"Best of 2012" continues....

   Bonzo Dog Band  "Keynsham"  1969 Liberty Records
Another weird, endearing and in my opinion brilliant record. A wide variety of styles here- Very, Very British. Friends with the Monty Python gang, Neil Innes of the Bonzos is the coconut wielding "horse" of Sir Robin The Chicken Hearted. A masterpiece. If I didn't know better I'd swear it was Paul McCartney singing "How Sweet to be an Idiot"...
    And here, the format abandons the concept for the love of felonius page-turning gimps (not literally of course- how could one simultaneously love and refer to the loved as a felonius page-turning gimp? Begs it's own question!). Forced to precede the introduction with a conclusion, the entirety is lost to blustering whim in the nascent chaos of the moment; revealing the purpose of all at the beginning of the end, only to circle back upon itself,  an entity that disappears itself by ingesting its own foot until invisibilty is its inevitable consequence. To  recapitulate in a more concrete fashion and for the sake of brevity, please disregard what you've read up until now and continue with the next blog entry as if you'd not read this. After reading the page below, continue to the top of this page and read the first paragraph, then stop. Yes, really (I know)...

Best of 2012

 My "Best of 2012" list starts here...

    Beginning with the postulate that good music is good music regardless of it's date of issue my "Best of..." will consist of music I found captivating this year; the stuff that got/gets played the most without regard to its release date.
   Like many folks I've been leaning toward the sound of vinyl records more heavily this year. The list will reflect that- surprises from the shelves of local thrifts. Most of these cost me a buck. Do I like 180 gram vinyl? You bet I do. Do I like discovering new music? Sure! Would I have paid $18.99 for any of these not having heard them first? Likely not. (With the exception of Ween "Quebec")

   The list:
      Emmylou Harris: "Luxury Liner"  1977 Warner Bros.
  When you've got Albert Lee, James Burton and Ricky Skaggs working together on your record,
you're somebody. One of a few singers to eschew vibrato for tremolo...unbelievable ability to record her own harmony parts in pitch.Backing harmony is so subtle I missed it the first couple of times through.
      Supertramp: "Breakfast in America" 1979 A&M Records
 Okay it's cheesy, I know.The guys voice bugs me sometimes.The cymbals are sibilant crap on this recording. The bass line/drum pacing during the "Take a look at my girlfriend..." bit (title track) is a good indicator of system synergy- speakers/amps with weak bass will wimp out.
       XTC:  "English Settlement"   1982 Virgin Records
 Hugh Padgham production. Superior sonics meet the unique nasal-whine of Andy Partridge. Rickenbackers aplenty and lots of toms sprinkled with percussive fairy dust and imaginative production. Odd meter will sneak past you and you may not notice the effortless fretless bass.
      Elvis Costello: "King of America"  1986 CBS Records
T-Bone Burnett produced this rather odd sampling of Elvis Costello's attempt at Americanized pop- or at least leaning toward traditionally American instrumentation/musicians.  Jim Keltner, James Burton, David Hidalgo (Los Lobos) bring a unique flavor to table here. The cover "Don't let me be misunderstood" is well done- the marimba in particular...
      Ten Years After: "A Space in Time"   1971 Chrysalis Records
 Alvin Lee covers a lot of ground here- heavy blues, acoustic space-rock, heartfelt confessions of drug-abuse, straight up rock-n-roll (Jimmy Page might/should buy Alvin a drink at the very least;not a note-for note theft, but he sure as hell copped the feel!).  I've been listening to Ten Years After "Cricklewood Green" for years, "A Space in Time" allows a more human side of Alvin Lee to come through.
     Ween: "Quebec"  2003 Sanctuary
  I'm not going to mince words; I love this record. It's a touch windy and conceptual in one or two spots but the good bits are fantastic. These guys (Dean and Gene Ween) are master satirists ala TheTubes, or Frank Zappa, but somehow manage to be satirical without resorting to blatant parody. If you haven't heard them or doubt their songwriting ability, Listen to "Chocolate Town" or "Transdermal Celebration". Frequently I have no idea what in the f*&^ it is that they're singing about. I guess it's a part of what keeps bringing me back.                                        (to be continued...)

