Audio cables can be a controversial subject in the audio community, and people tend to end up in one of two camps: cable believers and cable deniers. So, instead of blindly joining one side or the other, get informed!
Sure, you can say that cables are an indispensable component in virtually every hifi system. But why? What do they do? What characteristics should you look for in cable design and how do they impact performance? What is the harm in mixing different brands of cabling? Why should you invest in aftermarket cables instead of opting for what is provided with components at purchase? When upgrading the cables in a system, where should you start?
In this download, you will find the answers to all these questions, and more, so that you can be confident about why audio cables really are so important.
Includes:
Characteristics of audio cables and their effects
An introduction to the “sonic signature” of cable designs and the importance of complete cable looms
Aftermarket cables vs cables “included with purchase”
I had the great pleasure of sitting down with John Rein, owner of Audio Video Therapy in Nashua, NH. John and his knowledgeable staff are dedicated to giving their clients a hi-fi experience tailored to their specific needs and budgets. I hope you enjoy reading this interview with John as much as I enjoyed sitting down with him.
– Amy Hansen
Q: What started your passion for HiFi?
A: When I was in high school, I walked into Tech HiFi in Harvard Square and, for the first time, I heard a good speaker that impressed me…and I remember there was a wall of receivers all lit up. Everything was back-lit dials, and it was mesmerizing. That’s when I started spending all of my money on audio. In college, I heard a pair of early B&W 800 series driven by Audio Research monoblocks and realized, oh my god… there’s a whole other level I didn’t even know existed.
Q: How did AV Therapy come to be?
A: About 8 years ago, it was time for me to move into a different area and concentrate more on two-channel audio. The driving force was that it seemed like everyone in audio had left the people in the middle behind. There were no feeder systems for younger people to get into the hobby because ultra high-end products were so expensive. After places like Tweeter closed down, there was really no place for someone who had a $3-4K budget and wanted better stuff to go to in order to get started in the hobby. My goal was to have everything from $199 to $50K speakers in the same place. To help, we even have a trade-up policy to help people gradually work towards their goal.
But, what’s going to keep this going when we’re not here? We have to build for the future. I want what AV Therapy is doing to continue whether I’m here or not.
Q: How has this past year been? Has the pandemic been the
most challenging thing you’ve had to face as a business owner?
A: COVID has been the weirdest time because it exploded our
business! I really have to say that you are either on one side of the pandemic
or the other. You’re either a restaurant
owner, or a business owner that is working in a field where people are stuck at
home and need your product. We are blessed enough to be on the right side of
this pandemic. I have friends who own restaurants, that have not been so
fortunate. Anyone who’s in this business should be incredibly grateful.
Q: How do you incorporate music into your personal life?
A: As you know, I’m on the board of trustees for Symphony NH.
But that’s only part of it. Music for me has always been an emotional switch. When
the right music comes on, it can transport you into any moment of your life.
Music is relaxing, invigorating, and one emotion after another. How often do
you watch your favorite movie? Once in a while? Once in five years? Now, how
often do you listen to your favorite music? You can do that every day and you
don’t get tired of it!
I have five systems at home and a very tolerant wife. With
five systems, I have obviously taken over a fair amount of real estate in our
house, and she has tolerated this for over 40 years. For me, music and quality of life are
synonymous. It’s playing all the time. Whenever I can, I play with toys at work
during off-business hours—that’s one of the joys of work and it’s a great
thing.
Q: Is there any genre of music you prefer?
A: I embrace every kind of music there is. Since I went to college in Boston in the 70’s, there was always a reasonable amount of live folk music available, and I’ve always liked it because of that. I go to the Montreal Jazz Festival every year, so Jazz has always been part of it too. I grew up in the rock ‘n roll era, so there is a lot of rock ‘n roll in my background too. When I was 13 years old, my mother bought two records: one was a Mozart record, and one was a Beatles record, so my musical taste has been diverse from the beginning. There’s beauty and complexity in classical, and modern classical has incredible diversity that pushes the envelope and is quite engaging. I like to explore everything, and I like it all.
