Tarheel

The afternoon began with cocktails on the patio under a perfect carolina blue sky. It was the first day of the year with just a hint of fall in the air providing welcome relief from the oppressive humidity that we are known for here in southeastern NC. Later the evening news and then dinner. Retreating to the northeast corner of the house also known as the music room, I was followed by Kate, my 12 year old Lab, who after circling three times settled on the perfect spot for a concert. Tonight there was no indicision. Sonny Rollins would open with "Without A Song-The 911 Concert" and Bruce Springsteen would close with "The Rising". I pushed the magic button on the Quicksilver preamp that commanded the two switched horn monos to come to life. Obediently the EL-34s started to glow as the tubed Jolida patiently waited its turn. I allowed a three minute warm up before I put in the first cd. After track three Sonny acknowledged the warm reponse from the audience with the following words. "Thank you ladies and gentlemen you are very kind to us tonight and we appreciate it. Ladies and gentlemen we are here tonight and we all must remember music is one of the most beautifull things in life. We must try to keep the music alive some kind of way and maybe music can help......I don't know but we have to try something these days". Sonny played his heart out for all six cuts of the cd. A pause for a refill for me and a reload for the cd player. Then it was Bruce's turn. The words from "Empty Sky" and "The Rising" were so powerfull today more than ever. "I want a kiss from your lips, I want an eye for an eye, I woke up this morning to an empty sky". A great evening with a chance to reflect with two of my favorites. Thanks Sonny and Bruce for keeping the music alive. Tarheel

I own one of those behemoths, a Pioneer SX-1280, 185 wpc, that I bought new sometime in the early/mid 70s. I have gone to tube gear so it is not used regularly now. It is in mint condition without a nick, scratch or dent. It is a very attractive reciever with the massive cooling fins, silver front plate and walnut cabinet. The Pioneer is a backbreaker to move and I am amazed that it has survived three moves with nary a scratch. Go to "Tarheels LaScallas" post a couple of pages back and look on the right speaker for a look.

Chuck, Your tape arrived today, in perfect shape, I am hoping to listen to at least part of it this evening. Travis Hope you like it. Chuck This tape is great, I am starting pass no. 2 Travis Thanks Travis, That is a fine looking deck! Tandberg I assume? I would like to hear it and the story on it. Are you the original owner? What vintage? Chuck Sorry, I went to another pc and can clearly see it is a Tandberg and a fine one at that. Chuck

Chuck, Your tape arrived today, in perfect shape, I am hoping to listen to at least part of it this evening. Travis Hope you like it. Chuck This tape is great, I am starting pass no. 2 Travis Thanks Travis, That is a fine looking deck! Tandberg I assume? I would like to hear it and the story on it. Are you the original owner? What vintage? Chuck

Okay....then stock tubes it is for the preamp. May start a thread monday about tubes for the horn monos. I hear the 88s give a boost to the bass but I would like to hear what others have to say who have made the swap. Thanks for your imput. Signing off til monday

Thanks Duke, I see we also have the same cd player.....stock or modified? Have you retubed the preamp? . well, ...I have been meaning to re-tube mine, who knows how many hours are on the tubes the original owner never did .recall... but, small signal tubes oughta last 10,000 hours .. mine are still quiet, no microphonic's, hiss, hum ... i was weighing wether to order them from Quicksilver, due to the 800 volt B+ supply in that baby .... JD 100 ... swapped in some old GE (amperex ) i had hanging around since the '70's.... a little tighter than the stock tubes, but not really much different Thats the equivalent of 3 hours a day for ten years! Still....I sometimes hear a slight hum. Any reason to get concerned? I talked with Mike Sanders some time ago about tube rolling with the thought in mind about winged "C" KT-88s for the horn monos but he didn't have a strong opinion about whether the change would be worthwhile. We didn't discuss the preamp though I will probably go to him for the tube replacement package when that time comes. Think there is any tweaking to do with other tubes on the preamp?

Quicksilver Full Function Preamp #504......

