Synergistic Red Fuse ...

First, my wife is a very impartial and impatient person who I inflict my audio changes to. I did the same A/B test that an Optometrist does to a patient. No hinting as to which I preferred. She indicated she clearly preferred one direction over another and it was just as obvious to me. Same in both audio rooms systems.

Second, after 33 hours burn-in time, the fuses sounded mostly as good as they initially did. I listened every 10 hours until 70 hours when the sound was quite exhilarating. Record noise diminished 75% (alot) and the pleasure of hearing records with less than good vinyl or condition was tremendously improved. It’s more effective than adding the SimplyVinyl SugarCube pop and click remover but better since it removes even more vinyl noise.  I intend to add that device next year to my tape loop for 78s and LPs with lots of pops and clicks (we are talking 1000s of records).

Third, CDs improved in similar ways but I have an idiosyncratic sounding EAR Acute player because I use the earliest stock Amperex 6922s which have huge tonality, dynamics, mids and bass with a rolled off high end (slightly covered sound with less ambience) when I listen at the increased global feedback setting on my amps (I have this feature in 2 db steps from 2 db to 8 db range). When I use the minimum feedback, I have a leaner, less tonally rich sound from CDs (perfect for my LPs & 78s) but great ambience and openess as well as slightly tighter bass. I think it’s time to change the fuse in the CD player (which is plugged into the Teslaplex SE not the black duplex). That may alter the sound beneficially. I’ve tried about a dozen other NOS 6922 brand tubes and they just don’t sound as compelling (i.e. gold pin Amperex have fantastic mids and highs but no bass, Siemens were dry and lifeless, etc with the stock JJs okay comparatively speaking).

As I’ve stated before and as several other contributors have said, they’ve tried many tweaks over the decades. Some work, some don’t. The degree that they affect the sound also varies. Almost all of our audio systems are different. One naysayer should get off this site as he does not contribute anything positive, only cynical negativism to our enjoyment of our avocation..

As to why such great recordings were made in the 50’s and 60’s, first they used simpler but effective power supply and design technology (and cleaner A/C lines back then-no digital hash). Second, they used state of the art tubes with metallurgy unavailable today with proprietary construction. Third, simpler miking, done correctly to capture the sound and not so much the ambience aka wrongly miked recordings by Yarlung today as an example. There are probably more reasons which I can’t think of currently.

I’m so excited about my "new" audio system, I’m going back to listen for another few hours.

Happy New Year to all of you who have taken the time to contribute to this very enjoyable thread. Its been a real pleasure for me to meet so many dedicated audiophiles here on A'gon. Here's to a great and positive 2017.  

missti ..

I read an interesting article recently about Chet Baker. The author made the assertion that Miles Davis spent his entire career chasing Chet Baker's tone ... and never quite captured it.  After reading the article, I can hear the author's point when listening to Miles now.

Misstl,
I see your point, I have many jazz recordings from the 1950s-1960s and the vast majority of them sound oh so good! As fletcher noted in his post above, good quality tube equipment, generally simple signal paths and talented sound engineers with high standards and good ears are responsible for the recording quality.

Misstl my tubed preamplifier and power amplifier came with "stock" fuses and tubes installed. How did they sound? Wonderful! However when I changed to better quality tubes and fuses there was unquestionably improved sound quality. The original sound was never substandard by any means with generic tubes/fuses. In addition to tubes and fuses, improving wire and capacitors can clearly improve the sound of equipment.

Essentially the baseline sound began as "very high caliber " and moved further upwards with the inclusion of superior parts. I believe that the sound engineers did their best with what was available to them during that era. If they were made aware of better quality items I suspect most would have taken advantage.
Happy New Year folks,
Charles

Frank,
I suspect that author may be stating opinion/speculation rather than fact. Miles had been well established nearly 10 years on the jazz scene prior to Chet’s arrival. I can fully accept the idea that Miles  admired Chet’s tone, but chasing to mimic it  for his entire career? Miles had his own sound and approach to the trumpet and was always innovative and searching for ways of musical and creative expression.

You could make the case that he had 4 different career eras based strictly on his changing styles of playing. Bebop,Hard Bop, Modal and fusion, and perhaps some further subcategories. I don’t question that he admired the trumpet tone of Chet, he openly admired the playing of trumpeters Clifford Brown and Fats Navarro.
Charles