Elekit up next

Flushed with beginner's success, I purchased another kit, this time an Elekit 879s integrated, a good looking 8w three-tube amp from Japan. I purchased from Victor Kung in Vancouver who imports these and translated the manual (which apparently has since been copied by others without permission). Victor has been a great assistance in dealing with a damaged shipment courtesy of the mail service. More pics to follow but the parts quality of the Elekit is impressive and a step up from the S5 amp.

DIY amps

I've been assmbling a kit tube amp from S5 Electronics, a small, 8w 6 tube integrated that lives on a piece of wood, the KL8

Instructions are not the best but suffice to get it done (there is one missing figure and at least one missing step involving the input jacks but you can figure this out easily by the time to get to that stage of assembly). All you need is basic soldering skills (nobody's are more basic than mine), and the final assembly looked like this:

 

Despite their 86db sensitivity, I managed to drive my old Kef 103/2s with this to really pleasing room filling volume. At the very least, this kit tells you what you can achieve with a small investment in decent enough parts, a predesigned schematic and some labor. Sure you don't get anything that looks too good with this kit but you can begin to appreciate how more expensive transformers and caps might improve matters. There's a whole range of DIY forums out there to help (check out, for example, this one )

From here, I plan to move on to another kit, the Elekit integrated which comes from Japan complete with a decent chassis and ultra cool looks. In fact, there are more high quality kits out there than you might imagine and I suspect one could create a really decent amp for a reasonable investment. More as I go.

Review update , preamps and the A'gon world

I spent the last 5 weeks with the Grover Huffman interconnects and speaker cables, for a review hopefully published next month in Aff Audio. Without a doubt, these are the best affordable cables I've experienced, maybe more.

Right now I am moving onto the preamp stakes. Today, I pulled my PS Audio GCP 200 with external PS out for a while to hear my older McCormack TLC1 with the Spectrons. Interestingly, what I lost in uber-clarity, I may have gained in warmer bass and more resolving highs. Stay tuned. Of course, all this is prelude to a new preamp review, and I have the Jaton Operatta in for review this month. First impression, purely on looks alone this is a nice piece. Let's see what it sounds like.

So, naturally, as I start to consider preamps, I check out A'gon to see what is happening in the used market. I have to ask, were sellers always this rude? An enquiry Thursday about a model that I fancied resulted in stonewall silence, followed, three days later by the listing becoming 'sale pending'.  Not even a 'I am close to selling and I'll get back to you if not' reply. When I sell, I answer everyone, no matter how inane, and heaven knows, I've put up with some plonkers there.  A query to a dealer who advertises on A'gon brought a reply from him (polite, constructive and noting that he would love to help if there was no local dealer) but then I hear from the national rep (for a company that has no accurate listing of dealers) who without prompting copies my query to a local dealer who in turn  chastised me for not contacting them directly.....wow, they represent a manufacturer who has an incomplete web site that does not list them as a dealer,  have their own out of date web site (last updated sometime in 2008), offer no parking and no open hours to visit without appointment....and somehow, I am made to feel like the bad guy for failing to remember they represent the company whose amp I thought, last week, I'd like to hear! Life's too short for grudges but I'm no longer interested in that preamp.....

New audio forum launched: The AudioNation

A dedicated group of folks have launched a new audio forum, Audio Nation which is now being launched from Houston TX. The goal is to offer a sort of alternative to A'gon, with emphasis on safe e-commerce and networking among audiophiles. If you have a desire to review, there's an open invitation now for submissions on gear and music but you do need to register. For non-commercial entities, read you and me, membership is free. The business model I presume is based on dealers and manufacturers signing up and advertising regularly. Main administrator, Keith, told me he really wants to create something different here, which is an aspiration I can support. Early days but worth a peek.

Lexicon - Oppo = Oops

Buying hi-end goods often means paying a premium for build quality and packaging, along with the hoped-for sonic improvements. What you don't expect is that you are only paying for the packaging, and it seems Lexicon has been caught red-handed by an excellent review in Audioholics of their new Blu Ray player which noted the new BD-30 is nothing other than an Oppo BDP-83 lifted into a specially made outside cover. Lexcon claim that they made 'modifications' but none are visible or reported. Cue outrage on the forums and sudden revisionism in the discussion sections of published reviews. Well done Audioholics.

