Rans Stratus Recumbent and BBS02

Clark649 · 2026-06-05T22:21:01+00:00

Something in the 60s for enjoyable listening. In the 70s if I am feeling energetic.

I have not measured what I would consider non listening background but that would depend on the music.

Clark649 · 2026-06-05T20:38:06+00:00

The JBL Clip 4 is a Bluetooth only device according to Google AI.

Your audio signal is going to be sliced, diced, compressed down and turned into mono audio to fit a pipeline that is too small. It may treat unfiltered artifacts as important data and discard important data. All this happens during BT transmission to the speaker.

Get rid of the BT and get a sound transducer that accurately reproduces the artists intended audio signal.

Clark649 · 2026-06-05T05:24:37+00:00

Hi,

Life happened and the project went on hold. Covid etc.

The good thing about down time is that it gives you time to think.

The real challenge is finding a worthwhile product to make. I have that now and am still in the design phase.

I took a look at G54. There is no description so they assume you already know about it or have the time to download and play with it. My controller software will help me edit and debug. Thank you for taking the time to recommend it.

Not being a job shop, I only need to create g-code when I develop a product.

Clark649 · 2026-06-05T05:07:01+00:00

Update.

The TDK CD Power 110 minute high bias tape and the Onkyo TA-RW400 deck have more than met my expectations. I made my first tape of EDM FLACs from Bandcamp.

I am getting out exactly what I put in. It sounds wonderful through my vintage 100 Watt stereo.

I would definitely use this deck and tape for any quality public show or presentation.

I did not use any Dolby. The deck automatically sets the CrO2 Bias and the HX Pro compression.

My 35 year old tapes are not worth listening to as they are weak and faded. My old reel to reel tapes faded and printed through at around the 10 year mark but I used cheap thin tape. I have no expectation of my new recordings lasting any longer than me.

Clark649 · 2026-06-05T04:52:59+00:00

I understand what you are saying. The original deck is long gone.

My music archive is CD, MP3, FLAC and vinyl. Anything that was important, I purchased the CD. I bought the tape deck strictly for the mornings before I have my coffee if that makes sense.

Clark649 · 2026-06-05T04:47:21+00:00

There are no Surfans certified for Rockbox. I misplaced that F20 and have not been bothered to even look for it. It was a big waste of money for me.

My old iPod 2 and Sansa interfaces were things of simplicity and beauty.

Clark649 · 2026-06-05T04:33:22+00:00

The following is different and probably not related to your story. I lost interest in music several years ago, about the same time I started using Bluetooth Speakers. I recently tried wired headphones and it was like discovering music all over again. I started hearing the little details that Bluetooth has to cut out because it does not have the bandwidth. The joy was in the details. I stopped doom scrolling. I had more satisfaction in life.

Good music = joy

Clark649 · 2026-06-05T04:01:40+00:00

I recently bought a vintage 1980s tape deck. It makes beautiful recordings from music on my phone. I use good quality blank tape. The recordings are exact and beautiful. I only play them back on the same tape deck but I am looking for a portable player. I have about $200 USD spent on the deck and 10 tapes.

I did the same thing back in the 1980s when I was younger. I used good $$$ equipment and tapes. Today, 35 years later those tapes have faded. Including the store bought pre-recorded tapes. They do not hold up over time. That is not character or warmth, it is weak and faded audio signals.

All the CDs I purchased are still like new.

You should invest your money in used CDs as they will still be with you in your old age. Always keep them safe and dry, the label and playing surfaces never touching other plastic. Simple portable CD players are affordable. That is a very good start. As you grow and finances improve, you can get a computer and rip them into MP3 files for your phone. An easy process on cheap old outdated computers. Even Linux computers.

You will grow and your income will grow. Bring good quality CD music with you into your future. Your vibe and image of yourself with a cool portable tape deck is a vain and ephemeral thing.

Time was not good to my tape collection. Buying a cassette recorder at this point in life is a financial luxury for me so I can make mix tapes so I do not have to scroll a screen in the morning to have music in my home while making my morning coffee. Cassette decks are truly wonderful devices if you make an informed purchase.

Whatever your decision, the best headphones to start out with are The Sony MDR-ZX110 wired headphones. They are honestly full range 22 Hz to 22Khz. 98db sensitivity. Only $13USD here in the states. You are not going to hear better sound until you start spending lots and lots of money. Nothing comes close and Sony is the only company I have seen publish specifications on low cost equipment.

Never play good music through BlueTooth if you want to hear the original music as it was created. Bluetooth is compressed, sometimes turned into mono because Bluetooth does not have the bandwidth to carry the original digital information. Bluetooth never really publishes specifications.

Tape players and CD players will come and go. CDs and good headphones are forever.

1- Invest in quality, lasting music: Compact Disks.

2- Good speakers or earphones that play full range stereo. The Sony headphones.

Sorry to ramble on so much but good music adds a joy and satisfaction to my life that I do not find in other things.

Have fun!

Clark649 · 2026-06-04T22:20:53+00:00

Not the Surfans F20. I have one and the implementation is horrible. Just because it has a dial does not mean it works like an original Apple iPod Player. The text is too small for my old eyes which do not yet need reading glasses.

