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The All Knowing Eye

2/25/2016

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  I'll readily admit, I was always a bit of a lazy record cleaner. Oh, I had my trusty VPI 16.5 like everyone else, I always gave my record a swipe with a carbon fiber brush before play, and good god I always kept my stylus clean. Yet after a time, after listening to different cleaning fluids, all that, I got bored with it overall. I'd stack up records to clean and never get to it, there was always something better to do. I'd only clean if something I loved started to show signs of pops or ticks. 
  So I listened to everyone I trusted, read reviews, heaven help me I even looked at forums, and decided to settle on the KL Audio cleaner. It's the ultrasonic one, the other one, as opposed to the Audio Desk. The Audio Desk certainly seems to get the press, and the glowing recommendations, which come to find out is all ad dollars driven. The first generation were junk, plain and simple. Broke and couldn't be repaired. I was told it was akin to a plastic toy. There is a new and improved version out, already. Hmm. Hence my move to the KL, built like a tank, only requires distilled water unlike the Audio Desk which uses proprietary cleaning fluids, meaning more money. I've mentioned the KL Audio before, and I'll probably keep talking about it. My friends and customers who've been over to use it can't say enough about it - all good, by the way. The ultrasonic doesn't reinfect the record like vacuum type cleaners do. No matter how much you try and separate scrub brush, wet brush, dry brush and wet wand/dry wand, the vacuum cleaners like VPI and Okki Nokki and Nitty Gritty, etc. always infect the moving parts, and always leave a sound of the particular cleaning fluid your using. The first time you hear a record cleaned ultrasonically, you'll be amazed at the loss of smear that comes using other cleaners.  It's a wonder. And come to find out, you can repeatedly clean a record ultrasonically and will continue to improve. Now one thing I will recommend is to keep your vacuum type cleaner to use as a first step, especially for those garage sale types or a certain retailer in St Louis who swipes with the famous dirty cloth.  Then use the KL Audio and hear what your record was supposed to sound like. Even for new straight out of the shrink. All those stamper release compounds, those tiny bits of paper sleeve, a host of things in there that your grandmother always warned you about, they need to be removed before you play that new record. My grandmother always said you never one another person's underwear. Im sure she'd say the same about uncleaned vinyl. 
  Not cheap, at $4000, yet neither is your record collection. I've been spending much of this winter cleaning. Me, cleaning records. Several of my friends asked who I was, they never heard of me cleaning so many records in a short amount of time. With the KL I'm addicted.  I've got my new cleaning station set up and it's been fun. I'm sure many of you agree that record cleaning was really never any fun. Get the KL and let it change your mind, and your collection, maybe even make your grandmother happy. 
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my new cleaning station. And just sleeves - no brushes, bottles of fluids, rags in sight. Requires about half a jug of 99cent distilled water. Water change depending on load and usage. A simply remarkable product.
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Pooped Pup

2/25/2016

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A New Friend in Bronze for the Quadraspire Q4 rack

2/23/2016

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I received this little package in the mail today from Quadraspire, and in it was this
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and 4 of each of these. They are bronze footers and caps for the standard Q4 EVO, an upgrade for the standard aluminum footers. They can only be used at the feet, or on the top shelf. Hence the aluminum accompanying friend, that replaces the standard top cap, allowing the bronze footer of the top plate to rest snugly inside.
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this is what my babble upwards was all about. It's a great way to upgrade an already good rack. Place new bronze footers on the bottom of the whole rack to improve everything upwards, and add another set for the top plate to improve your source.
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it's all rather ingenious really, a very adjustable rack ( one can always add/subtract pillars and shelves as needed.) A typical 4 shelf Quadraspire Q4 EVO will run you $876, or $219 a shelf. Shown here are a bamboo top, ($279 ea.) and standard cherry underneath. Come by for a listening test, and be ready to add that Salamander you might be unfortunately using on my burn pile. Burning is free.
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And For Some, Back to Reality

