Western Electric 16a in the house.....

yep... finally... we16a.... more soon as I listen to GIP 555's and originals... and I have a sneaky idea for a mating basshorn...

peace,
me

new job, new locale, new climate, return of an old philosophy...

.

as many of you know, I have long strived to make, in house, as absolutely many parts in my gear as possible... somehow, the past few years, in an effort to make maybe a few more things, but mostly thinking about division of labor leading to higher quality, I shopped a few parts out.... bad idea.... I lost a lot of money and all the control.... but I learned... and I learned that hard lesson relatively early in my life.. and now I am really excited to have that lesson propelling me forward.... on my old philosophy.... I now dream of having blocks of raw materials dropped off at one door and finished goods going out the other... huge blocks of brass, steel, tantalum, tungsten, copper, silver!...

reality will bring me back down eventually, (let's all hope I make some tubes first!)... but for now, I am happily learning to master this machine:

you may recognize the fellow in the background... that's my fellow hifiheroin addict..... I can't believe this is the only photo I have of the Hurco... I really like their new styling... very deco.. and I *love* hammertone grey...

the Hurco does cool stuff like this:

to within a ten thousandth of an inch!  yep, that is the tolerance to which I trammed the sub plate (Robert calls this a spoil board) that we made.... one-thirtieth of the diameter of a human hair.... so this will help me catch up on some orders that include metal work....

in general, I am finally feeling like I am again on the rails... I knew I was headed in the correct direction, but it just felt a bit like I was bumping along railroad ties.... I am finally feeling like that serene late afternoon photo above.... taken from my new spot....

oh... I almost forgot... one person is not happy about this new venture... Bessie... this is her expressing her displeasure in the form of riding low after a metal pickup.... she clearly likes walnut better than brass... I am teaching her that they go *together*...

peace,
me

mu SUT's for charity

Our good friend John Chapman of Bent audio is offering up a pair of near unobtanium Mu SUT's in copper for a charity he supports.  100% of the bid price goes straight to the cause and he even picks up shipping out of his own pocket.  The full story is Here.

dave

the dog and puppy show.

This is the last coverage from RMAF from Peter at AVshowrooms.com.  I really like his videos because they give far more insight than the 50 words and 5 pictures the typical show report gives.

The funny thing was after I let the pool cue on a string comment slip I felt I needed to tell frank and he quickly corrected me that is was a broomstick on a string.  I thought for a bit and given the lengths gone through for a high end cue.... it was actually a perfect description.

dave

it's all about the bread.

and a hefty dose of sweat, oil, protection and tools.

the yellow slide

lions and tigers and barrets.  OMI

OMI

 

middle section, left channel...

.

peace,
me

Bespoke on the Inside.

sorry to bore with the old school jc style rant.  the trending word these days in marketing is bespoke.  it is really easy to google the origin of the word but it is far more interesting to look at the marketing wordplay that is starting to emerge so i present the concept of bespoke on the inside as a marketing double entendre for emia.

 somehow it fits.

What I didn't play at RMAF.

Hey... finally back in the normal groove after the show.  This is just a self serving post of room coverage both good and bad.  Of course the images sell so here are a few pics from one of the many songs I didn't get to play.

=

Dagogo
http://dagogo.com/rmaf-2013-coverage-i/2
http://dagogo.com/rmaf-2013-coverage-part-iii
http://dagogo.com/rmaf-2013-my-three-favorite-rooms

Part Time Audiophile
http://parttimeaudiophile.com/2013/10/12/rmaf-2013-say-hello-to-denver/
http://parttimeaudiophile.com/2013/10/28/rmaf-emia-saskia-schroeder-telwire/
http://parttimeaudiophile.com/2013/11/13/rmaf-2013-best-in-show-aka-the-end/
http://parttimeaudiophile.com/2013/11/11/rmaf-2013-wrapping-it-up-kirstens-best-in-show/#more-8530

Positive Feedback
http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue69/rmaf_13.htm

AV Showrooms
(Skip to 14:50 for the money shot)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=IKl4n3MXxjQ

PS Audio
http://www.pstracks.com/pauls-posts/romancing-speaker/11965/

6moons
http://www.6moons.com/industryfeatures/rmaf2013/1.html

Stereophile
http://www.stereophile.com/content/saskia-turntables-and-friends

Stereo Mojo
http://stereomojo.com/2013%20ROCKY%20MOUNTAIN%20AUDIOFEST%20SHOW%20REPORT/2013RockyMountainAudiofestShowReportPart5.htm

The Absolute Sound
http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/rmaf-report-analog-sources-pt-1/

Ultimist
http://ultimist.com/hifi/events/rocky-mountain-audio-fest-rmaf/rmaf-2013/oct-11-2013/10000/saskia-turntables-and-shroder-tonearms


My most memorable moment of music at the show was a group of "children of the 80's" singing a very out of tune version of an entire side of They Might Be Giants Lincoln played through a clapped out chevelle.   It made me young again... It made me happy.  It pissed mom and dad off in the adjoining room at 10PM and we were shushed.

I was almost a teenager again.

dave

October 25. 8:45 p.m.

.

peace,
me

Somebody put it better than I could.

We may not all hear or like the same thing but music is universal.

blog post with comments.

