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About Lugnut -- Patrick Malone

Many of us have come to know Patrick Malone (Lugnut) as a friendly, helpful, knowledgeable and kind individual. He is a frequent and enthusiastic contributor to our analog discussion forum. He has initiated only 17 threads, but responded to 559 threads. I would guess that many, if not most, of us can recall a time when Pat replied with helpful advice to a question we posted or helped us track down a rare recording. I have come to love Pat as a friend, and to respect him as a man, and I suspect many of you share those feelings.

Today I write to share difficult news with you. Pat has been diagnosed with an aggressive stomach cancer. It has yet to be determined whether surgery will even be worth it. If surgery is performed, most or all of the stomach will be removed, and Pat would face a difficult and long post-op period in the hospital. The medical course is still uncertain, but will be determined soon. Whatever is decided, it will not be easy or pleasant.

Something may be planned in the future to assist the family. For now, Pat could use some of the friendship he so often and willingly showed us. You can email Pat at: lugnut50@msn.com. You can also mail cards, letters ... or whatever. You may email me for Pat's mailing address. My email is: pfrumkin1@comcast.net.

I hope to spend a few days with Pat in Idaho or Nebraska (from which he hails) soon. Between this news, my legal work, getting ready for family arriving for the holidays, Audio Intelligent, and trying to make plans to visit Pat, my head is spinning. If you email me and I don't respond, please understand that I am not ignoring you, but rather simply do not have time to reply.

Pat may or may not have time to respond to posts here, to emails, or to cards mailed to him. But he has asked me to convey to each and every one of you that he has cherished your friendship, your comradery, and sharing our common hobby on this great website.

As we prepare for our holiday season celebrations, and look forward to -- as we should -- enjoying this time of year, I ask that you keep Pat and his family in mind ... and softly offer up, in quiet moments in the still of night and early morning, prayers for Pat and his family. God bless.

Warmest regards to all,
Paul Frumkin
paul_frumkin
audiofankj
373 posts
 
Pat-

As always you know yourself, Barb, Amanda, and Scott are in our thoughts and prayers. (just a reminder) I will try to give you a call soon and see how that "read" of yours is coming along...

I will tell you this after I got a call last week from my dealer. I too have the ZYX Airy 3S-SB, and my dealer installed it on my new TT setup last week and called me after the initial couple of hours he spent setting up the table, arm and cartridge to tell me how the sound kicks a.. I mentioned that I heard the Airy 3S-SB needed a good 80 hours from what I read to "come around" and he laughed and said I wouldn't worry at all if it didn't change a bit. This was his first ZYX he had set up and was very impressed - out of the box. So - hopefully that is good news to you, and hopefully it will also be quite enjoyable out of the box for you as well!

Talk to you soon & God Bless
boa2's avatar
boa2
1,551 posts
 
Pat,
If you have concern that your post is difficult to track, don't. You're coming in loud and clear, in fact more so than ever.
Lots of love to you and your family, friend.
Howard
swampwalker's avatar
swampwalker
5,138 posts
 
Thanks, Patrick. On the subject of analog rigs, while Doug and Paul's TT/ARm(Tri-planar, not Schroder)/CARt/Step-up are world class, their Pre/phonostage, as you may know, is older and very modest in cost at present and yet the sound was to die for. So I would never sneer at anything w/o hearing it. I have not had much of a chance to hear other high end rigs since I work so much and have become a bit of a loner, but going to the show in NYC a couple of weeks ago and then hearing a really optimized analog front end, it has energized me to do better in set-up with what I have. I've also had less than mind-blowing performance from some well regarded phono stage/cart combos so I have figured out not to pre-judge. I am sure that the Airy 3 will be terrific. I bought the demo Airy2 and now must get it together to get a step-up.
lugnut
1,190 posts
 
Frank,

If your Airy is not fully broken in then you and your installer are going to be amazed when it does. It's very detailed out of the box but with time it gets so smooth it's spooky. At least that is how my Yatra behaves and the one UNIverse I'm intimately familiar with. Isn't it the quietest "in the groove" thing you've ever heard?

Howard, so I handle being ripped pretty well? Har har. I guess there was at least one benefit to growing up in the sixties.

Swampman, contrary to what Raul says (and I'm not fussing), to my ears, and in every case, I prefer the step up to a high powered phono stage. Some are better than others. Just my opinion but it seems more real. I'm no electronics guru but the way they work doesn't create a much longer signal path, so no loss as far as I can tell. Distortion? Maybe. I dunno. Tubes are more distorted than ss but I like it better. That's all I care about. I go by my ears. I'm sure glad you made this move. You will shit. In case you guys don't know shitting is bigger than having your jaw drop. Tell that to the reviewers.
swampwalker's avatar
swampwalker
5,138 posts
 
LOL, Patrick thanks for the smile. As they say in Bahstan; Yaw a real pissah!
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