When I asked some background questions about the Kingdom Royal during its design process, Dr. Paul Mills referred me to a file that chronicled the development of the Kingdom Royal. It's an interesting history, and I thought you would enjoy reading it. Here's the link to the article: Kingdom Royal in the making. As both the... Read More »

The Tempo Electric Aurum Ag Big Twist interconnects review just went live at Positive Feedback Online here.  Here's a snippet from the review: "The Aurum Ag Big Twist interconnects are a purist design incorporating 28 gauge 24-Carat gold signal wire and 4N 30 gauge silver wire for the return. They're wrapped in 8 gauge Teflon... Read More »

Mark Coles has developed a Panatela Tannoy Concentric Special Edition speaker cable set optimized for Tannoy loudspeakers using dual-concentric drivers that sounds very impressive indeed. If you look closely at the photos you'll notice there's 5 binding posts per Tannoy loudspeaker: two binding posts for the low-frequency section, two binding posts for the high-frequency section, and... Read More »

Quite a number of you have been telling me how much you like the ASR Audiosysteme electronics with your Tannoys. I can see why you are so impressed, as I just unboxed the ASR Audiosysteme Emitter II Exclusive Version Blue four-chassis integrated amplifier by Friedrich Schaefer. The Blue was quite a chore to unpack with it's... Read More »

The Tannoy Kingdom Royal loudspeakers I will be writing about for Positive Feedback Online arrived from Scotland today, 4 days early! Update # 1: Over the weekend I was able to get some friends together to help me get them unboxed, and it was quite a show! Chad and I were getting ready to roll the... Read More »

My Sophia Electric 91-01 300B mono amplifiers are sounding like a vintage dream this morning: rich, warm, colorful, and extremely musical while listening to the Stan Getz & Joao Gilberto Getz/Gilberto album reissued on 45 by Analogue Productions. Certainly a great part of the splendor I'm hearing is contributed by the Sophia Electric Royal Princess... Read More »

Sue at Sophia Electric mentioned that she thought the Princess™ Carbon Plate 300B Vacuum Tube ($600 USD per matched pair) would really complement the coaxial drivers in my Tannoy Westminster Royal SE loudspeakers, and asked if I would like to borrow a pair to listen to. You bet I would - thanks Sue! 🙂 It also... Read More »

While I was looking at Danny Bar's superb photos it occurred to me what a lousy job I've been doing at posting my own photos over the last few years. I've taken thousands of photos all over the world but it seems like I'm always running so short on time that I don't get my... Read More »

Danny Bar has been traveling in Greece and snapping photos with his Leica M9 camera with Leica Summilux-M 35 mm f/1.4 ASPH lens combination, and has captured some wonderful black & white images that really reflect the mood of what it's like to be in Greece right now. Enjoy! Many thanks, Danny, for sharing your fantastic... Read More »

When I reviewed the Sophia Electric Model 91-01 300B mono amplifiers for Positive Feedback Online back in January 2011 - which I purchased after the review - they came with NOS vintage Chinese JAN grade 5Z3PA rectifiers (which you can generally substitute for 5U4G and 274B rectifiers). I am just now realizing how good these rectifiers are... Read More »

 Ok, I just got home from the office, and there was a package waiting for me from Joseph Levy, the owner of Tempo Electric. Just so you know, Joseph Levy has particularly good taste in audio, and Joseph is more than a little fond of the audio electronic designs of the late Dr. Arthur Z. Loesch... Read More »

Here's some closeup photos of the Fi 300B mono amplifiers that some of you have been wanting to see. (Click on the photos a couple of times for larger versions) A full complement of ST bottle shapes is sure a treat for the eyes! Not to mention the Heart of Muse Black Gate capacitors and... Read More »

My friend Stephaen Harrell (6Moons reviewer) loaned me his Hagerman ‘Fry Baby’ cable conditioning device a while back, and I was rather astonished at the performance increase that comes from giving cables a good fry. That combined with Mark Coles dedicated conditioning of every Sablon Audio cable that he makes, using one of Alan Kafton’s audioharma... Read More »

Happy Friday everyone! After drinking a couple cups of coffee this morning, I decided to warm up the Hi-Fi rig and do a little tube rolling in the Fi 300B mono amplifiers, which is a great way to have little fun on a Friday morning! My Fi 300B monos came with Sovtek 5AR4 rectifiers (far... Read More »

It's Sunday morning here at Jeff's Place, with the morning sun streaming in through the East windows, while I'm drinking a fine cup of coffee, and listening to an old Analogue Productions test pressing of Bill Evan's Waltz for Debbie that is just blowing my mind. Those Analogue Productions test pressings are freaky good, and... Read More »

After I outed Pete Riggle's new Out Our Way audio diary webpage on his VTAF/Woody web site in my July 6th post, I sent Pete a message saying: "If you have time, I think it'd be fun to hear your system (it's been ages!), shoot some photos, hear what you've been up to lately, and if it's... Read More »

Pete Riggle has been outed: The always amazing Pete Riggle (he is amazing!) Cc'd me on a message to vacuum tube electronics designer extraordinaire Kara Chaffee of deHavilland Electric Amplifier Company, in which he told Kara about his new audio diary webpage on the VTAF/Woody web site. Pete's most recent diary post briefly discusses listening to a one-off deHavilland Chaffee... Read More »

For those of you who have been keeping score, you know I've been really impressed with the New Valve Order SPA-II (Stereo Phono Amplifier-II) that I reviewed for Positive Feedback Online in Issue 57, and it has become my reference for the state-of-art in a phono equalizer. The SPA-II was created by the talented fine audio constructeur,... Read More »

I'd like you to meet Siedy Abee, a new friend checking in from the Netherlands. I always enjoy hearing from Hi-Fi friends about a system that they are really enjoying, and a new Hi-Fi friend with a pair of Westminster Royal SEs is a treat because we can share our tips & tricks regarding the... Read More »

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Don Garber is an American Master. Don’s Fi electronics delight enthusiasts around the world, not only for their wonderful musical performance, but also for their artisanal hand-crafted quality. Owning a Fi product is a direct-from-the-artist experience, electronic artwork of the highest order. I just unpacked a... Read More »

Mark Coles of Sablon Audio fame has been busy in his cable laboratory, crafting a truly wonderful new speaker cable design - the Panatela. If you look at the accompanying photo you'll see the 5-binding post arrangement my Westminster Royal SE uses. The West's use a bi-wire arrangement for connecting the Dual Concentric speaker unit... Read More »

Analogue Productions has given the Grateful Dead's Reckoning album the deluxe remastering treatment. Reckoning was cut from the original analog master tapes at Analogue Productions' Quality Record Pressings on 200g vinyl by Kevin Gray. I'm listening to it right now and it is ridiculously well done live music with remastering to die for! If you... Read More »

By far, one of my favorite folk musicians is Townes Van Zandt. His songwriting, guitar playing, and vocals were remarkable. His recorded legacy isn't as good or as even as it deserved to be. His life was tragic and predictable: a bipolar disorder, a drug addiction, and alcoholism haunted him, but the beauty of his music shone through... Read More »