The Duelund-Altec Project: The Fifth Week Update! OMG!
The fifth week of listening to the Duelund-Altec Project's state-of-art Duelund CAST tinned-copper crossovers with the vintage "Stokowski" Altec's brought momentous changes in what I was hearing, and in a very satisfying way both musically and sonically. In fact, I posted to my Facebook pals, "OMG! The Duelund-Altec Project's exotic Duelund CAST tinned-copper crossovers are sounding so good... Read More »
Listening impressions of the DIY 600V Duelund DCA12GA tinned-copper power cable after 3 days on the Cable Cooker!
After providing the update of Ron's, Leo's and my listening impressions from last Friday, I then put my DIY 600V Duelund DCA12GA power cable on my Audiodharma Cable Cooker and let it get 3 days of run-in time. While I was letting the DIY 600V Duelund DCA12GA power cable get some run-in time on the Cable... Read More »
Initial listening impressions of the DIY 600V Duelund DCA12GA tinned-copper power cable!
The run-in period for my DIY 600V Duelund DCA12GA tinned-copper power cable is just getting started, but I thought I'd share some more early impressions with you, with more detailed impressions to come as more run-in hours accumulate. On Friday a couple of audio pals - Ron and Leo - stopped by for a little... Read More »
The Vintage Beat: Pioneer Series 20 M-22 Class A Power Amplifier - a Blast from the Past!
My buddy Ron Barbee has impeccable taste in vintage gear, and his Pioneer Series 20 M-22 Class A power amplifier is a case in point. Introduced in 1976, the Pioneer Series 20 M-22 Class A power amplifier is a 30 watts per channel amplifier (into 8 Ohms) with an extremely rugged build quality, and according to... Read More »
Audio Classics rebuild of my vintage McIntosh MX110Z volume potentiometer!
Vintage audio equipment can be a lot of fun because of its superb musicality, but at some point that vintage kit will need updating and/or repair to replace aging capacitors, resistors, and potentiometers, for example. Take for example my vintage McIntosh MX110Z, that has had an enduring presence in my audio systems due to its... Read More »
How to: A DIY 600V Duelund DCA12GA Power Cable Project! Update.
In February 2019 we've received more snow where I live than in any February in the last 100 years. I've only been venturing out occasionally, but the upside of all that snow is it motivates me to do things inside, like this DIY 600V Duelund DCA12GA power cable project! Before I get started telling you... Read More »
Today's Fresh Catch: Marinco AC Plugs for a DIY 600V Duelund DCA12GA Power Cable Project!
Quite a long time ago now, our friend Yazaki-san had recommended the Marinco hospital plugs to me as a good sounding affordable plug, and I thought I'd pair a set of the Marinco's with the new 600V Duelund DCA12GA tinned-copper cable (link HERE) that is intended for building power cables, and see what kind of... Read More »
The Duelund-Altec Project: Three weeks worth of listening - update!
In my last post about the Duelund-Altec Project crossovers, I reported on the changes in performance I've heard from the "Stokowski" Altec's Duelund CAST tinned-copper crossovers as they accumulated two weeks worth of run-in time. Over the first two weeks I've noted that the high-frequency (HF) and low-frequency (LF) circuits of the crossovers were running... Read More »
The Duelund-Altec Project: Two weeks worth of listening!
Today marks two weeks of run-in time for the new Duelund CAST tinned-copper crossovers in the "Stokowski" Altec's. I've been running the Seattle Jazz24 stream whenever there's not an LP spinning on my CTC Garrard 301. If you love jazz be sure to check out Jazz24. The Jazz24 stream sounds great, plays 24/7, has a great selection of jazz,... Read More »
The Duelund-Altec Project: A weeks worth of listening!
Today marks a week of listening to the impressive Duelund CAST tinned-copper crossovers on the "Stokowski" Altec's as they've been getting some run-in time on them. I've been getting about 6 to 8 hours of music-playing time on them a day over the last week, so I'm somewhere in the range of 42 to 56... Read More »
Adventures in Real Sound with Yazaki-san: Alan-san’s & Harald-san's GEC PX25 monaural SET’s - Part 3!
It's always a pleasure to hear from Yazaki-san, and this article is the third in the series about Yazaki-san's audio adventures with the custom GEC PX25 monaural SET’s! You can read Part 1 HERE, and Part 2 HERE. Enjoy! ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪ Alan-san’s GEC PX25A (DA30) Monaural SET, Part 3: Dedicated to Alan-san and Harald-san One... Read More »
The Duelund-Altec Project: Further listening to the completed CAST Sn-Cu crossovers!
I finished wiring up the Duelund CAST tinned-copper crossovers on Thursday last week, and they probably have about 12 hours of run-in time on them now. It's probably still a little early to say too much about what to expect during the run-in process with the Duelund CAST Sn-Cu crossovers, but I thought I'd go... Read More »
Siedy checking in from the Netherlands: The SPEC RSA-M99!
