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You are correct. I want to change out all fuses including the rail fuses inside the MXRs.
I will let you know which fuses I end up going with and if I hear the difference after all is said and done.
Going to an 8 amp AC line fuse will work fine for the MX-R power amp. The fuse will only blow in the case of drastic overload, for example if one of the transformers were to short circuit. In a case like that, either fuse will blow immediately. Just don't replace the fuse with a piece of solid copper rod or something silly like that. On the other hand I doubt that it will make much sonic difference. Let us know what you hear please!
Best regards,
Charles Hansen
Ayre Acoustics, Inc.
Also, my kxr remote controls the dx5 but is there a way I can press enter on the kxr remote so that I can start playing a blu ray without the dx5 remote?
Hello Sword,
Blu-ray discs are quieter than CD's on all players. It's a battle of two competing sources. CD's only have 16 bits and therefore have a much more restricted dynamic range -- 48 dB less!! Then there is a belief that a loud song on the radio station will attract the listener's attention, so pop-music CD's are mastered to be as loud as possible with very little dynamic range. For movies, the opposite is true. They think that the movie will be more "spectacular" if the explosions are REALLY LOUD!. So they put the normal dialog at a really low level. Then you jump out of your seat when a the LOUD EXPLOSION comes along.
There are two ways to address this -- adjust the volume manually when switching formats, or go into the setup menu, select "Audio Processiong - Dynamic Range Control" and then select "On". This will reduce the dynamic range on the movies so that they are more similar to music discs.
There is excessive DC offset in one of your components. If you have a multi-meter and an assortment of hand tools, you can adjust this yourself. If not, see if one of your buddies can help you out. It's a pretty straightforward operation if you have a technical background. If you don't, you can always send the unit back to the factory, but that is a pain. Who is your local dealer? Sometimes dealer still actually have service departments. It sounds to me as though the DC offset is originating in the DX-5. All of the Ayre components are true DC amplifiers, with no servos or coupling caps. Michael can help you figure out which unit is the source of the problem and give some instruction on how to adjust the DC offset. 303-442-7300 x223.
Charles Hansen
Ayre Acoustics, Inc.
I have a question about the front USB input on the DX-5. I know the quality would be mediocre, but what would be the best video format that would play from it? I tried downloading a YouTube video as mp4, but the DX-5 doesn't recognize it.
There's always a couple of resources to use. The first is to go to the Ayre website, look under the DX-5 and then check "Manual and Support", then press the "FAQ" button. This FAQ was modified from the unofficial FAQ kept up by Bill McClain for the Oppo BDP-83, but with all of the changes necessary for all of the features of the Ayre player.
In this case, go down to the Media Files section. There is information that may or may not help you there. In this case I think you are out of luck. Most browsers have plug-ins to save YouTube videos as either MP4 or FLV (Flash Video). Neither one is supported. So you would have to find a transcoding program to convert the file type into something that is supported:
I was really hoping that with Blu-ray that the video formats would pretty much stabilize. But two months after we launched the DX-5 they released 3D. That was kind of silly so I wasn't too concerned (hey, nice glasses, dude!). But with all the streaming and now 4K and everything coming so quickly, I think that we are going to change our emphasis. Future products from Ayre will probably have the lowest possible priced transports, with the most money reserved for audio DACs. We may or may not do anything with video processing and/or switching. But even that is getting wacky.
I was thinking about making something like the DVDO Quick 6 HDMI switcher, but with an isolated audio output. Isolating the audio and video systems makes a HUGE difference in both sound and picture quality. All of our players do it, but when you start adding other video sources, it can defeat the isolation.
But I recently did an install for my sons' high school and found something that was brand new to me. It's probably old hat to you guys, but it is definitely going to replace HDMI. And that is HDBaseT. If you haven't seen it yet, it solves all of the problems of HDMI, specifically point-to-point only and very limited length cables. With HDBaseT, they add amplitude modulation to the signal to get more bandwidth without requiring any more bandwidth! It works best with Cat 6 cable, but it the current system can send HDMI (with HDCP), three more 100 Mbs ethernet connections, an IR repeater for controlling equipment that is hundreds of feet away, all on one ethernet cable and a length limit of 330 feet. I would say "DIE, HDMI, DIE" except that it sits on top of HDMI. So when you open up the box, there are actually two chipsets in there - the standard HDMI chipset and then the HDBaseT chipset on top of that.
But my prediction is that by next year most video devices (monitors and sources) will have both HDMI and HDBaseT connections. Then in 5 years HDMI will be gone completely. It is just too limited. They are just now releasing HDBaseT 2.0 and it allows all kinds of cool stuff so that you can have one source and send it to multiple receivers around the house and who knows what else. So it's just as hard as ever to design anything for video that will be state-of-the-art (at least in terms of features) for more than a year or two... But anybody who owns a DX-5 already knows that the picture is clearly better than any other Blu-ray player, and that the sound is in a different league altogether. But if you want one get it quick. Response to the DSD update has been stronger than anticipated and we are very nearly sold out of players. I've got mine, so I'm happy.
Charles Hansen
Ayre Acoustics, Inc.
PS -- You can get a bare-bones HDMI to HDBaseT extender kit on Amazon from Etekcity for $100. Monoprice is introducing some of the new 2.0 versions soon. They will be more expensive but have more features. Then there are a bunch of "pro" grade boxes for $500 and up. But we just got the $100 box set (transmitter and receiver) from Etekcity from Amazon and it works great. We have one killer "Cat7" cable inside the wall with 4 shielded pairs plus an overall shield. Then we bought a composite to HDMI converter and a VGA to HDMI converter. Then the teacher can have any source (even a USB microscope with composite output all the way up to a Blu-ray player) convert to HDMI, send it across as HDBaseT, and then convert it back to HDMI at the projector. There is no compression or loss in either the video or the audio. Pretty slick for high school. Who here remembers the 16 mm Bell & Howell movie projectors and the overhead slide thingy to draw on. Hah! Now they have high-res PowerPoint presentations with live USB microscopes and video presentation in high def.... Then on the weekends they can have movie night and charge admission and sell popcorn!
That is a great solution! Thanks very much for sharing with the other DX-5 owners! There are some very amazing things on YouTube. My current favorite channel is an Italian musician who analyzes all of the Beatle vocal harmonies EXACTLY!
If you like the Beatles or singing or incredible vocal harmonies, you will love this. The newer clips are in high-def and stereo.
Charlie Hansen
Hello Scott,
Thanks for the input. Theoretically there should be no degradation. But as I am fond of saying, "Everything matters."
We bought the cheapest one there is. The chips were invented by Valens of Israel -- www.valens.com. I would be willing to bet that the $100 transmitter/receiver pair we have uses some Chinese chips. Also at each end the box is powered by a switching wall-wart. So there are definitely some variables here. What if you get the $500 "pro" level boxes that use the real Valens chipset and also replace the switching wall-warts with linear supplies? The ethernet cable we are using is the AudioQuest CAT700 Pearl. Each twisted pair is individually shielded, plus there is an overall shield around all 8 conductors.
