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neveronfriday
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Posts posted by neveronfriday
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I turned 60 every day in 2022.
... and I gifted a CD to myself for each birthday.I'm going to be 61 every single day next year.
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5 minutes ago, sidewinder said:
The only thing I’ve had to do with my Contour 1.8 Mk IIs is a slight tightening/torquing of the screws on the driver units, otherwise they are as good as the day they were bought, over 20 years ago.
Those (age-old) Dynaudio speakers beat everything else when I demoed them ages ago (B&W, Triangle, etc.). I bought them because I have lots of music, including crappy remasters, compressed reissues and whatnot. You know the game. The Dynaudios were the only pair of speakers that were forgiving in every regard. They just sound good to my ears.
Since then, I have only found one single pair of speakers to my liking ... and those you don't put into an apartment/house but have to build a rock-solid one around them: Focal (Grande Utopia). I have never been blown away by speakers like I was by those, but I would have to sell my wife and everything I own just to buy one single tweeter. Those speakers (also) perform the way I want them to. BTW: They also weigh more than a truck. So, I stuck with my trusted Dynaudios from the late 18th century that do the same thing on a much smaller (affordable) scale. Neutral, rock solid ... and they play well with Marantz who always add a bit of "warmth" to the spectrum.
P.S.: I used to be an audiofool (
) and gave that up a decade or two ago. When you turn 60 (+), speakers have to work differently ... especially if you listened to nasty stuff on full blast for 50 years.
18 minutes ago, mikeweil said:🤣
I'm not kidding. "Hearses don't have luggage racks" is something I told my wife ages ago. "Burn it all", she replied, "and take it with you. You can re-assemble it in the afterlife." Let's hope that works.
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Yep, the 1.8MKIIs need a little bit of juice, but the Marantz PM14 has enough of that. Still, I bought the speakers three decades ago to fit into my then well-dampened (large) living room and now I have a rather "naked" environment. I still need to add stuff to make them fit in nicely. But then again, I have plenty of time to tweak for another decade or two.
The retirement was forced due to permanent health issues (that won't kill me), but in terms of pension payments, it didn't really make a difference if I worked another couple of years or not ... so I jumped ship.
P.S.: Nice to see that many people are still around from way back when ...
Cheers!
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54 minutes ago, mikeweil said:
I got a note that the new forum software only accepts images with a https adress.
I lost my totally tjaderized rank!
🥵
I just wrote a post and the software allowed me to upload/attach an image which is below 100kb in size. No problems. If you have some software that can minimize photos to that size, you won't have any problems. BTW: I'm sure, once the software has been tweaked, that Jim can increase the size of an image upload to a bit more than that (if he has the server space). I uploaded a smaller-sized image because I was lazy, just to make sure it makes it into the post, but the .jpg-format is one that can wonderfully be tweaked to be really small (compressing it, f. ex., to 25% of its original size without really losing all that much detail). You just need the software to do it.
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Since I still read around here once in a while and noticed that the forum software has been updated, I thought I'd update what I wrote when I started this thread and try the new interface that way.
The heart of my current setup, which I have been happy with for many years now, are the two Marantz units, PM-14S1 (amp) and SA-14S1 (CD/SACD player).
When I could get hold of one at a ridiculously low price, I added a Marantz CD6005 because, lo and behold, the SA-14S1 does choke on some single CDs that go way beyond CD specifications (so far, I came across about 20 out of 14000 CDs that the 14S1 loves to regurtitate) ... Marantz only guarantees the funtionality of its high-end players for CDs/SACDs that adhere to the redbook standard (go figure).
