Today's Fresh Catch is the ASR Audio Systems Basis Exclusive Phono Stage designed by Dr. Friedrich Schaefer. which I'll be reviewing for Positive Feedback Online. The Basis Exclusive was supposed to arrive at the same time as the Emitter II but a FedEx shipping game of 'hide & seek' took place that had Dr. Schaefer, Zed (US... 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 »

Mark Coles has developed a Panatela Tannoy Concentric Special Edition speaker cable set optimized for Tannoy loudspeakers using dual-concentric drivers that sounds very impressive indeed. If you look closely at the photos you'll notice there's 5 binding posts per Tannoy loudspeaker: two binding posts for the low-frequency section, two binding posts for the high-frequency section, and... Read More »

Quite a number of you have been telling me how much you like the ASR Audiosysteme electronics with your Tannoys. I can see why you are so impressed, as I just unboxed the ASR Audiosysteme Emitter II Exclusive Version Blue four-chassis integrated amplifier by Friedrich Schaefer. The Blue was quite a chore to unpack with it's... Read More »

The Tannoy Kingdom Royal loudspeakers I will be writing about for Positive Feedback Online arrived from Scotland today, 4 days early! Update # 1: Over the weekend I was able to get some friends together to help me get them unboxed, and it was quite a show! Chad and I were getting ready to roll the... Read More »

My Sophia Electric 91-01 300B mono amplifiers are sounding like a vintage dream this morning: rich, warm, colorful, and extremely musical while listening to the Stan Getz & Joao Gilberto Getz/Gilberto album reissued on 45 by Analogue Productions. Certainly a great part of the splendor I'm hearing is contributed by the Sophia Electric Royal Princess... Read More »

Sue at Sophia Electric mentioned that she thought the Princess™ Carbon Plate 300B Vacuum Tube ($600 USD per matched pair) would really complement the coaxial drivers in my Tannoy Westminster Royal SE loudspeakers, and asked if I would like to borrow a pair to listen to. You bet I would - thanks Sue! 🙂 It also... Read More »

 Ok, I just got home from the office, and there was a package waiting for me from Joseph Levy, the owner of Tempo Electric. Just so you know, Joseph Levy has particularly good taste in audio, and Joseph is more than a little fond of the audio electronic designs of the late Dr. Arthur Z. Loesch... Read More »

My friend Stephaen Harrell (6Moons reviewer) loaned me his Hagerman ‘Fry Baby’ cable conditioning device a while back, and I was rather astonished at the performance increase that comes from giving cables a good fry. That combined with Mark Coles dedicated conditioning of every Sablon Audio cable that he makes, using one of Alan Kafton’s audioharma... Read More »

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Don Garber is an American Master. Don’s Fi electronics delight enthusiasts around the world, not only for their wonderful musical performance, but also for their artisanal hand-crafted quality. Owning a Fi product is a direct-from-the-artist experience, electronic artwork of the highest order. I just unpacked a... Read More »

Mark Coles of Sablon Audio fame has been busy in his cable laboratory, crafting a truly wonderful new speaker cable design - the Panatela. If you look at the accompanying photo you'll see the 5-binding post arrangement my Westminster Royal SE uses. The West's use a bi-wire arrangement for connecting the Dual Concentric speaker unit... Read More »

Analogue Productions has given the Grateful Dead's Reckoning album the deluxe remastering treatment. Reckoning was cut from the original analog master tapes at Analogue Productions' Quality Record Pressings on 200g vinyl by Kevin Gray. I'm listening to it right now and it is ridiculously well done live music with remastering to die for! If you... Read More »

I just got home from traveling in Holland, Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, and France for three weeks, which is why I've been a little thin on posts lately. As you would expect, by the time I got home from travel I was in great need of a vinyl fix, so I ordered up a batch... Read More »

I've been doing a late-night listening session to Barclay's Chet Baker Quartet after reading Jeroen De Valk's biography of Chet Baker, which reads like a harrowing murder mystery. Chet Baker was a brilliant jazz trumpet player that played by ear and couldn't read music, was a heroin addict, and in many ways, he was an innocent... Read More »

I continue to be impressed with the new releases from Speakers Corner Records. They sound like I want my Hi-Fi gear to sound: warm, a little bit dark, detailed & dimensional, with analogue ease & liquidity in full display, and with a high degree of emotional involvement & musical impact. The way the musical content... Read More »

These Jazz Icons series of DVDs by Reelin’ In The Years Productions are treasures! I'm watching/listening to the Chet Baker Live in '64 & '79 ($18 USD at Amazon.com) as I write this and it is blowing me away! You might notice that in the photo to the left that Chet is playing a flugelhorn... Read More »

I just became aware of the Jazz Icons series of DVDs by Reelin' In The Years Productions in collaboration with Mosaic Records, and I feel like I've stumbled across a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow! Here's a couple of quotes from the Jazz Icons website which I couldn't agree with more:... Read More »

Today's Fresh Catch is Mark's new 2012 version of the Panatela interconnect. I've been listening to the Panatela 2012 for a little while now and I'm really impressed. As you know, I wrote about how the original version of the Panatela pretty much blew me away (PFO Issue 56), it's one heck of a great... Read More »

Today’s Fresh Catch is the Bill Evans Trio’s in Helsinki 1970 on DVD. Like The Oslo Concerts DVD, you will not want to miss this DVD, which is available from Amazon.com for just $18.99 USD. Speaking of The Oslo Concerts be sure to read Laurie Verchomin's response to that post here for a link to... Read More »

Today's Fresh Catch is the Bill Evans Trio's The Oslo Concerts DVD. After Jonathan posted recommending this performance I ordered the DVD from Amazon.com for $15.49 USD. After the DVD arrived I played it in my Music Lovers system: Harbeth Super HL5 loudspeakers (sitting on Skylan stands), Leben CS-600 integrated valve amplifier (using KT90 tubes... Read More »

Today's Fresh Catch features a number of items I've purchased from Acoustic Sounds over the last few weeks. First up is the Cat Stevens' Tea for Tillerman, which is the first pressing done at Chad's new Quality Record Pressings enterprise. Tea for the Tillerman is a great record, and sold 500,000 copies within 6 months... Read More »

Those of you who read my book review at Positive Feedback Online of Jim Smith's Get Better Sound know that I hold Jim and his talents in the highest regard. Jim's book is a must have, and in the review I said: "I highly recommend Get Better Sound by Jim Smith, and I think it... Read More »

You know how life just goes along and you think nothing is ever going to change, and then something totally unanticipated happens that resets everything? Well, this Saturday evening I had one of those precedence setting events that caught me completely by surprise, and rewrote the book about what I thought I knew about ...... Read More »