Anyways, this is a post just to show some photos of my new speakers and write some initial thoughts. I don’t think I’m qualified to write a actual review for these speakers or any sort of audio equipment. As always, please excuse my crummy photos. I only have a not very new cellphone as my camera.

The SP2500 came in quite a large box.

For a 2.1 system, the SP2500 came in a surprisingly large and hefty box. It’s certainly not your average 2.1 computer speakers. The box has a black and blue color scheme and features a nice picture of the speaker set along with the specs and other notices.

The insides of the box were packed very nicely.

Inside the box, everything is neatly packaged and sectioned off with cardboard blocks. They probably did it this way to make the speaker easier to repackage. Too bad I had to get rid of the box to fit the speakers into my luggage.

The manuals and readings, none of which I bothered to read.

The left satellite speaker on the floor

The whole SP2500 package includes the two satellites, the subwoofer, the control pod, a manual, and all the audio cords and power cables needed to make the speakers work. The two satellites are normal sized (by computer speaker standards) and they share the black and blue color scheme of the box. The satellites come with little standoffs that allows you to point them slightly upwards or downwards. Since I’m placing the speakers on the floor, I tilted them upwards.

For a 2.1 PC set, the SP2500's subwoofer is massive.

In comparison to the satellites, the subwoofer is massive and hefty. The subwoofer is all black and has a panel of ports for all the connections on its back. All of the other parts of the speaker set plug into the back of the subwoofer. The setup was so easy that I didn’t need to look at the manual.

To shake the entire apartment, turn dial all the way clockwise.

The SP2500 is adjusted with the included control pod which connects to the subwoofer with what looks like a serial cable. The control pod features a small LCD screen, a scrolling button, the power button, and three other buttons to control the speaker set. Using the buttons and the screen, the user can adjust the volumes of the satellites and subwoofer (separately), adjust the input sources, and use any number of audio presets. The SP2500 has three inputs: red and white RCA connectors and an auxiliary (3.5mm TRS) jack on the back panel and an additional auxiliary jack on the control pod. The control pod also has 3.5mm headphone jack and a micro-USB connector for firmware upgrades.

The back panel with everything wired up

My improved TV setup including the Corsair SP2500 speakers

The SP2500 speakers set looks pretty nice and build quality seems solid. To test that the speakers work after I had connected them to the TV, I just turned on the TV to some random channel. Obviously there was no comparison between the TV’s tiny little speakers and the SP2500′s 232 Watts of power. The SP2500 sounds better, richer and louder by a wide margin. I’m no audiophile, and I don’t have another set to compare with, but the SP2500 sounded pretty nice to me. I didn’t turn the volume all the way up because I didn’t want to disturb the neighbors, but most reviews I’ve read said that the speakers can maintain sound quality even when cranked up to the max, and the big subwoofer produces pumping bass.

Overall, the Corsair SP2500 has given me some good first impressions. It’s not a 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound speakers that real home theater buffs would use, but it’s definitely a big improvement over the TV’s internal speakers. Best of all, I got the set for free, and that’s probably the best part of the story.

UPDATE:
I watched a movie on the TV and the SP2500 speaker set, and I was pretty pleased with the results. All the scenes with loud sounds and explosions had some kick to it thanks to the speakers. This might be more motivation for me to watch movies with the TV more often now.

Although the process itself is simple, it took us a hour or so to finally get success. The main reason is because I’ve never messed with the battery of my own car and because my car is designed differently than most cars. Unlike most cars where the battery is under the hood, the battery of the Mercedes ML 350 is in the floor behind the front passenger seat. There are leads for the battery accessible in the engine compartment, but they have plastic covers and it took me forever to remove those covers. I guess the original owner never touched those leads and that might be why they were so hard to pull off. When we finally got everything hooked up and tried the jump start, it didn’t quite work. The Jetta made the cranking noise instead of the clicking noise when it wasn’t connected to my car, but it couldn’t start. Thankfully, another friend returned and offered up his VW Golf, and with the Golf we were finally able to jump start the Jetta. I guess it takes one VW to jump start another VW.

Anyways, this was a good learning experience. I’m not sure why we couldn’t jump start with my car, but it might have something to do with the design of the car. Perhaps Mercedes cars aren’t built for jumping other vehicles. If my car ever gets a low or dead battery, hopefully my friends’ cars can jump start mine. I’ll make sure to take my car for a spin every few days to make sure the battery doesn’t drain though.

