Sunday, May 20, 2007

More Musical Notes: Going Retro

Unisonsimply2
Mad Dog's latest foray into the world of materialism

To continue the musical leitmotif of the last few days I have to brag about my latest acquisition. I managed to obtain on eBay the little gem pictured above. It's an Italian valve/tube amplifier (definition depends on which side of the Atlantic you live) which I got for an absolute steal of a deal. I've been fancying one of these beauties since I saw one displayed in a hi-fi shop off Marylebone High Street about 10 years ago. So when my faithful Rogers amplifier expired (I paid over a hundred quid for it just 30 years ago and now they tell me it's out of warranty -I don't know what's happening to customer service these days) earlier this year I started searching. I'd almost given up looking for a used item when this one popped up and I secured the auction a week ago. Yesterday it arrived and after making the wiring connections and giving the valves a couple of hours to warm up I then proceeded to play a large part of my CD collection. All I can say is the sound is quite heavenly: very open, warm and detailed. With every album I could hear musical nuances that I hadn't previously noticed. By the end of the evening I had a broad grin fixed on my face. Yay for valves and analogue kit!

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