Part Time Audiophiles' Road Trip to Jeff's Place - The Trip Report!
It sure was nice to have Rafe & Don visit me and my pals Ron, Leo, and Pete, here at Jeff's Place, and we had a ball listening to music together. Rafe published a very gracious writeup of their visit here to Jeff's Place at Part-Time Audiophile, which you can read here. Thanks for the kind words,... Read More »
Jazz to sip bourbon by ...
This has been a busy weekend for me, and I'm finally getting a chance to just sit down this evening and listen to music and relax, just for the fun of it. At this moment I have no reviews I'm thinking about, no listening impressions to record, no other duties of any kind, I'm just listening... Read More »
Kindred Spirits: Kato-san Checking in from Hakodate, Japan!
It's always a delight to hear from Yazaki-san, and I got a very nice email from Yazaki-san introducing his good friend, Kato-san. "I’m so happy to introduce my good old friend, Kato-san to you and Ron-san. Kato-san had been working in the research and development division of PIONEER until 10 years ago, and at the same... Read More »
Preliminary Listening Impressions of the New Duelund CAST Silver-Copper Hybrid Capacitors.
I was able to get in a nice listening session with the new Duelund CAST silver-copper hybrid capacitors, and I wanted to give you the scoop on my initial listening impressions. My apologies to Frederik for the lengthy delay in writing about his new hybrid silver-copper Duelund CAST capacitors, as it has taken much longer than I... Read More »
The MX110 and Saturday Morning Soldering - the Oddio Resistance!
I was so pleased with my vintage McIntosh MX110 tuner-preamplifier 'resistor adventure' this morning I just had to tell you about it! As you know, the MX110 Adventure has thrown us a few unexpected curve balls, and in response Ron-san and I have been going through component-by-component to figure out what was going on and... Read More »
Reflections on Music & Hi-Fi
It was a lot of fun to have Rafe (Part-Time Audiophile) and Don visit Jeff's Place over the weekend, and we covered a lot of ground musically, sonically, and philosophically. From a musical perspective we did a little bit of a survey of the recording arts, starting with some very early mono recordings, progressing through... Read More »
Rafe & Don Visit Jeff's Place - Road Trip!
It's always a lot of fun to make new friends and visit with you all when you stop by. Rafe (Part-Time Audiophile) and his brother, Don, also a devoted music lover and audio nut, made the journey from beautiful Vancouver, B.C., to Jeff's Place. Welcome to Jeff's Place, Rafe and Don! Pete and I met Rafe... Read More »
Happy Birthday Mom!
Happy 91st Birthday, Mom! Sunday was my Mom's 91st Birthday, now that's something to celebrate! Mom and I started our day of celebration at a nice little French restaurant that's just down the street from Mom's apartment. We had a delicious brunch of coffee, mimosa, veggie crepes, and Eggs Benedict, that were all made from scratch by... Read More »
The Vintage McIntosh MX110 Adventure: Allen Bradley & the Naked Ladies
If you've been reading along about our real sound adventures with my vintage McIntosh MX110Z tuner-preamplifier, you know the modifications we did threw us a curve ball, and the resulting performance after our modifications didn't sound nearly as good as my stock MX110Z. Argh! While there were some promising aspects to the performance of my modified MX110Z, we basically struck... Read More »
Jeff Checking In & Previews of Coming Attractions!
It has been bitterly cold here in my part of the Pacific Northwest until this last week, when temperatures soared into the high 40's and low 50's (Fahrenheit). The skiers & snow boarders have been happy with all the snow in the mountains, but us bicycle riders in the flatlands a little less so. The previous... Read More »
The Power of the Orchestra!
Normally when I hear the phrase 'The Power of the Orchestra' it makes me think of the famous Kingsway Hall recording by Kenneth Wilkinson of René Leibowitz conducting The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra playing Pictures At An Exhibition & Night On Bare Mountain (RCA VCS-2659), which has long been on Harry Pearson's Super LP List, and renowned for its remarkable dynamics,... Read More »
The Vintage McIntosh MX110 Tuner-Preamplifier Adventure: In Pursuit of Real Sound.
