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Effort taken to get good hi-fi


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Reading another thread response by Tony M on his various ventures to obtain Yamaha NS1000 speakers from the UK and another occasion driving them back in hire cars interstate, I thought a new post topic might be entertaining on ones journeys to obtain hi-fi gear.

I once got a pair of fabulous Jarrah wood gloss VAF I-66 speakers from Adelaide to Perth to add to Perth's already burgeoning collection of good hi-fi (as rumoured).

So the journey goes that on an attempted bicycle trip across from Perth to Adelaide I made it to about 200km past the border. While experiencing initial moments of bliss on this journey, usually going down hill (despite what you may think its not flat out there), I soon realized I was never made for this type of exertion (short legged couch potato), so after 11 days of excruciation and looking for honourable reasons to give up I finally found one. One morning I woke up and realised most of the skin between my crotch was missing and I couldn't physically ride any longer, let alone walk, so happily conceded defeat. In addition, on that day to confirm my decision to give up, I realised on the Nullarbor in the middle of no where I had filled up on undrinkable brine water from the wrong tap at the Eucla camp site the previous day, so the gods had truly forsaken me by then with a red raw crotch and unquenchable thirst. After many unsuccessful attempts to get assistance from grey nomads, I was able to lure a kind trucky to give me a ride with all my gear to Adelaide, rewarding him along the way for 10 hours with tales of my adventures, finally reaching Adelaide and recuperated at a luxurious in-law's place.

For the return to Perth I was going to simply catch a train back with all my gear until I noticed in the Trading Post during my recuperation period that someone was selling a nice pair of VAF I-66 speakers with massive polished granite plinths. So instead of the train I got a $1 a day one-way car hire return deal to Perth in a little ford fiesta hatchback, which was cheaper than the train.

So despite failing to claim the title of cycling 2600km from Perth to Adelaide, the trip ended up well. I was able to load the little hatchback with my new large speakers, granite plinths, bike and camp gear and make it back to Perth. I also learnt a lot from other Nullarbor cyclers, truckies, the things people generally discard along the roadside and road kill statistics (tuna & baked bean cans, drinks, undies - fair bit of sexy G-string lingerie mixed in there, lots of stolen wallets - which I attempted to collect and hand in to the next Police station, porno mags - some I kept, car parts, camels & so many dead wedge tail eagles - sad). What I learnt out there is that one won't starve, run out of undies and reading material; and that one should take proper note of the correct water tap signs.

Anyway, the VAFs turned out to be very good with great imaging and accuracy, if a little bass shy in my room, but never-the-less taking my hi-fi appreciation to another level, and a near complete antidote for memories of my physical & mental trauma. I also got to visit VAF's design, manufacturing and demonstration place in Adelaide and meet Mr VAF himself, which was very interesting.

Edited by Al.M
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Hmmm while in the UK for work, I drove across to Whales and collected a complete QuadII amp and then on the drive back to Heathrow stopped and collected two main power transformers and then further on to get a pair of output transformers and chokes.  Then as one can imagine I had to get them into the suitcase along with my tools, oscilloscope and clothes and get them to the airport.

 

The tricky part was explaining to border security why I had such items.  I always get stopped and my tools etc inspected through being in abattoirs overseas.

 

Cheaper than paying freight though.

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Guest Misterioso

Hmmm while in the UK for work, I drove across to Whales and collected a complete QuadII amp

I would never buy an amp from whales. Too much risk of a severe water damage.

SCNR...

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Well nothing compared to the original post, but I drove to Melbourne once to pick a pair of NS1000Ms.

 

There was another time when I sold a van full of gear to someone in Melbourne. We met half way at Nhill, where we unloaded my van and loaded his.

 

At least one local thought we were handling stolen goods!!!!

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Drove three k's to pick up a LP12 once with out my crotch disintegrating. Gotta be worthy of of a mention surely?

