Superstition

Ever wonder why cats stare intently seemingly at nothing?  Old Wives' tale has it that if you look between their ears you can see what they are seeing. . .   oddly enough I do believe that I see a vintage WWII Wehrmacht PzKpfw V Ausf G (that's a Panther Tank for the uninitiated) passing by in the lower right.  But that doesn't seem to be what Holly is looking at. . .

No cats or comedy here ("8" on the boring post scale)

Two new pieces of gear are due to arrive this week ( I pray they arrive safely), one of which will be my representative for the (now) annual summer "$100 stereo challenge competition."  As if we had nothing better to do (or spend our money on) D. and I came up with the idea last summer that it would be fun to see who could assemble the best stereo for $100, new or used.  Although D. came up with a nice combo of a vintage Scott receiver and Marantz CD changer, I had mixed luck.  Efforts to procure a decent set of Polk 5jr Monitor speakers (1987 vintage) failed miserably, but I did get a pair of B&W 600i speakers for $10 at the thrift shop.  I even pulled a dent out of one of the aluminum tweeters, and despite looking a little rough they sound pretty good.  They're acoustic suspension, (meaning no port to extend bass response) which is hard to find nowadays.

Back to the original point, I managed to bid $5.50 on a Sony STR- GA8ES receiver with remote and manual- and win!  Total shipped from GA about $40.  I don't know that much about it yet- it was a complete impulse purchase.  I was easily able to rationalize putting it into the upstairs system, as the older STR-GX909ES that used to live upstairs needs to go in for a service, tune-up and cleaning.  More interetingly however (and unfortunately more expensive), is the Sony TA-F650ESD integrated amplifier that should also be here soon (tomorrow?).  I know even less about this amp than I do the GA8, although I believe it is essentially a TA-F700ES with a digital to analog converter bolted on the back.  Google searches bring up very little info, and Sony played so fast and loose with model numbers that it's tough to pin down details until you pull the top off of something and see how the guts are arranged.  So in the near future a big comparo between these two, the old 909 and the GX9 (which is still in the shop).  And maybe we'll throw the 444 in as well.  Speaking of which, D. recently procured an older Denon 2 channel integrated so the 444 and J.'s Cambridge Audio will have to be compared as well.  The list of things I am supposed to have written about alrerady is getting longer and longer!  Add these plans to the discussion of Sony stuff from 1984-1990 and my thoughts on damping factor ratings. . . at least I don't have to do the phono preamp comparo- I sold the Audio Technica already!

Cantilever

One of my goals this afternoon was to take a clear picture of the Tara Labs cones I have supporting the Sony 444ES integrated amp.  The felines of course took over the whole session.  I had originally bought the cones to replace the feet on the Rega P1 as you can hear the vibrations from the platter rotation pretty clearly with the volume down, but then I used them under an NAD C350 that had a little transformer hum.  They really helped with the NAD.  Right now they are under the 444 even though that amp is DEAD silent and doesn't need them ( a whole post about that amp soon, I promise- suffice to say that they go for under $100 on eBay and if you see one BUY IT), but they look kind of cool with the right side hanging out over nothing- the transformer is so heavy that all is held in balance despite the odd positioning of the three cones.  Other than the effect on mechanical noise, I wouldn't waste time looking for any other impact on the sound of the system because of the cones.  There are too many other factors that have a much larger impact on overall sound (such as my unresolved speaker positioning) to worry about.  That being said, they do have a pretty clear positive effect on the little buzzes and hums that electronics sometimes make.

Bad precedent

Bad cat (well, good cat, bad behavior- hate the sin, love the sinner).  We were probably out of the litter box all of five minutes when this happened.  So why spend any real money on stereo?  All I need is a $3,000 Krell integrated with chocolate cheerios all over it.  That'll impress people.

Introductions

Meet Duante and Holly, integral parts of any listening session.  Today, while listening to Glass Hammer's cover of "South Side of the Sky" a hairball of prodigious size was warfed up onto the stairs.  Actually, it splayed across three stairs in something of a brown and green cascade.  I haven't been able to get the stain out yet, and we're having company tomorrow.  Of course.