 Elac Miracord 40H

     The Chrysler Imperial of turntables.  Slapping a record on here is like gassing up on a summer morning knowing theres a 440 under the hood. There are many things this turntable does really well. Low-end torque makes for very solid bass. Every other turntable I've ever owned  needs a separate ground wire to eliminate hum; not true here!
 Imaging is great! Vocals at center stage and the stereo image extends beyond the outside edges of the speakers on many recordings; a very good sign. I almost dismissed this turntable, thinking it an outdated relic; albeit a handsome devil despite the clunky headshell.
   Ten Years After "A Space in Time" is a delight with this table- Alvin Lee's vocal is centered and just a little bit recessed, but still in front of the drums- enforcing the impression that his voice is not coming "from" the speakers but is floating between them. The guitar resides just below his voice in the sound-field except for the electric guitar which has a disembodied life of it's own- easy to imagine Alvin running from one side of the stage to the other whilst soloing.  Jeff Beck's "Star Cycle"(I haven't listened to this cut for many years) SLAMS on this table! Tony Hymas staccato basslines are cleanly articulated and Simon Phillips drum kit has a real presence; tom fills skittering across the stereo field.
  This turntable is a sleeper.  If a tired state trooper were to see you floating along at 120 mph in grandpa's '64 Chrysler Imperial, he'd write it off as an hallucination- which is exactly how you want him to see it if you're the driver.  I'm pretty happy to get this kind of performance from ANY turntable. To get it for far less than the price of a Thorens and completely under the radar is just beautiful.

 Equipment used:    Elac Miracord 40H with Shure M55E cartridge.   Marantz 1120 Integrated Amplifier.   ADS L-910 Loudspeakers on factory stands (R2D2 looking bastards).

 In the Halloween spirit, I hired a ghost-writer to post this months segment of HiFiFreq. The copy he/she/it (please, let's not sexualize the spirit world also) turned in was all: "BOO!" and "Woooo - WOOOoooo"; Provocative and windy rubbish filled with ephemeral descriptors bemoaning the current state of High Fidelity. Having established an imaginary rapport by virtue of a common enemy (the cynical ghost) with you the reader, I continue:  Whilst hunting snarks ( a rather convoluted way to convey the mysterious nature of following or seeking something that remains as yet undefined, but whose allure is more than sufficient to justify continued tracking) sometimes a spooky feeling is induced- I imagine mythic tales of the golden hind evoke a similar haunted glade, shadowed in wraiths of fog and vivid musty odor...a sense of being led as a willing participant down into a darkening valley-lured by sirens and a hunch that unseen riches are just over the next rise, and "Hey, it looks like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre was filmed right over there..."  More plainly put, a Craigslist inquiry led to a day trip foraging the innards of a vintage radio repair shop and it's innumerable treasures; one of which being the vocabulary of the proprieter. I imagine this was quite like what heaven must be: a tinkerer's paradise with a nearly unlimited assortment of transformers, a box of old vacuum tubes, and a nearby field where truckers put hand-held citizens-band mics out to pasture. I skip through these Elysian-fields, a butterfly-net wielding idiot in full sunlight, un-ashamed at the joy I feel hefting a vintage speaker with what is surely a 15lb AlNiCo magnet. I'd love to tell you that I filled the car with vintage treasure and handed the owner a fiver, but that would be misleading provocative windy rubbish filled with ephemeral descriptors glorifying a bygone era, a golden age of audio and broadcast electronics and their concomitant technology. I did buy the cutest little tube amp I've ever seen (okay, the Z-vex Nanowatt MIGHT beat it out by a smidge), and a fixer-upper receiver that shall for now remain anonymous.
And, the owner gifted me a couple of coke-bottle shape 5U4 rectifier tubes for an amp I'm restoring and suggested I come back soon. I've started compiling a list...

P.S. As I finish writing this I hear two owls hooting in the backyard. Perfect! Translated, they tell me that the state of HiFi is exactly as it should be.

    The Latest HI-FI-FREQ Installment!!!
                                                                       EXPOSED!

                                            MARANTZ 1072 Console STEREO Amplifier

              The post-surgical detail above illustrates just some of the possibilities in the exciting world of the audio triage unit. We dare not call it necromancy for fear of awakening discerning yet sometimes cruel semanticians slumbering lazily over tomorrows philology sermon.  This here integrated amplifier presented with myriad symptoms, most notably incapacitating distortion in both channels which was traced to a demon lodged in it's spleen. Okay, it was actually a resistor that was  out of tolerance.  8.5 thousand times higher than its target value of 220 ohms, to be approximate. Problem Solved.

