2019 in retrospect, my 2020 New Year's Resolutions, the year ahead, and other stuff! Part 2.
It is good to reflect back on a year and consider all that has happened in one's life, both to appreciate the good things that have happened, as well as to gain insights from one's dumbo moves. I feel extremely fortunate, for my 2019 was truly an amazing year in music, audio, and life generally.... Read More »
2019 in retrospect, my 2020 New Year's Resolutions, the year ahead, and other stuff! Part 1.
2019 has been an outstanding audio and music year for me, and I thought a retrospective of its high points would be fun to reflect back upon and share with you, as 2020 is already knocking on the door and demanding attention. In 2019 there were all those little adventures and discoveries I wrote about... Read More »
Tube rolling in the new Leben CS-600X integrated amplifier - Sophia Electric vacuum tubes & NOS 12BH7A's! Update!
One of the favorite pastimes of many original Leben CS-600 integrated amplifier owners has been trying different combinations of vacuum tubes in their CS-600 to tailor its sound to what best matches their personal taste. The Leben CS-600 tube complement is four twin-triode 6CS7 vacuum tubes used in the first-stage of amplification, a single slow... Read More »
Listening Update: The Audio Note UK Oto Phono SE Signature Integrated Amplifier!
It's been about three weeks since my last update on the Audio Note UK Oto Phono SE Signature Integrated Amplifier (HERE), and it has undergone some rather serious transformation in musicality & sonics over those three weeks of additional run-in time, as I have alluded to briefly in some other posts. So tonight I thought I'd... Read More »
Today's Fresh Catch: Sophia Electric 12AU7 and EL34-ST!
Today's Fresh Catch is the Sophia Electric 12AU7 and EL34-ST vacuum tubes! I had mentioned to Sue at Sophia Electric about my long term update of the Sophia Electric EL34-ST vacuum tubes in my Leben CS600 integrated amplifier (HERE), and that I would be reviewing the new Leben CS600X. Sue suggested I give the Leben... Read More »
New "Dual" Duelund DCA16GA Tinned-Copper Wire Available at Dealers!
I got a heads up from Frederik at Duelund Coherent Audio today that the new 'Dual' Duelund DCA16GA tinned-copper wire will be available at Hi-fi Collective (UK) and Parts Connexion (North America) starting tomorrow. The new 'Dual' DCA16GA tinned-copper wire has two of the regular baked oil-soaked cotton dielectric DCA16GA wires wrapped in an additional... Read More »
A look inside the new Leben CS600X integrated amplifier!
The new Leben CS600X vacuum tube integrated amplifier that is in for review has been getting run-in time in my vintage Altec A5 Voice of the Theatre loudspeakers based audio-visual system in the place normally occupied by my gracefully aging original Leben CS600. I was impressed with what I was hearing from the new Leben... Read More »
Quick Comparison: NOS SED "Winged C" EL34 Vs. Sophia Electric EL34-ST Vacuum Tubes
I've been running the Sophia Electric EL34-ST vacuum tubes in my Leben CS-600 integrated amplifier ever since I reviewed them for Positive Feedback back in August of 2017, and I've put a ton of hours on them since then. In my "Summary and Conclusions" for them, I said: "I'm noticing a pattern here with both the Sophia... Read More »
An Introduction to Great Plains Audio and Troy Audio - Keeping the Altec Tradition Vibrant!
If you read my "Today's Fresh Catch: The Great Plains Audio 802-16G Series II & 416-16B Drivers" post (HERE), you know I am pretty excited about the Great Plains Audio and Troy Audio commitment to keeping the vintage Altec tradition vibrant. I asked our Great Plains Audio and Troy Audio friends if they would tell... Read More »
A nice surprise: the Leben CS600 powering the vintage Altec 832A Corona loudspeakers!
My buddy Chad borrowed my Almarro A205A over the weekend so he could give it a listen in his cabin system up on Lake Chelan (Chad's already got the Almarro A205A MkII in his main system). I've been using the Almarro A205A Mk1 integrated amplifier to power my vintage Altec 832A Corona loudspeakers in my... Read More »
Yazaki-san's Ultimate Ruby Mica Capacitor Mod for the SPEC RSA-M3 EX Real Sound Amplifier! Part 2.
I got a chance to do a little A-B listening evaluation of Yazaki-san's Ultimate Ruby Mica capacitor mod for the SPEC RSA-M3 EX Real Sound Amplifier, with the added bonus of a group of friends weighing in on the results. As you might remember from Part 1, Yazaki-san had sent me a pair of his... Read More »
Jeff checking in ... Audio Note UK, Duelund, GPA, Guitars, Leben, Music, Pass Labs, and Spec!
