As I have done occasionally at times in the past, today I wrote this "other stuff" post for you that isn't on the topic of audio or music, but that I think is particularly relevant this time of year when the Holiday Season is arriving upon us in full force, and the days become short,... Read More »

You might have noticed that below my Jeff's Place title that it says that my blog is about "Music, Hi-Fi, and Other Stuff". That's because Jeff's Place is my personal blog about music, hi-fi, and other stuff, with the "other stuff" being miscellaneous things that are on my mind that I want to write about that... Read More »

In Part 1 and Part 2 of my musings about “high fidelity” in audio I explored how high fidelity is considered to be a measure of how close a stereo system or recording comes to reproducing the live musical event. I broadly defined two aspects of high fidelity in audio, the first being (in Part... Read More »

In Part 1 I spent some time musing about what high-fidelity means in relation to musicality, and now in Part 2 I’ll explore some ideas about what high-fidelity means in terms of non-musical audiophile-style sonics that many audiophiles cherish. As a recap, in Part 1 I described audiophile-style sonics as how a stereo system performs... Read More »

This last week was really a nice one of relaxation and getting out in nature with my friend Chad at his cabin on the shore of Lake Chelan in Washington State. We got in a bike ride in the village of Chelan, and did some sightseeing around the lake. There were deer everywhere, and at... Read More »

Most of you know that what I write about music and hifi here at Jeff's Place (as well as Positive Feedback) produces no real income for me. In fact it's just the opposite, it costs me a lot to write about many of the things I write about because they are personal purchases (Altec A5's... Read More »

As most of you know, I've been a long-time fan of the Leben CS600 integrated amplifier, for it's rugged & reliable build quality, it's superb appearance, its great sound & musicality, and its flexibility in accommodating a lot of different power output types for tube swapping entertainment. The only nit I have to pick with... Read More »

My Dad went through a sudden decline in his health after a serious fall about three years ago, and was not able to go home again afterwards. Our family is spread out about as far as it is possible to be while still living in the USA, and with no family local to where Mom... Read More »

Thank you! Thanks to all of you who have encouraged me with help after the hacking incident that took down Jeff's Place a week ago, I truly appreciate all the kind words, good advice, and your offers to help with donations! Thank you so much, you are awesome! Friends of Jeff's Place I want to give special... Read More »

I don't know how many of you stopped by Jeff's Place on April 5th to do a little reading, but depending on when you stopped by, you might have noticed that nothing came up but a white screen. That's because somebody decided it would be fun to hack Jeff's Place and destroy it. Apparently, somebody (or a malware... Read More »

While I was working on the review of the Lefson resistors, the elderly OPPO BDP-83 Blu-Ray player that I was using for my reference digital source in my A5 Voice of the Theatre system quit working. I disassembled the BDP-83 and determined that the transport, which had been acting up for quite a while, finally died. The... Read More »

I've had the good fortune to spend almost every Christmas Holiday with my Mom (Jaine) and Dad (Jack). Last year after a brief illness, at age 92, we lost Dad just before Christmas, so neither Mom or I were much in a Christmas mood in 2015. This year Mom and I celebrated Christmas together, and we... Read More »

Ho ho ho! A very Merry Christmas to you from Jeff's Place! Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse; Jeff hung a stocking on the Westminster with care, In hopes that St. Mick soon would be there; The LP’s were nestled all snug in... Read More »

I had an absolutely fantastic weekend visiting with family at my nephew Matt's wedding held at Mount Vernon, near Alexandria, Virginia. In the photo above, left to right, is Milagros, Matt's lovely new wife, then Matt my nephew, the priest, my awesome sister-in-law JoAnne, my nephew, Chris, Chris' lovely daughter, Chloe, and his charming wife, Joanna.... Read More »

It was a lot of fun to have Rafe (Part-Time Audiophile) and Don visit Jeff's Place over the weekend, and we covered a lot of ground musically, sonically, and philosophically. From a musical perspective we did a little bit of a survey of the recording arts, starting with some very early mono recordings, progressing through... Read More »

Happy 91st Birthday, Mom! Sunday was my Mom's 91st Birthday, now that's something to celebrate! Mom and I started our day of celebration at a nice little French restaurant that's just down the street from Mom's apartment. We had a delicious brunch of coffee, mimosa, veggie crepes, and Eggs Benedict,  that were all made from scratch by... Read More »

This is the Thanksgiving Holiday week in the USA, where we commemorate a romanticized version of a 1621 harvest festival feast in which refugee Pilgrims honored a Native American man of the Patuxet tribe, named Squanto, who had taught them how to fish & plant corn, and had negotiated a peace treaty for them with the Wampanoag Nation, ensuring their survival, in their first year... Read More »

I like to bring my Mom & Dad over to visit on the weekend, fix them a nice dinner, and spend some time catching up. They've been through a hard time the last few years, starting with when my Dad took a bad fall at home, ended up in the hospital, then a skilled nursing facility,... Read More »

It's always a great evening of fun & games when Stephaen Harrell (6Moons) and Pete Riggle (Pete Riggle Audio Engineering) host the Annual ANVIL Awards celebration, and the fun continued in 2015! In case you’ve never heard of the the ANVIL Award, it’s the ultimate annual audio award for the Audiophile Not Very Intelligent Lately, and... Read More »

June 4, 1923, was when my Dad, Jack, entered into the world, and now 92 years later we're celebrating the day, or should I say, the Day, Jack Day. Happy 92nd Birthday, Dad! We love you! 🙂 We had a nice evening of socializing, having dinner, and drinking a bit of Champagne. After dinner, a slice of... Read More »

This last week was Thanksgiving Holiday week in the USA, where we commemorate the 1621 celebration of thanksgiving at Plymouth, Massachusetts, where early settlers & Native Americans shared a feast of thanksgiving for the good harvest that ensured their survival (depicted in the Brownscombe painting below from Wikipedia). Back then a good harvest meant you survived through the winter months, and to quote Mfu's... Read More »

McKinnon Furniture in Seattle is one of my favorite stores for buying hand-made furniture & equipment stands and cabinets in the entire world. All of the furniture is made the old fashioned way, from scratch, beautifully conceived, and they'll do custom designs and let you pick the wood. I've needed a new equipment rack for quite... Read More »

Labor Day weekend here in the States signals the greatly anticipated arrival of the annual ANVIL Award gathering put on by those inveterate audio statesmen, Stephaen Harrell (6Moons) and Pete Riggle (Pete Riggle Audio Engineering). In the photo below, that's Stephaen on the left, Pete on the right, and this year's ANVIL awardee, 'My Last... Read More »