It's been Quiet on the Odyssey front...

Sonny · « **on:** 7 Jan 2006, 12:14 am »

It's been so quiet here on this circle. This is usually the most out spoken and enthusiastic circle here but I haven't heard to much buzz lately.
So, I thought I'd write to stir things up a bit.

Still loving it...

F-100 · « **Reply #1 on:** 7 Jan 2006, 12:16 am »

Is Klaus at CES this year???

Sonny · « **Reply #2 on:** 7 Jan 2006, 12:28 am »

I don't believe so...

Zero · « **Reply #3 on:** 7 Jan 2006, 01:19 am »

Everyone busy enjoying their tunes?

Well, I have to publically thank Klaus for going a step beyond and then some for me on one of his Khartago amplifiers. I'm still burning this bad-boy in and must say, dollar for dollar, its a bargain. That of course, is nothing new to anyone here and is something most already know - but it bears repeating. Thanks again Klaus... this amp is having no trouble getting my Danes to sing !

pfradale · « **Reply #4 on:** 7 Jan 2006, 09:05 am »

Too busy listening to music! I just picked up a dozen SACDs and am enjoying them thoroughly. The Tempest and Mono Extremes are as wonderful as ever. Trying to decide whether I want to play the cable game at all; I currently have plain ol' SW and ICs and will admit to being more than a little skeptical about the value of 'boutique' cables. Shipping to/from Japan makes me hesitant to try out the Groneburgs. Still, you never know until you try...

siowyn · « **Reply #5 on:** 7 Jan 2006, 09:24 am »

Been trying out cable and find them making quite a lot of difference, especially power cords.
I use the RS audio power chord and it was significantly blind testable better than the groneberg power chords, connected to the two mono extremes of course.
Cheers
Nam

bunky · « **Reply #6 on:** 7 Jan 2006, 11:23 am »

Quote from: A6M-ZERO

Everyone busy enjoying their tunes?

Well, I have to publically thank Klaus for going a step beyond and then some for me on one of his Khartago amplifiers. I'm still burning this bad-boy in and must say, dollar for dollar, its a bargain. That of course, is nothing new to anyone here and is something most already know - but it bears repeating. Thanks again Klaus... this amp is having no trouble getting my Danes to sing !

i am not suprised at your reaction to the khartago power amplifier. i had the pleasure of owning a pair of Khartago monoblocks and for the modest price of another Khartago you more than triple the current delivery and double the capacitance and increase the damping factor from >500 to >800 and the WPC goes from 110 at 8 ohms to 150 and if you like the Khartago stereo you can imagine the difference going to the monoblocks would make?the khartago is almost identicle to the Symphonic Line RG 11 power amplifier only at one quarter of the cost!thanks....WCW III

pm314 · « **Reply #7 on:** 7 Jan 2006, 12:51 pm »

I just upgraded to the Khartago monos in November...enjoying every minute of it. But lately all of my time has been spent on my Christmas present that I bought for my wife to give me

my Squeezebox. This thing is a blast. I dont have the money to mod it yet, but its already better than the CDP I was using and the internet radio is pretty cool too.

jkm · « **Reply #8 on:** 7 Jan 2006, 06:53 pm »

Quote from: pfradale

Too busy listening to music! I just picked up a dozen SACDs and am enjoying them thoroughly. The Tempest and Mono Extremes are as wonderful as ever. Trying to decide whether I want to play the cable game at all; I currently have plain ol' SW and ICs and will admit to being more than a little skeptical about the value of 'boutique' cables. Shipping to/from Japan makes me hesitant to try out the Groneburgs. Still, you never know until you try...

Which SACDs did you get and which player do you have?

BTW, I just upgraded to the Premium ICs from the Quatros and the improvement is quite obvious. I would recommend that anyone upgrading to or purchasing mono-block Extremes get these ICs.

bunky · « **Reply #9 on:** 7 Jan 2006, 08:42 pm »

Quote from: James K-M

Which SACDs did you get and which player do you have?

BTW, I just upgraded to the Premium ICs from the Quatros and the improvement is quite obvious. I would recommend that anyone upgrading to or purchasing mono-block Extremes get these ICs.

Hey James,didnt i tell you that the TS premiums were the cats meow ? the TS premium speaker cables are unbelievable also!

John151 · « **Reply #10 on:** 7 Jan 2006, 08:57 pm »

It may be quiet in here, but it isn't quiet in my listening room!

I was cranking a few CDs last night. Stacey Kent sounded oh so good.

pfradale · « **Reply #11 on:** 7 Jan 2006, 11:19 pm »

Quote from: James K-M

Which SACDs did you get and which player do you have?

