[Vision2020] New York Audio Show 2013: Colleen “Cosmo” Murphy's "Classic Album Sundays"

Tue Jul 16 17:03:21 PDT 2013

Well, no doubt the whole list is spell bound by this subject, but I could
not believe what I just found with a quick search for "empire turntable
cartridge 1960s" to see if I could find a reference to the turntable I had
while a student at Moscow High in the 1960s...

This May 2013 Ebay listing, for 500 dollars, if you can believe it, looks
exactly like the turntable I had!  I did not pay 500 dollars for it in the
1960s!  Much less... Note belt riding on the outside of the platter:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1960s-Vintage-Empire-398-Turntable-w-h-Satin-Gold-Finish-Pickering-Cartridge-/130900234504?pt=Vintage_Electronics_R2&hash=item1e7a431108&nma=true&si=R53eSaQK9g4wGCXrwBUDYC8xzcQ%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

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Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett

On Tue, Jul 16, 2013 at 4:37 PM, Ted Moffett <starbliss at gmail.com> wrote:

> I of course did not mean that the vinyl audio system described approaches
> "200,000 thousand dollar" price, which is 200 million!  Yikes!
> I'll blame this on the by the second computer Internet disconnect warning
> on the library computer...
>
> Tube amplifiers!  I bet your amp sounds sweet!  Tubes are still going
> strong in the world of music and audio, and preferred by many music lovers,
> though some modern solid state designs approach the musicality offered by
> tubes.
>
> When I was a Moscow High student in the 1960s, I hand built a tube
> integrated amplifier kit, then hand built another one of the same amp kits
> for a friend.  Easy to do, if you can do basic soldering and follow
> instructions carefully, with a well written instruction manual.
>
> I foolishly sold the amp while in high school for a low price, having been
> deluded by the specifications worshipers that sold state amps were much
> better than tube amps for music reproduction, because they achieve lower
> levels of some kinds of distortion as measured on the test bench.
>
> When in high school I also had a belt drive Empire turntable and
> cartridge, completely manual except for magnetic tone arm pick-up at the
> end of a vinyl album, to lift the needle off the record.  The platter was
> meticulously machined, thick, heavy and well balanced, the diameter of
> which equaled 33 1/3 long playing vinyl, the belt driving the platter on
> the visible outside circle of the platter, with the motor off to the side
> suspended so it was isolated from adding vibration to the platter or tone
> arm.  Changing speeds required hand moving the belt to another gear!  The
> tone arm was balanced so that you could easily play records with the
> platter not perfectly horizontal, which if I understand correctly is
> possible by making the weight at the pivot in the back perfectly equal on
> both sides.  Stylus pressure was applied by a spring, not a movable
> counter-weight, but as I recall there was no anti-skating adjustment.
>
> I wish I had that amp and turntable still!
>
> Here is an example of a tube amplifier offered in kit form way back when,
> for a mere $84.95.  To buy an amp like this now would be a bargain at 1000
> dollars (
> http://www.musicdirect.com/p-13615-jolida-jd302crc-integrated-tube-amp.aspx) though manufacturing in China has kept prices lower for some
> manufacturers.
>
> http://heathkit-museum.com/hifi/hvmaa-100.shtml
> -----------------------------
> Anyway, here's more from Colleen "Cosmo" Murphy's ":Classic Album Sunday"
> website.  I've posed the same basic question to many people about listening
> to an album with absolute full attention:
>
> http://classicalbumsundays.com/about/
> When is the last time you listened to an album from beginning to end? And
> sticking it on in the background while working on the computer, talking on
> the phone or doing chores around the house does not count. I mean sitting
> down and giving the album your full attention. For many of us, it has been
> awhile.
>
> Hearing is like breathing and smelling – it does not require an active,
> directed effort; we do it subconciously. When we want to look at something,
> we direct our gaze toward the object; when we want to touch something, we
> must reach out. In short, we have to focus our attention. Hearing, however,
> is different as we constantly hear 360 degrees around us. We can hear
> things going on in the other room while we chat to a friend whether or not
> we are trying to listen. We cannot shut our ears and therefore we often
> take our sense of hearing for granted.
>
> Active listening takes effort. It requires us to slow down and completely
> stop other actions which is very difficult in this age of hyper-reality. We
> are used to multi-tasking at all times – texting or tweeting while we are
> out with friends or talking on the phone while we make dinner. It is rare
> to focus on one activity and that is what active listening requires.
>
> Actively listening to a whole album from beginning to end involves a fair
> amount of concentration and requires us to set aside some time. We have to
> commit ourselves to the task and in our day of the MP3 single download
> where we are used to the quick sound bite, this can be quite a feat. As
> Hermione Hoby stated in The Observer, “It’s hard not to develop an aural
> antsiness when YouTube is there for the flighty browsing, iPods for the
> impatient shuffling. Meanwhile, Spotify and every other streaming service
> allow us to take for granted a song being there for our ears when we demand
> it. In short, our restless listening might mean we’re in danger of becoming
> careless listeners, too.”
>
> Over the past few years my husband and I have achieved super-geek status
> by slowly assembling an audiophile sound system. The cons: a hole in our
> pocket. The pros: listening to music with friends and rediscovering our
