I've been in Europe the past couple of weeks on my once a year vacation, am now back and resting up, trying to get over the rigors of travel and jet lag - and I'm almost there!

I had a great time on vacation, spending time in Munich, Salzburg, Hallstatt, Vienna, and Prague, listening to live music whenever possible (classical, jazz, and opera), enjoying the rich and interesting cultures of where I visited, meeting new people, and of course just generally eating and drinking the local foods and beverages and making merry! 

Now I'm back and ready to get busy on the audio front!

The Duelund-Altec Project

First up is completing the Duelund-Altec Project Hiraga-san inspired Duelund CAST tinned-copper crossovers for the "Stokowski" Altec's that I've been listening to for a while now. 

There's no other way to say it, the Duelund CAST tinned-copper crossovers for the "Stokowski" Altec's are simply stunning, and I have to pinch myself while listening just to make sure I'm not dreaming.

As an example:

Jazz thrives in Prague. Last time I was there I visited the Reduta Jazz Club, and did the same this time to listen to the Prague Jazz Orchestra.

Lots of jazz greats have played Reduta, and their photos line the wall. Former US President Bill Clinton even stopped in to play a little sax! Be sure to check out Reduta if you're in Prague, it's a great jazz club!

A lot of audio guys talk about how they want to make their home systems sound like live performances, and stopping in a live jazz club is a great measure of how you are doing in your home system.

Audio nerd that I am, I did a little SPL & RTA analysis with my iPhone apps while I was listening to the jazz big band. Cruising SPL's were ~110'ish with peaks being much louder, and yet it sounded natural and wasn't a strain on the ears to listen to at all. RTA revealed that while bass went low, down into the low 30Hz's, there wasn't anything above 16KHz.

What I heard at Reduta Jazz Club reminded me a lot of what I'm hearing from my "Stokowski" Altec's with their Duelund CAST Sn-Cu crossovers. Music, pure and simple. Utterly natural, and a mesmerizing connection to the emotional content of the music, the Duelund CAST tinned-copper crossovers utterly blow me away in the way they give life to the music flowing from the "Stokowski" Altec's.

Many thanks to Santos Oropel (HERE) for providing the terminal strips for use in the Duelund CAST tinned-copper crossovers, they are works of art with their Derlin chassis, and connectors that are pure copper, first plated with nickel, and then plated with 24K gold. Level of quality? It's the same sort of quality you see with Acoustic Revive products - ultra-quality! They should be available on the Great Plains Audio website at some point in the future. 

About an hour ago I talked with the Hardwood Lumber Company (Amish artisans build their products) about making me some solid walnut crossover platforms with a furniture grade finish for the Duelund-Altec Project crossovers, and am waiting to hear back on pricing.

I'm going with a simple - and I think, elegant, design - where I'll mount the Duelund CAST tinned-copper components and Oropel terminal strips on a walnut platform sized to fit inside the high-frequency cabinet of "Stokowski" Altec's, but that can be removed to sit on the floor beside the Altec's as well. The best of both worlds.

The final step - which I'm still pondering - is to put isolation footers on the crossover platforms. At the moment I'm leaning towards Stillpoint Ultra SS's that are used for isolation on the plinths of my CTC Garrard 301 and Artisan Fidelity Thorens TD124 turntables, but if they're too tall to fit in the available space maybe the Stillpoint Ultra Mini's would work? But I'm open to suggestions, so if you have any ideas for isolation footers be sure to let me know!

The Hanze HiFi Power Supply for the Thorens TD124 Turntable

Jaap Pees of Hanze HiFi fame is sending me the US version of their 60 Hz 115 Volt HAT turntable power supply that works with both the Thorens TD124's and Garrard 301's. That's it on the left of the turntable in the photo above, where Jaap is doing some final measurement tests on it before shipping.

I'm really looking forward to giving it a try and writing about it for you here at Jeff's Place and in its feature review for Positive Feedback!

Nelson Pass

Nelson Pass is such a cool guy! I've been chatting with Nelson for a while now about designing a First Watt purist preamp specifically designed to get the best out of the First Watt SIT-3 amplifier. 

In an email of a day or so ago Nelson said, "I’ll tell you what – what would you like to see?  I can do development and art and get boards turned about in a week or so.  Might be some fun."

My response was that I'd like to see a minimalist preamp in the First Watt tradition, with two line level inputs, and perhaps an internal phono stage.

I'm not sure the internal phono stage is doable, but I hope so!

More to come as I find out more about this project, and a big "Thank you!" to Nelson for suggesting such a great idea!

By the way, you can read Nelson's latest article for Positive Feedback - Leaving Class A - 2019 Redux: A Biased Opinion from Nelson Pass - HERE, and as always, Nelson shares some illuminating insights!

As always, thanks for stopping by, and may the tone be with you!