this one's for pops!

[Big Dog RJ]

G'day fellow music lovers, I thought that I'd post this specific one just for our father's and to those who still have their parents around, especially our old pops.
I am taking the whole week off for tomorrow is a very special day, my good old pops is arriving all the way from Sri Lanka to visit us. he will be staying for only a week, as he tends to get easily bored.

The greatest thing is, he's close to 83 now and I am exactly half his age. He's still running around and attending to his usual seminars and educational conferences around the world, he keeps going and does what he loves. He also truly loves music, especially classical and it seems like the old system had finally come to rest and has been passed onto a worthy music lover back in colombo.

My pops had the legendary Apogee divas driven with Arc SS gear all class A monoblocks, this was a very special edition run of ss class A mono amps that were rated around 160w pure class A and its design was in collaboration with the krell class A monoblocks that actually look identical but bearing the Arc logo. They were fantastic amps and could drive virtually any load. Both the Apogee's and Arc amps have been repaired numerous times, and at one point undergone so many changes in internal components that the original stuff no longer exists. They were purchased somewhere in the early 80's and the Apogee's later during the late 80's. Pops always believed that nothing could compare this combination of sound, and he was probably right as the source was of course a tt from Linn with a Revox phono stage and marantz tube line stage partnered with the Arc mono's. One hec of a sound system indeed!

Anyway, I plan to give pops a dam fine break and visit a few wineries in country Victoria and also introduce my humble Rega tt! He has listened to my c-j & Quad system before when I had the Arc ref 7cd but didn't think much of it compared to the Apogee system. That was during his last visit to melbourne which was around 5 or 6 years ago. I really wonder what he would say about the Rega. Anyway, as long as I can spend some quality time with my pops that's all that really matters, since this may be his last long haul trip across the globe.

So cheers to our loved old folks, they are the ones who actually brought us into this world afterall and brought us up with good intentions the best way possible.
Cheers to pops! RJ

 

[Johnny Vinyl]

Enjoy the time spent with your Pops RJ! I wish my Dad was still around, but he left us 4.5yrs ago. My Dad was also a big music fan, but he never had an audiophile system. With 7 hungry mouths to feed and the only one working there wasn't much left over to indulge in some of the luxuries in life. He wasn't bothered by it either and was quite content with his Kenwood receiver, Dual TT and Avid speakers.

Have fun!

 

[Big Dog RJ]

Hey Johnny, great to hear from you mate!
That system your pop had sounds fantastic!
Infact as far as I could remember since I was just a little kid running around in me shorts without a t-shirt, pop's long standing system was infact a Marantz receiver and Celestion speakers. At the time I think the tt was also from Grundig, this was a real classic system in the good old days, which he bought from New York.

It was only myself and my bro, plus pops was the principal of an American school and held several high positions in the field of education right through his career. He is known as the father of American education in colombo, and just recently retired as the chairman of the United world college. It was only after I was in my early teens that he got into the Apogee / Arc system. The funny thing is he still kept the vintage marantz receiver and celestion speakers. The Grundig tt packed up long ago. Just wasn't good for tropical conditions. I also remember the celestions cabinets started to warp and eventually the surrounds all gave way. Celestion speakers couldn't repair it, and the pair was just discarded as is to a second hand dealer. I remember placing them in their boxes. I also remember another classic speaker pops had that was very rugged and built to last was the JBL 4311b monitor. This out lasted the Apogee's and were later sold off to the same dealer at the time. Real classic stuff, they dont make speakers like those any longer. I used to get the jbl's for my dj parties, and the sound was powerful and clear. Everyone wanted to know what these speakers were.
those were the good old days!

Cheers Johnny!

 

[Big Dog RJ]

G'day music mates, greetings from Melbin!

Well Pops had a blast, we visited many great wineries and bought an awful lot of bottles. One great one, Eden Valley Next Left Turn, Merlot. Superb with red meats and virtually on its own just to relax with good company and loved ones. Around 14.5% alcohol content, hits you very smoothly after about the third glass...

Pops did enjoy the Rega very much indeed. He also mentioned that it was something very special and had a prestine midrange coming off the Quads and c-j amplification, just pure music and magic. We both agreed compared to the mighty Linn, ARC and Apogee systems that he had back in the day, it is not the best in low bass, or extended highs, extra sheer slam, and massive scale. Those sonics are best delivered off Wilsons or massive panels like the MG20.7's. However, leaving aside the extras, what you do get is effortless music reproduction and some quite special off a TT, stats, and valve amplification. This is just music at its best, and he was absolutely thrilled!

He also told me a funny thing, back during the 40's & 50's the majority of source equipment was of course a TT. Then someone claimed that the TT was flawed and now there is a magical analogue tape! This is now the 60's and early 70's and guess what? You can even rewind and fast-forward, wow! Then comes along the 80's and 90's and the tape is flawed, there is now this disc that is read by a laser beam, wow wee! You can also shuffle, and select tracks as you wish, now no TT or tape deck can do that eh?
And then time passes and now it is the new milenium and the year 2015, and what? You've gone back to the 40's son!

We laughed and laughed, and had a few good ones, and most of all enjoyed the phono, because he knew exactly why I went back to a fine TT such as the Rega, "simplicity" is the answer, and of course as someone else stated, the basics. It is the basics that will give you the greatest pleasure, and allow you to enjoy the rest of your precious time with family!
Cheers to pops, oh! by the way, his fondest album was Miles Davis, Kind of Blue. It is an awesome album, although I find the Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab version of Patricia Barber, plays Cole Porter Mix on 200g limited edition to be the finest pressing that I currently have.

Cheers to Miles Davis, Patricia Barber and pops!
RJ

 

[Steve williams]

Wonderful story. Thanks for sharing

 

[Al M.]

Wonderful story. Thanks for sharing

+1

 

[Big Dog RJ]

Cheers for that gentleman, much appreciated.
Pops is back home now. passing through hong Kong he did have to get assistance with a wheelchair because the gates at the terminal are quite far. Whiles checking in at melbourne airport, they asked him if he would require a wheelchair,and his answer was "wheelchairs are for old people! " just like pops.

The dealer chap who bought off the Apogee's and Arc amps is going through a repair again due to some leaky caps and a bit of corrosion on the wiring in the diva'sdiva's Bass panels. He claims he can easily fix it with something as good since he has already purchased some parts from s-pore. He prefers to replace the caps with howland since the original caps that were in the arc amps no longer exist. These are quite massive looking caps and blueish in color.

he seems quite confident that he can restore the system back to around 90% of its original state. I certainly hope so. Cheers to all,
RJ