Tibia

Jidis... McMaster-Carr is one of those very unusual distributors. They actually do stock most all things from their catalog. For one job I needed a tool from their catalog. Was in the area of their Los Angeles branch. Drove over and picked it right up. No other company had one in stock within 100 miles. Its very unusual when they don't have an item in stock at one of their facilities. Tibs

Paul When you get around to connecting the Conn 650 amps be carefull as there may be a dc bias voltage at their input. When my 650 was still 'whole' ;) I added an Alesis MicroVerb between the preamps and power amps. Found that one or the other (don't remember which) added the dc bias. Had to use a blocking capacitor to protect the reverb. Also improved the sound... only got junk out of the system without the blocking capacitor. The above advise 'may' save a SoundBlaster or two.... ;) Bob (in nearby Corona)

Dengel... "One other thing: I planned on sealing the edges of the boards where the board meets the rubber with a thin silicon layer. Will that help things, if I can prevent new air from getting in there?" Make sure you use an electrical/electronics grade silicone as the generic type gives off acidic fumes during the cure cycle... very effectively etching existing copper traces. Bob

Really like the possibility of RS-485, having used it for a few process control schemes (using the Modbus ANSI protocol). Originally looked at a diy midi to fiber converter for my Miditzer project, but the HP transmitter and receiver are from an earlier standard. Jim suggested the possibility of redesigning the circuit(s) for the newer ST termination standard. Now to find a good diy midi to RS-485 converter project... 8) Bob

A normally open push button could be used as a power switch... but you will also need the push button wired to the coil of a control relay. Then wire one of the control relay's normally open contacts in parallel to the start push button. If, for some strange reason, you would want to turn off the unit... a normally closed push button would need to be wired in series with the control relay's coil. The rocker switch is much simpler ;) Bob

cheater... In the late Paul Beaver's & Bernie Krause's album entitled "In A Wild Sanctuary", there is a cut ("Spaced") that start off with a much more dramatic version. This version may even preceed Dolby Lab's. The Los Angeles Griffith Observatory Planetarium used the cut in their "Mission To Mars" program many years ago.