ChrisK

---------------- On 12/8/2003 8:15:01 PM Allan Songer wrote: www.jazzandblues.org Best jazz station in the country and they are about 1.5 miles from here. Check it out. ---------------- Hey Allan, Chuck Niles emcee'd the Dotty Woodward Benefit. What a day! My favorites were Barbara Morrison, Carl Saunders Big Band, Dave Pell, Ricky Woodard, John Heard, Sam Most, Dave Pell, a drummer with the last name Nash, Ernie Andrews and on and on. Some of the players were so old they could barely walk, but they all had no trouble playing! It was very cool being there with my in-laws as they introduced me to quite a few of the players. Some of the stories they told were unreal. What full lives these people live. Wish you could have been there, Chris PS I scored in the raffle also. Among other things, I won a signed copy of a Johnny Mandel chart.

All the talk about crappy weather helps me appreciate living in Southern California. Today started out pretty dang foggy, but now it's gorgeous and I'm gonna sneak home and play some tennis. Chris PS Allan Songer, I'm going with my father-in-law to the Musicians Union on Sunday to hear a benefit for a lady named Dotty. Supposedly some serious old school heayweights are going to be playing. Have you heard about it?

Happiness is my son waking me up a 5:30am on Sunday saying "Dad, let's go get coffee and bagels". Happiness is a perfectly struck, down the line, topspin backhand for a winner (Aces are pretty cool too.). Happiness is taking a nap on Sunday afternoon while listening to KUSC on the Wave Radio. Happiness is when my daughter comes home from school and wants to sit next to me while out to dinner. Happiness is skipping all the PP vs SET threads. Happiness is playing a great sounding record for someone and watching their mouth hang open. Happiness is when my wife laughs (except during sex). Gee, I feel all warm and fuzzy. Chris

---------------- On 11/30/2003 6:52:30 PM NOSValves wrote: ...The Cary preamp while being absolutely beautiful and sounding great could not better my modified Mapletree Ultra 4A in fact we all agreed Mapletree was the best of the weekend by a small margin that we couldn't quite nail down exactly what it was ... tighter dynamics maybe ? The Lam 6SN7 sounded very much like the Cary with the Cary being slightly bloated on the bottom. keep in mind everyone were splitting hairs here. ... ---------------- Craig, You've got me intrigued with the Mapletree Ultra 4A preamp. I had pretty much decided on getting a Cary SLP-98P until reading your post. Is it your mods that make the difference? Are they "top secret" and only available through NOS Valves? The price difference between a Cary SLP-98P and Mapletree Ultra 4A is quite substantial and, as Dean pointed out, that money could be put to use elsewhere in a system. Thanks, Chris

---------------- On 11/25/2003 10:55:31 AM joshnich wrote: ... I check the old one from time to time just because I like deleting 7000 messages about enlarging certain parts of my body... joshnich ---------------- Hey! Not so fast. One of those messages saved my marriage. Now I'm a 250 lb bomb with a four inch fuse. Chris

Dave, THANK YOU for reminding all of us just how much we have to be thankful for. Have a GREAT Thanksgiving! Chris PS My daughter is coming home from school tonight!

---------------- On 11/21/2003 10:29:25 AM Marvel wrote: synthfreak, Not a lot of people have heard of John Fahey.Wow! Tacoma Records. LeTigre, huh? They record in their own space. How about Koerner, Ray and GLover--? Blues Rags and Hollers? Marvel ---------------- John Fahey is a staple around my house during Christmas/Chanukah time. In fact, I'm bidding on another album of his on eBay right now. Great stuff. Chris

---------------- On 11/20/2003 6:25:17 PM Marvel wrote: ChrisK, Don't know if you get to San Diego, but a friend of mine that I used to tour with runs a jazz club called Dizzy's. No bar, so no two drink minimum of high priced drinks to get the cost up. Just a nominal cover charge and good music. You can check out the schedule here: http://www.dizzyssandiego.com/ Even gonna have Mose Allison there next Spring. A lot of great local jazz artists. Marvel ---------------- Marvel, Sounds like a great club. Saw on their schedule that Kristin Korb is going to be there next month. She was one of Ray Brown's final proteges and a pretty good singer to boot. She has played quite a bit at Sangria in Hermosa Beach. Chris

