Another new (old) local resource

  Another store (or home store) has popped up in the Rochester area, Webster to be specific.

  Forefront Audio  (  http://forefront-audio.com/ ) is the latest venture by local veteran Lance Shevchuk of Soundworks/ Sound Concept/ Stereo Shop fame.

 Known for his elaborate custom installs and technical savvy, his attention to detail has always been first rate. Now he is dedicating three rooms of his house to an audio specialty store. I have known Lance for years, and he is a man of honesty and integrity. We even horse traded a few things along the way.  I got my Lumley tube amps from him at one point. Always a hobbyist, it wasn't beyond him to buy something from Paul Heath while he was working for the Sound Concept. In spite of the modest wages the stores paid him he always owned top shelf gear. I give anybody credit for starting a bricks and mortar store today, not an easy business years ago, I'm sure even tougher now. Good luck Lance!

                         Give him a call if you are in the market or need an installation done.

Ray Dolby 1933-2013

 On September 12th last month another industry pioneer passed, Dr. Ray Dolby. Recognized around the world for his groundbreaking technologies in both consumer and professional formats. Initially the most famous for noise reduction in tape formats, he went on to very different and diverse processing systems in the decades that followed. He was 80 years old, and was battling both Alzheimer's and leukemia.

This logo appeared on almost every cassette deck made from the '70's on. I saw it go from Dolby A (professional use) to B, probably the most common , to C the more improved version. A derivative "Dolby HX" short for headroom extension also found on a few machines and was not really a noise reduction system but a dynamic range expander, for a serious shortcoming of cassettes. This in an attempt to compete with DBX, at the time the biggest competitor for Dolby. DBX was actually significantly better, but far less compatible and universal than Dolby. You could play a Dolby tape back without Dolby (in fact most of us did to get the extra treble boost).If you did this with DBX you would get an intense pumping sound.  Licensing fees of course for every deck that bore this logo, and it blew me away back then to see even 

a cheesy $39. deck sporting the Dolby logo.This is what got the the company off to its first huge financial start.

    Surround sound was another of Dolby's  huge claims to fame. It started out as Pro- Logic, with Laser discs went to AC-3, and with the advent of DVD Dolby Digital is standard equipment on any DVD/Bluray player available. A huge improvement over the time delay machines of the early '70s, this actually succeeded in putting discreet separate sounds in specific speakers.  Any modern day receiver/ prepro maintains the ability to decode this as well. Not even sure what the current incarnation of this is, Dolby HD LSMFT maybe? Pro Logic for the analog freaks became Pro Logic II. My preamp has a tube version of it, I never use it. It's designer Jim Fosgate pretty firmly believes in it. If I watch a DVD concert it is usually in DTS, the main audio for video competitor of Dolby.  I think it sounds better for music, less harsh and more musical. Of course the main part of my listening is two channel vinyl, so surround sound plays a very small part in my life.




   I won't touch on the professional side of this, far too many products and technologies that I in my context would not be putting to use. Suffice it to say, the Dolby name flourishes today, and with out a doubt one of the most recognizable in technology circles. Another great pioneer passes................

801's a month later

Dejavu, and a month later brings back fond memories of these.Forgot just how good they really are! There is a reason why B&W has sold so many.  Bumped into my friend Bob who I sold the first pair to and he asked me how much I wanted for them. He got rid of them as well a few years ago.  "Not for sale, I just got them". "Oh, ok, the capacitors are probably all dried out, though". "Oh, ok".

Anyway, forgot just how power hungry these really are. The Fosgate Audionics pre needs to be at about three o'clock to get fairly loud but not screaming volume out of these. Have tried bi-wiring and bi-amping them. With both the Mc-275 on the top end and a couple of different solid state amps on the bottom. Tried my 200 wpc Forte, settled on a five channel B&K bi-amping with four of the five channels. 125w X four driving the heads and woofer cabinets, mainly because the amps are the same. Got a quality pair of Y adapters from my buddy Richie C. at Rowe.  Pretty good result, wish I had a pair of the 275's, not in the mood to come up with another $4500. right now, though.In a perfect world I would have a pair of these amps vertically bi-amped, one amp bi-amping each speaker.

