Thursday, February 16, 2023

descaling tool for boilers

In order to protect my investment in multitude of boilers I invested in these few pieces of tool to perform routine descaling. The easiest set up is a small sump pump, a 5 gallon bucket, and a pair of washing machine hoses.

big sound for the barn - part 4


Time to make up a pair of bi-wire speaker wires as I cannot find the pair that I have. I decide 9 feet should be enough for all the possible locations that I would place this sound system in the barn.

Wednesday, February 15, 2023

big sound for the barn - part 3

One thing that stands out with this pair of speakers is they are power hungry. I need to start with volume of 30 with the Sony receiver. With the Holman Preamplifier I set the analog volume to 12 o'clock and that is as loud as I would typically set it for a in person life-like performance. At this level the headphone SPL is too high to be healthy which is a testament the output wattage to the speakers is relatively high.

big sound for the barn - part 2


After a week I haven't found flaws with the Fluance Signature 3-Way speakers. Being such a big space the barn is taxing for an audio system. It is easy to lose touch of how much wattage one is driving the speakers. I don't recall the wattage (100W per channel by my memory) output of the Sony Receiver. To have a live-like listening experience 50 feet away from the speakers one have to set the volume level quite high. For sound each doubling of distance drops the sound pressure level by 6dB. That means for each doubling of distance the SPL reduction is 1/4.

hydronic heat for the barn - part 14

When I was installing the boiler and the associated plumbing I erected two pieces of 4x8 feet tongue and grove subfloor plywood. They gave me the needed surface as the supporting wall for the entire above ground installation of the hydronic system. I originally planned to cover the entire barn with these T&G plywood. Only the price jumped by 19% within a month so I decided to defer the purchase of the rest.