It has been some time since I posted here and what I do for a living has changed. Software was at one time a pivotal part of my career and an essential one as I am a design build entity which had to go from raw ideas and goods to finished products. Here is a follow up and some thoughts,
With the advent of the Autodesk BS and huge price increases and function reduction I decided a few things. Number one is with a bought new Haas VF4 and a TL2 I was not going to ever upgrade equipment again. So I also did not need the added expense of malicious sharks like Autodesk and I cut the cord and will use my permanent seat for as long as I wish. Screw you Autodesk and the bad Anagnost piranha investor horse you rode in on. Crude way of putting it but I hear nothing but bad news about these people.
Solid Edge is however another story and even though I don’t intend to send them any more money either every time I use Solid Edge I am reminded of the wisdom of getting on board from ST1 on for ten some years. Great software I can’t say enough good things about sadly subsumed once again into the idiot world of NX and that group, whatever they call themselves today I neither know nor care.
But hidden inside the red headed stepchild lives on and delivers best in class modeling. The super nice thing that Siemens elected to do with the software they bought is to allow for subscription or permanent seats. Yes every year Solid Edge improves and they pretty well have to since they have agreed to let you be the final judge of their worth by continuing to offer permanent seats.
Unlike Autodesk where extortion is the name of the game now and you have to pay to play and get less and less play, SE knows they have to earn your permanent seat renewals if they want more income from you. I have watched SE grow in many ways for some time now. Some years better than others but forward motion never stops.
At the age of 66 I decided to step off the merry go round and while I do not intend to quit working things have changed. I have developed a line of drop in replacement tweeters for primarily Klipsch speakers and will soon branch out from just that to other things. Since I am in house design build I get to use what I have until I can’t mentally or physically work work and not spend one red cent more on software or machines. Look up SMAHL V2 or LMAHL V2 Tweeters if you are curious.
I love audio in every way. From listening to experimenting to design build. Driving around and buying old Klipsch speakers and fixing them up. Now a days though it has gone past a trivial hobby to an avocation and my shop is full of new parts and experiments ongoing for other new things I will be making including complete speakers. I have a ton, well may two tons literally of big Klipsch Pro gear like KPT-904’s KPT-942’s, KPT535’s and some other things piled up around here being worked on. Oh yes, since you asked, they will all be for sale when done.
My personal system, and this is the one that really got me thinking about building speakers, is a two way system based on the Klipsch MCM-1900. My bass bin was designed and built here as a variation of the MWM bass bin with the Klipsch MCM 1900. I love pipe organ music and cellos and less frequently now good old rock and roll but wanted to sit next to the 32 foot organ pipes.
I have a Klipach 402 horn on top of what has become known as a Super MWM system and the bass bin single fold horn has a throat depth of 108″ and has full output down to right at 27hz. Yeah I do sit right next to the organ pipes now and love it.
Every time I design another horn or speaker cabinet I am reminded of the wisdom of using Solid Edge. There, another shameless plug for a great program.
In the very near future I will be starting a blog relative to the audio direction I am going in and hope to see some of you there and discover that you too had an interest audio as well as software. I will announce the new blog here soon and if this piques your interest come one over.
Machined Audio Horn Lens 
Hi Dave
Good to hear from you again. Hope you’re keeping well out in the sticks (or the Styx, maybe, these days!)
I’m supposed to be retired now, and have moved back to East Anglia where I hailed from, however work is still chasing me so I am renewing SolidEdge 3 months at a time, a flexible licencing solution that I once suggested to Dan Staples.
I too love organ music but haven’t got the Hi-Fi to do it justice, but we do have some great organs around in our churches and cathedrals so I can get to hear the music for real. There’s also a Wurlitzer museum near here so I’ll go there once it’s safe to do so, which is not yet.
Annette & I have volunteered to go work with MAF in Papua New Guinea but that’s been put on hold owing to Covid, but we hope to go out later in the year, for up to 12 months. It will be a bit of a change and a challenge (need to learn the language!) but have felt the calling so have to go before we’re too decrepit. I will also have to learn how to write a Blog – might need some tips.
Are you still polishing those gems?
Anyway, best wishes & stay well
Alan Hone
Same here Alan, and the Styx is the city. I live in the sticks and all is well. Retired I think means you do more of what you want but you don’t just stop. I still have all my major equipment to play with.
One of my posts soon will cover the Super MWM system I built. Had a guy come by to listen a while back and his children had bought him a trip to England where every afternoon he would go to local churches where the pipe organs were played. He did not want to leave my shop and said it was like being there. I love those big pipe organs and between them and cello’s my tastes have changed a lot over the last few years now that I have really good speakers.
There are things you do while you can as what you put off might be impossible tomorrow. Just be aware that trips to foreign lands can mean more than you think. My brother was in the Philippines when this wuhan thing hit and it took him quite some time before he could get a flight back.
I have not faceted for probably ten years now nor cut any cabochons either. I will have to cut again just because I have to much money tied up to just walk away from it forever. Oddly enough I do still sell rock stuff but it is slabs cut on a saw and all I have to do is know how to buy good material and it takes no talent at all to do other than a good eye. Kind of sad really but culture has changed and appreciation of fine arts things has atrophied considerably.
Email me your contact info again and I won’t let it go public and I will get in touch with you. Great hearing from you and you and yours stay safe.
Dave, glad to see you’re still posting. Wow, semi-retired eh? Thought you were closer to my age 🙂 I’m sure you are aware of the newer Solid Edge Community license which is free to use. Similar limitations as the Student license I believe, but no cash needed.
Hi Ken How are you doing anyway? Yup I am 66 and have no intention of not working but want to choose what I do. I was not aware of the Community license and will look into that. I figured that with a VF4 and TL-2 both bought new a few years back and most of my work in house from design to build I had no further needs to upgrade. Dropped maintenance two years ago and the final straw with ProLim was all the H1-B visa dudes they hired after canning some really good American techs. I got fed up talking to people I could barely understand and who did not know the answers but would “get back to me”.
I have to admit I have missed the SE community and the people I have met over the years.