It’s that time of year again: yup, time to leave your computer screen conspicuously on, displaying that desired “goodie” you’ve been thinking about….and hoping that your spouse, kid, or *someone* happens to notice! Hint, hint. Cough, cough. Well, this year Wall of Sound is making things a little easier – just leave this page open, right on the big fat headline above. If you’ve been good, Santa is bound to find something awesome for you here. 😉 So without further ado: the following are some items well worth considering, if you’re looking for a great gift for that special audiophile in your life. Charisma 103 Moving Coil Phono Cartridge Charisma Audio 103 MC Phono Cartridge $750 (US) Charisma Audio of Toronto, Canada has its own line of extraordinary Moving-Coil cartridges, and the latest is the 103 model. Based on the famous Denon DL103, an audiophile favourite for decades, the Charisma 103 improves on the base Denon in several ways. It features a ruby cantilever, a super fine line contact stylus, and an exotic birds-eye maple wood body. Additionally, the suspension has been completely retuned, and the Charisma tracks at 2.1 grams, nearly half a gram less than the Denon. Update: I’m [...]
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A Dozen Great Gift Ideas for Your Favourite Audiophile
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TAVES 2015 Show Report
by Noam Bronstein Another TAVES already? The year since the last Toronto show sure flew by. This year, the show moved uptown – way up to the suburbs, in the Highway 7 Corridor that joins Markham with Richmond Hill. This was historically considered “outside city limits”, but with the megalopolis sprawl we’ve come to know as “the GTA” extending up to Newmarket and Barrie for many folks, Hwy 7 is pretty much right in the heart of things now. While TAVES is increasingly billed as a “consumer electronics show”, showcasing robotics, gaming and automotive tech, it’s really still an audio show at its core. The layout this year was certainly different: the larger rooms, table displays and “new tech” were in the Sheraton Parkway, while the vast majority of the audio exhibits were in the adjoining Best Western. This meant a little more searching (and walking) than some may have liked, but overall it was a pretty decent setup. I spent most of my time in the Best Western rooms, checking out what was on tap sonically, and catching up with people I don’t see all that often. This year was a mix of the new and the familiar, and I enjoyed the day. Attendance was [...]
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The Slow Audio Movement
by Noam Bronstein “So many toys – so little unstructured time.” ― Carl Honoré, In Praise of Slowness Lately my wife and I have been listening to parts of Max Richter’s 8-hour symphony “Sleep”, and its hypnotic quality has slowed me down enough to be thinking more about the direction of my life and work, and our hobby, especially in relation to the so-called Slow Movement. The Slow Movement has been around for a while now, at least in some forms. It started as Slow Food in 1986, with a protest over a new McDonalds fast-food restaurant in Rome. ‘Slow’ is a subculture – a response to the breakneck pace of life in the modern world. It advocates a closer examination of our relationships in the realms of humanity, biology, technology, consumption, and really, every other facet of life. It’s the sort of approach that places an unquantified value on time spent with an elderly person, or a child. It’s a mindset that advocates a classroom conversation where, in an hour, a child may come away learning one single thing – rather than a plethora of fast-moving and often confusing “information”. Anyone who’s met me knows that I tend to be a [...]
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A Store is Born. Ash Forest Hi-Fi of Kingston, Ontario rises up
When Kingston, Ontario (pop. 130,000) lost its only downtown brick-and-mortar hifi shop, Just HiFi, a few years ago, I wondered if someone would be brave enough to fill the vacuum. For five years or so, there has been a terrific dealer in the suburbs–one Mr. François Bouchard of the High End Audio Exchange–and now we have a solid new entry in the form of Ash Forest Hi-Fi, founded by Mr. Greg Himmelman. Ash Forest Hi-Fi opened in July 2015. For the past decade, Greg had been working from his home near Harrowsmith, Ontario, a small town twenty minutes north of Kingston, surrounded by large ash forests. Prior to that Greg worked for several years at Just HiFi. Not quite in his forties, Greg already brings two decades of experience to the world of audio. He has been installing AV systems in the Kingston region for several years. At Ash Forest Hi-Fi, Greg services some gear, including turntables. He also works closely with a well-seasoned local technician and is helped out at the store by his assistant Melissa Radford. I encourage Wall of Sound readers to visit this shop. You won’t be disappointed since Ash Forest carries nothing but reasonably-priced, high-quality equipment. Greg has [...]