So what have I been up to during my time back in Vancouver? Not much as usual. In terms of research related things, I had some assigned reading to go through, but I don’t think I really understood anything I read. I don’t think I was that productive with my projects either. I mostly just stayed home and relaxed, and I didn’t go anywhere far. I went shopping a few times, and also hung out with some friends from college. Since I was back in Vancouver with its excellent selection of Chinese restaurants, I couldn’t resist eating out. The area that my grad school is in has some Chinese food places and they aren’t horrible, but they are not comparable to what Vancouver has. The fact that I ate more while at home in combination with less exercise meant that I gained around 10lbs during the break. It’s not that I didn’t exercise, but I didn’t exercise as often or as hard as when I am at school. I did play more badminton while I’m back, but that wasn’t quite enough to make up for extra intake. I don’t think my badminton skills has gotten any better or worse than before, and I probably need to train a bit to become better.

In terms of things that I actually accomplished while back at home, I helped my father replace a heating element on my family’s flat top stove. The element burnt out some time during the year and my father didn’t get around to fixing it. I am no handyman, but in this age of the internet it’s easy to find information online on how to fix stuff, and replacing the element wasn’t a particularly difficult task. I also helped my dad’s trusty but aging Toyota Echo pass its emissions inspection. I bought a car diagnostic trouble code scanner back from the States to investigate the check engine light on the Echo. The Echo is getting a bit old and has high mileage, so it’s not really worth it to spend hundreds of dollars to fix anything. The check engine light was a persistent problem though, and I thought the car would have trouble passing even if we turned off the check engine light with the scanner. However, by some stroke of luck, our trusty little Echo managed to pass its emission check against all odds, and now my dad can keep on driving it for two more years.

So that’s all for my boring little winter vacation. Staying at home over the break has been very nice, but I still have a Ph.D degree I need to finish. It’s time to get back to class, get some research work done, and also to work off the pounds that I’ve gained during this vacation.

The Autel Maxiscan MS300 OBD reader with manual and CD

The Autel Maxiscan MS300 came with a manual and a CD with a diagnostic trouble code library. The MS300 is a simple device with an attached OBD (OnBoard Diagnostics) connector, a two line display and only two buttons: Enter and Scroll. It’s not nearly as fancy as the code readers used by professional mechanics, but the MS300 can read codes, the Vehicle ID number (VIN), and other information. Most importantly for us, the MS300 can clear the trouble codes and thus turn off the check engine light.

After receiving the MS300 in the mail, I first tried the device on my 2006 Mercedes ML350. My car didn’t have any problems at the moment, but I wanted to check the other functions of the reader. The MS300 is powered by the OBD port, and thus the device turns on once it’s plugged into the port.

MS300 when first plugged into the OBD port

To use the device, I have turn my car’s ignition to the “ON” position without starting the engine. After that, I pressed the “Enter” button on the MS300 and it started to scan for information. Once the scan is done, the reader told me how many error codes were there (0 in my case) and displays the menu as shown below.

MS300 Main Menu

There are five items in the menu: DTC Code, Erase, I/M Status, VIN, and Rescan. DTC Code displays any trouble codes in the car’s computer; erase clears the trouble codes and turns off the check engine light; I/M Status displays some inspection/emissions info; VIN reads the vehicles’s ID number; and rescan gets the reader to scan for information again. I tried the I/M and VIN functions on my car and both worked.

One of the screens under the I/M Status menu item.

I brought the reader back home in winter vacation and used it on my father’s 2000 Toyota Echo which had the check engine light on. The MS300 worked as well on the Echo and read the error codes. We know what the error code was and cleared it using the MS300. Hopefully the check engine light doesn’t come back any time soon, but if it does at least we have some idea of what the problem is before my dad has to fix the car. Overall, the Maxiscan MS300 worked as advertised and was easy to use, and that in my eyes makes it a decent purchase.

Power Dispatch and Markets
This was a power systems course, but it was a bit different than the other power courses I’ve taken because this course focuses on some of the economic aspects of the power grid. The course talked about how electricity generation is dispatched in a deregulated market and some of the other functions of independent system operators (ISO). I found the material to be pretty interesting since I didn’t know much about the area.Most of the math was involved with solving optimization problems for generation cost. The math is not hard, but it can be a bit tedious, and sometimes you have to use computer programs such as MATLAB to do the work. Overall it was a good course, and the fact that I got a good grade is even better.

