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Following up with Rudy recordings

Focal Aria 936s.

You pick the musical personality that defined the punk/rock attitude for you. Taking on the church or Frank Sinatra it’s always been her for me. Like a lot of soon to be parents I started thinking of the music I wanted to introduce to our child. Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds and O’Conner’s I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got were one and two. Celebrate the beautiful. Tear down the opposite.

Wow, this one hit like a gut punch.....RIP to an amazing person. I used to argue for her when so many were crapping on her for tearing up the pope's picture. Compare that to what was done to thousands of kids BY that very church.... Her voice was incredible, the passion of every song evident. RIP to a truly great one that did not deserve the bad she got. May she truly rest in peace.

With a coat of Penofin. Marc, I think the hubbub is when you're taking it and you're not in excruciating pain.

I'm dusting off my collection of Rudy Van Gelder recordings/remasters: Herbie Hancock – Empyrean Isles.

Did it come with a crane?

Deck Curry 🍽️🥥🐔🍛🍌

I never really liked the top end of Focal/JM Labs.

The design really lends itself to contrasting woods, like you've done. Much more boring in a single species. He should use your example on his website.

Probably not.

Time to catch-up on my musical Blog.. I have been listening, but have not been taking the time to post, I hope that my schedule will slow down in the future to keep on top of it. So much to listen to. Anyway. Study In Brown Clifford Brown, Max Roach 1955 https://album.link/i/1434889869 Example: This '55 Mercury recording is really good and catching the Cliff and Max combo pack in a good place. Other than the possibly racist 'Cherokee' track, a very fun set. Dusty In Memphis Dusty Springfield 1969 https://album.link/i/302307350 Example: Such a pretty voice. We all know Preacher Man, but this album has a lot of great tunes and highlights Dusty's talents. And Many thanks to the members of The Memphis Boys making the sound so good. Mo '69 The Allman Brothers Band (Deluxe Edition) The Allman Brothers Band 1969 https://album.link/i/1469577513 Example: I added this to my queue (along with Brothers and Sisters) a while ago after hearing a track off the youtubes. I never owned any of their albums, I just heard radio play back in the day. I have to say I really like the brand of blues and rock that they put out there. Good recording. Also be careful when someone asks for what to wear for the photo shoot, and you say, whatever you want. RoundAgain Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau, Christian McBride, Brian Blade 2020 https://album.link/i/1502112092 Example: Just an awesome quad. I hope that they continue to do some colabs while they are in this groove, I need more, and to see them play live. Leonid Kogan Plays Brahms & Khachaturian Leonid Kogan, Philharmonia Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra 2012 https://album.link/i/570710062 Example: I am not sure how this got into my queue. Maybe a stereophile testing track? Anyway, really a good recording, for what I was expecting to be a more historical recording (1958,59). I was not familiar with the Khachaturian piece, but something that I will look for going forward. Good balanced recording for orchestra and soloist. Ah, a little research later - turns out that the second work was recorded by RCA and released originally as Red Seal 'Shaded Dog' label. So, yeah - good recording. It is a little tricky when looking through a list and you see 'Guild Historical' as the label on the cover. So, I am glad that I got to listen to this one. And Speaking of happy listening. Revolver (Super Deluxe) The Beatles 1966 https://album.link/i/1643394501 Example: It has been a while since I have listened to this album. The 2022 mix came up somewhere, and there was a lot of chatter and some controversy. People getting all but hurt about this version verses that version and original bla bla. Putting all that aside. I listened to this diligently. And yup, frickin amazing. I go back between this and Rubber as my fav albums of this era for them. The exploration of song format and the introduction of instruments really pushed these froward. Do I need the other 50 tracks of outtakes and false starts? Not really. But what those really point out is how much George Martin was there to piece together all these cuts and tracks into pretty cohesive songs. They were not a one take live to tape band. Also like that there are rough edges and studio artifacts left in. Anyway - back to listening.