It is Thanksgiving week here in the States, and its a good time to reflect upon what we are thankful for. I'm looking forward to spending Thanksgiving Day with my 94 year old Mom, and hanging out with my friends Chad, Leo, Ron, and Santos for a little hifi fun & games and some general... Read More »
The Audio Note UK Oto Phono SE Signature Integrated Amplifier - Topless with Circuit Description!
I heard from Andy Grove at Audio Note UK, and we had a nice email exchange about his design of the Oto Phono SE Signature integrated amplifier. I like Andy, it was a true pleasure to meet him while visiting Audio Note UK earlier this year, and as you will read about in a moment,... Read More »
Today's Fresh Catch: Yazaki-san's Ultimate Ruby Mica Capacitor Mod for the SPEC RSA-M3 EX Real Sound Amplifier! Part 1.
Today's Fresh Catch is the pair of Ultimate Ruby Mica capacitor's Yazaki-san sent me to try as a mod for the SPEC RSA-M3 EX Real Sound Amplifier. If you read Yazaki-san's article, “My Adventure With My Old Marantz Model 7 Part 8" HERE, you know Yazaki-san was so impressed with the Ultimate Ruby Mica Capacitor's performance... Read More »
Today's Fresh Catch: The Great Plains Audio 802-16G Series II & 416-16B Drivers
Being the vintage Altec enthusiast that I am - I have 3 pairs of gigantic vintage Altec loudspeakers in my modest sized home - you can imagine how excited I am by this particular "Today's Fresh Catch", the Great Plains Audio (nee Altec) 802-16G Series II compression drivers and the 416-16B low-frequency drivers. First let... Read More »
Other Stuff: Dealing with Toxic Relationships
As I have done occasionally at times in the past, today I wrote this "other stuff" post for you that isn't on the topic of audio or music, but that I think is particularly relevant this time of year when the Holiday Season is arriving upon us in full force, and the days become short,... Read More »
First Listen - The Audio Note UK Oto Phono SE Signature Integrated Amplifier, Part 2!
As I was casually listening to Jazz24 while doing a few things around the house, I was rather struck by how musical the Audio Note UK Oto Phono SE Signature integrated amplifier was sounding through its "CD" line input, how it always seemed to tug at my attention and pull me into the music regardless... Read More »
First Listen - The Audio Note UK Oto Phono SE Signature Integrated Amplifier, Part 1!
Ok, so maybe this isn't exactly my first listen, as I've been casually listening while getting run-in time on the Audio Note UK Oto Phono SE Signature Integrated Amplifier in my vintage Altec Corona 832A loudspeakers based system since it arrived here at Jeff's Place on October 4th (you can read the "Today's Fresh Catch" post about... Read More »
Today's Fresh Catch: The New 600V Duelund DCA16GA Tinned-Copper Wire!
I always love a mystery, and when a mysterious box appears from Frederik Carøe (Duelund Coherent Audio) I get intrigued real quick! I go through the same procedure as I did as a kid during Christmas time when checking out presents under the Christmas tree. I picked up my presents, considered their weight and size,... Read More »
A Guest Article from Mr. Shirokazu Yazaki: “My Adventure With My Old Marantz Model 7” Part 8.
As always, it is a pleasure to hear from our dear friend, Yazaki-san, writing to us from Tokyo, Japan, this time with another terrific guest article about his latest audio adventure with his vintage Marantz Model 7 preamplifier. This guest article from Yazaki-san, My Adventure With My Old Marantz Model 7, Part 8, expands upon... Read More »
The Pass Labs XA25 Class A Stereo Power Amplifier Review Is Now Live At Positive Feedback!
My feature article about the Pass Labs XA25 Class A push-pull stereo power amplifier is now live at Positive Feedback, and you can read it HERE. As always, thanks for stopping by, and may the tone be with you!
Sneak Peek of the Pass Labs XA25 Class A Stereo Amplifier Review that is Coming Soon to Positive Feedback!
I was quite excited when I received notice from Positive Feedback Editor Doc David that there was a Pass Labs XA25 Class A stereo amplifier available for me to write about for Positive Feedback (photo below). I had been mightily impressed with the 18 watt per channel (into 8 Ohms) First Watt SIT-3 single-ended amplifier... Read More »
Jeff checking in ... Pass Labs, Great Plains Audio, Audio Note UK, Leben, and the Positive Feedback Writers' Choice Awards!
I thought I'd provide you a bit of a status on what's coming up here at Jeff's Place. At the moment I'm working on finishing up the feature article for Positive Feedback about the Pass Labs XA25 Class A stereo power amplifier, with a target date of approximately November 1st. Also, I hope to write for you a... Read More »
First listening impressions of the new Leben CS600X integrated amplifier!
