Zero Distortion: Tango Time

[the sound of Tao]

As time becomes more precious I just find myself playing more Brahms, Beethoven and Bach etc and just very little (almost zero) Bartók... when exploring classical earlier I quite liked Bartok’s Hungarian Sketches, his Roumanian Dances and the Music for Strings percussion and celesta but a hasty purchase of Bluebeard’s Castle eventually largely did me in Bartok wise. Not sure there is reason in it... what you love and resonate with is just that... there are other classical composers whose work I love and others who I can’t connect with. Do we have to justify what we love? Musically I think it’s just where you are at. Before I’m accused of lacking discrimination though I’d suggest that line dancing is a universally inappropriate activity and prog is the devils work.

 

[bonzo75]

Line dancing is great. It really gets you to learn how to dance to the beat and then you can pick up any dance.

There was a time I used to dance like an Indian and tried to take major dancing classes to no avail.

But then I learned line dancing, got the rhythm, and after that, all jive, salsa, etc became easy

 

[the sound of Tao]

Line dancing is great. It really gets you to learn how to dance to the beat and then you can pick up any dance.

There was a time I used to dance like an Indian and tried to take major dancing classes to no avail.

But then I learned line dancing, got the rhythm, and after that, all jive, salsa, etc became easy

That’s priceless. We also use drugs... but going country and western is all good, just that its actually illegal here.

 

[Tango]

This I can definitely enjoy.

 

[tima]

One of the reasons Bartok is not “easy listening” is because many of those folk songs were based on the pentatonic scale (not unlike Asian music), which Bartok then expands and fashions in his own voice, thus adding additional complexity to what is already a difficult and unfamiliar musical language. It was sort of an “ah-hah” moment for me and gave me an appreciation for Bartok that I never had previously. T

He was something of a musical archivist as he went around Hungary and Roumania tape recording folk songs from many regions. Some of those are real 'plate-spinners (think Enescu.)

There was a 'pre-Bartok' Bartok when he wrote post-Romantic music, without dissonance, such as his 1904 Rhapsody for Piano and Ochestra. Most of that was, imo, soporific, and it wasn't until he took on his atonal sometimes dissonant style that he came to his own inner logic that confounds many listeners yet today. It used to confound musicians as well. That Rhapsody was substituted for his First Piano Concerto at his Carnegie American debut because the New York Philharmonic found the latter too difficult to play! He loved rhythm and he loved percussion.

At the end of his life Bartok came full circle. He wrote his Third Piano Concerto as he lay dying in 1945. Despite some angular themes and spiky rhythms, the Third is the least obdurate and most accessible of his later music. He wrote it for his wife and it is much warmer and melodic than earlier compositions. Otherworldly in places, its Adagio religioso is harmonically heartwarming and well worth a listen. This was the resting place in the composer's evolution.

@Mike Lavigne - excellent performances in the Végh Quartett collection.

 

[howiebrou]

Line dancing is great. It really gets you to learn how to dance to the beat and then you can pick up any dance.

There was a time I used to dance like an Indian and tried to take major dancing classes to no avail.

But then I learned line dancing, got the rhythm, and after that, all jive, salsa, etc became easy

This is way better than line dancing

 

[XV-1]

Line dancing is great. It really gets you to learn how to dance to the beat and then you can pick up any dance.

There was a time I used to dance like an Indian and tried to take major dancing classes to no avail.

But then I learned line dancing, got the rhythm, and after that, all jive, salsa, etc became easy

You taking the piss Ked

 

[marty]

Line dancing is great. It really gets you to learn how to dance to the beat and then you can pick up any dance.

There was a time I used to dance like an Indian and tried to take major dancing classes to no avail.

But then I learned line dancing, got the rhythm, and after that, all jive, salsa, etc became easy

Ked, that's not dancing. It's a compilation of epileptic seizures.

 

[Tango]

Ked, that's not dancing. It's a compilation of epileptic seizures.

Epileptic seizures. Maybe that's why Solti is so good.

 

[Tango]

In the past 5 days I have been listening the Master Sig Mono Replay 5R. I bought it because I have quite a number of mono records, I like the character of vdh cart and I am no longer curious about "different" sound. No wow or gobsmacking experience. Just a bit of better here and there than using a stereo cart playing mono. I find the Mono Replay plays mono records better than the Stereo MS playing mono records in following ways:
- Quieter surface noise.
- Dig out more info in the groove.
- A bit more refine. More in focus.
- A tad smaller more realistic (to me) image size.
- Less fierce.

I recorded a video MS Mono Replay doing Bach double violin. Sound very nice. Would not have thought it was a mono recording. But somehow I couldn't upload on youtube. Maybe a copyright thing.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

In the past 5 days I have been listening the Master Sig Mono Replay 5R. I bought it because I have quite a number of mono records, I like the character of vdh cart and I am no longer curious about "different" sound. No wow or gobsmacking experience. Just a bit of better here and there than using a stereo cart playing mono. I find the Mono Replay plays mono records better than the Stereo MS playing mono records in following ways:
- Quieter surface noise.
- Dig out more info in the groove.
- A bit more refine. More in focus.
- A tad smaller more realistic (to me) image size.
- Less fierce.

