I’ve been known to chase a certain sound or tone with my guitar set-up, but I wouldn’t say I’m an audiophile by any stretch of imagination. There was a time, around 20 years ago when I got into home theater that I started down the audio rabbit hole.

I was living in Arlington, Washington at the time. I spent some time at a local hifi shop nearby in Marysville and ended up buying a 5.1 Surround System featuring Onkyo components. It wasn’t long before I wanted to upgrade. I started hanging around a higher-end shop in Seattle near the University District and started spending some money on a higher-end system – things like Rotel separates and better floor standing speakers. I had some reliability issues with this temperamental set up.

After a while, I settled on Pioneer Elite series components that served as a hifi stereo rig as well as a 5.1 Surround Sound system. I bought higher end Infinity speakers. This equipment served me well for about 10 years before it started to need repairs. I finally sold everything when we hit the road in 2013 and lowered my expectations to lo-fi iPod MP3 music storage and barely adequate speakers.

Last year, when we bought the park model home at Viewpoint, Donna found a vintage stereo system for sale here in the park. It featured a Pioneer CD player, Kenwood receiver and Celestion DL4 bookshelf speakers. The stuff was all at least 30 years old and dated, but it was better than what we had in the coach and only cost about $200 for the whole set up. We’ve had it in our Arizona Room since we moved in and enjoy listening to our CD collection again.

A few weeks ago, I got the idea that I wanted to check out vacuum tube stereo amplification. Analog circuits utilizing vacuum tubes appeal to me. They have a natural warmth to the sound due to the second order harmonics they produce as opposed to higher odd-order harmonics in solid state amplification. There are pros and cons to either approach, but old school tube amps appeal to me.

I dipped a toe in the water so to speak by buying a cheap, Chinese integrated tube amp. In my last post, it might sound like I was really beating the Chinese produced stuff down – and in a sense I guess I was. But that doesn’t mean everything from China is junk. Having said that, I take a close look at any Chinese products – it’s buyer beware.

The Chinese amplifier I bought was branded Nobsound, it comes from Douk Audio. I knew these things had some issues, but they are easily dealt with and not expensive. I did the minimum needed to improve the reliability and used the amp for a while. Then I went back in and replaced all of the capacitors. What I found was that many of the capacitors were Sam Young brand – a Korean Company that also produces electronic parts in China. They are not considered good quality and have a reputation for poor reliability. They were made to look like Japanese Nichicon products. Four of the capacitors I removed had Vishay BC branding, but I’m pretty sure these are counterfeits – not genuine parts from Austria. I bought genuine Nichicon (Japan) capacitors from Digi-Key and installed them in place of the cheap Chinese stuff.

The clarity of the music through this amp improved. I think I’ve taken it as far as I can go with it though. It sounds good, but I wish it had better frequency response on the bass – it rolls off somewhere around 70-100 Hz. I have about $500 in this amp at this point and I’m done trying to make it better – it would require better output transformers for any real improvement at this point and that’s too expensive for what I have here. I should mention that some Chinese audio products are quite good, like some of the Shuaguang vacuum tubes and the tubes from the unpronounceable Chinese brand Psvane.

I’m finding myself venturing down the audio rabbit hole again. In an effort to improve the bass response of my system, I ordered a pair of Klipsch Reference R -51M speakers. These are a bass reflex design speaker with a rear-firing port and horn tweeter versus the Celestion sealed cabinet speakers I now use. We have background music playing most of the day now, playing a wide variety of music from classical to jazz and rock.

I have a feeling that even with an improvement with the new speakers – I expect them to arrive on Friday – I won’t be completely satisfied. I’m contemplating building an Elekit TU8200R integrated amplifier. These come from Japan and the kits are designed by Mr. Fujita of Elekit, Japan and contain high-quality components. They are well-regarded by hifi audio enthusiasts and reviewers all agree they perform well above their price point. I can get the kit for under $1,000 and I have the skillset to build it. I’ve seen used examples selling for $1,800 on Ebay. I’ll think about it for a week or so before making the plunge.

Other than that diversion, we’ve been enjoying our usual routines here at Viewpoint Golf and RV Resort. Donna is like an Energizer bunny, always in motion for one activity or another. I’m a little more laid back but I still get my exercise on the pickleball courts and offer a 90-minute clinic every Tuesday – that’s been stretching to two hours lately as the participants don’t want to stop after an hour and a half.

Last Thursday, I went back to Dr. Kessler to address the spot of basal cell carcinoma on my back. The worst part was the injection of local anesthetic. The actual cutting and scaping with a dermatologist’s curette wasn’t felt at all. I was in and out of the office in less than half an hour. Now I just have to keep a dressing on it for about a week and it should heal.

As usual, Donna has been feeding me well – I always have to include a few dinner examples in my posts. She had a new take on chicken thighs called sheet pan roasted chicken and pears. It had a hint of spiciness from fresh ginger and a few red pepper flakes among other spices.

A couple of days later, she made a dish that was a more elegant take on the pizza chicken she makes. This had thin chicken breast filets with roasted tomatoes and mozzarella, red onion and sliced pepperoncini. She served it with spinach gnocci sauteed with fresh spinach.

Sunday’s dinner was an old favorite – maple chipotle pork tenderloin with garlic smashed new potatoes and fresh asparagus. And it was perfectly timed and ready to eat during halftime of the NFL playoff game.

We started off February with Donna manning the grill for fennel-crusted rack of lamb. She grilled it perfectly along with grilled zucchini, peppers and onions topped with feta cheese.

The weather has been fabulous with daily highs in the low to mid 70s. Yesterday it clouded up in the morning and early afternoon – it almost looked like it was going to rain – but we still had a high of 68 degrees. Today and tomorrow are forecasted to be what Arizonans call “wintry weather.” The forecast high today is 60 degrees and only 58 tomorrow. We should be near 70 on Friday and back in the 70s for the weekend and week ahead. Just right for a visit from my daughter Alana and her husband, Kevin next week.

*Just so you know, if you use this link to shop on Amazon and decide to purchase anything, you pay the same price as usual and I’ll earn a few pennies for the referral. It’ll go into the beer fund. Thanks!