Q: How do you see vinyl and digital evolving in
popularity?
A: I think streaming has opened the door and that digital’s quality has gone up astronomically in the last few years. The edginess of the 80’s and 90’s is well in the background if you just spend a little more money. I think you can get a more liquid sound for less money in vinyl, but you can get a lot of that same liquidity in digital, it just tends to cost a little bit more. I think that one of the things people are starting to realize is that high resolution streaming is much closer to vinyl than a lot of people actually want to admit. I love vinyl and have 6,500 records at home! So, I’m a vinyl person with turntables all over the house. We tend to be a lazy species… so even though I have 6,500 records, 80+ percent of the time I’m playing digital because it’s convenient, and now that it’s good enough with Naim, Chord, and Linn streaming at home, I’m listening to more and more digital even though I’m a vinyl lover. I think that the whole ritual of vinyl is part of it. I love the fact that you tend to sit down and listen for 20+ uninterrupted minutes. When you’re doing digital, a lot of times you flip the track before the song is over. Patience is hard.
Q: What other changes are you noticing in the industry that have had an influence on your business?
A: I think “whole-house audio” and streaming has been a godsend. Not only do they allow you to spread music everywhere in the house, but it has created a category that didn’t exist years and years ago. We sell a lot of products like Bluesound; sometimes 7 or 8 units per house to have music everywhere. It allows music to be more integrated into people’s lives when it’s everywhere.
Q: What does a typical day look like for you at AV
Therapy?
A: I see customers in-person, and I spend hours on the phone with customers. I average 40-50 phone calls a day. Recently, especially since the start of COVID, a lot of our sales have started over the phone, in order to narrow things down for customers before they come in for a listening session. We have thousands of customers now and a lot of them will call up and say, “You know my system and I’m thinking of doing this, this, and this. Which of these would you recommend?”. That resulted in a lot more home trials. Before the pandemic, people would just wander in and sit down, and we’d audition one thing after another. I think our focus has increased on getting things right quickly when they get here, because a lot of people don’t want to spend a lot of time in a store, where before they wouldn’t mind spending 4 or 5 hours auditioning. In the last month or two, I am seeing a trend where people are starting to spend more hours here again.
Q: You are one the nicest, most genuine, and trusted
people in the industry. What do you
attribute to that and to your success?
We put the customer first. We try to give them the best stuff we can give them, while being fair and reasonable, and always…their needs come first, yours second. In the end, this benefits us. I think you have to have a long-term vision. I understood when I came into this industry from corporate life, what I had wanted as a customer forever. What did I want? I wanted someone who looked out for what I was doing…and I didn’t see a lot of that. I was a kid who had been thrown out of audio stores because I had no money. We don’t do that to anybody. Whether your 12 years old or 80, you’re going to be treated the same. This business is about enjoyment and fun. If you’re buying toys, it should be about fun—it’s that simple.
We are thrilled to share a fabulous review which was published this month on Audiophilia.com. Anthony Kershaw evaluated our Valhalla 2 range, and was so impressed with our reference cables that he dubbed the range one of Audiophilia’s Star Components! Here’s a taste of what Anthony had to say:
“The cables allowed laser-like focus of the multi layers to play exactly as the engineers and performers envisioned. So, every effect the young Stravinsky brought to his orchestration…is heard clearly, but, most of all, musically. As such, the timing, transparency and resolution of the cables are astounding. So, while everything in the orchestra is laid clearly before you, the sheen and tactile effects from the V2’s design, construction and materials make every musical choice a delicious event. This is playback way beyond technique.” – Audiophilia
This glowing Valhalla 2 review is now available, in its entirety, on the Reviews page of the Nordost website.
It’s been a long time coming, and we are happy to report we finally have a number of fun, informative, and music-filled Dealer Events in the pipeline. If there is an event planned in your area, we hope to see you there!