Electromagnetic Fields
One topic that I don’t like very much in power systems is electromagnetic fields, but it is important to know the physics behind electricity and all of the equipment that keep our lights on. This was a graduate level course on fields but with focus on power system applications. In particular the course looked at numerical methods that solves Laplace/Poisson’s equations in terms of potentials. However, numerical methods can’t really be assigned for homework or test problems because it’s impossible to do those problems by hand. In the end, most of the grades came from solving problems based around basic Maxwell’s Equations (Ampere’s Law and Gauss’ Law), and so the course wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be and I received an A for my efforts.

———————–

That’s all I have to say for my fall 2011 courses. Next semester I’ll go back to taking three courses, and one of them looks extra tough. I don’t have to worry about classes quite yet though since I still have a few more weeks to relax before school starts again.

I don’t have any big plans for my winter break. My adviser expects me to do work, so I can’t just bum around and do nothing. I’ll probably just stay around Vancouver/Richmond. I’ll likely be eating out a lot given that the town I go to school at can’t compare with Vancouver in terms of the Chinese food. On the other hand, it means I’ll probably gain a few pounds during my vacation. I’ll have to make sure that I get enough exercise even when I’m at home.

I wish all of you a Happy Holidays .

The front of the nuvi 1490LMT

Ever since I’ve bought my car in March of this year, I have been looking to purchase an automotive GPS unit since my car didn’t have navigation. I usually drive locally and know my way around, but a GPS is nice thing to have when I go on a long road trip. When my parents and I drove to Washington DC in May, we borrowed a GPS from a relative. The GPS was a really basic 3 inch unit with outdated maps, but still it was pretty useful and we didn’t miss too many freeway exits or go the wrong way for 30 miles.

For my own GPS, I wanted a unit with a larger screen and better features than the unit we used on the trip though. I did research online and also checked out products at the local electronic stores, and I decided that I wanted to get a 5 inch Garmin unit with lifetime map updates. The common sizes for car GPS units are 3 inch, 4.3 inch wide screen, and 5 inch wide screen. After looking at the units in the store, I thought 4.3 inch was a little small, so I am going with 5 inch units. As for the brand, my conclusion from looking online was that Garmin is the best overall GPS brand. Garmin has a price premium over Tomtom or Magellan units of comparable size and features, but I am willing to pay the extra 10-20 bucks to get a better overall user experience. As for features, I don’t really care about traffic updates, but I thought lifetime map updates is nice feature to have. Lastly, I was willing to spend up to $150 for the GPS, but I wouldn’t mind paying less.

Since I had no immediate need for the GPS, I waited until Thanksgiving/Black Friday to see if I can score a good deal. There were plenty of models on sale, but I didn’t see any doorbuster type of deals on a 5 inch Garmin with lifetime maps. There was a good deal on the new nuvi 50LM which would fit all my needs… except it didn’t include maps to Canada. I’m from Canada and will probably drive up there sooner or later, so I want Canadian maps. In the end, I ponied up a little more cash and bought a Garmin nuvi 1490LMT. The 1490LMT has the 5 inch screen and lifetime maps plus lifetime traffic, Bluetooth hands free calling and a host of other features, so it definitely fit the bill.

The back side of the 1490LMT. The only thing of interest is the mini-USB connector.

The 1490LMT came with the mounting bracket, the window suction cup mount, a sticky dashboard mounting disk, a short USB cable, the car charger (with traffic receiver), and a bunch of small pamphlets about various things. What’s not included in the box are a manual and a software CD. Any software used to update maps has to be downloaded from Garmin’s website, which I suppose is the way to go in the age of internet. The 1490 series all have a black outer casing which looks nice and well made. There isn’t much else to say about the design since most auto GPS units have the same general shape. The power switch is on the top; the microSD slot is on the right, and the mini-USB data/power plug is on the back. On a side note, you’ll have to excuse the crummy photos since I only have a cellphone to take photos with.

A case to store my GPS when it's not being used

Along with the 1490LMT itself, I also picked up a case for storing the GPS and a dashboard friction mount. The one thing I remember from experience is that window suction cup mounting can be a bit of a pain especially when the GPS isn’t carefully mounted and falls off. So instead, I bought a “sandbag” type dashboard mount that just uses weight and friction to stay on the dashboard and keep the GPS from moving all over the place. The mount has a nice heft to it as expected, and the center of the mount has a smooth surface to attach the Garmin suction cup arm.

