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    Robert Harley on "How to Choose Loudspeakers"

    I have bought, heard, and owned many loudspeakers over the past 40+ years of every conceivable design (electrostatic, dynamic, horns, Magneplanars etc.). I still own an eclectic array of speakers, but here's my all time favorite: a pair of Quad 57s made 50+ years ago. I have these set up exactly...
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    First Watt SIT-4

    I have the J-2. It’s no SET killer, that’s for sure! I find its highs too grainy on my La Scalas, whereas my various SETs (45s, 300Bs, WE 421a) sound simply sublime. I hope the SIT-4 sounds better. Someone should compare it to a great 300B SET. The wattage looks about the same.
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    Introducing the LampizatOr Poseidon DAC

    I for one have trouble relating to a simple one-dimensional characterization of the sound of different Lampi DACs on a chart like this. For example, a DAC like the Pacific that uses DHT tubes like 300Bs or 45s is fundamentally incomparable with pentode based DACs like the Horizon. This is not to...
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    Review: Lampizator Horizon (vs Pacific 2 & Golden Atlantic TRP3)

    The Pacific with the 242s puts out a whopping voltage. Most solid state preamps die a quick death here! You need a well designed tube preamp with a very high overload margin. Unless you have of course a PAC with a volume control!
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    LampizatOr Horizon - Tube Rolling Paradise

    Like trying to find the best Merlot or Petite Syrah, there’s no end to the search for the ideal “best” tube for a Lampi DAC.
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    Legendary Supex 900 Super: Koetsu before Koetsu

    Listening to the Supex mounted on a Technics EPA-100 tonearm with ruby bearings with a Technics SP-10 Mk2 table. I’m blown away by good the Supex 900 is. It’s as good as my 10x as expensive Onyx Platinum. Sad it’s not available except by luck. This is the record I’m listening to now.
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    Spatial music: a new genre?

    Thought provoking article in TAS by composer and performer Laurie Anderson on a new genre of music enabled by technological advancements. Rather than summarizing the article, I’ll leave you to read it in its entirety. https://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/going-spatial/ I’ve felt that the...
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    Miyajima Labs 1.0 mil Infinity Mono

    One reason to use a true mono cartridge with no vertical modulation is immunity to surface noise. True mono cartridges are more impervious to surface noise than stereo cartridges. Of course, you want to stick to mono vinyl on true mono cartridges.
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    Miyajima Labs 1.0 mil Infinity Mono

    The Infinity is also a beast of a cartridge. Very large and heavy. It might not fit on all headshells. I have a spare Zero that I bought last year as a spare. I can’t remember if that was a 0.7 or 1.0 mil. Yes, you definitely don’t want to play stereo vinyl on the Miyajima mono cartridges. It...
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    Miyajima Labs 1.0 mil Infinity Mono

    I use a 0.7 mil Miyajima Zero Infinity cartridge with a wide range of mono vinyl records from reissued mono vinyl to original 40s-50s vinyl. It’s a great all rounder. Never had any issues. Mono vinyl is really head and shoulders above stereo vinyl for dynamics and tonal density. Hearing...
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    Introducing the LampizatOr Poseidon DAC

    What lies beyond the Horizon (no pun intended!)?
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    What's Spinning Tonight?

    Arvo Part is one of my favorite choral music composers. I find his music sublime and ethereal. We all must face the fact that we’re not here forever. At some point we’ll have to leave this earth. Who knows what if anything lies in the hereafter? I’d like to fantasize that I can still listen to...
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    ChatGPT and the future of the music industry

    As I indicated previously on WBF, generative AI is coming to the music industry. As someone who has worked in AI for 40 years, the change that is coming will be so transformative that it will change every aspect of the music industry, from creation to consumption to technology. Be forewarned if...
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    Graham Audio LS8/1 Signature Edition & a New System

    Great write up! I’ve listened to BBC designs since the mid 80s when as a grad student I bought a pair of Spendor SP1s. I now own the SP 1/2e and the Harbeth Monitor 40.1s. But my first love has and always will be with Quads (I own three pairs, the 57s, the 2805s and the 2905s). I find the...
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    Legendary Supex 900 Super: Koetsu before Koetsu

    Keep in mind you can connect both balanced and single ended on each input and switch between them on the Makua preamp. It’s a matrix structure. Any input can be made into phono, except I think input 6 that is dedicated to Roon.
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    How Good a CD Transport is Required to Sound Better than Streaming?

