Phooooooh, After more then 3 months, finally the Back Loaded Horn (BLH) are ready to be admired. It was a blessing ‘DO’ deployment this week that I had some time to work on the BLH.
Yesterday, one pc of the veneer was misaligned and need to be discarded. Same thing happened this morning. I almost gave up. An SOS was posted in diy forum and soon, advices came pouring in. It seems that I had no choice but to re sand the cabinet to remove the glue. Finally, at 5.30 pm (started doing it at 8 am) it was done. What a day.

Ok, will think of how to finish them later. Perhaps, just a 2 coats of shellac will do. As for now, I would just set them up for a listening test this weekend.

At 7 o’clock this morning my home balcony was turned into a workshop. While everyone else was sleeping, I eagerly worked on the veneering of the back-loaded speaker which was long overdue. This was my second diy project and I started building it in late July. LOL…….so you know what I meant by overdue.

Anyway, I spent five hours sweating in a balcony that looked more like a war zone. At 12 noon one speaker was done. By then, everyone was up so it was time to close the workshop and turn it back into what it was in the first place…..a balcony.

So woodworking tools were traded with broom and vacuum cleaner and by1 pm, all were back to normal, spic and span and it was a Saturday morning well spent.

the enclosure with only the baffle veneered.


the enclosure with all side veneered.

Yesterday was my first participation in NOISING. I brought my diy acrylic turntable (tt) and it created quite a buzz.
Unfortunately, the tt wasn’t performing well. Something was not right with the tt.
The experience diyers tried to trouble shoot but were not able to rectify it. Thus, my tt had to give way to other equipment.

Refusing to accept defeat, I spent the next hour figuring out what has gone wrong. Other diyers tried to assist in the trouble shoot. Finally at 5 pm (3 hours later), we managed to identify the problem……’the tracking force’.

Thus, a quick calibration was done and at 6 pm. Another shot was given to my tt.
Hey….. it works and sounded quite good. Too bad, I had to leave soon after.
Anyway it was a great weekend of sharing with hifi diyers.


fellow diyers


Thats my acrylic turntable


arranging the diy equipments.




another diy turntable

power amp with 2 light bulbs modeled on Nelson Pass's design

Dah dua minggu kita beraya. Tapi masih banyak rumah sedara dan member yang belum di kunjungi.
Zaman sekarang kita berkunjung hanya setahun sekali je. Jadi kalau nak kerumah semua sedara2 dan member, sebulan pun tak lih habis. Apa nak buat. Sedara ramai.
Walau camne pun, yang penting semua mesti happy.
Cuba tengok gambar2 ni. Dari malam raya sampai dua minggu raya. Semua muka ada senyum……hehehehe.

anyam ketupat nak sambut raya





malam raya




rumah da siap untuk beraya




di pagi raya






hari raya ke dua







hari raya ke tiga kat Johor









hari raya ke sepuluh



Hari raya yang ke tujuh belas

Rahmadan
kau mengajar ku untuk bersabar
menahan dahaga dan lapar
kau pemangkin ibadah dan amalan
semuga mendapat ganjaran
yang di gandakan

Rahmadan
kedatangan kau selalu dinantikan
Kerana kau membawa rahmat
Untuk mereka yang beriman

Rahmadan
malam ini terasa keshahduan
kerana aku pasti kau tinggalkan
pabila takbir berkumandang
menanda shawal akan bertandang

MENCARI

Lama juga aku mencari
Namun tidak menjumpai
Kemana kah ia pergi
Mungkin di telan teknologi
Atau tiada yang peduli lagi
Menggerak pena coretan hati

Suatu hari terlintas di hati
Berpesan pada sang isteri
Untuk bantu mencari
Seandai nya ia bercuti

Alangkah bahgia nya hati ini
Terlihat kad raya tersusun rapi
Yang di bawa pulang sang isteri
Atas pesanan awal tadi

Tanpa mengira kandungan isi
Kad di pena dengan ashik sekali
Dengan ucapan coretan hati
Untuk keluarga, saudara dan teman sejati
Kad di kirim sudah pasti

Itulah pengalaman ku mencari
Kad raya tahun ini
Tahun depan belum tahu lagi
Mudah2an masih ada yang peduli
Walau bagaimanapun
Pada keluarga, saudara dan semua sekali
Seandainya tiada kad pengganti diri
Ku mohon ampun sepuluh jari
Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri.

Last weekend after a month of night sweat, the Back Loaded Horn is done. I mean its all fixed up less the exterior finishing. Due to my lousy carpentry work, a lot more time is needed for touch up before the final finishing. Thus, I decided to ‘KIV” the project till after Ramadhan. In the mean time, the FE 168E will continue running in.

The construction of my Back Loaded Horn speaker has been going on for the past 2 weeks. I choose to build the Fostex based design for the FE 168E Sigma using 15mm plywood. Process is quite slow due to insufficient tools but the result so far so good.

It’s the 45th Singapore National Day today and I have been involved in the parade for the past 33 years. I hope this is not my last. I remembered the first time I participated was in 1977 and rehearsals were done at the yet to be opened ECP. Logistic support then was minimal. Rest area was under the hot sun and refreshment was just water and bread. Today, participants are spoil with choices, KFC, western food, fresh soya bean milk, Old Chang Kee etc. Rest area was air conditioned. Who could have thought of it 33 years ago. The kids are growing up. They are kids no more. Tini was engaged last weekend and Didi is getting married end of the year. So, it’s gonna be busy this year for all the preparation. I am fortunate to have siblings who are supportive and helpful especially my sis. For the past few weeks, she was busy helping wifey in the preparation for Tini’s engagement. She and wifey were creative to come up with the ‘hantaran’ decoration. Not bad for a novice. The preparation was at its peak few days before the weekend. Everyone chipped in, sister, in-laws, nephews, nieces etc.

