Beniamino Gigli

Beniamino Gigli sings “E lucean le stelle” from Puccinis Tosca.

Beniamini Gigli on Wikipedia.

Enrico Caruso

The great Enrico Caruso performing Una Furtiva Lagrima.

The Enrico Caruso Page.
Enrico Caruso on Wikipedia

Curtis Mayfield – Back To The World

I love this record and it’s the one I like best of the Curtis Mayfield albums. Great songs driven by fat horn sections in the background. Amazing early seventies soul with good lyrics.

Pickering XV-15

Yesterday my new cartridge, the Pickering XV-15 arrived. I had some luck to fetch one at an auction on ebay. Setting up the XV-15 is a bit of a hassle because of its unusual shape. Using the Technics alignment tool helps but should be handled with care if you mount the headshell with the cartridge on it – the needle tip nearly touches the alignment tool. Of course the brush doesn’t make aligning easier but all these minor distractions won’t put us off getting our cartridge to run, won’t they?

Now comes the best part – listening. Everything I read about the Pickering and its full bodied sound is true. Compared to my Denon DL-110 there’s more bass and a more accentuated midrange. There is a Chet Baker record I think is quite problematic because the recording is somehow strange or perhaps just bad. I always had the feeling it sounds a bit wrong especially with my other turntables. The Technics improved things a bit but now with the Pickering the record sounds as it should.

I think I’m going to have a lot of fun with the Pickering.

Technics SL-1210 MKII

Finally I settled for a Technics SL-1210 MKII which is based on the legendary SL-1200. Yes, I’m more than satisfied with this deck. Not long ago and you would have seen a disapproving look on my face if you’d mention the Technics as a serious competitor in the turntable market. Luckilly I changed my mind. I did a lot of reading and the fact that the Technics has a technically mature direct drive that nearly eliminates speed issues was one of the reasons that convinced me that there must be something about it.
I’m using it with a Denon DL-110 cartridge and compared to the Thorens TD-160 which I used to own I must say I don’t miss anything. And there is this ease of use the 1210 offers and lets you forget all that fiddling around. Easy VTA adjustment and cartridge alignment (yes, that alignment tool coming with the deck works) is just wonderful.
Well, i don’t have to repeat what others already discovered and written down much better. Here is an enthusiastic review at vinyl heaven.
KAB has also found some good reasons why this is a perfect but underrated turntable here.

Sound HiFi just like KAB offers some tweaks to improve the SL-1210 if you wish to do so. Perhaps you would like to try another tonearm or use an external PSU.

It’s good to see that a quality turntable is no longer regarded as just a DJ turntable only and more people become aware of the strengths this deck has to offer for that price.

Einstürzende Neubauten – Nagorny Karabach

A few weeks ago I saw a documentation about Blixa Bargeld and was surprised about the sound they are producing nowadays because I didn’t bother about their activities for a long time. Perhaps the time for records I used to like and listen to very often like Halber Mensch, Kollaps and Zeichnungen des Patienten O.T. was over for me.
What I like about the band is the way they stick to their style and the music they make today is just the result of a long process.

Hawthorne Audio – Silver Iris

The Silver Iris by Hawthorne Audio is a 15″ coaxial driver coming with a crossover and especially tuned to run in an open baffle configuration. After that open baffle virus had me I was lucky to  run into the Silver iris on the internet. There is also a review on TNT-Audio
. I did some further reading and was quite sure that these coaxials could be the drivers I’m looking for. The Silver Iris are running here since March last year and went through a few different set ups in baffles. The Hawthorne coaxials don’t require large baffles to run effectively and produce sufficient bass energy. If that’s not enough Hawthorne Audio offers the 15″ Augies, special bass drivers for open baffle use.
How do I describe the sound? I don’t know. The only thing I can say is that I listened to my CDs and records again just to discover things I hadn’t heard before. Some albums that couldn’t convince me before have now found their way back to my regular playlist.

Hawthorne Audio
Hawthorne Audio Members Gallery

MC Solaar

Last week I grabbed my MC Solaar albums and listened  to them again after a long time. I’ve got the first four albums which are listed below in order  they were released.
- Qui séme le vent récolte le tempo
- Prose Combat
- Paradisiaque
- MC Solaar – le 4éme album
Following these comes a live album with a compilation of songs from the albums named above. I have to listen to the more recent ones Cinquième As, Mach 6 and Chapitre 7 which I’ll certainly do soon.
“Prose Combat” was the first album I’ve heard from MC Solaar and I bought it shortly after its release. In my opinion it is obviously jazz influenced mixed with interesting sounds and the best album of MC Solaar.

Sonny Rollins – Way Out West

This album is fascinating. It is really something special and somehow difficult to describe. Way Out West is certainly a kind of minimalistic jazz album.

Way Out West was recorded on March 7th in 1957 in one day and Sonny Rollins had never played with Ray Brown (bass) and Shelly Manne (drums) before.

I have the CD and the record of Way Out West. The CD contains alternate takes of some tracks and I heard there is a vinyl release with those. Comparing the vinyl sound with the CD I must say that the record surprises with much richer and detailed bass and drums than the digital source does. It’s more fun listening to the record.

Bootsy Collins (space) bass solo

Just found this great Bootsy space bass solo a few days ago. Wow!