STAX?

 OK enough on the silly beer talk.   We have a Stax cartridge that isn't up to snuff. Any help is appreciated.

help us please

Free Stuff - Community Light & Sound midrange horns...

I just cannot stand putting stuff like this on the curb.  These radial mid horns are very well constructed... fiberglass with a big wood stiffener/brace in the middle... condition is pretty good... if you want to polish them up, sure they would appreciate it.. it is black gel coat.. it should shine with the proper elbow grease... 

to me, these always sounded better than their Altec equivalents... especially for near-field HiFi..  I used to run the BRH-90, which is an Altec 311-90 near equivalent... I think I used 288's, RCA phenolics, and JBL phenolics with them.. memory is fading...

these are a bit smaller... but larger than Altec 511's... they are about 20" deep and with the flanges about 30" wide... they have screw throats... 1 3/8", 18 tpi... no, I have not tried a WE555 on them.. sheesh....

anyway... free pair... you have to pay shipping... or come pick them up...

Peace,
Me

Munich High End 2012 - Silbatone and the Western Electric 15a

First, a very well deserved thank you to Silbatone for bringing such high quality, early HiFi art to a trade show... and especially here at the twilight of the HiFi era.... Sincere thanks for sharing....

Second, the observation has to be made that there is indeed something special with these very early, compression driven, large, wide range horns.  They do communicate something that our brains associate with being more enjoyable, more believable, and I will even say more *correct* than what the current 'state of the art' is offering... this is really undeniable fact... (even to someone like me - a classically trained engineer from a top US university who loves to measure and quantify things) ... I say undeniable because here at the largest HiFi trade show in western culture, thousands and thousands of people sat in awe... not in awe of the size, as there were large line arrays and other giant horn rigs just down the hall.. but in awe of the sound... these people were a diverse group - manufacturers, experienced hobbyists, novice hobbyists, spouses, children, etc... and they experienced it.. it was very real...

heading back to my engineering side, I do want to know what we are not measuring that will help give insight into this.. of course I do... it could be a myriad of things... I still lean toward energy preservation... it certainly is not frequency response... and certainly not the distortion information that my computer spits out... it could also be the majority of the midrange coming from one driver... similar to what full range guys hear in a tiny room at low level... maybe... but to hear the music we played... full scale.. it really is a  different game.. ... .. there was not a single room there that was even approaching the scale of this display... and I mean sonic scale... yes, big soundstage, but that is not what I mean... what I mean is dynamic swing and a feeling that is a much closer approximation of REAL... the same something that made these two items the most often requested albums of the event:

(please try these at home.. loud, large, and clean... they should make you feel like there is great hope for humanity.. like there is beauty and love and power in the human soul... )

and lastly, I do want to comment on the actual setup from the perspective of the listener who already listens to WE and other large horn systems.. yes, there were many things we did not adjust... just due to time and due to not needing to... (what?).. yes, as our fearless leader said when I was adding my vote to bring the speakers closer together again: "Jackson, you always want one hundred points.  Eighty points is good enough." .. what he means is that this exhibition is not for the already committed horn and WE listeners, it is to show the general public.. it is a just that, an exhibition... and believe me, in this era of web readers who are now 'experts' in a year, this guy was listening to his own WE 15a system in 1987... what were you listening to then?

so, in rapid fire order, the issues from the '100 point guy'...

*brand new cartridge.. but when AJ personally delivers a 'special' cartridge, what do you do?
*brand new digital - I cut the factory tape on the boxes
*we lost power on Saturday.. we ran *everything* through a HORNBACH (Home Depot) 14 gauge extension cord!
*one side wall of solid glass, floor to ceiling, all concrete everything else... oh, except the tile ceiling...
*the amp we were to use landed with no tubes (did we find them in Korea?) ... so wrong amp...
*simple and lighter weight field coil supplies
*no time to adjust tilt of the 15A (so the tonal balance was not quite right)
*no time to adjust the felt lining (but the velvet Guiness towel was fly)
*an unknown bass cabinet and design (phenomenal work, JC! I thought it was awesome even if some crossover work may have made it even better)
*we knowingly gave the best room position to our friends at GIP... the 15's were way too wide...
*heck, we did not even know what turntables were coming until they rolled through the front door (both tables were super cool... maybe I will invite some guest bloggers to talk about them.. they are worth several posts each)

and really, as was said over the course of the show, this is the "number four" WE system... the 15a is awesome... yep, no doubt. but it is lacking in detail retrieval compared to the best.. the thin plywood does get a little too active for my tastes... this speaker has much more radiating area than the largest Magnepan... so the wood sounds a little artificially 'warm'.. but that allows you to play many more recordings, which could swing my vote... it is also a little light in absolute power response as frequency climbs... laws of physics are still laws of physics...

