Thoughts and Non Thoughts

I have always experienced some hum or static noise with my analog playback. Found a phono cable that minimized RF interference. But some noise remained, I theorized from lack of proper grounding, static crackle when I touched the tonearm, for example. I ignored it and just turned the volume up. Then I changed amp (to an integrated) and the first thing I noticed was how much quieter my system was. But the static crackle and occasional hum was still there. A quick search led me to some previous discussions regarding grounding. So I whipped up some cable and connected my phono stage and amp to the window metal grill with alligator clips. Absolute silence. I think someone wrote somewhere that one could either raise the listening volume or lower the noise floor. I was discovering lower noise floor. And ticks and pops? When I played this LP it was full of ticks and pops. But when Ella sang Someday he'll come along The man I love... And when he

Hit the demo 7 iron at the range. Wow, this is one sweet feeling club! Feels just as soft as my Mizuno MP57. Only the Ping TFC graphite shaft (by Tour AD) was available and it felt surprisingly stable. Ping has a winner here. Photo courtesy of golf.com

Jazz Seen . Jazz heard. Jazz felt

Thought-provoking. The Matrix meets Avatar meets Ocean's Eleven. Still a good movie. Fast-paced, though it was slow at the start, picked up when they took on the mission. Great entertainment!

Ugnayan is a great jazz CD. Featuring the best Filipino jazz performers such as saxophonist Tots Tolentino playing inspired compositions by Maestro Angel Pena. Directed and produced by Gerard Salonga, this is a treasure that should be given more exposure. Great to enjoy with a top-notch audio system.

Quick impressions of my system with these interconnects between my CD player and amp. CD Player: Ah! Njoe Tjoeb with Amperex Bugle Boy 6dj8s Amp: LSA Standard Integrated with Electro Harmonix 6922s Speaker: Dynaudio Contour 1.3 mkII Speaker Cable: Van den Hul The Revelation Stock power cords. Ecosse Maestro – Very detailed, a bit of emphasis on upper midrange, great timbre, ideal for vocals and acoustic jazz. When Diana Krall sings Well, you know, A girl, she really got to eat, And a girl, she should eat right from Frim Fram Sauce, she is whispering these words right in your ear. It sounds refined but a bit lean on the upper bass. With orchestral music the emphasized upper mids puts the solo instruments forward. Not to say these interconnects aren't good, in fact they are. One can say they are just letting the character of the CD player and tubes through, as they were great when the CD player had the Siemens CCAs in them. With the Bugle Boys, maybe you can have too much sweetnes

Put in a pair of Amperex BBs into the Ah! Njoe Tjoeb CD player. (A Stereophile article on this fine CD player.) What a match! It sounds as close to analog as it can get. These are magical tubes. Previous tubes used were Siemens Cca's. Also very good. Goes down really low yet fast and taut bass and extended highs. They just can't beat the midrange magic of the Bugle Boys.

This amplifier just found its way into my system, replacing the Musical Fidelity A3cr pre-power combination. What an upgrade! On the power side of things, it has so much control over the Dynaudio Contour 1.3mkIIs. It doesn't have to reach 9 oclock on the volume knob. On the sound side of things, the tubed pre-amp section gives it the full body, fluidity and smoothness. A review by Stereomojo.com.