Happy New Year: 2023! Let’s Rock It!

Every January 1st feels like a new beginning, to some degree. Take a moment, sit down and write out what you expect from yourself and from 2023. Make it a good year.  

Here are a few suggestions (potential resolutions?) from a guy who has been around the block):

🔹If you are struggling with depression then reach out to family, a trusted friend, or make an appointment with a healthcare professional. No matter how hard it seems or how bad it feels, take that first step- you are worth saving. You can also call the suicidal and crisis lifeline at 988.

🔹Saying “no” can be a challenge for many. If you let people, some will take until you have nothing left- some by mistake, some intentionally and some maliciously. If you can’t do it (if you don’t *want* to do it) then say “no.”

🔹Learn to be happy with what you have (says the guy with cars… I get it). Comparison is a thief of happiness. What someone else has does not impact what you have, and should not affect your personal happiness. Take a moment and mindfully think of the good things you have… you might be surprised. (FYI, there is nothing wrong with “more” as long as the motivations are pure).

🔹Find opportunities to serve. If you have a problem I guarantee it will disappear as you help others. Opportunities to serve aren’t limited to people with a flat tire.

🔹Be kind when people seem unkind. Instead of assuming negative motivations ask yourself this: “Why would a good, reasonable person act this way?” Attributing good motivations to behavior you don’t understand will make it easier to achieve a good outcome.

Stockpile Adventures, December 2022 – Nesting

Installing a Nest Thermostat to control our Warehouse’s gas heater was trickier than I had anticipated. But eventually (and with the help of the Internet) I figured it out.

Originally I thought I’d wired in the c-wire correctly, but I was advised via email that the thermostat had a problem at some point that night. The Nest runs on batteries so it will work even if you’re an installation ignoramus. But on batteries your time is limited. The Nest menu has a wire detection system / screen so you can see what is going on- all the wires need to be blue and my c-wire was not. I found a tutorial online (after an excruciatingly long search) and was able to hook everything up correctly as shown in the top right. All is well now and the Nest has been working great for a few weeks.

Here’s a quick video showing how to use a Nest thermostat with your heat-only system:

Porsche 992 Power Upgrades (Cats & Tune)

There’s something stupid inside of me that keeps wanting more. Is the 992 Turbo S fast? Hell yes. Can it be faster? Hell yes. Because I’m not what people would call “smart” I have been conned into pulling out my ECU, having it reflashed and adding in 100 cell catalytic converters. What do I hope to achieve? Power, friends. I’m looking for more power. One hundred horsepower more, to be precise.

Thank goodness Dagan seemed like he knew what he was doing.

The ECU is out and in California waiting for some special sauce. I wonder when I’ll get it back 🤔

I’ve got VBOX stats for this car in it’s stock configuration, so I’ll be very curious to see where we end up following these modifications. I would think we’d be low tens here in Utah. We’ll see shortly.

Okay, so here’s the build progress:

We got the DME back and some new catalytic converters. Time to pump this thing up to the next level.

Turns out that the cats from Europe have weird tubes coming off of them- those had to go! So we put our project on hold until we could sort that out. Luxe hooked me up with an incredible welder (video below) and then we were ready for the install.

These are the aftermarket parts we put in- new 100 cell catalytic converters and BME air filters. The flow difference on these to cats should be insane.

Dagan, Bryce and I (mostly Dagan) got the install done without incident and then we were ready to do some real world testing. The new cats give the exhaust a nice throaty sound and you can hear the turbo whistles a bit better- it’s perfect. However, it’s hard to feel a power difference in your butt dyno so before the weather got bad I snuck out my my favorite spot and did a few quarter mile runs with with my VBOX. Wow.

91 pump gas, damp roads, high flow cats and a tune got me down to 10.08 at almost 139 mph. That is nuts- it’s the fastest quarter mile I have personally run. If I launch harder (at 5K rpms instead of 4K) and hook I’m 100% sure I can break into the 9’s. A few years ago my 991 was fighting to get into the 10’s! I am so impressed with the 992 platform- a nearly stock nine second daily driver. Unreal. These mods aren’t cheap, but they’re fun! Hoping to get even quicker this spring as well 🤞🏼

This was super fun but be sure to check out the next round of mods to the car.

Movies Watched in 2020

I have dedicated this post to movies that I have watched in 2020 (these have to be fairly current movies from this year or late last year to make the list). Newest movies are at the top. My goal this year is 50 movies, 1/2 in theaters! Let’s do it! 