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HD Vinyl, anyone?
An interesting story appeared two days ago, that got my juices flowing. Digital Music News received an ‘exclusive’ about a new patent application for “High Definition Vinyl”, from an Austrian company called Rebeat. Read the story here if you haven’t seen it already. There are several rather sensational claims being made in that article, by Rebeat’s CEO Guenter Loibl. What does sound intriguing here, is the possibility of 3D printing the lacquers, with lasers calibrated to etch out the analog groove with more accuracy. It also says that this technology will be backwards-compatible, i.e., today’s turntables will be able to play the new HD LP’s, and the new HD turntables will presumably also play good old analog records, too. The other claims – reduced mastering cost, reduced time to market, and most of all, a doubling of audio fidelity, seem kind of absurd, to me anyway. Is this the culmination of a long evolution, coming full circle? Could we really harness two divergent tehnologies and merge them into a sort of super hybrid? Is this all too good to be true? C’mon, folks. Let’s take a breath and think about this for a moment. First of all, the vinyl LP has [...]
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My Audio Life – Part 1 of a new series
By Steve Graham It is a fact of life that enthusiast magazines and web sites live and die on equipment reviews. Audio is no different. That’s what first drew me to WoS, and that’s why I’m sure you are here. This is not a review, but indulge me and I won’t go on for more than a few hundred words, I promise. I thought readers might like to hear about my first ‘audiophile experience’. Look at my profile elsewhere on this site you’ll read that I’ve been messing around with tube audio most of my life. If memory serves I first started busting up old radios and making them into audio amps at about age twelve. One of my most vivid memories from high school, that I can relate here, happened the first week of grade nine. Like all of the new, nervous and zitty grade nines, I was directed to the auditorium for our first assembly. The auditorium was in reality a dual-use facility in combination with the gymnasium. Ghastly acoustics were the result of that ill-considered pairing. While we waited for the proceedings to start, the school band was tuning up. The guy playing the stand-up bass was playing around, [...]
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Domestic Harmony: Chapter 1, Jamie Buys Paul a New Phono Cartridge
A Series By Steve Graham As anyone who follows the Vinyl Café on CBC will know, host Stuart McLean is undergoing cancer treatment. All the best for a speedy recovery, Stuart. I hope you don’t mind me poaching in your territory. Jamie Buys Paul a New Phono Cartridge (With apologies to Stuart McLean) “You’re home late,” exclaimed Jamie as Paul walked through the door. “I just stopped at the news stand,” said Paul. “The new Audiomania is out, the semi-annual ‘Great Gear’ issue.” “That’s not one of those magazines on the top shelf with the shield in front of it, is it?” “Hah, hah,” said Paul. “No it’s an audiophile magazine dedicated to great sound.” “Oh, right,” continued Jamie. “Ever since you picked up that old Technot record player at the yard sale down the street a few weeks ago that’s all you can think about.” “It’s a Technics turntable,” replied Paul with mock hurt. “It was a good buy and in great shape. Old Doctor Brown said it was the top of the line when he bought it. He doesn’t have room for a stereo and his LP’s, in the seniors building he’s moving into. I was [...]
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My Audio Life – Part 2
By Steve Graham I got to know an old radio repair guy around the corner. He was still fixing tube radios for people at almost ninety years of age. I scored some great tubes from him, but that’s a story for another day. He passed away a few years ago, but before he did, one of the pearls of wisdom he passed on to me about aging was, “Once a man, twice a boy”. I think about this often when pondering how my audio life has come full circle. A “modern” version of my youthful monstrosities, actually a stereo power amp based on the Fender Champ circuit. A theory I read some years ago, I forget where, posited that big (12” or larger), high efficiency paper cone woofers sound more like real instruments because the area of the cone more closely approximates the size of the instruments it is trying to reproduce. It also does so with very low power which makes it more likely to approach the dynamics of live music. A whole bunch of smaller woofers won’t cut it: I know, I’ve been there, done that. With that in mind I took the plunge and bought a pair [...]
