ChrisK

---------------- On 12/30/2003 11:24:52 AM rigma wrote: Chris, Were do you buy your Vinyl?---------------- rigma, Most of the new stuff I get online. At the same time living in Southern California allows me to pickup some new stuff at Classic Records and Cisco Music once in awhile. Not to mention the Ameba Music store in Hollywood has a pretty good stock of both new and used. Good online sources - http://www.acousticsounds.com http://www.mofi.com http://www.amusicdirect.com http://www.betterrecords.com Good Luck, Chris

What are some of your favorite recordings you bought this year? These are some of mine: New Vinyl - Any of the "Best Jazz Ever" 45rpm series from Acoustic Sounds - unbelievable sound quality, expensive but you'll never lose a dime in value if you take care of them. In fact they are continuing the original 25 title set with another 75 titles to be released over the next 3 years. - Both of the Pure Audiophile titles released this year, Ray Brown "Soular Energy" and Burton/Corea/Metheny/Haynes/Holland "Like Minds" same comments as above regarding quality and price, love the blue vinyl - Nora Jones, "Come Away With Me" I like this one more after giving a it a rest for a few months - Jack Johnson, "Brushfire Fairytales" & "On and On" along with John Mayer's "Room For Squares" & "Heavier Things" My daughter pushed me to get these. Not exactly Bob Dylan, but a very nice sound and some good lyrics. New CD's - John Mellencamp, "Trouble No More" recorded the old way with tubed microphones and analog equipment. great record, great songs, great sound for a cd. - Sonny Craver, "Sonny Sings The Blues" excellent singer in the Joe Williams mold. SACD's - Bob Dylan, "Blood on the Tracks" what a record! wonderful sound! - Steely Dan, "Gaucho" an excellent example of how good SACD can be - George Strait, "Honkytonkville" great sh*t kickin' music, excellent sound - Wiener Philharmoniker/Kaplan, "Mahler: Symphony No. 2 " wonderful sound and I learned a ton from the liner notes. - Alison Krauss + Union Station, "Live" this band is so tight, the recording almost doesn't sound live. Excellent sound. - Tony Bennett, "Playin' With My Friends" some very nice duets here - Murray Perahia, "Chopin: Etudes Opp. 10, 25" great Sunday morning music Note - I could put almost every SACD I have on this list. I really hope SACD takes hold as a format. Biggest Disappointment of The Year Pink Floyd, "Dark Side of the Moon" (30th Anniversary vinyl reissue) very cool packaging, great sound, but imho the music just doesn't have "legs". It's probably just me, but I didn't enjoy this at all. Maybe I needed some herbal enhancement. Thanks, Chris

---------------- On 12/29/2003 12:48:47 PM Tom Mobley wrote: Chris, >>reference CD... That's hilarious. But, truth is, my son is doing quite well with those CD-based piano lessons. It's amazing how much he's learned. Now he's also getting real lessons weekly he's really picked up speed. We have an old (1906) Kranich-Bach conservatory grand piano he practices on. The action on it is kinda heavy but he's playing anyway. I'm amazed to see him sight-reading, playing by touch at 6 yrs old. Now he wants a guitar, but not an acoustic, but an electric. Tom ---------------- Tom, Totally understand the guitar thing. My 9yo son takes piano lessons and had been begging me to learn guitar. So for his birthday I bought him a Stratocaster Squire and Fender Frontman amp on sale at Guitar Center for $129 (pretty amazing deal I thought) and bought myself a Hohner acoustic/electric off eBay for $75 (another fairly amazing price). The deal is 1 hour piano practice gets him 1 hour on the guitar. Now we are learning guitar together by watching a DVD. We can play "Smoke on the Water" better than Deep Purple. Chris

Tom, I can see under the remote control in the picture that you use the same reference cd that I do. Chris

---------------- On 12/28/2003 10:12:53 AM HeritageBob wrote: Could anyone hook me up with a store or website to get a decent source selector that will fit my application? Or possibly a type that can be gotten off Ebay. I went into Radio Shack and they have things that could work, but the dang things only accept like max signal of 10 watts and max wire guage of 18. Bob ---------------- Bob, You might take a look at Niles Audio. http://www.nilesaudio.com/products/source_switching.html I bought an new, in box AXP-1 on eBay for $31.00 delivered. I'm using it with my Scott 299(A) as a source selector. They also have a switcher that allows 2 sources to share 1 set of speakers. Below is the Niles DPS-1 Amplifier/Speaker A-B Selector The AXP-1 I'm using doesn't seem to have altered the sound of my tuner or cdp. Good Luck, Chris