Genesis Audio LTD
Saturday, September 18th
Time 4-8:30 PM
132 N. High Street Gahanna, OH 43230 Phone: 614-939-0802
Real music lovers can find the melody in everything. From the park to the concert hall, our friend Nelson Brill is always on the hunt for great sound. In this blog, we welcome the return of the Newport Jazz Festival. Nelson was there in order to share the performances with you, from time-honored veterans to fresh voices of the festival.
NEWPORT JAZZ FESTIVAL 2021 – A HAVEN FOR FRESH SOUNDS AND RESILIENT SPIRIT
By Nelson Brill September 1, 2021
America’s music, Jazz, is on the move again. The joys of hearing live jazz continued this summer with the return, (after a one-year hiatus), of the 67th Edition of The Newport Jazz Festival (“Newport Jazz”) (www.newportjazz.org) held at Fort Adams State Park in Newport, Rhode Island from July 30th-August 1st. Newport Jazz, directed by the singular impresario George Wein for over sixty years and now captained by its Artistic Director, Christian McBride, continues to be a fertile ground for music of experimentation and verve reflecting the diversity of today’s America and its political and social movements. At the Saturday session, the sold-out crowd was teeming with young people, Black and White mingling together, clearly demonstrating that McBride and his staff have succeeded in advancing Wein’s legacy in presenting jazz that continues to be a unifying force and an inspiration for all ages.
Mavis Staples at Newport Jazz – photo by Jim Brock
The 95-year old Wein, (on a video call from New York City) welcomed to the Newport Jazz Lawn Stage one of his contemporaries, the singular Mavis Staples, who performed her magnetic “down home” Chicago blues and gospel-tinged songs before her dancing, adorning audience. After Wein’s introduction, the indomitable Mavis grabbed her microphone, punched her fists into the air and launched into the classic Staples Singers’ tune, “I’ll Take You There!” dancing alongside her tight-knit band: guitarist Rick Holmstrom, bassist Jeff Trumes, drummer Stephen Hodges and singers Donny Gerrard and Vicki Randle.
The band dug deep into several songs taken from their superb live recording, Live In London [Anti Records; www.ANTI.com]. They hunkered down on the deep grooves of the bristling “Who Told You That?” and rocked away on a spunky version of the Talking Head’s classic, “Slippery People”. Their pulsating “Can You Get To That” rode on Trumes’ thundering bass, Holmstrom’s melodic pulses and Mavis’ reveling vocals, accented by deep bass plunges from singer Donny Gerrard.
Holmstrom and Mavis made for a particularly joyful musical partnership. Mavis would lovingly clap the dapper Holmstrom on his back for his animated guitar solos that teemed with stinging notes and crisp rhythm-guitar sparks. Mavis’ voice was in fine form. Her voice still packs emotional power with its dusky low calls or gospel-rich leaps. Her bracing voice propelled the rollicking classic, “Respect Yourself!” and mined poignantly the soulful depths of the gospel gem, “Wade In The Water”. During this song, Mavis preached to the crowd about keeping up the fight against injustices and hatred (repeating in soaring calls, “My soul is anchored!).
Ledisi at Newport Jazz- photo by Jim Brock
Mavis and her band’s joyful performance at Newport Jazz was a perfect segue to hearing a fresh voice on the R&B and jazz scene, Ledisi Anibade Young, (known simply as “Ledisi”), whose music is also greatly influenced by down-home blues and gospel power. Ledisi swept onto the Quad Stage and took the audience by storm with her commanding voice– warm, lustrous and expressive – in intrepid exploration of the songbook of one of her heroes, the legendary Nina Simone. Accompanied by her sterling and nimble band, Ledisi launched into Simone’s “Do I Move You?” with deliberate stride, her silvery fluid voice capturing the power and sensual glow of this song’s slow-burning zeal.