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Review: Elekit TU-8500 Tube Preamplifier Kit
Please enter banners and links.From the Land of the Rising Sun, A Revelation in Preamplification Review by Noam Bronstein Let’s be up front about it: we’re fans of Elekit gear here at Wall of Sound. Both Tim and I have enthusiastically reviewed their amps (1, 2). I recently acquired a used TU-879S amp (which I love), and Scott built and owns a TU-8230, that manages to occupy a place of high standing among his legions of great amps. Put simply, Elekit makes high-value, well designed kits, which are expertly documented for the English-speaking world by Victor Kung, and distributed through his VK Music operation. When I noticed the TU-8500 preamp kit on the VK site, I asked Victor if he’d send me an unassembled one to build and review, and he was happy to oblige. My kit arrived a few days later, double-boxed, and included the Amtrans AMRS resistor pack upgrade. Time to dust off the soldering iron and get busy! Other reviewers have called out the (Ele)kits as being typical of the Japanese “OCD-grade” attention to detail, and I have to agree. Everything is meticulously packed, with the parts sorted and arranged in a way to inspire confidence. The quality of the chassis and printed [...]
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Domestic Harmony: Chapter 2, Jamie meets Anna
Domestic Harmony, a series Chapter 2: Jamie meets Anna By Steve Graham Jamie had taken up yoga when Elizabeth first went off to university. She really enjoyed the fitness aspect and the mental and physical discipline required. Lisa, the studio owner, recognized Jamie’s aptitude and suggested she work at her certificate so she could teach. Jamie had just started to teach beginner’s yoga and had been putting aside some of her earnings for Paul’s anniversary present. Stuart’s Stereo had been a fixture in the neighbourhood for years, but was just one of those places that didn’t make it onto Jamie’s radar. A week or so after the Anna Ortofon discussion with Paul, she was walking home from the Yoga studio late on a Wednesday morning, and noticed the Ortofon sticker on the door of Stuart’s Stereo. What the heck, she thought, might as well ask. She walked in and up to the counter where a pleasant looking young man in his mid to late twenties was putting a gold something on a shelf. “Hi, I’m Stuart” he said brightly, “Anything I can help you with?” “Hasn’t this store been here a long time, you look too young to be Stuart?” [...]
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My Audio Life – Part 3
My Audio Life Part 3 By Steve Graham In a Cincinnati basement we exchanged money for Altecs. As it turned out the seller was a picker and found audio equipment at yard sales, estate sales and in classified ads. He liked to buy stuff, listen to it for a while then sell it on for a profit. He had an old Dynaco ST70 sitting on his work bench and we yacked about it for a minute or two. We loaded the Altecs in the car, strapped them down with a ratchet strap (a good idea in the event of a collision or other sudden stop) and headed home by way of Detroit. The customs people at Windsor Ontario were very courteous but having previously removed the backs of the Altecs I’m sure minimized our delay. Note to self: next time stay out of Canada more than 48 hours and pay less tax. Altec Flamencos just arrived from Cincinnati We lucked out weather-wise and only had some slow going from London Ontario to just west of Toronto. The trip up highway 400 was quick and easy. The polar vortex was making a mess out of someone else’s day, I guess. [...]
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Finally, a powerful and affordable kit amp from Japan!
Just a quick “preview” post, to let readers know about a highly-anticipated amplifier that’s coming soon to our shores, via VK Music: the Elekit TU-8340 kit will retail for $1125 US, without tubes. Tube packages will range from $175 (EL34) to $450 (KT150). Resistor, capacitor and transformer upgrade packages will be offered as well. Victor Kung says the availability is expected to be late October. Wall of Sound is hoping to be the first to review this brand-new amp, Steve Graham is practically dying to build it. As we’ve come to expect from Mr. Fujita’s designs, the TU-8340 has some interesting innovations. It accepts many of the big boy pentode power tubes – EL34, 6L6GC, KT88, KT90, KT120, KT150 – and uses four microprocessors to control output tube bias. They’re calling it a “semi-automatic fixed bias” adjustment system. This theoretically promises very good biasing accuracy, especially for those of us who like to roll different tubes in. And who doesn’t? Victor posts updates regularly on DIY Audio, click here for more info. Or check out the VK Music website. VK Music is the exclusive North American distributor for Elekit.
