Travis In Austin

We are good to go at my place. Travis

Congratulations on your new amps. Excellent choice by the way, I think you will enjoy them a great deal. Which system are these going to go into of the ones you have listed in your profile? Travis

Seadog, beautiful photo, you could put on saddle on that one. Well I will try to get us back on track on my original post, the side issue was my fault. I got the two boxes home, Craig had sent me a private email yesterday with an invitation to call him so he could take me through everything, so I did. Scott, forum member I purchased the amps from) had said to pay special attention on how Craig had packed them in case I ever needed to ship them in the future. So I figured I would give Craig a call before I unpacked them to make sure there wasn't anything special to know before I put the knife to the tape. No answer at Craig's, I figure he has better things to do on a Friday then deal with me. Five minutes later Craig calls and says, "so they are out and all hooked up and ready to go?" and I proceed to tell them no they are sitting in their pretty brown boxes, and before I can finish the story Craig responds with a comment to the effect of they are not going to do me much good sitting in their boxes. I always enjoy reading Craig's posts, but after hearing that comment I knew I was really going to like Craig. He must of figured he was dealing with a real yayhoo when I asked about opening the boxes, but it didn't phase him a bit. I then told him that Scott had told me to be sure and carefully note how they are packed and I just wanted to make sure there wasn't anything special I needed to be aware of and he said "nope, just open them up and start taking stuff out until you get to the amp." So I suggest I call him back when I had things unpacked and ready to go, and he says lets go ahead and take a look and make sure everything is all there. So while I go ahead and get the boxes in my media room and start to open them he tells me all about how he does the wood on them, where he gets the trannys, etc., and you can immediately tell he has a lot of pride in his creation, as he well should. So I get em both opened up and we have a slight scare that we may not have one each of the ECC 82's and 83's. Turns out both 82's were with one amp and both 83's were with the other, whew. He then asks if the screwdriver is in there, says we will need to have that to adjust the bias if necessary. I think to myself, this guy includes a screwdriver to adjust the bias, dang! There is no screwdriver, but I tell him that I have plenty of jewelers screwdrivers that will do the trick. He asks about my VOM that we will need to adjust the bias, that is a whole nother story I will save for later. Keep in mind I bought these amps from Scott, Craig did not make a dime on this deal (yet) and he is taking me through the whole thing. SIDENOTE: Scott, where is my screwdriver? I figure you kept it as a memento of your brief but pleasurable experience with these amps and counted on no one noticing that it was missing since who would ever figure that an amp maker is going to include one. Well you figured wrong my cheeseheaded friend. Or maybe Gary took it when he was checking out your amps because he has the same amps and he knew it was something he might lose. In any event, whoever has MY screwdriver, forget it, keep it as a small token of my appreciation for reccomending/selling these amps to me. BACK TO OUR HERO: After the amps are out Craig gives me the exact tube placement. I look at the power cords coming out of them, nice but not very substantial and I half tounge in cheek ask him, your not going to tell me that you reccomend me upgrading these power cords with $200 or more mods are ya? He says, "see that black button on the back of the amp" and I ask him if he means the fuse holder (he is probably still thinking "yahoo" because of the box opening issue) and he says "yeah pull that out. See that little wire in there, all of the power to that amp goes through that little bitty wire, before he can finish I tell him I know what he is going to tell me, my dad (an EE who worked for Ampex in the late 50's and 60's, and who turns 75 today) told me the same thing when I told him I thought about getting power cord upgrades. I really knew I liked Craig at that point. I tell him that I will get everything hooked up and will call him. He asks what preamp I will be hooking it up to and I tell him probably my Granite or my MX110 but my MX was a little noisy in the left channel. I tell him I may not have have the time to troubleshoot it myself and I may want to send it to him to look at. Another long story short, he trouble shoots my MX-110 over the phone and isolates it to the 6U8 3rd stage tube. (I was trying to think up ways to get this guy some money and he won't have anything to do with it). So, that was the first hour with Craig. I get everything hooked up, using my "newly refurbished" MX110, and call him back after about 20 minutes. I tell him where each tube has been placed to confirm we are on the same page, where the ultralinear toggle switchs were placed and he then takes me step by step on how to bias the amps. I have always had Mac Tube amps which Craig explains to me are auto-bias by design and not to worry about having to manually bias these amps, that it was a snap because of his design. He then has me power on the amps, which I do. Nothing. Opps, operator error, forgot to turn on surge protector. Check the bias with Craig's assistance, and he give me clearance for take off. First he says, can you hear any hum and I tell him no. "Go right up to the speaker and put your ear next to the tweeter" he says. "Can you hear the hum,? Can you hear the hum? There is supposed to be some hum." I tell him, "YEAH there's some hum" and try to sound excited I heard some hum. There wasn't any hum, but who was I to argue with this guy if he didn't want to believe that his amps were dead *** [industry term] quiet? He says have fun, and to call him tomorrow and let him know what I think. Two hours on the phone, step by step, and he still wants an update. What a guy! So I hang up, grab a great original 7.5 IPS R2R tape of Byrds Sweethearts of the Rodeo, figure a little violin (fiddle to some), banjo, steel guitar will test the hign end. I am about 5 mins in to the tape and my wife walks by the room and stops and says "are you o.k." I ask why and she says she has never seen that expression on me before, I told her "thats an expression of utter amazement." She smiles that smile like I don't get it, but as long as you are happy. . . . I then get some of my "reference" stuff, a 15 IPS original two track master tape (Jazz) and a 30 IPS original two track master tape. Since then I have played jazz, rock, some classical, played it loud and played it soft, and everything in between. As for my thoughts, you are not going to hear about soundstage, tranxparency, coloration, or lack thereof from me, I don't understand what half that crap means anyway. In the spirt of Craig's simple and direct approach with me on the phone, let me say this. I got off the phone with Criag at about 10:30 my time, it is now almost 6 a.m. While I am by no means an expert, expecially compared to many of the folks who comment on here, I have had my fair share of tube stuff, but mostly McIntosh, including MC-30's, MC-275, etc. I was figuring on a unique and clean sound that has brought great enjoyement to many on this forum, in line with Mac, AR or CJ. I way underestimated them, thinking the previous postive comments were self fullfilling assurement they had made a good purchase, or a join the crowd mentality, and that they surely must sound good, but it's all relative. Must say that that I am truly amazed. Great amps, not for the price, but at any price. Craig, I don't know if my thanks over the phone came through as heart felt and sincere. Honestly, I was dying to let those baby's rip. However, let me say again, publicly, I appreciate all of the time you spent with me to insure that the amps had arrived in good shape and there was no potential gross bias misadjustments. You have an incredible product and you give me a lot of encouragment about the future of "high end" audio, whatever that may be. I don't know if you read Stereophile or TAS, but both publications have given a lot of print lately to the trouble high-end audio is going through, trying to figure out how to fix it, etc. People like you are the fix, a great product at a fair price and someone willing to stand behind them. I didn't buy these amps from you, you made nothing, yet you wanted to make sure that someone who had your amps was in a position to enjoy them to their fullest. I thank you again for your time. If you ever have a potential buyer in the Central Texas area who makes an inquiry about them please do not hesitate to give them my name and number to arrange to come over and look/listen to them in person. It would be an honor to do so. Well I gotta go, time to flip the Allan Parson's l.p. I havd playing right now. Travis P.S. Sorry about the length, needless to say, I am excited.

