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Movie restart
Oct. 4th, 2014 09:38 amLast night I dug up the old Radio Shack Minimus 7 speakers that I've owned for about 30 or 35 years. I had been using them for various purposes but they started sounding ratty so I retired them.
I found that when I touched a coin cell to one, it clicked properly, but the other one buzzed (actually oscillated). ISTM that must indicate a loose wire and the speaker pulls the wire away from the contact when it moves, forming an oscillating circuit. I opened it up and found this to be the case, so a little awkwardly placed soldering on the wire leading from the terminal to the cone on the woofer fixed it.
So I now have surround speakers, AND a proper modern digital amp to drive them. After running the auto-setup (the amp comes with a microphone, you plug it in and place it where your head would be, and it makes a bunch of noises out of the various speakers and automatically optimizes for the speakers, distances and room), I inaugurated the whole thing by watching the bluray of Gravity, my first time watching it.
It was a fantastic movie, I was properly anxious and moved during the proper times. There were three or four times when I believe they botched the science, a couple of which were bad enough that I actually said out loud "That doesn't even make any sense." but those moments were quickly forgotten and I enjoyed the movie. The only one I really remember is the 90 minute recurring debris swarm (orbits are NOT that simple, folks) but I was willing to let that pass for the sake of the story.
The extras were very good, though they did last over 2 hours.
The surround speakers on the system makes a HUGE difference. It pulls you into the movie and is much more subconsciously immersive.
Movie: Gravity
I found that when I touched a coin cell to one, it clicked properly, but the other one buzzed (actually oscillated). ISTM that must indicate a loose wire and the speaker pulls the wire away from the contact when it moves, forming an oscillating circuit. I opened it up and found this to be the case, so a little awkwardly placed soldering on the wire leading from the terminal to the cone on the woofer fixed it.
So I now have surround speakers, AND a proper modern digital amp to drive them. After running the auto-setup (the amp comes with a microphone, you plug it in and place it where your head would be, and it makes a bunch of noises out of the various speakers and automatically optimizes for the speakers, distances and room), I inaugurated the whole thing by watching the bluray of Gravity, my first time watching it.
It was a fantastic movie, I was properly anxious and moved during the proper times. There were three or four times when I believe they botched the science, a couple of which were bad enough that I actually said out loud "That doesn't even make any sense." but those moments were quickly forgotten and I enjoyed the movie. The only one I really remember is the 90 minute recurring debris swarm (orbits are NOT that simple, folks) but I was willing to let that pass for the sake of the story.
The extras were very good, though they did last over 2 hours.
The surround speakers on the system makes a HUGE difference. It pulls you into the movie and is much more subconsciously immersive.
Movie: Gravity
