Murphy's Law has been going full steam ahead in my life lately, it seems, with a series of Murphy-like disasters shuffling aside my plans for some travel and adventure on a motorcycle tour through Eastern Washington, Northern Idaho, and Western Montana, that I had scheduled for this week.

While I wait for life's positive vibes to get back into sync again, I've been reading through Garrett Hongo's new book, The Perfect Sound, in preparation for writing about it for Positive Feedback. 

The Perfect Sound: A Memoir in Stereo, by Garrett Hongo

The Perfect Sound has absolutely blown me away. Garrett's writing is magnificent, of course, and he has written an absolutely brilliant book. A book about what real life is like in the USA over the last 70 years or so, intertwined with the poet's muse of music and audio woven through it, serving as the  lighthouses guiding ships through life's stormy seas. 

You really should buy Garrett's The Perfect Sound and read it as soon as possible. It's one of those life changing reads that is a treasured and unexpected delight. 

The Perfect Sound is so artfully written, its beauty reminds me of reading The Complete Poems of Kenneth Rexroth, which are vivaciously full of life, hugely ranging through stories of life, love, loss, sorrows, and wisdom. In The Perfect Sound's case, add in lots of music and hifi experiences that will inspire and connect with every music lover and hifi enthusiast, reminding us all to enjoy our pursuit of life and happiness.  

I'm about a third of the way through The Perfect Sound, jotting down notes as I read, and will be writing it up for Positive Feedback as soon as I'm done.

Postscript: The full article for Positive Feedback about The Perfect Sound has just been published HERE.

SPEC RSA-M3 EX Real Sound Amplifier.

In my previous post (HERE) I mentioned that Yazaki-san had proposed a DIY project to me that would take the SPEC RSA-M3 EX Real Sound Amplifier to a level of performance that matched that of his custom single-ended-triode amplifiers:

"In fact the sound quality of my single-ended-triode PX25A amplifier, with an extremely simple circuit configuration, and the finest vintage tubes, compared to this modified RSA-M3 EX Class D amplifier with the latest technology, sounds extremely similar. It's amazing to me."

Yazaki-san is traveling now, but when he returns home I expect to hear more about the SPEC RSA-M3 EX Real Sound Amplifier DIY project - more soon!

Leben RS-30EQ phono equalizer.

I've really been enjoying the performance of the Leben RS-30EQ phono equalizer (for many years now, more HERE), and it is a match made in heaven for the Triode Lab 45 EVO SET integrated amplifier, which has assumed the role of being a reference amplifier in my primary music system with my Tannoy Westminster Royal loudspeakers.  

Triode Lab 45 SET 'EVO' integrated amplifier.

Yazaki-san also suggested to me a DIY upgrade of caps and resistors to the elegant looking and sounding Leben RS-30EQ phono equalizer. 

Unfortunately, I'll not be able to go forward with that idea as Yazaki-san had envisioned. Yazaki-san wanted me to ship the Leben RS-30EQ phono equalizer to him so he could perform the modifications, which was extremely generous of him to offer, but I had to decline. 

That's because for DIY mods I like to chronicle them in step-by-step fashion, telling you about how the performance changes with each addition of a new cap or resistor, which I couldn't really do if Yazaki-san did the modifications all at once for me. 

However, if you have a Leben RS-30EQ phono equalizer, and you want to hear what the result of Yazaki-san's "real sound" vision for it is, you can contact him about the possibility of sending him your Leben RS-30EQ phono equalizer for modification.

For those who don't know, Yazaki-san has provided advice to owners of Leben integrated amplifiers on various DIY projects, and those owners have raved to me about how the mods transformed their Lebens to next level performance. Very tempting indeed!

So with that idea falling through, now I am thinking about how to proceed with cap and resistor upgrades for the Leben RS-30EQ phono equalizer, if at all.

There's lots of great caps and resistors to consider for those crucial points in the Leben's simple circuit. I could go for a romantic vintage vibe with the new replica Sprague Bumblebee caps and some vintage Allen Bradley carbon comp resistors, for example.

Or I could go for the breathtaking performance of the Duelund CAST tinned-copper capacitors in the all important signal path, which completely blew my mind in my DIY mods to my vintage McIntosh MX110Z tuner-preamplifier's cathode follower circuit. 

Or I could go in the direction that Yazaki-san was presumably thinking, Arizona Capacitors PIO caps in combination with his Ultimate Ruby Mica capacitors. 

Even though the siren call of a DIY project is strong, in some ways I'm thinking of not doing anything at all, as the Leben RS-30EQ phono equalizer's performance is so good with the Triode Lab 45 EVO SET integrated amplifier already. Why mess with success?

More on this potential DIY project with the Leben RS-30EQ phono equalizer after I noodle on it for a while.

Audio Note (UK) Meishu Phono Silver Tonmeister 300B SET integrated amplifier.

I've been rotating the Audio Note (UK) Meishu Phono Silver Tonmeister 300B SET integrated amplifier with the Triode Lab 45 EVO SET integrated amplifier in my main music system with my Tannoy Westminster Royale SE loudspeakers. 

Along with the impressive Audio Note (UK) sources of the Io I MC phono cartridge, AN-S4 step-up transformer, AN-V silver interconnects, and the CD 4.1x ‘Level Three’ Red Book CD player, these two integrated amplifiers have set the benchmark of performance for what I desire in an audio system.

First of all, on the great magnetic era stereo recordings that we audiophiles enjoy so much, their musical and visuospatial performance is absolutely astounding. The great jazz recordings of Joe Pass, Jim Hall, Bill Evans, Chet Baker, for example, sound so naturally real and present that it is really quite stunning.

But that's not all, the old acoustic, electric, and early magnetic mono era recordings that I love so much are equally brilliant as well, but in a different sort of way. With Caruso, or early Bing Crosby, Louis Armstrong, and Billie Holiday, for example, the limitations of those early recording eras vanishes from my attention, as the musical performances are presented with such a high level of beauty and emotional impact that it is positively breathtaking.  

One of the most desirable aspects I have noticed with those early recordings, is how this complement of hifi kit preserves the inherent traits of their recording eras in such an enchanting way, while still delivering such pleasurable listening experiences that it leaves me in a state of wonderment of how it is even possible to transcend the recorded media to such a degree.  

This is a system that allows for immense listening enjoyment to be realized from our entire recorded music canon, from the earliest days of the recording arts until now, and is truly remarkable to behold. 

System photo for September 2022.

This collection of audio components represents the highest-fidelity I've personally ever heard, and the fact that they can play pretty much any recording from any era, of any fidelity, and still deliver wonderfully impressive sound quality and stunning musical performances is rather mind boggling to me. 

Superb sources, both digital and analog, the best single-ended-triode integrated amplifiers I've heard, and my hot-rod Duelund crossovers with my high-sensitivity Tannoy Westminster Royale SE loudspeakers, are delivering the sort of performance I've been yearning for all my life, and to finally hear and feel it, is just awe inspiring. 

Ok, well I guess that is it for now. 

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