I mentioned in my last "Today's Fresh Catch" post (HERE) that the Pass Labs XA 25 power amplifier (below) had arrived here at Jeff's Place for me to listen to, blog about, and write a feature article about for you at Positive Feedback. After hearing Nelson's First Watt SIT-III power amplifier (below) and how impressive... Read More »

It's time for another update on the Duelund-Altec Project. In my most recent updates of the Duelund-Altec Project I discussed the overall project context HERE, the selection of speaker cables for the most complementary voicing HERE, and I wrote a just-for-fun post about the musicality magic of vintage Altec's HERE.  I've never been enamored of... Read More »

As you know, I’m a huge fan of the Duelund DCA series of tinned-copper tone wire for building interconnects (the DCA20GA and DCA16GA). In fact, one high-profile industry insider with impeccable credentials and taste told me that his Duelund DCA20GA interconnects terminated with Duelund RCA’s are the best sounding interconnects he’s heard at any price.... Read More »

After my buddy Chad helped me move the big Stokowski Altec's into the position normally occupied by my Westminster Royal SE's last weekend (thanks Chad!), we did a fair amount of listening, mostly to a lot of classic rock (Chad's fave), but also some jazz. I was a  bit surprised how good the Stokowski Altec's... Read More »

An old high-school buddy that I reconnected with recently, Mark, asked me for a recommendation for a HiFi system for $10K or under. Mark is actually the person who introduced me to enthusiast audio way back when we were in high-school together, but he's been out of enthusiast audio for quite a long while. As... Read More »

As I've mentioned in previous posts, I've been having fun trying different wiring schemes with my Tannoy Westminster Royal SE loudspeakers and their Duelund CAST crossovers, as well as my vintage Altec based systems. Tannoy Westminster Royal SE based system: My living room music system is composed of Tannoy Westminster Royal SE loudspeakers with outboard... Read More »

It's been a nice weekend of just kicking back, relaxing, and celebrating. To celebrate my Mom's majority Irish ancestry that we didn't know she had until after some recent DNA testing (oral tradition isn't always accurate), we celebrated St. Patrick's Day on Saturday with me cooking a traditional St. Patrick's Day feast of corned beef,... Read More »

Remember my Big Round Tone post from a couple of weeks back, where I discussed the relationship of tone to gauge size for headshell leads, interconnects, speaker cables, and speaker/equipment internal wiring? In relative terms, you get bigger, richer, and rounder tone as gauge size decreases (fatter wire). You can think of it in guitar terms too.... Read More »

The 14th Annual Positive Feedback Writers' Choice Awards for 2017 are now live here. Actually the Writers' Choice Awards went live a few days ago but this is my first chance to tell you about it. Here's a preview of my little contribution for 2017. You can read the fully story at the link. ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪... Read More »

The Editors of Positive Feedback, Mr. Dave Clark and Dr. David Robinson, just sent out a message calling for the writers to turn in their three Writers Choice Awards for 2017. Every year Dave and David's message results in my going back and reflecting on my year in audio, the products I've written about for Positive Feedback, and... Read More »

This morning I built a 1-meter shielded Duelund DCA26GA tinned-copper interconnect (shield connected at source end) to connect the 2-Ohm version of the Arai Lab MT-1 SUT that I am currently reviewing for Positive Feedback to my vintage MX110Z preamplifier's phono stage. I now have shielded versions of the DCA16GA, DCA20GA, and DCA26GA tinned-copper interconnects... Read More »

Last weekend was a rough one. I was felled by a kidney stone on Sunday, which earned me a ride in an ambulance to the emergency room. The little bugger hasn't passed through yet, and still has some fight left in it, which it has been keen to remind me of from time to time. Ugh. I've... Read More »

Using the Hagerman Audio Labs FryBaby2 in voltage-only mode has revealed itself to be a powerful voicing tool for the Duelund DCA line of tinned-copper cables. Every single time I've used the FryBaby2 on the Duelund cables it has been a smashing success. In its voltage-only conditioning mode the FB2 has worked wonders on my... Read More »

I've been writing my bum off the last few weeks working on a survey article of the Duelund DCA line of tinned-copper cables for Positive Feedback. I'll be submitting the article to Positive Feedback Editors David and Dave for their consideration sometime today, so you should expect to see it published before too long. Until... Read More »

It sure is nice to get home from work on a Friday evening, fix a dirty martini with some Tito's handmade vodka, and put on some music and play some audio games. I just pulled my Duelund DCA20GA interconnects off the FryBaby2 after about 12 hours of voltage-only conditioning, and installed them in the system... Read More »

I thought I'd provide you another update on my voltage-only conditioning results with the Hagerman Audio Labs FryBaby2, this time with a pair of unshielded Duelund DCA16GA interconnects. I put my unshielded DCA16GA interconnects on the FryBaby2 for 24 hours of voltage-only conditioning, and tonight put them in the system for a little listen. I... Read More »

I sure do appreciate everyone commenting on their experiences about their audio experiments and observations, it really helps us all learn and progress. Thank you! Take for example Bill's recent observations that voltage-only conditioning with his Hagerman cable conditioning device really complemented the Duelund DCA tinned-copper cables by making them warmer, richer, and brought out... Read More »

I was particularly intrigued by Bill's comment on the post Jim Smith Checking In: “Unexpected results from the Duelund DCA20GA Interconnects”: Jeff, Not really sure where to post this. I think I discovered something with the Duelund Tin wire. If its running thin and sometimes cooking them can do this. But I noticed on two different... Read More »

It sure was nice getting together with Andy, Pete, and Ron, last weekend to listen to music, talk about hifi, and just have a fun ol' time! I could use a little more musical & audio fellowship in my life! Alas, it's been particularly busy of late, both on the day job, and in my... 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 »

It has been a busy audio weekend, and I'm trying to get caught back up after Jeff's Place going down due to the hacking event last week. The good news is that you've encouraged me to keep going with Jeff's Place for the foreseeable future. I was pretty discouraged after the hacking event, but with all... Read More »

I've been wanting to try the Duelund DCA20GA tinned-copper tone-wire as a shielded interconnect between my Intact Audio SUT and vintage McIntosh MX110Z tuner-preamplifier for a while now. As most of you know, response to the Duelund DCA20GA as interconnects has been extremely positive, and I really like the ones I made up a lot (below).... Read More »