If you are a vinyl fan, find at your local record store an original pressing, (or refer to the online catalogue of Analogue Productions (www.acousticsounds.com] for their excellent re-master) of the seminal blues recording, Nina Simone Sings The Blues [RCA LSP-3789]. On this brilliant recording, Simone entwines “Do I Move You?” with singular vocal power. This entire album is a treat (one of my favorite blues albums) and when it is heard on a reference high quality audio system, (in my room, FM Acoustics 123 phono preamplifier; Holborne turntable with Fuuga cartridge feeding Goldmund Telos 590 Next Gen. II Integrated Amplifier and Seidenton loudspeakers – see “Nelson’s System” for full details and reviews), Simone appears at her dynamic piano with reach-out and-touch tactile presence and natural imaging, as only vinyl can deliver. Her song, “My Man’s Gone Now” is a luminescent stunner and her “Backlash Blues” a searing indictment of institutional racism.
Back at Newport Jazz, Ledisi’s interpretation of Simone’s funky “Be My Husband” was all sass and inventive vocal flourishes. Another highlight from her concert was the band’s combination of Randy Newman’s powerful anthem “Baltimore” (sung by Simone on her 1978 album of the same name) transformed here into a bold statement. This powerful tune segued into Ledisi’s original song, “Shot Down”, a scathing portrayal of recent police murders led by thunderous big bass, drum thrusts and Ledisi’s glowing charge to the top of her expansive register. (Some of these passionate high flourishes, unfortunately, were marred by the shrill high volume of the sound mix at the Quad Stage for this performance).
Ledisi has just released her Ledisi Sings Nina [BMG Label; www.bmg.com] and this should be a treat to hear judging from her inventive and powerful interpretations of these songs at Newport Jazz. I have also enjoyed exploring Ledisi’s 2020 CD release, The Wild Card [BMG Label] a superb collection of both her originals and covers that teems with her adventurous spirit.
Highlights include the opening ”Anything For You”, (with Ledisi’s voice frolicking high and lithe); the uplifting “Stone” (gospel strong and regal), the swaying bluesy pulse of “Next Time” and the brimming sass of the swinging “What Kind of Love Is That”. Ledisi’s commanding voice flows warmly, earthy and creatively forceful on all of her great R & B and soul-infused adventures.
That same warm R&B flow -that feel for the sinuous groove or funky powerful blast – shares kindred space with the music of two other gifted artists who also appeared at the Saturday edition of Newport Jazz 2021: keyboardist and intrepid composer Robert Glasper (whose colorful “Now or Never” is covered in fine grooving form by Ledisi on her Wild Card) and bold trumpeter and composer, Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah.
One of the many formations that the inventive Glasper has lassoed over the years is his “R+R=N” (“Reflect + Respond = Now”) group, consisting (at its core) of Glasper on keyboards, Derrick Hodge on bass, Terrace Martin and Taylor Mcferrin on synthesizers and vocoder and Justin Tyson on drums. R+R=N’s 2018 recording, Collagically Speaking [Blue Note; www.bluenote.com], is an excellent introduction to this alighting music with its shifting rhythms, layered drum and bass textures and inventive spoken-word directness to the power of love and resilience. Listen to the ever-adventurous Derrick Hodge on his sinuous bass (for example, his warm plucky solo introducing the powerful tune, “Her=Now”) or get dancing to R+R=N’s grooving “Resting Warrior”, riding on Adjuah’s streaking trumpet and Martin and McFerrin’s keyboard and synthesizer windswept grooves.
Robert Glasper “Dinner Party” with Kamasi Washington at Newport Jazz – photo by Jim Brock
At their Saturday performance, this core group (aided by talented guests saxophonist Kamasi Washington and vocalist Phoelix), plied their adoring audience with their funky “jazztronica” brew- diverse in its sounds, colors and dance. The group’s performance of “Freeze Tag” added ripples of spoken-word and poetry to their creative mix with Martin’s sax hitting hard in the warm groove propelled by Glasper’s repeating patterns on his lithe keyboard.
