Goodbye 2012 Hello 2013

 Personally I want a stranger more surreal 2013.

 Hope this year was good for everyone and I hope next year is even better and weirder. If we are lucky we will encounter the self transforming hyperdimensional machine elves next year.

This year I got into triode pp tube amps and autoformer volume controls for my system. Next year I hope to biamp, use more triodes, do more diy, and ultimately get more detail out of my horn system.

KT-550 Criterion Laboratory Standard 1963

Retro Hi-Fi Girl Friday

Arkansas got hit with a blizzard... That has not happened that anyone I know can remember. Most people were without power but we were just without cable tv and internet. It still isn't up so I had to come into work to get some wifi. I had it on my phone but it is not the same. 

I like this pic. Yes the girls are pretty but I would not give them money. The guys behind them look very confused. The woofers in the back right are huge. Does anyone have any more info on this pic?

Have A Hi-Fi Holiday

It is too late but why didn't I by my GF HiFi gear....

Santa Claus Is A Black Man

I heard this on the Rural War Room a few years ago and has been one of my favorite Christmas songs which is a very short list. It is in the top five. 

Frank The HiFi Nut

Not a Sinatra fan but the man always had a top notch Hi-Fi and superb style. This is just one incarnation of his system. I have a few more pics in my archive that I am looking for...  Three channel with Lansing, Amperex,  and Mcintosh.

Retro Hi-Fi Girl Friday

No fluff this Friday. The most beautiful and talented Delia Derbysire beat matching reel splices. Ahead of her time and incredible

Klipschorn Jubilee Prototype

Here is a prototype of the Klipschorn Jubilee when PWK thought it would be the start of a new speaker line available in three sizes. There were many cosmetic prototypes made to try to make it acceptable for home and a good waf. It was to be a new Klipschorn but since its performance was much better than the Klipschorn it was given its own name. The Jubilee bass horn was lower in distortion had lower bass response and extended out to 1khz where as the Klipschorn takes a dive around 500. For voicing the bass bin was crossed over at its highest at 600hz and 400 at its lowest. This enabled PWK to realize one of his long term goals to make a Klipschorn a two way horn system. PWK and Roy Delgado really did some amazing work for PWK's last project. It is a shame PWK passed and Klipsch did not put it in the consumer line.

This prototype is MIA. If anyone has seen it please contact me. Pictured with the Jubilee is Valerie Klipsch.

RCA RADIOTRONS AD

I wonder how much these UX-250's cost back then.

World's Fair 27 inch Full Ranger Built By Cinaudiograph For Bozak

Now this is a nice sized full range speaker... That is full range for 1939. I dig the size but I would have to reinforce the floors to hold it up. I like their style.

This monster was posted ealier here http://itishifi.blogspot.com/2010/08/design-of-27-inch-loudspeaker-rt-bozak.html

PWK At Work

Retro Hi-Fi Girl Friday

TANNOY 2 in 1 gaat goed!

RIP Ravi Shankar

I grew up listening to Ravi Shankar starting with his influence on George Harrison and then listened to his solo works. His Chants Of India record is my favorite.  He had a very long and interesting life. Take care Ravi.

Solid State Sounds Like?

Time For Church - Cal Tjader and Milt Jackson

RED Western Electric 16A

Retro Hi-Fi Girl Friday

Western Electric Co 288 Houston St Chest

Check out this really cool Western Electric Chest/Crate.... The rationalization that goes through my head as to why I need this is unreasonable. Yes it would be a great place to stash tubes and gear... Now if I had a treasure trove of Western Electric I would have to have it....So I' hope she finds a good home.

 See perfect place to stash tubes.......

YL Acoustics DS-7000

This is a really cool YL Acoustics DS-7000 speaker system. I wish there was more of this in the USA but unfortunately it is very very rare here. Check it out.

Horn Ident?

Anyone know this horn?

Link Wray And His Ray Men - RUMBLE

Link Wray father of the savage guitar.