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Spy shots of the new Elekit TU-8340
Victor Kung (vkmusic.ca) has sent me some cool new photos of the forthcoming push-pull power amplifier kit from Elekit, which I wrote about a few weeks ago. Wall Of Sound is eager to get our hands on a review sample – our man Steve is chomping at the bit to build it. For now, enjoy these pics. Notice the microprocessor stack in between the middle power tubes – these are for the “semi-automatic” biasing functions. Showgoers at RMAF and TAVES will have the chance to see and hear this amp in action, and we’ll report more about it then (after TAVES). I expect this amp is gonna make lots of EP! (Effortless Powah) With a starting price of just $1125 (without tubes), and the ability to make 50wpc with KT150 tubes, this kit seems poised to make a dent in the tube power amp market. This time Elekit and VKM are teaming up with Lundahl to offer an opt upgrade option. Something for DIY’ers to look forward to… Quoting Victor: “Here is the production model TU-8340, with an acrylic cover for demo. I will demo this amp in RMAF and TAVES. A pair of Lundahl LL-1623 output transformers were installed. [...]
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Upcoming Battle of the Cheap Line Stages!
Wall Of Sound writer Steve Graham is a tireless audio enthusiast. And a generous guy, too. To keep himself busy as the leaves turn red in northern Ontario, Steve has undertaken a new project: to build two budget line stage tube preamps, complete with semi-fancy enclosures (or at least “spouse-acceptable”), compare their quality and performance, write an extensive article on the whole process, and then – since he has no need for these himself – he plans to offer them to any interested WoS reader, at cost. If that isn’t enough, Steve plans to donate the proceeds to his local hospital. Steve isn’t really what I’d call a cheap-o-phile, like many of us (me). He owns some very high-end Audio Research gear, including the big Reference 3 Preamp. So along the way, he plans to do some silly stuff, like putting these cheapies into his big system just to see what they can do. Who knows, maybe one of them will embarass the ARC, at least in terms of cost to performance ratio! I have to say, I love this idea. If it wasn’t a 4-hour drive to get there, I’d practically insist on being a fly on the wall, for that comparison. The contenders: From [...]
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Domestic Harmony, Chapter 3: Paul braves a meeting with Victoria
From a series by Steve Graham Paul was happy to leave work a bit earlier than usual, even though he was dreading the task ahead. Paul’s son James, and his fiancée April, had made a reservation for Paul and Jamie at a B&B in Niagara-on-the-Lake, for their wedding anniversary. When James called to tell him about the B&B and the tickets to the Shaw Festival, Paul objected. “Relax, Dad”, James had told his father. “April and I are doing really well. We just wanted to say thanks for all your help with my education. Actually it was April’s idea; she thinks the world of you and mom. The B&B will email you the confirmation and they’ll have the Shaw tickets for you. It’s all paid for so if you don’t go it’ll be wasted. Oh, and the B&B has a pool too. I remember the stories of how you and mom met at the lake. April thought it would be romantic for your anniversary. There’s even a yoga studio next door if Mom wants to get away from you for a while. You’re all set up for 4 nights starting on the 2nd.” Paul could hardly believe it, but a [...]
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My Audio Life – Part 4
By Steve Graham The Altecs stayed in the listening room for a week or so. They’re a game changer, unlike any speaker I’ve heard. They’re difficult to describe, but if I had to choose one word it would be ‘compelling’. The ultimate in accuracy? No, not even close. Imaging like a 3D IMAX movie? Nope. Centre of the earth bass extension? OK, but they’d never be mistaken for THX subwoofers at the local Cineplex. Sweet lilting treble? No way. They’ll spit in your face if pushed too hard. So what the hell do they do right? As I’ve said, hard to describe, but here goes: they have the immediacy and hear-into quality of a good headphone setup, but with the sound-in-the-room physicality of loudspeakers. They also play well quiet, not a lot of volume (SPL’s) are needed to make them come alive. In fact, they don’t play well loud, but loud isn’t needed. Almost every other speaker I’ve heard seems to have a minimum SPL threshold before it gets out of its own way and starts to communicate a musical message. With the Altecs, that threshold is much lower. I can connect to music at low SPLs with the Altecs [...]