Yazaki-san, Ron-san, and I, buoyed by our dramatic success with our Real Sound adventure with my vintage McIntosh MC30 monaural amplifiers (below), embarked on another Real Sound adventure with my vintage McIntosh MX110 tuner-preamplifier, as I have reported on earlier in several posts. Well how do I say this? Things haven't gone so well with our... Read More »
A Listening Adventure: A Trio of Modified Vintage McIntosh MX110 Tuner-Preamplifiers
Ron, Leo, and I got together last weekend to listen to a trio of vintage McIntosh MX110s variously modified by Ron-san with Real Sound modifications as suggested by Yazaki-san, which are similar to the modifications Yazaki-san has performed on his personal vintage Marantz 7 preamplifier. Prior to being modified by Ron-san, two of the MX110s were restored -... Read More »
The Duelund CAST Hybrid Silver-Copper Capacitors Adventure
I wanted to tell you a little more about the new 6.8uF Duelund CAST hybrid silver-copper capacitors from Frederik that I mentioned in this post. As a refresher, let me remind you how the hand-crafted Duelund CAST silver & copper capacitors are made. In the Duelund CAST capacitors Frederik uses only pure annealed soft copper... Read More »
Gary Fischer’s A5 ‘Voice of the Theatre’ Restoration Part 3: the 288C, 1005B, and 515B
In my Part 1 post I introduced you to Gary Fischer and the Altec-Lansing A5 Voice of the Theatre restoration he did for me that forms the basis of the Altec A5 VOTT Project here at Jeff's Place. For my restoration, I chose two 825B bass horn cabinets, two 515B Alnico low-frequency drivers, two N-500-C crossovers, two 1005B 10-cell horns,... Read More »
The Westminster Royal SE Duelund CAST Crossover Project: Hybrid Silver-Copper CAST Capacitors
I'm on a crossover roll to start off 2016, and now it's time to discuss some exciting developments with the Duelund CAST crossovers that form the beating heart of my Tannoy Westminster Royal SE loudspeakers. In the The Duelund Coherent Audio / Tannoy Westminster Royal Special Edition Project that I chronicled in real time here at Jeff's... Read More »
My First Post of 2016 - The Vintage Beat: An Altec A5 VOTT Project Update
Happy 2016 my friends, and thank you all so much for all the well wishes in closing out 2015, I truly appreciate it! I want to start the New Year of 2016 with a post about the last thing I mentioned in my last post of 2015 - the Altec A5 VOTT Project. The Altec-Lansing Voice... Read More »
My Final Post of 2015 ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪ The Year in Review! ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪
The waning hours of 2015 are upon us, and I thought I'd make my last post for 2015 a look back on the year. This past year has had so many highlights it boggles my mind as I think back on it, and I’m so thankful that I was able to share all my audio &... Read More »
The Jeff Awards for 2015 ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪ Ron Barbee ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪
As I was preparing the Jeff Award for Yazaki-san, I was also thinking about another friend who has had a profound influence on me and my enjoyment of the audio & musical arts over the last several years, my good friend and fellow audio adventurer, Ron Barbee. Ron is a life-long audio enthusiast, music lover, musician (guitarist),... Read More »
The Jeff Awards for 2015 ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪ Shirokazu Yazaki ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪
For my 12th Annual Positive Feedback Writers’ Choice Awards I did something that I've never done before, I gave an award to a person instead of an audio product, Mr. Shirokazu Yazaki. The Positive Feedback Writer's Choice Award acknowledges Mr. Shirokazu Yazaki for "his significant design work" which he surely deserves. In Japan, the term 'Living National Treasure'... Read More »
Gary Fischer’s A5 ‘Voice of the Theatre’ Restoration Part 2: The Bass Horn Cabinets
As I promised in my Part 1 blog post, using the A5 VOTT loudspeaker system that Gary Fischer restored for me as an example (below), I’ll describe the details of Gary’s restoration process. One thing that I really appreciated was that Gary sent me photos and kept me informed about what he was doing as... Read More »
Gary Fischer's A5 'Voice of the Theatre' Restoration Part 1: Introduction
I'm really impressed with the quality of Gary Fischer's restoration of the Altec-Lansing A5 Voice of the Theatre (VOTT) loudspeakers that I purchased from him, so I wanted to tell you a little bit more about Gary and his restorations. To serve as the basis of my A5 VOTT Project here at Jeff's Place, I wanted to get a pair... Read More »
The Jeff Awards for 2015 ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪ The Garrard Project 2015 ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪
The Garrard Project 2015 was one of my three choices for a Positive Feedback Writers’ Choice Award for 2015. The project team of Garrard specialist Ray Clark of Classic Turntable Company, bespoke analog maven Christopher Thornton of Artisan Fidelity, tonearm craftsman Thomas Schick, and yours truly, worked together to create an analog work of art that... Read More »
'What a Diff'rence a Day Makes!': The Altec A5 Voice of the Theatre Project
To borrow from Dina Washington's album, What a Diff'rence a Day Makes!, the title certainly describes the results of the listening session that Ron, Leo, and I had on Sunday afternoon with the Altec A5 Voice of the Theatre loudspeakers that were so lovingly restored by Gary Fischer. When Ron and I first listened to... Read More »
The Jeff Awards for 2015 ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪ The SPEC RSA-M3 Real Sound Amplifier ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪
The SPEC RSA-M3 EX Real Sound Amplifier was one of my three choices for a Positive Feedback Writers' Choice Award for 2015, and for good reason, it is an amazingly good amplifier. Here's what I said in my Positive Feedback Writers' Choice Award writeup: "The beautifully built, artisanal work of passion, SPEC RSA-M3 EX Real Sound Amplifier... Read More »
An A5 'Voice of the Theatre' Christmas Carol!
