Zero Distortion: Other members and the Classical, music, vinyl Page.

bonzo75

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Feb 26, 2014
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All,

Just introducing the other members from Zero Distortion. Doing in-house demos will be Audiophile Bill - with his Focal Maestro Utopias and SS Analog Domain, Kuzma Stabi Ref, Triplanar, Aesthetix IO Sig, Lampi. As some of you know, he and I live not far off so it becomes easy to listen to gear at each other's places, and we have a good understanding and calibration of each other's ears. We can also exchange constructive feedback without getting sensitive, and respect each other's ability to keep the ears in check. With his background as a first trmbonist in a semi-pro orchestra and love for classical, we click. And it was he who actually coaxed me into blogging about my experiences.

The other member is actually much quieter on the gear side.

I met Larry over 2 years ago in London, and his wife and I attended a couple of concerts together - in his 20 or so days here, he attended a concert almost daily. When I spoke to him, I was stunned by his knowledge on classical. Larry and I have been in touch since, on music, and vinyl.

So naturally, when we decided to start the blog with a classical bent, for the music, vinyl (and sometimes non-vinyl), can you do better than an astronomy professor who plays piano, viola, and violin, and owns two grand pianos including a Bosendorfer? Who has built up a collection of around 15000, including 6000 original Deccas and EMIs over the last 50 years, plus around 1000 tapes, about half are 15ips, 2track? Who attends around 70 concerts a year and was actually present at many of the concerts performed by the legendary conductors and performers, concerts which were later recorded onto a Decca that is today considered an original collectible? Who, on Winston Ma’s request, wrote a book about the history of Decca Records of the UK, focusing on the era of stereo analogue recording, from the mid 1950’s to the early 1980’s? The book, titled “Decca:Supreme Stereophonic Legacy” came out in 2014 and included 4 FIM CD’s which were remastered excerpts from many of the greatest Decca classical recordings of that era.

So here's our page on classical, music, vinyl, etc - all managed by him

http://zero-distortion.org/music-notes/

And here's about Larry in his own words. http://zero-distortion.org/about-larry/
 

853guy

Active Member
Aug 14, 2013
1,161
10
38
All,

Just introducing the other members from Zero Distortion. Doing in-house demos will be Audiophile Bill - with his Focal Maestro Utopias and SS Analog Domain, Kuzma Stabi Ref, Triplanar, Aesthetix IO Sig, Lampi. As some of you know, he and I live not far off so it becomes easy to listen to gear at each other's places, and we have a good understanding and calibration of each other's ears. We can also exchange constructive feedback without getting sensitive, and respect each other's ability to keep the ears in check. With his background as a first trmbonist in a semi-pro orchestra and love for classical, we click. And it was he who actually coaxed me into blogging about my experiences.

The other member is actually much quieter on the gear side.

I met Larry over 2 years ago in London, and his wife and I attended a couple of concerts together - in his 20 or so days here, he attended a concert almost daily. When I spoke to him, I was stunned by his knowledge on classical. Larry and I have been in touch since, on music, and vinyl.

So naturally, when we decided to start the blog with a classical bent, for the music, vinyl (and sometimes non-vinyl), can you do better than an astronomy professor who plays piano, viola, and violin, and owns two grand pianos including a Bosendorfer? Who has built up a collection of around 15000, including 6000 original Deccas and EMIs over the last 50 years, plus around 1000 tapes, about half are 15ips, 2track? Who attends around 70 concerts a year and was actually present at many of the concerts performed by the legendary conductors and performers, concerts which were later recorded onto a Decca that is today considered an original collectible? Who, on Winston Ma’s request, wrote a book about the history of Decca Records of the UK, focusing on the era of stereo analogue recording, from the mid 1950’s to the early 1980’s? The book, titled “Decca:Supreme Stereophonic Legacy” came out in 2014 and included 4 FIM CD’s which were remastered excerpts from many of the greatest Decca classical recordings of that era.

So here's our page on classical, music, vinyl, etc - all managed by him

http://zero-distortion.org/music-notes/

And here's about Larry in his own words. http://zero-distortion.org/about-larry/

Hey Bonzo,

That's a nice group you've assembled there. Having trustworthy sets of ears - not to mention, trustworthy personalities - is surely a bona fide benefit for the blog.

I myself was very fortunate to have a "classical mentor" during my early twenties. A Naim owner, choralist, classical music maven and nice guy to boot, he owned a independent record store and I must have spent thousands of hours (and thousands of dollars) in his shop, taking recommendations and being schooled in the art form. After University I went to work for him for several years during that turbulent time known as "late onset adolescence" where I had no idea of what to do with my life, selling music during the day and playing gigs and doing sessions at night. Though he's retained my respect over the years, he never did quite managed to convince me of the wonders of Der Ring des Nibelungen, nor the tone and texture of the fortepiano, but nevertheless, I remain grateful for his friendship, enthusiasm and generosity of spirit.

My continued best wishes to you, Larry and Audiophile Bill.

853guy
 
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spiritofmusic

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Jun 13, 2013
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That's a winning team Ked
Every time I see discussion on classical on vinyl, I keep thinking I should divert the funds I'm considering to spend on a reasonable streamer/dac, or a SOTA combination, to raiding eBay and secondhand record shops and spending the same budget on 1-2k lps/Cds instead
 

bonzo75

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Feb 26, 2014
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That's a winning team Ked
Every time I see discussion on classical on vinyl, I keep thinking I should divert the funds I'm considering to spend on a reasonable streamer/dac, or a SOTA combination, to raiding eBay and secondhand record shops and spending the same budget on 1-2k lps/Cds instead

Why CDs. Just stream from digital for volume, original vinyl for quality for favorites
 

bonzo75

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Thanks guys, at some point want to put the music page on the gramophone records kind of forum, so those guys will go there, wander to gear, wander to linked hifi forums, and there will be more comingling of them with our type of hifi. forums.

Larry's music notes will apply to most formats.
 

spiritofmusic

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Jun 13, 2013
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New classical titles, or the odd vintage performance I can't find on Lp
 

wisnon

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Dec 12, 2011
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Thanks guys, at some point want to put the music page on the gramophone records kind of forum, so those guys will go there, wander to gear, wander to linked hifi forums, and there will be more comingling of them with our type of hifi. forums.

Larry's music notes will apply to most formats.

What is Larry's moniker on the forums?
 

bonzo75

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Feb 26, 2014
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bonzo75

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astrotoy

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May 24, 2010
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Thanks for the kind words. I'll still be contributing here in WBF. The blog will give me a longer format to give more background and a little analysis as well as pick albums, composers, works, etc. that are interesting to me. Since I am not a great collector of digital recordings, some modern recommendations will be welcome. We'll be in London in late May this year and I already have a few concerts booked!

Larry
 

Detlof

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Nov 5, 2015
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Sounds wonderful! Good people, great minds and most importantly lovers of things musical. Entreaged and hooked.
 

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