I have access to buying almost anything as an audio writer, and there's some really nice audio gear out there, but for a preamplifier I chose the vintage McIntosh MX110Z tuner-preamplifier, which was sold by McIntosh from 1962-1969 for the lofty price of $399. The reason is that the vintage McIntosh MX110Z tuner-preamplifier is an... Read More »

This post is not about the vintage-style 22-gauge Gavitt tinned-copper pushback wire from The Art of Tone electric guitar store that I used to build some very musical sounding headshell leads and a USB interconnect from. Rather, it is about the pursuit of a style of musicality for your hifi that lights up your heart & mind... Read More »

I reported originally on Robbie's Leben CS-600 lid mod a few weeks back, here. I immediately ordered the “120Pcs M3 Male Female Hex Brass Spacer Standoffs PCB Board Screws Nut Assortment” from eBay seller huanshop2015 ($4.99 USD), and it arrived today, so I thought I'd give Robbie's Leben lid mod a try. The stock Leben lid... Read More »

There's so many new readers at Jeff's Place these days, that I thought it would be a nice idea to go over the purpose of my Jeff's Place audio blog again, describe where it fits in my spectrum for audio reviewing and reportage, discuss my reviewing methodology, my biases & preferences, and give you a 'master list' of... Read More »

It's really been snowing here, with the snow piling up, and making for nasty road conditions. The temperatures have been hovering in the single digits, but now are moving up into the balmy teens! I just put out a bunch of wild bird seed for my feathered friends, to help them out during this inhospitable cold snap,... Read More »

It's bright and early on Saturday morning and I'm up drinking espresso, as my custom is lately, starting my mornings with two café allongés to get the morning rolling. It works! My primary music system has achieved such a nice overall balance musically & sonically of late that I'm just sitting back, settling in, and enjoying the fruits of... Read More »

Mr. Shirokazu Yazaki of SPEC Corporation (photo below, second from left) has told me how highly he regards the performance of vintage Western Electric WE16GA wire used as speaker cable. Mr. Shirokazu Yazaki uses the Western Electric WE16GA wire as speaker cables as his personal reference both for the research & development work he does for... Read More »

I just bought a copy of Ken Kessler's McIntosh history book direct from McIntosh for $150 USD. It is a big, beautifully done, coffee table style book written by Ken Kessler in 2006. There's lots of good content for Mac fans including chapters about McIntosh's roots, vacuum tube designs, the use of McIntosh in live &... Read More »

Here's my listening impressions for the Duelund CAST Silver Capacitors and Duelund CAST Silver & Copper Autotransformers. I hope you enjoy it! Listening Impressions The Stock Westminster Royal SE Loudspeakers Let me repeat myself a little, with excerpts from the Part 1 article of the Duelund-WRSE Project, to put everything in context for the Part 2 changes... Read More »

If you read the post where David King checked in to tell us about the beautiful leather bound volume (below) of ‘The World of Music’ by Kjell Bloch Sandved, you know I was intrigued, and I ordered a copy of a later edition from a used book seller on Amazon (because I couldn't find the same one... Read More »

David King sent me a really interesting heads up about a music book that I know all of you will be really interested in: 'The World of Music' by Kjell Bloch Sandved. (All the photos below are of David's copy, and it looks like a beauty of a book!) As soon as I read David's message I... Read More »

The Duelund-Westminster Project is live on Positive Feedback Online in Issue 70! As I mentioned in an earlier post, the article is huge with over 40 pages of text and 137 photographs. Editor Dave decided to break it up into two parts to make it a little more manageable to read on the website, and... Read More »

The full Duelund-Westminster External Crossover Project article has been submitted to the Ye Olde Editors Dave and David of Positive Feedback Online for publication in the November 2013 issue next week. The article is 41 pages long and includes 137 photographs - it is a doozy! As I mentioned in my Part 1 sneak peak,... Read More »

All around cool guy and Editor of Positive Feedback Online, Dave Clark, just sent me an e-mail about the new Beta Positive Feedback Exchange buy, sell, trade, and discussion site and asked me if I'd help get the word out. Dave and David over at PFO are great guys, and through the Exchange site they're trying to... Read More »

I just heard from Frederik Carøe - the founder of Duelund Coherent Audio - that the exotic perfectionist Duelund Coherent Audio components for the Westminster Royal SE Crossover Project are on the way to Jeff's Place from Denmark!  Below is a teaser photo Frederik sent from the start of parts production. Not since the days of The... Read More »

If you read the review I wrote for Positive Feedback Online about the remarkable ASR Emitter II Exclusive Version Blue amplifier designed by Friedrich Schaefer in Herborn, Germany, you know that in that article I discussed how high-performance audio breaks naturally into three groups of performance attributes that relate to their overall performance level, or... Read More »

If you read the post I made about Jim Smith's upcoming Through the Sound Barrier offerings that are intended to teach Hi-Fi enthusiasts and music lovers how to achieve maximum musicality from their Hi-Fi rigs, you know I couldn't be more excited. After all, the whole reason Jeff's Place exists is for that very reason - to... Read More »

Most of you know about the high regard I have for Jim Smith. Jim has a stellar reputation for his good taste in all things high-fidelity, for his expertise in Hi-Fi system setup & voicing, as well as for being an honest and solid guy. Jim Smith has been in the Hi-Fi business for over... Read More »

It is always a pleasure to hear from Jim Smith. As I said in the article I wrote for Positive Feedback Online in Issue 59 about Jim's Get Better Sound reference 3 DVD set, "I suspect nearly everyone reading this article will already know about Jim Smith's expertise in Hi-Fi system setup and voicing, as his reputation has... Read More »

The 9th Annual Positive Feedback Online's Writers' Choice Awards for 2012 is now live here. Here's a quick excerpt: "I always cringe a little bit when the esteemed Positive Feedback Online Editors Dave Clark and David Robinson send out the call for the Annual Positive Feedback Online's Writers' Choice Awards, as it means that it is once again... Read More »

There's a lot of interest in upgrading the crossovers on Tannoy Westminster Royals, both the HE and SE versions. The word is that upgraded crossovers can deliver amazing improvements in the performance of Westminster Royals of any version. Back in March of 2012 David King shared his Westminster Royal crossover upgrades with us, and told us... Read More »

As many of you know, I really love the Acoustic Revive audio accessories designed and manufactured by Mr. Ken Ishiguro from Japan. If you look closely at the photos I post here at Jeff's Place you'll see Acoustic Revive accessories everywhere. That's because they work great! I've spent more time writing about Acoustic Revive products... Read More »

When I reviewed the Sophia Electric Model 91-01 300B mono amplifiers for Positive Feedback Online back in January 2011 - which I purchased after the review - they came with NOS vintage Chinese JAN grade 5Z3PA rectifiers (which you can generally substitute for 5U4G and 274B rectifiers). I am just now realizing how good these rectifiers are... Read More »