The day before yesterday ma Memory Lane audio came back together. I had not turned my TT on for even 25 years. So I took it to a friend who specializes in bringing them back to life no matter what. He took it apart, checked it out from head to toe, did what was necessary and put it back together. In the meanwhile, unknown to me, two friends became authorized Ortofon delers, and they already offered Grado cartridges. So, I took my TT to their place as they offerd to install a cartridge of my choice, and they have all the tools for it, including digital weghts for propr pressure. In the end, the cartridge of my choice turned out to be Ortofon 2M Blue, at the cost of nominally €200, exactly what Ortofon wants via their site, but they charged me €170 (app. $200 or so).
So I spent the day yesterday revisiting my LP collection. Dear me ... that did sound really good, better than I remember it. The 2M Blue is more or less an evolution of the basic cartridge from yesteryear's LM series, mine corresponding to LM20 almost exactly. Most important, the characteristics of the tone arm correspond ideally to the cartridge specs. One big difference - Ortofon no longer recommends the mandatory 400 pF load, but states "150-300 pF" Perfect, beause those are the two choices my Luxman C-03 preamp offers as switch selectable choices.
What I hear is the best I have ever heard from that TT. I must add that never before did I have that good a RIAA stage, the ones I had were OK, but that's about it. It's hard to make out who's lifting the heavy load, the TT and the cartridge, or the preamp, I suspect both are doing fine.
Anyway, lots of fun ahead for me.
So I spent the day yesterday revisiting my LP collection. Dear me ... that did sound really good, better than I remember it. The 2M Blue is more or less an evolution of the basic cartridge from yesteryear's LM series, mine corresponding to LM20 almost exactly. Most important, the characteristics of the tone arm correspond ideally to the cartridge specs. One big difference - Ortofon no longer recommends the mandatory 400 pF load, but states "150-300 pF" Perfect, beause those are the two choices my Luxman C-03 preamp offers as switch selectable choices.
What I hear is the best I have ever heard from that TT. I must add that never before did I have that good a RIAA stage, the ones I had were OK, but that's about it. It's hard to make out who's lifting the heavy load, the TT and the cartridge, or the preamp, I suspect both are doing fine.
Anyway, lots of fun ahead for me.
Shame. Cork participate on several aspect to the maturation of wines. They allow gas exchange, influencing the taste, retain some deposits.
The chemistry of wine aging is complex, but one thing is certain- the variability of gas exchange with cork is astoundingly large. If you age a case of wine under tree bark cork for 10 years, you're likely to find one or two tainted bottles, and the remaining ones will be all over the map in their development. It's horribly inconsistent.
Indeed. Given my advanced age and a touch of arthritis, I'm still looking for a comprehensive third bottle solution. I may try to modify the under-cabinet can opener that I found when I moved into the new house, but I want to get on that project and have it done and ready to go before I need it next.
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That is true. And the conditions in witch the bottles are kept during aging (temperature, humidity etc.) very important. Reason why great care is kept by top wines producers on those both aspects, their wineries, (wine cellars ?) including the quality of the cork they use.
Some even change the corks of all the bottles at a certain point of aging.
Nobody serious about wine, in France, would never accept a bottle with a plastic cork or anything different from the traditional ones. ;-)
It is art.
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Wine box? Can you even get those where you are?
or http://www.foodservicewarehouse.com/update-international/woc-tm-n/p1456496.aspx
The proprietor of The Wine Box (SY had encountered him years ago) was telling me about a friend who served him a fairly recent vintage, I think he said 1999, of Ch. Lafite. The first bottle was corked. He opened a second bottle. Also corked.
Frank pointed out that he ought to have sold them and been ahead a couple thousand or so.
Frank pointed out that he ought to have sold them and been ahead a couple thousand or so.
Know what the difference between a high quality expensive cork and a cheap cork is?
Appearance. Performance-wise, they're no different.
Frank was always a delight. Mr. Sweetness and Charm.
We used to do a lot of blind guess-the-wine games at the Box. One that I remember well was a red wine that was handed to Steve (the owner of the Box at that time). Steve sniffed, sipped, and said, "It's corked. Unless it's Heitz Martha's, in which case it's great."
Expertise.
Any way, the cork and the mystery behind, the noise it makes when you open the bottle, and all the familiar ceremony that goes with, all this is part of the pleasure. Including the danger to get, one time or an other, a wine corked or oxyded.
I don't know what is behind for people of other countries, but for a French, it is part of his ADN. Something very "natural" and "daily". No need to fuss and sommeliers.
All this tend to disappear. The time spend for the lunch, with friends, the time to live, *your* bottles in your cellar that you bought at the producer, with a nice travel many years ago: the memory of the landscape and local perfumes of the air and ground come with the taste ... I don't want a world where everything is industrial, normalized, technically perfect and ... boring... because no surprise.
Wine is like roses: Each bottle is unique.
I remember, all my life I remembered, to had a bottle of very old Bourgogne in a restaurant when i Was 23 years old. As I was not rich, I imagine it was not too expensive. Never had such a gift during all the long years i lived after that. Despite so many bottles of prestigious wines.
No Emir will never enjoy that.
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Les Frogs also adore funghy cheese, the moldier, the more.
In any other branch, it's common knowledge that cork is only good for something if it's totally sealed off from the external environment.
Oh Sorry, what was I thinking, I totally forgot the 'ecological' planet.
Ah, the noise it makes when you pop a Trojan, and all the familiar ceremony that goes with it, all this is part of the pleasure.
In any other branch, it's common knowledge that cork is only good for something if it's totally sealed off from the external environment.
Oh Sorry, what was I thinking, I totally forgot the 'ecological' planet.
Ah, the noise it makes when you pop a Trojan, and all the familiar ceremony that goes with it, all this is part of the pleasure.
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