All Horn at Horn Honks.com

Super!!!

Sound is recorded at 200 ft!!!

WOW!

Supertyfon horn from Kochum Sonics (Sweden)

Maybe we don't own a vessel 200m long or more... yet, these heavy duty horns are... intriguing?

No...  it's MUCH more:-)

... and this is... oh, oh... pretty right for home/studio horn system audio use... 

... mmmmmhhh...

R.I.P. Dept. - Frans Bruggen passed away on August 13th

Sad news from The Netherlands... ancient music without him and Maestro Gustav Leonhard wouldn't have been.

R.I.P. Maestro Bruggen.

Psych music from Thailand - Khun Narin Phin Sing from the Phetchabun Province

WOW... that's cool... lovely global tripping music... like MV+EE, Makoto Kawabata, Jerry Garcia and John Cipollina meeting.

Thanking Joey Zarda and Marc Campbell.

Oldgoodears

My elder bro...

Dated 10th Century... at The British Library...

The Proof - Tony Rice - Me & my Guitar (Rounder 1985)

Here I'm giving away a litlle, well kept secret, folks...

Beside the common plethora of audiophile recordings we all use to test our audio systems... you name them - Dafos, Casino Royale, Noye's Fludde, and hundreds more... - I also use a quite strange disc - Tony Rice - Me & My Guitar (Rounder 1985).

Mr. Rice was and is an acoustic guitar flat-picking maven, his tone, precision and speed are legendary... he plays a one-of-a-kind '35 Martin D-28 once the property of Clarence White, an awesome sounding instrument with its enlarged sound hole which - someway - further improved projection of sound... a cannon with a tone!

Back to the Rounder's disc... it's an ADA - i.e. the analog multitrack studio tape was digitally mastered on Sony 701 and then cutted on vinyl.

The overall sound is a bit cold, better - a razor;-)

The recording happened in three different studios, one in Berkeley, CA and two in Nashville, TN... the instrumentals REALLY sound amazing as the soundstage sounds natural and well-spreaded, more reminding to a live in the studio recording than a multi-miking recording mixer pan-potted.

So what?

When Tony  Rice sings with his nice, high pitched and quite metallic voice, the sound becomes razor-like, coldish, almost painful.

Only if you carefully do your homeworks on VTF, VTA, overhang and your cartridge and arm and turntable combo are performing as an unicum spinning machine, something happens and also the voice sounds smooth, throaty but natural.

The dynamics on this disc are really top-class and playing it randomly, after changing something on my Gotorama system is both a joy and a shiver.

The sound is reminding a good disk, but something of the analog recordings is preserved also after the Sony 701 digitalization.

A truly enriching aural experience as - it's my strong opinion - there shouldn't be audiophile records, but our systems should make more of the records special sounding... not an average, so-so, so-called "quasi-perfection", but a - say - 80% "WOW!" whispered when listening to our music of choice.

... and, hey, shit happens, pals!

The "good" recordings should be more than the "average"...

With "Me and my Guitar", you've the proof that's possible to improve also the listening awe and enjoyment to a difficult recording...  then, how Mr. Arthur Salvatore would say, there are Divinity and Semi-Gods records and recordings... but this is another story.

    

Time Capsule Kudos - Bill Graham's Music Award of Merit and more

With great footages of Grace Slick, Robin Williams (yes...), Jerry Garcia and many, many others...

... plus a great, little book about his life.

The Percussion Group of Cincinnati on Opus One 80/81 (1981)

Percussions and percussions music are a fave of mine... at first, drums and cymbals and marimbas or vibes only music seems to be boring, unvarious and limited in textures... yet, more you deepen the listenings more you appreciate the nuances and antique moods these instruments evoke.

Some years ago I bought a strange box, a 2-records set after the suggestion of a vinyl merchant I shop once per year, a very knowledged French gentleman with an huge experience in also the most elusive stuffs.

I remember that in that occasion I bought a pristine, canvas cover first stereo pressing of Archiv Fournier Bach solo cello sonatas for a veeeeery good price... a Vega Turangalila Symphony by Messiaen, also including a 7" with Olivier Messiaen himself explaining things and facts about his opus and this, above mentioned box-set: "The Percussion Group Cincinnati - Music of Brun, May, Mosko, Yoshika, Defotis, Kramer, Peck, Wolff, Udow" on Opus One # 80/81 (1981).

Track Listing:

Side A:

• More Lust - Herbert Brun (13:20)


• Para-diddle - Theodore May (6:08)


Side B:

• The Cosmology of Easy Listening - Stephen Mosko (8:56)


• Paradox III - Takayoshi Yoshioka (11:15)


Side C:

• Continuous Showing - William DeFontis (5:02)


• Five Studies on Six Notes - Jonathan D. Kramer (18:22)


Side D:

• Lift Off - Russell Peck (7:46)


• For 1, 2 or 3 People - Christian Wolff (9:18)


• Strike - Michael Udow (2:56)

The "Group" is Allen Otte, James Culley and William Youhass and they're playing all the paraphernalia a percussionist use, from litter cans to flower vase, VW brakes, tympani, drums aand cymbals of every size and shape.