About two years ago, I added a Technics SL1500 turntable when I got it at half price (new). I only have a little more than a handful of LPs left that are simply not available in any other format and I wanted to play them. The Technics turntable does so better than my old Dual did.On top of the cheap (but excellent) Marantz CD6005, I keep an age-old Samsung notebook which, in a week of reading and tweaking, I turned into my very own music server. I threw off everything (really, everything and every service), kept Windows 7 (!), disconnected the machine from the Internet (froze it in time) and kept Foobar plus a bunch of audio thingamajigs that hook into Windows and Foobar to let me play any hires audio file I have. That machine, in turn, is connected to the SA-14S1, which has a USB-interface for that kind of work. Attached to the notebok are two small (virtually silent) Western Digital 4TB portable harddrives which contain the most important hires files, SACD rips, high quality remasters (DCC, etc) and whatever I don't have in my CD collection.
I still kept my Dynaudio 1.8 MKII speakers, which have always come through for me, in every place I moved to (3 different ones) in the last few years.
Just a few weeks ago, I retired and moved to a new and wonderful apartment (penthouse, etc.).
In my new room, I surrounded myself with all the music I have, large cover reproductions of my favorite albums on the walls and several vitrines stuffed with hardcovers left over from my formerly large book collection, which I reduced by 90% a few years back.
My wife jokingly says that once I drop dead, she just has to torch the whole room and scoop the burnt remains into a smaller urn to fulfill my last wish ... to be buried with all the sh@t I accumulated as an eternally dysfunctional collector.
Cheers.
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I have had both boxes for quite some time now and am very happy with them.
The sound quality is good and, in regard to the recording dates, more than adequate. I'm a bit of a discerning listener and not once did I have any moment in which I would have criticised the sound. The cover reproductions are nice (bare bones, but sturdier than many of the more flimsy covers in other boxed sets I own), the liner notes are adequate enough, etc.
I have really enjoyed these and considering the fact that I bought each one for around 19 Euro, they are actually prized possessions, despite the unavoidable duplication I encountered in my rather extensive jazz collection.
Get them!
They're just nice and fun to have!
P.S.: A few years ago I switched to CD sleeves and many box sets were removed, but these two are still around because I also like to look at them.
Cheers! -
13 minutes ago, Daniel A said:
From a Billboard article from 2009, it seems Caiman holdings went bankrupt.
Ah, very interesting! Thanks for the link!
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Just now, felser said:
Caimen also used to be my go-to back when they were in business.
Yeah, they were great. I noticed the other day that via a mail backup program, I somehow managed to keep every single mail snippet since the middle/late 90s (and then forgot about the fact). My finger got tired when scrolling through the Caiman order confirmations. I bought a sh@tload of stuff from them and have never regretted a single purchase ... not one!
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Just now, JSngry said:
I think(???) that they took over (or were taken over by?) the Tower brand when Tower folded. And that was that.
Something like that?
Thanks! The Internet, once again, is silent on this important issue unless, of course, you spend a million hours researching. I bought stuff from them for nothing which will cost you two or three non-essential organs and a leg today ... not that anyone needs either of those to survive if good music is around. Cheers!
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I drop by here every couple of months and I do still read along, but in this thread, with all the mail-order customers hanging around, does anyone know whatever happened to the long-defunct "Caiman" marketplace seller on Amazon? Recently, I went through a large part of my collection and noticed how ridiculously cheap many of their offers were. I bought hundreds, I think, but that was before Amazon.us slapped on a kilo of postage fees which made this import route unfeasible. Maybe that move also signaled Caiman's death, or did they croak before (for European customers, Caiman used to be the sh@t)?
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1 hour ago, Big Beat Steve said:
Sometimes you pay customs duties, sometimes the item slips through ... Yet these Asendia people need to clean up their act and learn something about overseas shippings and about dealing with their counterparts in the ACTUAL country of destination, not some third-party country that only causes detours and delays.
And that, exactly, is the problem. I've lived in the vicinity of 6 different customs offices around here, and only one was "sloppy" enough to let shipments slip through.
But, again, this is assuming that everyone on this planet would rather rip off the state/cheat on taxes/save a buck.As a customer, I have absolutely no problem with a company reacting to mails asking for this kind of cost reduction (you know, make it look like $30 although it cost $300), but for the general populace, they should just stick to the damn laws. And nothing they declared for my shipments ever came even close to the truth (this time, because I ordered two sets, they declared $30 for a value of over $200). Cool if they do so on demand, uncool if they do that by default.
