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Wow,.. wham bam thank you man! That was quick for a first one Ric! Congrats Ric and Melissa! She's totally beautiful.

Happy B-Day Andy! Enjoy the day!

And so begins another adventure! Exciting news Ric,.. in 10 years or so, you'll probably be begging for "dull"!

If it sounds like static and isn't the bubbly, popping sound (which is usually a tube gone gassy), it could just be the pins have corroded a bit. One sure cure for that is to clean the pins with metal polish. I use my Dremel tool and Mother's Aluminum and Mag Polish (at any decent auto store). If you have a Dremel, cut a Q-Tip in half and insert it into the small mandrill chuck, dab a bit of Mother's on it and polish each pin for a few seconds. Clean the residue with a clean swab, put your favorite contact enhancer on (I use Pro Gold) and call it done. In low noise applications (phono pre etc) you'll often get a few dB less noise and any contact related noise is histo'. It's kind of a "poor man's" gold pin. Oops,.. forgot to say to give a Mullard/Amperex 12au7 a try. Since you just need a single, you can get some pretty decent prices on them. A real smoothy.

Cool Rodrigo, Thanks and looking forward to hearing from you!

Xmas baby huh (or rather,.. Xmas eve baby). Sorry I missed this yesterday but being born on the day you were, I guess celebrating for a few days each year is to be expected. Happy B day Ken and Merry Christmas!

Wow! Nice Wayne. I guess when it comes to Santa, it's "go big or go home"!

Hey Wayne, I'd love to see some of the pictures posted when you get a chance. Have fun!

My condolences Mike. I hope your mother in law and family find peace. Wayne, what a bummer. You should get hold of your local news station and do an "on air" request for the return of Santa's stuff. That way the people who took them can return it to the station with no questions asked.

You're always welcome Al! I'll bring that tape with me to the next meet in Burlingame in Feb too.

Oh,.. I think that 24/96 copies can be done. Just don't hold your breath. I'm kinda swamped right now.

I just got a couple of tapes of Count Basie and his Orchestra. It's a live recording from a private party in L.A. which took place in 1961. The dynamics are unbelievable and the tunes are great. The tapes I have are direct copies of the original session tapes which were never meant to be distributed. I'm not sure about the details of these recordings but they sound like they were done professionally. Of course, since they've never been processed at all, the stereo image isn't quite centered , there's no fade in/outs and the horns on the left sometimes dominate over the right but the sound is very "fresh" and the Basie and the guys are in top form. One cool thing is the edits (splices) are minimal so if the next tune starts within a minute or so, there's no edit and you can hear the players messing with the guests. I really like the idea that I'm able to listen to something that only a handful of folks have ever heard too.

Bummer,.. that thing is really bent! I don't think I'd even try to bend that one back. The odds of getting the stylus to line up again is nil. A stylus that isn't point straight down can really mess up a record fast. The Goldring version of the stylus could be replaced (kinda expensive though). I think you could do better on the used market though.

Got my boards as well. Thanks a million Marc!

Very cool Marc! They kinda look like the robot head from Lexx.

Bummer! I didn't know he died. Saw him a few years back myself and he never missed a beat. Great point about trying to get out and see the greats jp.

Happy B day Gene! Have a fantastic day and I hope to see you again soon!

IMHO the issues stated by this seller are nothing to worry about. The selector switch that craig uses do have a tendency to get scratchy sounding after while but that's easily fixed by "exercising" them. The seller also mentioned noise when he/she moved the 6C33's when it's on. The solution is don't move the output tubes when the amps running. Those tubes are always a little loose in their sockets and they were originally meant to be used with some pretty stout tube holders. The relative "looseness" of the socket>pins often lead to the need to clean the pins fairly often which is a well know bitch from folks who own Lamm and BAT amps that use the 6C33. I have ZD #12 and still love it with all the dynamics I own. It's a great preamp too! OOps, meant to link to the one that's selling for $1650.

Nice Mike! I think I'm flying to FL for Thanksgiving next year! Ed,.. I'm speechless!

Leave it to Ed to put a "tech spin" on slow cooking. All you need is an app to monitor the temp and do adjustments from your blackberry! You guys are putting my pedestrian roasted turkey and stuffing to shame!

Hey jp! Happy B day! See ya in a few.

Same here you guys! And don't forget,.. Outback Steak House has a free onion for you! (I can't help but laugh everytime I see that ad)

Yup, Really have a lot of respect for Joe. I could watch the either Ali-Fraiser a million times and still enjoy 'em. I can't remember which one it was (or both) but the story is that Fraiser soaked his face in salt water for hours every day leading up to the fight. He knew he was gonna get hit in over and over and he wanted to be sure that the fight wouldn't get stopped because of a cut!

Regarding the TRS/TS connector question, I have configured the cables I use both ways (in fact, of the 3 cables that I use, I can't remember right off hand which is which) I don't find any difference in the sound of them. I've also configured cables with the "telescoping shield" where you use a TRS and connect the "R" (ring) and "S" (sleeve) together and have sometimes had issues with hum when I used them for output cables. The telescoping shield is meant for inputs such as DI (direct in) from something like an electric guitar (direct in as opposed to placing a mic in front of a guitar amp) where the extra shielding helps to eliminate hum from nasty environments.

The Jensen transformer upgrade is meant for the mic preamps. Some folks really like the coloration that transformers give to condenser mics (gives them more of a ballsy sound,.. read classic rock). They could provide some galvanic isolation but I've never had a noise issue with my MIO so I can't see that being worth the extra $$$. If you're looking for a used ULN-2, the price will vary quite a bit depending on how it's configured. I've seen the basic unit go for as little as $600 but you'll probably have a hard time finding one without either the " plus DSP", "2D card" or both upgrades. Both options are for processing audio, advanced routing, mixing, and recording. For someone who wants to use it exclusively for the DAC and maybe some routing don't really need either. If you feel like you might be interested in doing needle drops with digital RIAA eq, you'll need +DSP. Be aware that you can add any of these options anytime you wish. I bought my ULN-2+DSP in 2007 for $800 just a month before the 2D card was introduced and I didn't get around to adding it till last year. I think you'll have a tough time finding a ULN-2 without the card but you should be able to find a 2D unit without a DSP licence.