Allan Songer

Jonathon Richman was a fixture in the Bay Area when I lived there from about '72 through '84. I still think "Roadrunner" from the Modern Lovers LP is one of the great rock tunes of all time. By the time I saw him perform he was doing songs like "Government Center," still pretty cool buy about a million miles from the Modern Lovers stuff. I still think the Talking Heads must have listened to The Modern Lovers LP about nine billion times before they recorded their first record! And I mean that in a GOOD way! I have a great Johnny Thunders story. In 1982 I was living in that loft in S.F. I mentioned earlier. My roommate's sister was a huge Johnny Thunders fan/groupie and she dragged his sorry *** to our place where he stayed for about a week while gigging in the Bay Area. It was just Thunders, not the rest of the band. The guy was the biggest junkie I have ever seen. He couldn't even stand up most of the time and was on heroin 24-7. When it came time for him to play he'd have someone shoot him with speed about 20 minutes before going on and he'd do the show--and the shows were GOOD (for punk, that is!). I remember asking him how old he was and he said "27." He looked about 50. I walked in on him shooting up in our bathroom twice and it really made my skin crawl. You don't know how glad I was to see him go. And yet he wrote the best punk-rock love song of all time: "You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory." I wonder how he found the time or energy? Thanks for bringing back those memories!

I actually like The New York Dolls and Television and Lou Reed. I saw Television live in about 1977 or so. They were the LOUDEST band I have ever heard and I have seen some pretty loud bands! (Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Who, Johnny Thunders, etc.) Plus, how can you not like someone named "Richard Hell" anyway? One thing all these records have in common is that THEY SUCK sonically! Terrible recordings and the VOTs were WASTED on this music. I would love to heard them play some old deep-groove Blue Notes and Contemporarys in room smaller than 40x60 with concrete walls and floors! It's my wife's website for her cigar store, but I've buried my "100 best jazz LPs" under the "Bachelor Pad" section! http://www.rjcigars.com/Mens%20Almanac/BachelorPad/bachelor_pad.htm

I lived in a loft in San Francisco in the early 1980's with a guy who had FOUR VOT A-7s hooked up in one system. It wasn't quad, just two sets of speakers in stereo going at once. We had them hooked up to a Fisher 500C and a very early SOTA turntable (both of these were mine, the speakers were his). All I remember is that these played REALLLLLLY loud! His taste in music ran to New York Dolls and and Velvet Underground and Television and he played them at ear-splitting levels. I remember playing Ornette Coleman's "Dancing in Your Head" so loud I thought my ears would bleed. I'd love to hear them again some day in a better room with better music.

Of course you'll need one mono-block to go with this unit--don't see any Fisher 40's on ebay right now, but they come up all the time. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1361917362

Check this out: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2119367642 I had one of these about 20 years ago. I used it at work with a single Bozak and it sounded GREAT. It has both phono and line-level mono inputs. I dunno what shape this one is in, but if you can score it for fifty bucks, what do you have to lose?

WRONG LINK! http://cgi.audioasylum.com/systems/604.html

Oh, and here is a link to my system: http://cgi.audioasylum.com/scripts/system.pl

If there were ever a more "in your face" speaker than the Klipsch Cornwall I have yet to hear it. That's what I LOVE about them!! They are ALIVE and trasmit energy and FEELING like no other speaker I have ever lived with. The only other speakers that come close for me are Tannoy dual-concentrics, which I find even BETTER at blasting rock or electric blues. But for jazz and classical, the Cornwall is the best I've owned. Are there speakers out there that I'd like better? Maybe. Do I care to spend the time and money trying to find them? No. A friend of mine has a rig that must have set him back $50,000. Big Krell amps. Huge, ugly-*** Von Schweikert VR-7 speakers that look like robots, a Linn CD player that probably cost as much as a nice Toyota. It's an amazing sounding system, but I HATE it because it's COLD and austere. I call it the "Third Reich Hi-Fi" and it drives him nuts! He's all about listening to SOUNDS, not MUSIC. I know his system is of "higher fidelity" than mine, but mine reproduces music! By the way, my office is about 4 blocks from Classic Records. They do a pretty nice job. The new "mono deep-groove" Blue Notes are outstanding--the best reissues I've ever heard. Go listen to some records and chill.

Forgot the link!! http://www.clarisonus.com/Archives/TubeTheory/BeamPower.pdf

Here, here! Let's all praise the seemless synergy between Kinkless Tetrodes and horns!!!

I don't listen much to that there "country" music, but I saw Jimmie Dale Gilmore once in concert and was really taken by his lyrical wit. My favorite song, which I still remember about 5 years later was called "My mind has a mind of it's own." I don't know if he wrote it, but it was a great tune. And I am SOOOO glad your amps are working!!!!