It's always a pleasure to hear from my friend, Siedy, and fellow Westminster Royal SE enthusiast in the Netherlands. Siedy's been having fun listening to the new SPEC RSA-M99, and shared his thoughts with me about it. I asked Siedy if it would be ok if I shared what he told me with you, and... Read More »
The Duelund-Altec Project: First listen to the completed crossovers!
Yesterday when I signed off, I had just finished connecting the Duelund CAST tinned-copper crossover in the right "Stokowski" Altec loudspeaker, and did a little listening to compare it to the Altec N-500-D crossover in the left loudspeaker. The "Stokowski" Altec's actually sounded really good with their original Altec N-500-D crossovers, so I wasn't sure... Read More »
The Duelund-Altec Project: First Listen to a Duelund CAST Sn-Cu Crossover!
With all that was involved in moving to the new location of Jeff's Place at Positive Feedback, and with some other responsibilities that demanded my attention, it's been a while since I've been able to work on getting the Duelund-Altec Project up and running. That changed today! 🙂 Before I tell you about the progress... Read More »
High Fidelity: Is hifi system voicing a matter of taste? Part 3.
In Part 1 and Part 2 of my musings about “high fidelity” in audio I explored how high fidelity is considered to be a measure of how close a stereo system or recording comes to reproducing the live musical event. I broadly defined two aspects of high fidelity in audio, the first being (in Part... Read More »
High Fidelity: Is hifi system voicing a matter of taste? Part 2.
In Part 1 I spent some time musing about what high-fidelity means in relation to musicality, and now in Part 2 I’ll explore some ideas about what high-fidelity means in terms of non-musical audiophile-style sonics that many audiophiles cherish. As a recap, in Part 1 I described audiophile-style sonics as how a stereo system performs... Read More »
High Fidelity: Is hifi system voicing a matter of taste? Part 1.
When I say “HiFi system voicing” you might wonder what I’m referring to. Basically, I’m referring to what any given hifi system sounds like in terms of its particular blend of musicality and audiophile-style sonics, or its overall sound quality. The musicality aspect of hifi performance is referring to performance on the basic elements of music in... Read More »
The Duelund Coherent Audio RCA Connectors!
As you know, I’m a huge fan of the Duelund DCA series of tinned-copper tone wire for building interconnects (the DCA20GA and DCA16GA). In fact, one high-profile industry insider with impeccable credentials and taste told me that his Duelund DCA20GA interconnects terminated with Duelund RCA’s are the best sounding interconnects he’s heard at any price.... Read More »
Live at Positive Feedback: The Acoustic Revive Chronicles, Chapter 14: The Absolute Power Cables, The RCA Absolute FM Interconnects, and the PC-TripleC/EX Headshell Leads Review
I finished up "The Acoustic Revive Chronicles, Chapter 14: The Absolute Power Cables, The RCA Absolute FM Interconnects, and the PC-TripleC/EX Headshell Leads" while my old Jeff's Place site was down, so I never got the chance to let you know that it was published at Positive Feedback. You can read it HERE. For those of you who... Read More »
A look through the crystal ball at what's coming to Jeff's Place in 2019!
It sure is delight to be up and running here on Jeff's Place at Positive Feedback for 2019, and I'm "sharpening up my pencil" now to do a little writing about music, hifi, and other stuff for you! I'm in the process of vetting review inquiries sent to me, and sending out review inquiries of my... Read More »
Welcome to Jeff's Place!
Greetings music lovers, and welcome to Jeff's Place at Positive Feedback! I really appreciate Editors Dave & David offering me a spot here on Positive Feedback, and I'm really glad to be here. 🙂 You'll see that all the great content at Jeff's Place has been preserved, which is fantastic. You will notice a couple of... Read More »
Today's Fresh Catch: Woodsong Audio TD-124 Platter Adapter - OMG!
If you don't yet know about Chris Harban's artisanal audio works at Woodsong Audio, where Chris restores & hot-rods Linn Sondek LP12, Garrard 301/401, Thorens TD-124, and Technics SP10 turntables, and builds stunning wood plinths for them - the "wood" in "Woodsong Audio" - you should really check out Chris' web page (HERE). I saw... Read More »
First Listen: The New Acoustic Revive Absolute PC-Triple C/EX Lead Wires! Update.
First let me start by repeating a few excerpts from my introductory post (HERE) about the new Acoustic Revive Absolute PC-Triple C/EX Lead Wires to give you an idea about what these exotic and ultra expensive cartridge leads are all about ($1075 USD for a set). The new PC-Triple C/EX conductor is a unique affair, and in very simplistic... Read More »
Jeff checking in ... fun with Altec's, Duelund, Artisan Fidelity Thorens, Spec, and Acoustic Revive!
