Louisville’s Funhouse Records just acquired 300,000 plus records from a Texas based “junker”. Five years ago Funhouse owner Bill Barriger “had little interest in used vinyl records” according to Courier Journal reporter (and record collector and AnalogPlanet/Stereophile reader) Jeffrey Lee Puckett. (Photo: Michael Clevenger, Courier Journal).
Acoustic Sounds' Chad Kassem (right) with viola player Stephen Tees, during the recording of Stereophile's Mosaic CD in Blue Heaven Studios. (Photo: John Atkinson)
Back in the mid-1980s, how many guys do you figure were hauling milk crates full of used LPs around America, from record fair to record fair? Hundreds? Thousands? How many are still doing it now?
That's how and when Acoustic Sounds' Chad Kassem got startedin, of all places, Salina, Kansas...
Recently my mother-in-law's good friend needed to sell her late husband's audio gear and record collection so I went over to see what was there. She had a mint Denon DP-59L turntable fitted with an ADC XLM MKII cartridge, a Panasonic SA HE100 AV Control receiver and a pair of Boston Acoustics A100s, big floor stander two ways.
The first unknowable is the correct speed at which to play this oddly accessible 100% improvised double LP set of 13 spontaneous collaborations between saxophonist Dave Liebman and a pair of eclectic percussionists, Adam Rudolph and Tatsuya Nakatani. There's nothing written on the gatefold jacket or labels indicating speed, but I'm pretty sure its 45rpm!
I was wondering if you could tell me how the master tapes are/were usually handled back in the day? The reason I ask is because there are several master tapes floating around on the internet and people are offering reel to reel copies of them for sale (photo from back in "the day")
At the New York Audio Show a few years ago visitors, especially couples, found themselves attracted to a "console stereo" featuring a tube amplifier (with Blue-Tooth functionality), a high end Pro-Ject turntable, a pair of full range speakers plus a hidden powered 300 watt subwoofer all housed in a stunning-looking solid wood cabinet.
Your editor hadn't looked in a while at the "drop down" menu under "Shows". When he did he was kind of shocked to see how few shows were there compared to how many have been covered.
Humungous conflict of interest alert! I wrote this compilation’s liner notes and created the 22 song track order. Chad Kassem selected the female artists and the individual tracks sourced from albums he’d previously licensed and released on vinyl, SACD and high resolution download (maybe even R2R tape).
This revolutionary cartridge comes in two flavors: plain and peanut. When the stylus wears out instead of having the cartridge re-tipped, you eat it. It melts in your mouth, not in your hands. Best for “mint” LPs, etc.
There was a reference to a SOTA turntable in an episode of The Sopranos in the fall of 2002. Tony's son, A.J., and a pal were visiting a wealthy girlfriend when the pal popped out from the hallway and exclaimed, "A mint copy of Rubber Soul! That must be worth a fortune! And a SOTA turntable!" This was in or near the same episode in which Tony was outfitted with a sophisticated front-projection home-theater system. I'd wondered since the first season why a man of his means has been watching a 27", 4:3 Philips analog tube. I'm trying to find out who's the audio/videophile among The Sopranos' cast and crew.