This can't be about speaker wire or connectors or interconnects. THE TUBES AREN'T GETTING HOT. That means NO POWER. Has to be a switch or a fuse, right? This should be very easy to trouble-shoot.

What's a "polo" shirt?

I've owned my Cornwalls for a long, long time and they have been in and out (usually in) of my main system a bunch of times. Once I replaced them with Quad 57s for about THREE YEARS. What the hell was I thinking?!?!? Anyway, a few years back I scored a pair of mid 70's Belle Klipsch from a frat-house at USC here in SoCal for just about nothing ($300). I really thought they were going to replace the Cornwalls. The Belles were rough, oiled walnut boxes and I spent about 100 hours making them beautiful before I even hooked them up! When I finally did put them in my system I was FLOORED by the total lack of bottom end when compared with the Cornwall. I too thought the woofers mush have been ****ed up in some way, but after checking everything out I realized that the speakers were fine, but that I didn't like them very much. Even the old Quads had WAY more bottom end!! After living with and fooling around with the Belles for about a month I sold them and put the Cornwalls back where they belonged and got down on my knees and begged forgiveness for my infidelity.

40 lashes for not liking John Coltrane!!! Actually, I will forgive anyone who doesn't like the output from the last couple of years of Coltrane's life, but this mid to late 50's stuff is both mind-blowing and accessible! Plus Red Garland is a piano god. Give it a listen!

And the curtains are made from antique silk Indian saris. They really glow when the morning sun hits them--very peaceful on a Sunday morning with a cup of Peet's coffee, the New York times and Helen Merrill playing softly in the background.

Ok guys, here's the skinny on my living room-- The "thing" sitting on top of the cocktail cabinet between the Cornwalls is one of the great lighting desgins of the 20th C. http://www.modernliving.com/Pages/taccia.html The "Beach Towel" is an antique Tibetan "Tiger Rug." It is sitting on a 12' x 20' 1920's Chinese "Nicholls Rug." http://www.tiger-tiger.com/catalog/rugs/rugs.html http://www.cyberrug.com/chineseroom.htm The Chaise is Le Corbusier http://www.gazette-drouot.com/gazette/cotes/culte-corbusier.html The ottomans are by Mies http://www.knoll.com/products/product.jsp?prod_id=162 Ah, to HELL with it! Cheers, Allan

I have two solutions that won't cost very much and will really help the sound of your hi-fi.

I second the "get a good preamp" reccomendation. Never heard a passive that worked for me . . . A better analog rig would help too. And you can do it for not a lot of money, BELIEVE me. And I don't mean buying that Music Hall crap, either. My humble rig cost MUCH less than most of that new crap and sounds like magic. (see pic) But this looks like a pretty killer hi-fi to me. Are you sure you're not imposing a general malaise onto your system? I've been there . . . .

I have a real sick habit of watching Rap videos on MTV2 at least once a week. This is a true American art form, but I'll leave THAT alone for now. Anyway, you want fashion and style? Check out those Rap videos. Burberry jump suits with hoods are FLY! Cheers!

Sort of like my place?

This is a classic example of going WAY overboard restoring something of limited value. I had a freind dump $15,000 into a Studebaker Lark that was worth $7,500 when it was completed. Sure, it was PERFECT, but so what? Same goes for these amps. I'm sure "The Fisher Doctor" charged him at least $700 per amp to "restore" them and he probably paid $800 for the pair to begin with. Sad part is these amps probably didn't need near the level of work that "The Fisher Doctor" provided. I think he might get a grand or twelve hundred bucks, but if anyone pays more than that they're thinking with something other than their brain.

Enjoy! I have a 500C that I've owned for about 25 years that still powers my "third" (ahem, garage) system and I love it. Gets great FM reception and delivers everything a nice vintage tube amp should. These receivers are dirt cheap even in todays crazy ebay market for how much they offer.

Another reason to hate BOSE: They ripped off Saarinen for the base of the 901! "Mid Century" furniture has really become mainstream "cool" again after a few years of bubbling just under the surface. I wonder if it had anything to do with a certain "audiophile" equipment reviewer who sat his *** in a Paulin Ribbon Chair when listening to all that mega-expensive hi-fi gear? Nah

This will help: http://www.hermanmiller.com/CDA/SSA/Designer/0,,a1-c80-b12,00.html And here's another one: http://store.doverpublications.com/0486216012.html And finally: http://www.tribu-design.com/en/manufacturers/k/knoll.html THERE WILL BE A QUIZ TOMORROW MORNING!!!!