My current system reflects a heartfelt appreciation for some of the smaller manufacturers in our hobby and the importance of resonance control, hence the "not off the rack" moniker.
Theodore Leavitt famously told his MBA students that "People don't want a 1/4" drill. They want a 1/4" hole." Don't get me wrong, I like shiny toys. I view my audio system as simply a tool; a means to the end of enjoying music. My philosophy is to "buy and hold". I try and buy the best, not only because it only hurts once, but in the long run it costs less money. I am fortunate to have a small, dedicated listening room, specifically designed for audio.
Ironically, it was the purchase of a new CD player, the SimMoon Andromeda, that rekindled my love affair with vinyl. At the time, I had been listening primarily to CDs. After purchasing the Andromeda as my 'final CD player', I was shocked to hear how better digital sounded when compared to my trusty Linn Sondek and realized that it was time to consider a new analog path. After auditioning a number of other fine turntables, I got to know Galibier's Thom Mackris and purchased my 'last turntable'. Thom has been been a terrific 'vinyl mentor', incredibly giving of his time and expertise. Through Galibier, I have met a number of like-minded music lovers, including Joel Durand, a composer at the University of Washington. Joel is one of many of the wonderful audiophiles I have met in the Seattle area where I am blessed with many friendships that have resulted from our listening sessions. Music is always more meaningful when shared with great friends.
I recently added a Durand Telos tonearm for stereo paired with the Benz LPS. I use a Durand Talea with a Miyajima mono cartridge. If you are interested in pre 1970 recordings and haven't heard a well recorded mono record with a good mono cartridge, you owe it to yourself an audition. I currently own ~200 mono jazz records and an equal number of mono classical LPs. Now they don't all sound great (especially if recorded prior to the early 1950's), but the tonal richness and lack of stereo artificiality are quite seductive to my ears.
The Experience Music Pre-amplification has brought things to another level. After auditioning a number of highly regarding and often expensive line and phono stages, I fell hard for Jeffrey Jackson's equipment. Jeffrey is a true music aficionado. During the audition and purchasing process, our conversations would always dwell on music, rather than the equipment. He customizes his designs to tailor to the individual's tastes. Since this is my 'end of life' amplification, I went all out; mercury rectification, separate power supplies, and LCR phono stage. (I did pass on the uber-expensive Western Electric tubes.) The Experience Music equipment simply reveals a degree of tonal richness, harmonic complexity and dynamics that I've never 'experienced' with other electronics. They are the 'fastest' electronics I've ever heard. Tube rolling can tailor sound to taste and IMO, WE rectifiers and Sylvania triodes are heavenly.
Amplifiers are Found-Music's "Blade" tube amps. Each amp uses two EL34/6AC7, and single 6SN7 and OD3 tubes.
My speakers are the Daedalus Ulysses. Daedalus had not been on my radar until I heard them at 2008 RMAF. After talking with Lou Hinkley, I auditioned at his workshop and arranged an in-home audition. The sound was so natural and dynamic; so life-like...I was smitten. Best of all, Lou is delightful and like Thom, one of the great people in our hobby. Lou continuously makes small, but significant upgrades to his speakers which always provide excellent value. I have found that the Einstein Light-In-Dark amplifier has great synergy with the Ulysses. Currently I am using Amperex Bugle Boys and hope to try either Siemens or Telefunken CCa's in the future.
Last but not least: equipment racks and cabling. The SRA Scuttle rack and Ohio Class amp stands not only look great but lower the noise floor, clean up treble and produce deeper, richer bass. I have yet to find a bigger bang for the cable buck than the Found-Music products...highly recommended.
Record cleaning machine. I use Audio Intelligent Solutions
Sim Audio Andromeda
Two box system
Experience Music Kahn Phono Stage
Separate power supply with mercury rectification. Big improvement with Fivre 56 and Mullard 7788 tubes. Custom wound Intact Audio step ups in the signal box with separate mono and stereo inputs. Variable cartridge loading. Stainless chassis by Jeff Kahn at Ferra Design weigh in at 90# each.
Experience Music Kahn 71A Line Stage
Separate signal and power boxes weighing 90-100# each. Mercury rectification. Big upgrade with Sylvania JAN 71a tubes. Intact Audio autoformer volume control with remote and interstage transformer
Daedalus Audio Ulysses
With all-poly crossover
Found Music N/A
Custom interconnects.
Found Music Speaker Cable
Killer speaker cable for the money.
Silent Running Audio Scuttle
Three level rack.
Found-Music FiNeSS
Killer Power Cords.
Found-Music 2012
Single-ended interconnects
Found-Music E+
Tremendous speaker cable value
Found-Music Blade
Mono amplifiers using Sylvania NOS OD3 Voltage regulator tubes, Ken-Rad VT 231 NOS 6SN7 driver tubes and Genalex KT77 power tubes.
Silent Running Audio Ohio Class Amplifier Stands
Beautifully made and actually improve the sound.
Kosmic/Furutech Custom 5 Duplex Power Strip
5-Pack Power Distribution unit included 5 Furutech GTX-DR NCF duplex receptacles, 104-D Cover plates (carbon fiber over stainless steel) and Wall Frames (CNC Aluminum with damping coating). All of the Furutech components are great by themselves, but in this product they are mounted on a carbon fiber sandwich plate which is further mounted to an acrylic enclosure (high molecular weight), resulting in a three-layer damping system.
Just had my turned the big 5-0 and the family gave me a zero gravity chair for the sweet spot :-). MusicMatters just extended their Blue Note series. Life is good!!
