Jump to content

kgst


kevin gilmore

Recommended Posts

Actually, almost anything he recorded you can hear him humming along.  My sister and I once sent a letter to High Fidelity magazine after he recorded a piano transcription of Beethoven's 5th Symphony that he make a record of the 9th Symphony where he could hum the choral parts while playing the orchestral music.  It was published in edited form.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Early version of what? The Goldberg Variations?

 

Yeah, A State of Wonder specifically. It has the early version, then a very late version he did, plus commentary and other material, I highly recommend it. In the later version he uses the sitting chair, and the hammer tacks in that nasty old Steinway. It's clear he was trying to get something more like a Harpsichord to achieve the articulation that the music demands. 

 

You can see the power of a mature artist with this. His tempi are significantly slower, the music comes alive and breathes. The famous early version is just a calisthenic exercise, hardly worth listening to. 

 

 

Actually, almost anything he recorded you can hear him humming along.  My sister and I once sent a letter to High Fidelity magazine after he recorded a piano transcription of Beethoven's 5th Symphony that he make a record of the 9th Symphony where he could hum the choral parts while playing the orchestral music.  It was published in edited form.

 

lol, great story!

Edited by Earspeakers
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Did a quick test with ear speaker and servo connected after long warmup, got 10VDC & 6VDC balance, with some 3-4 VDC offset. I had calibrated without servo and headphone to 0/0 (or as close as I could get), after reasonably long warmup. Should I be concerned or am I just seeing some effect from the headphone/servo?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You can see the power of a mature artist with this. His tempi are significantly slower, the music comes alive and breathes. The famous early version is just a calisthenic exercise, hardly worth listening to. 

 

I used to feel the same way about Gould's original recording of the Goldbergs. Then I discovered the Zenph re-performance release (see Amazon and HDTracks) — turns out, I just hated the shitty 1955 mono sound. Both the 1955 and 1981 recordings versions are beautiful, just very different.

 

As a side note, when I do my unskilled best to play the Goldbergs, it's awfully hard to find my own sound and not fall into the trap of imitating Gould.

 

PS: Sorry, I know this is totally off-topic on this thread. :)

Edited by gepardcv
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I grew up, so to speak, with Gould's '55 recording, so my mind is permanently warped by that. 8)   I am working on the Goldbergs myself on and off, but I don't have a chance in hell of duplicating his original speeds, so I try to ignore his interpretation when I'm playing them myself.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yah, I'm sure the record that single-handedly launched his career and put him on the map as one of the great interpreters of the 20th century is just a calisthenics exercise hardly worth listening to.

 

 

Sarcasm aside, who cares that it launched his career? It often happens that what a person is eventually known for is different from what they were famous for in their time. Rachmaninov was primarily known as a performer, not to mention Bach. And I'll stick to my guns here - his young Goldberg is a calisthenic exercise. We used it as an example in an interpretation study lesson, basically what not to do. The later one is so much better. 

 

Unfortunately, after listening to the later one, I can't help but imitate it myself. Especially the first movement. 

 

I grew up, so to speak, with Gould's '55 recording, so my mind is permanently warped by that. 8)   I am working on the Goldbergs myself on and off, but I don't have a chance in hell of duplicating his original speeds, so I try to ignore his interpretation when I'm playing them myself.

 

 

Yeah I hear you! The first thing we hear imprints on our brains. When I was playing professionally I never listened to recordings for this reason (common for musicians). Nowadays as an amateur I depend on recordings to get my musical high every day, as I can't play as much as I used to. 

 

Anyhow, back to OT, today after a five minute warmup I'm getting 1-2VDC Balance and 5-6VDC Offset in both channels. Don't know whether to be bothered by that or not. Seems like it should be better. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 And after a half hour it's 1-2VDC on both balance and offset on both channels, looks good! Surprised it takes some settling in, but looking good at the moment which makes me happy. I don't know how I got the 10VDC earlier. I've got a cheap DVM at the moment (sold my expensive HP jobs years ago when I thought I was done with DIY, ha ha), maybe it just flaked out. 

 

Anyhow first KGST seems to be good, thanks so much to all you wonderful people for your help!

 

I'm now working on the KGSSHV, and a second KGST for backup duty (ended up with an extra transformer by accident)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Who cares? The hundreds of thousands of people who resonated with it enough to buy his record. Better question is, who cares about an Internet keyboard warrior's opinion. Why don't you produce your own cd and let us know how it does before making ridiculous and incredibly offensive unfounded insults? Glenn Gould was all about breaking conventions, which is always difficult but his genius made it work. Both recordings are reflections of the same great man, in different stages of his life. If his first recording is a lesson in what not to do, sign me up for the class.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It takes a special kind of cunt to turn MPI into the reasonable one in an argument. 

 

OK, This made me chuckle! He may be a hothead, but he's our hothead, and we love him. Earspeakers?...not so much. You may not be as well suited to this place as you might have thought.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No I guess not. Sorry for being a new person in an old forum, I tried. 

 

Try acting like a new person in an old forum.  Especially an old forum that tells you it is full of grumpy people who are dubious of new people.  Don't post lengthy dissertations teaching us things.  Don't claim to know how every business in the entire world operates.  Don't try to impress us with your background in music or engineering or whatever the fuck.  Don't post and post and post and not take hints.  And don't call Birgir "Spritz."  That is just stupid.

 

Take a breath and lay back occasionally and maybe you will find a niche here.  Obviously, there is plenty for you here, and you are clearly enamored with the technical expertise that is shared here.  But if you simply cannot filter and cannot help but sound pompous, then you're going to get this same treatment until you are banned or bail out.

Edited by Voltron
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

That would be interesting. I have compared GE and RCA ones. It wasn't easy because it takes quite some time to change the tubes and set the offset and balance again. I thought the RCA's were the better ones, but I am not really sure about that.Good luck!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That would be interesting. I have compared GE and RCA ones. It wasn't easy because it takes quite some time to change the tubes and set the offset and balance again. I thought the RCA's were the better ones, but I am not really sure about that.Good luck!

 

as you said set balance and offset need long time especially they need time to be stable.it must be a long-time project.

 

 

Actually,i have compared RCA and SYLVANIA. the same reuslt like yours : RCA seems like better.

 

Yup, it takes a long time.  However I do like the GE better than the RCA.  RCA is airier with better soundstage but the high is a tad too pronounce for my taste. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yup, it takes a long time.  However I do like the GE better than the RCA.  RCA is airier with better soundstage but the high is a tad too pronounce for my taste.

That's what I remember too,but I had the feeling the RCA's are more involving and the bass was a bit tighter.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I like the Japanese made 6S4As better than the GE, RCA. and Philips EGC that I have sampled. All have different plate structures. I believe them to be repinned 6RA6s, a Japanese tube with 40% lower Rp and higher dissipation. Heater current spec for the 6RA6 is higher too, and measurements on the JAPAN 6S4A bear that out. They are easy to spot with flags between the plates and the getter like on an EL-34.

That said, I am currently using Tungsol 3 mica, square getter 6S4As. The internal plate structure is indentical to the Japanese mfg tubes without the flags. Probably the tooling was sold to JAPAN and tweaked for the 6RA6. These Tungsol sound great in the KSGT.

Edited by Laowei
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.