So, ya want something with tubes huh.  You'd like a tube amplifier 
 AND preamplifier.  And what's that ya say, you're not a gazillionaire?
 Well cool dudettes/dudes, looks like Golden Audio has done it again!              

      YO!!  Check it bud-dee.  Above is their new SI-50 integrated 
 preamp/amplifier.  It's claimed to have 50 watts of push-pull 
 Class AB via two EL34's per channel.  Also in the design are a
 complement of five 12AU7 tubes.  It offers two inputs, one tape 
 loop, balance control and...  a REMOTE CONTROL!!!  SO what 
 would you expect to pay for all this and passive or active line
 amp memory (which is the ability to match the different input voltages
 so that each input is at approximately the same volume level for
 a given setting).  $2,000??? $3,000???  NOPE, it's only $980
 retail list my friends.  Ya may wanna check it out REAL soon-like.              

      So my next little trip was to Pass Labs.  Ok, i admit i've owned 
 and enjoyed Nelsons products in the past and just wanted to say
 hi.  As i walked into the room there was cool dude Nelson with 
 a beer in his hand (heh heh).  Ok Nelson, so whaddup?  What 
 cha got cookin' this year?  Well, he said i've got this new phono
 preamplifier called the Ono.  So i immediately replied "The Yoko 
 Ono"???  After a few laughs he began to tell me how, like, this 
 baby will support virtually ANY cartridge with approximately 70dB 
 of gain for MC and 40dB for MM cartridges.  The (Yoko) Ono offers 
 both single ended and balanced outputs and looks very promising 
 at $2,000 for those who desire, like, killer music on vinyl and 
 stuff. (see photo below).  And unlike Yoko, won't break up 
 "the band".              

      Aaaaaaah, day two and i focused more on equipment today.
 So what's hot.  Well, DVD of course YET i just don't have THAT 
 much faith in it right now.  We'll wait and see.  Meanwhile Sansui
 was showing a tube amplifier which has been available in Japan.
 Just now it's reaching the American shores and even then only by
 special order said the Sansui representative.  The Sansui yummy 
 B-209 weighs in at just over 66 lbs. and uses the popular 6SN7 
 for input, the also popular 6SL7 for driver, and finally uses two 
 6L6's for 30  watts per channel power output.  Tube rectification 
 is handled by the  5U4 tube and the power transformer is rated at 
 150% duty cycle.

      The  front faceplate is finished in a champagne gold facia with a 
 power knob to the left and three knobs are located on the right of 
 the front faceplate.  One of the knobs is for switching between two 
 inputs or a direct input while the other two are for separate right and 
 left gain adjustment.  This unit has already received praise in Japan 
 and will retail here in America at about $7,000 through special 
 order only (please see picture below).              

     With so many manufactures going back to tube gear, leave it to
 good ol' JBL to also join the fray.  Maybe not tubes this time, but JBL
 was famous in the early 70's for their studio monitor speakers.  So enter 
 in the new JBL Century Gold speakers.  Based on their classic studio
 monitors, the Century Gold's have been updated, yet still retain some 
 of that good ol' JBL charm.  On the right side of the below picture is 
 an example of the classic speaker and to the left is the now 
 available reissue.              

      The midrange has been revised to a five inch Kevlar cone 
 material with a two inch voice coil.  The classic paper cone tweeter 
 has been updated with JBL's new titanium dome unit.  Most 
 "audiophiles" may not know this, but JBL speakers are VERY 
 popular in Japan and they are also used in more than 70% of 
 the worlds greatest recording studios.  From Abby Roads to 
 Lucas Films, JBL was also found this very evening serving duty 
 as the speakers of choice for the FI party (and an AWESOME 
 party it was)!  Pricing is $5,000 and are available at selected JBL 
 dealers worldwide.              

      And speaking of FI...  These guys REALLY know what this is 
 all about.  And THAT being MUSIC!  Performing tonight at the FI 
 party was none other than Jimmy Rogers.  Jimmy and his band, 
 which also consists of his very talented son, played blues music while 
 the crowd danced and enjoyed the music :-{)+ .  To steal a phrase 
 from the Blues Brothers movie, Jimmy's band can turn goats milk 
 to gasoline!  Hours of GREAT music and good food 'n' drink kept all 
 us music lovers in hog heaven.  It's good to know that there's 
 a magazine who know's what this cottage industry is all about.  And 
 that being to, well, er, um, to enjoy the music!  A very big thanks 
 FI.  i'll party with you ANYTIME, ANY DAY, ANYWHERE.              

      And now it's time to dispel rumors as Steve "rumor police" 
 Rochlin has a discussion with Pat Mc Carroll of Westrex.              

      Ok, so we've virtually ALL heard various rumors.  Personally i 
 HATE rumors so here's a few rumors followed by FACT:

 Rumor #1: The tube manufacturing plant in Georgia is empty.

 TRUTH: Of course its.  Western Electrics last made the 300B
        in their plant located at Lee's Summit, Missouri.  This plant
        began producing the WE300B in 1962 until it AT&T finally
        discontinued production in 1988.

 Rumor #2: No one really knows how to remake the WE300B because
           most of the original employees are no longer alive.

 TRUTH: ALL of the key AT&T people, technicians, etc who were
        last involved in the manufacture of the WE300B are once
        again hard at work to again bring us the famous Western
        Electronic sound and quality we have all grown to love.

 Rumor #3: AT&T lost or misplaced some of the data to make the tube.

 FACT: ALL the data IS available and has been very carefully
       evaluated to enable the production of the new WE300B tube.


