Sneak Peek: The Hanze HiFi HAT Turntable Power Supply Review for Positive Feedback!
I thought you'd enjoy seeing a "sneak peek" of the Hanze HiFi HAT turntable power supply review for Positive Feedback that I'm putting the finishing touches on now. Enjoy! Welcome to Hanze HiFi! I always enjoy telling you about the people behind high-performance audio products and hifi shops, as quite often they are the most... Read More »
Jeff checking in ... Hanze HiFi, Duelund, Altec, Nelson Pass, and Audio Note UK!
It's been a while since I checked in with you and gave you a little behind the scenes glimpse into what's going on here at Jeff's Place, so I thought it'd be a good time for a short update. I've been working on the Hanze HiFi HAT turntable power supply review for Positive Feedback, and... Read More »
Today's Fresh Catch: The Pass Labs XA25 Power Amplifier!
It's an exciting time here at Jeff's Place, as the Pass Labs XA25 power amplifier has just arrived for review at Positive Feedback. I'm quite delighted that I am able to write about the Pass Labs XA25 power amplifier for you here at Jeff's Place and Positive Feedback, as they are difficult to come by,... Read More »
First Listen to the Hanze HiFi HAT Power Supply with the Thorens TD124 turntable!
In my last post I described my first impressions of the Hanze HiFi HAT turntable power supply powering my Classic Turntable Company hot-rodded Garrard 301 (HERE). The Hanze HiFi HAT turntable power supply is beautifully built, and provided meaningful but subtle improvements to my CTC Garrard 301 turntable's performance in terms of overall musicality and... Read More »
First Impressions: The Hanze HiFi HAT Turntable Power Supply!
I've been getting some listening time in with the Hanze HiFi HAT Turntable Power Supply on my Classic Turntable Company hot-rodded Garrard 301, so I thought I'd offer you some first impressions as I've started to get familiar with it. Before I describe to you the installation and setup of the HAT Turntable Power Supply... Read More »
Update on the Duelund-Altec Project!
Between travel, jet-lag, and getting caught up on audio and domestic activities, it's been a while since I've posted a comprehensive update on the Duelund-Altec Project (overview HERE). A couple of posts ago (HERE) I reported on how much the "Stokowski" Altec's with their Duelund CAST tinned-copper crossovers (below) reminded me of the sound of... Read More »
Today's Fresh Catch: The HAT Turntable Power Supply from Jaap Pees!
Today's Fresh Catch is the HAT Turntable Power Supply from Jaap Pees of Hanze HiFi in the Netherlands. The HAT Turntable Power Supply is a substantial piece of electronics measuring 8¾ inches wide, by 5 inches high, and 12 inches deep, and weighs in at approximately 11 pounds / 5 kilograms on my utility scale.... Read More »
Jeff checking in ... Duelund, Altec, Hanze HiFi, and Nelson Pass!
I've been in Europe the past couple of weeks on my once a year vacation, am now back and resting up, trying to get over the rigors of travel and jet lag - and I'm almost there! I had a great time on vacation, spending time in Munich, Salzburg, Hallstatt, Vienna, and Prague, listening to... Read More »
Today's Fresh Catch: Bespoke Terminal Strips from Santos Oropel, and a cool Altec adventure!
In a previous post (HERE) I mentioned that I was excited about the news that Great Plains Audio - the technical descendent of Altec that still builds Altec drivers and services them under the Great Plains Audio banner - would be sending their latest drivers to me in the not too distant future to listen... Read More »
A DIY Duelund 600V DCA20GA RCA interconnect - first listen!
As I mentioned in my earlier listening impressions for selecting the optimal mix of the vintage-inspired Duelund DCA tinned-copper tone cables for the Duelund-Altec Project (HERE), I was particularly fascinated by Bill's intriguing comment on The Duelund-Altec Project: DCA16GA vs DCA20GA for the Altec 804A 16-Ohm compression drivers? post HERE. Bill shared his experiences with the new 600V... Read More »
Adventures in Real Sound with Yazaki-san: Alan-san’s GEC PX25A (DA30) Monaural SET’s - Part 4!
It's always exciting to hear from our good friend, Yazaki-san, and in this article Yazaki-san brings us more illuminating insights as he discusses the GEC PX25A (DA30) monaural SETs that he built for Alan-san. Yazaki-san has dedicated this Part 4 article to his friends Alan-san and Harald-san, who have enthusiastically pursued and supported the builds of... Read More »
A Duelund DCA tinned-copper cables comparison for the Duelund-Altec Project - the adventure continues!
