I'm working on Part 2 of my Soundsmith review series for Positive Feedback right now, the Zephyr Mk III phonograph cartridge, and hope to have it published in the next few weeks. In my Part 1 Soundsmith review for Positive Feedback I reviewed the Soundsmith Carmen Mk II phonograph cartridge (HERE). I found the Carmen Mk II to... Read More »

I've always loved jazz guitar. One of the highlights in my life was being able to study with the extraordinary jazz guitarist, John La Chapelle (above left), who was Larry Coryell's guitar teacher when he was a youngster and introduced him to jazz, and the two maintained their friendship over the years. Jazz guitar is... Read More »

My review of the First Watt SIT-3 is now live at Positive Feedback HERE. Within its areas of strengths (and power limitations) the First Watt SIT-3 is one of the best, if not the best, amplifier I’ve ever heard. If you think you might want a First Watt SIT-3 of your own don’t wait too... Read More »

I've been wanting to write a "First Impressions" update about the Still Audio EL84 integrated amplifier for a while now, but life has been busier than anticipated, so I'm a little behind writing-wise. Many of you know of my affection for EL84 amplifiers, and I've been very impressed with the performance of the different ones... Read More »

Today's Fresh Catch are the exotic new Acoustic Revive Absolute Power Cords, RCA Absolute FM Interconnects, and PC-TripleC/EX Headshell Leads. I always get excited when new Acoustic Revive products arrive from Mr. Ken Ishiguro (Acoustic Revive) via Mr. Yoshi Hontani (Muson Project, Exporter), as Acoustic Revive products always have an extreme level of quality materials, technical ingenuity, a ... Read More »

I am hard at work writing up my listening impressions for the First Watt SIT-3 stereo power amplifier review for Positive Feedback, which I hope to have completed in the next few weeks or so. Until the review is published, I thought you would enjoy a "sneak peek" into the upcoming review - enjoy! ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪... Read More »

A couple of memorable Pass Labs moments in my life came to mind as I have been listening to Nelson Pass' new First Watt SIT-3 stereo power amplifier over the last two weeks, a design which Nelson is very pleased with, I am told (and which I will be interviewing him about for the Positive... Read More »

My friend Ron Barbee enjoys finding vintage audio gems and restoring them, like the Fisher SA-100 stereo power amplifier that is the subject of today's post. The Fisher SA-100 came out in 1963 and sold for about $120 USD ($986.63 in 2018 USD). They are relatively rare today, but if you run across one in... Read More »

I think most of you know I've been having a "love at first listen" affair with my vintage Altec Corona 832A loudspeakers that I purchased from LA Jazz Audio. It is a little hard to tell in the accompanying photographs, but the Altec Corona 832A's are fairly large loudspeakers, being about as wide as my... Read More »

I didn't think I was going to be able to get the Soundsmith Carmen Mk II phonograph cartridge review finished up over the weekend, but I was able to put in some long hours and get it finished up! The Positive Feedback review of the Soundsmith Carmen Mk II phono cartridge is now live HERE!... Read More »

I was hoping to get the Positive Feedback review of the Soundsmith Carmen Mk II phonograph cartridge finished up this weekend, but it's looking like it is going to be next weekend instead - it's turned out to be a busy weekend! Also, something very interesting happened during the review of the Carmen Mk II - in a... Read More »

As you know, I'm a big fan of EL84 integrated amplifiers, as they provide a live-like musicality that always seems to thrill me! So when Mark Still contacted me about writing up his hand-crafted Still Audio EL84 integrated amplifier here at Jeff's Place and for Positive Feedback, I was happy to say "Yes!". Adding to... Read More »

It is always such a pleasure to hear from Yazaki-san, he is such a gracious and kind gentleman, and he has more good audio ideas in a day than most of us do in a year! I have a fascinating multi-part story of serendipity and intrigue to relate to you about Today's Fresh Catch, the Spec RSP-AZ9EX Real... Read More »

Ron has a way of finding nice vintage audio treasures, and as a very talented tube tech Ron enjoys the process of freshening them up so they can be heard in all their glory. Ron brought along his latest project for the listening session with the First Watt SIT-3, the very interesting vintage Fisher SA-100... Read More »

Today's exciting arrival is the First Watt SIT-3 stereo amplifier, which was designed by - and in the case of this particular SIT-3 amplifier - hand-built by Nelson Pass himself! I consider Nelson's First Watt amplifier designs to be an artistic expression of what is possible at the cutting edge of audio performance, and as... Read More »

I am hoping to finish up writing my Positive Feedback review of the new Soundsmith Carmen Mk II phonograph cartridge next week, with the reviews of the Soundsmith Zephyr Mk III phonograph cartridge and MMP3 Mk II phono preamp to follow in separate articles in due time. I thought you would enjoy reading a little "sneak peek"... Read More »

After discussing this topic in a couple comments with capacitor guru Daryl Stahler, I wanted to follow up with a proper post to give this exciting news more visibility in case you didn't read it in the comments. To reiterate what I said in my comment: I want to let you know some more interesting... Read More »

I had a really nice visit to England and Wales over the last couple of weeks, and just got back. If you were wondering why I was slower than usual answering comments and emails, that's why, and I still might be a little slow catching up on answering email and messages as I'm really jet-lagged! If I... Read More »

I'm a bit jet-lagged after just getting back from England after a couple of weeks of traveling, so if I am rambling and a bit non-sensical in this post please forgive me, and hopefully I'll make more sense in a few days. 😉 Anyways, my buddy Doc Leo just bought a nice example of a... Read More »

As I've reported earlier, I found the Soundsmith Zephyr Mk III phono cartridge to be a match made in heaven for my Leben RS-30EQ valve phono stage, and the Zephyr Mk III has provided the most satisfying analog playback I have ever heard from my A5-based system. Given the superb result with the Zephyr Mk III ($1500 USD), I was eager to give... Read More »

As I've reported earlier, I found the Soundsmith Zephyr Mk III phono cartridge (above) to be a match made in heaven musically & sonically in my vintage Altec A5-based system, so I've been very eager to hear what the new Zephyr Mk III can do on my CTC Classic 301 turntable in my Westminster-based system (details HERE). If you've... Read More »

I really like having a couple of different hifi systems to try components in, as each different system and room combination gives somewhat different results, which helps to provide additional insights to a component's musical & sonic performance across different contexts. Take, for example, my first impressions of the Soundsmith MMP3 Mk II phono preamp... Read More »

An old high-school buddy that I reconnected with recently, Mark, asked me for a recommendation for a HiFi system for $10K or under. Mark is actually the person who introduced me to enthusiast audio way back when we were in high-school together, but he's been out of enthusiast audio for quite a long while. As... Read More »