I built a tree bench/table. I'll cut plugs this weekend to cover the screws Monday. The surrounding ground will have artificial turf installed this weekend. The turf will extend up the box about 4". Monday I'll cover the PT 2" X 6" box with matching 3/4" Cedar.

Another longtime update. Going through the amp I found that pins 7 and 8 on the phono connector were already jumped. After more thinking and pounding my head, I realised that the ground for the for EVERYTHING but the power/bias section is actually coming out of the phono board connector. In the schematic the ground for PB-300, PB-200 and PB-100 were all connected together with the ground wire coming out of the PB-100 board. For some reason PB-500 ground was connected that of PB-200 instead of PB-100 but anyway. I just rewired so the ground connection is at the PB-200 connector instead leaving the PB-300 connector essentially unwired except for the MAG input. The amp is now working flawlessly and is silent than ever!

To add more to this 007 (whatever version...) saga, in a way all this actually helped me. Preface: we, as - preferably nice, humble - humans, should join forces and try and learn from each other. Even just regarding audio we experience and know things that others do not. And the frustrating thing is there is very information in one place and it might not be as valuable as experience, if you are lucky you find someone with close experience. A chain is not "ready-made". It is something that you figure out eventually, after finding out what sounds good and what not. And this even starts with the recording you play that someone else made and the software you use. All these tiny differences might add up to what you are hearing. If you don't start comparing getting a lot of placebo effects in the meantime (and just not enjoying not listening to music) you have very little idea about where you're actually at - in some ways fooling ourselves can be less distracting and more enjoyable... I'm guess being a musician or an audio engineer might help, they might have a better idea of how things should actually sound, that helped me a lot 10 years ago. Although I would add, that in the grand scheme of things, that is also just an another viewpoint that I should be taken into account as I said, people make recordings is various ways. I started 14 years ago, being completely clueless but at least I observed how people behave which steered me towards Stax and also this forum. Anyway, who cares about audio lesson cliches... I am on the modified 727 after some weeks with the Carbon. It's anything but a representation of a very accurate sound. I prefer this one. I listen to music. (while I observe a lot of things, this has become my main perspective) Why? The 007 is a power hog, how is this possible...? The Carbon is more neutral, has tons more power with better extension up and bottom, bigger stage, better dynamics, definition and all that jazz. So, with the 727 I am listening to a more compressed, I would say softer, brighter sound (but with warmth in the mids) with a smaller stage and some roll-off. (I feel that almost any Stax becomes too bright on this 727, basically nothing really works as well as this 007 Mk1.) However, the sound is 'simpler', more 'wholesome'. More cohesive, intimate and inviting and there is more focus and "beautifying" on the midrange which is a special 007 characteristic. Less can be more, which is why the NB Lambda is still a firm favourite of mine. Maybe it is just my brain getting bored by a certain sound and more interested in a different sound, but I don't think so. I had the 727, but for quite a while I didn't have a 007. (So basically, this lengthy post is only written, because I randomly have all this gear...) The Carbon does not "do much". It's a great amplifier. Works great with Lambdas (older ones), works great with the Omega and I might find more interesting matches. However, the characteristics it is giving to the 007 is making it more V-shaped and analytical. The stage becomes too big, there no coloration to fill in that upper midrange mid and upper treble emphasis and the flabby bass problem is actually more emphasized on the Carbon. (I was thinking of maybe trying different earpads, they definitely do their own contribution...) There is deep bass, but I think a bit too much and treble is the same. More does not equal better. So do I want throw (yet) more money at this to dial it more? Or rather: is this something that I myself created that wasn't there in the first place? A few notes about the Lavry DA11, which I still have many years on, partly because of being a cheapskate and partly because I am not the biggest fan of buying things blindly and I haven't found anything that I borrowed and think I must have this (Slightly missing the Parasound DAC1600HD, should have had that modified). In today's world, it is now a "semi-vintage" studio DAC. Does not add anything "magical" to the sound, that could be needed with a Carbon with certain headphones. However it does add a bit of fullness to the bass and "looseness" to the sound that I found more preferable with Stax headphones that can become "too clean", and there is nothing offensive in its presentation. Sort of a similar difference that you get regarding 727 vs Carbon. Unlike with headphones and amps I have very little clue about sources, and I don't want to screw up the synergy I achieved with the SR-Omega + Carbon either. I would like more richness in the mids and I can detect a slight bite in the treble but it is good enough for me. (Although I wonder how I will feel once I get the Carbon back from the normal bias modification and I switch back to this pairing...) I know Lavry makes the Quintessence, but it is super expensive and does not even have a USB input. Just to give you an example about synergy: with the SR-Omega + Carbon, stage is also overdone, but the headphones want to do it anyway, the Carbon just lets it do that, so it is not distracting, the bass is naturally very strong without cutting into anything else like on the SR-007, etc. etc. As much as I understand about why the amps are designed are how designed, some headphones just need more coloration to reel them back to "accuracy." (a quote I stole from a meet impressions, and it's very true) So in the future I hope to see some variations that are at the Carbon's power level but deliberately more tuned like the Stax amps. The X9000 needs plenty of tuning if you ask me... But it's also telling that people with T2s tend to like it more. So maybe it is not completely lost cause for me in the future when it gets cheaper on the market. But as Bob Katz said about the 009 "Why would you want to have a more expensive headphone that you might need tons of EQ to correct?" Well, to balance things out, I can answer that, because each headphone has particular characteristics that a chain will not change that much. That is exactly my personal worry about the X9000. The reason I am annoyed by it is just having a lot of generated hype by comparing it against other products that I personally don't like much either. If there was a balanced take on things, I would have no reason to be frustrated. The 007 Mk1 has simply matured enough that you can find all the good and bad about it. I hope to hear it in a maximised setting a BHSE is something that a lot of people rate (maybe against a maximised Omega, which might rather prefer what the Carbon provides) It can be a great everyday headphone. It has great natural ability, a few definitely just manage to edge out the SR-Omega without being silly expensive, threatened by reliability problems, etc... I just don't know how much money and tinkering etc. is needed to be thrown at it to keep the synergy and technicalities perfectly balanced - as all things should be. For about 3000$ all-in, this chain is not too bad (I would add my NB Lambda to have more brightness, but more firmness accuracy.) But maybe there is more to be extracted from this budget, that's where the knowledge comes into play (with personal preference). Probably not how it's supposed to sound on the 007 Mk1, too soft. But it captures the essence of the musical message, there is no distraction going on, it takes me back to a different time - so I like it.