Christian Scott atunde Adjuah at Newport Jazz – photo by Jim Brock
Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah, making a guest appearance with Glasper on Saturday, also appeared with his own spirited band at the Lawn Stage at Newport Jazz, exploring his “Stretch Music”- spanning the globe with influences from bebop to lithe African rhythms. The band’s questing spirit at their Newport Jazz performance included the welcomed addition of flautist Elena Pinderhughes, who plied her sprite instrument with bluesy trills and high, dancing flourishes. Her sparkling flute, combined with Adjuah’s dynamic trumpet, made for a radiant partnership. Her articulate flute dipped and danced with Adjuah’s trumpet- from his highest rapid-fire piercing runs to his tranquil moments (squeezing short breathy bleats from his horn)- all in the service of questing passion and expression. Keyboardist Lawrence Fields, always an intrepid force, added his own twinkling voice to the band’s charisma and invention. His twinkling piano solo on the ballad, “Guinevere” (a David Crosby nugget) glowed with lithe charm. His careening solo on the band’s rollicking version of Herbie Hancock’s “Eye Of The Hurricane” (ranging to every octave of his piano) propelled Hancock’s feast delivered in bold colors and intensity by this consummate, gregarious band.
Another source of open-eared music at Newport Jazz at this Saturday session – one that combined a mercurial jazz band, impassioned vocals, (spoken-word and poetry) with snippets of pre-recorded speeches and nimble DJ action- was the striking music performed by drummer Terri Lyne Carrington and her Social Science, with pianist Aaron Parks, guitarist Matthew Stevens, saxophonist and bassist Morgan Guenin, vocalist Debo Ray and MC, DJ Kassa Overall. Social Science explored original material from their bold 2020 album, Waiting Game [Motema Music; www.motema.com], a quality recording that captures the tactile heat and synergy of these convivial musicians thriving on their songs of deep groove and spoken-word power.
John Watson photo
Every tune on the album is driven by the singular Carrington on her stalwart drum kit. She reliably drives the music’s foundation with inventive, fluid propulsion that sparkles and shines or startles – with her dynamic deep eruptions hitting with audacious power – as the music requires.
At Social Science’sNewport Jazz performance, their”If Not Now” was a funky, grooving power glide with the band laying down mercurial, potent colors. The song ended with the crowd singing along with vocalist Debo Ray on the tune’s swaying and dancing “By-yah, By–yah” choruses. Ray also sang with operatic power (in to her highest silvery register) on the band’s powerful “Anthem”, a song that salutes the resiliency and power of women everywhere. On the band’s shimmering version of Joni Mitchell’s “Love,” Ray’s voice nestled tender in Steven’s guitar washes and Guenin’s spinning warm bass slides. Kassa Overall’s limber percussive effects and snippets of recordings (from women held as political prisoners in recent history) generated the power of “No Justice For Political Prisoners”, a magnetic piece that blazed on Guenin’s muscular sax solo, Steven’s layered guitar hurls and seismic hits from Carrington’s drums. All of this swirling energy empowered the recorded statements by these political prisoners calling for an end to racism and injustices suffered in their own legal cases (and for the advancement of prisoner’s rights everywhere). This was a moving, boundless performance by Social Science, highlighting the transformative power of music in the service of political and personal change.
Kenny Garrett at Newport Jazz – photo by Jim Brock
The feast of exuberant music at Newport Jazz at this Saturday edition concluded with two performances teeming with joyful soar and upbeat possibilities. First up was an explosive performance by venturing saxophonist Kenny Garrett, soaring on his instrument with irresistible groove and power. Garrett delivered geysers of sounds and colors from his gleaming sax – lean and nimble in their quick bursts – throwing back his head to ignite his rapid-fired high calls. His music was a global feast, roughhousing from blues to Cuban rumba with a joyful sense of discovery. Garrett’s trusted bandmates added carousing piano colors, lithe bass lines and big swathes of drum and conga heat to Garrett’s full-bore attack. The apex of this knockout performance occurred when Garrett took off on an extended solo flight on his sax that teemed with breathless runs, blazing trills, deep bleats and swaggering R & B swing ending with a journey into the stratosphere of his register, urged on by a raucous audience riveted to his every blistering run. Garrett’s new album, Sounds From the Ancestors [Mack Avenue Records, www.mackavenue.com], is due out soon and should be a thrill to explore, given his shining, global-inspired performance at Newport Jazz.