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Battle of the Cheap Line Stages – Part 1
Battle of the Cheap Line Stages – Part 1 of a DIY Showdown by Steve Graham We’ve all seen the ads on eBay for inexpensive PCB’s from Asia, sprouting tube sockets and a few other parts for about $60, tubes included. If you’re like me, you’ve wondered if these can be any good at all – or just a waste of money and time. The glass half full person might say, “How bad can they be?” The glass half empty person might say, “How good can they be?” Or maybe it’s the other way around. At any rate, this faithful audio scribe is going to take one for the team and find out. I’ll also build a more expensive line stage amplifier based on a board from the USA and compare it to its Eastern rival. The aim of this article is to inform, encourage DIY audio, and satisfy my own curiosity of course. Now before you tune out, thinking; a) I don’t want to fool around with something that has several hundred volts running through it and b) my significant other won’t tolerate something that looks like a pile of junk with tubes and wires hanging out of it, both [...]
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Battle of the Cheap Line Stages – Part 2
Battle of the Cheap Line Stages – Part 2 of a DIY Showdown Review by Steve Graham The Asian Contender: 6N3 4pcs Audio Tube Pre-Amplifier Preamp Board Assembled Kit DIY, aka “Yuanjing” Yeah, bit of a mouthful, but that’s how it was described in the eBay ad I bought it from. The amp you see in the picture cost $39.99 US plus $12 for shipping. There must have been a production overrun of tens of thousands of 6N3 tubes that some entrepreneur picked up at a very low price. Someone in China must be churning these out by the thousands to get the price this low. The only identifier I see on the board, aside from 6N3, is “Yuanjing” so henceforth I shall refer to it as that. What is a 6N3, you ask? It’s a small dual-triode that is more less equivalent to the North American 5670 and 2C51. These tubes do not have the same pinout as the more common 12AX7 or 6DJ8 tubes, which probably explains the large and relatively cheap NOS stocks. NOS 5670’s are priced starting at about $12 each. The board comes assembled as shown in the picture. The tubes tested somewhat indifferently on my [...]
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Domestic Harmony, Chapter 4: Jamie talks audio with an old neighbour
By Steve Graham Chapter 4 – Jamie teases Kayla and talks audio with an old neighbour The day after the morning yoga class, Jamie approached Kayla and said, “I think we have a friend in common.” “Who’s that?” “Stuart from the stereo store down the street. I was in there to pick out an anniversary present for my husband Paul. We got chatting, your husband and Stuart are old friends apparently.” “That’s right. Kev, my husband, and Stuart were best friends in high school. They lost touch when Stu went off to university but they’ve reconnected since he came back to run the family business.” “You seem happy today Kayla. You’ve got a bit grin on your face. Oh, and why didn’t you tell me you work at the Victoria’s Secret store?” “There’s no keeping a secret around Stuart,” said Kayla. “I was just thinking about something he said when we spoke on the phone a few nights ago. He’s a sweet guy, he keeps teasing me that I have a sister I won’t introduce him to. I think he’s kind of lonely working in that ‘guy’ store.” “He mentioned your ‘secret sister’,” Jamie remarked smiling. “I just [...]
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Battle of the Cheap Line Stages – Part 3
Battle of the Cheap Line Stages: Part 3 of a DIY Showdown by Steve Graham Line Stage For Sale As promised last time, the Aikido, aka the N-F-P Line Stage, is for sale. The total invested in parts, not including machining and laser engraving, which were donated, is a little over $500 Canadian, including two NOS audiophile grade output caps. See the component price break-down in the ‘Order Information’ download below. As mentioned in Part 2, the full sale price, less shipping, will be donated to the capital equipment renewal fund of the Georgian Bay General Hospital in Midland Ontario. The lucky buyer of the N-F-P line stage will even get a receipt from GBGH, that will make their purchase a tax deductible charitable donation. The N-F-P comes with your choice of JJ E88CC or NOS Tesla ECC88 tubes, or a blend, 2 of each. The blended option is the best to my ears, as it maximizes the good properties of both tubes and minimizes their negative traits. At any rate, the choice is yours. See my 6DJ8 tube shootout on WoS for more information. Both sets of tubes have about 100 hours on them. If tubes fail they will usually do [...]
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