    I have done this experiment many times, mostly using a CEC TL0 belt-driven transport. In my almost 40 years of using CD transports, this is by far the best one I have used. I think it’s the combination of the use of belt drive, which minimizes vibration, the suspended three-point chassis, the...
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    What's Spinning Tonight?

    30 odd years ago, I visited Venezuela to give a series of lectures in Caracas at one of their top universities. This was long before the current crises and in a happier time for the country. I picked up this wonderful album, full of catchy folk tunes. Marvelous music. It has a song called...
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    Introducing the LampizatOr Poseidon DAC

    You might have heard of this Brazilian collector who was buying up the world’s vinyl. He had roughly three million records when the NY Tines ran a profile of him about 10 years ago. I wonder how large his collection is today. What’s he going to do with it when he dies...
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    Introducing the LampizatOr Poseidon DAC

    That was exactly my thought as well. The original post was a bit of a tease. it’s like I found this great tube, but I’m not going to say what it was! In a strange way, it reminded me of one of the mist famous conjectures in mathematics. In 1637, the mathematician Fermat wrote that he had...
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    Introducing the LampizatOr Poseidon DAC

    That’s amazing. I’ve been a collector of classical music for about 40 years. I think I have around 5000 CDs and SACDs. When I moved from the east coast to the Bay Area. I sold my vinyl collection of about 1500 LPs, since I didn’t know I’d have space for them. I rebuilt a small part of that. I...
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    Introducing the LampizatOr Poseidon DAC

    You do realize that with 45,000 albums, it would take you roughly 45 years to hear them all just once, if you listened to three albums a day on average!
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    Introducing the LampizatOr Poseidon DAC

    There’s a million choices for tube rolling in Lampi DACs. That more than anything is what sets them apart for those who like nothing better to do with their time than try new configurations. Witness the hundreds of pages in WBF devoted to tube rolling. The “old timers” in tube based high end...
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    The all new Lampizator Poseidon preamplifier

    One reason I’ve thus far stuck with DACs with no volume control. Let the preamp do its thing and the DAC do its thing. When you start combining functionality, it’s tempting to go for that to save money and space, but you end up with interactions.
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    What's Spinning Tonight?

    On a completely different note, here’s what I am listening to now. The magnificent haunting sad desperate sound of Shostakovich‘s Quartet number 8, played by the erstwhile Fitzwilliam Quartet. For many years, I owned the original Decca recording on LP. Foolishly discarded it when I moved to the...
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    What's Spinning Tonight?

    It’s a reissue! I would definitely like to get the original. My Miyajima uses a 0.7 mil stylus. My understanding is that it is the preferred stylus for later mono reissues. For true mono reissues, you should use the 1.0 mil stylus.
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    Tube Testers

    Looks like it. I checked it out. Looks like it is sold in kit form that needs to be assembled. Definitely interesting but I’m wary of buying high voltage equipment that hasn’t been thoroughly vetted. I’m happy with my Amplitrex. Chris provides great service and he’s right here in California...
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    Introducing the LampizatOr Poseidon DAC

    Part of the exploration is figuring out which tubes provide the biggest bang for the buck. With the Pacific the consensus is the KR 242s, which thread the needle between dynamics, tonality and warmth. The Poseidon is new enough that you can be a pioneer in this area! For the Horizon, there’s a...
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    Tube Testers

    Who manufactures this tester?
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    What tonearm(s) are people using with their Koetsu cartridges?

    Yes, effective mass is 12 gm, but believe me, when you hold one in your hand, it’s heavy! It can balance any cartridge up to 32gm in weight. It’s a very low friction design. It’s effective low mass cones from its design, but it feels massively built. I have the regular 9” version, which feels...
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    What tonearm(s) are people using with their Koetsu cartridges?

    Koetsu’s are low compliance cartridges. You need a heavy mass tonearm for best results. I use a massive SME V12 tonearm on an SME 20/12 table. The 12” length really make a difference. Sounds magnificent with my Koetsu Onyx Platinum.

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