Friday, July 5, 2013

New Braun L830 photos.

  'Legendary' is way overused in the audiophile world, perhaps shouldn't be used at all. Does it mean, for example that I should pass the oral history, along with my personal experience of the Heil tweeter to my daughters? If so, then the transducers, especially domes, that Braun made in the seventies shouldn't be missed. They have a headphone like clarity that's extraordinary. This 3 way, 10 inch teak veneer system is a great example. I just refoamed the woofers, and they sound great.
  Braun speakers of the period used captive speakers leads (16 feet), and I've chosen to leave them. They're small diameter, but decent quality,suitable for the kind of vintage receivers (with their many old small connectors) that these speakers are likely to be paired with. In the past with other Brauns, I've cut into the cabinets and installed modern connectors, but am not convinced that the subtle improvement was worth defacing a classic Dieter Rams cabinet design for.


I photoshopped out the wires in this picture to make sure you're paying attention.

Monday, July 1, 2013

Highly Recommended.

I sold this album in 1990, and have regretted it many times since. I found a copy last month in awful condition, which was a tease. Yesterday, I got lucky. I found a great copy at a fair price at Sonic Boom. Django Reinhardt is a huge figure in jazz, and there have been a lot of slavish tributes and half baked Hot Club style recordings over the years, but this is the best way I can think of to experience the magic that Stephane Grappelli & Django made without the archival realities of the original Quintette du Hot Club de France recordings. Grappelli sound fantastic here, Pedersen was arguably the best jazz bass player in Europe at the time, and Coryell and Catherine swing furiously. The whole band swings furiously!