I'm up early this morning drinking some excellent Kenya Kangunu coffee from Stumptown, and listening to the Maestro's VOTTs system I've put together, which is so musically beguiling it's hard to convey how satisfying it is to listen to music with, and in a small room at that!

Yazaki-san's SPEC RSA-M3 EX Real Sound Amplifier is a match made in heaven for the Maestro's VOTTs, which I guess shouldn't be a surprise, because the RSA-M3 EX has been very carefully voiced by Yazaki-san to sound very close to the DA30 DH-SET amplifier he uses at home with his Altec & Onken based loudspeaker system.

Yazaki-san told me the story about his good friend Ookubo-san, who had always enjoyed hearing his GEC DA30 amplifier in his system with his Altec & Onken loudspeakers: "He loves so many kinds of music from classical to jazz, and had been so moved every time when he heard the sound of my old system with my aged DA30 stereo amplifier that I built up in early 1973, 40 years ago now, that he desired a DA30 amplifier of his own."

Yazaki-san built his friend Ookubo-san a pair of DA30 mono amplifiers based on everything he had learned with his own DA30 stereo amplifier over the last 40 years, so he too could enjoy them at home.

If what I'm hearing with the Maestro's VOTTs & RSA-M3 EX amplifier combination is at all similar to what Yazaki-san & Ookubo-san are hearing with the DA30 DH-SET & Altec-Onken combination, I can see why Ookubo-san wanted a system with that sound for his own system, as it is utterly enchanting musically.

In my Maestro's VOTTs & RSA-M3 EX amplifier based system I'm using the now well-known combination of Western Electric WE16GA wire as speaker cables and Belden 8402 microphone cable as interconnects. The WE16GA and Belden 8402 combination has an uncanny musical synergy, and they have quickly become my favorite combination of cables for communicating the artistry of the music.

Which reminds me, I want to point you towards Jim Smith's Quarter Notes #18 where he discusses his experiences with the use of WE16GA and Belden 8402 in his own system. It's a great read, and Jim's experiences match my own (and those of many of you as well), which is very gratifying to read.

For signal cables, there's just something remarkable about the way these simple tinned-copper cables communicate the artistry of the music, and they represent a true musical breakthrough for me in my systems. I want to thank Yazaki-san again for sharing the musical magic of the Western Electric WE16GA and Belden 8402 with us.

Which reminds me, the simple tinned-copper pushback wire USB cable that I made awhile back (for less than $10 USD!), has continued to improve in tone and overall musicality as it gets more time on it. In fact I've been enjoying it so much that I'm in no hurry to put the Locus Design Group Polestar USB cable back into the system like I usually am.

What does the Sn-Cu pushback wire USB cable sound like? First of all, it reminds me a lot of the overall tone of the WE24GA when used as headshell wires: smooth, rich, colorful, and musical. It also reminds me a lot of the Belden 8402 microphone cable ICs, except it is a bit smoother and more laid back. I suspect Belden 8402 used as a USB cable would sound great too, although you'd have to use two runs of Belden 8402 to make a USB cable, which would make it a bit bulky.

I'm totally enchanted with the musicality of the combination of the Stokowski's Voice of the Theatre loudspeakers with the SPEC RSA-M3 integrated amplifier, so much so that I want to focus more attention on developing this system & listening room, after I recover a bit from the VOTT projects I've got going on right now (the A5 VOTTs are nearing completion!).

I'm thinking a McKinnon Rainier media stand in walnut, and a Stickley Bow Arm Morris chair with footstool, would make for a nice complement. Dreaming!

Anyways, thanks for stopping by, and I'll have more audio adventures to share with you shortly!