It’s been somewhat of a lost six weeks here at TONE, but we’ve been very busy getting organized for the fall season of shows.
We will be attending CEDIA next week in Denver, the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest and of course CES in January. So if you see us zooming around, stop and say hello. We look forward to talking with you.
And to top it off, I now have a clean desk. I’m savoring this picture because this doesn’t happen often.
Where else do you get maximum rock and roll combined with mostly naked women?
At CrueFest, of course.
Trapt, Sixx-AM, Papa Roach and Buckcherry got the party started for the legendary glam rockers, but when Motley Crue hit the stage, the fireworks went off and the sound level went up dramatically.
A good time was had by all. The Crue rocked the house, playing a good combination of their hits mixed in with most of the tunes from their newest album Saints Of Los Angeles. And it just wouldn’t be a Crue concert without Tommy Lee getting out the boob cam. Cool as this is in theory, I get the feeling that this plays a lot better in Los Angeles. Not that the Portland crowd was any less willing to take their top off for Tommy, it wasn’t necessarily in the best interest for many of them.
But hey, that’s rock and roll.
Finishing up the final setup on the Spiral Groove SG-2 and TriPlanar arm.
This turntable is a work of art! Initial listening impressions are fantastic. Stay tuned for more on this analog masterpiece.
You can also check out www.immediasound.com to get more information.
Took a ride up to Seattle to meet with Randy Wells and zoom over to Magnolia HiFi, where they were showing off the new CLX from Martin Logan.
This is one hell of a speaker! CLS devotees (used to be one, myself) will be thrilled with this speaker. M-L has taken everything they’ve learned in the last 25 years and created an electrostatic tour de force.
Our pal Ron Cornelius from McIntosh was their with their new coolio 300 watt tube monoblocks and a big stack of other goodies from Mac. David Allen from ML was on hand for two days to demo the speakers and answer hungry fans questions. Magnolia even had special 36 month financing on hand!
If you love ‘stats, this could be the last speaker you’ll ever need.
Hey, it took em 25 years to come up with this one.
Spending the day with the new Bentley Continental Spur Speed was an awesome experience, and you can read all about it in our August issue.
But, I’ll tell you this much: The Naim Audio system is the best I’ve ever heard in a factory install. I’ve heard a few car stereos that revealed a bit more music, but they were 30-50 thousand dollar installs.
The only catch with Naim is that to get such a great deal on this system, you have to buy a new Bentley. Which isn’t such a bad thing.
With a 600 hp 12 cylinder, twin turbo W-12 motor, this car can coddle you in British luxury and go into warp drive the second you put the pedal to the floor.
The old 3-series just won’t be the same.
Well folks, after a few days off from finishing issue 16, we are back in action.
Here in Boston to test drive the new Bentley Continental Flying Spur. Not just any Bentley, I might add, but one outfitted with the new Naim HiFi System made specifically for Bentley.
I’ll keep you posted with more pictures and initial sound impressions tomorrow evening.
I’m placing an advance bet that this is a winner.
For a little more information click here:
http://www.bentleymotors.com/Corporate/display.aspx?infid=1292
This is why it’s so great to be Snoop Dogg.
I took my good friend Ken Ball from ALO Audio to check out the show in Portland last night and we had a blast. Snoop did about an hour and a half set and had the whole place up and bouncing.
At the end of the show when he said “how many of you bitches want to get down with Snoop Dogg” about fifty women jumped right up on stage. Awesome.
Read the whole report with more pics on our website in the new section (to be unveiled on Tues) called concert watch, which will be presented by Music Giants.
Last night, staff writer Jerold O’Brien and I took a stroll down to Esther Short Park, here in Vancouver to grab a couple of brats, drink some beer and check out the scene. Legendary guitarist Peter Frampton was the headline act and we were very curious to see if he was just another geezer cashing in on former fame or the real deal.
A great time was had by all, but Frampton looked like he was having the most fun. He played a tight set and proved that he’s still a legendary guitar powerhouse.
From now till the end of the year, he’s got a full calendar. If he’s in your town and you are curious, you won’t be disappointed.
Somehow, the stress at deadline is easily cured by a trip to my favorite used hifi shop, Echo Audio in Portland, Oregon
I dragged the Vinyl Anachronist out for some chow at the Thai Peacock, right down the street from Echo and after a hearty bowl of curry,, we wandered in to see what goodies lurked on Kurt’s shelves.
As usual, it was treasure time. This mint Nakamich 700 ZXL was staring me right in the face. You’ll be reading about this one in TONE one of these days. It’s a keeper.
Lew Johnson likes to say “You can never have too much Conrad-Johnson gear” and I couldn’t agree more. Echo just happened to have a mint specimen of their first amplifier, the MV-75. I’ve owned all of the EL-34 based C-J power amps at one time or another, so it was time to graduate to this one with 6550’s under the hood.
The MV-75 was C-J’s first amplifier back in 1979 and this one still sounds darn good!