      According to Pat, they are very close to release and the 
 production facility is VERY hard at work.  In fact, the employees are 
 right now VERY HARD at work to bring the rest of the world the joy 
 we all have come to expect from the WE300B.  In fact, they are in 
 their final stages of fine tuning.  And YES, as soon as i get a pair or 
 two of WE300B's they will be tested and auditioned by me personally 
 in various 300B based amplifiers available to me and fully compared 
 and reported here and in other media forms by me.  We have all 
 seen how VIAC tubes were not always reliable.  Some of the 
 Soviet made tubes have been gassy.  Western Electric is being 
 VERY careful to not make these same mistakes.  Pat also discussed 
 with me how they have ALL the Western Electric data dating all the 
 way back to the famous WE tube amplifier of days gone by.  
 Hmmm...  maybe one day we will again see new production of 
 the famous WE tube amplifiers!  And if we do Pat can you please, 
 pretty please, with sugar on top and a cherry put me first in line.

      In fact, Pat was kind enough to honor me with much of his 
 valuable time on Thursday and again at the FI party tonight (Friday).
 Tomorrow i will again be meeting with him to further discuss matters.  
 May i humbly suggest you please stay tuned!              

      A turntable that dreams are made of.  It kinda reminds me of 
 the Goldmund Reference turntable i've spent sooo much time 
 with... only better.  MUCH better.  As seen is TAS issue 109 this 
 turntable turned more than just a few heads at the show.  Not just 
 for it's sheer beauty, but for the music it produced from those 
 vinyl grooves.  They were playing some "audiophile" fave but 
 really wish i had a Funkadelic album with me because most big 
 tables just do not boogie.  Aaaah well, we all choose our "poisons" 
 in life.  Make mine a VOYD.  But hey, at "only" $5,500 it's gonna 
 make some big waves on those overpriced, under performing tables 
 (like the aforementioned Goldmund Reference which will set cha 
 back over $20,000 for a USED one).  In the $5,000 rage this is a 
 VERY serious contender in my humble opinion.              

      This must have been the year of chrome because there was 
 more chrome-o-cized products then i can remember.  One 
 such manufacturer was Burmester.  Well lemme tell ya.  This 
 dude did modular stuff BEFORE Levinson of Cello did.  He's 
 got better ideas, is more humble, and bottom line is that his 
 music reproduction system sounded better than ALL the 
 various Cello systems i've heard in my life (and that's quite a few 
 my friends).  ANYWAY, the Burmester system sounded soooo 
 good, that humbly said it's the FIRST fully solid-state music 
 reproduction system that i could happily live with.  HUH?!?!?!  
 Me???  Solid state?!?!?!  Blasphemy you say.  Aaaaaaah, 
 just read on my most funky friends.              

      Ya see, Burmester has been in business over 20 years and their 
 head designer is a musician himself (guitarist).  To cover EVERY 
 aspect of their system is going to haveta take a FULL review 
 (planned later) on my www site.  The head designer didn't allow 
 photo's on his goodies, yet after we spoke for a while he humbly 
 allowed me to take a few photos.  And BOY did my camera go 
 into overdrive!  Ok, lets start off with the ???basics???.  There 
 are ZERO, none, ZIP, nada signal capacitors directly in the 
 signal chain.  The ENTIRE system is DC coupled too.  For digital, 
 the transport is a VERY well engineered, professional transport 
 which in turn feeds their DAC.

      The Burmester DAC consists of a precision 75 Ohm input.  And 
 like any TRUE, REAL, not bogus digital design he HIGHLY 
 recommends the BNC connector vs the RCA jack for coax digital 
 signal transmission.  And why DO those who proclaim to have 
 great transports/DACs use RCA's for digital?  ANYWAY, like 
 Theta's top of the line stuff, Burmester uses separate DAC chips 
 for the right +, right -, left +, and left -.  In this system is included a 
 power filter which is claimed to eliminate DC offset!  The 
 preamplifier even included a phono stage foe MM/MC cartridges.  
 Audio Illusions is their USA distributor.  Lookey here.  There's 
 soooo much i haven't even begun to cover here (like they 
 also sell integrated amplifiers, speakers (seen below), a 
 tuners, amplifiers...  If ya get a chance may i most humbly 
 suggest you check them out.  They've FINALLY decided to 
 come to the USA and i HIGHLY recommend an audition for 
 your solid-state needs.  These dudes REALLY know their, shi_, 
 er, um, stuff in my humble opinion.  Oh, and if you must ask, an 
 entire Burmester system is priced at around $125,000.              

      Last, but most certainly not least we have a handmade, point 
 to point wired tube preamplifier by Blue Circle. This unit 
 looks like something me and my friends would build.  Using an 
 outboard power supply to keep the precious analog signal pure 
 from power supply noise, Shallco military grade volume control, 
 Shallco selector switch (Shallco uses silver coin contacts), 
 Holco 0.5% metal film resistors, Solen Fast Caps and more!  Here, 
 take a look inside:              

      The BC-3 has five line level inputs, one tape input/output, 
 two preamp outputs (all on Cardas RCA jacks), right/left channel 
 tracking is better than .2dB!  Two 6922 tubes are used for 
 amplification of the audio signal with ALL point to point wiring as 
 i've said before.  If i was gonna home-brew a preamplifier, it's be 
 along the lines of the quality seen here.  It's most unfortunate 
 that most folks haven't heard of these guys because they really 
 do a great job and deserve some recognition in my humble opinion.