Movie Count: 29

This has been an interesting year. Most of the movies I’ve watched have been at home, for obvious reasons. I’ve probably forgotten to write down half of what I’ve watched in the last few months and a lot of the movies have been older releases or things I’ve rewatched. I feel like there’s a fundamental Hollywood shift that’s occurred and I’ll be curious to see what the future holds.

Continue reading

Razer Blade15 Laptop Volume Issue – The Dolby Solution (Windows 10)

A few months ago I moved from my 2019 Razer Blade 15 to a 2020 Razer Blade 15. I had a couple of migratory issues that I’ve worked out and decided to do a post or two on the worst offenders.

Quick note: The changes on the new 2020 Blade are so minimal I didn’t even do a write up / post. It’s got a slightly faster processor, upgraded GPU and an SD card slot now. Wheee! The upgrade is so minimal that, in retrospect, I don’t think I would have made the switch. 

For my laptop migration I used an evil hack (I needed to get back in action ASAP). I opened up the laptops and swapped the physical hard drives. This really only worked because the laptop hardware is so close and Windows 10 is a rock star. After being a little confused, needing some upgraded drivers and a slew of reactivations the Razer was in business (I’m still planning to do a fresh Windows installation at some point).

The swap left me with some hiccups. One of the most irritating was that the volume on the new Razer 15 was impossibly low. I work in pretty quiet room (aside from some fan noise) and I was having trouble hearing dialogue on YouTube videos and it was impossible work in Premier without headphones (for whatever reason I don’t like headphones for work).

Normally the solution would be to pull up the device manager and go the “properties” window and navigate to the “audio enhancements” tab (you can increase the volume with “loudness equalization”). But that tab was missing and it wasn’t coming back. I spent hours trying to resolve this. I Googled everything I could think of with no luck.

And then, buried online, in a thread not even really related to my issue I came across a post from someone who said that his computer had come with the Dolby driver and “he thought that made it louder.” What? More Googling with no results. What was this “Dolby driver” 🤔. On a whim I typed “Dobly” into the Windows search box. Interesting.

This is the app that pulled up for “Dolby Atmos.” It’s even “Razer” branded. It’s obviously part of the software that’s automatically installed now by the Razer updater (for more recent laptop models downloadable drivers have been replaced by an update program). This was an exciting find.

With the Dolby Atmos turned “on” and using any of the presets the volume just about doubles. What a huge relief! I suppose this app completely replaces the need for the enhancement tab and, to its credit, it’s much more powerful and accurate. I would surmise that the program comes turned on when you buy the laptop and use it as configured. You run into problems when you reinstall the software, like me. Do most people even know about the Dolby app? I sure didn’t.

The summary version: If your new computer’s volume is ridiculously low check to see if you have the Dolby Atmos app installed and make sure it’s turned on ✔.

Aventador Stereo Build (Morel & Audio Control): Stage One

I have undertaken another stereo installation! This time I partnered with Luxe Automotive and had the opportunity to work on this project with their 12-Volt master, Diego. On the surface this probably seems like a fairly simple install: Four speakers and an amplifier. Between the two of us (mostly Diego) there is well over 100 hours of work in this project… and there’s still more to do!

Stage 1 of the build is complete! Epic.

I am thrilled with the results. The volume can be cranked up and the sound and detail remain crystal clear and it doesn’t feel uncomfortable to the ears. No clipping, no distortion and a surprising amount of bass even without the subwoofer. Some may say it’s a crime, but it’s loud enough to overpower the car’s V12 engine noises which is exactly what I wanted for those occasions when I’m not driving around at 9K RPMs. Luxe was incredibly accommodating and let me help with the entire install.

Below is a quick montage of our stage one efforts:

Below is a breakdown on some of our thinking on the project (the time stamp info relates to the video).

0:05: The Sensonum system is bad- there’s really no other word for it. Specifically it’s bad because it drowns out the vocals, distorts at medium-high volumes and shoots out the most ear piercing shrillness I’ve ever heard in my life. The treble and bass adjustments do nothing to alleviate the problem. Perhaps the system is just terribly underpowered. At the very least poorly tuned. I am truly genuinely baffled as to how this system came to be in any car.

After fiddling with all of the hardware I realized the only real solution was to replace the amplifier. Of course, if we’re replacing the amplifier then we might as well replace the speakers. Originally I was planning to do a JL Audio C7 and VX-based build but Diego, over at Luxe Automotive, convinced me to try out Morel speakers and AudioControl for the amplification. The Morel Supremo component speakers consist of a 1.1 inch tweeter and a 6.5 inch mid driver as well as two crossovers (0:08). The amplifier is an AudioControl D-6.1200 (0:11- there is an additional amplifier pictured here which I’ll discuss later).