In my case (no car) I have to travel 28km to a customs office in a remote harbor to collect my shipments. Every single damn time. The people at the office always smile and I always tell them that "Yeah, that's the way Mosaic handles things". But, because I order a lot from the States (still, despite sometimes horrendous shipment costs), Mosaic is the only company I know and have known for over 10 years that does this. Nobody else does. That's why I'm surprised about your statement that "All in all not better and not worse than how many US shippings fared en route over here". In my case (only), it is always worse than any other shipment I receive from the States. Every damn time.
Before I left for the customs office the other day, I received a shipment from Amoeba Music in SF. You would think they don't know better either. Yes, they do. Bill (incl, separately listed postage) affixed to the package. Paid for at the door (see above).
As I said above, Mosaic won't get my business anymore.
Not that they (I tried before, to no avail) or anyone else really cares.
But I hate that kind of behavior out of principle.All these hard-nosed people talking about law & order all the time ... unless it concerns their CDs, their stereos, their neighborhood or whatever. All of those things are, of course, not covered by their principles (P.S.: It's just an experience I've had on many forums ... the state should do this, the state should do that, throw them into the water and let them drown ... but don't make me pay an extra cent for import duties. Screw the system and hope it doesn't notice.... Sign of the times, and all of that).
I rest my case.I might be back in a couple of months.
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Some of the best stuff that I got via mail/PM was from Mark.
Because I'm not around here anymore, really (every few weeks/months), this thread here took me by total surprise.Mark was one cool dude who knew his stuff.
I keep all my mail in a program (highly recommended) called "MailStore" (compressed, database, etc.) and, in exactly that order, I received mails worth keeping from- couw (= John ... long gone)
- Flurin (still around, I see)
- and Mark.Mark had a great (!) sense of humor, deep knowledge of the topics we conversed about and, most importantly, a deep-seated passion (!) for these topics.
I'll miss him.
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I'm really enjoying this set. Although I would heartily agree with Larry Kart's comments re the liner notes, I haven't felt this giddy for a long time. This is great stuff which would otherwise have been lost. The fidelity? Uh, well, ... but, I guess, they did the best they could. Whenever it comes around to music like this (especially the Basie stuff), I only care about the sonics if a shoddy job was done on the material. In this case, I think they managed to do a 100%-job with what was available.
Along with this collection, I bought the Teddy Wilson Brunswick & Columbia and I'm in heaven. I haven't been around this site here for ages, but those who remember me from way back when know that I'm Germany's biggest Teddy Wilson fan. When I lived in Copenhagen decades ago, I was able to see him live several times (until the sun came up) and was able to talk to him (my drum teacher, Ed Thigpen, helped in this respect) many times. He was, like Ed, the perfect gentleman and incredibly knowledgeable. I learned more about (earlier) jazz/swing/small group sessions from way back when in a few evenings from Ted and Ed (hey, that rhymes) than from about 20 meters of jazz books.
So, with these two boxed sets, it's Christmas time here ... in the middle of summer ... with 30+ degrees Centigrade on a daily basis.
Love both sets!
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On 22.6.2018 at 3:49 PM, Scott Dolan said:
They farmed this out years ago. It’s been a major disfunction ever since.
I suppose if neveronfriday knew this, he’d not have gone on his xenophobic tirade, since American customers have experienced multiple problems with them as well.
Didn't expect anything else, really.
So yes, xenophobic it is, just for you.---
I really don't care if they "farmed this out".
They are the only company that
a) have tried and continue to try to cheat (European) customs constantly (supposedly in the interest of their customers. It's not in my interest. I pay my dues and don't want a company to decide for me if I want to cheat the system or not),
b) have absolutely no notion how European customs work (and haven't, ever since I started ordering from them ages ago),
c) know they have lots of "fans" who condone the practice.
