This is the consumer version of the 4406 monitor. One tweeter is DOA, which I knew was likely. Sometimes when you need them, drivers fall from the sky. Update: This time, a tweeter is coming from Guelph!

Just arrived! Goodmans Dimension 8 speakers, Arcam Delta 60 integrated amp.

Along with 3 pairs of Missions that arrived on Tuesday, it's been All England Week at Seventies Stereo World Corporate Headquarters.  These are the Dimension 8s:      

They'll be beautiful when I'm finished with them! The grills fit flush to the teak veneer, emphasizing the planes of the shape. The craftmanship is amazing. At first listen, the sound is very promising. Lots of information here. More soon.

Mission 700 Leading Edge speakers with front baffle paint job.

  This is a fine sounding speaker. Mission gave it a mottled grey plastic front baffle that made the speaker look really chitzy. I repainted it the same hammertone warm grey as the upper models of the same year, the 770 Freedom 4 and 737R.

Just Arrived. Three modest pairs of Missions.

700 Leading Edges, 70 mkIIs and 733s (2 way small floorstanders that I've never had before). I think the 70s will be a veneer project.
 Update: I opened up the 70s, and the foam surrounds look & feel very good (I thought I'd probably have to refoam them).

Canadian Rega 2 speakers, touring cabinets.

  I've owned loved this speaker a few times. Last time I had a pair I veneered them in mahogany (because I think they're that good). In June, I started to do this pair in teak, but Toronto had a big storm and concurrent blackout, which caused minor flooding (damaging a pair of Altec Sevens, cosmetically, but not sonically) and major humidity. My beautiful veneer job went totally textural, and I was so bummed out I didn't know what to do with them.
  As my day job has become busier, I've had less time to prowl my favourite sources, and Seventies Stereo World Headquarters is very light on speakers at the moment. The disfigured Regas have been in use a lot lately. I love them for lots of reasons, always have...they're excellent monitors with surprising bass response. I didn't want to look at them in peeling, bumpy teak veneer, and didn't want to start veneering all over again. This road warrior carpet job works for me.

Mission 727 pictures.

These are as good as I thought they'd be...much closer in sound to the 770 than to the 700 that it resembles.

Just arrived. Mission 727s.

I've owned 700s, 717s and 770s,  but this is the first pair I've seen available in my neck of the woods. Second from top of the line 770 in it's debut model year, I've been dying to hear it for a long, long time.

SEVENTIES STEREO BOOK CIRCLE PART (5 years later)

  I posted the picture of the book cover 6 days ago, the second I put the book down, but needed to keep thinking about it before saying anything.
  Like the fantastic Hubert's Freaks, which I raved about in 2008, this sticks in my brain. Compared to the perceptions and realities in corporate America today, Polaroid was Dreamland, presided over by a brilliant, charismatic leader, Edwin Land. His papers were shredded (at his family's request) when he died, but working at Polaroid made a positive, lifetime impression on many, and this book buzzes with their insights. The material concerning marketing, and graphic identity (awesome:) are fascinating. I loved this book and think you will. The spirit & optimism of corporate America in the 50s, 60s & 70s seems like a fantasy in hindsight.
  As I read, I thought of the American Hifi landscape in the same period, imagined the same level of passion and creativity, united in the goal of recreating the live music experience at home. Many of the household names became, like Polaroid, logos to be slapped on generic products made overseas. I guess that's why I keep listening in the past.

Just arrived: Mission 770s.

Listening to First Light, a Freddie Hubbard album I picked up on vinyl last Sunday, driven by the Cyrus One, Mission 770s are still special.

Yamaha CA-1010 (again).

This is the third time that a fine example of this triumph of modernist industrial design has passed through Seventies Stereo World Headquarters, and again it leaves me dissatisfied. It's a cool amplifier in every sense.

Hafler DH-110 & DH-220

I found these in rough cosmetic condition, and wasn't able to test before buying. When I got home, the preamp sounded wonderful (and so it should... it's now been checked carefully), and the amp was weak and distorted in both channels. Even if I'd looked at the fuses, which I didn't, because it played at all, I wouldn't have noticed that they were incorrect values, by a lot. After Joe installed the correct (7 amp) fuses, music poured out.

Update.

  I've been well, busy with work, and spending more time listening to music than looking for new equipment. Not that some equipment hasn't found me! I have a Hafler 110/220 pre/power combination to tell you about, and a big, beautiful Kenwood receiver (a KR- 7600, 80 watts/channel) coming home from the shop this week. I'm expecting a Marantz 2330B receiver in the next few weeks, and am actively searching for my next speaker obsession.
  The picture shows just four of the many records I've found recently that have made me really happy, all with beautiful sound and superb playing, all highly recommended.

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.

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!