Hking the Carolina Woods

Recently, I visited Willis, Nisa, and Melon in Charlotte.  One day we went hiking in the Lake Wylie area, specifically the McDowell Nature Preserve.  My god, the forest was lush!  (This from a dry Utah boy where all summer has seen air polluted by forest fire smoke).  Here are a few forest pics.

And one of intrepid hikers...

Interesting moss stripe on this tree...

I like how the park did these little picnic areas, on the edge of a ravine leading to the lake...  and overlooking the lake.  Very nicely done.

A couple of the lake (Wylie) and the number one sport in Carolina (fishing!).  The lake also supports private houses and boats, canoeing, kayaking, and tour cruises...  a neat recreational area.

A curious sculpture outside the visitor's center...

And a variation of "unattended kids" from inside the center...

And the family...  a big thank you to Willis, Nisa, and Melon for the fun hiking (and super BBQ afterwards!).

Dynaco Lives II

In a previous post, I described my upgrades to old 70's Dynaco equipment.  Well, just as I finished upgrading the power supply and jack field, new line cards were announced.  So I immediately ordered them, with the JFET OP2134 op amp option, and once again tore into the PAT-5 preamp.  Gilding the lily, I also ordered a step volume control from Goldpoint.  Several hours over several days, I finished the preamp once again.  Below is a pic during the install, and a couple of the finished mods.  The opamps are at the bottom of the cards, but the stepped volume control is prominent.j

Thanks again to Dan at Update My Dynaco for the mods.  The sound is great, and the pleasure of renewing these classic components is indescribable.

Finally a pic of the current setup with an HHb 850 CDR and Wharfedale Diamond 225 speakers.  Hirez files are played from a new iPod and Oppo DAC.  In the background is the Dynaco Stereo 120 power amp previously upgraded.