Wow, I am amazed at the amount of people writing to me and asking me about the new Leben CS600X that just arrived here at Jeff's Place, and how it compares to my original CS600 - there's a lot of you Leben fans out there! I had been planning on writing a "listening impressions" update... Read More »
Other Stuff: Peter Qvortrup's reading list for me!
You might have noticed that below my Jeff's Place title that it says that my blog is about "Music, Hi-Fi, and Other Stuff". That's because Jeff's Place is my personal blog about music, hi-fi, and other stuff, with the "other stuff" being miscellaneous things that are on my mind that I want to write about that... Read More »
Today's Fresh Catch: The New Leben HiFi Stereo Company CS600X Integrated Amplifier!
It's an exciting Saturday afternoon here at Jeff's Place with the arrival of "Today's Fresh Catch", the new Leben HiFi Stereo Company CS600X Integrated Amplifier! Those of you who have been reading my writing about hifi for a while know that I love integrated amplifiers, and the original Leben CS600 impressed me so much in combination... Read More »
Crazy comparison! The Pass Labs XA25 Stereo Amplifier and the Vintage McIntosh MC30 Monaural amplifiers!
It was a really enjoyable Friday this week, with a splendid visit from Paul James, who came all the way from Australia to visit Jeff's Place. Paul is a super nice guy, as well as a really knowledgable audio guy who likes to build valve preamps & amplifiers, and loudspeakers from scratch, and it was... Read More »
The Pass Labs XA25 stereo amplifier: Listening Impressions and Chatting with Nelson Pass!
I've been putting a lot of run-in and listening time on the Pass Labs XA25 stereo amplifier since it arrived, to the extent that I've lost track of the number of hours on it. There's probably north of 300 hours of operational time on the Pass Labs XA25 stereo amplifier at this point in time,... Read More »
2019 DIY Burning Amp Festival, San Francisco, Nov. 9th & 10th
Normally I don't pass on press releases, as that's something that Positive Feedback issues in their "Industry News" section, but in this case - because of my (and your) interest in DIY audio - I thought I'd let you know about this one to give it some extra emphasis. Nelson Pass is really into DIY, and this... Read More »
Jeff checking in ... upcoming reviews and other cool things!
THE DUELUND-ALTEC PROJECT! I am so inspired and pleased by the way the Duelund-Altec Project turned out that I practically have to pinch myself to make sure I'm not dreaming! Be sure to get out and read the feature article at Positive Feedback at the above link, as I think you'll really enjoy it, and it will... Read More »
Today's Fresh Catch: Amy's Amplifier - The Audio Note UK Oto Phono SE Signature Integrated Amplifier
One of the things that I observed - and very much appreciated - about Audio Note UK while I was visiting was that it is very much a family oriented business, with Peter Qvortrup, Lesley Fennell (Peter's wife), Emily Qvortrup (Peter's eldest daughter), and Daniel Qvortrup (Peter's son) all being involved in the day-to-day business... Read More »
"The Duelund-Altec Project - Dare to Dream!" article is now live at Positive Feedback
I wanted to let you know that "The Duelund-Altec Project - Dare to Dream!" article is now live at Positive Feedback. As you know if you've been reading along, the Duelund-Altec Project was a major project on a number of levels, and from the time of conception of the project until the feature article appearing... Read More »
The Duelund-Altec Project: Update x 4 and final step!
It's been a long road from the conception of the idea of building custom state-of-art Duelund CAST tinned-copper crossovers with Frederik Carøe of Duelund Coherent Audio for the historically important vintage - and state-of-art for their time period - "Stokowski" Altec loudspeakers that were custom built for conductor Leopold Stokowski back in the early 1960s... Read More »
Jeff checking in ... visiting with Peter Qvortrup of Audio Note UK! Part 4.
Back before I retired, I worked for the USA's Office of Science, the largest funding organization for fundamental science in the USA (about $6.6 billion for FY2019). I was stationed at one of the ten Office of Science national laboratories, was employed as a physical scientist (my doctorate is in analytical chemistry), and my daily... Read More »
Jeff checking in ... visiting with Peter Qvortrup of Audio Note UK! Part 3.
My jet-lag upon returning home from visiting Peter is getting a little better each day, and I actually stayed awake until 8 PM last night, but alas, I awoke at 1:30 AM wide awake. That's ok, I got up and practiced my guitar for a couple of hours, answered emails, fixed a hearty breakfast, and... Read More »
Looking through the crystal ball ... what's coming up at Jeff's Place! Updated with a new upcoming review!
I love to write posts for you about audio and music, but my project management gene just kicked in, so I thought I'd tell you about what to expect to read about in the next few months of scheduled audio adventures here at Jeff's Place. My first goal is to transfer the Duelund CAST tinned-copper... Read More »