---------------- On 12/26/2003 11:45:39 PM Hepta Bronte wrote: Yeah Greg, 300B push-pull is really where I want to be -- but a little out of my reach right now I think. ---------------- Dean, Saw this on audiogon this am. http://cgi.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cl.pl?ampstube&1077678324&class&3&4& &

---------------- On 12/26/2003 9:41:53 AM fini wrote: ---------------- On 12/26/2003 9:24:51 AM ChrisK wrote: Interesting side bar - Marvin's daughter, Nona Gaye (you might have seen her as "Zee" in the last 2 Matrix movies or as Muhammad Ali's wife in "Ali") lives across the street from me. She's a very nice lady and not hard to look at. ---------------- Chris, What kind of telescope do you use? ---------------- fini, A pair of Raytheon X-Ray/Night Vision/Infrared Deluxe 5000 Binoculars with the NOS Ziess Fundus glass upgrade. But I would never use them for peeping. Chris

Allan, Sounds like your wife is a wonderful lady. She'd have to be. Remember, I've met you and you're almost as ugly as Andy and I. I was pretty lucky this week also. Besides the normal clothes and such from the wife, my daughter went record shopping. She gave me Marvin Gaye "Let's Get It On", Steely Dan "Best Of" and a couple of Bob Marley records. Listening to the Marvin Gaye record got me wondering about Motown records in general. While this particular record was VG at best, it still sounded quite good. Are there any high quality Motown vinyl reissues around? Or, is it better to just stick with the cd reissues? Interesting side bar - Marvin's daughter, Nona Gaye (you might have seen her as "Zee" in the last 2 Matrix movies or as Muhammad Ali's wife in "Ali") lives across the street from me. She's a very nice lady and not hard to look at. Chris

Georg, I have a 299(A) rebuilt by Craig that I will be selling when he finishes my newly acquired 299B. The 299B is on it's way to him now, and he thought it might take a couple of weeks after it arrives. My 299(A) is dead quiet, extremely clean, has great tubes, comes with a very nice cabinet and sounds great. The faceplate is excellent except for 1 side that is very slightly bent. You can't tell from more than a couple feet away. If you're interested, I can email you pictures. Chris

Georg, While I don't know what, if any, your personal physical limitations might be, I can assure you of the simplicity involved in biasing a tube amp. By the simple fact that it appears that you can turn on a computer, type and navigate the world wide web, I'm pretty darn sure that biasing an amp will not be a problem for you. Craig walked me through it over the phone in less than 5 minutes. And if I can do it, ANYONE can do it. BTW, I've heard and seen Josh's Fisher 400 receiver. If I didn't already have two Scott 299's, a Fisher X-101, a HK 630 receiver and wasn't looking to get a pair of as yet unamed 20 watt plus tube monoblocs, I'd buy it. It sounds great and is in flawless condition. Regards, Chris

arfz28, I have a 299B on it's way to Craig for the NOS Valves treatment. Are you selling any cabinets off eBay? If so, please let me know. Thanks, Chris PS The 299B will be replacing my 299(A) that was rebuilt by Craig and will be sold when Craig finishes the "B". I'm giving up the slightly more detailed sound of the "A" to get the 3 inputs available on the "B". If anyone is interested in the "A", let me know.

---------------- On 12/18/2003 6:22:05 PM Cut-Throat wrote: Not me - I went only once in 2001. First Las Vegas is a Shiithole. - Bad Food - and if you're not a gambler. The CES is it. There is a smaller venue show that is attended by Tube Mfgs and High Effcientcy speaker Mfgrs. Called VSAC. Vacumm tube State of Art Conference. It was in Seattle this year. I did not go, but it is in Denver next year. I may attend that. ---------------- Pretty harsh. Not to mention inaccurate as far as the food goes. I am in the gourmet food business and can assure you in my experience there is just as much excellent faire in Las Vegas as any other city, anywhere (except maybe New Orleans). Not to mention the level of service at most of the better restaurants is extremely high. Call it Lost Wages, an adult Disneyland or Sin City, but you can not say it has bad food. BTW, I am going to T.H.E. Show (at the Alexis Park) and to see quite a few additional exhibitors at the hotel next door. Never been before and am very much looking forward to it. I'll definitely check out Kelly's recommendation of Tenor Audio. Regards, Chris

