With COVID and social distancing restrictions, we’re more reliant on feedback from our beta testers, other trusted individuals, and of course our customers through our 30-day approval program for our cable designs.
The results have been encouraging, and there have been a few “anticipated surprises” along the way. Is there such a thing as an anticipated surprise? Is that a known, unknown?
We got to thinking about whether a Goldilocks cable is possible.
After setting up an Ikeda arm and cartridge last week (link to that post is here), I took to rearranging my stable of cartridges which are mounted to removable, Jelco headshells. One of them is a Denon DL 103R.
It occurred to me that it’s been years since I’ve run that cartridge, and more importantly, that it never had the benefit of my current tool set – including the Feickert software and a USB microscope. What would a setup with modern tools yield?
A customer purchased an Ikeda 345 tonearm and Ikeda Kai cartridge.
Because of COVID-19 guidelines on social distancing, we got creative and set his arm and cartridge up remotely.
The goal was to perform the setup chez Galibier and provide as near of a plug and play installation for the customer as possible – while being 2,000 miles from the customer’s listening room.
Our customers expect a lot of us, and one of them is a fellow you may know from his Audiogon screen name: “palasr”.
He was an early Galibier adopter and when Joel Durand asked me for recommendations for a beta test group for the Durand Talea, he was one of the first people who came to mind.
He just received delivery of his controller update and conveyed his impressions to me.
While experimenting with faceplate finishes for our NiWatt amplifiers, we arrived at a surface preparation process that’s more consistent and easier to apply than bead blasting.
Through the years, Verdier and Redpoint owners (as well as owners of other turntables) have been persistent in their requests for a Galibier drive system (we’re flattered).
Leveraging lessons learned from our recent drive system update, we have streamlined our production capabilities, and we’re proud to announce that we have re-instituted our drive system retrofit/upgrade program for you.
Read more …
Recently, I’ve seen an increase in orders for longer interconnects.
This has puzzled me – both statistically (why the change) as well as for reasons of optimum sound (why would you compromise your system).
Time for a musical performance and a brief rant. In the early days, hi-fi writers would talk about “goosebump experiences” … the hair standing up on the back of their neck.
This performance by Sarah Rogo captures it better than I can write, and I’ll let her do most of the talking.
Sean Carroll holds the Richard Feynman chair in physics at CalTech , and hosts a multi-disciplinary podcast named “Mindscape”.
In this episode, he interviews two jazz musicians who have been exploring the neuroscience of music and creativity – both from the perspective of the performer as well as the listener.
Read more …
I’ve been studying the design of Gibson’s classic P.A.F. humbucker guitar pickup designed by Seth Lover in 1954.
As the design evolved, conductive covers were specified in order to shield them from RFI. Nickel was selected for a very important reason.
What does this have to do with audio connectors, and why is nickel as poor of a choice for audio connectors as it is a good one for pickup covers?