It's tough to do a truly fair comparison. We have good ethernet cable, but cheap HDBaseT boxes and HDMI connector cables (Monoprice). Even our projector is far from state-of-the-art. I got the cheapest ones that had full 1080p, three chips (no rainbows), optical zoom (preserves resolution), and mechanical lens offset (not electronic keystone correction). $1300 Epson 8350's not bad, but not state-of-the-art. I've heard from a cable manufacturer that a good HDMI cable make much more improvement to the sound than it does to the picture quality. But when we experimented with the fiber-optic DVI cables from Sumitomo, the picture quality improvement was not subtle. Time will tell. One thing I know for sure is that HDMI is the absolute worst digital audio connection ever devised.
Keep us posted!
Dear Charles,
I'm a newbie on this forum, but not a newbie to Ayre products. I currently use MX-R and DX-5 in my system (before DX-5 came about, I owned C-5xeMP). Recently Brent put me in the line for the DSD update, so I look forward to that. I have a few questions, but I'd rather ask them one at a time.
You've mentioned earlier that you are running out of (Oppo) parts for DX-5 and that the machine has almost reached the end of its life cycle. So what's going to happen to DX-5 next year? Are we to expect a new reincarnation based on a different transport (other than Oppo) or will it be farewell for good and never to be manufactured again? If the latter is true, what's going to happen if next year my laser dies on me? Do you have a mountain of new lasers stashed away to keep us-DX-5 lovers-supplied and happy until ripe old age?
There will be no DX-5 next year. That much we know for sure. Instead we will probably make a Q-5 multi-input DAC and a T-5 transport. Past that, I'm not really too sure what features these products will have. But one thing is for sure - just as with USB DACs, we will have a way to completely non-proprietary way to eliminate jitter originating from the interface between the two boxes. That is why we have never built a two box machine. We will probably end up with several transports -- one for Redbook CD only, one for all audio formats, and another for all audio and all video formats. We may make some other goodies that will eliminate the jitter problem that is part of HDMI when used to transport digital audio. I doubt that all of these will be in the 5 series. Some may be in the 9 series, some in the 5 series, and some in the R-series. But they all have a similar cosmetic "feel" so they can be mixed-and-matched for your particular needs.
Regarding the transports, we have nearly 20% as many spares as total players ever built. So far they have been very reliable. I think we have replaced two, and this was for mechanical noise issues, and not actual failures. If they stay at this failure rate, I don't think we will run out before 5" optical discs are completely replaced by some other storage medium. The worst case would be that they would all last ten years and then all die at the same time. Then about the only thing you could do would be to receive some sort of credit from Ayre to be used to be used toward the purchase of a new product. Ideally all of our products would have a minimum of a 10-year life span., and 20 years would be better. One thing you could try would be to call up Oppo and ask to purchase a spare drive for your own use. They said that if we had one defective one that we could return it and they would replace it for $60, which is a ridiculous bargain. So I said, "great, I'll take 20 of them". The CS rep said "Please hold a moment." Actually the failure rate had been lower than expected so they would sell us 10 at a time. The only problem was that hey had to raise the price.They actually sell the single units for less than their OEM cost. He said that we could purchase s many of them as we wanted for $120 each.
The bottom line is that if I were a DX-5 owner, I would contact Oppo and ask to purchase a replacement drive. Tell them that it is starting to skip occasionally and that you would like to have a replacement on hand for when it fails. $120 is pretty cheap insurance. I've heard horror stories about expensive players from other companies that used Philips transports. They were incredibly set on changing them every year because they could figure out how to make them for $0.03 less. So some poor customer would buy a fancy two box system with a $10,000 outboard transport using a mechanism supplied by Philips. After a few years the laser would die and no replacements were available at any price. So they would end up with a $10,000 paperweight instead of a disc player. That would be a bummer.
I would guess that we have enough replacement transports to last at least another ten years. But we have no way of knowing if they will all die after seven years, or if they will all last for 30 years. We can't afford to inventory four transport mechanisms for every player every made by us. So probably the best compromise is that we keep a reasonable stock on hand and that the real customers who plan to keep these things for a while should plan on purchasing replacement transports as an extra "layer" of insurance.
Features like the ability to stream Mog, Spotify, and YouTube will come on go, but actually achieving superior video and audio quality never goes out of style!
Best regards,
Charles Hansen
Ayre Acoustics, Inc.
Hello Sword,
There are two ways to address this -- adjust the volume manually when switching formats, or go into the setup menu, select "Audio Processiong - Dynamic Range Control" and then select "On". This will reduce the dynamic range on the movies so that they are more similar to music discs.
Everything that you mentioned above I have understood from your past posts and the internet and from past conversations with various people in the industry for years. The reason I brought it up again is because I have never seen anything that had such a large gap. The fact that the gap is not that large between CDs and Blu-Rays when played back on a PS3 (of course Dynamic Range Control is disabled on that as well) versus the DX-5. I will respond to your option 2 because I think that is the issue.
I do have a meter and I would love to adjust this myself. Would you post the information for all to read or would you rather not let people know publicly as a whole because it might add a service nightmare for people that love to play with their own equipment. I am very electrically and mechanically minded so that would not be a problem. I actually don't have a local dealer where I live. I actually don't have one in my state. If you could post how to change it on the DX-5 I can isolate the problem. I have gone through most of the steps regarding the isolation of the problem and the DX-5 does seem to be the problem.
I understand the dilemma, but 99% of discs actually don't need the navigation keys to play the video, only if you want to see the special features and such. I don't want buttons for all of that. I believe I would not be in the minority to actually want just an "enter" button on the remote. That way the disc would load and come to the menu screen where "Play" is always highlighted on the disc menu. It would just need to press "enter". If the remote just had an "enter" button then it would be complete on playing any disc format with the KXR remote. If somehow you could program the remote's "play" button to become an "enter" button when a "play" button doesn't work on a Blu Ray menu screen that would be awesome. If not have it send a "play" command and an "enter" command at the same time so it works with all discs; that would solve the problem. It was a thought that I believe many customers would like. Then again, maybe most at this level has a Crestron or other remote system and doesn't actually use the factory supplied remotes.
Thanks for at least listening.
Charles Hansen
Ayre Acoustics, Inc.
Helo Sword,
Best regards,
Charles Hansen
Ayre Acoustics, Inc.
I would never believed fuses made that big of a difference. Here are some of my experiences so far with the new fuses. I replaced the following fuses thus far.
I replaced the IEC fuse on the DX-5
IEC fuse on the KX-R
IEC fuse on both MX-Rs.
I have not replaced the PCB fuses as of yet because they were out of stock on those sizes but I will soon.
