BIG STORM ALERTS all across our area…..you know how I tell you newbies, and some of you uninformed oldies, to keep your solid state and power supplies powered up forever…well, you may just want to watch the skies tonight and Tuesday, or even unplug before you go to work tomorrow….BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY.  It’s nicer to put up with a week’s worth of steely strings again while things warm up than to deal with insurance claims and no music for a while.

There are many ways we’re influenced by our relatives, and if one lives long enough, it can be readily apparent.  One of my grandfathers was a hifi hobbyist, which must be where I got my love of gear from – also growing roses, goldfish, good chocolate, and making beer.  I remember listening to his stereo while we ate dinner, or laying on their wool carpet afterwards.  The sound was always immediate, big, robust, and rich.  We’re talking the 60′s here.  I haven’t thought much about it in a long time, until this new/old sound came into the loft, via the LM and DeVore Orangutan series.  We’ve had various tube gear since we started,  Audio Research, Leben, etc, yet all these have a very modern sound, not any could one associate with that old stereotype soft tubby “tube” sound.  With the recent addition of Line Magnetic, based on older technology from Western Electric and my grandfather’s heyday, again I say it’s nothing like those stereotypes hifi magazines of the 1980′s popularized about tube gear.  It’s big, rich, robust, like my grandfather’s system.  As some of you have described it, it’s non-processed.  One forgets about the recording and lets the music sink in – deeply in.  And it puts me directly in Powell Hall, sitting there listening all these years that I have, through all those great conductors and orchestra members and soloists, and remembering the concert by the San Francisco Orchestra with Michael Tilson Thomas where their sound just engulfed the hall and brought tears to our eyes.  That is what this new/old hifi gear can do.  I’ve heard vintage gear done badly, and also magnificently.

With this affordable new gear from Line Magnetic and DeVore Fidelity, you, too, can become a part of that unprocessed sound.

I’m still going gaga over the Line Magnetic 518 integrated, at least with certain speakers that it loves to be paired with.  The amp was even sounding quite nice with a pair of Harbeth 5′s yesterday, which I would not have suspected.  Still, it fits like a glove with my other new fascination, the DeVore 0/93′s.  And like me, the many who have come by for a listen have been giving it high praise.

So onto the challenge…..knowing this is a 93db efficient speaker, feel free to phone up and bring your amp by.  Some have already, and so far, the 518 with its 845 tubes has been the winner.  So come one, come all!

the always charming LM518

The new BFS…

Here is the new DeVore 0/93, in standard Fiddleback Mahogany.   Very sporty, very sharp, a bit of modernity with a calling to years past….A new American Classic….

And on display and ready to be ordered….

Here’s a photo of one of my new friend’s I’ve been spotted hanging around with in town….

My new BFA

This is that remarkably smart, well-made, tasteful sounding integrated from LM Audio, a name you’ll be getting very used to reading about, so you can call it LM if you own one, Line Magnetic if you just wish you could…This is the LM 518 amp based on the 845 tube ( the big ones on each side).  Unlike some of my other smart and tasteful friends of the human kind I hang with, this one is also very well made, hand wiring throughout.  Sorry Made in USAers, this one is made in China, by two hifi zealot brothers.  And they are making some very exciting products based on our very own Western Electric gear of years gone by, something your grandfather may have been familiar with.

Yet don’t fret, one speaker this amp loves to be paired with is another new friend, and one that I am falling in love with, a speakmance if you will….the new DeVore 0/93′s, made right in Brooklyn.   I am deeply smitten right now.  With all the great speakers we have here at the loft, this one has totally captured my musical soul.  And this combo of romance won’t set you back too hard,  $8400 for the speakers and $4250 for the amp.  This is what I call a hifi value, a bargain, even.  Great combos can be made here with other brands, and some that you may easily prefer.  Yet these play music as well as any, and much better than anything I’ve heard sold elsewhere in town.  So call and come by for a listen….it, too, can be Valentine’s Day for you once more….