 

Tales from WA are nearly always larger than life as the canvas is just so much bigger there than anywhere else.

 

I vote to to put a handicap system in place from now on.

 

500 WA k's are like worth 10k's of inner Melbourne driving and 2000k's of WA driving are worth 500 metres of Sydney peak hour driving.

 

A couple of days of WA driving are worth probably about a couple of weeks of WA driving to get here onto the fabulous Far North Coast and then once your here...you never actually leave... :love

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..and knowing that you wont know what I'm saying...

TMI: =Too Much Information.

re, your crotch.

 

*we now return to normal service.

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Reading another thread response by Tony M on his various ventures to obtain Yamaha NS1000 speakers from the UK and another occasion driving them back in hire cars interstate, I thought a new post topic might be entertaining on ones journeys to obtain hi-fi gear.

 

So despite failing to claim the title of cycling 2600km from Perth to Adelaide, the trip ended up well. I was able to load into the little hatchback my new large speakers, granite plinths, bike and camp gear and make it back to Perth. I also learnt a lot from other Nullabor cyclers, truckies, the things people generally discard along the roadside and the types of statistical road kill (tuna & baked bean cans, drinks, undies - fair bit of sexy G-string lingerie mixed in there, lots of stolen wallets - which I attempted to collect and hand in to the next Police station, porno mags - which I sometimes kept, car parts, camels & so many dead wedge tail eagles - sad). What I learnt is that one won't starve, run out of undies and entertainment out there; and that one should take proper note of the correct water tap signs.

 

Anyway, the VAFs turned out to be very good with great imaging and accuracy, if a little bass shy in my room, but never-the-less taking my hi-fi appreciation to another level, and a near complete antidote for memories of my physical & mental trauma. I also got to visit VAF's design, manufacturing and demonstration place in Adelaide and got to meet Mr VAF himself, which was very interesting.

Hey AI.M, would you mind posting a picture or description of the plinths for your i66's please.  Mine have the standard plinth and I'm curious.

Edited by warweary
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I would never buy an amp from whales. Too much risk of a severe water damage.

SCNR...

Amps from Wales can also sound a bit wooly at times. I have read if you sit them on a slate plinth with flint isolation points they sound much better[emoji4]
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Hey AI.M, would you mind posting a picture or description of the plinths for your i66's please.  Mine have the standard plinth and I'm curious.

Sorry this trip was about 10 years ago and I don't have the speakers anymore or any pics. The plinths were about 20cm height, bevelled on all sides and recessed about 1cm at the top to fit speaker base like a glove

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@Al.M I got nothing on that story. I enjoyed reading though :thumb:

 

I had a set of speakers on ebay, a guy asked if I'd meet him at Tullamarine airport, cos he was 80km away and its a long way to travel.

 

Best response I could invent was no, sorry I cant mate, cos your right, 80km is a long way.

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One morning I woke up and realised most of the skin between my crotch was missing and I couldn't physically ride any longer, let alone walk, so happily conceded defeat.

 

In the 70's & 80's, I used to race bicycles. For training, I would do two century rides a week (100 miles). A short recovery ride would be 45 miles.

 

Biking shorts are chamois-lined for a reason!  :thumb:

 

And they're meant to be worn without anything underneath.

 

That and vaseline are your friends when it comes to long distance touring.

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Thanks for the advice, yes I had proper padded cycle pants without undies but didn't know about Vaseline.

I was doing 76km practise runs every weekend before then but perhaps not enough still.

Since submitting this post, I've been reviewing where I could have done it differently and by watching several YouTube Nullarbor cycle trips by others it seems apart from maybe the use of Vaseline and not being as fit there is not much I did wrong in terms of gear and bike style (MTB with slick tyres). I was thinking a road bike may have been more efficient.

At Norseman town hostel there is a photo album of many people who have done the crossing in not only on bike but wheel barrows, wheel chairs, walking, running, horses etc

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