I replaced them one at a time and listened over the course of 24 hours to the differences. I replaced the DX-5 fuse first. I listen with the new fuse and then listened with the factory fuse and then switched back and forth. It was confirmed. The bass response was deeper and richer. All string instruments sounded more real and the bass frequencies were deeper and more pronounced. The higher frequencies sounded muddied. I listened for a few days and decided to call because I didn't like the sound of the higher frequencies. I loved acoustic music or baritone male voices (and even explosions in movies) but something was missing from before and I didn't know what. I had just replaced a fuse.
The supplier told me that because more energy was released into the room the higher frequencies were being affected and that I needed to move my speakers around until the higher frequencies came into the clarity that was needed. With more energy being released, it changed the reflections off of walls, panels, etc... It made sense so I did that. I spent 4 hours moving my speakers inches at a time. I must admit, at one point I got frustrated. I almost took the fuses out and went back to where my speakers were originally and just live without the better midrange and bass. None the less, I endured and got rewarded. Those fuses were an amazing investment on the overall completeness of the sound. I bought full range speakers because I wanted bass down to 20-22 Hz without a subwoofer and these fuses helped me to realize the potential of that bass. I guess that is what makes this hobby addicting. Very small things really change the sound of the system. Is that change good or bad is the hard part to figure out by hours of listening to material you know is good. I spent hours listening to test discs and reference recordings to come to my conclusions. Good sound is a moving target because when you are blown away you can't imagine things sounding better (the way I felt after getting the upgrade on the DX-5) but then they do and you are left wondering how much better can it really get if you are happy now? For the first time in 13 years, I am happy with my system and now I am even happier because of a very little fuse. LIfe has a sense of humor.
Either way, I actually recommend this upgrade. Charles, I believe you should listen to the difference because I would love to hear your thoughts on it. As I replaced the remaining fuses in the system, the dynamic range improved and the magical midrange really opened up. Every fuse produced a noticeable difference. I must admit the differences were smaller with more fuses I added. The biggest differences was replacing the DX-5 fuse and the MX-R fuses. If you do the upgrade then don't get discouraged with your system sounding darker. Play with speaker placement like you are setting up a system for the first time. It might take you days to get it right, but it is worth it.
Dear Jeff,
Thank you very much for sharing with us your findings about the new fuses! As both MX-R and DX-5 user, I find this really important info. I look forward to Charles's response and, with his blessing, would put my Ayre gear thru the "refusing" surgery myself. But, Jeff, you forgot to tell us all the vital piece of information: what fuses did you end up buying and installing into DX-5 and MX-R?
Also, Jeff, we look forward to your report after you've replaced and properly auditioned the PCB fuses inside your MX-R. Would you oblige?
Everything that you mentioned above I have understood from your past posts and the internet and from past conversations with various people in the industry for years. The reason I brought it up again is because I have never seen anything that had such a large gap. The fact that the gap is not that large between CDs and Blu-Rays when played back on a PS3 (of course Dynamic Range Control is disabled on that as well) versus the DX-5.
Is anybody else having this problem? Sword, do you have another Blu-ray player that you can use to compare this issue with? Just any old Blu-ray player will do. I know that many of the other DX-5 owners have a second player for watching 3D and nobody has ever said that there is a difference in this. If there really is, we can fix it, but if it just how the discs are made, there is nothing we can do.
I have an idea that might work. Some of the keys have dual functions. Perhaps we can make the remote such that if you press the "Play" button for a short press that it will send the "Play" command, but if you hold the "Play" button for two seconds, when you let go it will send the "Enter" command.
As far as the DC offset instruction go, let me work on that. It would be better to make a detailed set of instructions that you could refer to and I don't have the time right now.
Charles Hansen
Ayre Acoustics, Inc.
Dear Jeff,
Thank you very much for sharing with us your findings about the new fuses! As both MX-R and DX-5 user, I find this really important info. I look forward to Charles's response and, with his blessing, would put my Ayre gear thru the "refusing" surgery myself. But, Jeff, you forgot to tell us all the vital piece of information: what fuses did you end up buying and installing into DX-5 and MX-R?
Also, Jeff, we look forward to your report after you've replaced and properly auditioned the PCB fuses inside your MX-R. Would you oblige?
Hello All,
There is no problem with replacing the fuses with some of the "high performance" types being offered on the market now. I have never tried them, simply because the price is so high!. We pay only about $0.25 for a standard industrial grade fuse in large quantities that is made in Germany (Wickmann). We always like to use top-quality parts, simply for reliability reasons. There are typically around 1000 different parts in something as complex as a Blu-ray player and if just one of them fails, then the machine needs to be repaired. But when you are talking about a fuse that costs us 100x (!!!) as much as a standard fuse, that is something that we simply cannot afford to do. It is far less expensive to do it yourself.
When you do it yourself, you have to pay normally three or four markups: Actual Manufacturer => "Advertised" Manufacturer => Distributor => Dealer => Customer. If Ayre put them in there would at least one extra mark up. And just as with power cables, there is no way that we could send the correct brand of fuse that would make everybody happy. There are at least four or five brands (if not eight or ten) by now, and some of them even offer different levels of products. And where do we draw the line? With the one AC mains fuse? Or should we replace the four internal fuses as well? As you can see, just as with cables or footers, or things like that, it is better to leave it as an accessory.
We offer our wooden block footers and they are the best I have ever heard (but only for electronics and cables -- they are terrible for loudspeakers!) and they are only $5 each. So if we ever find a way to make better fuses for a price that isn't so silly, we would just offer it as a separate item to sell. Thanks for your understanding.
Best regards,
Charles Hansen
Ayre Acoustics, Inc.
Dear Charles,
Your explanation about why you don't use fancy fuses in your gear makes perfect sense to me. That's what aftermarket tweaks are for!
While I'm waiting for Jeff's response, let me ask you this. On a previous page you mentioned solid silver fuses. That raised my interest. You see, that's exactly the kind of cables I use in my system with your (and ARC) gear: Wild range from AQ. Using solid silver fuses sounds like a perfect path forward in my situation. Could you, please, recommend one or two manufacturers that you respect for their work in this field? Kinda like you respect Cardas & AQ in cables department...
Hello All,
There is no problem with replacing the fuses with some of the "high performance" types being offered on the market now. I have never tried them, simply because the price is so high!. We pay only about $0.25 for a standard industrial grade fuse in large quantities that is made in Germany (Wickmann). We always like to use top-quality parts, simply for reliability reasons. There are typically around 1000 different parts in something as complex as a Blu-ray player and if just one of them fails, then the machine needs to be repaired. But when you are talking about a fuse that costs us 100x (!!!) as much as a standard fuse, that is something that we simply cannot afford to do. It is far less expensive to do it yourself.