Although tubes are generally not the best choice for large woofers, I think somehow this might work. My family room is fairly dead being mostly concrete and also fairly large. Also considered moving them up into the living room where I could sit closer to them. Strapped one to my hand truck with bungee cords, intending to walk them up the steps one at a time. Said "If I take my time and go slow I can do this myself". Somewhere around 150 lbs each and not a mark on them. Sat on the bottom step and tugged. "UGH! UGH! Not......  Back in the family room. If someday I get in this mood again, I will invite one of you over to help me......

  Meanwhile, Zanny, the peach of a guy that I bought these from has found the casters and is again going to hand deliver them to me.  This will complete the R2D2 look.

Who is your preferred shipping carrier?

Do you prefer UPS, FED EX,  USPS, DHL, or another carrier?

  Just shipped a Yamaha PX3  to a poor guy named Rex in the southwest part of the country. Wrapped this in three layers of bubble wrap surrounded by three inches of styrofoam peanuts. The platter was removed and placed underneath separately also in bubble wrap, and the front of the arm was secured with a wire tie anchored to the base to prevent any horizontal movement. The headshell, cartridge and arm weights were all packed separately. This was dropped with such force the wire tie bent the tone arm! The dustcover was already cracked, but dropping it nicely finished the job. A chunk is broken from the left side of the base. Of course, the carrier's insurance company denied the claim stating that it was not well packed. I am including the section of the shipping receipt that is clearly marked that it was. I have shipped several turntables over the years, thank goodness this was only $300.! I can imagine if it were a Sota!

 This carrier is remaining unnamed for now, as the dispute is still pending. The only way I found out the claim was denied was when I called to check on the status of it, no one had notified me prior to this. So much for communication.

After opening a dispute, an extremely curt and condescending  woman from the companies insurance co. called and informed me cut and dry that they were denying the claim. Not adequately packed. Several calls through the robot menus and waiting on hold an average 20 minutes finally got me one of the  carrier's supervisors who said she would have someone from claims call me.

Sure enough, that same rude woman called me again. "No point in discussing this with you any further," I said and ended the call. A fax to the carriers US headquarters finally netted me  a decent result, and after several very attentive out of state conversations yesterday my claim is supposedly approved. The companies business development center overrode the insurance companies decision.  Of course, somewhere in the fax I sent them I reminded them of the power of social media.........

801's again

  Some things you own more than once in your lifetime, Dahlquist DQ-10s (three times), Dynaco Stereo 70 (more times than I can remember), Klipsch Heresys (at least three times), Minimoog synthesizers, Sonab speakers, the list goes on. A pair of B&W 801 Matrix series IIIs popped up on Dregslist when I least expected to see them. "Nah", I said. "Been there done that". Then I continued to read the ad. These were still sealed in their boxes in climate controlled storage up until 2011. Mind you, these are probably around 20 years old! A nice young guy named Zanny (like Manny but with a Z) had them, and as you could imagine his ad had attracted a lot of interest.People from Canada, PA, etc. It seems his father had gotten them years ago from Soundworks  and never used them. Zanny popped them open in 2011, listened to them for a while,decided that they were too big for his place and put them back in their boxes. Basically about as close to new old stock as these could get. Just when you start to think the stuff is starting to dry up in Rochester.

The last pair of these I had was about 10 years ago, now I had moved into a bigger house and was curious to try them again. My last ones I traded to Bob Hamme of Stereo Shop fame for a truckload of tube amps, Infinity Modulus speakers, other miscellaneous speakers and I forget what else. My friend Johnny G. still has a pair of these that he has had for years. He is a musician, and has not been tempted to replace them. They were/are widely used in recording studios throughout Europe, some of the most prestigious classical record labels used them.