Chuck, Your tape arrived today, in perfect shape, I am hoping to listen to at least part of it this evening. Travis Travis, I will do a compilation next time. Diana Krall no matter how beautiful gets tiring after a whole side. I think side two (Art Blakey) is a bit livelier. The tape was so easy to make. I hit program on the Jolida remote, chose the selections and let er rip. Hope you like it. Chuck

Oldbuckster, The room was an idea I had for a long time but reentering the world of hifi forced me to make a move. I kept buying all this old equipment off ebay with no place to put it. Now I don't know I how I did without it. Chuck

Craig That sounds like a great idea. Wish we had thought of that during planning the room. I am pretty satisfied with the bass but wish I could solve the toe in problem without tearing out the cabinets and starting over. The new speakers will have different horns that may help and I plan to use a tweeter in a separate box that will sit on top and can be moved around. Any other ideas? Chuck

Thanks for the kind words. Bluesboy, a builder and audiophile, built the addition for me. It is 16'x22' and is a mirror image of the room nex to it separated by a double thick wall for soundproofing and pocket door installation. I have end tables that you don't see that are McIntosh ML-1C speakers (1973) with glass tops for protection. Except for the toe in problem mentioned earlier it is a great room. The cabinets store lps, cds, tubes, and about 75 reel tapes and gear cleaning items. I have a nitty gritty record vac on top of one of the McIntosh end tables. BTW, the reciever on top of the right speaker is a Pioneer SX-1280, 185 wpc. I am the original owner (1975)? I have the manual and the original sales brochure and the reciever is without blemish. I bought the tube gear and now I don't use the Pioneer but can"t bare to sell it. Unless someone has one unopened in the box this is one of the finest examples left.

Coytee, Thanks for your post. I have about $1850 in the speakers and I couldn't take less than $1500 and do what I want to do with new speakers. I can only do the new project if the numbers work. Keep in mind that they are almost new, cabinets perfect and horns are metal K-400. The Woofers are Altec 416s and have great bass. The only negative is no Klipsch labels. Chuck

Very observant T&H. You are exactly right. When measuring for cabinets neither me nor the contractor allowed for toeing in and I live with that everyday. Tarheel

Thanks Duke, I see we also have the same cd player.....stock or modified? Have you retubed the preamp? I bought the preamp off ebay and have no idea how old the tubes are. Got it with 3 seconds left for one third the new retail price. The horn monos were bought from a seller on Audiogon.

Thanks Bluesboy for the help with the pictures of my LaScala clones. I just need to add that they were built in 2005 and are in mint condition, no scratches, scrapes or dents. Birch veneer and four hand rubbed coats of tung oil. Unlike stock LaScalas the top has a half inch overhang so the front edges could be veneered (a more finished appearance).They sound terrific! Only the desire to tweak brings about the offer to sell. You know about the size and weight of these speakers so local pickup or delivery is preferred.

Cueman........great point! I saw the ipod commercial and it struck me as odd to promote that product/media but I also saw his Victoria's Secret commercial and kind of liked that one. Tarheel

Luther I was more than pleased with your tape. You did a much better job of packaging than I did and your list was very detailed. The sound quality was first rate especially on the Sara K. selection. That is a very quiet LP. No first groove noise, pops or ticks. Don was over at my house rebuilding my back porch when the tape arrived so we sat down and listend non stop. I tried to call Friday night but you must of been out and the phone switched over to a fax line. Travis' tape will probably get to Don today so after he has enjoyed his time with it we will make the exchange. I think a week and a half turn around is possible. BTW I did not include a list with my tape so you will need to print it from my earlier post. With the tropical storm Ernesto things were just very hectic here. Two and a half days of yard work and getting on the roof and blowing off pine boughs and cones really made it a true labor day. That 32 ft. heavy duty ladder is getting to be too much for me to move around. Thanks for the excellent work on the tape and for sharing it with me. Chuck

Travis and Luther I just called home and my wife said their was a package (she said it looked like more records) on the front porch so I guess your tape made it here okay. After the nine inches of rain and all the debris in my yard I sure need a pleasing distraction for the night. Lost power for about two hours. Will be off the pc for the weekend as usual. Have a great weekend. Chuck

Welcome WPM The Horn Monos are a great match for horn speakers and I think you will like them. I bought a pair along with a Full Function Preamp after reading Sterephyle magazine's review calling them the quietest amps for listening to horn speakers at low volume (though I don't ever do that). They are a fine match for my LaScala clones built by another forum member. The Quicksilver amps can use a variety of tubes and I look forward to doing some tube rolling with mine in the future. Maybe some winged "C" KT-88s. If you haven't read the review go to Quicksilveraudio.com and click on the link to the Stereophyle review. One other positive is Quicksilver's support after the sale. It is probably one of the only companies that you can call and have CEO Mike Sanders answer the phone and field your questions. Enjoy! Chuck