When you do it yourself, you have to pay normally three or four markups: Actual Manufacturer => "Advertised" Manufacturer => Distributor => Dealer => Customer. If Ayre put them in there would at least one extra mark up. And just as with power cables, there is no way that we could send the correct brand of fuse that would make everybody happy. There are at least four or five brands (if not eight or ten) by now, and some of them even offer different levels of products. And where do we draw the line? With the one AC mains fuse? Or should we replace the four internal fuses as well? As you can see, just as with cables or footers, or things like that, it is better to leave it as an accessory.
We offer our wooden block footers and they are the best I have ever heard (but only for electronics and cables -- they are terrible for loudspeakers!) and they are only $5 each. So if we ever find a way to make better fuses for a price that isn't so silly, we would just offer it as a separate item to sell. Thanks for your understanding.
Best regards,
Charles Hansen
Ayre Acoustics, Inc.
I hope that you didn't think that I meant that Ayre should include the fuses. I totally believe it should be left up to the customer which fuses they would like the sound of. I have read that some manufacturers design their equipment to tame the circuit distortions of their products by overdamping. I am not sure every inch of that technical description but I do understand that and it seems sad to me when you have designers such as yourself that doesn't hide things blatantly wrong. I understand audio is a list of compromises but some things are just wrong.
Either way, fuses should be supplied by the customer and not really for the expense of the fuses. It is mainly because fuses can affect the sound so differently, why make everyone pay for fuses they are going to change either way?
Again, thanks for your comments.
Any word on when current DX-5 owners can expect to get the DSD upgrade? I am fairly high on the list, but still no word from Ayre about it. I'm sure they are swamped, but on the other hand, the upgrade was announced many months ago and the waiting is painful-especially as we begin to get reports about how substantial the improvement in SQ, not to mention DSD capability.
This is very interesting. I'm thinking of retiring my standalone players and moving to a DAC-centric setup and I'd love to have an Ayre multi-input DAC on the shortlist. Since the jitter reduction will be 'non-proprietary', I take that to mean your approach will work (hypothetically) with *any* transport and not just a T-5?
This is very interesting. I'm thinking of retiring my standalone players and moving to a DAC-centric setup and I'd love to have an Ayre multi-input DAC on the shortlist. Since the jitter reduction will be 'non-proprietary', I take that to mean your approach will work (hypothetically) with *any* transport and not just a T-5?
Thanks for the interesting question. There are two common digital audio connections - S/PDIF and HDMI.
S/PDIF is terrible. It was literally developed not as a way to transport digital audio, but rather as a way to plug one analyzer into each machine coming off of the production line, just to make sure that it worked before it was boxed up and shipped. There was no thought given whatsoever to performance.
The only thing worse for transmitting digital audio is HDMI. As bad as S/PDIF is, HDMI has literally around 100x as much jitter as S/PDIF.
As a manufacturer, you are not in a good place. In order to take a jittery signal and de-jitter it requires money. And there is no way to eliminate the jitter -- only reduce the jitter. So what happens is that the more money you throw at the problem, the less jitter there will be. But there will always be some jitter added by going across either interface, no matter how much money you throw at it.
On the other hand, something like asynchronous USB (a terrible choice of words, as it leads to all kinds of confusion and misleading marketing because of people deliberately taking a unit with an asynchronous sample rate converter (ASRC) and trying to deceive the prospective customer that it is "asynchronous USB". As George Bush used to say, "Nothing could be more further from the truth.")
ASRC chips can measure wonderfully. They are used more and more in all kinds of equipment. The problem is that they kill the music. The way that they work is by literally throwing away all of the original audio data and replacing it with a "best guess" (depending on the algorithm used) of what the data would have been if there had been no jitter in it to begin with. I would never use one in a piece of equipment that had the Ayre brand name on it. Ever.
Since everybody knows that this is a huge problem for digital audio, there has been a solution out in the open for well over a decade now. It is on virtually every piece of professional equipment made since the new millennium. It is called a word clock input. In consumer audio, the only company of which I am aware of that uses this solution is dCS. And of course they make some lovely boxes but one of the problems with them is that they tend to be ungodly expensive...
However, it is an industry standard, and there is a brief mention of it in Annex B of AES Standard 11. So everything we make in the future (when it is appropriate) will have a word clock input and/or output. We can even put an SPDIF receiver on it to extract the word clock from the S/PDIF signal and then the transport will lock to the clock in the DAC rather than the other way around. This will solve a lot of problems.
Any transport we make with an HDMI output will include Audio Rate Control (ARC, not to be confused with Audio Return Channel, which lets the audio from your TV set be piped through your stereo system. But HDMI is going to be replaced by HDBaseT anyway and the one thing missing from HDBaseT is Audio Return Channel, so no big loss.) The only problem here is that the only SSP on the market that has ARC is a Pioneer receiver, that (while excellent for the money) is far from a state-of-the-art unit. However, for those of you with big budgets, we are collaborating with DataSat so that their next generation of SSP's will have Audio Rate Control built in. But that is at least a year away.
The only other way to totally eliminate jitter with just any old transport (which is really quite trivial) unfortunately will not work for video as it de-synchronizes the audio and the video. So we could easily add that feature to an audio-only DAC, but it would be useless for video as that feature would have to be disabled when watching a movie...
So the answer to your question is "eventually". As time goes on, more and more people will add either word clock inputs to their transports and be usable that way, or they will include Audio Rate Control in their SSP's. But today the only other consumer transport that will be compatible will be the dCS products.
The other option is to use a computer as your transport. If you don't care about surround sound, you can purchase a QB-9-DSD and watch movies in "HT 2.0" with no jitter. I've no idea what the picture quality is like from a computer, but I doubt that it is as good as with something like the DX-5-DSD. Well, that is an unfair comparison as the PQ of the DX-5 (DSD or not) is far beyond anything else on the market. So I guess what I meant was whether the PQ of a computer is comparable to an ordinary Blu-ray player. Opinions from those with direct experience would be welcomed. If that is a viable option, it would be quite trivial to make a multi-channel asynchronous USB DAC. But there would be no reason to make one unless a computer is actually capable of delivering high PQ.
Charles Hansen
Ayre Acoustics, Inc.
Hi Charles,
Wow, thanks for the explanation of the shortcomings of S/PDIF. It seems that Benchmark's DAC's use ASRCs in their 'UltraLock' jitter reduction system. I think there are a few DACs out there that output the word clock as well - Mytek Digital's Stereo192 comes to mind, though their background is in pro audio. Fewer still are any transports that accept a word clock input. Do you think some sort of data buffer on the receiver end would obviate the need for word clock distribution, at least for consumer applications?
Yes, the ultimate "buffer" is to rip the CD to your computer and then play it on an asynchronous USB DAC.
We can put smaller buffers into a DAC + Transport combo, but as I said, it is useless for video as you lose all sync between the audio and the video.