Home Theater Review published a rather glowing review of the Lexicon and when respondents pointed out what Audioholics had determined, they took the comments down. The beauty of the 'Net is that it's hard to kill postings and one entrepreneurial soul posted these here. It's not good news for anyone who bought the Lex and it's a little embarrassing surely for the reviewer but maybe he really did see and hear those differences because of the extra Lexicon wrapping :)

Turns out, "rebadging" is quite common in the digital player world, take a look at the images in this post on Steve Hoffman's forum (see msg#19). Somehow, honest relabelling does not seem to be at work in this Lexi-Con example. Just as it did not seem right to relabel that Phillips as a Theta. It's all well and good to call 'caveat emptor' but if you want to kill off high end, this seems a pretty foolproof way to go about it.

Lexicon have made some vague statements about their player being built off the Oppo through engineering improvements at their Indiana plant but so far have been strangely uninformative on what any of these improvements might be. Here's what a technical manager from the company posted to one forum last September before the brouhaha broke:

" Short Answer...Built in America...THX certified...Lexicon Quality and Support...Best Video...Fastest transport...Joe Kane likes it...first shipment expected in late October or early November.

· “What are the differences to the OPPO?”
o When we specified the BD-30 we focused on premium video & audio performance, fast response times, and a mechanical construction that upholds the lexicon tradition of excellence – Some parts are similar to the OPPO due to the fact we purchase subassemblies from the same contract manufacturer. We then ship this subassembly to Indiana and complete the manufacturing in the States. We load in application specific firmware

· “why does the Lexicon cost more?”
o The BD-30 is the highest performance blu-ray player available today and when you see the unit, you’ll realize that the product not only is the highest performance player, but is build to the highest standards in the USA. It is then shipped with Joe Kane’s setup disc and supported with world class customer support.

Stereophile's Kal Rubinson has apparently submitted a review on this particular model (in Dec 2009) which, due to the lag in print publishing won't appear until the March issue, so it will be interesting to see how the mainstream media react. Chris Martens Perfect Vision site is taking heat for his review, which he is gamely and politely attempting to address. Of course, at the end of the day, all this points to the problem of hi-end reviewing not being able to demonstrate that sonic differences are independent of labels and sighted auditions. Plus ca change, but it's good to have the blatantly corrupt exposed.

---

This one will run and run.......except maybe on Audiogon, where posts seem to be censored routinely.

House of Representatives honors Miles Davis and Jazz

It's difficult to understand what any of this really means but it makes a change from the usual HoR divisions on matters some of us hold dear. Here's the language of last month's honor:

RESOLUTION
Honoring the 50th anniversary of the recording of the album `Kind of Blue' and reaffirming jazz as a national treasure.

• Whereas, on August 17, 1959, Miles Davis, Jimmy Cobb, Bill Evans, Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers, John Coltrane, and Julian `Cannonball' Adderley collaborated to record the album `Kind of Blue';
• Whereas `Kind of Blue' ranks 12th on the list of the `500 Greatest Albums of All Time' published by Rolling Stone magazine;
• Whereas `Kind of Blue' was recorded in 1959, the year Columbia Records declared `jazz's greatest year';
• Whereas `Kind of Blue' marked the beginning of the mass popularity of jazz in the United States;
• Whereas in 2008, the Recording Industry Association of America awarded `Kind of Blue' quadruple-platinum status, meaning 4,000,000 copies of the album had been sold;
• Whereas in 2002, the Library of Congress added `Kind of Blue' to the National Recording Registry;
• Whereas `Kind of Blue' was recognized as the bestselling record in the history of jazz;
• Whereas 50 years after the release of `Kind of Blue' , MOJO magazine honored the Legacy Edition of the album by giving it the `Best Catalogue Release of the Year' award;
• Whereas `Kind of Blue' both redefined the concept of jazz for musicians and changed the perceptions of jazz held by many fans;
• Whereas today, the sole surviving member of the Miles Davis Sextet, Jimmy Cobb, is performing and touring with his So What Band in tribute to the 50th anniversary of `Kind of Blue' ; and
• Whereas `Kind of Blue' continues to be the standard masterpiece of jazz for American musicians and audiences: 

Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the House of Representatives--(1) honors the 50th anniversary of `Kind of Blue' and recognizes the unique contribution the album has made to American jazz;
(2) directs the Clerk of the House of Representatives to transmit enrolled copies of this resolution to Columbia Records;
(3) encourages the United States Government to take all appropriate steps to preserve and advance the art form of jazz music;
(4) recommits itself to ensuring that musical artists such as Miles Davis and his Sextet receive fair protection under the copyright laws of the United States for their contributions to culture in the United States; and
(5) reaffirms the status of jazz as a national treasure.

Cable wars on the boards

Another potential flame war on cables erupted on the Audio Asylum forum this week when one poster revealed that upon opening up a cable from MAC that it revealed itself as repackaged wire from Canare. Cue the usual outrage from some. MAC replied, reasonably clearly in my view, that yes, they used this wire, it says so on their site (now) and that the price charged represents a reasonable return on their design and manufacturing costs. The discussion flowed over on Audio Circle and it is clear there is a strong undercurrent of belief in some audiophiles that 'value' is measured only in terms of parts.

