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Thursday, May 7, 2026

Exploring 💫

 


Yesterday I swapped the passive line-stage after recently swapping the power double triode from my little amp: so, to recap from Audio Consulting “Silver Rock” and ‘65 Telefunken 6080 to Luxman AT-3000 Ultimate and ‘40s Kauffman 5998 and the Gotorama is performing like a magnifying lens… better: a telescope!

The 5998’s 4,5W p.c. (instead of the 6080’s 2W per side) gives more mojo and cojones to overall result, fortunately without loosing the 6080 heavenly sound character.



🤭

A quite promising and utterly prophetic title, indeed 😉



Every little, also the tiniest adjustment in tilting single drivers/horns and whole arrays is easily perceptible, a dream!

Tubes, cables, SACD or vinyl records, using this or that clamp on Garrardzilla… every little variation is immediately recognizable.

Enjoying!

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Sylvia Courvoisier & Mary Halvorson - Bone Bells (2026)

 


What a wonderful disk!

I’m quite partial to Mrs. Halvorson’s music, but this freshly published CD is on a class of its own: not jazz, not classical but a bit of both, the angular soundscapes transmit a sense of “old world”, like two young, gifted musicians at a Conservatory of Music that duet secretly from the professor who left the classroom to drink a coffee. 







Cleverly composed and played, it’s a joy for the ears.

Looking forward to meeting Mrs. Halvorson in a few days after a concert she’ll perform at the Vicenza Jazz Festival.

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A one of a kind crossover from Japan 💫

 


Seldom seen outside Japan… I remember I spotted a sampler of this at HiFiDo Akihabara, Tokyo, exactly nine years ago.










Thanks to Alex for sharing and congratulations: your Onken horn system will fully blossom with this laboratory-grade piece of gear.

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Wednesday, May 6, 2026

Late Franco Cerri’s Gibsons’ (and my humble one) 💫

 


On his sofà, a picture of his instruments taken by his son.



… and here below, here is my 1976 Gibson L5CES




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The Ultimate Grateful Dead’s Europe ‘72 box-set 🤟

 



Steeeeeep-priced but soooooo coooool!















 💫



Tuesday, May 5, 2026

Olivier Messiaen

 


“Birds are the greatest musicians on our planet.”

Olivier Messiaen





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Listening to the first vinyl-disc 💫

 


A rather cryptic and (intentionally) inaccurate and misleading title: I'm listening to the first vinyl record since the recent completion and re-installation of the Goto system... well: clearly it's not the "first record I've listened to" ever, but the first on the renovated system... 

… and, yes! 

It's as if it were the first ever, which in reality is true and it's not true! 




Enjoying Audio Consulting “Silver Rock”, handmade power-amp using a ‘40s Kauffman 5998 (yes, it’s same amp which I was using with 2W p.c. ‘65 Telefunken 6080: it’s switchable to different double triodes with proper filament voltage toggle-switch) and Misho’s Wooden Phono Stage… ~ 120 dB efficiency, 4 W per channel and not a buzz and a dynamics hard to believe.

The system is truly majestic in sound.






Thanks to my pal Francesco (The Watchmaker) for this amazing little jewel.





The truth is that everything sounds like it’s... Christmas Day 🎄☺️😉 and you feel inexplicably optimistic and pretty stupidly fine, immersed in something so sincere, clean and natural and “heartwarming beautiful".

In a few words: the first vinyl disc I listened to sounded brand-new-like… and the others which followed, too!

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Ahi!

 






Monday, May 4, 2026

Banco 💫

 


54 years ago… 


… still enjoying it.

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Goto SG146LD or the ears of beholder 💫

 

I don’t care at all about unsolicited opinions coming from some hyper-expert/haters around: I walk my path without distractions from the goal: music. 

Yes, again: I’m never tired praising the merits of this amazing driver… a musical instrument more than a piece of audio.

Tightening is paramount and cork-washer does its job. A mild-bass, fast and not boomy, is what’s needed.

Every nuts, bolts and washers must be not magnetic (stainless steel).

Cables: won’t it be too flimsy and thin? 

Naaaah!


Unbelievably good 

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Studer B62 and a bespoke trolley 💫

 







Cleverly and proudly made in Vietnam.

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