The call for Positive Feedback writers to submit their annual Writers' Choice Awards came out yesterday from Editors Dave & David.

 

It’s always an exciting time of year when the Positive Feedback Writer’s Choice Awards roll around, as it provides a time for me to reflect back on the past year and think about its highlights.

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 & musical discoveries with you here in the pages of Jeff's Place & Positive Feedback.

First there was The Vintage McIntosh Experience article about the vintage McIntosh valve quartet of the MX110 tuner-preamplifier, the MC240 stereo amplifier, the MC225 stereo amplifier, and the MC30 monaural amplifiers, from the vintage McIntosh specialists Tom Manley & Terry DeWick at McIntosh Home Audio & DeWick Repairs, and Yves Beauvais at Vintage Vacuum Audio, that I wrote about in Issue 77 to kick off the start of the New Year.

 

Then in Issue 78 I told you about the SPEC RSA-M3 EX Real Sound Amplifier from the remarkable Mr. Shirokazu Yazaki, that can go toe-to-toe musically & sonically with the best direct heated single triode amplifiers, but has much more power, and the simplicity and reliability of a solid state integrated amplifier.

 

In Issue 79 I covered my latest turntable project for you, the international collaboration that produced the stunning nuevo-vintage Garrard Project 2015, with its very hot-rodded Classic Turntable Company version of a Garrard 301 idler-wheel turntable from the UK, a stunning statement plinth by the USA’s Artisan Fidelity, and the impeccable German 12-inch Thomas Schick tonearms mounted with Danish mono & stereo Ortofon SPU phono cartridges.

 

Then in Issue 81, in the Adventures in Real Sound with Mr. Shirokazu Yazaki, I told you how to get Real and release the musicality hidden inside your hi-fi system with do-it-yourself (DIY) projects using vintage Western Electric WE16GA wire, nuevo-vintage Belden 8402 microphone cables, nuevo-vintage Arizona Capacitors (West-Cap), SPEC ruby mica capacitors, and other audio Golden Age treasures like the Mullard & Haltron vacuum tubes.

 

The challenging part of the Positive Feedback Writers’ Choice Awards is narrowing down all those stellar audio & musical moments from a full year of audio adventures into the 1 to 3 awards per audio writer that Ye Olde Editors Dave & David request.

It’s agonizing, because every single thing I wrote about for you in 2015 deserves an award of its own!

I'm writing up the awards now, and I think you'll be delighted with the choices!

Stay tuned, there will be more to come!