Cables bring out this tendency more than any other component -- if we reduce every amp or cartridge to its materials costs then I guess few of us would buy anything. However, it is easier to recognize the value added in design, assembly, testing etc. when the component adds some real or imaginary complexity to the basic parts.

My advice for all cable purchasers is to first buy some bulk cable from a DIY store and make up a set of speaker wires. You don't even need to terminate speaker cables so just cut, strip, connect and listen. Now you know exactly what 50c a foot can buy you. Calibrate your ears to this sound and then purchase new cables only if they sound better than this to you, in your system, and you find the improvement to be worth the cost.

Those who do this and find they can keep the home made stuff in their systems are lucky, cloth-eared, cheap, deluded, clever, or any other word you care to use. Either way, it should not bother you. For me, I pull out my old home mades every now and again to remind myself of their sound. When I compare that sound to my reference cables, I always keep the reference in the system but I have to say the sonic differences between the basic and the exotic are not so large that they would matter to everyone. But they do matter to me.

I would like to know how a great sounding cable differs in manufacture and design from my basic 12awg because I am curious about why materials and designs matter. Unfortunately, most cable companies are unwilling to speak clearly on this and hide behind the term "proprietary". In this light, it is little surprise that we see the heated discourse when someone reveals the parts involved.

Cable reviews ongoing and that Spectron stretch...

No sooner had I submitted my Morrow cable review than I set about my next assignment, and wouldn't you know, it's another set of cables. This time I have Grover Huffman designs wiring my set up, including a power cord to audition. Fit and finish is very good but boy, do I hate wrapping my arms around the back of my racks to get at cable inputs. Stay tuned for more.

What this process has taught me, other than small scale cable designers must, at heart, be pretty strange creatures to devote their lives to making this stuff, marketing it, and trying my eke a living out of the results, is that my Spectrons are just plain odd designs for cable folks. Using these amps in bridged mono mode means that any speaker cable must be able to span over 17" of terminal gaps to reach the positive terminals of each amp output. Very few speaker cables come with this amount of spread, if only because few amps are designed like this:



Still, both Mike Morrow and Grover Huffman are gracious enough folks to cope and send appropiately modified cables to work in my set up. Gentlemen both. Now try that with some companies and see how far you get. I am somewhat surprised there is little mention of this stretch in the many published reviews of the Spectron amps, it seems pretty essential to people who will be using it, but there is an exception, Adam Goldfine's review in Positive Feedback makes this point clearly.

Morrow cables, a month later

I've lived with the Morrow Audio SP4 and MC4 speaker and interconnects for the last 5 weeks and am somewhat sorry to see them leave. The full review will be out this week in Affordable Audio (Dec 09 edition) but I can say that despite the plain jane looks, these cables work well with my class D system, giving new life to the upper frequencies though at the cost of a little looseness in the bass compared to my references.

Cable auditions are really a pain. I can understand the cynicism of many audiophiles to the pseudo-science that surrounds many descriptions of cable differences and it's difficult not to view with some suspicion the claims of companies who produce what is essentially a uniquely wrapped wire. I think we should though give some credit to the fanatical people who spend their time trying to ensure their cables carry the audio signal better than others because it's become clear to me, although cable differences are rarely massive, there are some flavors that work better in my system than others. Let's forget the cost of those perceived benefits for now, nobody makes you spend your money on them so why should you be annoyed by someone who does? (Well, the answer to that is because it causes you certain insecurities, but that's another matter).

However, I accept that the lack of any firm empirical data on the ability of listeners to identify reliably and repeatedly the differences between wires should give us all pause. I know the arguments, I accept the difficulties of developing such a trial, but why the leading mags display such disdain towards experimental trials when evidence supporting their position on audible differences would lay this ghost to rest, at least for awhile, really does not serve them well. I've tried to encourage Robert Harley to have TAS take this on head first but without luck. I'm trained in experimental design and can run tests on many human perceptual and cognitive phenomena that often elude simple operationalization, so I know it is difficult but it is doable. One could incorporate lengthy 'at home' auditions and black-box style A/B tests, or do a series of different tests with trained and untrained listeners. No trial would slay all objections from either extreme, but wow, if ever we needed some sensible data, this is one area where audiophiles might gain some much needed credibility.