Impressions of RMAF 2013.

The show is still a blur to me but I was very happy with the sound and presentation.  I particularly like this pic posted by Kuma over at audio asylum.

more to come....what did/do you guys think?

dave

'twas the night before RMAF setup.

and dave can't sleep.  All the goodies are working....  enough of that.

here are some pics of what I'll be flying with.

 Permalloy 50 amps

which can now take 300B's

the new SUT packaging (1:20's for a Kansui in silver)

Finally the miniformer... in silver with a mocha front.

More RMAF Preview.

OK... you may ask where the hell have JJ and dave been... Well getting ready for the semi-official EMIA launch.  We teased you with the LC-1A's and here is some more of the story.  Up in the room (9009) we will be teaming with Win and his Saskia.  Fitted with a Schröder Reference and a Schröder LT.  Cartridges will most likely be a Kansui and a Panasonic Strain gauge.  Step ups will be silver and copper.  Both the Emia Phono and the Strain Gauge will be available to feed a pair of silver Autoformer Attenuators.  The amps will be the new permalloy 50/300B convertible amp.  Tubes will range from globe 50's to the new EML50 and WE 300B's.  Chris from Tel-Wire will be on hand to make sure the wires are bespoke.

As you can see there is a grease bearing 301 on the rack at the moment.  That is for the table downstairs where we will also be spinning some tunes through headphones.  The 301 will have a Siggwan arm mounted and will probably be using a 103R retipped by newcomer Andy Chong.

Silver and copper SUT's will be available as well as the new "mini-former" headphone alternative in both silver and copper.  The cans will be a very special pair of Grado HP-1000's because they were Sid Smiths personal pair that he used to design and voice the RA-1 headphone amp he designed for Joe.

Design genius and all around good guy John Chapamn will be down at the table with me with some new toys of his own.  The opti-load is a remote controlled load resistor which we can demonstrate through phones and what would a show be without Blackman Brew?  As I type, 96 Blackman are heading up to Denver.  The booth will also have an Audio Deske cleaner to keep our vinly clean so bring music.  Finally lets not forget Thai food Friday night after the meet and greet at Garcias.

RCA LC-1A LS-11's at RMAF

Hey all.  We will be splitting a room with Saskia II creator Win Tinnon and for a quick preview... the 200+ pound slate Saska II idler will be spinning with a Schröder arm (LT and Reference).  Cartridges will be a Kansui, Premium Be and a Panasonic Strain Gauge.  Electronics will be EMIA (Silver SUT's and autoformers) with the Permalloy 50 amps feeding these.

Tel-Wire will be hooking it all together.   We are vinyl only so bring some of your favorites and stop by to say Hi!

Nelson meets Le Cléac’h

I sent a lowther reformer to Ryan and he responded with this a few years later.  Pay it forward my friends.... pay it forward. 

Tribeca Akihabara

With all the kit laying about on the floor last Saturday, how can I pick any other title for this entry.

Mesh 10 style

 Schroder 9" & 12"

 Siggwan

 obscure dyslexic 50's

of course we did listen to music through a Kansui / Zero mounted on a FR-66 strapped to a cotter into a silver LR phono, Silver LR crossover and of course silver Chapman autoformers.  To do all that silver justice the finest vintage 50 was used for the evening.

a little scrapper

Here is my oldest taking a nap with his pay for his days work.  I proposed to him that if he stripped all the copper wire of my junk bobbins he could then take it to the scrap yard.  I haven't put it on a scale but it feels like about 75 pounds and at $2 a pound its not a bad days work for an 11 year old.

DHT LCR phono...

We have a new friend in norway undertaking the bold task of a DHT phono stage.  It will consists of an EML-30 through a 49% nickel 1:1 feeding a 8-9K (not sure of the actual impedance) LCR EQ.  The output of the EQ will hit a 45 into another pair of 49% nickel 1:1's

The box of my share goes out tomorrow and here are the contents.

I mentioned he was a friend and even though we just met, how can he not fit in.... my bet is he is already a junkie!

dave

Thyratron, Megatron and Forevertron Oh My!

In keeping with the triptych... which one of these things doesn't belong here?... I'm not sure I know.

To complete the Forevertron trilogy here are two more stolen shots with some info...

I wonder if the 555's served as mortars in those two cannons.

Go to the Library.

We don't care what library you go to... just learn.

Don't blindly follow...  LEARN.

 enough preaching and onto the facts.... a friend sent me to the link to a .pdf of one of these books.

 they are both the same book with a couple of revisions between the two.  Like most book collectors, I want the earliest edition... not for absolute value but for the integrity of the information.

Total props are given in the second printing for credit.

Then comes the library tag and the question of why was this copy ripped from the public and sold for $20? 

CUT.... another book with the same sticker.

This one belongs to Blackie.  I just have it on loan from his private library. ..he did me the solid with no late fees

dave

Which Hunt?

I mentioned an elusive 10 that may actually sound wonderful a few posts back and in searching through my stash, I came up with 4 boxes all from the hunting grounds of yore.

I'm not much for pointing out the irony so here is a picture of three of the 4 tubes that came from those boxes and a bogey 10 for reference.

dave

Three states of sound.

thoriated, oxide and mesh.  Oh My!