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Today's Fresh Catch: Bill Evans Trio - in Helsinki 1970 on DVD - a wow!

Today’s Fresh Catch is the Bill Evans Trio’s in Helsinki 1970 on DVD. Like The Oslo Concerts DVD, you will not want to miss this DVD, which is available from Amazon.com for just $18.99 USD. Speaking of The Oslo Concerts be sure to read Laurie Verchomin's response to that post here for a link to... Read More »

Today's Fresh Catch: Bill Evans Trio - The Oslo Concerts on DVD

Today's Fresh Catch is the Bill Evans Trio's The Oslo Concerts DVD. After Jonathan posted recommending this performance I ordered the DVD from Amazon.com for $15.49 USD. After the DVD arrived I played it in my Music Lovers system: Harbeth Super HL5 loudspeakers (sitting on Skylan stands), Leben CS-600 integrated valve amplifier (using KT90 tubes... Read More »

Kondo Audio Note vs. New Valve Order SPA-II phono preamplifier slapdown!

I got a really intriguing note from a reader who owns both a Kondo Audio Note phono preamplifier and the New Valve Order SPA-II phono preamplifier. Let's just say this reader, whom I've met in person once upon a time, and who wishes to remain anonymous, owns some really, really, amazing Hi-Fi gear that we... Read More »

Long Term Report on the Tannoy Westminster Royal SE Loudspeakers

I've got a couple of articles I'm working on now for Positive Feedback Online, but soon as they're done I'm going to start writing a long-term report about what it's been like living with my Tannoy Westminster Royal Special Edition loudspeakers over the past year or so. It turns out that Jim Smith recently purchased... Read More »

A $10K 'David' Hi-Fi That Kicks Ass on $100K 'Goliath' Hi-Fi Systems

I just wrapped up a review for Positive Feedback Online about Jim Smith's Reference DVD Set of Get Better Sound on setting up high-performance audio & video systems that I mentioned in Today's Fresh Catch awhile back. The review just appeared in the January/February Issue 59 here. If you've been reading my writing for a... Read More »

Happy Holidays from Jeff!

It's Christmas Day is here in the Pacific Northwest, with New Year's Day just around the corner. Here's wishing all of my friends at Jeff's Place a very Merry Christmas and Hanukkah, and I hope your Holiday season is full of family & friends, love, light, great music, and peace!

8th Annual Positive Feedback Online's Writers' Choice Awards for 2011 & Other Stuff

In last year's 7th Annual Positive Feedback Online's Writers' Choice Awards for 2010 I managed to squeeze in an extra Award for a total of four: My first choice was a no-brainer, and it went to my all-time favorite loudspeaker, the incredible Tannoy Westminster Royal Special Edition. The Westminster is so good that I still... Read More »

Stereophile Class A Sightings

I had forgotten to mention it earlier, but in the October 2011 'Recommended Components' issue of Stereophile there's a couple of notable mentions: The EMT TSD 15 moving coil phono cartridge landed in 'Class A' by virtue of Art Dudley's earlier review of it. I have become increasingly impressed with my own EMT TSD 15... Read More »

Leben CS300 & RS30EQ Reviewed by Art Dudley in November 2011 Stereophile

I just got the November 2011 issue of Stereophile and all you fellow Leben CS300 & RS30EQ fans out there will be pleased to know that Art Dudley reviewed the pair and really liked them. In the November issue Art writes a mini-survey that compares three nice tube integrated amps: the aforementioned Leben gear, the... Read More »

Integrated 300B Stereo Amp Prototype by Don Garber - beautiful!

I thought you'd enjoying seeing this photo Don Garber (Fi) sent me of an integrated 300B stereo amplifier prototype that Don built "for Gideon Schwartz of Audio Arts which he's taking out to RMAF to pair with the Voxativ speakers. He has a team that's going to be producing it. How close to the original... Read More »

What's up?