I am good for those dates, and if we want to do it in Austin I can host. Travis

Only if you bring your dog to meet my dog.[]

Julia Child served them in STORE BOUGHT hotdog buns. It's DECADENT for crying out loud--the meat from an ENTIRE lobster chopped up with some mayo and plopped into a hotdog bun. I mean, DAMN! My point entirely! Some things you just have to try. Travis

Me, I don't know thats why I asked. It's one of those regional things that people say, "oh when you are there you gotta go to [insert name of local resturant/dive that has become an institution] and have a [insert name of local cusine that you have to try]. For example, boudin, fried/injected turkey in So. La, Philly Cheese Steak in the city of brotherly love, Chicago style hotdog, chippino in North Beach of San Francisco, Stone Crab at Joes in Fla., etc., etc. Everytime I have undertaken that advice I have been very glad I did, usually coming away with the impression that is one of the best things I have ever eaten. In some cases flying back there to get some more, or having it flown in to where I am. I have always heard that you have to get a lobster roll when in Maine and I was just trying to see what the word was on who had the best one. In fact, last weeks travel section of the Sunday paper talked about them some, so I was going to use our nice little forum here to get the straight poop, er dope on the subject. Travis

I returned from court about 4:30 p.m., and after a long hard day of trying to keep the innocent and oppressed out of jail, I walked into the office and much to my delight there were two big brown boxes waiting for me!. No gouges, dents, or gaping holes anywhere so they appear to have arrived in beautiful shape. So they will go home with me tonight, get unpacked and put in place, and then we will give them a little spin. Christmas the week before St. Patrick's day, you gotta love it. Travis

RIght now I will be hooking them up to a Mac MX110. I am going to give them a spin with that and then I am looking a couple of things, possible the BBX, a Granite or a Rose. We are going to be up on the Coast of Maine, those areas you mentioned. Travis

I'm in, let me know when and where. Also, I could possibly host (I'm is West Austin). Travis

Just a suggestion, but you may want to add a couple of choices: "Don't own heritage" and "Own Heritage, but not original owner." That way you can compare how many are on the forums who saw your post but don't fit in the catagory, and most importantly, how many non-original owners there are compared to original owners. I have second hand LS's and Heresay, original owner of KG-4's. I was too poor to get them in the 70's, and the internet has opened up a great second hand market. Travis