          As the author has become disenchanted with surgical metaphor, we will continue in a more colloquial vein. (Un-intended pun; I swear).  I have replaced all of the electrolytic capacitors (very much like the flux-capacitor that made it's acting debut in "Back to the Future") with the highly regarded ELNA SILMIC II; after 30 years the original "caps" in these stereos are on their last legs. The sound? For 36 watts per channel, nothing short of stupendous. Some forums assert that new capacitors need 30 hours of playing to break-in. I've listened for about 20 so far and WOW!  Soundstage is wide, tall and deep. Still retains the Marantz character; strong, rhythmic and tuneful bass; liquid midrange and sparkling treble without a trace of glint or glare. Frankly, this 1072 sounds WAY BETTER than I thought possible from a relatively low-powered integrated amplifier. I fixed and re-capped this with an eye toward selling it. It may be awhile...

Coincidence? Luck? Or...

   Coincidence? Luck? Serendipity? Synchrony? Do these exist independent of mind? Does quantum entanglement hold sway in human affairs? I don't have an answer, but I sure like when the universe seems aligned for even a moment...

          A few days ago,  my initial blog posting mentioned growing up listening to a Fisher Vacuum tube stereo. Part of me wishes I knew where dad's stereo went. More of me wishes he was still alive so I could ask him. As I write this I realize it's not even about his stereo; whether or not it was a vacuum tube set; where it went; what it's worth; or where it is now... It's about the fact that he realized that music is an incredible gift to humanity, and the Fisher was the mechanism through which he was able to share that with me (much to his chagrin I'm certain when Aerosmith "Toys in the Attic" was in full swing). I admit I felt remiss not taking more care to know where the stereo went. I feel better knowing that the Fisher was merely the mechanism that allowed us to share a bond that linked dis-similar materials. (I'm as unlikely to listen to the "Scots Guard Plays..." as he was to listen to The Amboy Dukes). So I find the fact that I don't know where the Fisher is less bothersome to me now. The Universe we live in is very strange. I couldn't tell you the definition of"strange attractors" in regard to modern physics( yet I know I've read about them somewhere). I can tell you that sometimes letting go of something, often brings something better into our lives. This afternoon a non-functional all tube Fisher receiver appeared and with a little negotiation I brought it home. It needs some restoration, but after putting a new fuse in and slowly bring the voltage up on a Variac, it lit up and plays music. I thought about trying to find the "Scots Guard Plays..." LP as the first music when I'm finished cleaning the receiver up, but I'm kinda leaning toward Dave Brubeck "Take-Five"; It's one of the first records I remember hearing and something my dad would appreciate too...

  Dusted off the old Dynaco St-70 on the 4th of July. I usually don't use this during the summer months because it generates a fair amount of heat.  I put a fresh set of JJ E34L's in this a few months ago.(That's no typo- they ARE E34L's -they do draw a little more current than a stock EL-34, so do your homework before you substitute them for the EL-34). How does the amp sound? Well, it gives up a little bit of bass definition compared to the McIntosh 2100 power amp it displaced- but makes up for it with a wide and deep soundstage and euphony that kept me listening until 4:30 in the morning. The sound improved markedly after the first hour, and once warmed up is a desert island pick. Or perhaps better referred to as a deserted island pick; with that kind of heat, the Aleutian Islands will certainly do.
    Thanks to Chris J. for the inspiration to dig this out, and for bringing a Thorens turntable and some vinyl for the occasion.  The pre-amp was a Luxman R-115 receiver. Speakers by Dahlquist. DQ-10's to be precise.

The Audio Giant has Landed...

   Welcome!  Thank you for tuning in to Hi-Fi-Freq, a blog dedicated to hi-fidelity audio, it's associated

equipment and the sheen or stink that accompanies the pursuit of aural nirvana.  I'm pretty sure my

enthusiasm for sound and audio has something to do with hearing my first music through dad's Fisher

tube stereo amp. Fast forward to hearing Tony Pikulas massive speakers blaring Deep Purple's

"Machine Head" while his parents calmly ate spaghetti (as if listening to something that powerful at

insane volume was normal) I wondered how he'd been able to manipulate them into accepting

this free and completely radical perversion of the status quo. I doubt Tony has any memory of that

                                   
                                        experience, but it certainly had a profound effect on me.