Why for God sake am I talking you about this disc?

Well, cannot say, exactly... yet, yesterday evening when shot the four sides of this TRULY seldom heard music, I had the very sensation I was the only man on the planet to listen to this music... sure this LP wasn't pressed in large quantities, but the a.m. felling wasn't coming from such a thought, someway6 collector-tinted... no, all the pieces were composed with math (the only language able to try to explain creation and its misteries) in mind and the "message" I got from these layers of assorted percussions was stars-hinting...

Sort-of "Hey, we're alone in the Zero Kelvin Universe... only thing we can do is making some "noise" for our eyes blinking-long life... just to say "I'm alive!".

It's heart beating and variations... from caveman to XXI Century Man, we never stopped making noise on logs, drums, metal bars and the like.

Maybe that's the truest reason I so much love percussions...

The 2 records-set is half-mastered at JVC and carefully engineered and pressed and edited without compression and limiting... dynamics are EXPLOSIVE - a true tracking test for both my Lumiere DST and The Peak 12" arm - and music is really enjoyable and pleasant. 

Liner notes contains very, very interesting intros and footnotes about every piece by the authors and pieces were mostly composed for the Group, so it's a very short and close to the source musical chain.

I suggest you to browse the Web for this black cover elusive box-set, folks.

You won't regret.   

Quincy Jones & The Distorsion of Sound

... and if he's worried, believe me, we all should be... have a look here.

Thanking Stevan...

Robin Williams - 1951-2014

I talked about him just yesterday, with some friends... his tits on fire in Mrs. Doubtfire... laughing...


Today, he's no more... I'm really, really sad, folks... from Mork & Mindy to Popeye, from Will Hunting to Insomnia... his characters were always very natural and well rooted, true to life and intriguing...

World is a sad and lesser place, today. 

R.I.P. dear Robin...

Stanley Laurel & Oliver Hardy in 1956

... a rare shot of Stan & Ollie... to do not forget all the joy they gave to the world... one year later, it was 1957, Oliver Hardy died...

I love them...

Missing Chicco...

Two years, one month and five days after he passed away, I'm missing my beloved pup dearly...

Cannot stop looking and looking at the beauty of his eye browses and at the complete relaxed way he fully trusted in me and my wife...

With him we were a family... now (with my wife) we're only a couple.

You're in my heart, dear Chicco.

Forever.

DS Audio DS-W1 Optical Cartridge from Japan

Many audiophiles recall Optical cartridges introduced by several companions many years ago. Its sound was shockingly sensational. Comment at the time was, "Pure like mountain dew, yet strong like a water fall."  

However, contrary to the market response, those cartridges quickly disappeared from the market. 

It was Precision mechanism and sophisticated optics that were too difficult to come over at the time. Furthermore, the audio market begun to shift into Digital Sound Era (CD music).


People still talk about Optical cartridge as analogous to Hi-fidelity. So, Optical Cartridge became a legendary product among audiophiles. 


Unlike MM/MC cartridges, which based on Electromagnetic induction, Optical cartridge detects stylus vibration by a beam of light. This innovative design made it possible to eliminate Electromagnetic frictional force intrinsically exists in any MM/MC cartridges.  


DS-Audio proudly announce that DS-W1 is Renaissance of Legendary Optical Cartridge.

VTF is 6,5 grams, sensitivity is 500mV... 

... mmmhh...

CSNY 1974 - a must buy!

Don't play the fool, like I was doing myself... yawn, after ALL these years - forty, actually - more of this ol' crap... hey, I'm older and an intellectual and I listen to avant-garde, and... blah, blah...

... but when you listen to Crosby's Almost Cut my Hairs... ho, ho?!?!

Than Mojo magazine arrives and you find a dozen pages review and a complimentary disk from the 3CDs/1DVD box set and... you hit your chin... ouch!

I'm listening to This INCREDIBLE disks on Gotorama's glory and it's brand new, fresh, timeless music... a joy for the ears and the soul, Willie Nash and Joel Roberts did an AMAZING job from the archive master tapes... the sound is AWESOME, like the music... the booklet says it all... the Alembic 12 strings electric Crosby played... when a Martin D 45 or D 18 or D 28 is played... who plays what...

Neil was playing on a couple sets a D'Angelico New Yorker jazz guitar (sic...) and well, I now know why Americans and we all love CSN&Y... listen to Stills on D 45 "Word Games"... it's muscular and rock, also if acoustic... so... everyone is much welcome: the Redneck, the Freak, the Psych, the West Coast fan, Southern Rock... acoustic, electric...

Well, the pixies alone are worth the ticket on this box set...

Mojo interviews and review says also the Men were in coked-mode and dope circulated in every moment in backstage, bus, rehearsing... but those were the days.