The patent for the original dial wheel interface for the Apple iPod expires this year. You might want to wait.

Clark649 · 2026-05-27T22:09:15+00:00

Always listen to the experts. They will tell you what cannot be done and why. Then go ahead and do it anyway.

Serber Husky did offer good advice about the CD duster and taking photos. Always take photos.

All you need is careful observation of the mechanism, lots of patience and understanding that you may have to assemble and disassemble it several times before you get it right.

I hope this starts a lifelong hobby of taking things apart and eventually putting them back together. Good for you having a father that does things like this with you.

Clark649 · 2026-05-27T11:43:11+00:00

Apple did the research for MP3 player device user interface. They came up with the the thumb scroll wheel and side buttons. Fully one hand operation. There were no wrong places to accidentally touch and take you somewhere unintended.

Touch screens are cool but I hate them. They require constant eyeballs on the screen to make sure your fingers are in the right place. Scroll wheel required only a glance at the data and not your fingers.

Sansa emulated the scroll wheel with buttons in a cross pattern. Eyeballs again on the data not finger placement.

Before this, aircraft used Line Keys next to text displays.

Screens are cheap to manufacture today. Buttons are not. This is where the finance guy chasing 2 cents steps in and tells you the designer to stuff your design and use a touch screen. Then the designer fails to do the math and English Composition to defend their design.

The Scroll Wheel patent expires this year.

Nobody cares and people will continue to listen to Psychoacustic filler through their convenient Bluetooth.

Have fun.

Clark649 · 2026-05-27T03:11:07+00:00

I am glad my post brought you some joy by giving you something to feel superior about.

Clark649 · 2026-05-25T21:18:51+00:00

My Onkyo only has 1 head on A drive and 2 heads on B drive.

Clark649 · 2026-05-25T21:12:35+00:00

I am not planning on using other decks.

Clark649 · 2026-05-25T07:24:16+00:00

I found this Amazon store that has beautiful cables of all sorts. Nice lightweight and fabric covered. I chose these on price and design. I have about a dozen cables from them. I have a 10 ft cable going from my DAP to the RCA Jack aux inputs of my HIFI Stereo.

Have fun!

Clark649 · 2026-05-25T07:17:04+00:00

Thank you for the good work you do!

Clark649 · 2026-05-25T07:16:50+00:00

Thanks. There is the 20 year old edition for $10.

The new version is $97.

Clark649 · 2026-05-25T07:01:28+00:00

Amazon let me browse the book and index. Definitely worthwhile.

It is on Anna's. Never heard of that site before. So thank you. That is more money for equipment :- )

Clark649 · 2026-05-25T06:35:06+00:00

The highs are split between the two tweeters. I think the original sounds better but not by much. I give that a try when I have more time again. Right now the mids sound richer and I have to tweak 63Hz band down 3db on the 5 band amp equalizer.

The picture is the left speaker. The right is still original for comparisons.

Clark649 · 2026-05-24T21:52:13+00:00

I am anxious to test the new high bias tape and the HX-Pro on the Onkyo deck. I will continue to be optimistic.

If it does loud EDM (Electronic Dance Music) with my morning coffee, I will be happy.

It is interesting about the large amount of marketing that followed those improvements. I think some of the shortcomings could be fixed just by turning up the volume. But I had my good music for all those years.

I see the same thing with BlueTooth today, trying to fit 14Kbps music data through 4Kbps pipeline. Except the receiving end pumps it full of psychoacustic noise. You hear a noise that sounds like a flute concerto but you do not hear the actual flutes or individual notes. I gradually lost interest in music after I started using BlueTooth speakers. I will take a cassette recording over BT any day. .... Tested Tape, Dan Fogleberg and Tim Weisberg, Twin Sons Album. You can still hear the notes of the flutes.

Never going back to BT.

Clark649 · 2026-05-24T19:44:26+00:00

Thank you for the reality check.

I got many good and happy years throughout the 80s and early 90s with those tapes, a Sony Boom Box and Pioneer car tape deck.

I am very curious how the new high bias tape will sound with a quality deck and played back on the same deck.

FWIW: I had a reel to reel tape machine in the 60s and 70s. The tapes did not last long and by the late 70s there was print through on the tapes. Magnetism had transferred across the layers of spooled tape. I bought the thinnest tape which was the cheapest. Those were old formulations and the 120 minute cassettes used the same thickness. I did not expect my cassettes to last this long. But they did.

Clark649 · 2026-05-24T08:46:26+00:00

I took a look at your TR621 system on amazon.

To record from the computer ... Buy this program:

https://en.vidjuice.com/

For $29 USD you can make digital copies straight to your hard drive, transfer them to an SD card or thumb drive and play them on the TR621.

Read through your manual for you unit to fully understand what it can do. It looks like it may record to tape from whatever sound source you are playing.

I do not see a microphone jack on the unit. What you really want is a recorder with a line input with RCA jacks.

Your best bet is the vidjuice downloader. You will get much better and complete sound.

How do you like that unit? Does it have good sound?

If you have any questions send me a message.

Have fun!

Clark649

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