> record collections. We recently had our friend James over on a Sunday night
> and after dinner we sat down and listened to Brian Eno’s “Another Green
> World”. The last time I truly listened to that album in its entirety was
> nearly two decades ago but it sounded just as fresh – maybe even better as
> it is such a rare occasion to have the opportunity to shut everything else
> out to solely concentrate on the music. It was somewhat meditative and
> definitely therapeutic not to mention artistically beneficial.
>
> Our friend Greg Wilson had a similar realisation and has started “Living
> to Music”. On the first Sunday of the month, people are encouraged to sit
> down with friends and listen to a selected classic album. There are
> suggested guidelines such as having time for small talk before the
> listening session gets under way and turning off all mobile phones (Yes!).
> Of course, these are all suggestions and it is hoped that is will
> cross-pollinate with people starting their own listening movements and
> selecting their own classic records.
>
> My husband and I sat down and listened to Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the
> Moon”, the second album chosen by Living to Music. We had the Mobile
> Fidelity version which is part of their “Original Master Recording” series
> which featured half-speed mastering by Stan Ricker. Whilst listening to
> this amazing recording, it just seemed rude not to share the audiophile
> experience with others. It also seemed like a good idea to have more of an
> exchange regarding the selected album with other people.
>
> With Greg’s nod of approval, Cosmodelica started a monthly London
> listening session called “Classic Album Sundays: A Communal and Audiophile
> Listening Experience”. So far we have covered The Beatles’ “Abbey Road”,
> Kate Bush’s “Hounds of Love” and De La Soul’s “3 Feet High and Rising”. In
> the next couple of months, we have David Bowie’s “The Rise and Fall of
> Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars” and Stevie Wonder’s
> “Innervisions” and there are many more fine albums lined up for the rest of
> the year.
> To get updates on future Classic Album Sundays events, please become a fan
> of the Classic Album Sundays on Facebook
> ------------------------------------------
> Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett
>
>
> On Mon, Jul 15, 2013 at 2:23 PM, Darrell Keim <keim153 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> If they do, I'd like to meet then Ted!  I've got a very nice sounding
>> handmade tube based system, I even have occasional "audio get togethers"
>> with another friend.  But neither of us has anything like that.  It is fun
>> to see the best systems, like that one.  It is also fun to see how good the
>> sound can be for a fraction of that cost.
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Jul 15, 2013 at 2:07 PM, Ted Moffett <starbliss at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Famous music devotee, dance DJ and audiophile, Colleen Murphy is shown
>>> below with a mind blowing vinyl stereo system, used at the NY Audio Show
>>> 2013...
>>>
>>> In one photo she is posed with the vinyl record cover of Talking Heads
>>> "Remain in Light"... Once upon a time I had superb Japanese import vinyl
>>> copy of this album, which sounded fantastic.
>>>
>>> This stereo system approaches the 200,000 thousand dollar price range...
>>>
>>> I wonder if anyone in the Inland Empire owns a system of this
>>> sophistication...
>>>
>>> Colleen's website regarding her "Classic Album Sundays" events. which
>>> are offered internationally, described as a "communal and audiophile
>>> listening experience:"
>>>
>>> http://classicalbumsundays.com/
>>>
>>> -------------------------------------
>>> http://www.stereophile.com/content/classic-album-sundays
>>> Classic Album Sundays
>>>  By Art Dudley <http://www.stereophile.com/writer/86> • Posted: Apr 14,
>>> 2013
>>>
>>> Colleen “Cosmo” Murphy, the record-store clerk-turned-internationally
>>> known DJ-turned-analog impresario, has set out to change the way we listen,
>>> one roomful at a time; based on my experiences at NYAS 2013, she is bound
>>> to succeed. I had heard that Ms. Murphy is as sound- and music-savvy as she
>>> is lovely, and I can only say those observations don’t do her justice.
>>> “Today, music is treated almost as aural wallpaper, as a cheap commodity,”
>>> Murphy bemoaned in her opening remarks before spinning the Japanese vinyl
>>> version of David Bowie’s *Hunky Dory* on a truly grand system,
>>> including a Spiral Groove SG1.1 turntable with Centroid tonearm and a Lyra
>>> Atlas cartridge; a VTL TP 6.5 phono preamp (with integral step-up
>>> transformer); VTL’s TL 7.5 line-level preamp and Siegfried monoblock amps;
>>> Wilson Audio MAXX 3 loudspeakers and Opus series cabling from Transparent.
>>> (When I visited the Classic Album Sundays room, early on the show’s first
>>> day, exact pricing details weren’t yet available; suffice it to say,
>>> everything was rather expensive.)
>>>
>>>  *John Atkinson adds: *Colleen played classic albums all weekend,
>>> following *Hunky Dory* with Talking Heads' (in photo), John Hiatt's *Bring
>>> the Family*, The Beach Boys' *Pet Sounds* (in mono), Kraftwerk's *
>>> Autobahn*, Steve Wonder's *Innervisions*, and ending the Show with the
>>> truly classic *Forever Changes* from Love, on a new, superb-sounding
>>> reissue from Rhino. I took in two of these sessions and it was a buzz being
>>> in a room of attentive audiophiles listening to an album in its entirety.
>>> You can find the Classic Album Sundays calendar at Colleen's website<http://classicalbumsundays.com/>.
>>>
>>> ------------------------------------------
>>> Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett
>>>
>>> =======================================================
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>>>
>>
>>
>
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