Ormandy conducts Sibelius Violin Concerto and Karelia Suite. Issac Stern w/The Philadelphia Orchestra. Columbia Masterworks 1970.
Showing 50 responses by bkeske
@mammothguy54 @bkeske I am envious of your Beatles collection. I wish that I still had my original copies of Meet The Beatles, Beatles 65, etc. They became thrashed as I was too young to understand how to take care of them. I have replaced many with reissues, but I still need several others to be more complete. I wish some were in better condition. Actually, my Meet the Beatles plays and sounds pretty darn good for handling as a child. The ‘White’ and Abbey Road were given to me by my cousin right around 1970 or so. Unfortunately she just trashed them, and believe her needle may have been a nail 😁 But, still nice to have. I have a complete set on CD, but, ya know, still cant beat vinyl. Thus, I’ll probably replace a couple over time. And yes, the transformation from beginning to end was at light speed. I remember it very well and reminisce still. The Beatles truly achieve what is "classic" in music and bring with it a mentality and philosophy that has become part of life. I don’t think there has ever been another band achieve what they did, especially over such a short time span. Although they had many influences, there is little doubt that they, themselves, both influenced and pushed music at the time in an incredible direction, and opened up new possibilities. They also just seemed to be a perfect band for times that were changing so drastically and quickly outside of music, but very rarely (over their complete work) brought any hint of politics into their music. I dare say, we have never seen a band push the boundaries they did in relation to other music at the time, before, or even after.....and even became literally ‘elevator music’ as well. Anyway, it was fun to do that. Don’t think I ever have before. |
Szell conducts Mozart - Serenade No. 9 "Posthorn", K. 320 / Exsultate, Jubilate, K. 165. CBS Masterworks, 1985. Stuck in my Szell section of LP’s it seems 😁 This album is truly mint-. Sounds superb. Trying spinning these last couple without a clamp per @slaw ‘s recommendation. You know, there does seem to be ‘more air’ around the instruments without using a clamp. Interesting. |
@noromance @bkeske What mat are you using now? What’s your platter made from? The Sapphire's platter is 12 lb. cast alloy (of its overall 44 lb. weight). It is a large part of the overall SOTA design in becoming both a ’flywheel’ and also a major component of the suspended sub assembaly. What mat? I was gifted one of @slaw ’s mats (MyMat) from Jim. A very nice gesture and gift. Right now, I have slaw’s MyMatt over a cork mat. I’ve been thinking, or believing, or perhaps totally misunderstanding, that my SOTA did not come with the SOTA mat, but instead, now have a feeling that the ’covering’ on the alloy platter actually *is* a/the SOTA built-in acrylic mat, and I probably don’t need the cork mat at all. Jim could probably confirm my misunderstanding here. Thus, I am going to take the cork mat off, and simply put slaw’s MYMat over the ’built-in’ moulded integral ’mat’/integral platter covering. So, I have a feeling that cork mat may be deadening the sound as well. More fooling around to come... |
Steve, very cool re: pulling your Quicksilver’s out. Very nice. And Brian, no doubt that every tube counts towards SQ. Tubes are really fun, but like Steve, it’s also a huge rabbit hole. But I can see how engaging it would be to work at getting them all to work together, sometimes doing different things in order to achieve the sound you want. |
@mammothguy54 Check this out. Searching through some of my collection I found a copy of Bob Dylan S/T, his first album from the early 1960s. I remember receiving it as a gift, placing it away, and never played it. This is brand new and is not a reissue. I’m going to clean it and play in the next day or two. Columbia, stereo (it states on the jacket also available in monaural, but this is the stereo edition). I am hoping they did a good job in mastering, plating, pressing Holy smokes man. What a find. Somehow I think I would have known I had it 😄 You should check that out on Discogs in M/M- condition. |
Kept playing through the Solti-Edition box set, Vol.6 - sides 14-18. Wagner - Kinderkatechismus 1968, Wiener Philharmonic, Kodaly - Psalmus Hungaricus 1969, London Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, Stravinsky - Oedipus Rex 1977, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir William Walton - Krönungs-Te-Deum & Belsazars Fest 1977, London Philharmonic Orchestra. DECCA |
