Hello from Los Gatos, CA

Curious42

Member
Nov 9, 2018
7
6
8
Hi,

I have been lurking for the past 5 years and finally decided to register.

I am not an audiophile, but enjoy listening to music for the purpose of listening and practicing to be a better piano player...adult beginner / intermediate (ABRSM Level 3); I take 1 hour lessons each week and take yearly piano exams for fun! I listen and like to attempt to play all types of music and attempting to make the difficult piano transition to "jazz"; I was / am classically educated. Singing back 3 bars of notes, played separately by the piano examiner, is quite interesting and challenging. I have no dreams of being a band player...I just want to be a competent piano player that can play with some level of confidence and courage in front of friends and family. Having a reasonable stereo system helps my endeavors; repeat hearing patterns, styles, dynamics helps me learn quicker / faster.

My stereo system objective has evolved (and began in the early 1980s) from purely listening to music to most recently (since 2011) listening to help me play better piano, which is a big difference. For example, I listen for dynamics, crescendos, decrescendos, triplet playing, grace notes, etc. so that I know how to "touch" the keys (and not STAB the keys! :) )...or listen to get the rhythm straight in my head. My stereo is in our family music room next to the piano...which makes it convenient to listen to songs over and over and then attempt to play them correctly on piano. My wife plays violin; older son plays piano, synth, and mariba (for the high school marching band; younger son plays piano and the sax. It is very convenient having the stereo system in the music room for practice and general music enjoyment. The music room has our Yamaha UX3 upright, a Yamaha MO8 synth, wife's violins, and the boys marimba and sax. We are trying to figure out if we can fit a Steinway B into the house; you can really hear and feel the difference between the Yamahas and the Steinways!

I was fortunate in the mid1980s, unknowing to me at the time, that I did some computer system work at the now infamous Sheffield Labs in Santa Barbara, CA. I recall being in the mixing room and looking down at the "stage". As I look at photos from Sheffield albums showing the "lab", the photos time machine me back to good yet different periods in my life. Sheffield had given me some of their albums and cds, which I still have and play today.

I am finally making my way into the new digital era for my stereo system....because I need to hear songs for piano practice, which brings me to why I am here trying to learn what digital system / components I should add to my humble system below (in my signature), which is basically mid 1980 to mid 2000 year gear. I have no interest in constantly upgrading and A / B equipment testing in my house....just playing back music so I can hear and become a better piano player...at the age of mid 50's. I would rather spend the money on a great Steinway B!

Cheers.

-stu
 

Curious42

Member
Nov 9, 2018
7
6
8
Hi Steve. Thanks.
 

bazelio

Well-Known Member
Sep 26, 2016
2,493
1,745
345
California
Ferrari of Los Gatos has closed. Sorry to say. But it's still a great town. ;-)

Luxury Cars of Los Gatos on Blossom Hill near Vasona Lake is still alive though.
 

cjfrbw

Well-Known Member
Apr 20, 2010
3,325
1,316
1,730
Pleasanton, CA
I pass your stomping grounds at least four times a week on 17 going back and forth between Pleasanton and Santa Cruz.
 

cjfrbw

Well-Known Member
Apr 20, 2010
3,325
1,316
1,730
Pleasanton, CA
It's going back and forth between two homes, not work. I'm retired, so I have the luxury of mostly choosing when I go.
 

Curious42

Member
Nov 9, 2018
7
6
8
Talking about the old Ferrari of Los Gatos.....

I have a 2001 Ferrari 456M, which was originally sold by Los Gatos Ferrari. The 456M was sold to a gentlemen in the Bay Area, who subsequently later sold to an enthusiast in Louisiana. I had been searching for a specific optioned and exterior color 456M for 5 years (starting circa 2007) when a fellow Ferrarichat.com club member listed his on the site. My wife and I flew to Louisiana, test drove, and bought it. I was quite surprised to see the bill of sale - Ferrari of Los Gatos - when going through the documentation. The 456M is "back home".

One of my weekly jog routes takes me next to the Los Gatos Luxury Motors.

Talking about local and high end....