Rumble 1958 banned from radio on the grounds that it glorified juvenile delinquency.  The song is an instrumental. A rare feat indeed.

Retro Hi-Fi Girl Friday

Rake And Scrape

I just returned from a long trip to Long Island Bahamas. It was 12 days of laid back island life. The only problem is I am having trouble getting back into normal work life. The blog was even on auto pilot for me. The highlight of the trip was getting to hear an authentic rake and scrape band while there. I've been a fan of the Bahamian root music since I first discovered the Folkways records from the Islands with the highlight of those being Joseph Spence.

I didn't have a pic of the band but this is the essense of rake and scrape plus a singer in the band I saw..

 Check out the Tuff Skins at the Smoke Pot Cafe.

 
Rake and scrape music comes from the musical traditions of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and is characterized by the use of a saw as the primary instrument. It was brought by immigrants from those islands from the 1920s to about the 1940s, who settled on Cat Island, and elsewhere. Rake and Scrape is traditionally used to accompany the Bahamian Quadrille and the heel-toe polka all relics of the initial mixture of Africa and Europe. Many of these Turks and Caicos Islanders became some of the most famous musicians in the Bahamas. Many eventually moved back to their homelands, bringing with them junkanoo. Turks and Caicos are now the second home for junkanoo.
Organology of Instruments
Membranophones: The Goombay drum is main rhythmic component in rake-n-scrape. It is also referred to a goatskin drum, as the skin of a goat was stretched over a wooden barrel. It is decorated by simple or complex geometric designs in bright colors. The drum is always heated over fire to retain it's tone. In 1971, when manufacturers started shipping products in metal barrels, Bahamians switched the drum to metal, slightly changing the tone of the drum.
Idiophones: The main component that makes Rake-N-Scrape unique is the use of the Carpenter's Saw. This instrument is scraped with a nail or butter knife. Bent against the body of the player and flexed, various timbral effects are obtained. In more modern music, the saw is replaced with maracas or a guiro.
Aerophones: The accordion is the component that adds the round form which enables dancers to dance the ring dance. This is of European descent. In more modern bands, it is replaced by an electric guitar or electronic keyboard.

Thank you Experience Music

Jeffrey Jackson aka Experience Music dropped by last month to see Cedell Davis at a small club in Little Rock with us. On arrival he handed me the coolest t'shirt ever. I guess that is coolest t'shirt ever for those who share obsession of the 16A. It takes some serious devotion to reproduce the 16a and I can't wait to hear it.

 Joe Cripp's of Brave Combo was responsible for the show and I never thought I'd like bongos and the blues but it was bad ass. The show was really good and after the show we were spinning vinyl until 4am. Hell yes.

Red Door Studio - Murfreesboro, Tenn

I've been through Mufreesboro, TN so many times and I would have stalked them if I had known this system was there. I have heard TAD components but never a TAD system. Although this one looks customized.

http://www.carltatzdesign.com/custom-built-studios/studio_red-door.html

Western Electric Company

Serious looking people for serious gear.

Retro Hi-Fi Girl Friday

Westinghouse Electrtonics At Work

Luxman MB3045

Here is a cool pair of Luxman amps. Push Pull triodes and good build quality. I think this are rated higher than my KMQ60's. There are beauties. I'd love to hear a pair even though I am going back down the single ended triode sound next.

 Luxman is called the McIntosh of Japan. It isn't hard to see why. They look incredible. I like them better nekid with no cages.

John Lennon Iconic

John Lennon with a Lansing Iconic. It also appears to be gold. That is alot of color going on there.

"All that business was awful, it was a fuckin' humiliation. One has to completely humiliate oneself to be what the Beatles were, and that's what I resent. I didn't know, I didn't foresee. It happened bit by bit, gradually, until this complete craziness is surrounding you, and you're doing exactly what you don't want to do with people you can't stand -the people you hated when you were ten."
-John Lennon