But since this thread is about, I guess, Mosaic's imminent demise (really [?], strategically-placed mails to get their business going ...?), I thought I'd leave the above thought.
Not once (!) have I gotten a shipment from Mosaic that adhered to anything, legally. Most of you will probably say "good on them for trying", but I would say ... "Thanks, but no thanks!"
Again, I'm a huge fan of their output and I have tons of it, but their business- and shipping practice (no matter who does it) is just totally lame and, yes, completely illegal over here! And, I guess, illegal in most parts of Europe (no idea, what the rest of the world adheres to).I really don't think that in a globalized world, that's a viable business strategy. And, as I stated above, albeit a bit hotly after x-years [15? 20? No idea] of being pissed off about this practice, it has soured Mosaic for me in a major way. No skin off their nose and no skin off my nose, but a company that just doesn't get how to do international business shouldn't complain about losing business across the board.
So, I decided to abstain, no more, no less.
Cheers!
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Just a thought or two.
One of the major reasons (imho) Mosaic got into trouble is because they simply don't go with the times. I just had to pay an additional $50 (on top of the usual, expected and accepted European import fees) because Mosaic, ever since I started ordering ages ago, is too fu*king lazy to affix the bill to the package. This past month I received 12 (!!) packages from the US (without any problems!) and Mosaic's is the only (!) one that incurred this fee (problems every single time ever since I started ordering from them ages ago).What, a plastic pouch with the bill is too fu*king expensive?
Really?
Too much trouble?I was sent a photo copy of the box my two Mosaic sets were in and visibly, they declare absolutely f*cking nothing.
And I mean ... nothing.
Zero value, zero information, absolutely nothing.Zip.
Zilch.
Zero.
Nada.
Nothing.There might be Trump's toxic urine in the package or Osama Bin Ladin's rotting and seaweed-infested corpse.
If you do business this way, you are doomed to fail.
I will never order from Mosaic again, out of principle.
And not from a European importer that fixes Mosaic's total negligence either.
I have enough money, but to insular companies whose world view (and experience/customer care) stops at their local state's border(s) because it doesn't matter to them one bit, I'd rather not give my money.
What the hell does it help to pour your lifeblood into putting out fabulous releases (and Mosaic is fantastic in this respect) if you can't get a grip on the (international) business end of things? I have kept many of the shipment boxes for years that Mosaic sent my stuff in and they never ... ever ... adhered to any of my country's (=all of Europe) custom regulations.
I often wonder why really everyone (!!!) else can.
And, just for good measure, three more exclamation marks.
!!!P.S: Because I know from past experience that comments like these get blasted out of the water, a quick summary of the past 4 weeks. Every single one of the items below (which were often more pricey than what I ordered from Mosaic) was processed both by the German post office AND by the same customs office north of here):
- I ordered an expensive collector's box from a single-person second hand dealer in Chicago ... no problems (processed, delivered, paid for at the door).
- I ordered a backpack from a dealer in Minnesota ... no problems (processed, delivered, paid for at the door).
- I ordered a very rare and expensive turntable head/needle from a great (!) guy in San Francisco ... no problems (processed, delivered, paid for at the door).
- I ordered a transformer for an old Marantz amp from a guy in Connecticut ... no problems (processed, delivered, paid for at the door).
- I ordered a shitload of Siegel-Schwall releases through a friend of mine in San Fancisco (processed, delivered, paid for at the door).
- ...
- ... get the picture? ...
I ordered a Teddy Wilson set and the Savory Collection from Mosaic. Two measly items.
So far, three mails, two letters and absolutely nothing (!!!) but trouble. Right now, I'm thinking of having the package returned and writing the money off.
Let the guys at Mosaic drink 120 liters of expensive coffee (on me, and they deserve it just for their stellar releases) ...
... and then forget about them.