2/19/2016

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  As much as I can't keep my hands off the WTL Royale 400, and the repositioned Brinkmann Bardo, I am constantly drawn back to the Wax Engine from Consonance. This table has shaken me down to the core at how good it is. It just doesn't exhibit the flaws that all those mass marketed tables have. Take a look at all the tables under $2k, in every online catalog, and I'm here to tell you that this table, at $995, will outperform those tables musically. I keep looking at it, around it, underneath it, to see what makes it so special. I've been using it with the WTL TLC moving magnet cartridge, at $550, and what comes naturally for the Haven, the trusty Auditorium A23 interconnects. So thinking that the A23's are $795/m, almost as much as the table/arm, I decided to go back to my hobbyist roots, and use the lowest priced interconnects I have here, the Red River from Audioquest, at $119/m. Hey, I'll take one for the team. And still, still it was stellar. If I were British I'd be gobsmacked. In my youth I heard and had so many lesser tables, the Technics, the Yamahas, the Harman Kardons, the Pioneers, etc, and then as a retailer I compared the Regas (which I used to sell and still promote to a point), Pro-jects, Music Halls, VPI's, ad nauseam -  the landmine of mediocrity, a friend likes to call it. After being rescued by the WTL's, and now with the Brinkmanns, the Helius, a few others, I suppose I could say I am a bit spoiled, being around these great tables. Sometimes I forget I'm a retailer.  I often feel like a hobbyist with a nice collection, since it's mostly me listening or with a few blokes. See? I am British.  Like sleeping on a great mattress, I was pampered. I knew my records were sounding better than most of yours. Yet my friends, my closest friends, the ones who keep me grounded, are fond of saying, but Charlie, most people wouldn't pay that kind of money for that kind of sound that you crave.  And I hear that from a lot of customers.
Well then, I'll weep no more for you tonight. Because now anyone can afford superior music making out of a table/arm that is under $1k. And it's here. Right here at the Haven. And in stock even.  Just think if we had all started out with a table like this, instead of all the claptraps we had. Give those damn beat up Duals a rest. That is not the holy grail no more. Stop trying to tweak those Technics 1200's. Pass all that along to someone you know who's interested in getting into vinyl, yet wouldn't spend more than $50 for a table. Be generous to them, and then to your ears. As I might have said before, bring your tables in for comparison if you like. I'm not a quick A-B compare it type, yet good is good and we can get to the bottom of it in fair fashion. 
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My new affordable offering, the Wax Engine table/arm, sporting a TLC mm cartridge. Also shown with the indispensable Flux Sonic ultrasonic stylus cleaner. Do you have yours yet?
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Enter The Royale

2/19/2016

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the Royale 400, that is, from Well Tempered Lab. Sporting a 16" (400mm) tonearm, huge plinth, this is not your basic WTL turntable. This is Bill Firebaugh's triumph of turntable design, something he has worked on and thought about for years. It finally came to fruition for the US this past CES in Las Vegas. It had a preliminary stay here at the Haven for field testing before Vegas, and now it's back, ready for your listening, and viewing, pleasure. This table takes up a lot of real estate, and does require, at 100 lbs, a worthy support. Don't plan on using a wall shelf from Quadraspire or the likes, it'll all be on the floor before you get a record out of its sleeve. Luckily for the owner-to-be, there is a WTL 3 shelf stand that matches the Royale 400. 
  It is unequivocably a unique table/arm at first glance. Yet use it a bit, and it makes so much sense. And joy. The arm feels great to use, there's an ease, a flow, from lift to drop. You would think by the length of the arm it was be the opposite. Come try it, you'll be grinning. 
The WTL Amadeus, Firebaugh's first entry back into turntable design since the 80's, is the Haven's pick for one of the best tables under $10k, and beats some upwards of $20k. Now with the Royale 400, the music making becomes even more serious. Deep, endless bass, like bass only a big table can give. Snap, swerve, swing, something on the order of the Brinkmann. The Royale 400, like the Brinkmann, is setting reference level performance here. Truly a table I am pleased to demonstrate and display here. 
  As a hobbyist I had a WTL Classic in the 80's, a Reference in the 90's, then an Amadeus, and now the Royale. Even if I wasn't a shopkeep, I'd want a Royale 400. I have an affinity for Firebaugh's designs. It was a great joy to spend 4 days with him in the WTL room at CES. At 85, still as insightful and brilliant as ever. 
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the very brilliant William Firebaugh, and me - what else can I say? That's a hard act to follow...
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Ayre Codex

2/16/2016

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  What at first I thought was a sleeper has turned into a real dynamo of digital sound. The Ayre Codex was still in the "break in system" most of the holiday season, with the rest of the Ayre gear that's been arriving here for your market.  Once deemed ready to demo, it's proven itself to come out of the gates at quite a clip. This is one great DAC, with great features and ease of use.  I've used it with a Macbook, at the end of various transports, and now with the Auralic Aries bridge/streamer. It also sports balanced inputs for headphones, which is now considered to be the only way to plug ones cans in.  Highly highly recommended. 
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Auralic Aries

2/16/2016

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  For those of you that want to jump into the stream, so to speak, the newer to the Haven Auralic Aries is a wonderful piece of digital gear. It's what known in digi speak as a bridge, a unit that allows one to stream from music server/source to a DAC.  The Aries plugs in via USB, Coax, AES, and Optical cabling to a DAC, and using the Auralic Lightning app from smartphone or tablet you are off and running, or for some of you device tappers, a mad tap from track to track. Either way, it's brilliantly easy, and I love it. I've been using the Auralic Vega DAC, check at AudioStream for a glowing review by that sweet sweet man, Michael Lavorgna. 
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The Aries bridge/streamer, from Auralic. It will turn your DAC into a wireless powerhouse.
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Brinkmann News

