Allan Songer

Now here is a pair of vintage amps I would LOVE to get my hands on!! The build quality of these is legendary and everything I've read and heard about them makes me drool. Never seen or heard a pair in person. Any of you guys have ANY experience with these? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1377056853

I'll second the MX-110 suggestion. I had one of these in an office system for several years and really liked it. I used it for FM mostly (a really killer tuner--every bit as good as the MR-67 MAC), but late in my ownership I spun CDs through it as well. I had it hooked up to an MC225 with Tannoy 10" Monitor Reds in "bookshelf" cabinets. If you go looking, look for the "later" syle ("Z" code) with panloc mounting. These are supposed to be the best ones. By the way, Steve Hoffman of DCC fame had one of these in his main system for about 15 years! I think you should be able to get a nice MX-110 for $500 or even less.

And what about Larry Young and Billy Gardner? They should have been on the list too--especially Garnder, his playing on those mid-60's George Braith LPs is still astonishing. By the way, any one else out there love soul-jazz organ? Or am I alone in Klipsh-land on this one?

How, dear Lord, could I have left out Freddie Roach in the list of soul-jazz organists? Mo' Greens Please, indeed! (And I DID leave Richard "Groove" Holmes out on purpose in case anyone noticed).

I think anyone with "vintage" Klispsh would notice a difference (maybe not HUGE, but . . . ) by sh*t-canning the 25 or 40 year old stock lampcord and using some high quality wire. I used the DH labs hookup wire which is cheap. I'm sure any decent quality "new" wire would be an improvement.

I used to think ALL subs were awful (including those from Klipsch) --I tried many over the years and every one of them screwed up the music. But then a friend of mine who is a Linn dealer gave me a Linn "Sizmik" subwoofer to try about 6-8 months ago and it's STILL in my system. Yep, I bought it! Even with the "freind of the owner" discount it set me back about $1200 or so, but it did things that no other sub was able to do. I rarely admit to it, but I listen to quite a lot of 1950's and 60's organ-driven "soul jazz" (John Patton, Babyface Willette, Lonnie Smith, John Earland, Jimmy Smith, etc.) and the thumping organ-bass absoultely SNAPS into place with the Linn without coloring or slowing down the music in ANY noticeable way. I don't think I need the sub for most of the music I listen to, but the Linn doesn't HURT any of it either. All in all, the Sizmik an excellent (if pricey) addition to the Cornwalls. I can reccomend this product without any reservations.

The "budget" jazz labels can be VERY frustrating indeed. One particlar family of labels that drives me crazy is the Jazz West/Intro/Score group. You'll find some really seminal West Coast jazz here--Art Pepper's "The Return of Art Pepper" and "Modern Art," the Red Norvo/Art Pepper/Joe Morello "Collections," a couple of GREAT Jack Sheldon LPs, the Lester Young's "Aladin" recordings, and what might be the "best" of the group, Paul Chambers' "Jazz Delegation from the East" with Coltrane, etc. I think all of these were pressed in quantaties of less than 1000 LPs judging by the prices they command (HUNDREDS of dollars these days). I have all of these LPs and all are in VG+ or better condition and all of them are VERY noisy. I also have Japanese reissues of most of them and they are QUIET and sound GREAT. You also mentioned the "Tampa" label--for me these are of MUCH better quality. I have several of these--Marty Paich, Art Pepper, Jimmy Rowles (w/ Harold Land--a reall killer with the insane title "Jazz for People who Hate Jazz" -- there's a guy with a dunce cap and a half naked girl on the cover) and all of them sound really good to me.

My experience is pretty much limited to jazz, but here goes: The best pressings ever are USA pressings from SOME labels from about 1954 through 1965. In my experience the best pressings ever were from Contemporary Records, a small independant jazz label in Los Angeles. The owner, Les Koenig, was a maniac about quality and actually offered his mastering services to big labels when they wanted something done "right." And his sound engineer, Roy Dunan was the best ever--I rank him above them all, including Rudy Van Gelder. I treasure the 250 or so of Contemporary's offerings that are in my collection and I buy ones I don't have whenever I see them. The other label that really cared about quality was Blue Note, up until Alfred Lion sold out to Liberty. Early deep-groove Blue Notes are sonic wonders and play beautifully even when the appear thrashed much of the time! I have about 300 original Blue Notes in my collection and I'd buy all of them if I had the money, but most of the ones I don't have a really rare and sell for hundreds of dollars each these days! I kick myself for passing up many of these because I wasn't "into" some of the artists back in the 70's when they were cheap. Oh well . . . . The other major independant jazz labels of the era were more hit-and-miss. Pacific Jazz did a pretty good job, Prestige was all over the map, and Emarcys were generally terrible much of the time. Norgran/Verve/Clef were also very inconsistant, some are awesome and others terrible. I think the 1970's and 1980's Japanese pressings of all of these lables tend to be more often that not BETTER than the originals. And they are still very affordable.

