#b&o

&

"The O-scale B&O Fairmount Subdivision Train Layout"

Yes I cannot help it. There is treasure and it takes ALL my will to not being a collector.

There are TWO B&O 4004 Turntables for sale within an hours drive of my home. TWO!

To my eye these are the most beautiful turntables out in the wild. Elegant, restrained, and sophisticated. Both are near $1500 which is much less than recent valuations. They had been going for over 4k. And this is the model B&O bought up, refurbished, refinished and resold for $12000 USD. It is a statement.

It is also a very good turntable. The phono cartridge is an MMC type that is a tiny super light moving iron type that puts moving coil cartridges to shame. That is actually the problem. The cartridge is as proprietary as they get. B&O stopped making them decades ago. Soundsmith does make them and a slew of standard cartridges using similar tech for very dear prices. Well they are not expensive if you are used to moving coil types.

That would not matter to a collector would it? .... TWO!

To distract me from those I look for what the Audio Mart has under Audio Research. My son-in-law needs a preamp. There are several solid state ARC amplifiers for sale for under $900. Huh? Yes they are the early 80s solid state units when ARC tried to move over to FETs from vacuum tubes. One is a 100 Watt per side unit that had Stereophile twist itself into existential knots to not call it the best of the best. This one is refurbished and repaired and had the infamous "analog modules" replaced with modern new builds.

Another is a 350 Watt per side monster that needs repair and probably those analog modules are to blame. That big one is VERY heavy and I could buy it and ship it across the country all in for $1000. But I am not going to risk working on such a thing. If it were a tube unit, bring it on, but it aint. Fixed it is worth 4 to 5 kilobucks. Stop this!

Calm down now. Yes treasure is valuable, but other people will appreciate it too.

Oh what else?

Music.

I was perusing the usual reviewer sites. The crazy old Audiophiliac site was doing a review of a big QUAD Electrostatic speaker. His tastes are strange, but aside from the review he had invited Mr David Chesky to visit and hear them. Chesky is a brilliant composer, performer, recording engineer, and a current audio demi-god.

He owns a set of the old QUAD 57s as one of his references.

The point within this is one of the selections they auditioned was an album by his daughter Paloma Chesky.

She is very good. Bluesy Jazz and a bit of pop. I like her style and listened to it in my commuter drive. Her voice is great. Deep and dusky, with true character. Not a pop princess, though she could easily carry off the look.

As a Chesky it is safe to assume the recording is a good as it gets, and the music is top shelf.

Anyway, David C commented that the QUAD was the most realistic portrayal of her voice he had ever heard. That is a full on WOW comment and what more do you need. He knows audio, and he knows his child.

Mid-sized trendy open concept light wood floor living room photo with a music area, white walls, no fireplace and a wall-mounted tv