My main audio system and conceptual approach to sound-staging, transparency and tonal balance have remained essentially unchanged since its assembly began in 1975.

I first heard KLH-9 electrostats at the home of a high school friend in 1970. Her stepfather, Dr. Byron Wise, was a botany professor at Memphis State Univ. and he had bought them at Opus 2 Audio. I had never heard anything as glorious, and swore I'd some day have a pair. The bulk of the Marantz tubed gear (including the Model 10B tuner) was bought from its original owner, a former pathology professor, Dr. Leonard B. Victor in 1975. Dr. Victor mentioned that he had purchased the gear in the early 1960s at "fair trade" (full price) costs, and suggested that I "might want to take good care of the equipment" as it might some day "be worth something". I am grateful for his stimulating my interests in vintage audio. Interestingly, at the time of the deal, Dr. Victor gave me a DECCA C4E cartridge, mentioning that he especially loved it for pipe organ recordings. Maybe I'll dig it out some day and see if it's as good as he claimed.

More recently, I added an additional amplifier and a pair of speakers to playback 3 channel SACDs (e.g. RCA, Mercury) and other multichannel SACDs. [as many know, these SACDs are copies taken from the original master tapes recorded on either 1/2" triple track AMPEXs (300-3) in the case of RCA, and likewise for Mercury (in some cases 3 channel 35mm magnetic film). Given the 30+ year lovefest that many of us audiophiles have had with the recordings from the "Golden Age", I just had to have some notion as to what Lewis Layton and the Fines must have heard prior to mixdowns. (However, it's probable that this material was never intended for 3 channel playback.)

I would be very interested to hear from others who have experience with reproducing the 3 channel RCAs and Mercurys as I have done. I have not heard any of the recently released SACDs of RCA materials from Chad Kassem's company, however a reviewer has claimed that the sound is superior to any prior SACD efforts. Given that the RCA releases were transferred by an exceptionally talented engineer at Soundmirror, I find that a bit curious. Of course, he was referring to two channel material, whereas I have been listening mostly to 3 channel versions (where applicable).

An Ampex 351-2 tape machine is my longtime favorite analog source and this unit was purchased from Wally Heider in 1981, and rebuilt by David Dintenfass (Full-Track Productions, Seattle, WA) in 2000. I recently rebuilt a triple pair array of KLH-9 full-range electrostats (two pairs of which originally were purchased ca. 1962, by Ewing Nunn of Audiophile Records, Saukville, WI), with the much-appreciated advice of David Janszen (Janszen Loudspeaker Co., Columbus, OH) and Russ Knott (ESL Repair, Chardon, OH). I undertook the project myself. It was extremely labor-intensive, so I don't recommend it as a DIY project unless you have loads of time and patience. (It can also be a dangerous undertaking as the signal voltages applied to the stator plates while music is playing are high!) The Marantz Model One Audio Consolettes, Model 7 preamp and Model 9 amplifiers were restored in 2010, with NOS parts through the Audio Connection (Seattle, WA). The Marantz 10B tuner was restored by Tom Cadawas (Cadawas Audio, Long Island, NY) in 1992, and has functioned flawlessly since (knock on wood!).

Obviously some of this equipment is now quite old as high end gear goes, however it has been restored to at least its original specifications. This is especially critical for KLH-9s as unless repaired/rebuilt at some point, they almost certainly will have one or more defective drivers (there are ten bass units and one tweeter per panel). Although less likely, they may have issues with the power supply (ei. reduced polarizing voltages). But when fully functional, they touch on majesty, and there's a good reason that HP loved them dearly (and probably still does).

My interconnects between the preamp and power amps (about 25' long) are made using Mogami Neglex (starquad) microphone cable. And it works quite well too. The speaker cables are 12 AWG copper, neoprene rubber power cables (USA made). A walnut stereo console was custom built for Nicholson's Audio (Nashville, TN) in 1962. The dimension of our music room is approx. 20' X 25' X 8.5', and the system is served by two dedicated 20A circuits.

I've had a near life-long love of analog tape, and am also really impressed with what i'm hearing in SACDs. I think the RCA and Mercury 3 channel SACDs are very interesting, and having recently added a pair of surround channels, am quite surprised at what I'm hearing. Of course, this latter topic of multichannel reproduction is quite a discussion all in itself! I just wish there was far more homogeneity with regard to how the various channels were used, relative volume levels, etc., as well as sonic quality.