In the late 80's I bought out the inventory of a long-closed TV/Radio repair shop. There were about 1000 NOS tubes and 500 or so used "tersted" tubes as well. I paid $200 for the lot and most were was odd-ball TV "dumpster" tubes, but I was able to score some 12BH7, 12AX7, 12AU7, 12AT7, 12AX7, 12DW7, etc. Most of the stuff was 1960's RCA and GE stuff--not the most desireable, but still NOS. BUT! In this stash of obscure tubes there were six NOS Tung-Sol 6550s and ten or twelve RCA 6L6GC blackplates. I think there were a couple of 7591s and some 6BQ5 as well. I ended up selling almost all of these tubes to guitar-amp friends of mine and made about $300 after all was said and done. I wish I had held on to some of them.

Is the hum louder when the tonearm/cartridge is on the indermost grooves or run-out area? Remind me again what cartridge/table you are using.

What a shame. THe only audio mag worth reading on a regular basis will be no more after the next issue (which is in the mail). Damn! I need a bunny.

And yes, Nordost will terminate with gold plated "mini-spades" that will work with vintage gear.

I sure hate to see the "wire" can-of-worms open up again, but I have been VERY pleased with Nordost Blue Heaven speaker wire. It is very flexible and has added an element I would describe as "clarity" to my system since I intsalled it a few months back. I may have indeed "brightened" up the sound, but for the better. I think it has added some needed clarity to the warmth of vinyl/tubes/horns that is beneficial. Just my 2 cents.

Just so everyone knows, the "original" muscle car is making a comeback in 2004. Chrysler is going to make the new "300N" a HEMI-powered, REAR-WHEEL-DRIVE rocket! I will buy one. The return of the HEMI!! (Actully, the HEMI will make it's official comeback in 2003 1-TON RAM trucks). I'm not sure if these will be 426 cubic inches, but who cares!?!?!? A MOPAR HEMI BACK ON THE STREETS!!!! The 300N will have a Mercedes 5-speed automatic and a Mercedes "S-Class" rear end. I guess this will be the first vehicle that really melds the two divisions of Daimler-Chrysler. To HELL with the Maybach, give me my HEMI!!!

My wife drives a 1955 Studebaker 1/2 ton pickup-- All original, frame up restoration but now has about 35,000 miles on. Still looks and drives as new. It's got a 224 cu in. V-8, a Borg-Warner T-85 overdrive and a Dana 44 3:73 rear end. My wife is an engineer (or was) and loves PURELY mechanical vehicles. No power anything, rubber floors, no radio, no A/C (does have a heater), etc. It's got a hand-rubber powder-blue laquer finish on it and draws "thumbs up" wherever she and her bull-terrier go! We also have a 1957 Chrysler 300, a 1952 MG-TD and a 1964 Sutebaker Station Wagon once owned by Andy Granatelli, one of only nine factory "Avanti Powered" supercharged wagons. It's currently undergoing a frame-up that will set me back about $25K. When it's done I'll probably put in on permanant loan at the Studebaker National Museum in South Bend, Indiana. I have also owned two Lotus Elans, one Lotus-Cortina, one Lotus 7, one Lotus 51 (Formula Ford), an Austin Healy 3000, a 1957 Chrysler Imperial, a 1966 Chevy Nova Super Sport, a 1962 Ferrari 250GT, a 1967 Aston Martin DB6, a 1969 Dodge Super Bee with a Hemi, a 1970 'Cuda with a 440 and a 1959 Chevy Impala with a 348.

I'm getting kind of queasy reading this thread. I suggest you sell them to Jobman for the price you scored them for--that is, of course, if you don't want to be thought of by all us as a real A-HOLE! What a dick!

