By Juan C. Ayllon Goodness! It's already mid-February and I'm just now posting a Prairie Audio update. The year seems to be getting away from me. My apologies! This year's start is bustling. I have a handful of reviews in my pipeline, the day job is a little hectic, and my wife, Belle, and I are currently recovering from COVID-19. Ugh. But enough with the excuses! To summarize, here's a sampling of what's happening:
Ameliorating the 60-cycle hum issues in my system involved an exhaustive process of separating the signal from the power lines as much as possible--which was more involved than anticipated, as lines ran through, around, and behind some cramped areas in my BDI Corridor media console. It also meant ferreting out a long-used interconnect that, after years of use, became compromised near its connector point, resulting in some noise. I had mot make sure that the MC-1 wasn't too close in proximity to the turntable or other components. Moreover, I had to read and re-read the Pass Labs XP-17 phono stage manual, read online blogs, make some calls to Pass Labs, and another friend in the industry to get the gain and load settings to their optimal points for the Ortofon Moving Coil MC Cadenza Bronze phono cartridge and, later, to match with the Quadratic Audio MC-1 Step Up Transformer. However, after a couple weeks, the results were very gratifying. The Micro Seiki BL-91 turntable can be seen above with its replacement feet. purchased them from Amazon for roughly $26 ( you can view them HERE). You can also see them below before installation. Their addition added a sense of clarity and solidity that wasn't there with the springy original feet! The Dan Clark Audio Stealth headphones continue to serve me well during late-night viewing and listening sessions on nights that Belle decides to turn in early. They are very refined planar headphones that, when matched with excellent headphone amps like the Pass Labs HPA-1, shine brilliantly, delivering a wonderfully balanced and lifelike presentation. All I can say is WOW. Image courtesy of www.imdb.com
Now in regards to the Netflix series, Loudermilk, and Flaked, they were both brilliantly written comedies involving addiction recovery, but sometimes a bit raw and unfiltered when it came to some sexual content. In regards to the show, Flaked, having lived in Southern California for eight years in the 80s, I could relate to the flakiness of many of the characters portrayed in this series. For those like Belle and me, who are sensitive to over-explicit content, the Fast-Forward function on your remote is your friend! But, otherwise, their incisive look at relationships, dysfunction, emotional recovery, and razor wit are well worth the time and effort. I am looking forward to wrapping up the reviews in process, as well as other future treats in the wing, including this year's AXPONA show in April. That should be a lot of fun! And, with that, I need to run. Happy Listening!
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