As most of you probably know, Jim Smith's talent for the setup and voicing of Hi-Fi rigs is legendary. Right now I'm working on writing an article about Jim's new Get Better Sound Reference 3 DVD set on Hi-Fi setup procedures and strategies to help you get a system performing at it's best for your... Read More »

New Valve Order SPA-II Phono Stage Review Live at PFO

My review of the New Valve Order SPA-II phono preamplifier is now live at Positive Feedback Online here. Here's a couple of snippets from the review: "It's always a pleasure for me to introduce to the readers of Positive Feedback Online a talented fine audio constructeur, this time Andreas Hadjiminas, working out of Nicosia, Cyprus.... Read More »

Sophia Electric Royal Princess 300B Vacuum Tube Review Live at PFO

The review of the Sophia Electric Royal Princess 300B vacuum tube is now live in Positive Feedback Online's Issue 57 here. The Royal Princess 300B vacuum tube is a major achievement in my opinion, combining superb musicality and sonics into one package. I hope you enjoy the review, I really enjoyed writing it and providing... Read More »

'State of the System' Message

I've been having a lot of fun listening to music this weekend while making a few blog posts and doing some review writing. My Hi-Fi rig is sounding really good right now, and I thought you might like to see what's making it sound so good today. First up is my EMT TSD-15 MC cartridge... Read More »

Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song ... timbral listening

I had a revelation in musical understanding while listening to Mark Coles' Sablon Audio Panatela interconnects while writing the review for Positive Feedback Online. The musical revelation that dawned on me was the importance of timbral listening in my personal hierarchy of listening priorities. The significance of that revelation to understanding my listening preferences has... Read More »

Disclosure about what appears here at Jeff's Place

I am a 2-wheel nut. I've been riding bicycles since I could walk, and riding & racing motorcycles on and off-road (motocross) for nearly that long. My two wheel excursions these days revolve around my more sedate vintage Honda CR450 Cafe bike, and my Trek 5000 bicycle. I did my 25 mile commute to work... Read More »

Villages & Vineyards of Eastern France - The Battle of Verdun

Here's a few photos from my recent trip to France, this time from our stop in Verdun to see the battlefields of World War I. The photo below looks out over the battlefields outside the Fort de Douaumont, the fog eerily rolling in as we stopped. In the battlefields of Verdun hundreds of thousands of... Read More »

Today's Fresh Catch: Something old, something new ... something blue

Today's Fresh Catch features a number of items I've purchased from Acoustic Sounds over the last few weeks. First up is the Cat Stevens' Tea for Tillerman, which is the first pressing done at Chad's new Quality Record Pressings enterprise. Tea for the Tillerman is a great record, and sold 500,000 copies within 6 months... Read More »

The Leben CS660P Amplifier and EH KT90 Vacuum Tubes - Update: CS600 with the KT90

I ordered a quad of EH KT90 vacuum tubes from Jim McShane a couple of days ago to try in my Leben CS660P stereo amplifier. I was thinking that I'd tried KT66, KT88, EL34, KT77, 6L6G, 5881, 6n3cE, 350B, and 6550s, so I thought I'd better add KT90s to the list. My favorites so far... Read More »

Today's Fresh Catch: Get Better Sound 3 DVD Set

Those of you who read my book review at Positive Feedback Online of Jim Smith's Get Better Sound know that I hold Jim and his talents in the highest regard. Jim's book is a must have, and in the review I said: "I highly recommend Get Better Sound by Jim Smith, and I think it... Read More »

Sablon Audio Panatela IC Review Now Live at Positive Feedback

I just wanted to give everyone a heads up that my review of the Sablon Audio Panatela interconnect, designed by Mark Coles, has just gone live at Positive Feedback Online here. Just so you know, the Panatela is my absolute favorite interconnect in the whole world. Listening to it was an experience akin to my... Read More »

Villages & Vineyards of Eastern France - Reims

I just got home from a couple of weeks of traveling in France, and I'm still severely jet-lagged, with my body feeling about 9 hours out of sync from the clock-time here in the Pacific Northwest of the US where I live. Now I'm thinking about trying to get caught  back up on everything -... Read More »

Today's Fresh Catch - Jazz from Japan - Master CDR-II Disc: R-men

You know how life just goes along and you think nothing is ever going to change, and then something totally unanticipated happens that resets everything? Well, this Saturday evening I had one of those precedence setting events that caught me completely by surprise, and rewrote the book about what I thought I knew about ...... Read More »

Leben CS-300B SET Stereo Amplifier

As you know, I fell in love with the Leben Hi-Fi Stereo Company and the electronics designs of Mr. Taku Hyodo, the founder of Leben Hi-Fi Stereo Company back when I first reviewed the Leben CS-600 integrated amplifier for 6Moons in 2007. I'm not the only one smitten with the Leben electronics' charms either, as... Read More »

