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A cheap stereo system with audiophile quality at different price points

A caveat. I have spent days looking at reviews to try and assemble these systems. Trying to keep them affordable involved various comparisons. Amps SMSL is universally acknowledged to have the most bang for the buck. Very high quality internals, an enormous range of EQ adjustments and high quality amp chips. There are two that stand out.  SMSL AOa200 Mk II and SMSL A300. Both output a true 85W/channel but the 300 has more features, most of which you might not use. Aiyima A70 has been crowned the best class d budget amp. Output 90W/channel. They all accept Bluetooth, but the SMSL models have the better codecs. After careful review, I recommend any of these three. All have subwoofer out connections for either active or passive subwoofers. But, and it's a biggie, the Aiyima does not have a high pass filter to offload bass signals to a subwoofer. If you do not want a sub, then no worries. I will explain in my speakers choices why you may not need one. Speakers Polk Audio offers two mod...
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Budget stereo system comparisons from 5 different AI systems

I have been searching for a budget stereo system under ₹50,000 that would be comprised of a Class D mini amplifier, a pair of decent speakers and a subwoofer. Bluetooth is a good option, but I was more interested in offloading the lower frequencies onto a subwoofer and to do so, the amp should have a "High Pass filter". I can play High Resolution Lossless Audio from Apple Premium Music through my tiny Fosi DS2 DAC's headset output into the RCA inputs on the amp. Super cheap streaming. I posed the following question to all of the 5 AI apps on my mobile to see what they recommended for me to buy. " Recommend a list of budget, home use, class d amplifiers available in India, that have a high pass filter to offload bass onto a subwoofer and away from the main speakers. List price and where to buy in a format easily readable on a mobile phone." Claude AI 3.5 Sonnet I've listed five popular options available in India that meet your requirements. All these amplifie...
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Giving medicine to my little bundle of joy, JoJo

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Perhaps "little bundle of joy" is a misnomer. He is actually quite large, fierce looking and has a mouth the size of a laundry basket. When he yawns and exposes the vast expanse of his jaw, teeth, muzzle and various other bits, it can be disturbing to those who don't live with him every day. Even  we get a tremor every once in a while. Realizing that Rottweilers have the second strongest bite of any canine, except for the Gran Canaria, is no comfort when your dear pet gives you a rumbling growl when you try to either put in or entice him to eat a pill. Thoughts of screaming, dismemberment, sundry portions of anatomy missing, etc. gives one pause, don't you know? Our esteemed, admired and much put upon vet, Dr. Uniyal, once gave the fastest injection ever done by man to canine that I have ever witnessed. Jojo was chained to the railing (a very strong work of the ironsmith's art, by the way), gave the approaching veterinary professional a more than wary ...
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Cost of an operation. US vs Third World India

[ ] Digital X-Ray with contrast gel [ ] CT Scan (GE 2021 model) [ ] HIV test (Negative) [ ] Covid 19 test (Negative, had 2 jabs already) [ ] Blood test (Full panel) [ ] X-Ray chest (Digital, Toshiba) [ ] ECG (Normal) [ ] 2D Doppler Echogram (2019 model) [ ] Full, detailed medical history taken [ ] All Drugs needed for Pre-Op, Surgery, Post-Op & Recovery [ ] Anesthesia (Expert application of spinal block by Dr. of Anesthesia) [ ] Operation Theatre (2 Sr. Residents, 1 Jr. Resident, Surgeon, Anesthesiologist, 2 Surgical nurses, 1 Technician) [ ] Surgery (Removal of sinus infection site in left foot done by Prof. Dr. Navneet Badoni, Head of Orthopaedics) [ ] Post Op (1 Sr. Nurse, 2 nurses, 2 ward attendants) [ ] Private Room (1 Sr. Nurse, 4 Nurses, 1 Attendant per shift) [ ] All services performed at a large teaching/charitable hospital that sees roughly 8-10 thousand Outpatients per day and has its own oxygen generation plant. [ ] Total costs for the above is Rs 29,272/- ($393) Estima...
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Older posts

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The Road Caste system of India  and Black Pepper restaurant review We refer to India as a “democracy”, but almost everything that goes on has some bearing on caste. It is a fact that is seldom referred to by politicians, but they play to their caste “vote banks” and their prejudices, every single election. When 43% of the elected politicians have either criminal backgrounds or serious cases pending against them, that is to be expected. A Gandhian outlook does not exist. So let us see if we can determine how an ordinary person can distinguish who is what on the roads. Walking person, means either poor, or lives nearby, based on distance to nearest dwelling. Bicycle rider - working poor, farmer, tradesman, etc.. generally riding a Hero bicycle that is 5x heavier than a Western bike, has a single gear, but has robust everything else. It will last you 20 years without much maintenance to speak of, a thought that rarely crosses the owners mind anyway. Old, steel scooter -  pro...
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Great value bookshelf speakers at a low price

I have spent days researching a list of speakers to recommend to a friend of mine. His budget is less than Rs 25,000/-. He is willing to go passive or active speakers. Another friend has an amp I dearly love, Fosi Audio BT30D Pro with a 32V power brick. He drives an old pair of B&W bookshelf speakers with that and they get loud!! (I recommend the amp!) Methodology (Reference sites I checked for speakers in budget) Audiosciencereview.com Erinsaudiocorner.com Rtings.com Stereophile.com Whathifi.com I respect the top two because they use some very advanced gear to test speakers with and I find their recommendations to be based on both subjective (listening) and objective (measuring) data. I looked at 63 speakers, including ones not available in India. I ended up with a recommendation for 9 top ranked speakers. Active and Passive. All would benefit from a sub-woofer because of their somewhat diminutive sizes, but they should fill up a medium sized room very well. If you wanted to set u...
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The Insanity gripping Dehradun

 Yes, I am back after a self-imposed, lengthy absence. Ennui is to blame. Now, onto current matters. We live on the outskirts of Dehradun, West of Rajpur Road, in a village surrounded by Sal forest. It used to be idyllic, now, not so much.... It was quiet. Single lane road, no traffic, we knew the neighbors well. My wife and parents were the first non-villagers to move into the Gaon. They bought .75 of a Bigha of land, roughly 675 square yards and built a cottage with 1 bedroom downstairs and one upstairs. When built, the home was surrounded only by farm plots. Horses and cattle used to graze outside their windows. In the beginning, water was brought from the village water tank in large jugs. It was the first home my In-Laws had ever owned after living all over India, North and South. They paid 5.5 Lakhs in 2003 and built their home in 2005. That works out to Rs 815/sqyd. Granted, the seller needed money to cover his daughter's wedding, but the price was roughly in line with market...
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