---[/end rant]
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I have no idea why Mosaic cancelled the "Select" series - and they probably had a good reason to do so - but, for example, the "Al Cohn, Joe Newman & Freddie Green" select (27) is still one of my favorite releases in a collection that - today - spans nearly 90 meters of CDs. There are others (I love the Mosaic Teddy Wilson box, although I'm not always too happy about the sonics), many of them, both Selects and regular boxed sets, but Mosaic select #27 has rocked my boat since 2007. I wish they would reconsider and reanimate this series.
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I haven't been around this forum for ages but, just to chime in, I suspect that some from this box (which I also have) is probably available on the single CD reissues and compilation boxes that were part of the Jazz in Paris series ages ago. I was not very discerning way back when and bought everything available (that was cheap) and don't feel like checking how much money I might have wasted. I was also always too lazy to check which one of the global players had which rights to which catalog (Vogue/Gitanes/Universal/ ...). Looking at the prices that I paid for all the Django Reinhard material I have, it didn't really matter if I ended up having everything three times over. As someone else wrote above, this Vogue material reissue sounds good ... whereas a lot of the material reissued by Universal in the later 90s and thereafter sounded like Ted Nugent remastered it. Deaf, dumb ... and blind.
The Jazz in Paris material has been covered well here: https://wiki.musicbrainz.org/Series/Jazz_in_Paris (if you want to compare sessions/dates, etc.).
No matter what, the Vogue reissue box in question is good and if you have a (hifi) system you can tweak a bit here and there, it's actually really good (I also have some Avid boxed sets, etc.).
Cheers!
Off to disappear again for several years ... -
A blast from the past.
Some members here might still remember me, but I cruise around here only sporadically today. I wanted to dig this thread up from the depths of bits & bytes hell to answer my own question.
Being the vintage HiFi geek I am (if it weighs more than 15 kilos and has shiny buttons to twirl, I start lusting for it), I recently bought myself a vintage record player that I am enjoying even more than I should. At some point I decided to re-buy a cheap copy of the above mentioned boxed LP set (or $5) to finally get hold of that one elusive tune I had stuck in my head.
Well (of course), it turned out to NOT be a live recording (...but I never really listened into (=actually bought) the one I myself suggested as an "alternative" above). Actually, "Alexander's Ragtime Band" came from the 1956 (1957) "The Most Happy Piano" LP and is, in fact, a studio recording.
Listening to it again today, it was the almost brutal room (hall) ambiance mixed into that session that at the time made me classify it as a live recording.
My bad.Here's a link to the release:
http://www.discogs.com/Erroll-Garner-The-Most-Happy-Piano/release/2466788http://www.discogs.com/Erroll-Garner-The-Most-Happy-Piano/release/2466788
Just wanted to put this (personal) issue to rest once and for all, an issue that has been following me around (=haunting me) for much more than a decade.
Cheers!Carry on ...
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I love her recording of (that silly but upbeat tune) "Lovely Weather for Ducks", backed by the wonderful T. Dorsey band.
I have that one on some odd (Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra, "Song of India", Dance Band Days, Prism/Leisure 1987) Dorsey radio transcriptions CD that I bought ages ago.
I was never able to find it in better sound although I have tried many times.
Totally silly, I know, but one of my favorite songs in my entire collection. -
I thought I had quite a bit of music, but my collection only spans what this guy buys between 15:01 and 15:02 on a slow Thursday.
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But for me the real thrill still comes from buying a single disc of unknown music and then following that composer or style, single disc by disc. You usually end up in very unexpected places.
I spent thirty-five years doing exactly that within other genres ... and continue to do so. The recent drastic price drops in classical music via these "monster" boxed sets just helped me get a head start because ...
Most of these box sets sell for less than a set of brake pads for the car. It is just inexpensive fun isn't it, not 'capitalist exploitation'? In fact they have a good answer as to how to get out the back catalog to people who want it.
P.S.: I'm going out to a nice dinner tonight and expect a bill that is the equivalent of four or maybe five of these 55-CD (or whatever) boxed sets..