The quartet survived lung transplants, booze, deaths, fights, bankruptcy and more... they are still here, reminding their music is in our generation DNA.

Making it simple? Buy the box, Blue Ray, DL or... hey, you Deep Pockets in the corner... one of those GORGEOUS 6 vinyls in maple box etc. etc... pressed in 1,000 copies for the advanced vinyl junkie, it also contains - among other goodies - pubic hairs samplers of the four artists... so, rush on CSN&Y site, where the USD 499 (plus shipping) superb vinyl box is only available... the first 100 copies also contains Joni Mitchell's pubic gadget from the hey days.

Hoax;-)))

Those were the days, folks... buy this AMAZING musical treasure box.

Seriously: it's a GREAT disk... a document... a statement, and a recording to die for!


Enjoy!





  

Stoned

LOL!

Zero Freitas or the Man who cannot Stop Buying vinyl discs

"For the truly compulsive hobbyist, there comes a time when a collection gathers weight — metaphysical, existential weight."

So true!

Read the full story here... impressive and... oh, oh...?!?!

Thanking New York Times' Monte Reel for the great article.


I'm jealous, Zero...

Stefan Grossman's interviewed...

Stefan has been an huge inspiration and a mentor to me and my guitar playing like for zillions other acoustic guitarists on the Planet Earth and I still plays some of his nice tunes from his books and tabs and records...

Here and here are two superb interviews by Work & Worry...

Thanks for the great job and for sharing, folks.

A goldmine.

Bonobo's flying

Animals?

Who taught, who learned?

ALLNIC Puritas Boron and AUT 2000 MC transformers step-up or the Combo Power

When I met my pal David Beetles and Kang Su Park, last May at München MOC 2014, while chatting and greeting and laughing, they misteriously told me: "In a few weeks, you'll get, see and listen to "something" truly special... you do deserve this experience!".

Few days ago...  wow...  I understood the Munchen's promise;-)

I recently got a brand new, improved and gorgeous ALLNIC's Puritas Boron cartridge and an AUT-2000 MC transformer.

Both David and Kang Su strongly wished having yours truly to listen to their flagship top-of-the-line cartridge properly matched with a Permalloy core transformer simply conceived and made for this very cartridge.

I used my previous Puritas Boron mounted on Archè VTA/SRA headshell matching with my best SUTs - i.e. Peerless 20/20 4685, WE 618B and Peerless 4611 with superb results  in the very merit-order as per a.m. listing...

I someway boldly felt I already got the soul and understood everything the Puritas Boron is able to extract from the most inner vinyl groove, so... well, I headed myself to taste the full ALLNIC's combo lightly hearted, waiting for no blasts or  sonic fireworks, but some nice, correct, sound.

I mounted the Puritas on Archè headshell and used my The Peak 12" arm and Garrardzilla 301... something I deeply know, as I'm able to hear also smallest combo variation.

I took away the 4685, actually in use, and swapped for AUT 2000, as well. 

The first disc was a double bass duet album of Bottesini music on Italia label...

The soundstage immediately and further opened like my little, humble studio got some meters more in size on every wall... consider that the papers accompanying the transformer says it was brewed in South Korea on last June, so barely tested and tasted by Kang Su Park, himself, as per his signature on papers... sure a non broken-in unit.

Impressive... a very, very impressive performance... but so good I guessed - shame on me - thanking the disc,  so great in performance and sonics to magnify the ALLNIC's stuff...

I turned my ears to "Verite du Clavecin" on Sarastro at 45 rpm, a 1755 Hemsch harpsichord masterfully recorded by Georges Kisselhoff.

... and I almost fell from my chair, folks...

The disc quality is awesome, must say... Harry Pearson's TAS told us all decades ago... nonetheless, what Puritas and AUT 2000 does to this disc and music is simply the very best I ever listened to, period.

Puritas, Arche and Schick arm (an old pix)

THIS extraordinaire cohesiveness is the combo - SUT and cart, cart & SUT - merit, no doubts... Kang Su is possibly using alien technology or simply - and likely:-) - he knows how to properly wind his irons and every trick concerned!

The Gotorama shines and truly disappears... only a granitic sound bubble is perceived, where the harpsichord is in front of you, the musician is breathing and everything sounds so natural and quick and dynamic and airy... yet sound is so well rooted to the recording venue and my room, so phisically here!

I'm going to say something dangerous, something I very seldom say or even think... but... well, HOW could I enjoy more my system and any music played on it?

How could I change anything on my system without risking to loose this?

I'm now very worried and afraid of loosing the magic, like never before!

Did this bliss change when weather getting colder, on next winter?

... or with humidity increasing?

OMG... I'm in tears, as I hate the above questions: I'll sure have nightmares on the matter... I'll bet it!

... maybe this it the cost for audio bliss, who knows? 

Thanking Kang Su and David for such a stellar adding to my humble audio system.