The best solution (which will take years to become prevalent) is to put a word clock output on the DACs and a word clock input on the transports. Then the transport will lock to the DAC in a completely non-proprietary way. That is what we will be doing down the road, and I think a lot of people will follow suit. But you will also notice that hardly anybody makes transports any more...
I am sure that a good mod guy like Ric Schulz at Electronic Visionary Systems could easily add a word-clock input to just about any transport ever made for somewhere between $200 and $800. It's mostly a question of supply and demand. If a very popular product comes out, he can make 100 kits at a time and it is very easy for him to do. If it is some weird one-off project, he would have to do all of the work just to modify one unit and it would cost a lot more as he couldn't amortize any of the development costs.
Charles Hansen
Ayre Acoustics, Inc..
Did you ever have time to post the DC offset instructions? If so that would be great. Thank you.
Sorry, not yet. Let me see if I can get our Chief Technician to get to that this week.
Charles Hansen
Ayre Acoustics, Inc.
Also, will the Full Glide Tone be available for high res download soon, or am I remembering incorrectly?
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Yearly Horoscope for Scorpio
The position of Saturn will show you your own worth and no matter how difficult that is, you're one of those star signs that will always stick to your principles. If and when you're in love, just like your opposite sign of Taurus, you'll give it everything you've got. If not, and with Mars going through your sign early in the year, it will set up a real strong sense of passion, lust and sensuality...(Please login to read the rest of this horoscope)
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scorpio Woman
This woman is a power house of pride and self-will. She has an intense drive to get to the bottom of issues, but she'll hide this behind a placid, sometimes magnetic, front. Don't be fooled by the mask as her intuition is well developed and she'll use it to change her life when she needs to. No one else will be allowed to change her, though. Her likes and dislikes are fuelled by passion and she's capable of raising some mighty storms if she's crossed too often. She values her privacy because she often feels vulnerable. She needs a safe place to retreat...(read more)
scorpio Man
Self-control and secrecy are typical of the Scorpion Man. Single-minded, nothing moves a scorpion's opinions once he's fixed his eagle eye on an objective. His motivation is so deep that even he may not be aware of it. Neither will you, unless he chooses to let you see something of the brooding intensity beneath his actions. He takes life seriously and is fiercely courageous when he feels under attack. Quietly ambitious, he'll wait years for the right opportunity before striking. Capable of much compassion, this man doesn't forget either a slight or a...(read more)
Gem Stone Scorpio - Opal
The energies of the multi coloured opal correspond to Scorpio's affinity for the mysterious. Pluto, the planetary ruler of Scorpio is associated with the roman god of the underworld. Anyone who has spent time staring at the seemingly concealed but changeable colours and facets of the opal, can get an idea of the fascinating qualities of Scorpio. The opal reflect the mystical and transformative power of Scorpio. The overly simplistic understanding of Scorpio points to this signs association with death, but Scorpio actually rules the entire life process...(read more)

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MIKE TYSON bares his soul in his autobiography, "Undisputed Truth," that will be released Tuesday. It's not pretty.
The former heavyweight champion is desperate to put his demons to rest, but the book needed an extra epilogue written just before printing to talk about him falling off the sobriety wagon once again.
"Sometimes I just fantasize about blowing somebody's brains out so I can go to prison for the rest of my life," he writes. "Working on this book makes me think that my whole life has been a joke."
Though he has reinvented himself in recent years as a family man, he says he lives daily with the dark past of a junkie who loved to snort cocaine and drink and was constantly preoccupied with finding women to bed.


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Part of the beauty of college basketball, especially when compared to college football, is the ability for teams to schedule heavyweight non-conference opponents. While football teams try to protect their undefeated records by trucking in FCS opponents with little shot of pulling off the upset, basketball's royalty routinely face off before getting into the meat of their conference schedules.
Scheduling major opponents can enhance any team's credibility with the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee, and a few huge wins can rescue a team that gets upset in its conference tournament. Each year, a few teams step up and prove that they're not afraid to hunt big game.
These 10 teams will have tremendous tournament resumes...if they can survive their early-season meat grinders.


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Dritz 3/4"Square Magnetic Snaps-Gilt 2 Pair
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Create easy closures for your bags and purses with the Dritz 0.75'' Square Magnetic Snaps Gilt 2 Pairs. This pack includes two pairs of 0.75-inch, 8mm magnetic snaps that can be used to make your purses, totes, grocery bags and backpacks functional. You can also add them to your jewelry boxes, book straps, gadget covers and albums for safe and secure locking. Read and follow instructions on the back of the package for best results. The item is available in a variety of finishes, each sold separately.
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Health Videos and Articles
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Pokemon Go is a craze that is sweeping the nation this summer and as a parent, chances are your kids are either playing it already or begging for you to download it. In a nutshell, this game uses your smartphone's GPS and clock to make Po ... read more >>
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Exercise and Fitness: Hot Vs Cold and How To Soothe Those Aching Muscles
Q: I have had many injuries and I was wondering when to use Heat vs. Cold? Meryl Da Costa: Good Question, prior to explaining when to use either I would first like to explain what each does. Heat increases blood flow to area which in turn delivers o ... read more >>
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Nutrition: 8 Fruits and Veggies You NEED to Put on Your BBQ This Summer
Cauliflower A great source of vitamin C and K but it's also low in calories and is a good source of fibre. Grilling eliminates that distinct smell that some find unappealing when boiling cauliflower and it brings out the taste in ways th ... read more >>
Posted August 3, 2016 by Carolyn Eagle


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I am a student undergoing a training program. And I have an assignment on taper roller bearings. Now since these bearings have to be preloaded, I have issues with that concept.
Taper roller bearings are usually preloaded with shims etc. this process seems really time consuming! Is these a way to load them with the help of coil springs? how is it done?
Thanks in advance!
aagoyle1 wrote:
The concept of using a spring for the pre-load has been around for some time. The FWD Ford Escort diff carrier springs to mind, with a disc spring for the pre-load on one side. Sometimes caused problems for whatever reason when the spring went weak and the diff assembly shifted. A mate had this and had to rebuild it. The normal thrust loads when moving forwards were towards the fixed bearing. Use that generated high thrust loads in the opposite direction, such as fast acceleration in reverse or hard engine braking might compress the disc spring causing problems we thought.
Another option used by Ford and others is threaded cups holding the bearing outers, this is used in a number of Ford final drive units such as the Sierra final drive for supporting the differential cage.
I'm confused I've always thought and been taught the taper roller are not preload, are you mistaking them for angular contact which are preloaded.
Martin P
A common example of using springs to preload taper roller bearings can be seen by looking at the spindle in a Colchester lathe. Mark.
Surely the use of springs with taper rollers is to make sure that the bearing is located correctly and stays in position, cars use taper rollers in the front wheels ( rear wheel drive) but the bearings are not preloaded if they were they would not last very long. Front wheel drive cars use preloaded angular contact bearings because they can withstand greater stress.
