Is it possible?

 

Is it what’s only important, nowadays?

World is celebrating highest price-tags and never, ever a word about the musical performances of these amazing, impressively built gears.

Is it a lack of descriptive and argumentative abilities or an intellectual and cultural drift, now more than ever focused on money and the power that this implies and intends?

Status symbols, adult-toys for distracted, annoyed billionaires?

Do these machines play music or are just a show-up of the technical bravery and skills of their makers?

The arduous sentences to posterity.

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Low level/High resolution 💫

 

It’s all here, much better than the abused and overused “High Fidelity”…

My system truest raison d’etre is the following:

• Low-Level Reproduction: Unlike many horn-based systems designed for high volumes, Kato's system was optimized for reproducing the finest details at realistic, home-friendly low volumes, allowing subtle nuances such as the musicians' breathing or the touch of their fingers on the instrument to clearly be audible.

Thanking to Hideo Kato-san for the above illuminating definition: I realized, to my surprise - thanks to Quad ESL and  Gotorama 2.0 - that I don’t need high SPL to enjoy my music of choice, but I sure need a breathtaking resolution, silence among notes and awesome detailing, which I get a-plenty.

Everything else is BS and musical illiteracy, as only a natural neutrality allows any music to blossom and be nourishment for the soul and the mind. 

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HBD, Anthony Braxton 💫🥂🍀💫🥂

 

Happy 81st birthday to Anthony Braxton 

Photo: Cody O'Loughlin for The New York Times

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Tono visits Tomohiro Kawakita-san 💫

 

Tomohiro-san’s company, Amitechs Corporation in Osaka, represents Goto Unit outside Japan; I spent with him and Shinichi Tanaka-san, some wonderful hours at Kato-san’s place, in 2017.

 

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Something rare, indeed 🍀

 

… not the Garrard 301 or the (black) Ortofons’, but that modified “soap” butter-color Ortofon cartridge 

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Pegheads 💫

 

Robbie Basho’s 12 strings guitar 

My Harmony H1260 “Sovereign”

A marvelous unknown classical guitar 

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Kato Labs from Japan 💫

 

Hideo Kato-san personal mono system 

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The mythological “Mushroom Bell” drivers… a Jean Hiraga’s fave.

H.Kato Lab Inc. (加藤研究所, Katō Kenkyūsho) was a Japanese audio research company and laboratory founded by audio engineer and researcher Hideo Kato (加藤秀夫). Operating primarily from the 1950s to the 1980s in Setagaya, Tokyo, the company became legendary in the Japanese (and international niche) audiophile scene for its handcrafted production of extreme horn speaker systems, phono cartridges, and ultra-precise audio components. Kato was known for his radical approach to sound reproduction, championing the absolute superiority of monophonic sound and implementing cutting-edge technologies such as MFB (Motional Feedback) control on horn drivers. 

His products, particularly the "Mushroom Bell" and "Maxim Bell" tweeters, are now considered rare collector's items and "holy grails" of vintage Japanese audio.

2. Hideo Kato and Audio Philosophy

Hideo “Ken” Kato was a multifaceted figure of profound culture: an engineer, but also a scholar of politics, history, languages, and classical music. His approach to audio was guided by an obsessive pursuit of absolute fidelity, which led him to develop very specific and sometimes counter-current technical beliefs:

• Absolute Monophony: Kato rejected stereophony. He believed that stereophonic reproduction (with its phase and artificial spatial synthesis problems) compromised the coherence and naturalness of sound. 

His personal system, legendary among visitors to his laboratory, remained strictly monophonic throughout his life. He maintained that true "depth" and realism were achieved by perfectly reproducing the distance from the microphones, not by dispersing the sound across two channels.

• Artisanal Construction and Research: Kato personally built every component, from turntables to tonearms, from cartridges to speakers. He began modifying existing designs (such as the Westrex cartridges) and then created his own, dissatisfied with commercial compromises.

• Motional Feedback (MFB): He pioneered the use of MFB to control the spurious movements of speaker cones. He successfully applied this technology to giant woofers (up to 80 cm) to achieve tightly controlled bass and even attempted to apply it to horn-based midrange and treble drivers, albeit with enormous technical difficulties.

• Low-Level Reproduction: Unlike many horn-based systems designed for high volumes, Kato's system was optimized for reproducing the finest details at realistic, low volumes, allowing subtle nuances such as the musicians' breathing or the touch of their fingers on the instrument to clearly be audible.

3. Mushroom Bell Tweeters

The Mushroom Bell series tweeters are H. Kato Lab Inc.'s most iconic product. The name comes from the characteristic mushroom shape of the horn, designed for optimal acoustic dispersion and controlled resonance.

3.1 Technical Features and Design

The design philosophy behind the Mushroom Bells aimed for maximum lightness and fast response, to reproduce female voices (such as that of Maria Callas) and high-frequency instruments with absolute naturalness.

• Ultra-Thin Diaphragm: Kato's main innovation was the development of an incredibly thin diaphragm (vibration board), only 4 microns thick (thinner than a human eardrum). This extremely low mass ensured exceptional transient response..