Trombone Shorty and Pete Murano at Newport Jazz- photo by Jim Brock
Saturday’s Newport Jazz edition concluded monumentally with a joyful, rollicking performance by Troy Andrews (aka. Trombone Shorty; “Shorty”) and his big band, Orleans Avenue, barnstorming Newport’s Lawn Stage with their kinetic grooves. The energy of this show was irresistible – from the first blares of punctual brass to the appearance of Shorty and his gleaming trombone (lifted to the sky) to deliver his instrument’s breathy, powerful pulses of dance.
The tight-knit Orleans Avenue concentrated on a number of cuts from their terrific 2017 Blue Note label recording, Parking Lot Symphony, a recording that captures this frolicking band in all its tactile, layered heat within the airy confines of the legendary Esplanade Studio in New Orleans, the same studio where Newvelle Records recently recorded their fabulous New Orleans Collection of artists on their impeccable LPs (see my earlier review and www.newvelle-records.com for all information).
The high-wattage fun at Shorty and Orleans Avenue‘s Newport Jazz performance had the capacity crowd dancing from start to finish. The dashing instrumental, “Tripped Out Slim” sent the dancing ablaze with its pumping foundation by baritone saxman BK Jackson and the rest of the band’s tight grooves. “Dirty Water” pranced on the slink of Pete Murano’s electric guitar and on “It Ain’t No Use”, Shorty’s molasses-smooth vocals sashayed alongside the shimmy of brass choruses. On the irresistible anthem, “Where It At?”, Shorty’s gushing and vital trombone led the “Second Line” carouse with its deep pulses and flair while the crowd danced and sung along to the rousing chorus: “I just want my heart back – Where it At?” Here was Newport Jazz at its most funky and playful – a carefree abandon in rejoicing music of resiliency.
sfchronicle.com
*Many thanks to my friend and colleague, Jim Brock [www.eyeonthemusic.com], for his superb photos from all the great action at Newport Jazz this year!
Nordost products are designed to allow you to enjoy your favorite performances as they were intended to be heard. All of us here are passionate about great music, and want to share our passion with you. Each one of us has our own style… We listen to a wide variety of artists and genres but, in a way, we appreciate them all. We thought that we would share a few of the songs on our own personal playlists with you each month. Some may be classics, some may be brand new, some may not even be to your tastes, but we hope that there is something here for everyone.
Here are some of the songs that we will have on rotation this September.
You can now listen to our monthly playlist here: TIDAL | SPOTIFY | QOBUZ
Cruel—St. Vincent—Strange Mercy
Feelin’ Alright—Joe Cocker—With A Little Help From My Friends
Can I Go On—Sleater-Kinney—The Center Won’t Hold
Have You Ever Seen Peaches Growing…—Jake Xerxes Fussell—What in the Natural World
Winners (feat. Yxng Bane, Chance The Rapper & Joey Purp)—Smoko Ono, Yxng Bane, Chance the Rapper, Joey Purp—Winners
Smoldering Fire—Ural Tomas and the Pain—The Right Time
Never My Love—The Association—Insight Out
Tank!—Seatbelts—COWBOY BEBOP
Disco Man—Remi Wolf—I’m Allergic to dogs!
