What made you feel good today?

[Mechan1k]

Originally Posted by asagaai

Discovering not to overcomplicate things.

Two years ago I decided to buy a decent sound system for my main TV. But space in cabinet is limited in height and my wife does not want a huge system.

So I bought a Marantz Audio video receiver that is narrow and fits, does 50 Watts at 8 ohms by 7 channels. Little underpowered, but I was planning on running 2 speakers Left and right, with a SVS subwoofer.

Got 2 SVS Ultra bookshelf speakers that allow dual amping, as does the Marantz Receiver. This means that I run 1 channel 50 watts 8 ohms into the woofer of one speaker, and 1 channel 50 watts into the tweeter of the speaker. So effectively 100 watts of 8 ohms per speaker.

I set the receiver so the only speakers were L and R and subwoofer. I assumed this meant all signal processing would be sent to these 2 speakers, as well as to the subwoofer.

The sound- dialog was hard to hear. The Marantz receiver has a 500 page manual!!!! - and is not intuitive- and I read through it and tried to jig the settings.

But 2 years on- I was sitting there struggling to hear dialog and the volume max was sorta meh. The SVS ultra bookshelfs are supposed to be amazing- and they were just -underwhelming.

I started to think about getting a centre speaker and a Emotiva power amp with 300 watts per channel, to drive the left and right speakers. Only thing holding me back was extra boxes and my wife not liking it.

Anyway, had a crap day at work yesterday and took today off. Had a coffee, sat down, to try and work out why volume was stuck at going to 80 instead of 100.

Noticed front panel setting had been set to surround- turned that to stereo and presto, massive sound that literally hurt my ears listening to Peaky Blinders.

For some reason the receiver set to surround was not passing the signals for the middle speaker and other surround speakers to my L and R.

Now with receiver set to stereo, all signal is being processed to L and R. Now can turn to 100 volume - but the tweeters and my ears start distorting at 80.

Such a simple fix and there I was about to roll thousands for a 600 watt emotica power amp and a couple of gs for a middle speaker- when all I needed to do was apply some of my gray matter.

The SVS ultras are now sizzling- music and watching good movies- just mind blowing. Watched that 6 on Netflix with Ryan Reynolds and the sound was incredible with the SVS subwoofer.

My wife came home with volume at 73 and she said it sounded like a movie theatre as soon as she opened the front door

Realisation that I am a dumb f&*er sometimes but I am still wrapped- made me feel very good today.

Look at it as a "cheap upgrade" to your home theatre

[Syndrome]

Mods please delete. Wrong thread.

[.:4:.]

Picked up the new work ute today. And man, that service body is amazing. Just having a car with shelves again just makes me happy being able to orginise small stuff and tools. And having all sides open completely is amazing. The triton is nice enough inside. Seats are comfy. Trim is a little more plastic then the ranger, but thats not a bad thing really in a work car, easier to keep clean. On the road you can tell it makes more power and torque over my old 2.2 ranger. With the service body on the back thats wider then the cabin, rear visability is non existant. But its nice jumping back in an auto. All in all it should make work a lot easier having a decked out rig. The other single cab work bought with the same body is for another guy i work with (obviously) and i sent him some photos and he is so excited to fly in from queensland (work trip) and go from parking my haned down van and stepping straight into a brand new decked out ute for the holidays. My old van was decked out, but in the years since, its been handed to a few people and is now a true beat up pile of crap. So i got a new car as my ute wasnt financially viable to fix. The other bloke who had my old van, the van was still functional, he got the other new one because hes been with the company long enough and work want to look after him. The young bloke whos van got written off thought he was getting a new car so was excited when told to empty the rental and pick up a car. No, no, when youre ranked the lowest, you get the hand me down. He was not happy at all. But his job is purely to change light globes, if he isnt happy, he can be easily replaced. Myself and the other bloke have proven ourselves valuable, so we get looked after.

[DFB FGXR6]

Originally Posted by .:4:.

Picked up the new work ute today. And man, that service body is amazing. Just having a car with shelves again just makes me happy being able to orginise small stuff and tools. And having all sides open completely is amazing. The triton is nice enough inside. Seats are comfy. Trim is a little more plastic then the ranger, but thats not a bad thing really in a work car, easier to keep clean. On the road you can tell it makes more power and torque over my old 2.2 ranger. With the service body on the back thats wider then the cabin, rear visability is non existant. But its nice jumping back in an auto. All in all it should make work a lot easier having a decked out rig. The other single cab work bought with the same body is for another guy i work with (obviously) and i sent him some photos and he is so excited to fly in from queensland (work trip) and go from parking my haned down van and stepping straight into a brand new decked out ute for the holidays. My old van was decked out, but in the years since, its been handed to a few people and is now a true beat up pile of crap. So i got a new car as my ute wasnt financially viable to fix. The other bloke who had my old van, the van was still functional, he got the other new one because hes been with the company long enough and work want to look after him. The young bloke whos van got written off thought he was getting a new car so was excited when told to empty the rental and pick up a car. No, no, when youre ranked the lowest, you get the hand me down. He was not happy at all. But his job is purely to change light globes, if he isnt happy, he can be easily replaced. Myself and the other bloke have proven ourselves valuable, so we get looked after.