• Low Power Handling: Due to the delicate nature of the 4-micron diaphragm, the Mushroom Bells were not designed to handle high power. Kato recommended driving them with very high-quality amplifiers rated at just 1 watt. Many inexperienced users burned the voice coils by applying too much power, but Kato always refused to use thicker wire or tighter tolerances, as this would compromise the smoothness and precision of the sound.

• Materials and Construction: The horns were made of solid metal (often brass or heavy alloys) and machined on a lathe with absolute precision. The magnetic assembly was oversized. The physical production of some components, according to some sources, may have been outsourced to high-precision external companies such as Murata Manufacturing (Kyoto) based on Kato's specifications.

Kato-san, like other seasoned audiophile and purists, argued that acoustic depth (the perception of the distance of instruments from the microphone) is a property of the recorded signal, not of stereo. 

A well-designed mono system reproduces this depth perfectly. Stereo, on the other hand, adds an artificial lateral localization that doesn't correspond to the way one listens to live music in a concert hall, where the entire room is a diffuse source and no clear left/right separation is perceived.

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The Ducks meet Kraftwerk 💫

 

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Picchio dal Pozzo (1976)

 

Such an A M A Z I N G disc !

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Grunt

 

Wyatting 💫

 

Yesterday, June 1, 1973, British art rock pioneer and former Soft Machine drummer/singer Robert Wyatt broke his spine after attempting to leave a party by climbing down a drainpipe and falling three stories. It left Wyatt permanently crippled and confined to a wheelchair. Despite his handicap, he began a forty-year solo career that included critically acclaimed albums and a hit single, a cover of The Monkees "I'm A Believer". 

A key player during the formative years of British jazz rock, psychedelic rock and progressive rock, Wyatt's own work became increasingly interpretative, collaborative and politicized from the mid 1970s onwards. His solo music has covered a particularly individual musical terrain ranging from covers of pop singles to shifting, amorphous song collections drawing on elements of jazz, folk and nursery rhyme.

Wyatt had been a member of influential Canterbury band The Wilde Flowers and later, after Soft Machine, put together Matching Mole before his accident.

Soft Machine, photo below, toured the US accompanying friends The Jimi Hendrix Experience.

Matching Mole were about to record their third album when, on 1 June 1973, during a birthday party for Gong's Gilli Smyth and June Campbell Cramer (also known as Lady June) at the latter's Maida Vale home, an inebriated Wyatt fell from a fourth-floor window. He was paralyzed from the waist down and has used a wheelchair for mobility ever since. On 4 November that year, Pink Floyd performed two benefit concerts, in one day, at London's Rainbow Theatre, supported by Soft Machine, and compered by John Peel. The concerts raised a reported £10,000 for Wyatt.

Wyatt released his solo album Rock Bottom on 26 July 1974. The album was largely composed prior to Wyatt's accident. The album was met with mostly positive reviews. Two months later Wyatt put out a single, a cover version of "I'm a Believer", which hit number 29 in the UK chart. Both were produced by Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason. There were strong arguments with the producer of Top of the Pops surrounding Wyatt's performance of "I'm a Believer", on the grounds that his use of a wheelchair "was not suitable for family viewing", the producer wanting Wyatt to appear on a normal chair. Wyatt won the day when he and the band all appeared in wheelchairs.

Throughout the rest of the 1970s Wyatt guested with various acts, including Henry Cow (documented on their Concerts album), Hatfield and the North, Carla Bley, Eno, Michael Mantler, and Roxy Music guitarist Phil Manzanera, contributing lead vocals to lead track "Frontera", from Manzanera's 1975 solo debut Diamond Head. Wyatt continued to appear with other artists and release solo albums. 

The verb "Wyatting" appeared in some blogs and music magazines to describe the practice of playing unusual tracks, in particular songs from Wyatt's album Dondestan, on a pub jukebox to annoy the other pub goers. Wyatt was quoted in 2006 in The Guardian as saying "I think it's really funny" and "I'm very honoured at the idea of becoming a verb."

Thanks to John Einarson for the above 🖖🙏🖖

Folk, Rock & in between 🍀

 

Hooray for this new booklet!

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Goto in Vietnam 💫

 

Almost an art-installation.

Such a cool, elegant S150 pylon and… look at the impressive Goto SGs’ collection and the vibes taming black rope around the horn instead of the extremely low WAF, utterly unfriendly, sticky yet effective bituminous material usually found.

Very elegant, also if drivers phase alignment could improve overall sound.

Fussy me 😉

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To Wien or not to Wien?

 

After some pondering, I decided to don’t attend to the Vienna HiEnd Audio Fair.

The reasons are many and all absolutely legitimate: first, comes my oblomovism, then the distance, costs, physical fatigue due to inexorably advancing age... but above all, after eight editions of the Munich fair, I feel a very significant, perhaps incurable, psychological fatigue: I know exactly how many people I know will be dressed, I know exactly the exorbitant price of a sandwich or a bottle of mineral water, I know that at the Silbatone stand, Maria Callas and Led Zeppelin records will be played at impossible volumes on unattainable cinema speakers and everyone will be elbowing each other over the high cost of amplifiers and preamplifiers... Aries Cerat will almost certainly present impressive new speakers, which, like ACapella, will cost millions... an absolutely embarrassing, painful sense of déjà vu, with flocks of audiophiles of different nationalities mingling in the corridors mostly talking about the sky-rocketing high prices of this or that and the Chinese stands always impeccably kept and sadly empty. 

