Archive for July 13th, 2008
Peter Gabriel Says iTunes Is Too Powerful
In a wide-ranging interview, PG talks about how the internet is changing music distribution, his notion of an ideal web site, and his upcoming album.
Among other things, he says iTunes is too powerful (Amazon and others are changing this) and that the record labels can and should morph into ’services businesses’ catering to artists.
Read all about it in this video clip.
The Perils of Audiophile Solder
To my growing list of “audiophile stuff that doesn’t work” I must now add solder!
Here’s what Bruce Rozenblit, owner of Transcendant Sound, has to say:
Don’t Use WBT Solder On My Kits. I have had to repair a couple of kits recently that used WBT solder. The flux used in it does not properly wet the metals used in terminal strips and tube sockets. It just doesn’t stick and flow well to them. It works fine on gold-plated terminals. Beginners think solder is supposed to act this way and don’t realize what is going on and get bad joints. Do you yourselves a huge favor and just use Kester brand solder. I use Kester 245. If you want to use a no-lead variety, use one of theirs. In fact, don’t use ANY audiophile grade solder on my kits. I don’t know what’s in them. Several kits use a bare heavy copper wire as a ground buss and some have reported to me that they had great difficulty soldering to it. I could not understand what the problem was. Now I realize that they all were using some kind of audiophile grade solder. Solder has nothing to do with the way an amp sounds but it sure can ruin a kit.
I myself have had mixed results with some name-brand solder that I bought from Parts Express. But never a problem with Radio Shack brand! Go figure….