Back when Yazaki-san sent me a set of headshell leads made of vintage Western Electric WE24GA wire to try, it came as a bit of a surprise to me that headshell leads made such a substantial contribution to overall musical & sonic performance. The difference in sound & musicality between the stock & WE24GA headshell... Read More »

While it'll be a while before I get a full formal review written for Positive Feedback about the Audio MusiKraft ‘Tunable’ Denon DL-103 phono cartridge I received from Guy Pelletier (it's a ways down the review queue), I want to keep you appraised of developments along the way about this interesting phono cartridge here at Jeff's... Read More »

After the disappointing experience with the Oyaide silver & silk headshell leads, and inspired by the massive musicality of the Western Electric WE24GA headshell leads Yazaki-san sent me, I decided I wanted to give a DIY set of tinned-copper headshell leads a try. First I contacted Chris at Parts Connexion, and asked Chris for a... Read More »

It has been a great pleasure to bring you posts from Yazaki-san for his article “My Adventure With My Old Marantz Model 7”. Many thanks to Yazaki-san for taking time to write this article and share his substantial audio wisdom with us, it is very much appreciated by me, as well as all of us here... Read More »

The Denon DL-103 moving coil (MC) phonograph cartridge was designed way back in 1962, as a collaboration between Denon and the Japan Broadcasting Corporation, as a high performance cartridge for professional broadcast use, and it has been in continuous production since then. Back in those days there were a lot of Garrard 301 transcription turntables... Read More »

I reported originally on Robbie's Leben CS-600 lid mod a few weeks back, here. I immediately ordered the “120Pcs M3 Male Female Hex Brass Spacer Standoffs PCB Board Screws Nut Assortment” from eBay seller huanshop2015 ($4.99 USD), and it arrived today, so I thought I'd give Robbie's Leben lid mod a try. The stock Leben lid... Read More »

I've long admired the Thorens TD124 turntables my pals Leo, Pete, and Ron, have in their turntable stables, and I thought it was about time to join in the fun. So, for 2017, I commissioned vintage turntable expert Chris Thornton at Artisan Fidelity to restore and build up a Thorens TD124 turntable for me. I... Read More »

After a marathon writing session, The Acoustic Revive Chronicles, Chapter 13, is now live at Positive Feedback! Woo hoo! In this article I discussed the RPT-6 Absolute NCF Power Distributor, the Power Reference TripleC NCF AC Power Cord, and the RAS-14-TripleC NCF Power Stabilizer that arrived for review, and they are new products that are intended... Read More »

My morning started off with a bang today when I got a couple of text messages from my buddy Dave about a yard sale and an estate sale with some pristine records in it - thanks, Dave! I jumped in my Leaf and headed out to check the sales out, and I made quite a... Read More »

As I reported in my earlier post, it is with great sadness that I tell you that Don Garber passed away unexpectedly at his home in Brooklyn on Sunday. The world will be a less beautiful place without Don Garber in it, and I would like to offer my sincerest condolences to Don's daughter, Nara... Read More »

I have some sad news to report. Nara, Don Garber's daughter, contacted me yesterday to tell me that her father passed away unexpectedly at his home in Brooklyn on Sunday. Many of you know Don through his many contributions to the North American hi-fi culture, and for his hand crafted Fi audio electronics. The world... Read More »

I got a nice surprise delivered to my doorstep, the Arai Lab MT-1 step-up transformer (SUT), courtesy of Mr. Yoshi Hontani of the Muson Project in Osaka, Japan. Yoshi-san exports hi-fi exotica from Japan like that from the Leben Hi-Fi Stereo Company, the Spec Corporation, fo. Q, Audio Replas, KRYNA, SFORZAT, Murasakino Ltd, Acoustic Revive, and now... Read More »

It is my great pleasure to bring you the third post for the article that Yazaki-san is writing for us, “My Adventure With My Old Marantz Model 7”. Many thanks to Yazaki-san for taking time to write this article and share his wisdom with us, it is very much appreciated by me, as well as all... Read More »

In my first post about my very preliminary first listening impressions of the Duelund DCA12GA tinned-copper tone wire speaker cables, that I had just cut cold off the roll, I told you how the DCA12GA as speaker cables on my Westminster's were warmer & richer sounding than the my usual bi-wire Duelund DCA16GA/DA20GA speaker cables, which I... Read More »

A while back as I was fine tuning the voicing of the Sumile MC phono cartridge that's in for review, I noticed the stock headshell wires on my Schick headshell were looking a little ragged from swapping cartridges in and out a lot, so I thought I'd replace them. My first thought was to replace... Read More »

Yesterday Leo, Pete, Rahul, and Ron, stopped by for a little hi-fi and music listening fun & games, and Ron was telling me how much he likes the Duelund DCA12GA he has rewired his system with. That motivated me this morning to cut four six-foot lengths of the DCA12GA to try as a pair of... Read More »

In my earlier blog post I introduced Mr. Shirokazu Yazaki to those of  you who are new to Jeff's Place, and for the rest of you Yazaki-san needs no introduction, as you have been following the illuminating audio adventures with Yazaki-san for quite some time now. I met Yazaki-san back in early 2015 while I was preparing the article about... Read More »

A care package of Duelund DCA12GA tinned-copper tone wire arrived from Frederik today! Woo hoo! I've really been looking forward to giving the new Duelund DCA12GA a listen after reading all of your positive comments about it!   As a reminder from the breaking news post announcing the new DCA12GA, it uses 65 strands of 0.25mm tinned-copper... Read More »

As most of you know, I've been a long-time fan of the Leben CS600 integrated amplifier, for it's rugged & reliable build quality, it's superb appearance, its great sound & musicality, and its flexibility in accommodating a lot of different power output types for tube swapping entertainment. The only nit I have to pick with... Read More »

It was a long week of getting caught up at home and on the day job, and getting over jet lag! I love traveling but playing catchup is rough! But now it's weekend-eve, and it's time for a little music listening! Woo-hoo! First up was the new mono Buddy Holly reissue from Analogue Productions, remastered... Read More »

As I alluded to in my earlier blog post, while I was traveling in Eastern Europe over the last few weeks, I received a message from Mr. Shirokazu Yazaki in Tokyo, Japan, about an article he has been working on for some time now for the readers of Jeff's Place, and one that I was very... Read More »

I just got back home from two weeks of travel with little to no internet & email access most of the time, so I'm way behind on addressing comments & writing blog posts, and I'm playing tag with jet lag. I did get a chance to listen to a variety of live music performances of... Read More »

Which is better? The Duelund DCA16GA, Duelund DCA20GA, or the Duelund Silver/Silk interconnects? The conclusion that I've come to is that they all are better, depending upon the application I'm using them for. For example, I had been using a set of nude Duelund DCA16GA interconnects to connect my vintage McIntosh MX110Z tuner-preamplifier and vintage McIntosh... Read More »