How I lowered my speakers noise floor by 6db

As many of you know, I use Behringer B2031A amplified speakers plugged directly to my soundcards' line level output, with software based volume control and a custom cable with a 3.5mm headphone to 2 x 1/4" jack cable.



They sound completely awesome I love this set up so much. The only little thing that bugged me was that I can hear the noise floor of my soundcard at louder slider settings. If I turned them up for quiet material or for stuff with large dynamic headroom the white noise was just perceptible.

The SB Live wiki page has an uncited note that "the original SB Live! had a very low noise floor for its time". Doh! I considered getting a better soundcard with balanced outputs to lower the floor, but meh - money, linux support etc. just for something that is so minor and uncommon.

In practice, I usually stay within something like 2-10% of max signal level from my soundcard on the speakers, and the noise floor is far below hearing level.

I recently realised that I had the input trim on each speaker central at 0db, but they could go to -6db. By setting both speakers to this, I am forced to have a higher output signal from the soundcard to compensate. This makes the soundcards' signal to noise ratio much better (by 6db!) for any given actual listening level. Of course, my 100% setting is also 6db quieter, but I dare anyone to site in front of these at 100%!

So now I probably use something like the 20-40% signal level, with plenty in reserve should I wish to wind something up loud. This is a much more sensible use of the range, as I was right at the bottom 1/4 of the mixer sliders most of the time. I can't hear the sound floor, even with everything at 100%/max/11 !

Google Reader keys:

I have been using a few of them, but OMG in list view, the spacebar is awesome. its a page down, and at the bottom of the post, space also auto jumps to the next post. Can skim view high volume sites the best way.

http://www.google.com/help/reader/faq.html#shortcuts

Keys are so much quicker.

Travel company offers free three-month holiday to promote NZ

Check this job out: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/new-zealand-travel/news/article.cfm?c_id=1500882&objectid=10577599

"We're a relatively new company ... and as you can imagine we've had we've had quite a few suppliers jump on board in a relatively short period of time," she said.

"We had the option of either taking time out of what we're doing now and going and travelling and meeting everybody ourselves, or offering this opportunity to somebody who would really enjoy it and have a lot of fun with it."

The winning candidate will be provided with free accommodation, transport, a daily food allowance and some spending money in return for blogging about their experiences.

"But there's no set wage as such," Forsyth added. "It's just a free trip."

Pity I have just got a job, that sounds like fun! Thanks Preeti for the link.

Toolman is employed

Hey all: Just a note that I am back to making Java web applications for VTech (not Honda VTEC :) ), the inhouse development team at Vero Insurance. Really enjoying the job, just completed my first week and enjoying engaging the brain a little more.

GIF vs JIF

From http://www.olsenhome.com/gif/:

You disagree? Hey, I'm just quoting the inventors of the format. Here's the evidence:

• CompuServe used to distribute a graphics display program called CompuShow. In the documentation for version 8.33 in the FAQ section, it states:

  The GIF (Graphics Interchange Format), pronounced "JIF", was designed by CompuServe and the official specification released in June of 1987.

  There, straight from the inventors of the format.

So nerds, GIF or JIF?

Muppets album conversions:

This is a project that I was doing prior to traveling.



I spent months painfully converting these albums to CD. These albums got heavy airtime in my youth...

I carefully recorded the vinyl, then carefully cleaned the recordings by hand. Adobe Audition is the best wave editor I have ever used, and the results are fantastic. The finals still have the full warmth of the original vinyl, and no major pops or clicks. This took an unbelievable length of time, I ended up redoing the process multiple times as I learned better techniques.



I also scanned and processed all the cover artwork for the CD replicas.



The discs are printed on directly (no stickers!), and the art is a mock of the original vinyls' center label. I had to change the track numbers (no side B!) and shoehorn both sides listings onto a single side.



The sleeves are complete, with the inner and outer artwork just like the original vinyl sleeve.



Again, the track listings were subtly tweaked to reflect the single side and track numbers. Also, the back of a jewel case is not square (but the front sleeve is) so the rear artwork had to be cropped carefully to look correct. Compare left and right above.

In any case, really happy with how these turned out.

below the 42:

My mum gave me an excellent booze tip recently:



Stil vodka: this nice vodka comes from none other then 42 Below. Its their off-label, and is cheaper then 42 Below.



Still tastes pretty damn nice to me. Zing!