Martin P
campingstoveman wrote:
I have taper rollers on my minilathe, and as far as I can tell they are primarily good for getting the shaft well centered, then for getting the end float right. If you don't need both then taper rollers are a waste of time, though they may also help vibration.
On my minilathe the taper rollers are compressed together by a nut on the spindle, which I tighten until it isn't too tight.
The centering error and end float are then less than I can measure, probably in the 0.5 micron range, and I can't see any serious bearing vibration.
Ymmv, but that's how I use them. No springs. Angular contacts may need springs sometimes (depends on ball material) and load pretensioning, -
- but afaict not taper rollers, which just need to be accurately spaced, rather than have an accurate load on them.
-- Peter F
It`s all that is holding a spindle in a Colchester in position and doing the adjustment at the same time. Note.I`m not saying this is a goodf idea,I`m only pointing it out as a common example. Mark.
campingstoveman wrote:
Depends on the application . In an automotive axle or steering hub ,such as in a 4wd then the bearings are preloaded .
I have worked on large slurry pumps (10 / 8 ) 10" inlet 8" outlet used in the mining industry ,the main shaft that carries the impeller has a housing with large (4" ID ) opposed taper roller bearings usually set to a clearance of 0.010" -0.012" .
On Fri, 19 Mar 2010 14:15:37 -0500, aagoyle1
There are many ways to pre-load bearings and a number of reasons for doing so. Pre load is generally just to 'hold it all together' or in other cases to ensure that the bearing remains in contact (ie the bearing-ed part is correctly located) despite an applied axial load. AC bearings must be pre loaded, TR's may be preloaded depending on the application. eg Front wheel beaings on a (real) Beetle are adjusted with clearance (010" rock at the wheel rim), the taper roller bearings on the front of a Cortina are pre-loaded (guess those examples rather date me); in each case the adjustment is made with a nut on the end of the shaft. eg In a tool post grinder I have there are a pair of angular contact bearings with a coil spring between them round the shaft.
The use of a spring in many applications is a convenience as it adjusts the bearing 'reasonably well' without the need for any adjustment - slap it together and forget it - great for quantity production. A spring can be a coil spring round the shaft between the bearings, it might be a 'Bellville washer' in the housing at one end, it could be a wave spring in the housing (as in the Ford diff). In some cases the preload can be effected by a use-once collapsible component which crunches up under a given load thus loading that particular shaft/bearing set to the correct load, but is not re-usable since another bearing/shaft set will be a marginally different size. As you suggest, shims can be used, but it is a tiresome way to do the job as you need to dismantle the assemdly to make an adjsutment.
In some applications you might use a matched pair of TRs or ACs located back to back and locked tight with a locking ring. The preload is set by the manufacturer by sizing the relative positions of the inner and outer. This is only really for high precision applications.
A brief comparison of the two types: Taper roller bearings have a (much) larger load capacity, though a slower maximum speed compared to angular contact bearings of the same size. Taper roller bearings are significantly stiffer then angular contacts, but have noticably higher friction/drag of the same size Taper rollers are less able to accommodate angular mis-alignment than angular contact bearings Taper roller bearings are less accurate than an equivalent spec. angular contact bearing. - This does not mean that all AC's are more accurate than any TR
Try going to a bearing distributor or contacting a bearing manufacturer direct and asking for their technical catalogue. It will give you the full specs. for bearing types including end loads, accuracies, clearances speed ratings etc. They used to be available for free, but it wouldn't surprise me if they now charge as it is a pretty solid tome, 700~800 pages. The same data is probably on-line, but with SKF at least you need to register to get access.
--- ---
Also don't forget thermal expansion. Depending on what gets warm, the "clearance" may increase or decrease in service. Follow manufacturer's advice, which should take this into account
On Fri, 19 Mar 2010 14:15:37 -0500, aagoyle1
An alternative used on motorcycle steering bearings is simply to have a fine threaded nut & locknut to pre-load the bearings. The pre-load is usually set by the torque on the adjuster nut, though I did once see bearing drag being used as an indicator in one workshop manual. .
Polytechforum.com is a website by engineers for engineers. It is not affiliated with any of manufacturers or vendors discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.


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Hotel Punta Negra
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How has this hotel rated in the past?
- Suites
- Shuttle bus service
- Swimming pool
- Restaurant
- Beach
- Free High-Speed Internet
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Historical Traveler Reviews Hotel Punta Negra Alghero
Decent Hotel
Stayed here for two nights in the last week of September. Paid extra for a view of the sea which was well worth it. Room was spotless as was the rest of the hotel. Staff really friendly and helpful. Very quite and relaxing atmosphere. Did not eat in restaurant except for breakfast which was good. Too far from centre of Algerho but Fertilla a small town with a couple of nice restaurants is close by. The beach which looked on the website is very small however staff gave us directions to local beaches so it was not a problem. Definately recommend this hotel.
The best hotel in Alghero
We went to Punta Negra at the end of October and wos a fantastic time.
Everything about this hotel was superb. The rooms were spotless, comfortable and well equiped and all the staff were friendly and helpful. The breakfast was delicious and the sea fantastic.
I highly recommend this hotel and we'll definitely be staying there again.
Relaxing holiday in a beautiful location
One of the best holidays we have had.
Beautiful views. Good choice on the menu, most of the time I went for the pasta starters and fish main courses which were always excellent.
The beach is 25 steps from the hotel and is excellent. The nice salt water pool is almost unecessary as the sea is so close.
Both the beach and pool have plenty of umbrellas and deckchairs. Although if you did want one of the really fancy sunbeds that would be an extra Euro 5 per day.
The sea was warm in October and crystal clear! I am normally a pool person but when the sea is as good as this, who needs a pool.
I get the impression that this hotel pays great attention to cleanliness, many small touches, the beach was cleaned every day, bins and ashtrays strategically placed, rooms very clean. Everywhere else was always very clean and tidy.
The reception desk staff were exceptionally friendly and helpful. Bar staff great. Evening restaurant staff very friendly but if anything a bit too fast service if you were one of the first arrivals. Breakfast staff could have been friendlier. Would also have been really great to be able to eat breakfast outside rather than in the restaurant.
Originally we did not book a sea view room and the view was dissapointing (courtyard) so we upgraded to a sea view - wonderful view - Rooms slightly dated but fine.
We had a look at some of the other hotels in this area and while they looked good, reckon that that this hotel was the best for our purposes.
Hotel is a very short walk from Fertilia, very small town with one good supermarket, good ice cream parlour and a few bars / restaurants.
Cheap infrequent buses from hotel or Fertilia to Alghero (fantastic old town). Take the bus in and walk back - around 4/5 miles along a fantastic beach.
Great walking through the pine forest or along the cliffs to the west of the hotel. Or hire bikes or a car (available in hotel) to explore a bit further.