You may see in my stereo listing, I also have Wavestream Kinetics and MFA gear. The Analog Room (TAR) is only 5 miles away on Bascom Avenue; I know I am very fortunate to have Brian and Scott Frankland (the F in MFA) literally down the street to work on the 200B. Plop the gear in my trunk and drop off like an oil change when caps need replacing. When I had the 200s caps being updated, Brian said, 80 to 90% of the MFA 200s are in the Wavestream Kinetic V8s. As I have aged, I have strongly moved toward hand made and where possible, locally made and sold products/services.

I deliberately canceled by Amazon Prime for this principle alone. I still buy from Amazon, but I will deliberately spend my dollars local even if it costs 10 to 15% more; kind of like the camp ground signs "buy local wood, burn local wood"

It is also why I really appreciate Sheffield Labs and only now realize how fortunate I was to see what I saw. Hand crafting music, end to end, at some of its best years.
 
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Curious42

Member
Nov 9, 2018
7
6
8
I have friend in Danville and relatives in Pleasanton; the traffic is so terrible (in the Bay Area)...that I rarely go to San Francisco or the East Bay.

When I used to work in Sunnyvale for Yahoo, I use to ride my bike from Los Gatos to Sunnyvale going down San Thomas Expressway; it only took 10 minutes longer on bike than auto...to commute the 13 miles . Now I just jog or ride the Lexington Reservoir trails above Los Gatos.
 

Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
I have friend in Danville and relatives in Pleasanton; the traffic is so terrible (in the Bay Area)...that I rarely go to San Francisco or the East Bay.

When I used to work in Sunnyvale for Yahoo, I use to ride my bike from Los Gatos to Sunnyvale going down San Thomas Expressway; it only took 10 minutes longer on bike than auto...to commute the 13 miles . Now I just jog or ride the Lexington Reservoir trails above Los Gatos.

The traffic is truly terrible there however if you want to see traffic all you need to do is drive from South Orange County to Los Angeles to fry your nerves. Our son lives 68 miles north of us in Valley Village. It has taken us on occasion 2 1/2 - 3 hours to do that drive
 

bazelio

Well-Known Member
Sep 26, 2016
2,493
1,745
345
California
Talking about the old Ferrari of Los Gatos.....

I have a 2001 Ferrari 456M, which was originally sold by Los Gatos Ferrari. The 456M was sold to a gentlemen in the Bay Area, who subsequently later sold to an enthusiast in Louisiana. I had been searching for a specific optioned and exterior color 456M for 5 years (starting circa 2007) when a fellow Ferrarichat.com club member listed his on the site. My wife and I flew to Louisiana, test drove, and bought it. I was quite surprised to see the bill of sale - Ferrari of Los Gatos - when going through the documentation. The 456M is "back home".

One of my weekly jog routes takes me next to the Los Gatos Luxury Motors.

Talking about local and high end....

You may see in my stereo listing, I also have Wavestream Kinetics and MFA gear. The Analog Room (TAR) is only 5 miles away on Bascom Avenue; I know I am very fortunate to have Brian and Scott Frankland (the F in MFA) literally down the street to work on the 200B. Plop the gear in my trunk and drop off like an oil change when caps need replacing. When I had the 200s caps being updated, Brian said, 80 to 90% of the MFA 200s are in the Wavestream Kinetic V8s. As I have aged, I have strongly moved toward hand made and where possible, locally made and sold products/services.

I deliberately canceled by Amazon Prime for this principle alone. I still buy from Amazon, but I will deliberately spend my dollars local even if it costs 10 to 15% more; kind of like the camp ground signs "buy local wood, burn local wood"

It is also why I really appreciate Sheffield Labs and only now realize how fortunate I was to see what I saw. Hand crafting music, end to end, at some of its best years.

I'm a semi-regular at TAR myself and have utilized Scott Frankland on many occasions as well. Speaking of which, I may just stop in today to see if Brian has brought in a couple Mingus records he was going sell to me....
 

Curious42

Member
Nov 9, 2018
7
6
8
The traffic is truly terrible there however if you want to see traffic all you need to do is drive from South Orange County to Los Angeles to fry your nerves. Our son lives 68 miles north of us in Valley Village. It has taken us on occasion 2 1/2 - 3 hours to do that drive

I concur with you Steve. My family and I lived in North County San Diego (Del Mar/Carmel Valley) for a short stint (2007 to 2010 for work) before returning back to home. My mother in law lives in Seal Beach and brother lives in Westchester. My nerves were fried driving back and forth between North County SD and Orange/LA county to visit....the Friday to Sunday traffic either direction from 9AM to 10PM was / is a mind blender.
 

