Synergistic Red Fuse ...

Nyame ...

I have the "For Duke" album. Its a sock knocker-offer. :-)  

On the Linn turntable:  The first time I heard one was at an audio store in Van Nuys, CA.  There was a tech there who modified Dyna MKIII mono amps and Dyna PAS pre amps. His name was Michael Frazier.  He knew how to eke magic out of those Dyna products. Anyway, he had a setup consisting of his electronics, a pair of little Linn "Kan" speakers and the Linn turntable. Michael and I sat there after the store closed for a couple of hours just immersed in great jazz. I still remember one recording featuring John Coltrane that put Coltrane's tenor sax right there in the room. It was amazing. 

On the Von Gaylord cables ...

What I look for mainly in an audio system is a natural sound to the instruments.  If the instruments aren't tonally correct, what's the point? I've heard systems costing in excess of 100K that don't get this part right. 

While attending audio shows, I always seek out systems/products that get the tones right --- the rooms that play music. That's what drew me to the Linn demo rooms in years past.

Well, this past June, at the Newport show, My friend Robert and I spent time, as we always do, in the Harbeth demo room listening to their great 40.2's.  That was one of the best rooms at the show from a natural sounding standpoint. The Harbeth speakers are truly great in this regard. I could listen to them for hours on end.

After the Harbeth room, my friend Robert and I wandered into the Von Gaylord room. It was just the two of us and the designer Ray Leung. Here, we had just left the Harbeth room listening to the 40.2's at $16,000 a pair, and walked into a room with small speakers costing $6,000 a pair making music at least as good if not better than the big Harbeth's. We couldn't tear ourselves away from Ray's room. It was that good.  The speakers, electronics and cables are all Ray's designs.

After the show, I tried one pair of Ray's IC's. They went between my turntable and phono stage.  That's all it took. I was hooked. So, now there's another pair of Von Gaylord IC's (balanced) between the amp and preamp. A pair of Von Gaylord bi-wired speaker cables are in the system now too. All of these cables replaced some highly regarded cables in their own right. The improvements attained with Ray's cables are, in a word, stunning. Highly recommended. 

Here's a link to Ray's Von Gaylord site:  http://vongaylordaudio.com/beta/

If you take the time to talk with Ray, you'll find him to be a perfect gentleman with a ton of patients.  Check out the reviews. 

OP

"...If you take the time to talk with Ray, you'll find him to be a perfect gentleman with a ton of patients."

I'm not sure it's fair to refer to his customers as his patients, on the other hand....

;-)

charles1dad

It was in the very early 1980s that I heard the LINN. I was not involved in our lovely hobby during the years 1986 through 2000 due to work and going back to school.I did not return to the hobby until 2001 when I began assembling  a modest multi channel  receiver based system. I was not able to enjoy listening to music on this system so in 2003 I decided to build a modest, but musical, two channel system, which morphed into the system I now have.

During this long period of inactivity I gave away all my LPs (about 300) and equipment (Quad Electrostatic loudspeakers, home built mono-block  power amps, home built pre-amp etc). It was a fantastic system.Each  mono-block consisted of 4 items : Left power amp, right power amp, left power supply and right power supply. The amp was rated at 50 watts per channel into 8 ohms, 100 watts per channel into 4 ohms, 200 watts per channel into 2 ohms AND 400 watts per channel into 1 ohm. It was in fact a 400 watt per channel amplifier that produced its maximum power into one ohm. It was developed to power the Quads which could not handle high voltage. The electrostatics panels would arc if exposed to more that about 45 volts. For best fidelity no protection of any kind was used. I used a thin wire to short its outputs and it simply burnt the wire. Each amp used eight 
250 watt bipolar transistors per channel in the output stage. It outperformed every amplifier it was compared to, including the Krell.

The pre-amp was built the same way. Left preamp, left power supply, right preamp, right power supply. It used FETs in the input stage and each power supply was what one would expect to find in a small power amp.

I gave away all my equipment to friends. I could not bear to sell them. They were too precious to sell.

Hi Frank,
Just out of pure curiosity what is the metallurgy of your Von Gaylord cables and are they shielded? I’ll acknowledge that many factors determine the final sound character of audio cables. We share very similar priorities I’ve come to discover from reading your posts over the past months. As you commented and I agree, for me it all begins with the demand for natural tone as the crucial necessity. Other important sonic factors follow once this mandatory criteria has been satisfied.

I use the Ocellia Silver Reference cables (unshielded and with a paper dielectric)as they have fulfilled this role admirably. No question however that there are numerous excellent audio cables to choose amongst. I imagine that your Von Gaylord cables are wonderful.
Charles,

Nyame,
I would have loved to hear that system you've described. 
Charles,