Sound v1.0

I think sound is one of the most under-appreciated senses. I think most would point to to sight or even taste (thusly, smell) as more important.

Sound drives my life.

It's the dynamism of it. If you bite into a piece of steak (and to be sure, steak is by far, my favorite food), you have an idea of what you're going to get. Some are better than others, some multi-course meals can cost upwards of a thousand dollars. Or so I'm told. But for the most part, it's steak.

It would be hard for me to argue that sight is any less important, so I won't.

I mentioned in, I think, the first post, that I'm a gearhead. I believe I am that gearhead today because of how things sound. Sound is the basis for most of my memories -- some of them very early memories.

The sound of the starter motor of my dad's 1958 Chevrolet Corvette
The sound of the small-block 283's Carter four-barrel carburetor at full chat while riding in the Corvette
The sound of the gear-whine four-speed manual transmisson my dad's 1980 Datsun 310
The sound of my mom's 1982 Cadillac Seville Diesel -- Yeah, one of those
The sound of my first proper motorcycle, a 1971 Honda CL70K

That's the early stuff. More recently, In addition to all the crapola in the ether, sinking to depths you never thought possible, YouTube lets us see things that maybe we've only read about over the years.

The following items require that you have a sound card. Decent stereo speakers that you can play loudly are preferable. The video in some cases is poor, but the sound, well... Speaks for itself.

My penchant for mechanical sounds really runs the gamut:

A highly-modified Detroit Diesel 12v71TT in a Kenworth. That's a supercharged (sort of), twin-turbo V12 two-stroke diesel producing 2000 hp. Because it's a two-stroke, it actually sounds like it's turning twice the RPM it actually is.

The Cizeta V16T:




A Honda NR750 RC40:



A Honda CBR250RR:



A 2000hp Cummins V16 Diesel with four turbochargers at tickover:



There are more; lots more, but that gives a taste.

I can't say why these things drive me the way they do. In most ways, I wish they didn't.