Nothing like having the right tool, in this case a properly set up ute, for the job. Makes it so much easier.

[.:4:.]

Originally Posted by DFB FGXR6

Nothing like having the right tool, in this case a properly set up ute, for the job. Makes it so much easier.

Its so much more practical mate. My last ute had a tub and canopy. Issue being work wouldnt do anything to make the thing more practical. My last ute was bought for a project manager. So it was fine. He'd load the back, take it to site and unload it. But for me being a service electrician, i have to keep a minimum stock of parts and have all the tools etc. So whilst there is more 'space' in my old ute, only 50% was useable. It had 1 sliding window at the front on the passengers side. So anything that was in the never never, well that meant i had to crawl in. That sucked. The new body is only 980mm tall, so less 'space', but its 100% useable. So this arvo, as i had rushed and just lobbed most my stuff from the rental van into the new car as the rental had to go back, and i had left some gear at home, i spent 5 minutes orginising the new car. And it was only 5 minutes. Not like the old one where you say spend 5 minutes and that turns into a painful hour. And the back is a proper 2.4m long. As today was work break up for the year, i didnt roof my ladders, but a 7 footer fitted easy in the back, id be interested to see if i can fit an 8 foot ladder. Im happy as larry work listened to my years of suggestions.

[Giant Cranium]

Originally Posted by .:4:.

Its so much more practical mate. My last ute had a tub and canopy. Issue being work wouldnt do anything to make the thing more practical. My last ute was bought for a project manager. So it was fine. He'd load the back, take it to site and unload it. But for me being a service electrician, i have to keep a minimum stock of parts and have all the tools etc. So whilst there is more 'space' in my old ute, only 50% was useable. It had 1 sliding window at the front on the passengers side. So anything that was in the never never, well that meant i had to crawl in. That sucked. The new body is only 980mm tall, so less 'space', but its 100% useable. So this arvo, as i had rushed and just lobbed most my stuff from the rental van into the new car as the rental had to go back, and i had left some gear at home, i spent 5 minutes orginising the new car. And it was only 5 minutes. Not like the old one where you say spend 5 minutes and that turns into a painful hour. And the back is a proper 2.4m long. As today was work break up for the year, i didnt roof my ladders, but a 7 footer fitted easy in the back, id be interested to see if i can fit an 8 foot ladder. Im happy as larry work listened to my years of suggestions.

Who made the service body? Mine has a pacific body works one on it. A bit overkill considering these days my tools are for display purposes only

[.:4:.]

Originally Posted by Giant Cranium

Who made the service body? Mine has a pacific body works one on it. A bit overkill considering these days my tools are for display purposes only

Its a caddy. So 3 door, shelves on the passenger side, led lights, 3 roof racks. Its painted, steel construction. Has central locking which is nice.

[Syndrome]

Enjoying some fine Prussian Vodka from the city of Danzig.

[Citroënbender]

Washed all the car windows of the Sydney stash. Eight screens, eight back glass, 36 side glass and one sunroof. Plus fourteen wiper blades scrubbed with a nail brush and detergent solution.

[.:4:.]

Last time i went for a session at the slot car track, i really wasnt happy with my car. It was consistent and handled well, but it, on that track, it was a 7.2 second car. No good. I was there with a mate who runs the same chassis, track and wheelbase, just no setup, and he runs the factory tyres. I spent time setting up his car and i was consistant in his car 7.5. He was happy cutting 7.7s. So not happy, i pulled my slot car down and put it back together. So i went back down to the track and yeah, its back to a 6.9 second car, 7.0 lap after lap. I didnt beat my best of 6.894, but its back. Anyhow. At the track after cutting laps, a bloke rocks up with his kids. And it was a bit unfair. So i pulled the bloke aside and said my car is not precious. He questioned me on that. But i asked his daughter if she wanted to lap my car, she initially declined, her older brother said yeah. Now we were on track and even. So my car runs 7 flat on that track and 8.50 is not going to break anything. So after a few laps i asked the young bloke to pass my car to his sister. She did not want to share my car around. She was cutting laps in the high 7s, so still super respectful, but in the rental i couldnt keep up, yeah, my car and it does go faster, but sharing it around. My kid owns the same car as i. But the smiles.

[MITCHAY]

Got the house all cleaned up, always feels better after that. I've got most of the house work out of the way within my first week of holidays.

[Syndrome]

Željko Kalac calling the A-league a 'Clayton's League'. Classic.

[.:4:.]