2/16/2016

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  Due to the strong US dollar, the price of some products like Brinkmann have been adjusted. So now is THE time to buy a wonderful Brinkmann turntable/arm.  On demo has been the world- renowned Brinkmann Bardo with 10.5" tonearm.  None other than Michael Fremer gave it a rave in Stereophile.  What once was costing $20K as a reference package has now entered the more affordable price of $16,180, so prepare to enter the big leagues in turntables and check that off your bucket list. The package I refer to is the Bardo table/10.5 arm/and Ront tubed power supply.  Yes, for some of you $4190 is a lot to pay for a separate power supply. The Brinkmanns do come with a solid state power supply as standard. Helmut Brinkmann listens with a special set of ears, and for listeners everywhere this pays off, for the Ront takes the table to another level. With many preamps, etc, that have separate power supplies, you don't really get a chance to listen with a standard and then the special separate. With a Brinkmann you can indeed do that, and it's not subtle to even the most deaf among you. The Ront is like handing someone a warmed towel in a chilly bathroom. It cradles you and the music in a warmth of naturalness you have to hear to fully grasp. 

  Now I know many of you are scoffing at even the lowered price of the Bardo package, and I can understand. It's not where you want to put your money, even if you had it to spend. Yet reference pieces are there, and here at the Haven, for a reason - to show one the possibilities, to get a glimpse of what the best designers are achieving. And more importantly, to show what a great source can do for any system.
After all, if all you knew was the screechy soprano in your local church choir, how could you understand the accolades thrown at a soprano like Renee Fleming? 

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The Brinkmann Bardo with reflective glass matt, sporting an EMT JSD 6 Gold cartridge...to hear it is to know it
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RUN, DON'T WALK

2/10/2016

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  Maybe a little late in the day to be posting, yet if you see this and need some of best ear training you'll hear this week, head to Jazz at the Bistro for the last night of Branford Marsalis's Quartet.  I was there last night, and I knew Branford would be good, for he's the only Marsalis that I get, the one with heart, yet holy toledo, I had never experienced Joey Calderazzo live
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WAX WHAT?

2/4/2016

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  Obviously for some of you who've visited the Haven or this site you might rightly assume that if one is just starting out in the hobby I may not have anything for you.  Granted I don't have a pair of speakers for $200, a receiver or integrated amp under $500, yet there are affordable entry level items here. Take for instance the Vandersteen Model 1's, one of the great $1000 speakers, coupled with the very sweet sounding Arcam A19 integrated with built in phono section at $900. Tie all this together with Audioquest Type 4 speaker cable, the People's Cable, as I like to call it - $299/8' pr- and Red River or Yukon interconnects at $69 and $199, and you've got quite a system. 
Yet I hear you ask, what about sources? Something has to give a signal, and your turntables and cd players are out of my league or partner's expenditure acceptability. 

Well well, belay that notion! Look no farther than a new turntable I am most proud to be showing in your area for the first time, the new Wax Engine turntable/arm from Consonance. Using an aluminum T type chassis, it features a 9" aluminum arm tube, three adjustable feet for easy leveling, and sports music-making unheard of in its price range of $995. Beats the pants off a Rega RP8, so folks, we're talking a major new contender for affordability here.  Do come have a listen. 

  And to add to the entry level list, there's also a very new moving magnet (MM) cartridge, brought to you by the folks at Well Tempered Lab, the TLC. Yes, now we have the TLC brought to you by the WTL. Now all we need to do is get the LGBT crowd in and we can play Scrabble. Like the Wax Engine, this cartridge, at $550, will make one shake their heads at how crazy good it all is. I sit there listening, and flashback to all the absolutely horrible early tables/cartridges that I and my friends had when starting out. Of course they were all a bit cheaper, some of us only had part time jobs, yet put these pieces back to late 70's early 80's prices and you know what I mean.  So for $1545, you have a table and cartridge that you'll clearly want to come home and listen to, or if you're just starting out save up for. That last part I highly recommend. It's far better to start yourself out on quality at the source than use so much of the widely distributed crap tables and crappier cartridges that are out there. It's one area of the vinyl rebirth that isn't addressed enough. USB tables and their ilk are dreadful devices, and it's a shame to see everyone buying records yet going home and playing them on those contraptions. Most of us of a certain age started out drinking beer that was swill. We made it to homebrew and then finally to craft beers. Hopefully that trend will happen with analog as well.
 You're welcome to bring in any table to compare against the Wax Engine. Yet beware, be prepared to beg, borrow, or steal the funds to bring this table home. Of course no stealing! Do aluminum cans still bring anything? 
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