The friction mount, with the nuvi's suction cup arm and bracket attached

The 1490LMT attached to the friction dashboard mount

After opening up my new GPS, the first thing I tried to do is update the unit’s software and maps. Registering the product at Garmin’s website was pretty easy, but updating maps is a different matter. First of all, Garmin has a bunch of software programs for updating maps and firmware on the unit, and since the GPS didn’t come with a manual, it took a little while to find out which programs I needed. The second issue lies with the nuvi 1xxx units. Soon after I placed my order, and I looked through customer reviews and found out that people had trouble updating their maps. The issue was that the 1xxx units only have 2GB of onboard memory. Garmin’s maps have grown over time, and now you can’t fit the North American (USA + Canada) maps onto the onboard memory. The workaround for this issue is to split the map and install part of the map onto a microSD card. It was a good thing I found out about this issue early, and so I added an 8GB microSD memory card to my order.

The way to split the maps between the onboard memory and microSD card is to first download and install Garmin’s maps onto the computer, and this can be done with Garmin’s Lifetime Map Updater or the standalone Garmin Map Updater executable. After that is done, the user can then use MapInstall to manually split the North American maps and install them onto the unit and the microSD card. I mostly followed the instructions found in this forum thread, and so the way I did it was that I used MapInstall to install Canada and Alaska onto the memory card, and then use Lifetime Updater to install the lower 49 states into the 1490LMT’s onboard memory. It took me a while to figure out that MapInstall only works when the maps are installed on the computer, but after that it was pretty straight forward. I also downloaded the full Junction View file of the map update and placed it on my microSD card (in the /garmin/JCV/ directory). The 1490LMT has support for the Junction View feature, but it only comes with a cut down version of the file by default due to the lack of memory. There is no reason not to get the full file though now that I have extra storage in the microSD card.

My new GPS on the dashboard of my car.

After doing all the software updates, it was time to bring my new GPS out for a drive. I brought it along on a routine trip to the supermarket, and the 1490LMT worked as expected. The unit calculated the correct route without too much hassle and all the functions seems to be working. The trip involved a little bit of Interstate freeway driving, and several Junction Views appeared during the Interstate segments. I like the large 5 inch screen, and it was readable even under sunlight. The turn by turn voice instructions worked fine, although I thought that the voice sometimes sounded a little garbled. There were no weird problems during the drive, although the unit did unexpectedly shut down once when I was playing around with it at home. The dashboard mount also worked fine and the GPS didn’t move when I was driving, although I didn’t do any sudden maneuvers that would put the mount to the test. I also tested out the Bluetooth, hands-free calling feature of the 1490, and I was able to sync my phone up to the GPS without problems and make/receive calls.

Overall, my first impressions Garmin nuvi 1490LMT are pretty good. However, I only went on some short, local drives, and so it remains to be seen how the GPS will perform on a longer trip. I probably won’t be using the GPS for driving to places that I go to often, but the unit will certainly be useful for a road trip. Hopefully my new GPS won’t suffer any problems and will work for years to come.

I was pretty happy to finish my thesis before Thanksgiving, because it meant I had more free time to enjoy the holiday and go shopping for Black Friday deals. I went to the nearby outlet stores on Black Friday midnight to buy some clothing, and I bought a couple of t-shirts, two pair of jeans and a pair of runners for about $100 which is pretty good considering that they are all from decent brands. There were a fair number of people braving the winter chills at the outlets, but it’s not really crowded or crazy like some Wal-Marts and big box store that sell electronics. I don’t think I’m ever going to those places to line up for Black Friday sale. On the downside for shopping in the wee hours of the morning, I was pretty much half-asleep during the day time on Friday because I didn’t get enough sleep. Besides clothing, I also picked up a vehicle GPS from an online retailer because my car doesn’t have navigation. I’ll probably write a post on my new gadget once I receive it in the mail.

I hope all of you had an enjoyable Thanksgiving weekend as well.

The qualifying exams were one of the bigger obstacles in my pursuit of a doctoral degree and it’s a big weight off my shoulders now that I’ve passed, but there is still plenty more to do. Now that the qualifiers over and done with, I need to focus on writing my Master’s thesis and making sure I get my degree on time.