Tuesday, October 22, 2024

This past weekend, Tish and I attended a wonderful celebration of my dear friend Steve Melkisethian's life (1950-2024)!

Over two decades ago, I ventured into single channel music reproduction to trace the roots of high fidelity. From that whole experience, I developed an aesthetic quest for a certain purity and honesty in sound, which runs parallel with my other hobby of black and white film photography! Sadly, I had to leave that particular mono set up in the attic in 2017.

May 10-11, 2024

I wasn't able to attend any hamfests this season but I made sure I'd be at both events at Kutztown.

This was how the attic looked when we left in early 2017. Our first visit since then was in March this year.

This ca. 1969 Kenwood turntable adapted the Thorens TD124 drive system sans eddy current speed control.

Whenever I find them at reasonable prices, I re-acquire audio components I owned and enjoyed in the 80s. I started my quest with the Grace G707 tonearm, a TDA1541-equipped Magnavox CDB 473 CD player and the dynakit stereo 35 PP EL84 power amp. I also tried to rekindle my affection for the BBC LS3/5A monitor and my MC SUT collection now includes a pair of Sony HA-T10s. Meanwhile, I've been hunting for an AR XA turntable and a first generation NAD 3020 to complete my journey back in time.