0:15: This video contains what is essentially “stage one” of the build. Originally we planned to include a subwoofer but after getting deeper into the project we realized it was more complicated than we had anticipated and so we broke it up into two parts. This first part is the installation of the four Morel speakers and the D-6 amplifier, along with the accompanying wiring and amp rack.

0:15: The first part of this video is showing the inside of the door panels. The carbon fiber covers have been removed at this point (as a side note- they are very easy to take off).

0:25: These are the stock speakers- nothing impressive. Eight inches of paper with a microscopic magnet. From what I understand the Sensonum system does not give you upgraded speakers, just a different amplifier.

0:28: We decided to remove the passenger seat from the car to make our work a bit easier. It’s probably possible to do an install like this without removing the seat but… why? Incidentally, you’ll need to reset the car’s airbag warning light after reinstallation.

0:32: You’ll need to pull out the frunk bucket (is that that official name?) so you can access the battery.

0:36: The amplifier is behind this trim piece in the back seat.

0:41:This is a picture of the amplifier and at this point I’ve cut all the wires in anticipation of the modifications we’re making. You would never want to cap wires together like this in a finished system. Fun fact here: if you look closely you can see that I wired some of the amped speaker wires backwards just for fun to see if it made any difference to the stock system. I don’t think it did.

0:44: It’s hard to see in this video but the speaker in the dash here are C5 JL Audio tweeters that I had installed previously (you can check out my last video to see more on that). They actually made a dent in the muddy vocals, although not enough to save the system.

0:46: You can see the original tweeters here. I had pulled off the factory harness (well, cut it off) when I installed the JL’s and we used them again for the Morel speakers.

0:53: Diego Was able to separate the original speakers from the stock housing- more on that in a moment though.

0:57: There was more disassembly than I had anticipated but thankfully almost everything in the Aventador is clip-based.

0:59: The component speakers are really beautiful and the crossovers striking as well. Because the AudioControl D-6 is a DSP amp we didn’t have to use the Morel crossovers but we really wanted to display them and there are still some advantages to using analog components in a build like this.

1:08: This is some of our wiring. I was really impressed with the Stinger line of products.

1:14: Those badges were tough to get off. Lost an hour of my life to those guys.

1:24: The Acoustics inside of the Aventador aren’t great and the SVJ, in particular, is especially bad with its carbon fiber door panels. The doors needed a sound barrier application but you have to be cognizant of how much weight you add to the scissor doors. They still need to open easily and stay up.

1:33: All the cables were run through the factory firewall; that’s always the right way to do it (thankfully Diego didn’t listen to my ideas about how we could half-ass things).

1:37: We used the original OEM speaker mounts and made adapters. We did a couple prototypes and Diego put together a simple and elegant plate adapter (which you will see shortly). We had watched an install that Brian (Brian’s Custom Audio) had done with beautiful aluminum mounts but for the sake of simplicity and weight we opted not to go that route. There was also the fact that no one would ever really get to see the mounts that discouraged us as well.

1:48: This is an interesting moment here. What we’re doing is actually testing to see if sound is coming out of the head unit directly and if the volume is controlled at the head unit or factor amp level. Originally we discussed leaving the factory amplifier in place and then running the signal into the AudioControl D-6 (they can accept high voltage signal inputs). However, we determined that the head unit was outputting a useable line level signal and we could completely remove the factory amplifier. This is why you see me flipping off the unit here in this next clip. Whatever is happening inside this amp is not good and removing it was a highlight for me. I’ll also mention that there were some CanBus wires going into the amplifier and we were initially worried that there was some kind of functionality loss that would occur, but there has been nothing ascertainable.

1:54: Given that we’re working on an SVJ (a racecar) it was important to me to not add too much weight to the vehicle. This is another reason why we took a harder look at the subwoofer situation. We wanted to create something that was removable both on the sub and the amplifier level in case the car needed to perform at a higher level (like a day at the track). Ultimately with the D-6 amp, the rack, speakers, Sound Shield and cabling, we probably added about twenty five pounds of weight to the car (the sub, sub amp and box would have been another thirty).

Incidentally we lost the stock amp and the frunk divider (which is made out of metal and is about four pounds) so the net increase to the car is probably a little more than twenty pounds.

