2019 has been an outstanding audio and music year for me, and I thought a retrospective of its high points would be fun to reflect back upon and share with you, as 2020 is already knocking on the door and demanding attention. In 2019 there were all those little adventures and discoveries I wrote about... Read More »

In my last post I described my first impressions of the Hanze HiFi HAT turntable power supply powering my Classic Turntable Company hot-rodded Garrard 301 (HERE). The Hanze HiFi HAT turntable power supply is beautifully built, and provided meaningful but subtle improvements to my CTC Garrard 301 turntable's performance in terms of overall musicality and... Read More »

Today's Fresh Catch is the HAT Turntable Power Supply from Jaap Pees of Hanze HiFi in the Netherlands. The HAT Turntable Power Supply is a substantial piece of electronics measuring 8¾ inches wide, by 5 inches high, and 12 inches deep, and weighs in at approximately 11 pounds / 5 kilograms on my utility scale.... Read More »

It's time for some system maintenance, with my Classic 301 turntable off to visit Ray Clark in the UK for a little tune-up, and my vintage McIntosh MX110Z's volume pot finally died, so it's getting a new volume pot installed. So in the interim I've put together a really sweet combination of hifi gear for... Read More »

It's been a busy couple of weeks on the personal side of things, but I thought I'd report on what's going on at chez Jeff on the audio side of things at the moment, and what's coming up in the near term. Turntable Musical Chairs My Classic Turntable Company 301 (above) is on it's way... 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 »

To get my mind off the plunging stock market and my plunging retirement savings, I thought I'd do something edifying like give my Thorens TD124 a try on my vintage Altec A5 Voice of the Theatre loudspeakers. I've wanted to revisit the Leben CS-600 integrated amplifier and Leben RS-30EQ combination that works so well together... Read More »

I've been enjoying listening to and experimenting with the voicing of Guy Pelletier's "tunable" Audio MusiKraft Denon DL-103 phonograph cartridge on my restored and "hot-rodded" vintage Thorens TD-124. As is my custom, I like to blog about my "getting acquainted" stage with new audio products, offering first impressions about the quality, ease of use, sonic... Read More »

Sometimes the best laid plans just don't pan out the way you think they will. Last weekend I had fully intended to do a little experimenting with the micro-tuning screws of the Audio MusiKraft Denon DL-103 phonograph cartridge. Between the need to tear down turntables, get them put back together and adjusted, as well as... Read More »

In my blog post about the Audio MusiKraft tunable Denon DL-103 phonograph cartridge last weekend, I described its performance in comparison to my stock Denon DL-103 on my vintage Thorens TD-124, that was restored and hot-rodded by Christopher Thornton at Artisan Fidelity. I listened to the two Denon's with identical Audio-Technica AT-HS1 headshells and identical sets... Read More »

The other day I was thinking about what Mark Coles (Sablon Audio) had told me about how a quality AC power cord noticeably improved the sound of a turntable. Improving a system's sound by using a high-performance AC power cord on the turntable wasn't an intuitive hot-rod mod for me, and I sort of wondered if... Read More »

I've really been looking forward to listening to and experimenting with the voicing of the Audio MusiKraft Denon DL-103 tunable phonograph cartridge from Guy Pelletier. The idea behind the Audio MusiKraft tunable Denon DL-103 is that it offers a Denon DL-103 enthusiast, like myself, the potential of an almost unlimited amount of voicing options through... Read More »

The Artisan Fidelity Thorens TD124 Statement long-base turntable that I commissioned is here! The packing containers from Christopher Thornton at Artisan Fidelity were extremely well done, with the TD-124 and plinth arriving in the large wooden crate you see on the above left, and the two platters, extra armboard, and other miscellaneous supplies packed in... Read More »

Christopher Thornton just sent me some beautiful photos of the completed bespoke Artisan Fidelity Thorens TD124 Statement Long-Base turntable (with a Cocobolo plinth), that I commissioned. Woo hoo! I told Christopher that for my Artisan Fidelity Thorens TD124 Statement turntable my main criteria was that I wanted to use a 12-inch tonearm. Thorens TD124 owners who want to use... Read More »

Man, the last couple of weeks have been rough. A kidney stone that seems to think that playing hide and seek with me is a fun thing to do has been keeping me under the weather a bit, and as a result I haven't got nearly as much written as I like to. No worries... 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 »

I’m really excited about a very special Thorens TD124 restoration and ‘hot-rod’ project I commissioned with Christopher Thornton of Artisan Fidelity. The completed Artisan Fidelity TD124 Statement turntable will look similar to the photo below, but will have a "long-base" plinth that is about three inches wider to accommodate my preferred 12-inch tonearm. Christopher just sent me some... 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 »

If you saw my post on June 11, 2017, you know I'm really excited about a very special Thorens TD124 restoration and 'hot-rod' project I commissioned with Christopher Thornton of Artisan Fidelity. We're doing a "long-base" version of Christopher's Thorens TD124 Statement turntable, which means that the plinth is about 3-inches wider so I can... Read More »

I've long admired the Thorens TD124 turntables my pals Leo, Pete, and Ron, have in their turntable stables, and I thought it was about time to join in the fun. So, for 2017, I commissioned vintage turntable expert Chris Thornton at Artisan Fidelity to restore and build up a Thorens TD124 turntable for me. I... Read More »