Without elaborating too much, that's my perspective.
The music will be around longer than the effects of said dinner and, if I happen to dislike a box, I can always sell it for (probably) at least the equivalent price, especially when considering that these price drops and increases have been all over the damn map these past 48 months.
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Thanks for the heads up, once again! I already have these, but at those prices (I also added some other boxes) I was able to buy a whole bunch of future presents for people who are always surprised when I bring them, for example, the complete Brubeck along for dinner. Always a total hit!
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About 1/3 to 1/2 of my job is spent sitting at my desk at home. Tons of time to have music running. Plus, I always make time for more intensive music listening in the evenings, several times a week. The TV hasn't been on since, what, 2008?
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I know that fans of classical music look down with disdain on people who buy these heavily discounted monster sets, but this thread (special thanks to Flurin) plus some others around the Net allowed me to get a core classical collection together fast ... at next to no cost. The other day I picked up the Gould Bach box for around Euro 54 (on Amazon.it for a few seconds), the Julian Bream for "an apple and an egg" (as we say over here), plus a few others (especially excellent baroque music that I enjoy).
Never, I'm 1000% for everyone listening to as much classical music as possible, make no mistake. The trouble with these boxes is twofold. First is obvious-- getting far more than one can listen to, absorb, understand, unless you read music and have scores available etc. That's not a HUGE issue-- some brilliant composers have been autodidacts-- but, even as a once heavy "collector", it's preferable to know x # of works very well than to drown, disc-by-disc-by-disc-by-disc by neverending disc in the mass of it all.
Second, tho' a # of the boxes from Brilliant are more enterprising, the major label regurgitations are vomiting up A LOT of same old same old same old sams old shit, repeatedly, and again.
MomsMobley,
thanks for your thoughts!
Although my mom was a (quite successful) concert pianist in her younger days, my dad's jazz collection exerted a much more devastating (in financial terms) influence on me.
I'm just beginning to enjoy classical music (again) a lot more than I have, perhaps, previously done.
It's difficult to explain, but I don't think I have managed to develop "an ear" for excellent classical performances in the same way that I might possibly have managed for jazz.
Yes, there are a few single performances that I (with my ears and my experience) have sought out after much reading and listening (one example: Maria João Pires' rendition of "Von fremden Menschen und Ländern" [schumann], perhaps my single most-favorite tune (due to my mom), is, after having sampled every single one that I am aware of, my favourite performance).
For someone who doesn't have THAT much classical music at home, Decca, DG, Sony, and the many other labels have, in my eyes, gone down the correct road by re-releasing the "same old ... same old", which I simply don't/didn't have. That kind of reissue programme drives me up the wall in regard to my jazz collection, simply because I have most of whatever is being released time and again, but in regard to classical music, it serves me more than fine.
Again, I'm a beginner and I have enough money to "waste" on these boxed sets to get my bearings. Unfortunately, once I have managed to get my bearings, more money will need to be spent on hunting down better renditions of what I like. That has been my modus operandi these past decades.
In regard to the sheer mass of music, which (absolutely no doubt about it) can be totally overwhelming when ten to fifteen 55-CD boxed sets roll in, I have never had the feeling that I did not have time to listen to all of it at least once.
Music has been my passion for just about 45 years now, and that is a lot of seconds, minutes and hours I have spent on actually also listening to what I have ... and enjoying it. Yes, a lot of it might instantly be relegated to the remote parts of my shelf system, but there's always something that sticks (and is pulled out again and again).
"Hearses don't have luggage racks" is perhaps the one single statement that stuck with me these past 30 to 40 years, but I sure as hell do not want to miss out on listening to as much as I can before I kick the bucket. Most of it is just too damn good and uplifting. If it's in a thrown-together 60-CD boxed set, so be it (for now).
Cheers!
Your audio equipment?
in Audio Talk
Posted
At current real estate prices?
I think not.
Couldn't find a better version, but your reply reminded me of this:
Pepsi Ad.