I have the Sony SCD-1:

I picked up The Great Jazz Trio's Autumn Leaves, 'S Wonderful, Speak Low; Oscar Peterson's Vol II through Vol VI; Wynton Marsalis Standard Time; Cal Tjader La Onda Va Bien; Bill Evans Explorations. Prior to that I bought quite a few classical and many other jazz SACDs; I also have a handful of pop/rock SACDs. By far, the bulk is jazz.

pfradale · « **Reply #12 on:** 9 Jan 2006, 04:51 am »

I just learned that Fantasy has stopped production of its SACDs; last night I ordered the following, most of which were Fantasy. Nothing worse than going to order a title and finding it is OOP.

Albert King with Stevie Ray Vaughan In Session
Thelonious Monk & Gerry Mulligan Mulligan Meets Monk
Wes Montgomery The Incredible Jazz Guitar
Dave Brubeck Jazz at Oberlin
Albert King I'll Play The Blues For You
Bill Evans Portrait in Jazz
Modern Jazz Quartet Django
Thelonious Monk Brilliant Corners
Wes Montgomery The Wes Montgomery Trio
Milt Jackson & Wes Montgomery Bags Meets Wes!
Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers Caravan
The Cannonball Adderley Quintet In San Francisco
Bobby Timmons This Here is Bobby Timmons
Leo Kottke 6 And 12 String Guitar
Peterson, Grappelli, Pass, Roker & Pedersen Skol
Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane
The Quintet Jazz at Massey Hall
Nat Adderley Work Song
Bill Evans Sunday At The Village Vanguard
McCoy Tyner Illuminations
Jazz At The Pawnshop
Bill Evans Trio Waltz For Debby
Sonny Rollins Saxophone Colossus
Oscar Peterson Exclusively For My Friends, Vol. I: Action
The Cal Tjader Quintet Latin+Jazz=Cal Tjader
Joe Henderson Lush Life

I had the titles in bold already, but I preferred the sound from SACD on other titles I had in RBCD enough to gamble on these as well. It is a shame SACD hasn't gone beyond a niche market--the sound is so much better that even folks not normally into music can hear and appreciate the difference.

Sonny · « **Reply #13 on:** 9 Jan 2006, 05:38 pm »

Quote from: pfradale

I just learned that Fantasy has stopped production of its SACDs; last night I ordered the following, most of which were Fantasy. Nothing worse than going to order a title and finding it is OOP.

Man...
Now all those SACD would run you a $1000, right?
Anyways, do you know why Fantasy is not producing them anymore?

byteme · « **Reply #14 on:** 9 Jan 2006, 07:06 pm »

Quote from: bunky

Quote from: James K-M
Which SACDs did you get and which player do you have?

BTW, I just upgraded to the Premium ICs from the Quatros and the improvement is quite obvious. I would recommend that anyone upgrading to or purchasing mono-block Extremes get these ICs.
Hey James,didnt i tell you that the TS premiums were the cats meow ? the TS premium speaker cables are unbelievable also!

I concur 100%. Wonderful stuff and not another cable has run through my system since these have arrived. I'm set for cables, speakers, amps and preamp. The only thing I'm toying with is source change from EA Turbomodded S7700 into Modded Nixon Tubedac to ? I'm satisfied right now, but all this squeezebox talk has me curious. I'm spending a LOT more time getting music onto my PC so eventually this may be a reasonable way to go.

pfradale · « **Reply #15 on:** 9 Jan 2006, 08:54 pm »

Quote from: Sonny

Now all those SACD would run you a $1000, right?
Anyways, do you know why Fantasy is not producing them anymore?

No, it was $540 + shipping to Japan (TBD). I am not sure why they stopped; I suppose insufficient sales volume? Jazz SACD seems destined to be small-volume niche labels like 88s. Too bad, really. If you get a chance to listen to some of the titles from 88s (The Great Jazz Trio series is very good), I recommend it.

jkm · « **Reply #16 on:** 12 Jan 2006, 07:01 pm »

Yes Bunky, you were right. The Premiums are great. I think that Klaus should refuse to sell the Quatros to anyone purchasing monos. In the coming months I'll decide if I'm going to replace my jmLabs with the Loreleis. The jmLabs are biwired while the Loreleis are not. I have biwired Quatro speaker cables. If I upgrade to the Loreleis I'll get the Premiums for sure. At least with my old Quatro ICs I can use them between my tuner/pre and DVD player/pre while I use the Premiums between my SACD (scd777es) player/pre and amps/pre.

I better grab more SACDs before they're all Classical.

James

pfradale · « **Reply #17 on:** 12 Jan 2006, 09:09 pm »

How is Abraxas on SACD? I saw the title, have the RBCD which sounds ghastly, sonically, and would love a better-sounding copy.

jkm · « **Reply #18 on:** 12 Jan 2006, 09:43 pm »

The Abraxas SACD is excellent! Thinking the remastered first Santana CD would be good I bought it. But it is terrible (and returned it) so I assume the Abraxas CD is just as bad. I can highly recommend the SACD.

pfradale · « **Reply #19 on:** 13 Jan 2006, 03:45 am »

Excellent--I am on it.