It's Christmas morning here in Washington State, and I'm sitting here with a hot steaming cup of coffee, and I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas! Like any kid looking forward to the arrival of Christmas morning and opening the presents under the Christmas tree, I have been looking forward to the arrival of a pair... Read More »
A Handy Western Electric WE16GA Tip!
I ran across a great tip for connecting unterminated wires like the Western Electric WE16GA to screw terminals like the vintage McIntosh amplifiers use. If you look at the photo above you can see that the WE16GA inserted into the screw terminals doesn't make good contact, and I've found if you do it that way... Read More »
The Jeff Awards for 2015 ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪ Paul McCartney's 'Unplugged' The Official Bootleg ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪
My favorite album for 2015 is Paul McCartney's Unplugged (The Official Bootleg). I've long had the CD of McCartney's Unplugged, and it is easily my favorite McCartney album, with the music & performance being superb. Just so you know, the album came out in 1991, so my CD excepting, I'm a bit late to the party. This year I decided... Read More »
A 'Real Sound' Adventure with the Vintage McIntosh MX110 Tuner-Preamplifier
As you know if you've been reading along, I've been flabbergasted with how incredibly musical the vintage McIntosh MX110 tuner-preamplifier is, and if you haven't yet read my The Vintage McIntosh Experience article I wrote for Positive Feedback in Issue 77 discussing it, I encourage you to go and give it a read. Quite a number of posts... Read More »
Altec Lansing A5 Voice of the Theatre Loudspeakers are done!
After my post Listening to the Maestro’s VOTTs this morning … and other stuff! Gary (Gary Fischer Loudspeakers) sent me a couple of nice photos of the completed Altec Lansing A5 Voice of the Theatre loudspeakers. After the A5's arrive here at Jeff's Place, I'll do some closeups so you can get a nice view... Read More »
Blast from the past! Is vintage gear better?
Over the last couple of days my audio buddies Stephaen, Harry, Kara, Pete, George, and I were talking about J. Gordon Holt's article (Stereophile) Too Good to Be True, published back in January of 1963, where Gordon asked the relevant (and somewhat disturbing question), "Does today's high-fidelity equipment, for all its vastly improved performance, actually sound that... Read More »
Listening to the Maestro's VOTTs this morning ... and other stuff!
It is another early morning of sipping coffee while listening to the custom vintage Voice of the Theatre loudspeakers that were built for Leopold Stokowski back when he lived in New York, before he moved back to London permanently. There's just something magically musical about the combination of the SPEC RSA-M3 EX Real Sound Amplifier and the Maestro's VOTTs. This... Read More »
The Jeff Awards for 2015 ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪ The Woody SPU Tonearm ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪
The Woody SPU Tonearm by Pete Riggle Audio Engineering absolutely blows away my excellent Thomas Schick tonearm, much to my dismay! I've been listening for an extended period now, back and forth, on my Garrard Project 2015 player system, to my reference Thomas Schick tonearm and the Woody SPU tonearm, and it is no contest. The Woody... Read More »
The 12th Annual Positive Feedback Writers’ Choice Awards for 2015 – The Best of the Best!
The 12th Annual Positive Feedback Writers’ Choice Awards for 2015 are out and can be viewed here. My individual contribution is below. Enjoy! Positive Feedback Writers’ Choice Awards for 2015 By Jeff Day It’s always an exciting time of year when the Positive Feedback Writer’s Choice Awards roll around, as it provides a time to... Read More »
Jeff checking in ...
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... Read More »
Happy Thanksgiving 2015!
This is the Thanksgiving Holiday week in the USA, where we commemorate a romanticized version of a 1621 harvest festival feast in which refugee Pilgrims honored a Native American man of the Patuxet tribe, named Squanto, who had taught them how to fish & plant corn, and had negotiated a peace treaty for them with the Wampanoag Nation, ensuring their survival, in their first year... Read More »