There is another KILLER 12AX7 for hifi preamp use, and they don't have a huge following-- but I have always found them to be smooth, warm and liquid in my vintage gear-- the French made MAZDA. I've seen two versions--an early long-plate that looks like the early Amperex/Phillips and a later (1960's) grey-plate. Both are awsome and I've seen them go on ebay NOS for as little as 20-25 dollars each. But the don't appear there very often, and almost always from European vendors. Worth looking for, though.

There is only ONE real ECC803S, and that's the Telefunken ECC803S. This is the most rugged 12AX7 ever made--supposedly good for well over 100,000 hours. I don't think they wear out EVER, actually. I've heard of pulls from lab equipment in constant use since the 60's that test as new. I have one of these NOS along with a pair of ECC802S (12AU7) that I've had for many years. Never used it and probably never will. They are supposed to be good hi-fi tubes as well, but I guess I'll never know unless I luck into a few! These sell for at least $200 each these days--the only 12AX7 that is sells for as much is the Genelex B709, which is just a super-select Mullard with super-fancy packaging--almost all hype. But the Tele ECC803S is the real deal--the best of the best of the best.

Here's a really rare piece of Scott equipment. I've only seen and heard one of these, many many years ago I remember that it was a really sweet amp--it might be the only EL34 amp Scott made, I'm not really sure . . Anyway, here's the link: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1370897017

The Mullard "box plate" CV4004 ROMPS in the 299 phono stage--and you can pick them up NOS for far less than Telefunken smooth-plates. I have a lifetime supply that I picked up from a guy in Australia about 6-7 years ago-- I think I paid $15 ea for 50 of them. They sell for about $40 ea now I think, maybe a little more or less depending on where you find them. I use my Telefunken smooth plates for drivers in my amps now and box-plate Mullards in ALL of my preamps.

The Belle Klipsch was named for PWK's first wife.

My wife is an interesting character--she's got a BS in EE and an MS in ME from UC Berkeley and a spent what she calls "15 lost years" designing anti-skid braking systems and landing gear systems for McDonnell-Douglas in the 80's and 90's. She also plays piano and various reed instruments and has the most eclectic taste in music of anyone I know. Eveything from Eminem and Snoop Dogg to Mozart to Son Volt to the Clash to Wagner to Elvis Costello to Charlie Parker. She can rebuild a Carter WCFB in about an hour or drop the tranny in her '55 Studebaker truck and replace the clutch in an afternoon. And she appreciates tubes and horns--but prefers the sound of the Tannoys over Klipsch for rap and rock. She thinks I'm a stick-in-the-mud with my devotion to 50's and 60's jazz. Just to show her I'm open-minded I'm going with her to an Eminem concert later this month. Pray for me. All this from a 44 year old woman who stands 5'3" and weighs 115 lbs and who hates all things "frilly and mellow." Am I lucky or what?

Collecting LPs can be a real sickness. I often think I should thin out my collection when I see the incredible prices for some of these old jazz LPs. I did a rough estimate of the "replacement" value for insurance purposes and almost threw up when I came to realize my LPs are worth more than I paid for my first house!! Of course, I have records I bought in the 70's at used record stores in Berkeley for five bucks that are worth FIVE HUNDRED bucks today! I have some old Blue Notes in both Stereo and Mono and some in multiple copies, having "Lexington," "New York" and "Liberty" versions. I see records like "Blowin' in From Chicago" and "Candy" and "Lee-Way" and "Swing Swang Swingin'" go for six, seven, eight hundred bucks and I think I should sell!!! But I don't. I'd love to have an original Lorraine Geller Dot LP. I'd even pay maybe 2 or 3 hundred bucks for one. But since I have a 1980's Japanese reissue that sounds GREAT I don't have TOO much pain! By the way, I saw Herb Geller play in the jazz club at the Hollywood Park Casino here a couple of months ago and he blew the roof off of the place!

Check this one out. I've seen ONE of these over the years and it sold for $1200. How high do you think this one will go? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=893863842 I'll give 8:1 it ends up in Japan!

I had a chance to buy a Paragon not all that long ago and was all set to plop down THOUSANDS of dollars until I sat an listened for a while. It's a crummy system. Sounded muddy and had lousy stereo separation. Maybe it was messed up, but nothing about the way it sounded made me want to part with $3500, that's for sure! Too bad--this was always a dream of mine to own one of these monsters!