Coytee, Don't let that stop you from joining in. If you want a deck I have a Teac X-7 ( 7inch reels only) that is 99% cosmetically including the wood cabinet but the reels just stopped turning on rewind one day and I boxed it up since I have two other decks. It is yours for the shipping charges if you want to get back in. Maybe others on the forum (such as Luther or Travis) could advise you on how to go about repairing the deck. Let me know. Chuck

Guys, I guess I am the slackard in this music exchange group. Though my tape was ready yesterday in my rush to go out of town it was left by the door. It was mailed today! The package may be a little soggy as we are getting the first rain bands from Ernesto and I took it to the post office in a driving rain. I will be more prompt in round two. I was away from the pc for a day and came back to read all the news on the forum. Sounds like everything worked out okay. I remember my first attempts at live recording in the late 70s and early 80s. I owned a sprawling victorian house in Wilmington's historic district and after a night out at a local pub to listen to some music and have a drink or two I gave the performer a ride back to my house for more of the same. He spent the night in a sleeping bag on the hard floor and in the morning when my wife had gone to work I called in sick and Neil and I bought a case of beer, borrowed two microphones and made a tape. I don't remember what brand of mics but I still have that tape and the tape deck all these years later. The next year I recorded Neil live at Thalian Hall, a historic theatre/opera house with great accoustics. One line directly to the mixing board and one mic hung from the balcony railing to pick up the audience participation. Great stuff! Another tape followed in '78 and a third in '82. I lost track of Neil for many years and often thought about getting those tapes to him but no one seemed to know his whereabouts. I later learned he had been in Nashville making music for many years and later returned to NC and had a place in Brevard. Through a series of coincidences I learned he was in town and invited him to stop by. He saw my tube equipment and said "thats some real old stuff, I'm glad you are still listening to music" and was surprised to learn that the tube gear was new and still made in the USA (Quick Silver Audio).He brought a copy of his latest cd and I was delighted by some of the talent that accompanied him. Warren Haynes of The Allman Brothers Band and Gov't Mule joined Neil on this cd named "Rosieface". I played the old reels for Neil and his new wife and agreed to make copies. I sent the tapes to Sonic Perfectionist in Kirkland, Washington. They did a great job and marked all the tracks for the cds which are safely now in Neils hands. Well......thats enough rambling on for now but what an interesting time the 70s and 80s were.... not good or bad...just interesting. Luther, it was great talking to you Tuesday. You caught me at happy hour listening to Prairie Wind. Hope I was coherent. Thanks for the call. Contact Neil if you want at bighungrymusic.com. Tell him Chuck said hey! Chuck

Travis This is what I will send unless I hear from you that you already have this music. Diana Krall "The Look Of Love" CD S'wonderful I remember yoy Love Letters Cry Me a River Diana Krall "All For You" I'm An Errand Girl for Rythm Gee Baby Ain't I Good for You You Call It Madness Frim Fram Sauce Boulevard of Broken Dreams Diana Krall "The Girl In The Other Room" Stop The World Temptation I've Changed My Address I'm Pulling Through Narrow Daylight Side 2 Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers BlueNote 4003 LP Miles Davis 'Round Midnight The last song is by Sonny Rollins (a short one to finish out the tape) All the CD recordings are from a Jolida tubed output player modded by Hot Rod Audio The analog source is a reworked Denon DP-1250 with ADC arm and a Clearaudio Virtuoso Wood cartridge. Side 1 was recorded on a 34 year old Teac 3300S gone through by Kevin Kaas of Dokorder fame. My original deck..... once sold and bought back. Side 2 was recorded on a Teac X-10 also serviced by Kevin Nitty Gritty and zerodust handeled the cleaning Call me if you prefer a Jazz or Blues compilation. Chuck 910 395-0825 home 910 200-1225 cell

Luther and Travis, My tape is ready to go. The tape is not a compilation but includes tracks from 3 different Diana Krall CDs. The second side is Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers on LP and Miles Davis 'Round about Midnight on CD, a 24bit remastered recording from 1955. I hope you will enjoy it. I need addresses and will put in the mail Wednesday. Luther, you mentioned your obsessive nature. I know we all have our peculiar routines when recording, anything you want to share? I am a little anal about cleaning and I leave an air cleaner with hepa filter going when not in the room. I fade in on noisy first grooves and I zerodust when I flip sides. There! I am out of the closet. Will be away from the pc until this afternoon. Chuck

On the brush. Like Allan and Josh I am happy with the Zerodust and the Nitty Gritty. I also leave an air cleaner with hepa filter going 24/7 except when I am listening to music. Cuts way down on dust Chuck