and yet we still had a line of waiting people that extended out of the door from morning until close... anywhere from fifty to one hundred people in the room at all times.... *nobody* had near that attendance... the other big horn rig had five or six people at a time.. maybe...

so you have to step back... see the long view...  be open to ideas... say thank you to Silbatone for sharing.. and see if you can learn something... I know I did...


 

Peace,
Me

25 sqft of pablo.

I was at a local flea market and to my shock I stumbled upon this.

The guy was out for a second so I left and came back at the end of the day to see what the damage would be.  Alas it was $1500 and I wasn't about to try to low ball him.  As I headed to the gate to leave,  I noticed a bunch of 18" X 18" Home Depot moving boxes inside were records.  I did a quick peek and saw that it was worth asking the cost.  To my shock the guy said, you like em, take 'em all.  There were 10 boxes which meant around 1500 records.   One box was show tunes, another X-mas so they went away.  I cherry picked through the rest and here are some of the highlights.

I hope 12" + 33rpm is why newer tech never caught on with me.

I guess the point is sometimes you need to dig to find things and know what to hide.

I ended up keeping about 200 of them and the common/abused stuff went to the transfer station and the rest to the thrift.  I still wish I came home with that lathe.

Brother Thelonious

Apologies for another pesky beer post.  This was found on the fridge in the secret Blackman hideout in Oklahoma, Mississippi or possibly Texas.

Once the door was opened I saw the light.

Then we listened to some nina on some PK quads.

DC is the next stop on this train and we have solid family there so stop by and say hi.  (just remember you can check in any time you want but you can never leave.)

the irreverent show.

It is funny how a simple image without context can stir emotion.  More people noticed my treatment of this switch as a social comment rather than a practical one.

 Two years ago at LSAF, we found out in the worst way that this switch controlled a Hollywood outlet in the room we were showing in.


Early Friday morning,  I flipped the switch and found the offending outlet and sealed it off with the tape I had in my pocket.

Problem solved.

If we go earlier by about 12 hours, my only task was to get the room set up and since we scored the same room things were easy.

The first step in setup was to remove the beds and that was when the surprise came.

My first thought was to ask "What idiot hotel would put playsand under their beds?"  Reality set in and I quickly realized that it was the slackers that run this blog that left the sand.  An interesting storage possibility was realized and at the end of the show I properly placed the sand back where it belonged.

A picture from LSAF

tastes differ yet we all find music.

Nipper never impressed me.

Now Spuds McKenzie... that is a dog fit to represent real audio!  When I say REAL, I mean REAL!

Yes both the system and the dog were real and I have to say that my visit to Ka's place was also very real.  It was a beautiful industrial space in Dallas with a very nice aesthetic.

After some listening and unfiltered sake, the group went out for some BBQ Texas style and we each ate one of the special tofu ribs in JJ's honor.

Upon returning to Ka's studio,  I noticed something fitting for the blog in one of the display drawers from the cabinet pictured above.

Then It happened!  I found this picture from that rag that Holger runs of all the scandalous stuff that happened in Munich.

Well I could not stand for this and I had to dump both of them and set out to find myself a new BFF

Luckily it wasn't difficult!

(Ka,  I'll trade you the dog for the 80% nickel 50 amp)

The LSAF preview nobody cares about.

The 50's are playing in the permalloy Emia amp with 80% nickel outputs and all nickel chokes in the power supply.  I guess permalloy is the code word of the day... week... and maybe month.  Lets just say I have TONE!...

Feeding the 50's a bit of Glen Gould is the miyajima labs shilabe with the premium BE waiting to get its time in the groove.

stay tuned for more and if possible join me for cinco de mayo in Dallas.  Rooms are cheap and hanging with family is priceless.

dave

Western Electric 16a 2012 drawings..

well... I'm off...  a visit to Audio-Life in Holland and then Munich High End, but first, something to whet your appetite...

and I must also add this footnote... I am listening to GIP 555's... 

and my first impression is that they are even cleaner than originals.. 

first impression, but I am stunned.. I think I need to have a 

serious sit down with Mr. Suzuki in Munich!