It will certainly be hotter than expected and - aside from the pleasure of greeting some friends who will be exhibiting for the first time - a fair like this represents a niche sector whose target audience ages year after year, without any real generational turnover… looking at elder people (so similar to me) spending in vintage discs at inflated price-tags sums worth the life and care of many children in war-zones makes me sad and guilty.

I'll definitely miss chatting with Joe Roberts, Beau Ranheim and JC Morrison, greeting Michael Fremer and a few others... but this feeling of having to "participate to exist" is frankly pointless!

 I don't need or haven’t to buy anything, I have more records than I can listen to for the rest of my life, and—frankly—audio and music are a solitary, poetic, almost mystical journey that doesn't fit well in the glittering world of the contemporary audio industry. 

My personal parameters differ from others, and I'm not seeking approval or proselytes as my actual frailty and disenchanted and realistic (pessimistic?) approach is my very own, period.

Thanks to Robert Crumb 

Let's just say I feel more like an ascetic with a deep love for music than a tycoon with a fat wallet and that my home audio system never sounded this good, also without spending millions.

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According to rumors, I believe (and hope) the fair will return to Munich in a few years... we'll see what the future holds. 

Personally, I hope fair attendees in Vienna’s HiEnd will find reasons to be interested and learning how to better enjoy music.

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Munch’s mike 😱

 

The Archivist 💫

 

Further insight about the new turntable by Jean Nantais:

“A quickie post on my new model, The Archivist! Sorry for the late report, still more to post after this but I'm so busy building various idlers I don't have time and most of all this new model was a shock! The first customer, who owned TWO two-tonearm Ultimates sums it up perfectly here: "All bets are off. I don't know what any piece of equipment sounds like. I don't know which records sound best. Reborn. I don't know which records sound best for demo because all hold surprises."

A well-known and loved client had bothered me for years to improve on the Ultimate, which I answered repeatedly couldn't be done as, after all, the Ultimate Lenco was the ultimate, combining the strengths of digial (perfect speed stability thanks to the much greater inertia of the 14 1/4" platter, razor-sharp transients) with the best of analogue, (silkiness, much more information including sustains and decays, resonances, a realistic soundspace etc.).

But increasingly, with the development of my own Mighty Mite and lately the Mighty Mite Super which was a smash hit at the recent Montreal Audio Show ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=io1UBQXzC1I ) , and my work on older idler-wheel drives like the Rek-O-Kut Rondine, the aesthetic of a simple tall platter on a flat plat/chassis appealed to me.

Then two clients at the SAME time wanted an Ultimate Lenco built for FOUR tonearms! Since this couldn't be done with the Ultimate Lenco design for a variety of reasons, I decided it was time to design a turntable homage to the '50s,!!

And I couldn't do this without at least attempting an improvement in sound. Since the Ultimate already had all the elements of taking an idler-wheel drive all the way (extremely low noise floor, off-the-scale inertia/speed stability imparted by the 14 1/4" diameter platter) I simply increased the Direct Coupling (greater expanse of chassis to plinth contact) and inertia (add more mass to the rim). I also developed a new bearing to handle the greater stresses of the platter. The new bearing also was an imrpovement on the Ultimate Lenco, I learned something new here as well!

Since it was literally impossible to even imagine improving on the Ultimate, I had no idea what better would even sound like. Would the greater inertia even be audible? Could the noise floor - already impossible to hear - be even lower and the difference audible? 

When I finally had the 'table up on the stand and playing, I literally could not believe what I was hearing: STUNNING dynamics I wasn't sure wasn't an exaggeration, bass reach and detail I couldn't be sure wasn't a colouration, the smallest details emerging clearly from LPs I had played thousands of times, resonances and decays permeating the sound room, incredible depth and placement of the soundstage, even in comparison to the Ultimate Lenco!

And so began several months of testing, to be sure the Archivist was "telling the truth": it seems it is, but perhaps this is irrelevant given the performance! As the client said above: "All bets are off. I don't know what any piece of equipment sounds like. I don't know which records sound best. Reborn. I don't know which records sound best for demo because all hold surprises."

As you can see the visual design owed a LOT to the Rek-O-Kut Rondine, HAD to have the big knob, had to have the level, had to have the Art Deco lettering 😃

More later on the journey with more sonic details, it took years for me to design and make reality the Ultimate, had to find all the suppliers and businesses needed along the way, this one I realized in a record year because most of that work was already done.

Enjoy the music, I'll end with another quote from the same first Archivist client: "How foolish to worry about pressings. Just put anything on. Enjoy it. Archivist is the cure for audiophiles. It is Freedom." Couldn't have said it better myself! But still trying to get to the bottom of it.”

Well done, Jean 💫

Sunday Music 💫

 

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The coolest of Cool 💫

 

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