We met a lot of very nice people in this hotel who like us were enjoying the perfect location for a totally relaxing, laid back get away from it all holiday.
Loved It
We were nearly put off from going here by two reviews, but we took a chance in early September
We had a great time. Very clean, great polite attentive staff. We commented that the room did not have a mirror for ladies to use for make up and dressing, when we came back, the room had aquired a full length dressing mirror, full marks.
The beach is small and private for the hotel, you dont need to rush down, space for all, sea water was crystal clear and fine white sand.
Can reccomend the sea water pool in the afternoon, a deck chair in the shade is idealic.
Food very good Italian style. This is a quiet hotel that is suitable for the family. Air conditioning works ok.
We are a middle aged couple and we thoroughly enjoyed it, We will return.
Fantastic stay
I had a lovely stay at Hotel Punta Negra from July 30th to August 18th. Beautiful beach, good weather, nice food... it was so relaxing. The hotel staff was always friendly, smiling. Although I do not speak Italian, we had no problem of communication, as the staff of the reception, animation and the restaurant speak English... I have already booked my stay for next year at Hotel Punta Negra. It's really a nice hotel and I will of course recommend it to all my friends and relatives.
Great place to stay
I don't really know what the 2 bad reviews on this hotel were all about, but I can only think that these
people (the american and the one from Manchester) must have been really high maintance. First of all the food was fantastic considering that usually you cannot expect great food in a hotel. They have a very extensive choice on the menu, and enough for vegetarians too. The beach is rather small but it is enough and the sea is emerald green. The pool is not very big either but again it is of the right size, and regarding insects...... I have not seen one that has attacked us but off course you have to expect insects in any warm climate this hasn' got anything to do with the hotel. We went for 10 days with a 6 yr old and I have to say that it is the perfect place for children and the layout of the hotel is very safe. Once a week they organize a barbecue and a local food evening on alternate weeks. We got the opportunity to taste the local food which was great! Just to add one last thing, the hotel is very clean and our room was spotless everyday. The 2 bad comments appearing above have really surprised me and I am sure that these people have just been unlucky!!!!!!!!! They should go back and try again and give themselves a chance...........the air cond was working properly while we were there!!!!!! Only one thing I did not like, the fact that they charge you to use the tennis court but they do not tell you in advance, and the tennis court is not even in good condition. I think it should be free. Drinks and wine a rather expensive for Italy.
Anyway we will defenetly go back there again next year.
Fantastic hotel
It is the 3rd time we go to Punt Negra and we like it so much because in just 2 hours we can arrive in a beautiful city like Alghero and the wether is totaly different from London.
In the hotel the meals are excellent and the rooms are confortable but the best for us is the view, very romantic.
The staff is frindley and the rooms are very clean.
Nice, but..........
The Hotel looked great on the website, but once we arrived we found that the beach, dazzling white on the web, was a tiny piece of dirty hard wet sand next to a road, and the water filled with algae that bulldozers were removing! the pool much smaller than it looked, and the rooms, although clean and serviceable, were just that--serviceable. No hair dryer,one tiny soap, a toilet that had to be manually stopped or it ran all the time--also we were right over the covered vernda and could hear lots of noise till quite late. One day the room was never made up (one of four nights).
--Breakfasts were OK, fruit, juice, coffee, sweetrolls and some cheese and coldmeats for the european crowd, but the staff seemed surly early in the morning. Desk staff sweet, but not all spoke english or any other language besides Italian. Took forever to get the bill and figure it out, although I had warned all of my departure time; still got overcharged on one section but under on another so it worked out--Bartender, though, was great.
Should be called Punta No go
I stayed at this hotel for 2 nights and could not wait to leave. The days were hot (26 degres +) but the staff did not consider this when setting the Air conditioning. They still had it set for winter so the rooms were terrible at night, to hot to sleep and if you opened the doors you got attached by insects. We had to move rooms because it was too hot to keep the doors closed and when we oppened them our room filled up with insects. So you had a choice be eaten alive or live in a sauna.
My girlfriend is vegitiarian but the only thing on the menu they had for her was omlette 2 nights in a row. They did however offer to cook her soemthing different but the food on the whole was ok but not special. However it was so hot in the dinning room that you did not want to stay long in there anyway.
The beach was a joke, it was covered in seaweed and grey. Compaired to the beachs in Sardinia to call this a beach was an insult.
If you want to stay by the pool they charge you extra for sun beds.
I would never stay in this hotel again, I am only glad we booked 2 nights. Any longer and our holiday would have been ruined, but it tooks the edge of what had been a wonderful time in the south of Sardinia.
I cannot stress what a horrible stay this was the rooms are not of 4* quality but an average 3*.
Don't book here.....
The hospitality that you want to find in every hotel
I went there in a low season period with my girlfriend and I found very nice people always smiling and leting me fill at home. The beach is just amazing and the hotel is very close to the towncenter. We were in Alghero everynight and it was really funny.
If you have the chance to go, just go.
And if you want ask me more about.
TripAdvisor Reviews Hotel Punta Negra Alghero
Travel Blogs from Alghero
Aboard Roma
We woke aboard the Italian ferry Roma sailing between Italy and Spain. The sun was rising behind a low cloud. We sailed north for a while, leaving Porto Torres at the top of Sardinia. A woman walked a dog on the deck. Men drank beer at sunrise. Philippine sailors scrubbed the decks with modern power hoses. Italian stewards served cappuccinos. Wind blew water uphill. A man ran with two dogs. A ...
North west Sardinia
... Italian controllers are not being very welcoming and fining yachtsmen for the most menial of things. We heard that at Arbatax (which we will be visiting at some stage) yachts were recently fined for not anchoring in the right places, which are not designated in other languages other than Italian, and one yacht was forced to separate their garbage into organic and the various recyclables and pay ...
Another country
... picked up Julian from the fuel pontoon and then in afternoon went ashore to explore Mahon and get some provisioning in.
Tuesday 4 August
Gen and I went ashore to complete some more provisioning, namely at the markets. Must say they were pretty poor compared to what we've been used to and not cheap.
We then went back to the anchorage and just chilled.
Wednesday 5 August
We were hoping to start the passage over to Sardinia but there are no good winds ...
... got off the bus, walked for 30 minutes on a path under a burning sun with 35 degrees (no trees in the paths, just bushes). But it was worth, to get to Cala Sabina!!! It's a awesome bay with astonishing colours! We stayed there a few hours enjoying some snorkeling and taking pictures of the fishes swimming in the very shallow and crystal-clear water.
My flight from Dublin arrived in Alghero at 2 pm.
I went straight to the beach! I really missed the sun and the Sardinian sea!!!
I love my land and I love Alghero. Alghero is always Alghero, 'cause it has the beaches, and what beaches! And also, it has some movida at night, and nice shops, restaurant and bars...
Alghero has a soul that catches you, wherever you come ...


