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TrustYourEars

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  1. I've browsed the posts here, and some have touched lightly on DIY music servers. My DIY music server might be of interest to readers here, since I've seen nothing like it as I've noodled about the WWW. It's not main-stream, for two reasons: It’s simple and was built-up on a tight budget. Here's it's story. I've got a laptop running Vista, and a Sansa View MP3 player, with ~20G storage. I like to listen to varied music, so the Sansa's in 'shuffle' mode most of the time. It gets loaded from the laptop's MP3 files, and is backed up by the same files on an external HDD. I do my MP3 conversions on the laptop with a VBR between 192-320Kb/sec, using CDex 1.51, which does a good job of logging and retaining the ID3 tags. My home Audio is a 5.1 DD schema, delivered through 2 JBL L100's + 2 KLH 17's plus a Sony center-channel speaker below the TV. With all the woofer/piston area of the JBL's (2x12") and the KLH's (2x10"), I don't need a subwoofer. I've loaded about 2500 tunes onto a 16Gb USB-flash drive, that I listen to in my car. It's delivered via a DUAL head unit with a USB input. Like my laptop and Sansa, the car's head unit does a fine job of shuffling my tunes. Because I don't keep my laptop or another computer up & running OR connected to the A/V rig full-time, I wanted a simplistic stand-alone MUSIC SERVER. It's a portable USB driven music server that easily shuffles all the tunes I like to hear. The parts that do this: Another DUAL single-DIN car head unit with USB input, a switching-mode 13.5V DC power supply, and a cabinet to house the DUAL + power pack. For full integration with the home rig, the DUAL and the home rig are under the control of an HTM SL-9000 learning remote. With TWO button presses on the remote, in about 15 seconds, the random-tunes are spinning. In operation, it uses 16W, or 2W in stand-by mode. It's power switch is set up so it can be left in stand-by mode, or disconnected for the mains. Result: A portable music server that's quickly spinning up tunes, efficiently shuffles the tunes, has its own readout so I can 'see' what I'm setting it up to play, and is totally stable and stutter-free from turn-on to turn-off. Since it's flash-drive driven, I judge that it's more rugged than my laptop. Its outputs deliver audio at two levels, line and amplified: a) Line-level via a 3.5mm stereo jack, plus back-panel L/R RCA jacks. Or, b) By taking advantage of its built in amps, amplified audio is available via its native stereo speaker-out connections. The DUAL's outputs are under control of the it's volume control. The DUAL comes with a remote control, so I've ported its commands to my universal remote, see above. Some might say that the above does not quite qualify for being tagged as an AUDIOPHILE-grade unit, but it's simplicity and reliable playback mean a lot to me. Oh: costs: ~ $80 for the Dual head unit, $5 for the thrift-store power supply, and ~ $30 for a new cabinet, via an on-line purchase, = $115 total! Compared to my MP3 player, it's: More versatile, since it can serve as a stand alone system by just adding speakers. Cons: It's not convenient for finding specific music folders. That's far easier on my Sansa or an iPod. It's physically huge. (I've also built up a smaller 2nd generation version, in a soft-side shoulder-bag.) Got any doubts about my server's abilities? As I'm writing this, my MP3 version of David Grey's Please Forgive Me from White Ladder is playing. The deep bass-thumps that commence at 4:28 are VERY satisfying. Oops....I left something out; I've modded the KLH17's; they're bi-amped for bass enhancement, so you might say I do have sub-woof capabilities. Actually, I did the bi-amp thing to eliminate the typical bass-null that can happen near the back wall in many rooms. So in my listening room, if deep bass is in the groove, you'll hear and feel it, no matter where you sit. That's all for now, folks.
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