Family, Photography and other misc news
Family related posts; generally only of interest to fellow members of the Brown Clan and relations by Marriage into this mad house.
I love good music and HiFi, since getting my new Mac setup the sound quality was not quite as good as I thought it should be. It was then I remembered that the default output was not as good as it should be. You need to go into the Audio Midi setup program and configure it to the best settings.
See above.
Having the new Mac Desktop I now have the line out direct into the active speakers giving me better sound quality then Apple AirPlay.
Our spare end room over the last few months has been stripped down to bare walls and concrete floor. We have plastered painted and decorated. Including painting the roof and open roof beams.
This weekend we finally laid the new floor.
We just have the beading left to put round the edge and its finished.
Then its new book cases and we can unbox the books and also finally setup my hifi. Then we have a smart new space which we can use as a reading room, music room and when necessary a studio space and even somewhere to layout quilts.
Saturday was a full and busy day shooting for clients. We in the full swing of wedding season now.
Sunday was a little more relaxed. After a bit of shopping in the morning we hit the garden and harvested the remains of the peas and broad beans. It’s been a much better year for them then last year.
We also had a major weed of the front garden.
The early evening drove me back to the computer to do more editing while Caroline supervised the chickens while they did there bit of gardening.
So with the new Sonos speaker in the kitchen I got for my birthday last year, we have decent music in the house again that is until I finally get my separates system setup in the room we are currently decorating.
Enjoying the Sonos made me think about my office, how to get decent quality sound from the PC without too much cost.
I wanted stereo so another Sonos was not going to cut it, purchasing two would be more then a quality set of active speakers, plus I also wanted to stream from other sources not just using the Sonos app.
Quality wise, CD was good enough, most of media is either vinyl or CD and also sat in my iTunes library at 16 bit at 44 kHz which is CD quality. I do have a few other audio files which are at studio master quality 24 bit and 192 kHz but thats just over kill for a simple budget office system.
I am lucky enough to have an Apple AirPort Express in my office, as well as providing wireless internet I have my large format Epson 3880 printer plugged into one of the ethernet ports. The device also supports Apple Airplay at 16 bit / 44 kHz so it could act as the music source for the speakers.
So first I set a budget, then looked at small desktop active speakers that fitted that budget. By active I mean with built in amplification. Basically it would be a simple setup. Apple Airplay sending my music collection from laptop, or iPhone to the AirPort Express and direct into the speakers. This meant I could keep my current cheap computer speakers and have the computer sounds come from them leaving just the high quality audio of my music streamed to the speakers. Longer term I might upgrade and add a high quality USB DAC into the system, driving that from the USB port in my computer.
So what did I pick, well first job a trip to the website WhatHiFi and look at what they liked, then a web search to find the best prices. After that it was a trip to my local Hi Fi shop who offered to price match. We had a listen, using my iPhone as a source and I picked the Ruark Audio MR1.
One good thing about living near Lincoln is that there always seems to be something going. Whether the Santa Run or Lincoln Christmas Market in the winter to cycle races and Steam Punk events.
Last weekend was Lincoln’s 1940’s weekend and unfortunately I could not make it but from looking at the photographs people have been post on the Internet it looks like it was a fun filled weekend with lots of photographic opportunities.
I cannot believe its June already. Where is the year going? For us its being a very quiet/busy May; I know that sounds conflicting but we have just not had time to get anything really done.
Caroline’s father has been in hospital having a new knee, so things have been focussed round him, which is why we have been busy. So on the house and garden front its been very quiet.
I can say that the Peas, Beans, Leaks, Lettuce and Potatoes are going great. The cabbages though are not surviving, someone is eating them big time and stripping all the leaves off.
Hopefully June will see us back in the garden and also finally laying the new floor in the music/library/studio room which apart from the floor and some furniture is finished. I cannot wait to have my first studio shoot in there.
Spring really seems to be bursting ahead. Our plants are growing well, we have a number of nests in the garden and the chickens are now enjoying being let out to roam in the later week day evenings now that the nights are getting lighter.
The chickens are moulting at the moment and are definitely not looking at there best but they like being let out while we are there to stand guard.
So far we have been lucky with no escapes and sampling of the veg plot.
Last night while riding the BMW home in the late afternoon sun, I saw a view that really made me appreciate living in the English countryside. There was a hint of rain in the distance so black dark clouds were in the distance but in the foreground was the brightly lit rapeseed fields and fresh green of the up coming crops. The colours and contrast against the dark sky with the sun streaming through gaps in the cloud to form columns of light against the dark was simply stunning.
If I had stopped to take a photograph and submitted it for criticism then photo editors and critics would have complained about my heavy handed and unrealistic use of Photoshop and HDR techniques, but this was real and in front of me. Inspiring stuff.
Spring now seems to be in overdrive. I managed to prune a few bushes and trees but all that has to stop now, not only are the trees full of blossom but the bushes seem to be full of Blackbirds and Thrushes making their nests. A pair of house sparrows has even figured out, how to get under the corner end tile on the roof and make a nest there.
This weekend we took the opportunity because of the fine sunny weather to plant out the peas, beans, and cabbage, as well as the lettuce we have been raising in the cold frame. The pigeons were looking interested so it will be interesting to see if they last the week.
Monday morning we had a frost again despite the improving weather so we need to get some more seed trays planted up just in case what we have planted out does not survive.
Until this Easter weekend the veg plot was looking a little bare. While we have seeds planted out in the cold frame, the only thing in the veg plot is last years leaks and this years onions.
This weekend we set to and planted the potatoes. Its going to be great harvesting some fresh new potatoes and some salad leaves in the early summer for lunch.