The Acoustic Revive Chronicles - Chapter 9

It seemed like it took me forever to get Chapter 9 of the Acoustic Revive Chronicles published at Positive Feedback Online. After I had received the Acoustic Revive RAS-14 AC Power Conditioner and the USB-1.0SP USB Interconnect for review, the North American distributor, Joe Cohen, ceased importing the Acoustic Revive product line. There wasn't anyone... Read More »

Today's Fresh Catch: The Sablon Audio Panatela IC

I've just received the production version of the Sablon Audio Panatela interconnect from Mark Coles for review at Positive Feedback Online. Those who have been watching my blog know that Mark lent me a prototype version of the Panatela to listen to (Thanks Mark!) and I was really, really, impressed with it (click on photos... Read More »

Today's Fresh Catch: NVO SPA-II Vacuum Tube Phono Amplifier

Today's Fresh Catch features the NVO SPA-II vacuum tube stereo phono amplifier that is visiting from Greece. Being from Greece, the first thing that 'SPA-II' brought to mind was Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, for SPA is the acronym I use to remember their order in history, for it was Socrates who taught Plato, and Plato... Read More »

So you want to be an audio reviewer? Part 1: How you get started.

Over the years I’ve had a few folks ask me about how I got started in writing about audio, and similarly, about how a fellow Hi-Fi enthusiast might go about getting started writing about audio. For a first time audio writer, getting started is almost always by invitation from another audio writer. For example, I... Read More »

So you want to be an audio reviewer?

I've been thinking (always a dangerous thing ;-)) that it would be a good idea to write a series of posts about how the audio review process works, and what's involved in a 'cradle to grave' review. I think it would be really informative for a lot of enthusiasts, and would help you understand what... Read More »

Weekly Report: A little bit of everything ...

Well, it's been a nice past week of music listening and Hi-Fi Tom-foolery here at Jeff's Place: vintage vinyl, new remastered vinyl, playing with Acoustic Revive accessories, listening to the prototype Sablon Audio Panatella interconnects, listening again to the Leben CS660P amplifier and Leben RS-100 (not the 'U') preamplifier, listening to a variety of 300B... Read More »

Today's Fresh Catch: The Prototype Sablon Audio Panatela IC

I've been listening to a prototype version of the Panatela interconnect, designed by Mark Coles for Sablon Audio, for a while now. I'll tell you what, it's a honey of an IC! The stealth-white clad prototype can be seen in the photo above plugged into my VPI Classic turntable and Auditorium 23 step-up transformer. While... Read More »

Sulawesi-Kalosi & Stan Meets Chet

It's been storming with incredibly intense thunder showers here on the East Side of Washington State in the Pacific Northwest of the US, which makes it a perfect morning for staying inside, listening to music, and getting caught up on a little writing. On this rainy Sunday morning I'm drinking some fine Peet's Sulawesi-Kalosi coffee,... Read More »

Music to Stir Your Soul

I just bought a couple of new records that I thought you might be interested in, the first one being Sam Cooke's Night Beat. Born in Clarksdale, Mississippi, in 1931, Sam Cooke was the son of a Baptist minister and grew up singing and playing gospel music in church. Cooke was a talented vocalist and... Read More »

Today's Fresh Catch: The Gran Corona by Mark Coles

After hitting it out of the ballpark with The Robusto, Mark Coles has been busy in his laboratory designing a second AC power cord for the Sablon Audio lineup, the Gran Corona, which has just been announced as being available in a press release from Mark: "As promised a few weeks back, I'm delighted to... Read More »

DIY World-Class Interconnects for Peanuts - The Dark Matter IC

I get a lot of e-mail inquiries about the do-it-yourself (DIY) White Lightening Moonshine cables article I wrote for Six Moons way back in September of 2007, which has been second only to the interest generated by the Garrard Project articles (1, 2, 3) I started writing even further back in September of 2004. I... Read More »

Errata: References & Hi-Fi Crème & DIY

Errata 1: I just wanted to let you know I added a 'reference' tab to the top bar to pull up posts that are of ongoing usefulness so they will be easier to find. The bypass mod for the CS660P, system setup articles, and the CS600 & CS660P tube settings tables are there for now,... Read More »

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