In my "Sexy Blue Tubes: The Sophia Electric EL34-ST and Aqua 274B Vacuum Tubes!" feature review article for Positive Feedback (HERE), I provided a brief history of the EL34 and 274B vacuum tube designs, and then described the various technical performance enhancements that Richard and Sue of Sophia Electric implemented in their flagship Sophia Electric EL34-ST... Read More »

In my most recent Today's Fresh Catch post (HERE) I told you about the arrival of  the much anticipated Pass Labs XP-12 preamplifier. This Saturday morning I installed the Pass Labs XP-12 preamplifier ($5800 USD) into my vintage Altec 832A Corona loudspeakers based bedroom system to get some run-in time on it, along with the Pass Labs... Read More »

It was great looking back on 2019 in Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 of this post, and I had no idea that this post would turn into a four part series. So much happened in 2019, and there was so much to talk about that it really took me by pleasant surprise. Now... Read More »

Today's Fresh Catch is the Pass Labs XP-12 preamplifier ($5800 USD). I am rather excited about the arrival of the Pass Labs XP-12 preamplifier, not only because of the positive buzz it has created in the review community since its introduction in 2018, but also because now I get try it with the Pass Labs... Read More »

There's been some big changes in my vintage Altec 832A Corona based bedroom system recently. It started with me loaning my treasured Almarro A205A Mk1 EL84 single-ended-pentode integrated amplifier to my buddy Chad to use for a couple of months in his cabin system up on Lake Chelan as his cabin amp was on the... Read More »

As I mentioned in Part 1 of this series of posts, 2019 has been a rather unprecedented year in writing about audio and music, with the year-end number of blog posts published at Jeff's Place coming in at 210, and 5 feature reviews for Positive Feedback.  I feel really fortunate to have had so much... Read More »

It is good to reflect back on a year and consider all that has happened in one's life, both to appreciate the good things that have happened, as well as to gain insights from one's dumbo moves. I feel extremely fortunate, for my 2019 was truly an amazing year in music, audio, and life generally.... Read More »

2019 has been an outstanding audio and music year for me, and I thought a retrospective of its high points would be fun to reflect back upon and share with you, as 2020 is already knocking on the door and demanding attention. In 2019 there were all those little adventures and discoveries I wrote about... Read More »

One of the favorite pastimes of many original Leben CS-600 integrated amplifier owners has been trying different combinations of vacuum tubes in their CS-600 to tailor its sound to what best matches their personal taste. The Leben CS-600 tube complement is four twin-triode 6CS7 vacuum tubes used in the first-stage of amplification, a single slow... Read More »

It's been about three weeks since my last update on the Audio Note UK Oto Phono SE Signature Integrated Amplifier (HERE), and it has undergone some rather serious transformation in musicality & sonics over those three weeks of additional run-in time, as I have alluded to briefly in some other posts. So tonight I thought I'd... Read More »

Today's Fresh Catch is the Sophia Electric 12AU7 and EL34-ST vacuum tubes! I had mentioned to Sue at Sophia Electric about my long term update of the Sophia Electric EL34-ST vacuum tubes in my Leben CS600 integrated amplifier (HERE), and that I would be reviewing the new Leben CS600X.  Sue suggested I give the Leben... Read More »

I got a heads up from Frederik at Duelund Coherent Audio today that the new 'Dual' Duelund DCA16GA tinned-copper wire will be available at Hi-fi Collective (UK) and Parts Connexion (North America) starting tomorrow.  The new 'Dual' DCA16GA tinned-copper wire has two of the regular baked oil-soaked cotton dielectric DCA16GA wires wrapped in an additional... Read More »

The new Leben CS600X vacuum tube integrated amplifier that is in for review has been getting run-in time in my vintage Altec A5 Voice of the Theatre loudspeakers based audio-visual system in the place normally occupied by my gracefully aging original Leben CS600. I was impressed with what I was hearing from the new Leben... Read More »

I've been running the Sophia Electric EL34-ST vacuum tubes in my Leben CS-600 integrated amplifier ever since I reviewed them for Positive Feedback back in August of 2017, and I've put a ton of hours on them since then. In my "Summary and Conclusions" for them, I said: "I'm noticing a pattern here with both the Sophia... Read More »

If you read my "Today's Fresh Catch: The Great Plains Audio 802-16G Series II & 416-16B Drivers" post (HERE), you know I am pretty excited about the Great Plains Audio and Troy Audio commitment to keeping the vintage Altec tradition vibrant. I asked our Great Plains Audio and Troy Audio friends if they would tell... Read More »

My buddy Chad borrowed my Almarro A205A over the weekend so he could give it a listen in his cabin system up on Lake Chelan (Chad's already got the Almarro A205A MkII in his main system).  I've been using the Almarro A205A Mk1 integrated amplifier to power my vintage Altec 832A Corona loudspeakers in my... Read More »

I got a chance to do a little A-B listening evaluation of Yazaki-san's Ultimate Ruby Mica capacitor mod for the SPEC RSA-M3 EX Real Sound Amplifier, with the added bonus of a group of friends weighing in on the results. As you might remember from Part 1, Yazaki-san had sent me a pair of his... Read More »

It is Thanksgiving week here in the States, and its a good time to reflect upon what we are thankful for. I'm looking forward to spending Thanksgiving Day with my 94 year old Mom, and hanging out with my friends Chad, Leo, Ron, and Santos for a little hifi fun & games and some general... Read More »

I heard from Andy Grove at Audio Note UK, and we had a nice email exchange about his design of the Oto Phono SE Signature integrated amplifier. I like Andy, it was a true pleasure to meet him while visiting Audio Note UK earlier this year, and as you will read about in a moment,... Read More »

Today's Fresh Catch is the pair of Ultimate Ruby Mica capacitor's Yazaki-san sent me to try as a mod for the SPEC RSA-M3 EX Real Sound Amplifier. If you read Yazaki-san's article, “My Adventure With My Old Marantz Model 7 Part 8" HERE, you know Yazaki-san was so impressed with the Ultimate Ruby Mica Capacitor's performance... Read More »

Being the vintage Altec enthusiast that I am - I have 3 pairs of gigantic vintage Altec loudspeakers in my modest sized home - you can imagine how excited I am by this particular "Today's Fresh Catch", the Great Plains Audio (nee Altec) 802-16G Series II compression drivers and the 416-16B low-frequency drivers. First let... Read More »

As I have done occasionally at times in the past, today I wrote this "other stuff" post for you that isn't on the topic of audio or music, but that I think is particularly relevant this time of year when the Holiday Season is arriving upon us in full force, and the days become short,... Read More »

As I was casually listening to Jazz24 while doing a few things around the house, I was rather struck by how musical the Audio Note UK Oto Phono SE Signature integrated amplifier was sounding through its "CD" line input, how it always seemed to tug at my attention and pull me into the music regardless... Read More »