I recorded a video MS Mono Replay doing Bach double violin. Sound very nice. Would not have thought it was a mono recording. But somehow I couldn't upload on youtube. Maybe a copyright thing.

my recent acquisition of the two Miyajima Infinity mono cartridges has caused me to listen to mono regularly. i would echo your comments about the effect, except would expand on the last point to also say both mono carts separate things in the sound stage a varying degree better than stereo cartridges can with more front to back layering, and improve expressiveness (emotional content) and it's more relaxed and has greater ease (your 'less fierce').

lots of goose bumps.

somehow; i also get some interesting 'stereo' bass notes quite off center on a number of pressings.

 

[marty]

somehow; i also get some interesting 'stereo' bass notes quite off center on a number of pressings.

Anti-skate setting?

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Anti-skate setting?

it's possible but unlikely. i have to dive deeper into this. switch the pressings back and forth between the different tt/arm/cart set-ups to see if it changes. have not done it yet as i liked what i heard. and nothing else seems out of place. and it's not on every pressing. it sounded like a standing bass about 20-25 degrees off center to the left. the rest of the music was on center + or - 10 degrees.

understand i use a mono switch on my preamp that sums the signal. so whatever is going on is curious. maybe swap my interconnect outputs from my pre into my amps.

 

[Tango]

my recent acquisition of the two Miyajima Infinity mono cartridges has caused me to listen to mono regularly. i would echo your comments about the effect, except would expand on the last point to also say both mono carts separate things in the sound stage a varying degree better than stereo cartridges can with more front to back layering, and improve expressiveness (emotional content) and it's more relaxed and has greater ease (your 'less fierce').

lots of goose bumps.

somehow; i also get some interesting 'stereo' bass notes quite off center on a number of pressings.

Imo this hobby is all about self-satisfaction. Once reaching a certain level, the system just sounds exceptional holistically. Any change to a better gear is not going to up the quality of sound holistically to another level especially if you have already optimize the room acoustic to a no beyond point like yours. Only the owner would know where the incremental sound improvement lie in his system. I am sure your system sound phenomenal now than two months ago. But if you take a break from listening for a month and go back listening to how your system was set two months ago, you would be so very happy with the sound... and lots of goose bumps still . But inside you just know you have heard better.

Kindest regards,
Tang

Btw you made me addicted to Mahler and Bruckner now. I have been buying these two. Some older pressings might sound better but very difficult to find clean sounding one. Ended up compromising and liking newer remaster ones with cleaner sound.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Imo this hobby is all about self-satisfaction. Once reaching a certain level, the system just sounds exceptional holistically. Any change to a better gear is not going to up the quality of sound holistically to another level especially if you have already optimize the room acoustic to a no beyond point like yours. Only the owner would know where the incremental sound improvement lie in his system. I am sure your system sound phenomenal now than two months ago. But if you take a break from listening for a month and go back listening to how your system was set two months ago, you would be so very happy with the sound... and lots of goose bumps still . But inside you just know you have heard better.

Kindest regards,
Tang

Btw you made me addicted to Mahler and Bruckner now. I have been buying these two. Some older pressings might sound better but very difficult to find clean sounding one. Ended up compromising and liking newer remaster ones with cleaner sound.

Dear Tang,

having a quality session and after, being self-satisfied as after a good meal or even a good workout. feeling more alive and a sense it was time well spent. i'm in a better mood, sleep better. i'm hearing now what i always wanted to hear. the fire of pursuit of better still has a few embers (always will), but it's not full blast anymore. sure i know i could throw a bit more $$$'s here or there and get a tiny bit more sizzle, but the meat is all there as it is.

the glow of my most recent gear additions (LFD cables, another 'special' Etsuro Gold, twin mono carts) still burns brightly, so riding that wave for now too. but those are in a narrow focus of a part of my system, the main part is pretty set.

i think we are both focusing on musical steps and not very much hifi steps. and it's never ending as there is so much ground for us both to cover. the hifi gravity tries to tug on me but the music seems lately to be winning. occasionally i find a pressing that does not quite make it on one tt, and switch it another one more suited. mostly it does work out positively.

agree that changes in gear now are likely sideways curiosity type efforts, not any more significant musical forward leaps. so i try and get that thought in my head when i get a case of gear-lust. i still like pretty things.

the goose bumps are now recording driven. that is a place i like to be.

best regards,

Mike

 

[Tango]

the goose bumps are now recording driven. that is a place i like to be.

That's exactly how I feel Mike. Amazing how two different approaches yet lead to the same conclusion. The software is determining if the hair raising on the arm or on the back of the neck too.

 

[bonzo75]

Mike doesn't have much hair left. That's why he is contemplating retirement

 

[spiritofmusic]

Mutual backslapping is good. If it's only one way, one audiophile risks falling on their face.

 

[Tango]

Today I revisited Melodiya Kogan Brahms and Lalo in mono. I have not listened this vinyl since I removed three giant absorber panels behind my speakers and installed the subs. I thought the record was good but only til now with this Vdh Mono Replay I realize this record is more than good for what was recorded in the 50's. It does sound like a Russian mono that put spotlight on Kogan and gives the orchestra less drama. Kogan performance is breathtaking. I just got lost with time listening and picked up my boy late from school. Goose bump listening session. My wife would not give me dinner if she knew.. that would give me even more goose bumps. The vdh mono is opening up more. From my experience at around 200 hrs it will be just sound from the air.

This is the album. Good sound even if you don't use mono cart.



Brahms violin.

Lalo

 

[Folsom]

Nice. I didn't see a copy anywhere to nab. The Melodyia Kogan's aren't particularly appreciated but I have one I like. They're imperfect in a slightly more noticeable way but on a nice stereo I don't think it detracts any magic.