 

Munich High End 2012 Preview

yep... that is what Silbatone is sharing with the world this year.. of course not for sale... and of course it will be amazing in that giant room... thank you guys for bringing this gear!

What you see is the "workhorse" of the classic Western Electric theatre systems... the 15A... this was sort of their economy model as it is made of thin plywood... if there is a little bit of coloration, then it is certainly beautiful and rich coloration.... the speaker plays louder and cleaner than anything you have likely ever heard... big, rich sound...

and that bass system?  total JC... I love it... once it sinks in how it works, a big grin grows across your face... just perfect for this room... read up on the Heil patents for clues... (remember the Heil tweeters?)... the open back and wide baffle create a cardioid pattern... cancellation where you do not want the bass.. at the sides and behind... and teh compression chamber acts to increase efficiency and drive down the resonance frequency.. so loaded with two 515b and two EV 30's, I suspect it will play Sabbath *just* right....

I can't wait!  thanks again, guys!

Peace,
Me

Record Store Day 2012 - hits and misses...

so I sneaked away from the soldering bench and the family on Saturday morning for a few hours.. it is always nice to flip through vinyl on a Saturday morning.. especially in the Spring...

I will be completely honest and say that I am bummed that I did not find the first ever vinyl release of Junta.. I think Phish did a really cool thing by releasing this very early and really interesting album on three pieces of 180 gram vinyl for only $40... on the $60 version, they included a signed screenprint by the original artist... very cool... but they went quickly.. by noon there were 500 copies on eBay.. I suppose the band cannot do anything about scalpers, just like tickets for all those years... but I will say that I have been extremely lucky and never, ever shut out of a show.. even some super duper way sold out events.. so I guess my karma is pretty good...

enough of that.. you guys would not support scalpers.. so on to the scores... and the rest of a very beautiful morning in which I hit *three* record stores...

so first up is my only RSD special.. the Black Angels... I guess I was feeling a little bit angry as this made me feel much better.. it is two early EP's put together and a few tracks from an early album, one of which, Manipulation, is especially dark and powerful... not for the faint of heart, but....

next is my only genuinely all Soul album of the day... but it is James Carr... if you have not ever heard "At the Dark End of the Street" you are missing out...

Roy Buchanan is a guitar wizard... check him out on You Tube.. he seems a humble guy who just says everything with a guitar..

Stanley Clarke "School Days" is one that I just needed a better copy of.. the track "Desert Song" with McLaughlin is great... besides, I want those pants... and it was a buck... WTF, it's only a buck! (which you Deadheads will recall as the slogan wookies used to sell grilled cheese sandwiches on tour)

do I have to say something about the guitar work of Jimmie Vaughan?  maybe I do.. he has that strut.. not the normal Texas blues that is so in your face... I love his playing...

and this one. whoah... this is Muddy Waters and Otis Spann... the best of all those attempts to combine new school hippie blues players with the greats from teh 40's and 50's... this one works.. not a sonic marvel, but amazing music.. close your eyes and wish you were there... (and it was $5 for two lp's!)

same with this one... a classic... I have resigned myself to the fact that I will never own the original.. so a later mint reissue is just fine.. the Wolf... a mighty man... as a bonus, my kids seem to get what he was about.. an original..

oh, look at that!.. an album that is not all guitar.. I did not notice until I got home, but I guess my two year affair with the saxophone must be over.. from this stack, it looks like I never left the blues section.. hmm... so I obviously bought this for Memphis Slim, who I like very much.. maybe I belong in this backwards 1950's conservative town after all... I just need to learn how to wail away on my porch..

uh, oh... another guitar god... Ulmer.. wow... if you like this music, you already know him..

and, gasp, a CD!  yeah, but how cool is this?.. this guy was playing live in the record store.. Muddy Waters and Junior Kimbrough covers.. solo.. guitar, bass drum and hi-hat.. and talking about how he had been up all night.. they had a party last night.. but he was loving the fact that a small group of us knew all the tunes he was playing.. so I bought his CD.. Eric Hughes.. he said he had two singles that were top ten on the blues charts.. so I happily handed him $10... 

and for Richie.. yet another use for transformers.. to hold up vinyl when you take snapshots..

so I will leave you with some short video of Eric Hughes playing on no sleep at one of the record stores.. tough, lonely gig.. but you gotta get by...

Peace,
Me