It's been a while since I checked in with you and gave you a little behind the scenes glimpse into what's going on here at Jeff's Place, so I thought it'd be a good time for a short update.
I've been working on the Hanze HiFi HAT turntable power supply review for Positive Feedback, and hope to have it finished up over the weekend. I'll be posting a "sneak preview" soon, so stay tuned for that!
Duelund CAST tinned-copper crossover breadboards.
I've been in a bit of a holding pattern on the Duelund-Altec Project for the last so many weeks, while I've been waiting on the walnut platforms to be built and shipped that will form the bases of the crossovers. I got word yesterday that they've been completed and have been shipped, and should be arriving here in about a week! Hurrah!
You can see in the photo above the Duelund CAST tinned-copper components for one of the breadboard crossovers, and I'm really looking forward to getting the components migrated to their walnut platforms, getting everything connected with the beautiful custom terminal strips that Santos Oropel sent me, and giving the completed crossovers a listen!
I'm really looking forward to finishing the Duelund-Altec Project and writing the feature review about it for Positive Feedback.
As you know from my previous gushing about it, the blend of the vintage Altec's that were custom built for conductor Leopold Stokowski in the early 1960s (photo below), with the state-of-art Duelund CAST tinned-copper components in Hiraga-style crossover circuits, has produced a blend of musicality and sonics that totally blows my mind!
Kudos to Frederik at Duelund Coherent Audio for creating such amazing capacitors, inductors, and resistors in the Duelund Coherent Audio CAST tinned-copper series of components, there really is nothing else on Planet Earth like them, and they rewrite the book of what one can expect for audio performance!
There's a few of us now around the world that have had the pleasure of listening to these Duelund CAST tinned-copper components in various amplification & crossover applications, and pretty much universally the response can be summed up by, "Oh my God!"
Game-changer, breakthrough, cutting-edge, or whatever superlative you want to heap on them, they're easily that good and probably better, and I'm looking forward to more of you getting the chance to experiment with them and hear them!
I also know there's a growing number of manufacturers that have heard them and are incorporating them into electronics and loudspeakers, so chances are one of these days you'll get a chance to hear them up close and personal in the wild!
Stokowski Altec's with their Duelund CAST Sn-Cu crossovers.
Ok, speaking of Altec's, when the Duelund-Altec Project is completed and the feature review written Positive Feedback, I'll be looking forward to trying the latest versions of Great Plains Audio's Altec drivers in my Altec A5 Voice of the Theatre and Duelund-Altec Project loudspeakers, and telling you all about them here at Jeff's Place and Positive Feedback.
Great Plains Audio 802-8G Series II Altec high-frequency driver.
Great Plains Audio 515-8C Altec low-frequency driver.
I've become an Altec nut over the last few years, and I'm really looking forward to hearing the latest drivers from Great Plains Audio, and to hear how they compare with my vintage Altec drivers.
Eliseo (Troy Audio), Bill Hanuschak (Great Plains Audio), and Santos Oropel (Troy Audio).
It was an extra-special treat for me to get a chance to talk with Eliseo, Bill Hanuschak, and Santos Oropel during a chance meeting at the Hofbräuhaus in Munich this past Spring.
I'm still planning on visiting Great Plains Audio and interviewing Bill, which I think will be a great read for all of you fellow Altec aficionados out there! The date for a visit is still TBD, but I'll be really looking forward to it!
Next up is the Pass Labs XA25 power amplifier from Nelson Pass (above). I'll be giving it a listen after I finish up the Hanze HiFi HAT turntable power supply article for Positive Feedback, and providing you some first impressions shortly after that.
I'll be looking forward to comparing the XA25 to Nelson's First Watt SIT-3, which is itself an amazing amplifier.
A while back I posted about Nelson being in the process of developing a new First Watt preamplifier for me to try, but alas, Nelson has been diverted to other projects and hasn't had time to finish it up. No ETA on when that might be yet, but as soon as I know you'll know.
In other exciting news, Peter Qvortrup has invited me to visit Audio Note UK, which I'm really looking forward to. Not only do I love visiting the UK, but I've always been enamored with the performance of the Audio Note UK systems I've heard at audio shows (below), so I'm really looking forward to hearing them at Peter's.
Audio Note UK room at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest a few years back.
Vincent Belanger - Audio Note UK room.
I'll take my camera and computer, and will be taking lots of notes as I talk about Audio Note UK with Peter, and I'll be bringing some Audio Note UK kit back here to Jeff's Place to write about for you.
More to come as I find out more!
It's shaping up to be a mighty fine Summer and Fall here at Jeff's Place with lots of good music and cool hifi gear, and I'll be looking forward to sharing my new audio adventures with you!
As always, thanks for stopping by, and may the tone be with you!