The Lyric Opera of Chicago Broadcasts – 98.7WFMT – Classical and Folk Music Radio Streaming Online www.wfmt.comThe Lyric Opera of Chicago is recognized internationally as one of the great opera companies of our time. Its artistic standards are universally admired. The company’s financial solvency and subscription audience are envied throughout the field.

wait…that’s that Christmas song from Jo Stafford that always gets stuck in my head during the holidays….with today’s weather, nothing was rocking outside, brrrr, all the tunes came from inside…

no rockin’ outside today

the tunes were playing today on a surprisingly charming small bookshelf speaker, the Totem Mites.  I had them at home to give them a go, they needed a smaller room with a solid back wall that I couldn’t give them at the loft.  Boy, was I a happy trooper. Small in size, large in sound, and such a sound they make driven by my trusty Naim UnitiQute.  I’ve had them recommended to me by several industry leaders – okay, fellas that really know their stuff – as the go to inexpensive speaker.  For me it’s not that they are very affordable, starting at $775 depending on finish, it’s that they just sing.  I’ve been subjected to some very unmusical smallish speakers as of late, no, not at the loft, and these were a godsend, something that reminded me of Santa and all that’s good in the world, certainly no insipid little box speaker.

  If you’d like to hear these at the loft, I’ll be demoing them in the kitchen!, much to someone’s chagrin, but hey, we audiophiles have to work with what we’re given.  I’ve found that with the solid wall behind the kitchen cabinets, the kitchen space can do wonders for smallish speakers, like the Rega RS1′s and Harbeth 3′s,that get a bit overwhelmed in the other rooms.  Love these lil guys.  You will, too!

oh yes, back to the winter weather….

New shipment just in of the Well Tempered Lab Amadeus and GTAs.   Yes, there are jokes a plenty over the golf balls, yet these tables will score a hole in one over most any in the field.  Come give them a try, and find out what the vinyl revolution is all about.  It’s a great time to spin vinyl.  Buy right the first time and be done, that’s my motto – or my grandpa’s, or somebody’s…..

And Mark in Afton, I have a table with your name on it.  Sorry, I lost your phone #.  A retailer’s nightmare, let me tell you.  Please call when you read this!  Thanks!

http://youtu.be/m8e1pC6CVpI

New cd I purchased after hearing it on KDHX one Sunday afternoon in the car, off of the show “No Time to Tarry Here”, 2 to 4 pm every Sunday.  Great show.  Thanks Pablo!

Very nice recording, sounding quite wonderful on the Totem Forests that are burning in here.  These speakers have really caught my attention, after their long burn in – about 150 hrs.   They have blossomed into a most engaging speaker, very juicy sounding.  By that I mean they are not the least bit dry, reserved, or just plain boring – ok, not engaging, like some I have chastised on here before.   You know the victims of my wrath, sold here in town by others, and just suck musically.  The Forests benefit from a good source and a proper amp, well, like most any speaker, yet I’m afraid due to their easy size and drive, ample bass, and price, that they’ll be used with cheaper gear that might make them sound a bit harsh.  These are a very serious speaker, with a proper amount of fun yet transparency.   Highly recommended, they’ll be out on the listening floor soon.  In black ash, mahogany, cherry, and satin white.

The one Totem speaker that has always been missing from our floor has been the Forest.  Well, we have finally amended that, and it’s at my house getting duly abused with constant current going through it.  Results so far have been most promising, sounding like a big Sttaf, one of our favs in the Totem line.  The Forests are very easy to drive, yet don’t let the absurd marketing on the Totem site think you can hook up any old receiver and come away with greatness.  Far from it, these guys need special matching to bring out their best.  I know none of you would spend $4k on a speaker only to use a mediocre amp.  I know, right?  Seems like this speaker will eventually go into my highly recommended catergory.  And it is nice to hear what a Dynaudio driver can really sound like properly voiced.  Amen!  Stay tuned…

The Totem Forest at boot camp….