ONSemi. Abandon all hope for the next production batches. Mouser says "758 Expected 12-Dec-23", but that alas for the hated semiconductor supplier, can usually be taken with sizeable a pinch of salt. Farnell says 249 will be delivered to them on 26th Jan 24. RS says 21st Feb 24 See what I mean about pinch of salt? Stock, when ONSemi finally supply a few thousand will disappear pretty darned quick as manufacturers hoover up stock for their production. Manufactured in China, like just about every semiconductor I've bought in recent times.

RIP Sinéad O'Connor, aka Shuhada Sadaqa, at age 56. Very sad. 🙁 https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/music/2023/07/26/sinead-oconnor-acclaimed-dublin-singer-dies-aged-56/

Ontario Knife Company is closing... Founded in 1889, Ontario Knife Company is closing its factory in Franklinville, New York and selling the brand to Blue Ridge Knives (a knife distributor). 56 employees are out of work and this was one of the last knife factories in the US. Of their designs, some of the most famous were the RAT (Randall's Adventure and Training) series of survival knives and the M7 / M9 bayonets for the US military. Sadly, Ontario was struggling financially in the past few years and they downgraded their steel from 1095 to 1075 in some of their mainstay designs to cut costs.

Got my abscesses tooth extracted (and a bone graft put in). Fun times! I didn’t get any of the good drugs for afterwards.