Also from the vinyl enthusiasts list to which I belong - Try this link for an amazing (and cheap) record cleaning system - http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2581524742&category=306 I think the darn contraption may just work. Chris

....Got the following email from a vinyl enthusiasts email group I belong to. "...Her pictures prominently feature both vinyl and turntables. She is listed as liking to "comb vintage record shops to add to her formidable collection of vinyl". Most important her core values are just like ours. On her data sheet "turn-ons" list "vinyl" first, and "turn-offs" list "CD's" first. And finally "if she had more time" "I'd lock myself in my room and spin records." Her name is Colleen Shannon and you can check out her equipment in the January 2004 issue, which happens to be the 50th anniversary issue. I think it normally is found somewhere near Stereophile, TAS and HIFi+ on most newsstands." One question remains. Which does she prefer, SET or Push-Pull? BTW, It seems one of the email group members is a Sr. VP in sales and marketing over at Playboy Entertainment Group. He's going to try and get her to attend a luncheon we're having at CES. Regards, Chris

---------------- On 12/15/2003 9:28:16 AM garymd wrote: I've never really fallen asleep although I remember Max once telling a story like that. I have left it thumping for 5 - 10 minutes before. You do that a few times it starts to add up. ---------------- Gary, I have a Thorens 145 (semi-automatic) as a second tt just because I love to fall asleep while listening to vinyl sometimes. As a matter of fact, the 145 is in my car right now so I can bring it to a tt setup guy who is going to install a new tonearm on it. When I bought it off eBay, the original arm was damaged during shipping and it took me months to locate another. As far as the thumping goes, a couple of people I trust have told me not to worry too much about it unless it is a drastic sound or the stylus comes in contact with the label. With most records, the dead wax does nothing more to a cartdridge than regular playing. Chris

...I know this gets asked every year. What are your favorite holiday music albums? Being a mutli-cultural family, we celebrate Christmas, Chanukah, and a tradtional Japanese New Year. Last night a fire in the fireplace, candles burning, cookies in the oven and a bottle of nice Cab made for a great evening. Also, we listened to some great seasonal music. Some of what we heard - Willie Nelson, "Pretty Paper" (vinyl) - great record, I never get enough of the Red-Headed Stranger. John Fahey, "Christmas Guitar" & "New Possibility" (vinyl) - old standards, always sound great Booker T & the MG's, "In the Christmas Spirit" (vinyl) - very cool record Vince Guraldi Trio, "A Charlie Brown Christmas" (SACD, vinyl) - a classic, both formats sound great The Three Tenors, "Three Tenors Christmas" (SACD) - great sound, needs to be played loud Diana Krall, "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" (cd) - in spite of all the DK bashers, a really nice album Tony Bennett/Charlotte Church/Placido Domingo/Vanessa Williams, "Our Favorite Things" (SACD) - surprisingly good What Holiday records do you like to listen to? Thanks, Chris

My first multi-channel music setup was my second HT system powered by a Marantz DTS receiver. I have Klipsch speakers all the way around. The DTS music discs sounded great. However, for me, surround sound music has little value. Hearing cocktail glasses clinking behind me, echo effects, audience noise and the like sounds fake to me. Not to mention, I rarely find myself sitting in the sweet spot between my Cornwall's long enough to really get any benefit from surround sound music. That's why I like Cornwalls so much. They fill up my entire downstairs with wonderful sound. Chris

If anyone wants to hear some low brow, but very funny recordings, try this link - http://home.nyc.rr.com/brux/AOC/aoc3.html Click on either album cover to hear the songs. In fact the whole website is pretty darn funny. Chris

---------------- On 12/11/2003 9:31:44 AM Allan Songer wrote: If I want to listen to clever, intelligent female jazz vocals I'll take Blossom Dearie ANY day! I have heard DK live a BUNCH of times, but not in years and I went to hear PB once a couple of years ago. I never listen to their albums, but if either were playing in the club down the street I'd go . . . . ---------------- Allan, I heard Blossom Dearie at the Jazz Bakery last year. Very clever and entertaining. My inlaws took me and warned me that "she was a little different". She sure was, but in a very good way. Some of the songs were hysterically funny. Chris