---------------- On 11/20/2003 2:38:28 PM Marvel wrote: Maura O'Connell / Helpless Heart Produced by Bela Fleck Awesome music. (oops --1989) Maura O'Connell / Blue is the color of hope Produced by Jerry Douglas "Still hurts sometimes" is rockin' 1992 Marvel ---------------- Marvel Saw Maura O'Connell here in Los Angeles (McCabes) earlier this year. One of the best female pure vocal performances I've ever heard. IMHO right up there with the best I've been lucky enough to hear (Kathy Battle, Dianne Reeves, Cassandra Wilson, Emmylou, Bette Midler) . Sure wish her stuff was available on vinyl or hi-rez digital. Chris

---------------- On 11/19/2003 4:20:29 PM paulparrot wrote: There is more to multi channel, or any recording for that matter, than re-creating a band on stage. A band in a studio *never* is set up like a band on stage. *Never.* May I repeat that? Never. So the aim in home listening is not to represent reality, or you'd have musicians playing their parts in isolation booths, sometimes overdubbing months or even years later. They are placed in the mix by engineers, who can put them anywhere on a left-right continuum that they so choose. "never"?, pretty strong statement. What about live recording? So when Pete Townshend, for example, wants a new Tommy mix in multi channel, he can mix it any way he so desires as being the best presentation of the work he created. There is no original band-on-stage to represent. He loves the new multi channel mix and says it's the way the band always wanted Tommy to be heard. I hear Pete Townsend is in to a lot of "new mix" material. Plus, the vast majority of surround channels on releases so far are for ambience. And there is ambience on everything you've ever heard live except for outdoor shows in a field. Great, just what I'm looking for. Fake ambience. Just like the new symPHONY hall in Seattle. P.S. Very few bands play live in stereo, either. No kidding. ---------------- Seriously though, I think multi channel can be very cool. It's just not my favorite way to listen to music. In fact, the absolute best soundstaging/imaging I've ever heard was put out by some very old laquer 78's (mono, no less) of Hawaiian Slack Key music at Dan Meinwald's (EAR USA rep.) house on some old vintage tube gear. It was AMAZING! BTW, I saw The Who do a live staging of "Tommy" at Maples Pavilion (Stanford Univ.) in about 1976 I believe. Absolutely no surround sound there at all. Plenty of ambience though, and none of it faked. Chris

---------------- On 11/19/2003 1:50:28 PM garymd wrote: Is it worth hooking this up to my HT? I currently keep everything seperate (niles switchbox to direct the cornwalls between recievers). I guess I could use the scott for my fronts and have the SACD player as 5.1 or 2-channel with one hook-up?---------------- Gary, I've tried many ways and many times to integrate my 2 channel and HT systems. Not to mention the fact that most 5.1 channel music sounds strange to me (anyone remember "Quadraphonic" 8-track?). I still have a few DTS music discs and simply can't get used to instruments and voices coming at me from 360º. I've never been to a live music venue yet where I'm surrounded by performers. Heck, even when The Captain came out in the audience to play, the sound still came from the stage. Chris

---------------- On 11/18/2003 10:18:53 AM garymd wrote: Yesterday I purchased a used Sony SCD-C555ES SACD player. I only own 2 SACDs (DSOTM and Telarc's 1812 Overature). I haven't used it upstairs yet but did hook it up downstairs. So far I'm most impressed with the quality of the non-SACD CDs. DSOTM was nice but wasn't a huge improvement, same with 1812. I did find the non-SACDs to really sound better than my old player. The real test is when I bring it upstairs with my scott/cornwalls. Any must-haves? I'm looking for recommendations. I'll give a better review after I hear it on my better system. I say better because until I get the right woofers in my altecs, there are issues. I may have one new woofer very soon.---------------- Gary, I recently bought a store demo (Magnolia) Sony SCD-C222ES SACD player. I totally agree in regards to regular cd playback improvement. I have about 18 SACD's and almost every one sounds very nice. For me, it's about 95% of what I get out of vinyl, with regular cd being about 80%. So far, SACD appears to be something I can completely live with. So much so in fact, I have greatly slowed down my vinyl purchases and I'm concentrating on looking for SACD's. The only problem being the dearth of titles available. My buddy joshnich was the person who recommended the 222 to me and currently has his unit at sacdmods.com for some upgrading. I'm sure he'll let us know his impressions when he gets it back. BTW, I received a reply from sacdmods.com regarding some mod questions and while he mentioned that the 222 was a great unit and would benefit greatly from his mods (big surprise), he specifically mentioned the 555 as being a monster player after his treatment. As far as what albums sound good to me... Dvorak, nos. 8 & 9 - George Szell Debussy, Poulenc, Saint-Saens - Midori (violin) Chopin, Etudes Ops 10, 25 - Perahia (piano) AKUS, Live George Strait, Honkeytonkville Steely Dan, Gaucho among others.... Regards, Chris PS THANK YOU VERY MUCH for the GD tape. I received it last week and now all I have to do is re-hookup my cassette player to my system. I have some thing in the mail for you. Thanks again.