Today is my third day staying home due to flu and high fever. Lately it has been affecting me quite often. This year alone I had it thrice and down with 7 days of medical leave. For the past thirty years it was like once every four to five years. What has gone wrong?
Is it sign of ageing? Perhaps it is but I’ve kept to my daily exercises and watch my diet closely. For the past fifteen years, I would only drink a cup of sweetened drink per day and abstain from red meat to a certain extend. My annual medical check up is always good except for my cholesterol level which is slightly on the high side. So what happened then? Ahhhh…..perhaps it’s the occasional smoking. I realized when I smoke I would cough and followed by blocked nose and thus the flu. So smoking could be the culprit. Lets see if this is true.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Last Saturday I was invited to join a day trip to Muar by the Police Co’op for officers who retired in 2008. Its good to meet up with old friends again. Some of them are still in the Force on reemployment and some were doing something else within the Ministry.
The trip of four coaches brought us to the Gersik hot spring where everyone had a “leg spa”. The water was so hot that if you are not careful may end up with “soup kaki”.
We then headed for lunch at a fruit farm and end our meal with the king of fruits, the durian. Ahhh… this could also be the contributing factor to my fever.
After lunch it was shopping at Jusco Tebrau and dinner at Senibung Seafood Restaurant. We reached home at 2300 hrs tired but enjoyed.







……………………………………………………………………………………..

Last week 7th July was my birthday. We celebrated it in the sky on the Singapore Flier. It was a bit irony though as I was afraid of height. Anyway I managed to endure the fear through out the thirty minutes. I guessed no one notice it. hehehehe

My DIY turntable has been spinning almost every night lately. It’s a joy to listen to and aesthetically it is also pleasing to look at. I’ve already installed a 2nd arm, Mission L74 with Nagaoka 110 cartridge. Now with 2 arms, it looks more “high end”, at least to me.
I am happy with this first DIY project.


Now, thinking of building a Horn Speaker using a full range driver. After some googling on the internet, I thought the Rear Horn enclosure designed by Fostex would be a better choice in terms of simplicity to build and its aesthetic look apart from it being acoustically tested.


Something like this. But this is Jericho Horn.



A timber supplier near home has agreed to cut the planks to size for a minimal sum. The question now is whether I am confident to build it as I do not have any formal woodworking background. A friendly forumer from an Audio forum has also agreed to build it for me for a sum.

If I want to save on cost, I have to take the risk building it.
If I want to ensure the project to be successful, then someone with skill needs to build it. But this may push the cost 80-90 % more. Urghhhhhhh…….

A good poetry I'd read somewhere. Just for sharing.
THOUGHT ABOUT PRAYERS

I got up early one morning
and rushed right into the day
I had so much to accomplish
that I didn't have time to pray
Problems just tumbled about me
and heavier came each task
'Why doesn't God help me?' I wondered
He answered, 'You didn't ask'
I wanted to see joy and beauty
but the day toiled on gray and bleak
I wondered why God didn't show me
He said, 'But you didn't seek'
I tried to come into God's presence
I used all my keys at the lock
God gently and lovingly chided
'My servant, you didn't knock'
I woke up early this morning
and paused before entering the day
I had so much to accomplish
that I had to take time to pray


.............................................................

Today is Tini's 24th birthday but looking at her size, no one could tell.
We had seafood dinner to celebrate her special day at Makan Shiok.

Yesterday I was at Palm Resort for another round of golf. This time, we had seven golfers turning up. We drove in to Johor around 0730 hrs from Mandai and had breakfast along the way. Weather was good when we teed off but gets rather warm afterward.
By mid day, it was scorching hot and it did affect our game a bit.

It was really my day at hole 7 when the buggy I was driving headed down a slope and went straight into a drain. The impact was so strong that my whole body plunged forward towards the steering wheel. The other golfers came running to render assistance. I guessed, it was my day as mentioned earlier. I came out of that freak accident without any visible injury. Alhamdullillah.

The front wheel was stuck in the drain and I had to call the club to pull it out. But soon, we were on the fairway again till the 18th hole. What a day……Anyway, there’s another round this Saturday. hehehehe

Some pix to share.


"Hole in One"

Tan Chong Hee, Tan Yong Nien, Sazali, Eric Loh

Today, Singaporean mourn on the demised of one of its founding member, Dr Goh Keng Swee. Stories/ news in the papers these few days tell us how this man has played a part in shaping Singapore. He laid the foundation for industrial development, ensuring the stability of our currency’s value by eschewing deficit financing, having our own military organization etc, etc, etc….In other words he has his fingerprint on most of the important policies. Today, we can still feel the impact on some of those policies.

The policy that has impacted me most was the promulgation of National Service (NS) in 1967. It was meant to build a defense force by enlisting all male Singaporean by the time they leave school at the age of 17 ½. Regretfully, many in my community were not in the enlistment list for reasons publicly unknown. We were having hard time looking for decent jobs then as many employers preferred those who have done their NS.

The reasons for not enlisting many in my community was only made known to the public in late 1976 ten years after its promulgation during a dialogue session with an MP of T Belangah, Mr Ahmad Halim. In the early years of our independence, the armed forces were overwhelmingly comprised of Malay soldiers. To correct the racial imbalance, a ‘temporary stop’ of Malay recruitment is required. Thus many were not enlisted during this period. But why after 10 years was it then revealed????

My salutation goes to Mr Ahmad Halim. I was enlisted in 1977 at the age of 19 when many others of my age were completing their stint. But it’s never too late.

And my empathy goes to my brother, uncles, cousins, relatives, neighbors,friends and many more in the community who were not enlisted due to this policy.