Yup, you warned me about that LP, but did I listen...NOOO! ; -)
"Muchacho" is definitely better than "Here's To Taking It Easy"...not a sonic spectacular, but you won't prefer the CD either. I saw a Pitchfork interview with Matthew Houck where he was talking about actually paying attention to the production values with this record http://pitchfork.com/features/interviews/9078-phosphorescent/).
How is the pressing quality on the new Phosphorescent? As I recall, the last LP (Here's To Taking it Easy) was wonderful musically, but the pressing was probably the worst LP I had bought for that entire year (new or used).
Some of my favorite 2012 pop/rock albums (all available on vinyl):
Fiona Apple "The Idler..." Beach House "Bloom" (45 rpm) Calexico "Spiritoso" Leonard Cohen "Old Ideas" Dirty Projectors "Swing Lo Magellan" Galactic "Carnivale Electrios" Heartless Bastards "Arrow" Jamey Johnson "Living For A Song" Damien Jurado "Maraqopa" Cat Power "Sun" Smoke Fairies "Blood Speaks" Jack White "Blunderbuss"
I have been enjoying reading about your system for some time now. Your system is unique, in that I've not seen the Experience Music equipment anywhere than in your system. I am also one to hold on to my equipment, I'd rather listen to music, than run around looking at it.
Also like you, I live in the greater Puget Sound area, on the north end of Whidbey Island. I'm thinking you probably know Mike Lavigne, he was gracious enough to have me over for a listening session some years ago, now.
If you ever get to Oak Harbor, I live just four miles west of there, on West Beach Road. I would love to have you over some time.
Awesome system! How have you found the "Collectorz" tool for categorizing your music? I did the trial and found it a tad cumbersome to use, but would like to hear what you found long-term. THANKS!
Had the opportunity to audition the Ortofon Anna in my system for a few days. Terrific cartridge with a very refined sound that is much more engaging than the A90.
Spent the past few days in NYC and got to hear Jimmy Heath at the Blue Note with his big band. Fabulous show celebrating Jimmy's 86th birthday -- the band surprised him with an iPad for a gift.
Also caught McCoy Tyner, Dave Holland, Gary Bartz and Jack DeJohnette performing a Coltrane tribute at the Rose Theater at JALC...this one was disappointing. This space is beautiful, but sterile and the sound mix was off.
Calexico "Algiers" I'm a fanboy and went for the 180 gm. limited edition box set with bonus LP, etc. This is one of their best.
Jamey Johnson "Living For A Song" I'm not generally a country music fan but this may be the album of the year. Jamey covers the music of Hank Cochran dueting with the likes of Merle Haggard, Allison Krauss, etc. Well recorded LP spread over two discs (closely mic'd acoustic instruments with occasional overloading).
Storm Corrosion "Storm Corrosion" Collaboration between Mikael Akerfelt of Opeth and Porcupine Tree's Steve Wilson. Well recorded double LP.
Tame Impala "Lonerism" Builds on the Beatlesque, trippy feel of their first LP.
Dirty Projectors "Swing Lo Magellan" Thick slab of vinyl (although mine was somewhat warped) very well crafted pop music. Excellent recording. Reminiscent of "Father, Son, and Holy Ghost" by Girls released last year. 'Gun Has No Trigger' is one of 2012's best singles IMO.
Had seats 2nd row center for The Bad Plus last night. Fifth time I've seen these guys and by far the best performance I've heard. They played most of the new material from their great new CD "Made Possible". Got to chat with the band after the show...hopefully they will be releasing "Made Possible" on vinyl in the future. The Triple Door in downtown Seattle is a great venue...acoustics are great and the food is very good pan-Asian.
Just got the newly released Cat Power LP "Sun". First things first, not a big fan of the new haircut. The LP is a sonic spectacular: 4 sides of thick vinyl with bonus cuts and they throw in a download. Stylistically it's a departure from "The Greatest" but I think this is going to be in my personal 2012 Top Ten. Got tickets to see the show in November.
It's taken me a while to warm up to the new Fiona Apple LP "The Idler...". Also well recorded but the sparseness of the arrangements is a bit jarring. The lovely contralto from 'Tidal' has lost some of it's sweetness but works with the new material. Probably worth sampling before purchasing, especially for fans of her older material.
We heard Mimicking Birds (from Portland) open for Phosphorescent last night at the Tractor Tavern. The self-titled Mimicking Birds LP is a sonic delight with consistently great songwriting. They did not disappoint live.
Phosphorescent struggled with amplifier issues the whole evening but put on a great show. Really liked the new material.
Last week we heard Ricardo Morales at Benaroya, absolutely amazing! http://www.ricardomoralesclarinet.com/
Thursday I took my saxophone playing son to the Triple Door and heard Maceo Parker's band. The band really cooks. Maceo plays and dances like a man half his age. His guitarist Bruno Speight is one of the best I've ever seen.
Saw Fiona Apple at the Paramount Theater last night. The Paramount is not my favorite venue for music because the acoustics are suboptimal but we were 11th row, nearly dead center and the sound was terrific.
Really enjoyed her band and Fiona's piano work...she has a hammer of a left hand! Her voice was great on quieter pieces but can no longer scale up to sing over the band on the louder songs.
Next up: Chamber Music Society at Benaroya on Saturday and Maceo Parker next week!
You are very welcome....you'll this album to be certain! Make sure you grab a copy (SHM disc or LP if they cut one) with "The Willow" on it....you will not be sorry!