It's time for some system maintenance, with my Classic 301 turntable off to visit Ray Clark in the UK for a little tune-up, and my vintage McIntosh MX110Z's volume pot finally died, so it's getting a new volume pot installed. So in the interim I've put together a really sweet combination of hifi gear for... Read More »
Adventures in Real Sound with Yazaki-san: Alan-san’s GEC PX25 monaural SET’s - Part 2!
With pleasure I offer Yazaki-san's Alan-san’s GEC PX25A Monaural SET's Part 2 for your reading enjoyment! A huge thank you to Yazaki-san and Alan-san for sharing their Adventures In Real Sound with us! ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪ About “Anzai-san’s” GEC PX25A single-ended tube amplifier, I expressed it in my last article that I was strongly impressed with its very beautiful... Read More »
Jeff checking in ... turntables, the Duelund-Altec Project, Acoustic Revive, and Yazaki-san!
It's been a busy couple of weeks on the personal side of things, but I thought I'd report on what's going on at chez Jeff on the audio side of things at the moment, and what's coming up in the near term. Turntable Musical Chairs My Classic Turntable Company 301 (above) is on it's way... Read More »
The Soundsmith MMP3 Mk II Phono Preamplifier Review is Now Live at Positive Feedback!
My Soundsmith MMP3 Mk II Phono Preamplifier review is now live at Positive Feedback! You can read it HERE. It has been a real pleasure writing this three part series about the Soundsmith Carmen Mk II (HERE), Soundsmith Zephyr Mk III (HERE), and the Soundsmith MMP3 Mk II Phono Preamplifier. Seldom do I run across... Read More »
Sneak Peek: The Soundsmith MMP3 Mk II Phono Preamplifier Review for Positive Feedback!
I enjoy giving you a "sneak peek" into my Positive Feedback reviews before the full review gets published by ye ol' editors Dave and David. I am in the process of writing up the final listening impressions of the Soundsmith MMP3 Mk II phono preamplifier review now, and I hope to have the full article... Read More »
Preview: Yazaki-san will be telling us all about his experiences hot-rodding the Marantz Model 7 Replica for Roy-san! Update: Listening impressions from Roy-san!
It's always fun to hear from Yazaki-san, and he is staying as busy as ever with audio adventures! In an email I just received from Yazaki-san he told me about how nicely a hot-rodded version of the Marantz Model 7 Replica turned out for Roy-san, and to complement his series "A Guest Article from Mr. Shirokazu... Read More »
First listen: Duelund 600V DCA12GA tinned-copper tone wire!
I couldn't stand it. As I looked up from playing my guitar and saw that lovely spool of the new 600V Duelund DCA12GA PolyCAST tinned-copper tone wire, I just had to do something! I decided I really needed to cut a set of 2.5 meter speaker cables off the spool, and then try them as speaker... Read More »
Adventures in Real Sound with Yazaki-san: Alan-san's GEC PX25 monaural SET's!
In a special mid-week treat for you, it is with great delight that I welcome back Shirokazu Yazaki to the pages of Jeff's Place to tell us about his latest adventure in Real Sound with his good friend Alan-san! Welcome back Yazaki-san, and thank you for sharing your latest adventure in Real Sound with us - I loved reading about... Read More »
Today's Fresh Catch: Duelund 600V DCA12GA Tinned-Copper Tone Wire!
I know a lot of you have been looking forward to the day when the 600V Duelund DCA12GA tinned-copper tone wire becomes available so you can use it to make DIY power cords, and that day is now here! Woo hoo! Today a spool of 600V Duelund DCA12GA tinned-copper wire arrived from Frederik, and it... Read More »
Preview of my 2018 Writer's Choice Awards for Positive Feedback!
2018 Writer's Choice Awards for Positive Feedback! I've turned in my Writer's Choice Awards for 2018 to Dave and David at Positive Feedback, so you'll be hearing more about that shortly as they're published. Here's a little preview excerpt: "When I receive the message from Editors Dave and David that it is once again time for Positive... Read More »
Jeff checking in ... the Duelund-Altec Project and other stuff!
First of all I want to thank you for being patient with me. As some of you know, my Mom, almost 94 years of age now, has been going through some rough times health-wise. Getting her to and from doctors, hospitals, trying to help her out generally, and spending quality time with her has been... Read More »
The Duelund-Altec Project: Breadboarding the Duelund CAST Sn-Cu Crossovers!
Originally I had planned on building external crossovers for the vintage Stokowski Altec's on the beautifully made Hammond HWCHAS Series Heavy Duty Walnut Chassis With Aluminum Top (HERE). I thought the Hammond's aluminum top plate painted in Altec green like the 511-B horns would make for an attractive nod to Altec tradition. However, the large... Read More »