As you know if you've been reading along, I've been experimenting with different combinations of the Duelund DCA tinned-copper tone cables for the Duelund-Altec Project (HERE), both as speaker cables and for connecting the Duelund CAST tinned-copper crossovers to the Altec 804A 16-Ohm compression drivers. I've already settled in on the Duelund DCA16GA tinned-copper cable for... Read More »
Live at Positive Feedback: Three Simple and Cost Effective Hot-Rod Mods for the Classic Thorens TD-124 Turntable!
I've just finished up an article for Positive Feedback that has been in the works for a couple of months. It's about three easy and affordable accessories / modifications for a classic Thorens TD-124 turntable, that elevated the performance of my Artisan Fidelity Thorens TD-124 Statement turntable beyond my wildest expectations, and I suspect these accessories will do... Read More »
The Duelund-Altec Project: DCA16GA vs DCA20GA for the Altec 804A 16-Ohm compression drivers?
I've been immensely enjoying listening to the "Stokowski" Altec's with the breadboard Duelund CAST tinned-copper crossovers. I haven't really been in any hurry to make changes to anything with the crossovers, which is a good sign that everything is coming together in a synergistic fashion musically and sonically. I've wired the breadboard versions of the... Read More »
A Learning Path for Music Lovers & Audiophiles!
I love learning about almost everything, which would help explain my taking time to earn a bachelor's degree in chemistry, a master's degree in chemistry, and a doctorate degree in analytical chemistry. I have immensely enjoyed studying chemistry, mathematics, physics, law, literature, history, religions, philosophy, art and music, Koine Greek, computers, audio electronics, and many other topics which... Read More »
fern & roby brass record weight!
I bought a fern & roby brass record weight to go with the brass platter on my CTC Garrard 301 turntable, and it came in the mail today. If you flip the fern & roby brass record weight upside down the center piece is the same size as the hole in 45RPM singles records, so... Read More »
Preview of coming attractions - the GPA Altec drivers are coming to Jeff's Place!
I have some exciting Altec news to share with you. The new owners of Great Plains Audio - Troy Audio - envision a bright future for an Altec revival, and as an Altec enthusiast - I have 3 pairs of vintage Altec's - I'm particularly excited about this development! They're going to be sending me... Read More »
Duelund 600V DCA12GA Sn-Cu cable vs. Duelund DCA12GA Sn-Cu cable - which is better?
There's been a lot of interest in the topic of the Duelund 600V DCA12GA Sn-Cu cable with its CAST-like dielectric that is primarily intended for use in power cables, versus the Duelund DCA12GA Sn-Cu cable with the baked oil-soaked-cotton dielectric that is intended primarily for use as speaker cables. That interest is largely driven by... Read More »
Update: The Duelund-Altec Project
It's time for another update on the Duelund-Altec Project. In my most recent updates of the Duelund-Altec Project I discussed the overall project context HERE, the selection of speaker cables for the most complementary voicing HERE, and I wrote a just-for-fun post about the musicality magic of vintage Altec's HERE. I've never been enamored of... Read More »
Single Ended Triode (SET) Review Opportunity!
Those of you who have been reading along here at Jeff's Place know I've been having a blast with my modest collection of vintage Altec loudspeakers. With my Westminster's I lost interest in SET's for a while as they need a little more power than most SET's can muster, but now with my Altec's SET friendly sensitivity... Read More »
The Vintage Altec Experience
I've been wanting to write an article about the "musicality magic" of vintage Altec loudspeakers for a while now, so consider this a mini-installment towards that goal, with - I hope - much more to come. Let's start with a short Altec history lesson. Altec's origins are inextricably linked to the Western Electric movie theater loudspeaker systems... Read More »
Duelund 600V DCA12GA, DCA16GA, or DCA12GA on the "Stokowski" Altec's as speaker cables? Update!
I've really been enjoying the Duelund-Altec Project, and I fully admit that I am in awe of the performance I'm hearing from the exotic Duelund CAST tinned-copper crossovers (Hiraga-style circuit) with my vintage one-off "Stokowski" Altec loudspeakers. The live-like musicality, sonics, and intense emotional impact the Duelund CAST tinned-copper crossovers combined with the "Stokowski" Altec's are... Read More »
Overview & Update: The Duelund-Altec Project
I've really been enjoying listening to the "Stokowski" Altec's with their Duelund-Altec Project Duelund CAST Sn-Cu crossovers over the last week or so since my last update. For those who are just finding out about the Duelund-Altec Project, I thought I'd include an overview of the project for you, as well as an update for... Read More »
Listening impressions of the DIY 600V Duelund DCA12GA tinned-copper power cable after 6 days on the Cable Cooker!
After my last listening impressions report of the DIY 600V Duelund DCA12GA tinned-copper power cable after 3 days on the Cable Cooker (HERE), I decided to give it another 3 days of conditioning (for a total of 6 days). My reference power cable is the $12K USD Acoustic Revive Absolute Power Cable, which by any metric is... Read More »
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 »