 Zanny thought it best to keep the sale local, actually delivered them to me, and I could see why! In their boxes they were like washing machines, and the two of them just barely shoehorned into a Jeep Grand Cherokee! They are in the exact condition that he described. Beautiful walnut, boxes intact, not a mark on them. He helped me bring them into my garage and I hoofed them into my family room myself. Pretty sure I popped a tire on my hand truck in the process.

  Enjoying them as I did years ago, now they have more room to breath. Using the Mac 275 is somewhat out of the question, these are power hungry beasts, and tubes with 13" woofers are generally not a good combination. I dragged my Forte 200w solid state amp out of the closet, and it is serving for now, I will probably try biamping these in the near future.Paul Klipsch would have referred to these as "space heaters".

 I will keep them this time, it is getting hard to find products of this caliber in this kind of condition. Plus they are too big and heavy to ship or steal. If someone broke into my house they would leave them, look at them and say "Nah!".

Rodriguez cartoons

Reading Stereo Review during the '70s and'80s, I always enjoyed the Rodriguez cartoons that graced the pages. Always funny and sarcastic, good for a chuckle.

A local retail pioneer passes

My friend Joe asked me the other day if I really hated Paul Heath that much that I would publish an obituary on Amar Bose and not him.  

HUH?!! I didn't even know he died! Granted, I maybe saw him once a year at most and usually at Joe's shop.

   Below is the Obituary:

January 23, 2013 

LIVONIA — Paul Frederick Heath, 82, of Livonia, N.Y. succumbed to Leukemia under his daughters’ care at home on Sunday, January 20, 2013.

Paul served his country in the Air Force during the Korean War, and enjoyed many years of self-employment at Paul Heath Audio.

He is predeceased by his wife, Eileen O’Connell Heath, and survived by his son, Robert Heath of Prunedale, Calif.; daughters, Paula (Christopher) Coughlin and Pamela (Mark) Smith; and grandchildren, Harley, John and Jake of Livonia, N.Y.

At Paul’s request, no service will be held. Arrangements entrusted to the Kevin W. Dougherty Funeral Home Inc., Livonia – Honeoye.

 I was awestruck! He was waaaayy too cagey to die! I have referred to him several times in this blog. I did a fair amount of business over the years, and worked with his son Bob at JB Sound. Always an interesting story, always a hard sales pitch, I remember him as a hell of a salesman! It didn't matter if you were in the business or not, if you walked into his store you got the sales pitch. I'm still stuck with a pair of Acoustic Arts Messenger speakers that I first heard in his store.Every week something new, he generally only got one or two of anything, and it was always better than what he had last week

.He was instrumental during the early years of Merlin music systems,partnering with Bobby and helping him get established.The Orion Blue Book listed him as an importer for many of the brands he carried.I often pull out old issues of Audio magazine that I still have  from the '70s. and see ads for his store in the back classifieds.

 I remember him most for the Hill Type 1/ Plasmatronics speakers he demoed at one of the home shows.

They had plasma/ion tweeters which were emitting ozone and putting people to sleep! They made him stop playing them.



 To the best of my knowledge he started on State St. across from the Kodak office. The execs would walk over at lunchtime to see what was new. I remember Allison One speakers, JR149s,Hartley speakers, SAE,and a few things I had never heard of  the first time I went there. Years later he ended up in Henrietta, then downtown off of Monroe Ave. sharing a store with Mike Stroethers. Mike also passed years ago, I'm beginning to think this is not a healthy hobby to have, we have lost many over the years.
 Paul, Mike, Bill Kelliher (one of my previous bosses the"B" of JB), my good friend Greg Douglas, Glen who was Mike Fenton's technician, Gary another audio friend, and even I myself have been diagnosed with cancer.

  " Momma don't let your babies grow up to play HiFi".........

  Must be some kind of radiation from the power transformers or something.

  Anway, hard as I tried, I can't find a picture of Paul anywhere. If anybody out there has one and can email it to me or post it here I think that would be nice.

 Please don't attempt to pass off one of Jack Nicholson, I know the difference.    


                                               thanks!