In the coming months, we're going to be building crossovers using the new Duelund Coherent Audio tinned-copper components for the custom Altec Voice of the Theatre loudspeakers that were built for Mr. Stokowski, nearly six decades ago now. In preparation for the upcoming project I've been doing some background "research" on Mr. Stokowski, and I have been... Read More »

I am sitting here pondering my Altec A5 & A7 Voice of the Theatre loudspeakers, and am reminded of the lyrics from Phoebe Snow's song It Must Be Sunday, "I said it must be Sunday 'cause ev'rybody's tellin' the truth ...". Here's some useful Altec truths that don't get talked about enough. Truth #1 - Vintage Altec's... Read More »

The full review of the Audio MusiKraft Denon DL-103 is now live at Positive Feedback HERE. I was just telling the editors at Positive Feedback, Dave and David, that I found it particularly satisfying to tell our readers about Audio MusiKraft and their great idea of developing the tunable Audio MusiKraft Denon DL-103 phonograph cartridge, and... Read More »

I'm working hard on my review of the Audio MusiKraft Denon DL-103 for Positive Feedback, and I thought you would enjoy a preview. ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪ The “Tunable” Audio MusiKraft Denon DL-103 Phonograph Cartridge Audio MusiKraft was founded by Guy Pelletier in 2016 in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, Canada, and consists of “a small core of experienced craftsmen and devoted music... Read More »

I am absolutely thrilled to be able to announce the Duelund Coherent Audio - Stokowski Altec Project for 2018! This exciting project will showcase the Duelund Coherent Audio tinned-copper components, and will be a world first for a crossover constructed of tinned-copper components. As you know, I have been extremely impressed with the prototype tinned-copper capacitors and... Read More »

A Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all! The snow is really coming down right now, so it's a classic White Christmas here in Washington State. I'm bringing my Mom over to share Christmas with, have a nice Christmas dinner together, sip a hot toddy, and listen to some jazz! For me it's not only... Read More »

In my “sixth tune” report on the Audio MusiKraft Denon DL-103 phonograph cartridge I reported to you my adventure with the oil treated Jatoba tonewood inserts (above). I've mentioned before what a dramatic difference a complementary set of headshell leads makes to the overall voicing and performance of a cartridge, which can easily be as great... Read More »

Most of you know that what I write about music and hifi here at Jeff's Place (as well as Positive Feedback) produces no real income for me. In fact it's just the opposite, it costs me a lot to write about many of the things I write about because they are personal purchases (Altec A5's... Read More »

In my "fifth tune" report on the Audio MusiKraft Denon DL-103 phonograph cartridge I reported to you my experiences with the lime tonewood inserts treated with beeswax & lemon oil (above). In this "sixth tune" report I want to tell you about my experiences with Audio MusiKraft Denon DL-103 phonograph cartridge using the oiled Jatoba tonewood... Read More »

As I mentioned in my last post, I just got a note from Frederik Carøe that the first batch of the new Duelund Coherent Audio 0.01 uF tinned-copper paper-in-oil bypass capacitors are ready and will be arriving at Parts ConneXion this coming week. I was really impressed with the Duelund 0.01uF tinned-copper bypass capacitors' performance on the 6.8uF Duelund... Read More »

My vintage MX110Z tuner preamplifier has two phono inputs, which is not enough to accomodate the three tonearms I have in play on my Thorens TD-124 and Classic 301. I've got the Audio MusiKraft Denon DL-103 / Schick tonearm / Auditorium 23 SUT going into one phono input, and my Ortofon SPU Classic GM MkII stereo... Read More »

In my last report on the Audio MusiKraft Denon DL-103 phonograph cartridge I did a photographic strip-tease of the Denon DL-103 as I dismantled it from its aluminum Audio MusiKraft shell with maple tonewood inserts ... ... and then reassembled it in its Audio MusiKraft aluminum shell with oiled black walnut tonewood inserts installed. In my... Read More »

Kara Chaffee (deHavilland Electric Amplifier Company) was over visiting Pete Riggle (Pete Riggle Audio Engineering) for an impromptu audio fest, and brought along her prototype Super 40 monaural power amplifiers for a little listening. I didn't have a camera along with me so I didn't get any photos of the Super 40 prototypes (sorry about... Read More »

I got a message from Jack Roberts about a holiday music column he was planning to do on people’s favorite Christmas or Holiday LPs on his website, The Audio Beatnik, and asking if I’d like to make some recommendations. Sure, I thought, “That’d be fun!” You can see my contributions to Jack's column here. Then... Read More »

The 14th Annual Positive Feedback Writers' Choice Awards for 2017 are now live here. Actually the Writers' Choice Awards went live a few days ago but this is my first chance to tell you about it. Here's a preview of my little contribution for 2017. You can read the fully story at the link. ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪... Read More »

When I left you in the "Third Tune" post, I had settled in on the maple "tonewood" inserts as having the tonality that was the most complementary to my main music listening system (below). The maple set of tuning inserts was the first of the four sets of tonewood tuning inserts that I thought portrayed... Read More »

I just got a note from Frederik Carøe that the first batch of new Duelund Coherent Audio 0.01 uF tinned-copper paper-in-oil bypass capacitors are ready and will be arriving at Parts ConneXion this coming week. I've tried them in two applications so far and have been very impressed with the results. My first trial of... Read More »

It's been a lot of fun exploring the tunable Audio MusiKraft Denon D-103 phonograph cartridge of Guy Pelletier. Guy sent me the entry level aluminum cartridge shell version ($579 USD) of the Audio MusiKraft Denon DL-103 to try, which has the look & feel of a beautifully crafted precision instrument. In my first listen to... Read More »

Inspired by the praise and enthusiastic response from Duelund Coherent Audio customers around the world to the Duelund DCA line of tinned-copper cables, Frederik Carøe did something amazing, he applied the same creativity he used in developing the Duelund DCA cables to new lines of Duelund tinned-copper foil paper-In-oil capacitors. I compared the prototype Duelund... Read More »

I've been enjoying listening to and experimenting with the voicing of Guy Pelletier's "tunable" Audio MusiKraft Denon DL-103 phonograph cartridge on my restored and "hot-rodded" vintage Thorens TD-124. As is my custom, I like to blog about my "getting acquainted" stage with new audio products, offering first impressions about the quality, ease of use, sonic... Read More »

Sometimes the best laid plans just don't pan out the way you think they will. Last weekend I had fully intended to do a little experimenting with the micro-tuning screws of the Audio MusiKraft Denon DL-103 phonograph cartridge. Between the need to tear down turntables, get them put back together and adjusted, as well as... Read More »

In my blog post about the Audio MusiKraft tunable Denon DL-103 phonograph cartridge last weekend, I described its performance in comparison to my stock Denon DL-103 on my vintage Thorens TD-124, that was restored and hot-rodded by Christopher Thornton at Artisan Fidelity. I listened to the two Denon's with identical Audio-Technica AT-HS1 headshells and identical sets... Read More »

In my original "Garrard Project" back in 2004, I started with a nice old original 301 in a simple plinth, and built it up into a music-making machine - the results were superb! Those vintage Garrard 301's (and 401's) are really wonderful classics of turntable design, and they have endeared themselves to generations of music... Read More »