As you know, I've been extremely impressed with the New Valve Order SPA-II phono equalizer I reviewed in and Issue 57 of Positive Feedback Online (and use as my reference for a stand-alone phono equalizer), and the SPA One phono preamplifier that I reviewed in Issue 69 of Positive Feedback Online. Andreas Hadjiminas, working out of... Read More »

If you've been following my reviews (1 & 2), you know that the NVO SPA phono equalizers designed by Andreas Hadjiminas, working out of Nicosia, Cyprus, are my favorite phono equalizers. I just heard from Panikos Kontemeniotis, who exports NVO for Andreas, that there are now special edition versions of the New Valve Order SPA One (below)... Read More »

Most of you remember me writing about Panikos Kontemeniotis, the music lover & hi-fi aficionado - a man of superb taste in many things - who happens to be the exporter of the New Valve Order designs of talented fine audio constructeur, Andreas Hadjiminas, working out of Nicosia, Cyprus. Panicos sent me a note telling me... Read More »

A while back I made a post about The Soundcoat Company who has been providing specialized noise control solutions for aerospace, medical, and industrial applications since 1963. Steven Klein at Sounds of Silence had told me about how effective their GPDS damping sheets were when he applied the .070 GPDS vibration damping material to strategic locations within the chassis and external... Read More »

The end of 2013 is arriving rapidly and 2014 will be on us in no time! I thought it would be fun to take a look back at 2013's notable moments and to take a look behind the veil of 2014 to see what might be waiting. First up are those treasures that I wrote... Read More »

For the complete 10th Annual Positive Feedback Writers' Choice Awards for 2013 click here. As an excerpt, here's my Awards for 2013: It is time once again for the Annual Positive Feedback Online's Writers' Choice Awards, which means that it is time once again for yours truly to sift through my past year of reviews... Read More »

The Soundcoat Company has been providing specialized noise control solutions for aerospace, medical, and industrial applications since 1963. I first became aware of The Soundcoat Company through Steven Klein at Sounds of Silence (who imports the New Valve Order Audio electronics to North America), when he told me about the superb results he experienced through applying .070 GPDS vibration damping material... Read More »

I started my listening this evening with the 45 RPM version of the Shelly Manne & Bill Evans album Empathy from Analogue Productions and I've just been blown away. Certainly a lot of the credit goes to this wonderful album, Empathy, which I've reported on before, but I would be remiss if I didn't mention... Read More »

The New Valve Order SPA one phono equalizer review is now live at Positive Feedback Online here! A few snippets from the review: "Back in Issue 57 I introduced you to a talented fine audio constructeur, Andreas Hadjiminas, working out of Nicosia, Cyprus. Andreas is one of the brightest new lights in the firmament of vacuum tube... Read More »

High Performance Audio Starts With The In-Wall AC In Chapter 10 of the Acoustic Revive Chronicles I wrote about a high-performance in-wall Acoustic Revive AC interface that consisted of the combination of the CB-1DB receptacle base plate, the CFRP-1F carbon fiber outlet plate, and the Acoustic Revive modified Oyaide R-1 receptacle. I was impressed during... Read More »

I've been hard at work over the weekend writing up my review of the superb New Valve Order SPA one phono equalizer ($4250 USD). The SPA one is a honey of a phono equalizer that'll make you want to go out and buy more albums - a good thing for sure! I'll tell you what,... Read More »

Hi everyone! I hope you're having a nice weekend! I was out of commission part of this week as a victim of a stomach bug that's been going around, so you could say this week is ending a lot better than it started. Last weekend was an awesome vintage weekend of listening to Ron’s quad of... Read More »

I just got home from a 26 mile bicycle ride and walked down to my mailbox, and there waiting for me was the July 2013 issue of Stereophile. As I thumbed through the issue I was delighted to see that Michael Fremer wrote about the New Valve Order SPA-II phono equalizer that is being imported to... Read More »

Here’s what’s in my current review queue and what you can expect to see reviewed at Positive Feedback Online in the future. The last reviews to be finished up were of the wonderful ASR Basis Exclusive phono equalizer and ASR Emitter II Exclusive Version Blue amplifier (above). I'm still in withdrawal after their departure - wonderful... Read More »

I've been listening to the breadboarded versions of the Duelund crossovers on the Westminster Royal SE's this week, in the evenings after I got home from the office, and man, what a revelation! I decided to take today off and get some more work done on Duelund-WRSE Project.  Before getting started on what I need to... Read More »

I've been working hard on writing up listening impressions for the review of Friedrich Schaefer's ASR Basis Exclusive phono equalizer over the weekend, and I thought I'd take a moment to give you a little behind the scenes glimpse about my interim thoughts and how things are going. In case you haven't been following along,... Read More »

Happy Sunday everyone!  😀 Here's what's in my current review queue and what you can expect to see reviewed at Positive Feedback Online in the future. Next in the queue is the ASR Basis Exclusive phono equalizer that is the matching equalizer for the ASR Emitter II Exclusive Version Blue amplifier just reviewed at Positive... Read More »

I'm listening to Egberto Gismonti's LP Sol Do Meio Dia right now, using the New Valve Order SPA one phono equalizer created by Andreas Hadjiminas, working out of Nicosia, Cyprus. Andreas does his artistic expression in vacuum tubes, and man, he is one of the gods of ancient times come to visit us again! The SPA... Read More »

If you've read the Sablon Audio Panatela Special Edition Component Speaker Cable review at Positive Feedback Online you know how much I've been enjoying listening to music on the combination of an EMT TSD-15 phono cartridge, VPI Classic 'table, New Valve Order SPA-II phono stage, Sablon Audio Panatela interconnects & speaker cables, ASR Audiosysteme Emitter II Exclusive Version... Read More »

After I got up this morning, and puttered around for a while, I made some really fine coffee and sat down to spend some time with Lucinda Williams. I really like Lucinda Williams' album World Without Tears and the way it explores the dark side of human emotions. She sings about lost love, depression, lost... 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 »

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 »