It's been so long since I updated this blog! Well as a full time nursing student and working 3 jobs, I hardly have enough time to sleep before the holiday season...Lots going on with my audio/hifi changes in the last year as I sold my pair of Stuart (monitor gold) for my tuition :(, my Marantz SM6 is currently out of order (unknown if I am able to bring it back to life) as the protection circuit is burnt and several of the transistors are fried! Sigh! Now I am back to the basic with my Marantz 1060 with Tannoy Straford and some western electric tinned copper wires as speaker cable...the combination sounds fairly nice! Hooking up with my Thorens 160 turntable with that set up remains me of why I got into hifi...to appreciate music!
However, since the Tannoy Stuart were gone, I have been looking for some vintage speaker cabinets to house my RCA SL12, Stromberg Carlson RF 473 and GE A1 401 for my 2A3 SET amp. You can tell that I am a coaxial / full range guy! I wish one day I can do a review for all these speakers once I am able to find myself or build a pair of cabinets. I am aware that all three set of speakers required a bass reflex cabinets according to factory recommendation but I wanna try something new and easy. I have tried open baffle for RCA SL 12 with excellent imaging and mid range but bass wise it's fairly weak. I have placed them in the Stuart cabinet and its mid range is more refine that monitor gold! The base feels a bit lighter than monitor gold but overall it is more neutral (or natural) than the Tannoy. the Tannoy does feel more lush and sexier than the RCA but it's really down to one's preference. The only downfall of RCA SL 12 is that the treble is a bit roll off after 15,000 and sounds darker than the Monitor Gold in treble because the RCA is a FULL RANGE driver!! No wonder the midrange is so liquid and transparent because there is no crossover! This is another super underrrated speakers at all time when everybody is paying attention to Tannoy, Jensen, WE...you name it.
Yet, before I am able to source a nice vintage speaker cabinet, my temporary solution is...get another pair of nice big speakers! I have come across a pair of decent shaped JBL S70 over ebay and had been coordinate with the owner for the logistics...I need to rent a Uhaul truck to get down to Portland in order to take them home. I have never had a good experience with JBL because I always found them too bright in mid-range (May be I don't hear enough of the 43XX series). Yet, this pair of speakers caught my attention because the imfamous Kenrick Sound from Japan has a pair for sell for over $1.5 million yen. Well well...let's wish I am able to close up the deal with the owner and be a JBL for once lol!
More review and update will follow...