Curious42

Member
Nov 9, 2018
7
6
8
I'm a semi-regular at TAR myself and have utilized Scott Frankland on many occasions as well. Speaking of which, I may just stop in today to see if Brian has brought in a couple Mingus records he was going sell to me....

Hi Bazelio. Did you go to Brian's old shop 'house" on Fruitvale? That place had character!
 

bazelio

Well-Known Member
Sep 26, 2016
2,493
1,745
345
California
Hi Bazelio. Did you go to Brian's old shop 'house" on Fruitvale? That place had character!

I think so... But I might be confusing it with another place as this was probably in the late 90s. I just remember hearing a system in an old San Jose analog place which at the time sounded better than anything I'd ever heard. I believe the speakers were Aerial Acoustics. And I can't remember much of anything else.
 

Curious42

Member
Nov 9, 2018
7
6
8
I read with interest the General's intro thread and his vast album collection. What specifically caught my attention was his process to purchasing and listening to numerous copies / batch releases of the same album in order to find "THE" one. This reminded me when we were searching for our Yamaha UX3 vertical piano and has served me well in other interests and muses.

There was/is a guy in South San Jose that purchased rebuilt pianos out of Japan. I settled on a Yamaha UX3, built mostly in the late 70s and early 80s. He sold a number of different Yamaha vertical models, but he had 9 UX3s available. The boys and I took our sheet music, went to his temperature controlled storage unit (that is a different story!), and proceeded to play our known pieces on all 9 UX3s. A funny, memorable experience going into an ExtraSpace facility to play pianos!

We each played all 9 UX3s in clockwise order; I had no idea how big a difference in tone and touch the UX3s would be. The boys easily noticed the differences as well. After several discussions amongst ourselves discussing what we liked and disliked and coming to an agreement on common desirable characteristics, we narrowed down the top 2 UX3s and then chose one...it was a toss up at that point and we could sleep at night with either of the top 2. We spent close to 5 hours playing UX3 pianos.

Each UX3 had been hand refurbished in Japan by the same few craftsmen/same company. Temperature, time, and materials exposed very different results. Not better or worse; just different. I imagine this happens with other instruments; ironically when I am at pianoworld.com you rarely hear people doing back to back piano testing with the same make/model/year. They do mention, however, the final setup by the tuner, at home, is what makes/breaks the piano tone/touch. I appreciate this final service more so after our back to back piano experimentation/purchase and consequently reading about what the General has done with albums and his equipment.

Ironically, the UX3 has actually gone up in price. I happened to go back to the same piano guy to buy another piano bench for our Yamaha MO8 synth. The person remembered exactly what piano we purchased 7 years prior and said don't sell the UX3...it is worth more now! I really like the UX3 when playing Earth Wind and Fire, James Taylor, and Vince Guaraldi.

When we explore the Steinway B path, clearly finding a dealer with more than 5 Steinway Bs setup by the same in house tuner/restorer is a must have. Which leads back to why I liked the path the General has done with albums; curiously interesting to say the least.
 

Stu

Well-Known Member
Oct 10, 2015
12
17
233
Los Gatos, CA
It has been awhile since I last posted.

I am typing this entry from Seal Beach, Ca....only a few miles from where Brian Hartsell moved to after retiring from The Analog Room... in San Jose, CA. I pass by his old store at least a couple of times a week. I remembered he moved to Seal Beach, so I looked him up hoping to catch up. Sadly, I did not realize he had passed away. I did a quick search on this site for Brian, and no results returned on Brian's status.

Since many people in this thread are familiar with Brian and The Analog Room, I thought I would post this link remembering Brian.



In the link is a very nice tribute to Brian; there are also photos of Scott Franklin (Wavestream Kinetics and MFA); I just saw Scott two weeks ago (picking up my Wavestream Kinetics phono preamp from a tuneup) and forgot to ask he had spoken with Brian recently.

RIP Brian. Your colorful personality has not been forgotten.

-stu
 

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