2:10: The wiring job in this car is top notch. Wrapped, clean, solid. No shortcuts on this one (well, you could argue that butt connectors are shortcut but I’d have to roll my eyes). Kudos to Diego for his meticulousness.

2:24: These are the plate adapters that I had mentioned earlier. They’re really just two rings that are seated together and then the speaker fits inside. I’m really happy with how these turned out.

2:58: This is the amp and crossover layout that will sit at the bottom of the frunk (on a removable rack).

3:03: Remember to do basic testing to make sure your polarities are correct. With a system like this you really want to hook things up correctly.

3:04: This video wanders around a bit because we worked on a bunch of different things at once and it’s just filmed in sequential order (for the most part). This is just a quick shot of the stock tweeter harnesses with the wiring from the JL Audio Tweeters (removed for the Morel install), the Morel tweeters and the fuse install (put it close to your battery), In retrospect I wish I’d found something better to include than these ugly lookin harnesses. I hope no one thinks we used them they way they looked in the video- that wiring & soldering was removed.

3:14: We hooked everything up to take it for a quick test drive (not a literal test drive). I should have picked a better clip for here (one that shows there is some audio signal). As I mentioned the audio control amplifier offers a lot of customizable functions like a thirty band graphic equalizer and time alignment. You can configure everything from a computer via a USB port and you can buy an optional Bluetooth adapter, which we did, so you can even use your phone.

3:21: This is the speaker in the door with the trim back on. After the grill is reinstalled you can’t see it at all- a shame. We looked at some options to redo the grill but ultimately we just left of alone for now.

3:23: This is Alcantara – which is like a synthetic suede – which we used to cover the stock tweeter trim. The tweeter install ended up being a bit trickier than we had anticipated. You can see how we had originally intended to seat the tweeter directly on the alcantara. These tweeters are incredibly deep and this ended up being a issue- more on that shortly.

3:46: Here’s Diego cutting into the dash. In addition to being thick, the Morel tweeters are quite wide and we had to remove some of the dash plastic so they would fit. For me this was actually the most nerve-wracking part of the build. One tiny slip and you could be dragging your router bit across the dash, scraping a window or cutting into a seat.Thankfully nothing like that happened. However, after cutting out the dash we realized there was a structural bar that ran right below where the tweeter sits making the area very shallow. Too shallow for the Morel tweeters…

3:51: What you see here is the creation of some acrylic ring spacers. After being covered in white leather they added a little more than 1/4 of an inch of depth and allowed the tweeters to seat into the dash. In my opinion this ended up being a kind of a happy accident because I really like the white leather accents on the dash.

4:07: The amp rack has base has been finished- the holes for the wiring are done and the top design is brewing.

4:13: This is the AudioControl knob and the installation became another fun adventure. After searching around for a good place to put it we finally decided it had to go on the center console. Diego upped the ante and ran the two LED lights (which indicate amplifier functions) into the console vents- a fantastically effective but subtle location.

4:32: This is a quick shot of a Photoshop mockup of the new speaker badges we were imagining on the car. After getting the design done in CAD we 3D printed a set of badges and opted to paint them for the time being. In stage two we’ll mill them out of titanium and do a bronze anodization to match the interior stitching. For now the 3D printed and painted badging looks just fine.

4:43: Here’s a look at the final wiring on the amplifier and crossovers.

4:55: The amplifier cover turned out great- a lot of thought and effort went into it. Some people might not realize that a lot of the shapes in the Aventador are hexagonal. The gas lid, intake grates, wheel design and even the ignition cover. The amp rack is sort of an homage to this design aesthetic. The rack itself is MDF with plexiglass underneath. The MDF is covered with Alcantara and the interior is lit with white LED lights.

5:24: After deliberating about the best way to have the covering seated in the front of the vehicle Diego opted for a pull strap (he did his own sewing on that strap!).

5:27: Overall we are very happy with how this project turned out. I really like the additional white accents on the dash. And looking into the frunk is a glorious treat.

______________________________________________________________________

I absolutely understand that for some people a vehicle stereo isn’t all that important. Most SVJ owners probably don’t spend a lot of time in their cars listening to music- they have a glorious V12 that they keep at 9000 RPMs. I like that too. Sometimes.

It’s hard to convey just how good this upgrade sounds by talking about it. Similarly it would be difficult to demonstrate fidelity by playing audio clips. Considering that we’re working with a 4 speaker system my personal opinion is that the outcome is incredible. The Morel and AudioControl components produce a level of clarity, detail, and richness that I seldom hear in any vehicle audio systems (the amount of bass that the mids deliver is impressive).

