Today's Fresh Catch features a number of items I've purchased from Acoustic Sounds over the last few weeks. First up is the Cat Stevens' Tea for Tillerman, which is the first pressing done at Chad's new Quality Record Pressings enterprise. Tea for the Tillerman is a great record, and sold 500,000 copies within 6 months... Read More »

I ordered a quad of EH KT90 vacuum tubes from Jim McShane a couple of days ago to try in my Leben CS660P stereo amplifier. I was thinking that I'd tried KT66, KT88, EL34, KT77, 6L6G, 5881, 6n3cE, 350B, and 6550s, so I thought I'd better add KT90s to the list. My favorites so far... Read More »

Those of you who read my book review at Positive Feedback Online of Jim Smith's Get Better Sound know that I hold Jim and his talents in the highest regard. Jim's book is a must have, and in the review I said: "I highly recommend Get Better Sound by Jim Smith, and I think it... Read More »

I just wanted to give everyone a heads up that my review of the Sablon Audio Panatela interconnect, designed by Mark Coles, has just gone live at Positive Feedback Online here. Just so you know, the Panatela is my absolute favorite interconnect in the whole world. Listening to it was an experience akin to my... Read More »

I just got home from a couple of weeks of traveling in France, and I'm still severely jet-lagged, with my body feeling about 9 hours out of sync from the clock-time here in the Pacific Northwest of the US where I live. Now I'm thinking about trying to get caught  back up on everything -... Read More »

You know how life just goes along and you think nothing is ever going to change, and then something totally unanticipated happens that resets everything? Well, this Saturday evening I had one of those precedence setting events that caught me completely by surprise, and rewrote the book about what I thought I knew about ...... Read More »

As you know, I fell in love with the Leben Hi-Fi Stereo Company and the electronics designs of Mr. Taku Hyodo, the founder of Leben Hi-Fi Stereo Company back when I first reviewed the Leben CS-600 integrated amplifier for 6Moons in 2007. I'm not the only one smitten with the Leben electronics' charms either, as... Read More »

It seemed like it took me forever to get Chapter 9 of the Acoustic Revive Chronicles published at Positive Feedback Online. After I had received the Acoustic Revive RAS-14 AC Power Conditioner and the USB-1.0SP USB Interconnect for review, the North American distributor, Joe Cohen, ceased importing the Acoustic Revive product line. There wasn't anyone... Read More »

I've just received the production version of the Sablon Audio Panatela interconnect from Mark Coles for review at Positive Feedback Online. Those who have been watching my blog know that Mark lent me a prototype version of the Panatela to listen to (Thanks Mark!) and I was really, really, impressed with it (click on photos... Read More »

Today's Fresh Catch features the NVO SPA-II vacuum tube stereo phono amplifier that is visiting from Greece. Being from Greece, the first thing that 'SPA-II' brought to mind was Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, for SPA is the acronym I use to remember their order in history, for it was Socrates who taught Plato, and Plato... Read More »

Over the years I’ve had a few folks ask me about how I got started in writing about audio, and similarly, about how a fellow Hi-Fi enthusiast might go about getting started writing about audio. For a first time audio writer, getting started is almost always by invitation from another audio writer. For example, I... Read More »

I've been thinking (always a dangerous thing ;-)) that it would be a good idea to write a series of posts about how the audio review process works, and what's involved in a 'cradle to grave' review. I think it would be really informative for a lot of enthusiasts, and would help you understand what... Read More »

Well, it's been a nice past week of music listening and Hi-Fi Tom-foolery here at Jeff's Place: vintage vinyl, new remastered vinyl, playing with Acoustic Revive accessories, listening to the prototype Sablon Audio Panatella interconnects, listening again to the Leben CS660P amplifier and Leben RS-100 (not the 'U') preamplifier, listening to a variety of 300B... Read More »

I've been listening to a prototype version of the Panatela interconnect, designed by Mark Coles for Sablon Audio, for a while now. I'll tell you what, it's a honey of an IC! The stealth-white clad prototype can be seen in the photo above plugged into my VPI Classic turntable and Auditorium 23 step-up transformer. While... Read More »

It's been storming with incredibly intense thunder showers here on the East Side of Washington State in the Pacific Northwest of the US, which makes it a perfect morning for staying inside, listening to music, and getting caught up on a little writing. On this rainy Sunday morning I'm drinking some fine Peet's Sulawesi-Kalosi coffee,... Read More »

I just bought a couple of new records that I thought you might be interested in, the first one being Sam Cooke's Night Beat. Born in Clarksdale, Mississippi, in 1931, Sam Cooke was the son of a Baptist minister and grew up singing and playing gospel music in church. Cooke was a talented vocalist and... Read More »

After hitting it out of the ballpark with The Robusto, Mark Coles has been busy in his laboratory designing a second AC power cord for the Sablon Audio lineup, the Gran Corona, which has just been announced as being available in a press release from Mark: "As promised a few weeks back, I'm delighted to... Read More »

I get a lot of e-mail inquiries about the do-it-yourself (DIY) White Lightening Moonshine cables article I wrote for Six Moons way back in September of 2007, which has been second only to the interest generated by the Garrard Project articles (1, 2, 3) I started writing even further back in September of 2004. I... Read More »

Errata 1: I just wanted to let you know I added a 'reference' tab to the top bar to pull up posts that are of ongoing usefulness so they will be easier to find. The bypass mod for the CS660P, system setup articles, and the CS600 & CS660P tube settings tables are there for now,... Read More »

I'm way behind on posting about 'Fresh Catches' of cool audio gear that I've purchased, built, borrowed, or that is in for review at Positive Feedback Online, so over the next week or so I'll try to post - in the order I have received them - some updates on the latest 'Fresh Catches'. First... Read More »

Nothing beats a little good music along with my Peet's coffee on a Saturday morning, and this morning with the sun breaking through the Pacific Northwest rain clouds I'm almost giddy about the music I'm listening to right now, the Miles Davis Quintet - Great Prestige Recordings 45 RPM box set that Chad Kassem did... Read More »

Fellow photography (and Leica!) enthusiast, Danny Bar, sent me some absolutely awesome photos of his recent trip to Cuba, which really makes me wish travel to Cuba from the US was a whole lot easier politically. Thanks for sharing your photos with us, Danny, they are awesome - wow! If you click on the photos... Read More »

The last time I traveled to Long Island, New York, it was to visit Harry Pearson at his home in Sea Cliff for The Absolute Sound celebration party Harry hosted to celebrate the continuation of his magazine, which had been purchased by new owners, and whose influx of money helped rescue the magazine which had... Read More »