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 »

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 »

My buddy Ron stopped by with three amplifiers from his collection for an afternoon of listening fun & games. The first one we listened to was Ron's vintage Harmon-Kardon Citation II that he fully restored - but not 'hot-rodded' - using Jim McShane's parts offerings. The vintage Harmon-Kardon Citation II sounded warm, rich, eminently musical,... Read More »

Just for fun I purchased an Apple TV to replace my the Roku box that I use to stream Netflix media. I hooked my new little Apple TV up via a Toslink connection to my Mhdt Labs Paradisea+ vacuum tube USB DAC. Toslink is not the best way to connect in the digital world, but... Read More »

The Sablon Audio 'The Robusto' AC Power Cord review I have been working on just went live at Positive Feedback Online here. To quote the last section of the review as a teaser: "The Sablon Audio The Robusto power cord is a remarkable achievement in a power cord design, with performance that puts it right... Read More »

The Sablon Audio 'The Robusto' power cord is today's fresh catch, and believe me, it serves up some fine listening. More often than not, it’s through the ‘audio underground’ that I get tips about new or relatively unknown Hi-Fi products that really deliver the musical experience in spades, for it is from the underground’s deep... Read More »

I get a lot of good ideas from friends sharing tips about music and Hi-Fi with me, and this musical & audio sharing is what makes the 'audio underground' so fun and inspiring. Vintage Garrard 301 turntables and Sony Playstation SCPH-1001s come to mind as examples of past tips that provided a lot of enjoyment... Read More »

I've been getting a number of inquiries about the new 'Woody' tonearm from Pete Riggle Engineering, so I thought I'd post this e-mail with photos (note the cool vintage Garrard 301 and Thorens TD124 turntables - drool) from Pete telling about his new String-Theory Woody Tonearm. I haven't yet seen or heard Pete's new tonearm... Read More »

Fellow music lover Charlie Schnyder asked me if I would be willing to write a quick and easy “how-to” post about getting started with a computer hard drive as a digital source. As Charlie mentioned in his e-mail to me, there are a lot of music lovers who would like to take their existing CD... Read More »

Static electricity had been giving me fits so I ended up putting a record mat on my VPI Classic to see if it would help - it did. I listened to it with the mat on it for a while, and then went back to using the platter nude (the platter, not me - see... Read More »

I've had this post in draft for a while now, but due to general busyness it took me a while to get around to getting it posted. - but here it is. It's easy to take things for granted in life, and the Shuguang KT-66 vacuum tubes that come stock in the Leben CS660P power... Read More »

I just purchased a VPI Classic turntable to use as my vinyl source, and I have to say it is a beautifully made turntable. It's got a heavy machined aluminum platter, a heavy chassis, a nice walnut finish that matches my walnut equipment cabinet, and it's just a general pleasure to use and listen to.... Read More »

I’m a big fan of the New Old Stock Russian 6n3cE vacuum tubes and have been using them in my Leben CS-600 integrated amplifier and Leben CS-660P power amplifier since I bought them several years ago. The 6n3cE is all about tone, color, musicality, and is very evenly balanced top to bottom frequency wise. It... Read More »

I get to try a lot of really good amplifiers with my Westminsters, but it seems I am always eager to get my Leben Hi-Fi Company CS660P power amplifier back into the system. The CS660P is shown here with Tung-Sol 6L6G reissue vacuum tubes that are made in Russia for New Sensor. See larger image... Read More »

My friend Ron brought over his little 4 watt Transcendent OTL single ended mono amps to give a listen to on the Westminsters. These are very refined little amps with a natural and relaxed presentation on the Westminsters. They didn’t seem to really have enough power at 4 watts to make the Westminsters come alive... Read More »

My friend Ron has more cool Hi-Fi gear than most Hi-Fi shops. After I got the Westminsters dialed in Ron brought over his little Master Sound Caesar 300B integrated amplifier from Italy. The Caesar is a beautiful little amplifier that is made to an extremely high quality standard. Its 9 watts sounds massively powerful on... Read More »