Jim Brock-Tropic Affair.....RR-31 Refrence Recordings
Cal Tjader-A Fuego Vivo... Picante cjp-176
Cal Tjader-A Fuego Vivo... Picante cjp-176
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Foster, interesting comment on "Teaser." I've always enjoyed the MoFi reissue, notwithstanding its detractors in some quarters. My tan label A&M (Sterling mastering, F7) has always sounded good to my ear, but I found the MoFi bettered it in overall resolution and harmonic integrity. The MoFi is cut at a lower level than the tan label, and my tan label is probably not that early given the "F7" scribing. I'll have to give them another comparative listening with your comments in mind. Thanks! . |
OK, here we go: I'll start off by saying that Thursday 3/30, Lloyd Walker and Fred Law delivered, set-up and dialed in my new Proscenium Gold turntable. The build quality, looks and design are second to none. By the time we were done Thursday night, it was close to 11:00 PM and everyone was tired and our ears were a little frazzled, having spent the better part of the evening playing and replaying several LP sides so as to dial in the Magic Diamond cartridge. As a result, I spent almost all of yesterday in the listening room just listening to a wide variety of my favorite reference discs in order to get a handle on this turntable. For those of you looking for a great review of the Proscenium Gold, I would suggest your read the review put up by Rushton http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?ranlg&1083208495&openusid&zzRushton&4&5#Rushton There is not much I can add to what he has written so eloquently here, except to say that my feelings pretty much echo his. This LP playback system is designed and engineered with tolerances and specs like those in a nuclear power plant (Lloyd is a control systems engineer). Once the table is set up, maintainence and use are so easy, it belies the build quality. While VTA is not changable "on the fly", it takes about 20 seconds or so to make adjustments to acommodate for 140, 180, or 200 gram LPs. Believe me when I tell you, that when you use a product of the caliber of the Walker and a cartidge of the caliber of the Magic Diamond, those incremental, tiny changes in VTA make a world of difference in the sound, from just plain great, to holy-cow-I-never-heard-that-on-this-recording out of this world. A list below of some of the things we have been listening to: Stravinsky "Firebird" Dorati/LSO 200g reissue Basie "88 Basie Street" 200g 45 rpm reissue of the Pablo Ray Brown/Laurindo Almeida "Moonlight Seranade" Jeton (This one blew Lloyd Walker away) Ray Brown Trio "Soular Energy" 200g blue vinyl reissue "Il Corneto" Klimo Open Window Miles Davis "Kind Of Blue" 200g 45 rpm reissue Rachmaninoff "Piano Concerto No. 3" Janis/Dorati - Mercury reissue Dead Can Dance "Into The Labyrinth" Thanks to Fred law for brining me a copy of this long OP record Patricia Barber "Modern Cool" MOFI 45 rpm reissue Holst "The Planets" von Karajan/Berliner DG recording Strauss "Eine Alpensinphonie" von Karajan/Berliner DG More stuff on tap for this evening, but I have to give my ears a chance to recalibrate. |
Tonight: Mendelssohn, Overture: "The Hebrides" ("Fingal's Cave") Peter Maag/LSO (Decca SXL 2246) Speaker's Corner 45 rpm reissue Bill Evans Trio "Sunday At The Village Vanguard" (Riverside 9376) Schuller "Seven Studies On A Theme Of Paul Klee" Dorati/Minneapolis (Mercury SR90282) Respighi "Church Windows" Keith Clark/Pacific Symphony (Reference Recordings RR-15) 45 rpm. The bass drum whacks during the finale of "St. Gregory The Great just put the punctuation on tonights session. I had to stop listening just to catch my breath. The Walker Proscenium Gold Signature, the Magic Diamond cartridge truly are magic together. Lloyd tells me I have a way to go before it gets broken in and it will continue to just keep getting better. One thing I know for sure: I am getting the best sound in my listening room I have ever heard. It has been like rediscovering all my LPs again.... |
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