The feature review of the Duelund-Altec Project at Positive Feedback was published one year ago, on October 1, 2019, and today is the Duelund-Altec Project's one-year anniversary. Now that I have a year's worth of experience and music listening under my belt with the Duelund CAST tinned-copper crossovers I installed into the "Stokowski" Altec loudspeakers,... Read More »

In Part 1 I started telling you about swapping out the vintage Altec 804A compression drivers (below left) in my vintage "Stokowski" Altec loudspeakers for the vintage Altec 802D compression drivers (below right) from my vintage Altec 832A Corona loudspeakers.  Vintage Altec 802D compression drivers are highly regarded by Altec aficionados, but you don't hear... Read More »

Vintage Altec loudspeakers generate a lot of enthusiasm among audio nuts like me because they run circles around many modern loudspeakers in terms of musicality, at least once you get some Hiraga-style crossovers installed in them, and they are so sensitive that you can easily drive them with low-powered single-ended-triode or single-ended-pentode amplifiers to live-like... Read More »

Today's Fresh Catch is the Pete Riggle Audio Engineering "Woody" headshell ($60 USD). Pete describes the "Woody" headshell thusly (more HERE): "Presently available in French polished Spanish cedar. The basic headshell weighs 6 grams. Included with the 6 gram Spanish cedar headshell is a 5 gram booster weight, which can be used to bring the... Read More »

My local FedEx driver just dropped of an exciting parcel from Pass Labs, the XP-17 phono preamplifier!  Here's what the Pass Labs website says about the XP-17: "XP-17 uses the new-shielded low noise toroid and input filter module, like the XP-12. The power supply has an extra stage of RC filtering.  We have lower radiated... Read More »

My rule of thumb for the Duelund DCA tinned-copper cables when used as speaker cables is that the richer and fuller sounding DCA12GA has been a great match to my Tannoy Westminster Royal SE loudspeakers, while the more direct and vivid sounding DCA16GA has been a great match to my collection of vintage Altec loudspeakers.... Read More »

My perspective on what good hifi is about has changed a lot over the decades. In my pre high-performance hifi years I didn't care what equipment I listened to music on as long as I could listen to music. My music kit as a little kid was a foldable integrated turntable with detachable loudspeakers, and... Read More »

First I listened to the Pass Labs XP-12 line-level preamplifier paired with the First Watt SIT-3 stereo amplifier (review HERE), utilizing the very musical Audio Note (UK) CD 2.1x/II Level Two Red Book CD player as a source HERE), and then I did some more listening with my CTC Garrard 301 turntable as a source (HERE). ... Read More »

The new First Watt F8 amplifier will be on its way here for a listen in the not too distant future. In my usual fashion I'll be blogging about it as I get familiar with it here at Jeff's Place, and then will be writing a feature article about it for Positive Feedback. Nelson has just released the... Read More »

I'm in the midst of writing up the Pass Labs XP-12 line-level preamplifier feature review for Positive Feedback, so I've been doing a lot of listening with the XP-12 of late, as you would expect. At the moment, I'm listening to the First Watt SIT-3 (review HERE) in combination with the Pass Labs XP-12 line-level... Read More »

Lately I've had to pinch myself to make sure I'm not dreaming, as I've had the enormously good fortune to listen to a variety of audio equipment that so very closely matches my personal preferences for high-performance audio in terms of musicality and visuospatial attributes.  A rather amazing thing to me, is that for old-timer... Read More »

If you haven't yet read the Audio Note (UK): Peter Qvortrup & Darko Greguras on making digital sources sound like music. Part 1. post here at Jeff's Place from about nine weeks ago, you can read it HERE. A quick recap: Last Fall I had a very enjoyable and illuminating visit with Peter Qvortrup at... Read More »

My Sexy Blue Tubes, Part 2, The Sophia Electric EL34-ST and KT88-ST Vacuum Tubes! feature article is now live at Positive Feedback (HERE)!  I hope you enjoy the article! As always, thanks for stopping by, and may the tone be with you!

I really have to hand it to Frederick Carøe at Duelund Coherent Audio in Denmark, he has truly revolutionized the production of tinned-copper wire that is specifically designed for high-performance audio applications. Frederik has produced tinned-copper wires for audio applications in three different styles. The first style of Duelund tinned-copper conductors are wrapped in an... Read More »

It is one of those time periods where I am in the midst of shuffling equipment around between systems in  preparation for upcoming reviews. As you are no doubt aware, the performance of a component is greatly dependent upon the associated equipment in a given system, and the room it is installed in. I've found... Read More »

As is my custom, I wanted to share a "sneak peek" into my next feature review for Positive Feedback "Sexy Blue Tubes, Part 2: The Sophia Electric EL34-ST and KT88-ST Vacuum Tubes!" I'm hoping to have the feature article finished up over the next week, so check back for more in about a week. Enjoy... Read More »

It's taken me much longer to try the next level of Yazaki-san's Ultimate Ruby Mica capacitor mod for the SPEC RSA-M3 EX Real Sound Amplifier than I had anticipated, due to the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic, and its impacts on my life and health. You can read my original SPEC RSA-M3 EX Real Sound... Read More »

If you've been keeping up with the posts here at Jeff's Place, you know I've been thoroughly enjoying listening to music with the combination of the Audio Note (UK) CD 2.1x/II Level Two Red Book CD player combined with the Audio Note (UK) Oto Phono SE Signature integrated amplifier. The combination of the Audio Note... Read More »

I just finished up the feature review of the Leben HiFi Stereo Company CS-600X vacuum tube integrated amplifier for Positive Feedback, which you can read HERE.  Like the CS-600 integrated amp that preceded it, the CS-600X is a terrific moderately powerful integrated amplifier, with 32W from 6L6GC output tubes, and 28W from EL34 output tubes. ... Read More »

My feature review of the Leben HiFi Stereo Company CS-600X integrated amplifier is now live at Positive Feedback HERE! As always, thanks for stopping by, and may the tone be with you!

Pete Riggle has been putting his time in Covid-19 quarantine to good use by developing a new "Woody" headshell. Pete's new "Woody Headshells" are replaceable wood headshells that can be used on "Woody SPU" tonearms like mine, or basically any other arm with an SME type headshell connector, like my Thomas Schick tonearms, for example. ... Read More »

As you know, it is my custom to give you a "sneak peek" into my upcoming feature reviews for Positive Feedback. Todays "sneak peak" is for the Leben CS-600X integrated amplifier feature review, which should be published in the next week or two! Enjoy! The Leben HiFi Stereo Company CS-600X integrated amplifier – an old... Read More »

As you know, I'm rather enamored with what I'm hearing from the Audio Note (UK) CD 2.1x/II Level Two Red Book CD Player.  I said earlier that "The musicality of Audio Note (UK) digital is not a gimmick, it is for real, and I am very excited about it, because really, this is the first... Read More »