Recent content by Michaels HiFi

I love my vintage Italian tubes so much that the next logical step after Italian beer is…..Italian toothpaste???

Gettin' some tubes ready to experiment with. All 1930's and early 1940's. The ones in the lower left are RCA 1960's. YUK.

JUST ARRIVED: US NAVY ZM-11/U CAPACITANCE-INDUCTANCE-IMPEDANCE ANALYZER Already did my cleanup on it.

You brought up a great question and not sure if the OP answered this already: is he looking for an analytical/super accurate sound or a more musical speaker?

1000% agree. They have some really great products that seems to have little-to-no support in the US market. I wish their marketing department would realize this mistake.

A creative photo I took of some tubes here

Having owned 704's, and many speakers since then, my vote is wait for the coming Lockwood speakers. A much longer history than Fyne, bigger sounding, and more musical. Fyne to me was nice indeed, but definitely more of a hifi analytical sound.

You've got lots of great points. And I agree with them. Unfortunately a clear majority of the people on these forums whining about supporting local dealers (not you) are the same ones calling around willing to undercut the local dealer who spent 3 hours with them on an demo to get a $100...

My Alan Eaton 45 mono block - at ~20lbs in front of my monster Aries-Cerat Concero 25's at 175lbs each.

I certainly wish the new (old?) owner success. ARC has a long history in audio. I personally see two challenges that are tough for them overcome no matter what they do: 1) I think few people will be willing to pay the current prices (I mean actual buyers - not people on the forums) and *hope*...

Here's a photo of the wood case I just finished from a 1943 U.S. Navy Tube tester. I sanded and cleaned it down to bare wood and it was a very light white / pale yellow. I applied 3 different color stains that I custom mixed differently for each layer and then sanded it back between each coat...

Yes. Doing well also. They are a great brand who I think deserves more press in the HIFI (vs. pro) market than they get.

The Manely 300B mono blocks I reviewed had a 10 position user adjustable negative feedback dial. I spent time going through every one. I preferred no negative feedback. It sounded the most natural and organic to me.

Having fun with the camera!

Swapping in some Italian Fivre tubes from the 1950's into my 2-chassis tube pre-amp for another 5 hour listening session tonight!