text:
Invading Cuba, Packing Artworks
Miami collector Ella Fontanals-Cisneros was 14 years old when she and her family fled the political upheaval of Cuba's revolution, but now she—and part of her acclaimed collection of contemporary art—are headed home.
This week, Ms. Fontanals-Cisneros said she's planning to send around 85 pieces from her vast art collection to be exhibited in Havana's National Museum of Fine Arts in May. The exhibit, "Multiple Views: Selections from the Ella Cisneros-Fontanals Collection," will open May 12 to coincide with the 11th Havana Biennial, a citywide survey of new art trends.
Her collection, which she began in the 1970s, is well known for its holdings in contemporary photography, geometric abstraction and video art, so the resulting show reflects this diversity. (She displays works in her private museum in Miami, and the Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation is planning a museum for her art in Madrid.)
One of the largest pieces headed to Havana will be Ai Weiwei's towering circle of 75 interlinked bicycles from 2003, "Forever Bicycles." Other highlights will include Olafur Eliasson's oversized glass-and-mirrored sculpture, "Blue Double Kaleidoscope," from 2005, and Barbara Kruger's 1984 photograph of a hand caught in a net, "Untitled (We Are Objects of Your Suave Entrapments)."
Curator Osbel Suárez also included several works by Latin-American artists like Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, whose video, "Surface Tension," zooms in on the image of an eyeball that's been computer programmed to follow viewers around the room. Also on view will be Cuban-American performance artist Ana Mendieta's haunting 1975 film, "Rock Heart with Blood," which shows the artist lying in a self-dug grave. New York-based performance artist Marina Abramovic has signed up to participate in a lecture at the museum, Ms. Fontanals-Cisneros added.
Collaborations between Cuban museums and collectors from the Miami diaspora are rare, but Ms. Fontanals-Cisneros said she wanted to "build bridges" with Cuba's art lovers and give them a chance to see "art they rarely have access to."
—Kelly Crow


text:
MELROSE, N.M. - Randolph Weather "Randy" Woolard, 62, died Friday, Jan. 11, 2002.
Services will be at 2 p.m. Monday in First United Methodist Church with the Rev. Danny Sanders officiating. Burial will be in Melrose Cemetery by Muffley Funeral Home of Clovis.
Mr. Woolard married Darlene Anderson on May 1, 1959, in Glendale, Ariz. He retired from the Air force in September 1978 after serving 22 years.
Survivors include his wife; a son, James Woolard of Corpus Christi, Texas; a daughter, Janet Wilson of Melrose; two sisters, Lenore Bailey of Virginia and Kathy Koledziej of Chicago; two brothers, Carlton Woolard of North Carolina and Carey Woolard of Denver; and two grandchildren.
The family suggests memorials be to American Cancer Society, P.O. Box 3108, Albuquerque, NM 87191-3108.
Amarillo Globe-News, Jan. 13, 2002
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The U.S. Brewers Cup
The U.S. Brewers Cup recognizes and celebrates the art of manual coffee brewing.
At the Regional competition, all competitors are firstly judged in a tasting round in which they all brew the same coffee for a panel of judges who will score based on taste alone. Those that qualify for the next round, will brew and present their own coffee.
Road to the U.S. Brewers Cup Championship
One qualifying, 4 day event this winter in the geographic center of the country.
- Brewers Cup will be open to 50 competitors and include both compulsory and open service for all competitors.
- The top 6 Brewers Cup competitors from the Western Conference and the top 6 from the Eastern Conference will be determined. Each of these 12 will automatically advance to US Brewers Cup.
- The 24 remaining highest scoring brewers from the entire country will advance to the initial round of the USBrC.
The U.S. Brewers Cup Championship
The United States Brewers Cup is an exciting competition that highlights and celebrates the fine art of manual brewing. Competitors are judged in two rounds by skilled coffee tasters. The first round is a blind tasting, the competitors all brew the same coffee on their chosen manual devices. Those who advance to the second round will brew and present their chosen coffee to the judges' panel. The winner of the U.S. Brewers Cup will represent the United States in the World Brewers Cup Championship.
current & past champions★ ★
Todd Goldsworthy
Competing for:
Klatch Coffee
Los Angeles, CA
2016- more -
Sarah Anderson
Competing for:
Los Angeles, CA
2015- more -
Todd Goldsworthy
Competing for:
Klatch Coffee
Los Angeles, CA
2014- more -
Erin McCarthy
Competing for:
Counter Culture Coffee
New York City, NY
2013- more -
Andy Sprenger
Competing for:
Caffe Pronto Coffee Roastery
Annapolis, MD
2012, 2011- more -
Our Event Hosts★ ★


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Our colourful Christmas Tree Dress features tutu layers in the skirt to create a fantastic Christmas tree look! An ideal alternative to traditional Miss Santa outfits.
Costume includes:
The Christmas Tree Dress features tutu layers and is printed with red baubles and gold stars.
Also included is a green hat with a gold star at the top.
Sizes for this costume are:
Good item, just check to make sure stars are well glued or you may lose a few!
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text:
Senate confirms Kerry nomination for secretary of state
WASHINGTON -- The Senate today overwhelmingly confirmed President Barack Obama's choice of five-term Sen. John Kerry to be secretary of state, with Republicans and Democrats praising him as the ideal successor to Hillary Rodham Clinton.
The vote was 94-3. One senator -- Kerry -- voted present and accepted congratulations from colleagues on the Senate floor. The roll call came just hours after the Senate Foreign Relations Committee unanimously approved the man who has led the panel for the past four years.
Kerry could be sworn in as early as Wednesday. A welcoming ceremony is planned at the State Department Monday.
Obama tapped Kerry, 69, the son of a diplomat, decorated Vietnam veteran and 2004 Democratic presidential candidate, to succeed Clinton, who is stepping down after four years. The Massachusetts Democrat, who had pined for the job but was passed over in 2009, has served as Obama's unofficial envoy, smoothing fractious ties with Afghanistan and Pakistan.
"Sen. Kerry will need no introduction to the world's political and military leaders and will begin Day One fully conversant not only with the intricacies of U.S. foreign policy, but able to act on a multitude of international stages," said Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., who will succeed Kerry as committee chairman.
Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, the panel's top Republican, called Kerry "a realist" who will deal with unrest in Egypt, civil war in Syria, the threat of al-Qaida-linked groups in Africa and Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons.
Kerry, a forceful proponent of climate change legislation, also will have a say in whether the United States moves ahead on the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada, a divisive issue that has roiled environmentalists.
Voting against Kerry were three Republicans -- Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma and John Cornyn and Ted Cruz of Texas. Absent from the vote were Sens. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and John Hoeven, R-N.D.
"Sen. Kerry has a long history of liberal positions that are not consistent with a majority of Texans," Cornyn said in a statement. The senator is up for re-election next year and could face a tea party challenge.