the Felston box (for Roku streams) all was glorious.

Roku Ultra vs Apple TV 4K... I could not get the Roku Ultra (Model 4760X) to pass discrete digital even when source material was in that format natively. The DP564 would not sync to the DD stream. An updated model of the Roku Ultra might do it but I supposedly confirmed via a dive on forums that an Apple TV 4K will transcode whatever discrete multi-channel digital content is playing to DD 5.1, as I desire. I bought one. It exhibited the same behavior when streaming DD 5.1 to the DP564. I've concluded that it must be the age of the Dolby box and its inability to fully recognize (it does see DD) and sync to the stream for discrete 5.1 content. Despite the setback, I am in the mountains and caught a keen scene of new-fallen snow from the deck of the Nest.

So, I am stuck with derived PLIIx CC and LS/RS for now, which is pretty darn good for most of my listening.  I switched back to the Roku Ultra (it wasn't root cause) and have even removed the splitter/extractor... it isn't really needed except in attempts to get discrete 6 channel sound (I readjusted delays). The surrounds can be driven not only with derived PLIIx signals but I can also send them straight stereo. Sure this is kind of a hairy setup but by using this configuration I can match the best decoding and amp for each channel, rather than being stuck with just an integrated AVR. Here's the current connection diagram.

Updated 06Mar24 ~ All Issues Resolved... I am no longer stuck with simply derived Dolby surrounds when content has DD+ or alternative discrete multichannel content! It has been a long road to configure a solution which delivers 2 channel PCM from Roku to the main L/R infrastructure, while delivering derived or discrete signals to the CC and the LS/RS. I decommissioned the Dolby DP564, RDL HRC-UDC1, and the Topping MX3s. The later two devices work fine but are no longer needed. The biggest issue has been the old Dolby box and trying to get it to understand new Dolby signalling ~ that was futile. I found and installed an oldish Yamaha AVR, TSR7810, which could handle UHD/HDR/DD+ on HDMI and had pre-amp outputs for every channel in (up to) a 7.2 setup. This latter feature is vital as I have the amps for mains and CC, and even the main L/R decoding I want, but I needed stable, modern surround decoding. The new config delivers UHD/HDR to the monitor and DD+/6 channel PCM/2 channel PCM or whatever is best for the original content signal, for center and surrounds through the AVR while maintaining a solid 2 channel PCM to the miniDSP for the mains. Woohoo. One vital piece was setting the OREI extractor's EDID to force the optical digital audio extraction to 2 channel PCM for the mains. Here's the final connection diagram and the new Yamaha. It all works great now but I still need to get some longer HDMI 48Gbps cables to button it all down, complete programming of my universal remote, and remeasure and reset delays. I guess too that I should sell the decommissioned gear.

I remeasured, set delays (using the AVR's lipsync feature to the measured 189msec, most of it processing time), updated the universal remote, and buttoned everything up. The Nest Music Theater is now fully 5.1 capable, including playing incredible modern movies' soundtracks. I don't have Atmos presence speakers above the front or back... hmmm.

Trundle The Tarn With Bro Brown Boyz 05Feb24

We were looking for bluebirds on a gorgeous day in Summit Co as some of Bro Brown's "guys ski week" attendees joined me for a small BC outing. We simply loaded with beers, donned BC and/or AT gear, went out the back yard and headed down to the Salt Lick tarn. It was a fun outing succeeded by fine dining at the Lodge. Pairs are Steve & me, Conor & Richard, and the Brown bumble bee brothers.

Nest Music Theater Party Twenty Eight ~ Building The Tri-Ports For Surround Sound 13Jan24-05Feb24

Though I decommissioned the NOnkens, I didn't give up on 5.1; I need some new smaller speakers and can reuse the wild Tang Band W4-2356 full range drivers that I didn't use in the salad bowls. I also need to derive acceptable surround signaling from 2 channel PCM, as well as get DD 5.1 discrete. Here's a shot with the finished full range Tiny Tang Band Tri-Ports as suspended surrounds in the NestMT.

Building Tri-Ports... I really overshot sizing my last two speaker projects for the NestMT and need a scheme for much smaller, hanging surrounds. I chose to build a new small full range speaker. It's a bass reflex I call the Tri-Port. I built a pair from the disassembled NOnken materials and some other scrap 15mm Baltic birch. I made all my own table saw cuts for these small simple cabinets. Here are the starting parts and design "process." Tang Band is not known for their Theil/Small parameter accuracy but I found an article online from a lab guy who received a couple of units and did testing ~ I used his empirical data to guide modeling and decisions.

So these drivers can be used in a sealed cabinet of ~8.5 liters (EBP=92), but would perform better as full range in a larger bass reflex box. For grins I intend to build out in a way I can measure both. Further, to stick to my "small" target size, I will not build the optimal 12.5 liter bass box but will instead stuff a smaller box (to raise it's apparent size by ~20%); this should allow me to get the bass tuning down to ~50Hz... but maybe I won't need that. I won't profile the entire build process ~ I've done so plenty before. Here are the partially finished tiny Tri-Ports; I haven't hole-sawed port holes yet, done any interior stuffing, or done the staining/finishing. They're cool, they're tiny, they sport odd drivers, and will suspend fine as surrounds. I measured and listened to them sealed and sans stuffing for a bit... the cabinet is almost perfectly sized for a sealed box for this driver and they sounded good. They measure decent though I don't yet understand the iceberg 6KHz-12KHz and then reemergence to 20KHz.

I opened up the sealed cabinets and dropped in a center-line of 1" wool fiber for any standing waves and stuffed the rest with acoustic fiber. I also tightened down the cabinet and drivers. I measured again and saw smoothing and improvement at the high end ~ the iceberg is almost gone. All these measurements are taken at the listening position ~3m away. I know the bass could be aided significantly by the intended triple porting but these sound pretty darn good sealed up. They are just surrounds after all and will be supplemented with a subwoofer anyway. After I drill and install the ports, that's it ~ no going back; hmmm... I'll get the rest right first.

Hanging Tri-Ports... I suspended the sealed Tang Band Tri-Ports as is on the keen wall mounts I'd prior added in the Nest Music Theater room. I also re-swept sound pressure levels at their final location, assuredly from the listening position. The graph with one sweep is the 90° one of both speakers at listening position and the double sweep are directly measured at left & right speakers discretely - more as my ears will be oriented at the speakers. Still excellent; still weak bass.

Porting The Tri-Ports [03Feb23]... Today I gutted up and cut the 3 bass ports on the Tri-Ports. The bass is improved without any other loss of fidelity. Of course I measured them too. The 50Hz area improvement is noticeable but subtle in measuring and listening. Here are the unfinished, but ported and stuffed, Tri-Ports... they finally look their name; uhhh Tiny Tang-Bang Tri-Ports.

Finishing The Tri-Ports [05Feb24]... Sanded, stained, polycoated, and rehung the Tri-Ports... I also installed a wall-colored conduit to get the speaker wire back to the surrounds from the electronics in the front of the room. I do have need to finish off installs like this ~ and that's attended by a fear of sight of cabling.