Kelly, Saw the 805c/98p combo on Audiogon yesterday morning. It's taking every ounce of willpower I can muster to keep from driving up to the Bay Area today and picking them up. Unfortunately, they are just too much overkill for my present listening room and I don't have the floor space to properly secure them. I can just imagine my 9yo son or one of his friends riding by them on one of their "Razor's" and OH NO!....sorry....I didn't mean to.... BTW, Why are 805c's and SL-98P's so plentiful on the used market and usually at what appears to be reasonable prices? Everything I've heard and read says the 805c is a fabulous amp and likely "the last amp you'll ever buy". What's up? Is it partly due to their ponderous size? Do they eat tubes? Chris PS Craig, Thanks for the help with the phono stage hum on my 299. The cheater plug did the trick. It's dead quiet. BTW, this little amp is quite amazing. I'm into it for about $600 and the darn thing is making it easy to put off a purchase like the one considered above. Go figure.

I've been looking for a budget SS amp to put in my warehouse. It's very surprising how many ads for used SS amps on Audiogon, eBay and others have some reference to tubes. "Sounds like tubes", "As close to tubes as you can get" and other tag lines like that. A few years ago when I still thought tubes were for boobs, I don't recall seeing as many (if any at all) tube references. Not to mention used prices for some of the higher end SS amps (Bryston, Classé, Krell, Levinson, etc.) seem to be lower than I remember them being. Just a thought, Chris

---------------- On 11/6/2003 3:37:36 PM fini wrote: ---------------- On 11/6/2003 3:08:05 PM Clipped and Shorn wrote: what's fini doing today..... C&S ---------------- Trying to cram another console into my garage... fini ---------------- fini, That's the first time I've heard it described that way. Chris

---------------- On 11/3/2003 1:52:40 PM garymd wrote: Chris, Soundstaging/imaging means everything to me in 2-channel with my set-up so that will be a major consideration. My cheapo technics CDP does a good job for the time being but I certainly want something better. BTW - The tape is in the mail. ---------------- Gary, Thanks a ton for the GD tape. I've got a buddy (at the show with me) wating for a copy. I assume it's ok to copy it? Thanks again, Chris

Guy, Take a look at the Cary SE Power Bank upgrade listed on Audiogon. This is the upgrade that Kelly speaks so highly of. http://cgi.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cl.pl?ampstube&1073069645&class&3&4&&

Allan, I've said this to you before, that is just about the coolest looking rig I've ever seen. That shiny, black, Blue Note sittin' on top just takes the cake. Chris Here's my vinyl rig. Sounds great, looks ok too.

---------------- On 11/3/2003 1:53:04 PM mobile homeless wrote: Too bad. Soundstaging and imaging in a properly setup system is one of the hallmarks of great tube amps and a good SET in particular. I admit, without good TONE and harmonic detail, it's a no win situation but bringing in the staging and imaging is one of the amazing pleasures of a great tube system properly set up. There does seem to be a WIDE opinion difference on the low cost CDP, SACD included. I have not heard the SCD-777ES yet but will at my friend's house (arefriendselectric) or HERE if he drags the beast this way come Thanksgiving. kh ---------------- Kelly, Music listening at my house is usually during dinner or while helping the kids with homework or doing some other task that doesn't allow stting down in front of the "sweet spot". I guess I could try paying more attention while reading, but every time I sit down to read in the house I end up turning up the volume and going out on the patio to read. Go figure. I guess I'm just a poor critical listener. At the same time, I'm probably understating how much soundstaging and imaging I do notice. You're right, when it all comes together (recording, performance, equipment) it is pretty amazing. My garage system (Fisher X-101, Dynaco A-25's, Arcam MCD, Sansui TU-717) images like crazy. But that's partially due to the fact that I often stand or sit right in the sweet spot while working at the bench. Chris PS Glad to see you're back.

