Allan Songer

By the way, Craig--I have now reached the "chomping at the bit" stage!!! Looks like mine will be here within a month! THANKS!

I just picked up this LP12 a couple of weeks ago--at $1100 locally (no ebay, no Audiogon), I just couldn't pass it up. I had an LP12 through most of the 80's and also have a Linn Axis that I bought new in about 1990 that I used in a second system for a few years. I am selling the Axis.

I ordered one for my office system. It will be mated to a Conrad-Johnson PV10B preamp, Conrad Johnson DV-2b tube CD player, a Linn LP12 (w/ Lingo, Trampolin, Ittok/Adikt) and a pair of Linn Tukan speakers. I built the mahogany base (with a 20-coat hand rubbed piano finish) here and sent it off to Craig a couple of weeks ago--he is building mine to run with 350B outputs and 5U4 rectifiers.

I get out to hear live music about 50 times a year--this Saturday I'll be listening to RIckey Woodard with John Heard, Roy McCurdy and Jon Mayer out at Charlie O's. Monday night I caught Danny Grissett at Hotel Angeleno and last week I went to hear Russell Malone at The Jazz Bakery.

Peanut butter and jelly!? More like crab bombs and Corton Charlemagne! This is a smokin' deal for someone wanting to get into vinyl.

The model number of my JS transformers is 6631--hope that helps!! The ratio is 20:1

I've run the 350B for HUNDREDS of hours in my MC30s with ZERO problems. Who told you that the 350B would stress the McIntosh transformers? I would be interested to hear who told you this and if they have lots of experience with McIntosh tube amps. In my experience the 350B is a DIRECT replacement for the 6L6GC in just about ANY amp that was designed to run 6L6GC. http://www.westernelectric.com/spec_sheets/350B.pdf http://www.guitaramplifierblueprinting.com/Tube/KT66.pdf Personally I wouldn't worry too much about the 1.3 vs the 1.6 heater current specs on the two tubes when used in the MC30. Maybe Craig should weigh in here . . .

Told you so!! LOL!! I wish I still had the extra quads I sold in the last few years so that I could send you a quad. I had TWENTY FOUR of these that I bought from a Aussie military surplus dealer back in the mid-90's and now I only have eight tubes left and I just can't part with any more of them. I sold them for $75 per tube NOS--what a DUMMY! You're going to have to pop about $150 to $200 per tube for them NOS today. By the way, if you like the GEC KT-66 just wait until you hear the WE 350B in your MC30s!!!! They might not have the same bottom end extension as the KT-66, but they provide and even MORE lifelike and glorious midrange!! You can get used WE350B one at a time on ebay for about the same price as NOS KT-66--around $200 per tube. One nice thing is that you might well NEVER wear any of these out in an lifetime of MC-30 operation!!!

I had that arm on a Linn LP12 back in the early 80's. Or maybe it was on the SOTA--anyway, it's a nice arm! It's not a TERRIBLE match with the 103--certainly not the nightmare the 3009 Series III would be!! I'd give it a shot--you can ALWAYS sell the 103 for nearly what you paid for it on Audiogon.

NICE! http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=007&sspagename=STRK%3AMEBI%3AIT&viewitem=&item=170085315159&rd=1&rd=1

http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?anlgtabl&1178120193

Billy's son Lorca is also a VERY fine drummer working here in Los Angeles. Ask Gary and Scott about Lorca--they heard him at Charlie O's back in January. Billy is active in New York--you see him playing SOMEWHERE in New York a few times a month. The first time I heard him live was with Stan Getz back in the late 70s.. But he is probably most famous for his time with Miles Davis in the early 70's. If you're in New York tonight, check this out: Ray Drummond's Excursion · Billy Hart (drums) · Craig Handy (saxophone) · Ray Drummond (bass) · Stephen Scott (piano) Cover: $25 Sets start at 8:00pm, 10:00pm and 11:30pm unless otherwise noted. http://www.smokejazz.com/Schedule.html

Idler TT? This is a really REALLY cheap belt drive TT. Not bad for $50 if you want to hook up a little rig, but Max is right, it's crap.

The MacKit MC-30 is INDENTICAL to the MC-30 of the same vintage. They were offered only for a short time and are pretty rare.

I can play piano, organ, saxophone and clarinet. All VERY poorly.

Here you go: http://www.upscaleaudio.com/Nordost-Valhalla_p_70-355.html

What you fell in love with 30 years ago is the classic Klipsch sound--the Reference speakers are whole other animal. I had some RB-3 speakers for a short while and while they were nice enough I went back to he little British monitors I really love. I would have LOVED Heresy IIIs--but they're too darn big for my office space! If you have the scratch, buy a new pair of Heresys. You won't regret it!!

I have Marantz 10 (pre-10B) that someone really fouled up trying to fix the aliggnment years ago--long before I bought it. I had Zuccaro look at it about 10 years ago and he said "forget it" and so it sits looking all pretty and useless. And Mike knows these things COLD--he's the best tuner guy on the west coast. My advice? If it works well, just ENJOY it. If it doesn't, send it to someone who REALLY knows these beasts--Mike and Richard and certainly on that short list.

Not sure what you think "a lot of money" is, but this would work well: http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?powrcond&1176701611 I would offer the seller $300, as this is what the unit is worth on the used market.

What a rat's nest.

I'm buying one of Craig's new stereo amps for my office system. He's setting it up with VA 350Bs--can't wait to hear them!!!

I've rolled just about every 6L6 variant you can imagine in my MC30s (and 240s in the past) and here is where I ended up: The WE 350B brings an amazing lifelike quality to an already amazing midrange in the MC30 without sacrificing anything in the bass department. The GEC KT-66 has the firmest, tighest bass, but the WE 350B bass is close. And in the midrange NOTHING comes close to the 350B.

Classiks in the used market seem to sell for about $900-$1100. Just keep checking on Audiogon and one will turn up soon. I think that the Classik would be FANTASTIC with a set of Heresy IIIs. I have only heard the Classik with Linn Tukan speakers, but I am sure you'd be pleased . . .

I have owned quite a bit of Linn gear over the years--a couple of turntables (LP12 and Axis), a subwoofer (Sizmik), a tuner (Pekin), and two pairs of speakers (Kan and Tukan). Linn gear is BEAUTIFULLY made, sounds great and has excellent resale value. That said, for $2300 in the used maket you can get a lot more bang for your buck. http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?preatran&1176335449'>

This is the 1970's TRIP reissue of the Emarcy original. Cheap! It sounds GREAT! http://cgi.ebay.com/HELEN-MERRILL-Featuring-Clifford-Brown-1954-Trip-5526_W0QQitemZ160085667099QQihZ006QQcategoryZ306QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem Or, if you prefer an original pressing: http://cgi.ebay.com/HELEN-MERRILL-1955-Original-Mono-EmArcy-36006-Lp_W0QQitemZ180085416939QQihZ008QQcategoryZ306QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem