I really like the musicality & sonics of the 2-meter DCA16GA interconnects I made (with Switchcraft 3502AAU RCA's) to go from my vintage McIntosh MX110Z tuner-preamp to my vintage McIntosh MC30 monaural amplifiers. I described them like this: "The overall presentation is warmish, beautifully musical, a little bit dark, but with a surprising amount of transparency... Read More »

Last week was a rough week, so it was especially sweet to relax on Saturday, and work through some listening tests with the A5 Voice of the Theatre Project, Western Electric WE16GA wire, Belden 8402 microphone cable interconnects, Duelund DCA16GA wire, Jupiter Condenser Red Astron capacitors, and the Woody SPU tonearm. The Pete Riggle Audio Engineering Woody SPU Tonearm: I'll start with a... Read More »

After writing my last post, I got all excited about wiring up my A5 VOTT's Altec 16 Ohm 515B Alnico drivers in the 825B bass horns with Duelund DCA16GA wire. First I removed the backs of the Altec 825B bass horns so I could get at the 16 Ohm 515B Alnico drivers, and then removed the vintage... Read More »

It sure was fun to go to Matt's and Milagros' wedding at Mount Vernon, and to visit with all the family and friends that attended. They sure are a fantastic group of people, and it makes me thankful and proud that I can call them 'family'. Now I've got a few things to tell all... Read More »

I had an absolutely fantastic weekend visiting with family at my nephew Matt's wedding held at Mount Vernon, near Alexandria, Virginia. In the photo above, left to right, is Milagros, Matt's lovely new wife, then Matt my nephew, the priest, my awesome sister-in-law JoAnne, my nephew, Chris, Chris' lovely daughter, Chloe, and his charming wife, Joanna.... Read More »

I got up this morning and started a load of laundry, made some coffee, and fired up my Stokowski Altec A7 loudspeakers & SPEC RSA-M3 EX Real Sound Amplifier based system. Soon as the coffee was ready, I settled in to catch up on my correspondence while listening to the superb Jazz24 stream. Yazaki-san’s amazing SPEC RSA-M3... Read More »

Back 10 years ago now when I first tried the combination of the Leben CS600 integrated amplifier (and RS-30EQ phono stage) with my Harbeth Super HL5 loudspeakers, I was so impressed with the immense musicality of their combined performance that I sold the much more expensive reference system I had at the time, and replaced it with... Read More »

I've picked up some new albums from Acoustic Sounds that I think you jazz cats will enjoy. First up is the 45 RPM Bill Evans Paris Concert Edition 1 from the Original Recordings Group (ORG), which was recorded live at L'espace Cardin in Paris, France, November 1979, about 10 months before Bill's death in September 1980. The album... Read More »

It's always good to get home and fire up the stereo after being off on a long week of work travel. The first thing I did after getting home from a long day of flying was to plug in my vintage McIntosh vacuum tube electronics and vintage Altec A5 Voice of the Theatre loudspeakers based system to... Read More »

It's been really busy lately for yours truly, but tonight I'm relaxing for a little bit, and listening to a little jazz over my vintage Altec A5 Voice of the Theatre loudspeakers project, which at the moment is playing my Analogue Productions test pressing of Chet Baker's Chet. I probably shouldn't say this, as it drives prices up,... Read More »

I would like to thank John Butterfield (third from the left), Art King (third from the right), and the Kennewick, Washington, Post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars for performing a memorial service for my Dad, Jack Day. Both Mom & I deeply appreciate everything you have done. As some of you know, my Dad passed... Read More »

The Duelund Coherent Audio DCA16GA has arrived at Jeff's Place! If you've been following this developing story, you know how excited I am about the Duelund Coherent Audio DCA16GA wire from Frederik Carøe in Denmark. "Why?" you ask. I'm glad you asked, so let me give you a brief recap of events up until now to help explain why I am... Read More »

It's been a crazy busy time for yours truly, with travel, work, looking after my 91-year young Mom, getting ready for some memorial services for my Dad, keeping up here at Jeff's Place, and the like. Sometimes 24 hours in a day seems woefully insufficient. But I wanted to check in and say, "Hi!" and... Read More »

I've been traveling in England the last couple weeks and got home last night at 1 a.m., and am now trying to get caught back up on everything, including some sleep and some music listening. I was on a tour with Rick Steves' Europe that was a lot of fun. Rick is a cultural treasure... Read More »

I had intended to spend quite a lot more time listening to the gorgeous sounding vintage Sprague Bumblebee 0.22uF capacitors in the C93 & C95 and C94 & C96 positions of my MX110Z to establish a 'baseline' before trying any more capacitors. The Bumblebee's are my favorites of all the capacitors I've tried in those positions for the MX110Z... Read More »

I have really been having a lot of fun listening to various capacitors in my vintage McIntosh MX110Z tuner-preamplifier. At the moment the vintage Sprague Bumblebees are at the top of my list for capacitors in the C93 & C95 and C94 & C96 positions for my MX110Z for their sheer musical prowess. The half a century old Bumblebees have... Read More »

It's always a pleasure to meet a like minded music lover like Jesper, who loves music and is having fun putting cool hi-fi gear throughout his home. Jesper has a nice mix of vintage and modern gear that fits right in with me and my pals here at Jeff's Place! Jesper told me: "At the... Read More »

After getting up this fine Saturday morning, while drinking a couple cups of my favorite coffee from Stumptown Coffee Roasters, I set about pulling off the bottom of my vintage vacuum tube McIntosh MX110Z tuner-preamplifier so I could do a little surgery on it. I had two things I wanted to do while under the bonnet, the... Read More »

If you read my recent post about tone capacitors you know there are three vintage capacitors that are very highly regarded for their tone, the Sprague Black Beauty, the Sprague Bumblebee, and the Mullard Tropical Fish, and they represent a sort of 'holy trinity' of tone for electric guitarists, as well as being at least partly responsible for the rich, musical tone,... Read More »

I'm not often gobsmacked by audio gear anymore, but when I laid my eyes on Markus Klug's Klughoerner hand-crafted wood replicas of historic multi-cell horns I almost swooned and fell out of my chair! Markus' Klughoerner multi-cell wood horns are stunning! To the right in the photo above, you can see Markus' hand-crafted Klughoerner wood replica... Read More »

I had a nice day of music listening yesterday afternoon with Leo, Pete, and Ron, as we did some listening comparisons with the Altec A5 Voice of the Theatre loudspeakers and their Hiraga-san inspired crossovers. The Jean Hiraga designed crossovers are about as perfect a match to the Altec A5 Voice of the Theatre loudspeakers as one could hope for,... Read More »

A lot of you (and me) have been lamenting that the superb Western Electric WE16GA wire has become essentially extinct, and I am down to the last little bit of WE16GA I have left, which is what I am using to wire my new crossovers for my Altec A5 Voice of the Theatre loudspeakers project.... Read More »

It is with sadness that I report that our friend and fellow audio traveler, Bill Van Winkle, has passed after an extended battle with cancer. Pete Riggle sent me a message saying: Finally Bill has reached escape velocity, not just from earth, but from the Milky Way. I walked out last night and looked up into... Read More »