Today's Fresh Catch is a vintage Johnny Smith Phase II LP on the Verve label that my buddy Leo picked up for me while cruising the record stores - thank you Leo! Wait until you hear it on the Westminsters, Leo, it'll blow your mind - it is an awesome album!
I'm sitting here listening to Phase II right now and it is really blowing me away - what a great album! I've rearranged the Hi-Fi rig a little bit this evening, and along with my Westminster Royal SE loudspeakers with Duelund CAST crossovers, the vintage McIntosh MX110Z preamp/tuner with the MC30 mono amps, I've got a full set of Sablon Audio Panatela interconnects and speaker cables running from my phonograph cartridge all the way to the driver connections on the Duel Concentric drivers on my West's, and they're magic!
Panatela interconnects on the VPI Classic turntable with an EMT TSD-15 MC cartridge ...
... to the McIntosh MX110Z preamp/tuner ...
... to the MC30 amplifiers ...
... to the Duelund CAST external crossovers and onto the Westminster Royal SEs!
A big thank you to Mark Coles (Sablon Audio) for providing a full set of Panatela interconnects and speaker cables, they are amazing, and really bring out the best in my Hi-Fi rig!
If you could be here now listening to my system playing Phase II courtesy of a full set of Panatela from phono to speaker drivers I think you'd be blown away just like I am. Johnny Smith was an amazing jazz guitarist, perhaps my favorite, and the Phase II album is a real treat to hear on this system!
If you are out cruising the used records stores and you see the Phase II album by Johnny Smith be sure to grab it, its totally awesome!
As an aside, I've been writing like crazy, and the Duelund / Westminster Royal SE External Crossover Project article for Positive Feedback Online is almost finished. It is over 40 pages in length with almost 150 photographs, and will be published in the November edition of Positive Feedback Online. I think you'll like it!
I hope you are enjoying listening to your music tonight, and as always, from my home to yours, may the music playing warm your heart!