#turntables

The longest day and time to fire up Naka-san. Put the Audio Research Space heater to bed until fall.

Had a friend over. He is German, specifically Bavarian. Last time he was over we did not even talk about audio stuff, this time we did. And we listened too. And there was beer. Pilsner Urquell if you must know.

He had not heard Naka-san in the system and he was impressed. His speakers are big Bang and Olufsen's which he had fiddled with. As with many old school products the inside was wired with tiny fine wires and the connection to the amplifiers were with a tiny DIN plug. He replaced the wires with heavy stuff and the connections with solid modern terminals. (OK DIN plugs are modern in a way, but come on!) He learned how much fun it is to solder next to a big magnet. He said the sound opened up and it was like a veil was removed. Yup he talks audiophile speak.

He asked me how much would it cost to make speakers like mine. Oh that is dangerous. He wondered about the midrange driver, what kind of driver was it? I told him it was the woofer. It was a two way system with damn expensive cross over parts. (Solen) I had to remove the covers to show him. He said he did not believe it. Hey I know about stuff.

His electronics is a vintage German receiver called a Kirksaeter. I think it is well regarded, certainly by him. Probably adequate to drive my things. I like building things. Could get interesting.

His son is a well trained pianist, but works as a computer programmer. ( hey I am old school and refuse to use "coder" as a job title) He is going to visit him in Montreal for a month. I asked what if any system he has. He said he has a piano.

Funny how musicians fall into two fairly distinct groups. There is that bifurcation thing again. One side gets all fussy and demanding with raging audiophilia with fancy systems. The other side is happy with a blue tooth speaker or even an AM radio.

It may be a self protective measure as if you are in to quality music, once you enter the madness of high end audio.....

Obsession is a dangerous thing.