I bought a Sony C222ES SACD changer a few weeks ago after much consideration about which hi-rez format to go with. While it's not clear if either SACD or DVD-A will every really take off, I'm very happy with the sound of most of the SACD's I've bought. So much so, I'll probably be sending the 222 to www.sacdmods.com for upgrades very soon. In my system, most of the SACD's sound substancially better than their Redbook cd counterparts. They have more detail, presence, bass and are easier to listen to. However, due to room constraints and the fact that I almost never just sit in front of my speakers, I cannot speak much for soundstage and imaging. Those 2 aspects of sound quality don't have alot of value for me. I sure hope SACD catches on and far more titles become available. Chris

Allan, That is one gorgeous turntable! That Blue Note just looks right sittin' on it. Chris

---------------- On 10/31/2003 9:30:27 AM mdeneen wrote: ...I would suggest you carefully consider your LOCATION above all else. If you are in an easy reception area, even a two gang front end will be fine. If not, you really want a tuner with 4-gang front end and at least 4 IF stages. For great value, look for Kenwood KT-7500, 7300, KT-8005, Pioneer TX-9500, Sansui TU-919 etc,. mdeneen ---------------- mdeneen has some great advice here, especially about your location. BUT, scratch the Sansui TU-919 off the "great value" list unless you find somebody that isn't aware of the current market. They are now going for over $1,000 on eBay. Check out the following link for a discussion about 919 prices. http://www.audioasylum.com/forums/vintage/messages/56106.html Chris

Tuners used to be one of my favorite things to change around. They were cheap and plentiful. The last 2-3 years has seen vintage prices skyrocket on eBay with the more "popular" tuners value increasing by anywhere from 50%-500%. After trying out many different tuners (Mac 74 & 78, MD 101, various Yamaha's and Pioneer's), these are what I have in use. Accuphase T-101 - slightly modded, aligned and checked out by Mas at Accutech - This is the best tuner I've tried. Great reception and sound, built like a tank. Sony 5000FW - I have 2 of them. Both have been aligned and serviced by Mas. - A real sleeper. This unit was built with "spare no cost" from the bottom up. Once again, great reception and sound. Also built like a tank. Sansui TU-717 - A real popular tuner that supposedly can be modded to "Super Tuner" status. Mine is stock and untouched by a tech yet. Sound and recption are very good, but the above units do have slightly better sound. As far as antennas are concerned, since I live in a gated community with a very active CC&R police force, outside antennas can't happen very easily. What has worked extremely well is a $9.99 set of rabbit ears from Home Depot. I've tried various signal boosters, a MD Signal Slueth and even bought a $250 APS whip that I would put up and take down after listening. Nothing worked any better the the rabbit ears. Try going to the Tuner Information Center for further info. http://www.fmtunerinfo.com/index.html Chris

---------------- On 10/28/2003 3:49:41 PM mark1101 wrote: Gary, I thought it was the Brooklyn Bridge and Goldengate Brdige spanning the US, wasn't it? I always thought Dead Set was snippets from 1980 touring. I'm at work and can't check it out. I have the double album LP and the CD. That was a good one. Nice Jerry guitar hanging in the space getting called into fire (I think) by the rest of 'em. ---------------- Mark, Could very well be the Brooklyn Bridge. However, it does appear pretty much where the Bay Bridge would be if you were looking south from Marin. Chris

---------------- On 10/28/2003 3:31:23 PM garymd wrote: I have an almost brand new copy of Dead Set at home. I'll look tonight to see what show(s). My son has the poster hanging in his dorm room that came with the lp which is a copy of the cover (S.F Bay bridge on one side connected to ??? Bridge on the other). ---------------- Gary, If it's the front cover you're talking about, it's the Bay Bridge you see on the left. Which by the way, you only see the portion that goes from San Francisco to Treasure Island. The other part exits Tresure Island and goes to Oakland. It was the Bay Bridge that had a portion collapse during the earthquake of '89. Chris