Colin, I see by your bio on enjoythemusic.com that you are a technical writer by trade. My father was a TW at Hewlett-Packard for over 20 years. Way back when, a group of audio geeks at HP built an amp that was available only to HP employees ($400, if I remember correctly). It was called the Barney Oliver (the head of R&D at HP back then I believe). I remember when he brought one home, I was amazed that it only had one knob. I also remember that my dad's buddies at work took great pride in telling me "it was better than a McIntosh" (I was about 10-12 at the time). I think one of my older brothers still has one stored away somewhere. When I get up to Seattle again to visit them, we're going to try and dig it up. Regards, Chris

Andy, After Kelly posted an MP3 from Ella Fitzgerald and Joe Pass "Take Love Easy", I hunted down an XRCD copy of the album. It sounded great. Then recently I hit the vinyl Mother Lode. My mother-in-law ( a major league jazz maven) has let me start going through her enormous jazz record collection. Last night I played the Pablo issue of this album and A/B'd it to the XRCD. On my system they both sound great. But, I have to give the overall nod to the vinyl. It had a warmth and clearity to it that I couldn't get from the XRCD even if I fiddled with the tone controls on the Scott 299. BTW, I'm now using a Sony SCD222ES instead of the Arcam MCD. Chris PS Look forward to seeing you and your son at the next "meeting" at Dr. Bruce's. BTW, how'd you end up with such an articulate, good looking son like that?

---------------- On 12/11/2003 8:07:19 AM fini wrote: Chris, Would that be the late SF Chronicle columnist Herb Caen? ---------------- I was going to disqualify you and joshnich in advance, knowing it would be cherry picking for you guys. I really miss Herb Caen. We have nothing like him down here in Smell A. But, we do have "The Big Aristotle" and he's nearly as quotable. Only not quite in the same way. Chris

---------------- On 12/11/2003 3:19:40 AM mobile homeless wrote: Patricia Barber surely sounds more contrived to me and I cant stomach her lyrics anymore, especially from her latest, which reminds me of a 21 year old sophomore English major thinking she just came up with something clever and meaningful that might just please her more esoteric friends (as well as the professor she had the crush on in Eng 205). The references are painful at times and the vocal gymnastics are enough to send your own head in hands. Still, she gets lauded in review after review as a brilliant writer. Her CDs are recorded pretty well, that is one thing. Cafe Blue always makes the "lets hear my system with track 7" award. Compared to Krall, Barber sure tries more difficult phrasing. Unfortunately, it also SOUNDS LIKE SHE IS TRYING more difficult phrasing. I give her some star points for sonics. kh ---------------- Kelly, Don't know if you've ever seen either artist live, but I've been lucky enough to see them both (PB twice). They are wonderful musicians and singers. However, they almost coudn't be more different in style. Patricia Barber is very dark in sort of a beatnik way and Dianna Krall is, imho, a musician first. I was lucky enough to meet PB the last time I saw her perform. A very interesting woman. Not bad to look at either. I love intelligent, six foot, raven haired girls with a great smile. Unfortunately, I don't think she goes for overweight, married, dull witted geeks like me. Not to mention she plays for the other team...not that there's anything wrong with that. Speaking of beatnik...Can anyone name the person who coined the term? Chris

Definitely subwoofers. They look very similar to my SW-12, except for the speaker connections. Chris

---------------- On 12/6/2003 9:20:25 PM Klipschfoot wrote: here is an "unknown" group that I have enjoyed. ---------------- I saw Alex Acuna accompany Bobby Rodriguez at the Jazz Bakery a couple of months ago. Great show, but the real surprise that night was a very good young piano player by the name of Linda Martinez. For me, Latin music is like ice hockey. They're both far better live. Give me a Chile Relleno with Tapatío, hand made tortillas and a cold bottle of Bohemia at Cielito Lindo just before Reina de Los Angeles comes onstage. That's living. IMHO Latin music is not for the sit in the sweetspot, critical listening, PP vs SET, NOS tubes, power conditioner, cables up on blocks crowd. I think it really helps to be there. In fact I believe we all would benefit by going to hear more live music. Regards, Chris