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 »

I'm into my fifth month of retirement from the day job now. My internal clock is still mostly geared to the hours that I worked, up at 4:30AM, arriving at the lab at 6AM, and getting home by 4PM. I'm sleeping in later and staying up later every day, but not by much. Even though... Read More »

I just wanted to alert you to the review at Humble Homemade HiFi of the new Duelund CAST tinned-copper 100V capacitors that are optimized for loudspeaker crossovers. A little teaser from what Tony said, "With the Duelund CAST Cu-Sn all types of music flow, become more involving, to such an extent that I was forgetting... Read More »

I had a nice 3-day cycling getaway with my buddy Chad as we cycled around the greater Seattle area over the weekend. The weather was mostly beautiful and we covered a lot of miles. Chad is a craft beer aficionado, so we made a few rehydration stops at a couple of his favorite breweries along... Read More »

Today I decided I should give the new Soundsmith Zephyr Mk III phonograph cartridge that is in for review at Positive Feedback a listen, so I mounted it on my Artisan Fidelity Thorens TD124 turntable. I have my Thorens TD124 doing musical duty in my audio-video system with my vintage Altec A5 Voice of the Theatre... Read More »

I always get excited when a new hifi component arrives to write about, as it's an adventure in music & sound that I never seem to get weary of. I decided that I should mount the Carmen Mk II on my Classic 301 turntable first, and give it a listen in my Tannoy Westminster Royal... Read More »

There was a knock at the door just a moment ago, and it was the man in the Big Brown Truck dropping off a package from Peter Ledermann of Soundsmith fame. As I mentioned in a previous post, I get quite a few emails asking for a recommendation of a relatively affordable phonograph cartridge that is... Read More »

I am delighted to be able to share with you Part 7 of Yazaki-san's adventure with his vintage Marantz Model 7K preamplifier! I always enjoy reading what Yazaki-san has written, and I always learn a lot from his many insights. I would like to say a very special "Thank you!" to Yazaki-san for taking time... Read More »

After a couple cups of coffee this morning, I sat down and practiced my fingerstyle guitar lesson for about an hour. I'm enjoying working my way through a beginning fingerstyle guitar course book, in hopes that I'll become a better guitar player (it wouldn't take much! 😉 ). One of my goals in retirement has... Read More »

I decided to bite the bullet and order two matched pairs of the increasingly rare & expensive NOS GE 6L6GC's for my vintage MC30 monaural amps, so I could compare the fresh new GE's to the new production Tung-Sol 6L6GC STR's. I have found certain aspects of the Tung-Sol's musical & sonic performance to be... Read More »

My favorite power tube for my vintage McIntosh MC30 monaural amplifiers have been the gray plate GE 6L6GC's. The GE's provided a warm, rich, and naturally musical presentation that even the highly esteemed black plate RCA 6L6GC's had to bow down to. For my hot-rodded MC30's the GE's take musicality to another level, but they... Read More »

This last week was really a nice one of relaxation and getting out in nature with my friend Chad at his cabin on the shore of Lake Chelan in Washington State. We got in a bike ride in the village of Chelan, and did some sightseeing around the lake. There were deer everywhere, and at... Read More »

Have you ever had one of those periods of time where everything goes wrong? I'm in one of those periods now. Usually it seems like things go astray in triplets, for same strange reason. Usually, I sigh with relief after the third mishap, because things are about to get better, but this time it appears... Read More »

As I've mentioned in previous posts, I've been having fun trying different wiring schemes with my Tannoy Westminster Royal SE loudspeakers and their Duelund CAST crossovers, as well as my vintage Altec based systems. Tannoy Westminster Royal SE based system: My living room music system is composed of Tannoy Westminster Royal SE loudspeakers with outboard... Read More »

It's been a nice weekend of just kicking back, relaxing, and celebrating. To celebrate my Mom's majority Irish ancestry that we didn't know she had until after some recent DNA testing (oral tradition isn't always accurate), we celebrated St. Patrick's Day on Saturday with me cooking a traditional St. Patrick's Day feast of corned beef,... Read More »

I've been using the sweet little Almarro A205A EL84 integrated amplifier to power my vintage Altec 832A Corona loudspeakers that I'm using in my bedroom system, and it's a really nice match for them. The volume pot has been kind of noisy in the A205A so I thought I'd pop the bottom off and squirt... Read More »

Remember my Big Round Tone post from a couple of weeks back, where I discussed the relationship of tone to gauge size for headshell leads, interconnects, speaker cables, and speaker/equipment internal wiring? In relative terms, you get bigger, richer, and rounder tone as gauge size decreases (fatter wire). You can think of it in guitar terms too.... Read More »

If you're like me, you've had a hard time finding finding a quality wood cleaner, restorer, and preserver, that doesn't contain things you don't want on fine or vintage wood finishes (i.e. silicone), or that leaves a waxy buildup that will oxidize to a dull finish over time. I've found something I am really impressed... Read More »

We're all in this great hobby together because we love listening to and learning about music, and tinkering with our hifi gear. As hifi hobbyists it's easy to get so preoccupied with the hifi gear that we forget what attracted us to it to begin with, which is the pure pleasure of listening to music... Read More »