The Way We Were/Through The Eyes Of Love (Live)—Barbra Streisand—Back to Brooklyn
Maintenance. If you are a hands-on audiophile like many of us, you occasionally face the task of updating/repairing your system’s components and ancillary devices. I personally love vintage tube audio gear, which has its own set of maintenance chores: checking the tubes periodically with a tube tester, cleaning the tube pins, replacing power supply capacitors, or the notoriously problematic (after 50 years of use) bumblebee capacitors such units may contain.
For many lovers of vintage tube audio gear, the holy grail of preamplifiers is, perhaps, the Marantz 7 and/or the McIntosh C-22. These two items from the late 1950’s through late 1960’s have become quite scarce and, as a result, have risen dramatically in price on the popular auction sites. I was incredibly lucky back in 1993 to acquire a Marantz 7 via a trade of audio gear with a gentleman near the Blue Ridge Mountains. He had inherited this pristine piece of gear from his uncle many years prior. However, he became tired of periodic tube replacement and occasional trips to the repair shop for slight issues beyond his own capabilities. I was thrilled to acquire this piece of hifi history and, having already built a few kits (Heathkit, Dynakit), felt ready to take on a revered component for the long haul.
The immediate needs for this preamplifier immediately after my acquisition were new caps on the top mounted phenolic board. One “bumblebee” capacitor (named for their black body, surrounded by colored stripes) had a big crack running from one end to the other. While many aficionados consider it heresy to replace any of the active components in a vintage (and valuable) piece of collectible audio gear, I now had my excuse to update this preamplifier with some newer, better performing modern components. I replaced all of the capacitors on the top phenolic “turret” board with boutique-type TRT SETI Infinicaps, a couple Hovland MusiCaps, and fresh Nichicon Muse and Sprague Atom small electrolytics. I replaced the tubes, six 12AX7A’s, as well. With periodic tube replacement, this preamp has now served my “upstairs system” exceptionally well for nearly thirty years. However, as you may have guessed, now I’m going to relate my most recent maintenance on this revered piece of gear…
I have mentioned the top facing phenolic/turret board in the Marantz 7. It is not a circuit board, the components are hard wired to “turret-type” posts, not traces.
This board is also attached to a metal flange that contains the horizontally mounted 12AX7A tube sockets, which protrude from the back panel. To reduce the deleterious effects of vibration (creating undesirable microphonics), this board and metal flange “float” on three metal/rubber suspension screw-in “grommets”.
Two “new” suspension mounts next to a “bad/broken” mount
These are crucial to the design of the preamp, and mine had (as is common) deteriorated to the point of splitting in the middle of the rubber and separating. Instead of floating, the board was resting, undesirably, on the chassis.
Fortunately, an enterprising audiophile/businessman in Hong Kong had acquired a stock of NOS (new old stock) metal-rubber isolation/suspension mounts years ago and kept them in an oil bath, keeping them fresh. I was lucky enough to acquire a set about five years ago and had been waiting for the perfect moment to install them ever since!
This week, I got into the proper mood to finally undertake the task of installing them. The job was not nearly as difficult as I had feared. In fact, it took me longer to remove all the interconnects and tubes and disassemble the unit than it took to complete the task. Now completed, the turret board and tubes float on the suspension mounts as they are supposed to!
While I had the unit open, I took the time to also spray the insides of the balance and volume controls with Deoxit FaderF-5 to lubricate and clean the wipers in these controls, which should eliminate any scratchy issues with either pot. I also used the same solution to clean the contacts on the selector switch. Another nice tweak I like to do is clean all the tube pins with an emory board. This removes any oxidation or possible corrosion on the pins ensuring better contact. If you decide to replicate this tweak, however, make sure to do this gently—you don’t want to thin the pins, which could result in looser tube pin tension.
Lastly, I checked the tubes on my trustworthy Hickok 800A tube tester. Tube testers are essential if you want to eliminate that nagging, paranoid feeling when you suspect, but don’t definitively know if your tubes are nearing the end of their useful life. In my opinion, too many audiophiles replace tubes before they really need to. My GE 12AX7A’s in the Marantz 7 have served faithfully for over five years and they still tested strong! While quality tube testers have become pricey on the used market the past ten years or so, I am a firm believer that if you are going to utilize tube components in your system, you must own or have access to a quality tube tester.