Got rain today, not enough though if its raining at my place clearly its not raining where its really needed. But i did get to try the wet weather features of my new ute. So windscreen wipers work good, so does traction control. My old ute the canopy always leaked around the seals, so tools would rust and cardboard would go soggy. Checked the service body on the new car and the drip raip system works a treat. The more i dig around in the new body the more i find to love about it. The cab is not as well finished as my ranger was. Stuff like no map lights, the back firewall isnt trimmed, plastic in places where its cloth in the ranger. Now, this may be to do with it being auto, but the 2.4L diesel in the triton is way more responsive. It doesnt lag off the line, and being auto obviously no lag between gears. I was expecting it to be more like my managers 3L diesel auto dmax. The turbo in that takes it sweet time to make the thing get moving. So ive had to adjust my driving style. So both my old ranger and my managers dmax you have to lean on it then back off to make them go with and form of urgency. The triton drives like a petrol car. You ease into it to get going. So if it didnt sound like a tractor, and if you dont pay attention to the 4k redline, it drives like a normal car. So i love it. Not a big enough detractor, but the only down side of the awesome body is being wider then the cab and no windows, im glad the first thing i did was stick on my blind spot mirror. Rear visability is 100% non existant. And its also harder to judge as its flat white and dead straight. Cant reference a tail light either as they cannot be seen in mirrors. But it has parking sensors and they seem to work good. But if thats the worst, as a complete package im loving the new setup.

Don't know whether to drink it or look at it :p

[Citroënbender]

Just need a slab of 18 year old Coke to have it with. :p

[marty351]

Originally Posted by Citroënbender

Just need a slab of 18 year old Coke to have it with. :p

Philistine!

18yo should be enjoyed.

[jaydee]

Turkey, twice smoked ham, passionfruit and Mangoe cheesecake (made by Mum) with chocolate moose followed by coffee with fruit mince pies (also made by Mum) and chocolate rocky road.
Yes, I feel crook now, but it made me feel good at the time.

[Tassie f100]

No wonder you felt crook if you ate a large portion of MOOSE .Those things are as big as a bull lol

[Tassie f100]

Maybe he means a MOUSSE they are much smaller and tastier

[Fed]

The other day I found out all the little switches on my BA light up at night even the window buttons.
Only had the car for 3 Years / 5K Klms so it still gives me little surprises sometimes.

[roKWiz]

Like yesterday had another great morning mtbike ride in the Ironbark forest here.
Spotted a few baby Wallabies out with there mums.

[superyob]

A litre or two of Wakachangi lager and backyard cricket with my family...

:p

Took the KIA Cerato GT in for its 3000kms check up.

This really is a grand tourer I have never been in a Ford with this many options and build finish quality :O

Feels like we have slightly more booooooost and its in earlier now, or they have fiddled with the trans torque truncations.

Not one squeak or a single rattle in this car, and goddam it loves carving up the twisties around Springbrook !

In fact my 7yr old RIO only squeaks when you get in and out of it occasionly?

And it's done 192000kms...

Ecoboost Stang or a Stinger is gonna depend on how many Doom and Gloom posts I read on here about them.

I have test driven the Stinger for 4hrs and my only gripe is the lack of rear head room..

Oh and the weight...definitely needs more Powaaahhh...more colour options...and maybe more user friendly tuning options.

My Heart is genuinely with Ford, but KIA are definitely winning me over.

[marty351]

Sounds like the horses are bolting....

[Tonz]

As an oldie, I remember Toyotas early days, how they improved as all other Japanese makers,
now Korean are doing the same.
shock horror will we be saying the same about Chinese in 10 years time?

[Citroënbender]

Will you have the choice, or possibly even the freedom of expression?

Grouse day at the stupormarkets. Lots of markdowns, did well. That saving feels good. Plus, two informed people have complimented my heavy facing prune to the neighbour’s sasanqua hedge. One ex fruit farmer, and one consulting horticulturalist.

[.:4:.]

Went up the shop this morning and yeah, its new, but my ute is so clean. I gave it its first wax yesterday arvo and there is not even a fingerprint on the thing, inside or out. Ive never had a brand new car so every work car ive had has come with the optional dents and scrapes. So walking out to something so fresh, even if the grill and headlights look like a storm trooper, 2019 tritons are truelly the ugliest utes on the market, i love my new car. And i really love being back in an auto. Work has really done well with the service body too. I still cant get past how easy it is to orginise the back is when it has 2.2m shelves and it 2.4m long for the open enclosed section. Because i have a shelf aside for personal effects like when i go shopping and stuff, no more stuff just on the front seat to trigger the passenger seatbelt alarm.

Smashed 3 x roo's and drove thru a diabolic storm on wed and yes the bar is now cracked in a couple of places, but you wouldn't know it if I didn't point it out.

Cost $6.20 at Bunnings for new brackets and this time I didn't need to spend 3hrs drilling holes... this made me feel good today !!

Relocated the horn and now the light bar should flex instead of breaking off everything it comes into contact with...

Might be time to go get a spare bumper from the wreckers as well :/

[marty351]

Originally Posted by Tonz

As an oldie, I remember Toyotas early days, how they improved as all other Japanese makers,
now Korean are doing the same.
shock horror will we be saying the same about Chinese in 10 years time?

We were saying the exact same thing 10 years ago.
China will always ching.