There's always a lot going on here at my place, and I'm hoping you're enjoying these little updates to share it all with you. ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪ Still Audio ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪ I'm working on writing up the Still Audio EL84 integrated amplifier review for Positive Feedback this weekend, and with a little luck I'll be able to get... Read More »

I had a really nice visit to England and Wales over the last couple of weeks, and just got back. If you were wondering why I was slower than usual answering comments and emails, that's why, and I still might be a little slow catching up on answering email and messages as I'm really jet-lagged! If I... Read More »

After a couple cups of coffee this morning, I sat down and practiced my fingerstyle guitar lesson for about an hour. I'm enjoying working my way through a beginning fingerstyle guitar course book, in hopes that I'll become a better guitar player (it wouldn't take much! 😉 ). One of my goals in retirement has... 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 »

It's been a nice weekend of just kicking back, relaxing, and celebrating. To celebrate my Mom's majority Irish ancestry that we didn't know she had until after some recent DNA testing (oral tradition isn't always accurate), we celebrated St. Patrick's Day on Saturday with me cooking a traditional St. Patrick's Day feast of corned beef,... Read More »

I love jazz. I love guitars. I love to hear jazz cats playing jazz on their guitars! It makes me smile. 🙂 Blues Going Up is a nice jazz swing album featuring George Barnes (guitar), Duncan James (guitar), Benny Barth (drums), and Dean Reilly (bass), that was recorded live at Bimbo's "supper club" on April 17,... 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 »

Today's post was inspired by Georges Seurat's A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte,  one of my favorite pointillist impressionism paintings, showing Parisians relaxing in a park on the banks of the Seine (below). In a silly oddio variation on a theme, you get my music, film, literature, and audio impressions while I'm relaxing... Read More »

I got a message from Jack Roberts about a holiday music column he was planning to do on people’s favorite Christmas or Holiday LPs on his website, The Audio Beatnik, and asking if I’d like to make some recommendations. Sure, I thought, “That’d be fun!” You can see my contributions to Jack's column here. Then... 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 been looking forward to the arrival of the Audiosilente cartridge clips so I can build a couple of sets of Duelund DCA26GA headshell leads with them. One I get the new headshell leads built - I'm hoping to find time over the weekend - then I'll be able to give the stock Denon DL-103... Read More »

I've been thinking a lot about the guitar and guitarists lately, and after an almost four year hiatus of playing the guitar, I've picked back up my guitars, dusted off my mental cobwebs, and tried to make some progress in my playing again. The highlight of my week back before I laid down my guitars... Read More »

Using the Hagerman Audio Labs FryBaby2 in voltage-only mode has revealed itself to be a powerful voicing tool for the Duelund DCA line of tinned-copper cables. Every single time I've used the FryBaby2 on the Duelund cables it has been a smashing success. In its voltage-only conditioning mode the FB2 has worked wonders on my... Read More »

My morning started off with a bang today when I got a couple of text messages from my buddy Dave about a yard sale and an estate sale with some pristine records in it - thanks, Dave! I jumped in my Leaf and headed out to check the sales out, and I made quite a... Read More »

I got a nice surprise delivered to my doorstep, the Arai Lab MT-1 step-up transformer (SUT), courtesy of Mr. Yoshi Hontani of the Muson Project in Osaka, Japan. Yoshi-san exports hi-fi exotica from Japan like that from the Leben Hi-Fi Stereo Company, the Spec Corporation, fo. Q, Audio Replas, KRYNA, SFORZAT, Murasakino Ltd, Acoustic Revive, and now... Read More »

It was a long week of getting caught up at home and on the day job, and getting over jet lag! I love traveling but playing catchup is rough! But now it's weekend-eve, and it's time for a little music listening! Woo-hoo! First up was the new mono Buddy Holly reissue from Analogue Productions, remastered... Read More »

The Murasakino Musique Analogue ‘Sumile’ MC phonograph cartridge makes me smile while I'm listening to music! The Sumile reminds me of the exotic Lefson Ultra resistors from France, and like the Ultra's, the Sumile is astonishingly transparent & resolving, while being rich, natural, and exceedingly musical at the same time - a very nice magic trick! With the wirewound resistors... 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 »

It's always fun to get out and about for an adventure, particularly when it includes music! Friend and fellow Westminster owner, Leo, and I were in Seattle yesterday for a brief visit and stopped in at Jazz Alley to catch the Bob James Quartet's performance, and it was awesome! You might remember that multi-Grammy winning... Read More »

I had forgotten all about ordering a copy of the new book, The Garrard Story, by E.W. and B.E. Mortimer, but today it arrived and reminded me! I think you all know I really love the Garrard 301 & 401 turntables, and if I could I'd have one in every room of my house! A while back... Read More »

Christmas has come and gone, and I'm relaxing this morning drinking a little coffee and listening to some  'new' music that I thought you'd like to know about. Mom gave me a copy of A Night At Birdland with the Art Blakey Quintet for a Christmas gift (thanks, Mom!), featuring Art Blakey (drums), Clifford Brown (trumpet), Lou Donaldson... 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 »

I'm writing non-stop this weekend trying to wrap up my review of the impressive Woody SPU Tonearm™ by Pete Riggle Audio Engineering for the November-December issue of Positive Feedback, and I thought you'd enjoy reading a sneak peek before it hits the presses in a few weeks. Enjoy! The Woody SPU Tonearm™ from Pete Riggle Audio... Read More »