When buying a tube tester, make sure it’s a mutual transconductance-type tube tester, not an emissions tester. Two of the more common and best performing mutual transconductance-type tube tester brands are Hickok and B&K. The Hickok 539C is the holy grail of Hickok tube testers but the 800A, 600A, 6000, 533A, 752 and others are all great testers. I also like the B&K 700 and 707 testers. If you don’t want to pay the high price found on the popular auction sites, go to a local AARL sanctioned Hamfest. Now that things are opening back up a bit…you might find a bargain! Realize, however, that testers should be calibrated and the (usually two) rectifier tubes inside them must be good or replaced.
As an aside, my Hickok was a Christmas gift from my father back around 1989. When my mother saw it, she was mortified, as she thought he had gifted me a piece of junk (my mother is the same person who was equally mortified back when I, as a teenager, installed a large FM antenna system with rotator on the roof of the family home while my parents were away for the weekend)! I, on the other hand, loved the Hickok! I later told my Dad that the Hickok was the best gift he ever bought me, and I still use this extremely useful tool on a regular basis.
Hickok 800A
So, how does the Marantz 7 sound in my system now that it has been refreshed? Wonderful! That’s why I have kept it so many years. Plus, it has a ton of flexibility with numerous inputs like two sets of phono jacks, four sets of auxiliaries (labeled aux, tv, fm multiplex, fm/am), a tape head, a tape monitor and a set of microphone inputs. This unit even has two sets of outputs so that I can connect two monoblocs and two subwoofers!
However, the story has not ended just yet. I have more work to do at some point in the future… My unit still has the original selenium rectifier that should be replaced with diodes and the original multi-section electrolytic cans for the power supply, which could prove to be a difficult job. I will also probably replace a few more resistors on the bottom side of the unit. There are lots of carbon composition resistors there that have the possibility of drifting in value and/or getting noisy after so many years. The tone controls (separate bass and treble for both channels) have a ton of difficult-to-access bumblebee capacitors on them too. They are a paper-in-oil composition which leads to failure from simply picking up moisture after many, many years. Polypropylene, Teflon or polystyrene capacitors make very good replacements for the failure prone bumblebees, but it would be a herculean task to replace them all! One other potential future chore? Replacing the old-style tin-plated RCA jacks on the back of the preamplifier with new and more robust gold-plated RCA jacks. There is so much on the to do list!
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention how well our Nordost Valhalla 2 interconnects grip the old-style RCA jacks on this preamplifier. The HOLO:PLUG RCA connectors do a wonderful job of securely gripping these shallow jacks, ensuring maximum signal transfer. Those interconnects also contribute greatly to the three-dimensional sound of my system. In my system, the Marantz 7 feeds a pair of refurbished McIntosh MC-60 tube amps, which I completely rebuilt nine summers ago. Since I am only using one set of the phono input jacks on the Marantz 7, I have a QKORE RCA wire attached to one jack of Phono 2, which then connects to a QKORE3 Grounding Unit. This reduces the noise floor of this preamplifier, resulting in even better sound quality. The preamplifier’s power cord is also plugged into a QB8 QBASE which itself is attached to a QKORE1. The system is dead silent and sounds sensational, if I do say so myself! Make sure you ask your local Nordost dealer for a demo of our superior grounding products. I would also highly recommend you ask them for an in-home evaluation of our interconnects, speaker cables, and power cords, since there is no better test than hearing these products in your own system! You’ll be glad you did!
Like I said, there is still much to be done to my Marantz 7, but that’s the type of commitment you take on when you choose vintage, “golden-age” audio components. Stay tuned, and I’ll let you know the results of my next steps. Is it a lot of work? Yes. But for the right person, the work is well-worth the reward!
