Greetings friends, I hope you are well. 🙂 I've really felt the thrill and satisfaction of adventure and discovery in my audio hobby this year. Listening to vinyl through the Audio Note (UK) M8 RIAA phono preamplifier & AN-S8L SUT Level Five combination has been thrilling and rewarding to experience. This M8/S8L combo has made... Read More »

I've really been enjoying listening to the new Ortofon SPU GTX S moving-coil phonograph cartridge in my vintage inspired audio system, with my classic Thorens TD-124 that was restored by Artisan Fidelity serving as the source, and my vintage custom Altec loudspeakers that were once owned by Leopold Stokowski, providing me with soul-stirring sound.  It's... Read More »

Greetings friends, I hope you are well! 🙂 It's been a real pleasure to explore and tell you about the performance "Levels" of Audio Note (UK) hi-fi kit, so a big "Thank you!" to Peter Qvortrup for making this review series possible. To orient those of you who are new to this review series, the... Read More »

We're living in a time when many of the original recordings of the great musical performances recorded during the acoustic & electric eras of the recording arts are deteriorating and disappearing from Planet Earth. Once they are gone, they are gone forever. For yours truly, this is a tragedy comparable to losing the many great... Read More »

I am particularly excited about the arrival of the Ortofon SPU GTX S moving-coil phonograph cartridge, so a big "Thank you!" to Louis Dorio (Ortofon) for sending me one to tell you about here at Jeff's Place and Positive Feedback.   When I first saw the press release about the innovative SPU GTX S cartridge... Read More »

I've been going through the bedding-in process for the Audio Note (UK) M8 RIAA phono preamplifier and the AN-S8L step-up transformer (SUT) since its arrival about 3 weeks ago (HERE).  Per the Audio Note (UK) owner's manual for the M8 RIAA (HERE), "The M8 RIAA phono stage requires around 100 hours of initial use (called “bedding... Read More »

Greetings friends, I hope you are well! 🙂 All is well here with me, and I've been having a ball playing music & hifi games.  As I mentioned in my Today's Fresh Catch post (HERE), I've got the "Level Five" Audio Note (UK) M8 RIAA phono preamplifier and AN-S8L step-up transformer installed into the main music system... Read More »

Greetings friends, I hope you are well! 🙂 In case you are new to the ongoing review series I have been writing about Audio Note (UK) audio components here at Jeff's Place and Positive Feedback, let me catch you up.  Audio Note (UK) is located in Sussex, England, and has been manufacturing high-performance vacuum tube... Read More »

During the High Renaissance, Leonardo da Vinci was an Italian polymath who was a talented architect, draughtsman, engineer, painter, scientist, sculptor, and theorist. da Vinci's imagination, skills, intelligence, and insights still make him household name today, over 500 years after his death. Every once in a while I run across someone who has done something... Read More »

Greetings friends, I hope you are well. It's always a pleasure to meet up with my talented jazz guitarist friend, David Gitlen. This morning we went out for a nice breakfast (Thanks, David!), and afterwards came by my place for some jazz listening adventures. Joe Pass: Virtuoso and For Django I wish you could all... Read More »

I get all giddy thinking about DIY audio projects, and particularly when they involve Frederik Carøe (Duelund Coherent Audio).  If you read my recent State Of The Systems Report: Audio Nirvana! Part 1, and State Of The Systems Report: Office Nirvana! Part 2, you noticed that both those loudspeaker systems - Tannoy Westminster Royal SEs... Read More »

Greeting friends, I hope you are doing well. 🙂 This is Part 3 of my "State Of The Systems Report", where I thought I'd update you about how each of the three audio systems that I have up and running are doing, as they have been in a relatively stable configuration for a while now. ... Read More »

Greeting friends, I hope you are doing well. 🙂 This is Part 2 of my "State Of The Systems Report", where I thought I'd update you about how each of the three audio systems that I have up and running are doing, as they have been in a relatively stable configuration for a while now. ... Read More »

Greeting friends, I hope you are doing well. 🙂 It's been a rough go for me to start the year. I managed to catch some illnesses in series that have laid me flat for almost 9 weeks now. Ugh. The silver lining during all that time has been how grateful I have felt for the... Read More »

As I mentioned in my last post (HERE), I've been into spinning a lot of vinyl the last few weeks. There's so much good new & used vinyl to be had these days, it's been a real treat to add records to my vinyl library.  I've been exploring the vinyl via a signal path of... Read More »

Greetings friends, I hope you are well! 🙂 I've really been into spinning vinyl the last few weeks. There's so much good new & used vinyl to be had these days, it's been a real treat to add records to my vinyl library.  The fidelity of feelings. While spinning said vinyl I've been pondering what... Read More »

Greetings from the cold Pacific Northwest. Snow today! I hope you are well. 🙂 Tone Poets The vacuum tubes are full of fire on a cold winter day, and I've been spending the afternoon listening mostly to vinyl with the Tone Poets. I really have to hand it to Blue Note President Don Was, and... Read More »

Greetings friends, I hope you are well. 🙂  I am celebrating getting through the holidays intact, and I’m looking forward to what unfolds in 2025!  I’ll start with my thoughts for the New Year: Be civil and kind to each other. Maximize virtues. Minimize vices. Grow as a person. Do something to make your part... Read More »

Greetings friends, I hope you are well. 🙂  First allow me to wish you a Happy Winter Solstice, a Merry Christmas, a Happy Kwanzaa, a Happy Hanukkah, a Grumbly Bah Humbug, a Happy New Years, or a Happy Whatever Floats Your Boat, this Holiday Season. It's all good!  We've survived another tumultuous year here on... Read More »

Greetings friends, I hope you are well, and enjoying the Holiday Season!  If you haven't seen them yet, the Positive Feedback 2024 Writers' Choice Awards have been published (HERE).  Here's my contribution to the 2024 Writers' Choice Awards: The Writers' Choice Awards are always a special time of year in that I'm able to reflect back on... Read More »

Greetings friends, I hope you are well! The Holiday Season in the USA is marching in with full force with Thanksgiving arriving tomorrow - Happy Thanksgiving to all! This year I'm cooking a traditional Thanksgiving meal of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes & gravy, maybe a veggie side dish or two, and I ordered a sweet... Read More »

Greeting friends, I hope you are doing great, and your lives are filled with joy!  When the temperature falls below freezing, my cherished outdoors activities of cycling and motorbiking scale way back, signaling the official start of the "Hi-Fi" and "Audio-Visual" Seasons here at my place.  Last week a couple of pals and I got... Read More »

I'm not completely sure how it happened. A few listens to 78s here and there. Peter Qvortrup sharing his enthusiasm for 78s with me. The Audio Note (UK) vacuum tube CD players being in residence here during their reviews. Slowly but surely I've slipped into the reverie of enjoying 78 records from the acoustic and... Read More »