Where to get SACDs

One might be forgiven for thinking the industry has given up on SACD despite, to my ears, their sonic improvements over standard red book in most, but definitely not all, cases. But it's frustrating to me, as purchaser of SACDs where appropriate, that Amazon does not even list the SACD as an available format even when they carry one for the very album you are seeking. I recently picked up a regular CD of the the Wes Montgomery Trio's "A Dynamic New Sound" ( a fine album, by the way) and was frustrated to learn only after I'd received it that they also carried an SACD version for only $4 more. You would never know from their listing of the album, you have to search specifically for an SACD version to find it. I battled further with their site to find a contact address to inform them of my disappointment with their search structure and a little while later I received a polite reply telling me they would pass this comment along. Of course, if you wanted to download an MP3 version, you'd get a pointer directly on the listing.

In my more paranoid moments I think this is all part of the general plan to dissuade anyone form buying a physical disk again. I now have a small knife as part of my personal toolbox for my audio set up, purely to cut open the wrapping on most CDs. Does this really help deter theft? I cannot imagine such wrapping is really cost effective but it sure as hell annoys me everytime I receive a new CD. And to add insult to injury, I still find 1 in 10 delivered CDs from Amazon come with a split plastic case. You can let Amazon know about this problem but they hide the link deep within their site.

Latest stuff in for review

I just completed a review of the TTWeights turntable add-ons for the Oct issue of AffAudio. Not super cheap but definitely a worthy addition to a good rig -- I added one of their copper/carbon TT mats and nickel plated periphery ring to my VPI Aries to great effect. That these additions have caused me to spend far more hours now listening to vinyl (Howard Roberts jazzin' it up as I type) is proof enough. These make me want to play more records, and that's what it's all about. The money spent here will outlive any cartridge of twice the price in this rig.

Currently handling basic feed from my CD player to my preamp and from my pre to my Spectron monos are sets of Morrow Audio interconnects, with speaker cables to be added in shortly. More on these as the process unwinds.

Jim Thiel and JG Holt -- goodbye

What a lousy month. First JGH (and while Stereophile did a decent job, they really should have put him on the cover this month!) and now I hear Jim Thiel has shuffled off this mortal coil. Yes life is fragile and we forget this too quickly while arguing about reproduction of music and imagining the small preferences we have among high end gear really matter enough to insult each other. Thiel was a thorough gentleman whose company embodied honest design and decent customer relations. Nothing cheap there, but everything worth the price of admission and a high commitment on his part to making you happy was added in as a freebie. Yeah, get THAT deal on the web brother!

JGH -- stories of martinis, loud curses and off-color jokes make us all smile now but that man invented the field - he also was a lot more entertaining to read than a certain pompous character who insists on running his own section in his former mag (yeah, and I'll miss him too someday). For a reminder, S'phile did gather JGH's writings here

Good bye both. In my world, there is no afterlife other than the memories you cause others to hold. In their cases, both Jim and Gordon will live a long time.

New issues of Tone and A$$Audio online, plus VSA anniversary

Both free e-mags have new issues out for Sept: see: Affordable Audio and click on the current issue image, and TONEAudio's new issue is #23. I've no idea what happened to the Daily Audiophile but it's not been updated for some months now, which is a pity as I enjoyed it.

Today also happens to be the 1st anniversary of the Von Schweikert speaker forum I started up on Audio Circle to pull together people who own, enjoy, or have questions about these speakers. Partly the motivation was to have a place where I could ask questions since the various other forums seemed to attract crazies or agenda-driven owners of other manufacturers' products who view audio gear as an extension of sports -- you know, you can only support one team and all the others must be inferior, lucky, overpriced, overrated etc. Always wondered why some people think they can get more enjoyment out of their own gear by dismissing the enjoyment of others! But another part was to try and offer a space that was not being provided by VSA itself, a company I think of as superb on the design front but less so on the marketing side (as I suspect Albert himself would acknowledge). Anyhow, one year on we have passed 2000 postings, more than 125,000 page views and who knows how many original contributors. Join us over on Audio Circle

AVS White Paper on Cabinet Design in Speakers

Albert Von Schweikert published a paper in the latest issue of Dagogo where he outlines his company's findings on cabinet resonances and materials in loudspeaker design. Interesting reading that you can find here

Herbie's Audio Labs review now out

I spent the early part of this summer playing around with a variety of Herbie's Audio Labs (HAL) footers and vibration tweaks. The review is now out in the August edition of Affordable Audio. In short, these are winners --- cheap, reliable and effective. In my solid state system, the best improvements were found for:

1. Speaker decouplers
2. Tenderfeet, tall and regular under the CD player and amps
3. Sonic stabilizers with the Tall Tenderfeet

I gained little from the addition of HAL-O's on the interconnects but YMMV. Given their low cost and more than generous return policy for those who want to trial these at home, I give HAL top marks.