Returning to the Solti-Edition box set, Vol.6 - will be playing sides 19-22, a series of violin sonatas with piano. None other than George Solti himself on piano & Georg Kulenkampff on violin. *Beethoven- Sonate Für Violine Und Klavier Nr. 9 A-dur *Mozart - Sonate für Violine und Klavier B-dur, KV 454 *Brahms - Sonate Für Violine Und Klavier G-dur, op. 78 / Sonate Für Violine Und Klavier A-dur, op. 100 / Andante Tranquillo - Vivace - Allegretto Grazioso / Sonate Für Violine Und Klavier d-moll, op. 108 DECCA |
@noromance Well, after realizing my misunderstanding about my built-in integral SOTA ‘mat’, the cork mat has been removed, for good. Reset VTA. I’m still a bit smitten with @slaw ‘s MyMat without any clamp. Tried an LP unclamped directly on the integral mat/platter, but sounded better with slaws mat. Makes sense, as that is how Steve designed it. Interesting enough, a couple of the LP’s in the Solti-Edition collection I am playing now are significantly warped, and I needed the SOTA clamp to flatten them a bit. Immediately, although not sounding ‘bad’, the soundstage ‘closed-in’ and everything became more center focused. Without the clamp the stage and ‘air’ are much more open, and I’ve been sticking to that the last several albums. |
Has been an enjoyable listening evening. The rig sounds great tonight, and could it be?.....When I bought my Jelco 850 arm from USA HiFi, I needed a DIN cable, and though I wanted the more expensing pink/red Jelco straight DIN, they did not have any in stock, so settled for their less expensive straight cable, as I wanted it at the same time for the arm install. Well, it turns out they sent me the 90 degree cable, and although it worked, was really too tight. So, was on the look-out for the better straight Jelco DIN cable. Just so happens, I found a guy selling a new/old stock higher grade pink/red Jelco straight DIN cable on eBay for $90. I snatched it up, arrived today, installed it. I do believe it makes a significant difference. I’ll probably send the one from USA HIFI back, get a refund (as they sent the wrong one), which will pay for the better one I just bought/installed. In addition, I think my new Audio Envy RCA interconnects (which came right about the same time as my SOTA) are finally breaking in. A good cable night, in addition to the SOTA/Jelco/Soundsmith kicking butt. |
@noromance Also glad you got the pink cable. The dark green one is crap. Well, all in all, compared to where I came from, it ALL sounded fine. But. Like anything, you are always inquisitive about any weak link. When I found that cable on eBay, it was too good a deal to let get away. Maybe it was just one of those nights, when everything sounds great, or it was indeed the new cable. Whatever, it makes me feel better that it was replaced. |
‘New’ vinyl arrived....first up... Leonard Bernstein conducts Shostakovich - Piano Concerto No. 1 w/Andre Previn & Poulenc - Concerto for Two Pianos w/Gold (not Gould) and Fizdale. New York Philharmonic. Columbia Masterworks 1962. EDIT: Dang, this sounds fantastic. Must be the new cables, or the MyMat unclamped, or the SOTA, or Jelco, or Soundsmith Zephyr 😁 See how I far I get into this, as The Berlin Philharmonic is coming up live. Which should be a good concert today. |
Been playing many of my fine CD collection which had been ignored the last few weeks....but....Took the dust cover off the turntable....this, from I believe the mid-late 60’s as a reissue of the original 1962 release. a gift for @tomic601 Fritz Reiner conducts Beethoven’s 9th and 1st. Chicago Symphony Orchestra. RCA Victor non-shaded dog stereo. 2 LP set. Just did a good cleaning to both LP’s. Dang, after listening to CD’s the last couple days....vinyl sure does sound ‘right’. As if I doubted that. |
@tomic601 Oh, I’ve been shopping for a possible DAC replacement since the SOTA. Right now, running an old PS Audio Digital Link III. It’s fine, pretty good actually, but my secret weapon is actually my iFi Mini Tube 2. Don’t underestimate what that little box can do. Between the tube settings on that (push/pull, straight tube, or SET) and switching between stock ‘red book’ or 192 over sample on the PS Audio, I can usually find a good combo of settings with the iFi. It really depends on the CD and how it was engineered. That said, I think I can do better. Been intrigued with the R2R DAC’s, particularly the Denefrips offerings, or MHTDLABS, or the Musical Fidelity MX. Can find a CODA, but, they only have optical and USB, and I would like digital RCA from my CD player. Anyway, not a huge priority, but after getting my vinyl rig set-up, the shortcomings of my digital set-up is now very apparent. |