Phase 2 will be our effort to install a subwoofer and an additional sub amp and have those both be removable and installable in just a matter of minutes. There are some engineering details to figure out but I think that it will be a fun project! Additionally we will be doing one other fun (obnoxious?) upgrade but I won’t spoil the surprise just yet. Bravo Diego and Luxe. Thanks for letting me be a part of such a cool upgrade!

Porsche Turbo S – Pandora’s Box

This is a post I’ve spent six months contemplating. I still don’t really want to write it, but I feel the need to chronicle parts of my car’s resurrection. Let’ start at the beginning (I’ll make this quick)…

Back in September of 2019 I crashed my Porsche Turbo S. It wasn’t a bad crash- I was driving in on unfamiliar county roads, didn’t realize the road turned, hit a sign and rolled off a small hill. No one was injured. The police decided to get involved and my car was impounded. I was charged with several crash-related crimes. Not my best month.

Eventually I got my car back. It was taken to Alpine Auto Renovations, in SLC, to assess and repair the body damage.

I hired a lawyer, Stephen Fraizer, and worked to get get my charges sorted out.

On 12/12/2019 I got word that that my car would be fixed. The total damages came in around $70,000. Ouch. That’s quite a bill for hitting a sign (although rolling off the hill didn’t help).

In January of 2019 Stephen let me know that the court had agreed to drop the reckless driving charge if I agreed to plead guilty to leaving the scene, pay the fine and take an online traffic course. I made the plea in abeyance; So long as I’m not found guilty of  additional crimes in 2019, the charge will be dismissed. I took what ended up being a six hour online course (admittedly, one that I needed). With the legal troubles out of the way my focus returned to the car.

Time passed. Parts were ordered, installed and painted. And in between each step it felt like an eternity. Even now, looking forward, all I can see is an endless tunnel.

The car is now up at Lehi Porsche for airbag replacement, suspension component replacement and some power-related goodies. However, I don’t even know when we’ll be able to start on the rest of the work. Currently there is a raging COVID-19 pandemic. One of the companies I’m working with, ByDesign, is in California and they are dealing with a lion’s share of the corona virus difficulties. The state is under a “shelter in place” order, businesses are closed, things feel bleak.

Here at home I just got word that my mechanic, Dagan, will be out of commission for six weeks following back surgery. No one else can touch my car though so that will have to wait. People over projects and parts.

I’m hoping to start work on my YouTube “Resurrection” series next month (really in just a few days at this point). I don’t know if there will be a happy ending in time for the Limitless event, but hopefully it will make for some good entertainment. (7/11/2020- I’ve had zero time to work on my YouTube channel)

Maybe I’ll email my insurance company and see if there’s any kind of relief from this situation. Knowing what I know right now,  I might have opted to total the car instead of pushing for a repair. Hindsight. On the other hand, waiting won’t kill me, and good things come to those who wait, right?

Update 4-25-2020: We’re working our way through the crisis here in Utah pretty well. I think, overall, we’ve managed the corona virus appropriately. There is nothing my insurance can do for me at this point; My only option is to move forward. Dagan is recovering well and parts for the car’s next transformation have finally arrived. Let’s see if we can bust this out before Limitless in June. If there is a Limitless…

Update: 5/22/2020 – Dagan can come back to work on June 10th (he actually wasn’t able to come back until the end of June). I don’t think there’s any way to get the build done before the event. It doesn’t help that there’s really no Limitless audience this year- it’s not worth it to push hard to run a car that no one will get to enjoy. So… I’m okay to wait on the build and do it right. She’s nestled safely at Lehi Porsche for the time being. I miss this girl… but she’ll be back, better than ever.

She’s very patient.

July 15, 2020: We had a little scare / hiccup. Dagan was able to start working on the car last Wednesday and discovered we’re missing some parts to get it put back together (some not bid out, some not ordered and some returned by mistake). Some of the missing items were interior pieces (i.e. dash) so there was some concern that they might not be immediately available. In the worst case we were worried that insurance wouldn’t cover additional costs and the car could still be totaled.

However, it sounds like the insurance authorized the missing pieces and labor costs and the repairs are moving forward 😅

Ten months in… don’t I get a break at some point? And look at all these awesome parts… they’ve been waiting around for three months to get installed (finally got them unboxed when I thought they were going to get put in). Not a fun year for cars. Grrr.