Gary, My God, I go away for a couple of days to enjoy Van Morrison in concert and looked what you caused. I dare you to post a Tube vs. SS post or better yet, post a review how you just bought some $2000 speaker cables and now the BC Tweeters sound better then the K77 and you have changed your mind again[][] Travis

Craig, Thank you so much on that gracious offer. Says a lot about you and your amps that you are willing to stand behind them even if you did not profit from the sale. I sure do appreciate it and will for sure be giving you a call at some point. Travis

Scott, I am so grateful that you shipped them yesterday, but hopefully you are a typical Yankee and don't know the difference between Houston and Austin. <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Austin, where I live, is the Capital of Texas, live music capitol of the world, home of Willie Nelson, Lance Armstrong, and formerly Cheryl Crow. Houston is a three hour drive to the Southeast, its the largest city in the south, one of the largest ports, they have the Astrodome, Astros, which no longer play in the Astrodome, an NFL team I have never heard of, they dont play in the dome either, and Mission Control (Houston we have a problem). <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> So if you sent those speakers to Houston give me the address so I can go camp out on that persons lawn while I wait for the USPS/UPS/FedEx/DHL driver to arrive and I can grab my VRDs and then drive back to Austin. Since you outed yourself, who makes the best lobster roll in Maine? Travis

Gotta love those SECRETS!

I heard so many good comments about Craig's VRD's I went and bought me an almost unused pair from a forum member and he says they will arrive about this Friday. I forgot to ask said forum member if he had any objection to me using his name, so all I can say is he hangs with Gary once in awhile in M.D., coaches tennis (when I grow up and retire I want that job, or women's swim coach). I am hoping they do arrive this Friday so I can get them home and unpacked and start doing some reviewing on my own. Stay tunned. Travis P.S. OT: Who makes the best lobster roll in Maine?

Chris, I am a little over an hour away? What do you need? Travis

Born, What concert(s) were those photos from? Travis

I take it you are considering seeing Galen here in San Antonio? Have you been to Ne Plus Ultra in Austin? http://www.neplusultrainc.com Yes, indeed, Galen has always done right by me, I like to do business with him whenever possible. I am going to make a trip to Ne Plus, I have been afraid to go in there, might lead to going off the deep end in Audio and then divorce. I am going to wear blinders when I go in and tell him that I only want to see the TT. However, he does have the Avantgarde set up, which scares me the most. $20K horn speakers that sound just incredible, I believe 103db efficiency, Have to stay away from those for sure. Travis

Max, Just saw your post, incredible, and thank you very much. Not too long at all, was precisely was what I was looking for. Going to do some more reseach on it and see, but this looks like the way to go for me. The Nottingham, like your TT, can also be done in a multiple arm setup, which is really the way I want to go. One for arm for stereo and one for mono. But with the clear audio I could go one linear, and one with one of the longer tone arms you mentioned. It would seem like I need to do some reseach, get with my dealer(s) to see this thing do a demo. I am for sure going to have to go see the dealer in Austin because I am not going to have the skills to do what you have done with the LT, so I will have to make him do it. Thanks again!!! Travis

Max, Thanks for the info.. Is there much of a difference between the Tangent and TQ-1 linear tonearms other then the $1,250 price difference? What does the tonearm do when it hits the deadwax at the end, does it automaticaly lift or is it strictly manual? Is there much to moving the tonearm into place after the record is on the platter, in other words does it simply pivot into place. Sorry about the questions, unfortunately, we don't have a dealer here in Austin and I am going to need to travel an hour South or 3 hours North to demo one. Travis

Looks Sweeeeeeet! Where did you get the carpet, what brand? Travis

Indy, Where are the photos, the one in your profile has red X. I am dying to see this thing. Travis

Wow, That really brings back some memories. I saw them on their Animals Tour at the Oakland Collisuem. I was in the front row, there were 8 of us, we were not dead center though, we were at the left end of the stage (Stage Right), which put us dead center in front of Gilmore. I was 17 and was so wasted at that concert. I remember it was the best concert I have ever been to, but I can't really remember anything specific about the concert at all. I do remember that Giant inflatable pig floating down from the back of the with bright red lights for eyes. I remember there were several other inflateables that they used during that concert, but can't remember what they were. I remember the giant circular screen behind the band, I remember they played Money as the first song of their 5 song encore, and all the money flashing by on that screne. I remember seeing that giant am/fm radio set up on it's own stand with a mike right in front of it. The start of that song Roger Waters was tuning live to local SF/Bay Area stations, he hit a great station playing a great song, wish I could remember that song. That was quite a trip. I took about 6 rolls of film of that concert with Ektrachrome 400 slide film pushed to 1600. I let my Swim coach borrow them to make prints and never saw them again. I have to track his *** down and get those slides, there were some great shots in there. Travis

RIP Brother, a true classic. His movies were sooooooooo good. Travis