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laikadog

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  1. Thanks to your exposure, I've become a fan of Helen Merrill. Problem is, the vinyl is hard to come by. I've pretty much given up on HM with Clifford on Emarcy. They're all way too rich for my blood. Besides, I think it was you who mentioned that even the nm copies have a fair bit of surface noise. How is the reissue on Trip? We're talkin' fidelity, not collectibility. How's the sound on the Mercury box set? I think I read it's been digitally remastered. Is this a huge detriment to the integrity of the original recordings? Is it worth it as a substitute to the originals, or should I just skip it and be patient trying to find originals or some other quality reissues? I'm looking to find these records in this general order. If one were going to have five Helen Merrill's would you substitute any of these? Sorry for all the questions, but you da man on Ms Merrill. Helen Merrill with Clifford Brown Dream of You You've Got A Date with the Blues Nearness of You Merrill at Midnight
  2. Allan and Gary. Where does a guy get his hands on some of these Contemporaty reissues? There's a whole bunch of stuff from that label I'd love to find and the pre-Fantasy reissues are perfectly fine by me. I'm down in San Diego and the local pickins are very slim. Get up to LA when I can, but not regularly enough to hit all the shops I like. Ebay's too much of a crapshoot and GEMM is only marginally better. Allan, I've seen you refer to "lists" before. How does one get on the distribution for some of these? Thanks for any tips you can share.
  3. So, Allan, where is he playing on the 25th? Cafe Metropol? I checked out the links, but couldn't determine the location of the gig. I'll be up from San Diego to see the folks for Turkey day in L.A. I'm thinking they can babysit and my wife and I can get out for a night on the town. Over the years, I've always found the Friday after Thanksgiving to be one of the best nights for going out. Kind of a "free pass" day and the start of the holiday season. Anyhoo, sounds fun. Keep us updated on the details. laikadog
  4. I'll second the Dynavector. Either the 20XH or 20XL. I've got the high-output on my Scout going through a Rogue Stealth and it's got pretty much everything I was looking for. In hindsight I should have been a little more patient and gotten the low-output, but I hadn't scored the Rogue yet and was still playing in through a Scott 355 which couldn't handle the low-ouput. As you may have read, the folks at VPI use the Dynavector in house. To me, that was a good recommendation. The presentation is well balanced, which is what I wanted. I think I got mine for about $370 including shipping from juki in Hong Kong. It was a deal that was too good to pass up.
  5. Holy moly!!! That's one of the best scores I've heard of. Well done. Now go buy a Lotto ticket!
  6. There's a pair available locally and the guy is asking $600-650. No pictures, they are black and he describes them as "phenomenal condition" , but will "need a paint job"? Yeah, I know, the BS meter is quivering already. Nonetheless, I may have to check it out. I'm looking for a dynamic full-range speaker to mate with my Cary SLI-80 integrated, 40w triode and 80w ultralinear. Listen to all kinds of music, but mostly bop/hardbop jazz and alterna rock. I have to admit the only Klipsch I've heard at any length are my buddies kg4 powered with a mid/late seventies Yamaha Natural Sound integrated. He loves them, but to be honest I found the horns to be a little sharp for my taste. I'd like something a little more refined and smoother in the mids and highs. Am I barking up the right tree or should I consider something else? The Corwall IIs are enticing, but I think they would be too big for my room (13.5' x 18.5'). Speakers are set up on long wall and must be placed very close (within 1' - 1.5') from the back wall and the listening position can be 7' to 9'. Finally, back to the original question...before I go and have a look at the Chorus II, what is a fair price assuming they are OK functionally, but cosmetically they'll need some work? Also, what are some things to look for, functioanlity wise, when buying these puppies used? If the seller is amenable, I'll take my own amp over for a listen. Thanks for any info and tips. laikadog
  7. Pic is two years old, but I like it anway. Both son and dog turned two couple of weeks ago. Birthdays are just one day apart.
  8. up on the aucton block over on A'gon? There was another Stealth that sold, last week I think, that I was watching. That auction ended and I never saw the final sale price. Did you happen to catch what is was? Last I saw it was over $560 with a more than a few hours to go. I just picked up a used Stealth locally over the weekend. Haven't put it into the system yet. It is an older model with no manual so I had to give Brian at Rogue a call this morning to see how to configure the settings for my cart since the swithces/settings are a little different than what's on the newer version. He was very helpful. We'll see how it sounds tonight. How it your 66 Magnum stacking up? laikadog
  9. Grant Lee Phillips - Mobilize This is a pop masterpiece. Every song is like a movie-short. Great song-writher and excellent sonics. Juliana Hatfiled - In Exile Deo What can I say, I love Juliana. This is a great record, althogh my favorite is still Only Everything. Her guitar work is phenomenal on that record. Totally kicks ***. Art Blakey - Moanin' It swings, it rocks! What a classic.
  10. Thanks for the replies and info fellas. I think for now I've decided to use the 355 as is and see how the sound shakes out once I've got the Scout and Cary SLI-80 dialed in and then I'll focus on the phono section.
  11. Revealing my limited knowledge with this question, but here goes anyway. I recently acquired a Cary SLI-80 integrated, so now the Scott 355 preamp/tuner combo that I have will now be pulling duty as a phono stage and tuner only. Since the signal will now go from the Tape Out to the Cary, what exactly is being bypassed in the Scott? Are the Scott's phono section tubes still in the loop? I was also lucky enough to get a nice deal on a Scout TT (probably going with a Dynavecto 20XH cartridge) and have a couple related questions as I don't want to cheat myself with an underperforming phono stage. I had the Scott refurbished locally here in San Diego by a pretty well known tech whose specialty is tuner alignments and such. He's an old school type who doesn't go for the whole 'modding' experience and prefers to leave the original design well enough alone, resulting in an 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it philosophy'. Subsequently, he ended up focusing on the tuner section leaving the unit entirely stock with original parts (not many original tubes which are now a mish-mash of nothing special) for the most part. It seems that some of the capacitors, resistors, would need replacing after 42 years. For example, (showing my ignorance again) the little white ceramic looking cylinders near the power transformer get very, very hot. Not in a position to DIY, so how much work would need to go into the Scott to bring the phono section up to snuff? Or, and I know folks here are fond of vintage, should I cut my losses and go with a modern phono section in the $400 range new or used?
  12. Cripes! That brings a tear to the eye. Those babies were made to be listened to, not put behind glass, so to speak. Sigh...
  13. I consider myself to be on the bottom slopes of the learning curve where it comes to understanding the technical nuances of recording techniques, but here are a couple links to some information I found very informative. http://www.its.caltech.edu/~boyk/ http://www.cco.caltech.edu/~boyk/records.html http://www.its.caltech.edu/~boyk/351.htm http://www.cco.caltech.edu/~boyk/bothsides.html Whether you agree or disagree with the philosophy/reslts of Professor Boyk, there is a tremendous amount of food for thought. I've been meaning to get the Boyk plays Mussorgsky 1991 "Pictures at an Exhibition", for some time now and listen for myself. Maybe this is a good catalyst to get me off my rear and give it a go. Is anyone familiar with any of these redordings.
  14. Smashing Pumpkins Their first two records, Gish and Siamese Dream, were blistering psychedelic/grunge masterpieces. Then with Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (you can already tell by the pompous title that things are not going in the right direction), there were a few great tracks, but they had started the descent down a slippery slope. Saw them live during this tour and they were simply awful. Billy Corgan's ego had gotten the best of him. It was all over after that. The Corgan follow-up project, Zwan, was an uninspired Pumpkins Lite that went nowhere.
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