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!

I mentioned in my last post that Donna was heading to San Diego to visit her sister, Sheila. I dropped her off at the airport a week ago on Thursday morning. She had a short, enjoyable time there. Friday she went hiking with Sheila on the Los Penasquitos Canyon Trail.

This trail is in the Los Penasquitos Canyon Preserve – a park jointly managed by the city of San Diego and San Diego County. There’s a parking/day use fee of $3. They hiked the trail to the waterfall – a hike of about seven miles. The preserve is located north of the Mira Mesa neighborhood and straddles the city limit. It follows the Penasquitos Creek which flows from Poway Creek in the east to the Pacific Ocean near Torrey Pines. Here are some photos she took on the hike.

There’s a small gravesite along the trail with a headstone for John Eichar dating back to 1882. He’s believed to have been a cook at the ranch that once occupied this land.

Friday night Donna attended a concert that her nephew, Connor, played in. He plays saxophone in the Bishop’s School band. Bishop’s is a private college prepatory Episcopal school in La Jolla. She said the school band is very talented. Connor performed several improvised jazz solos and also wrote a piece of chamber music for two alto saxophones and a euphonium.

While Donna was away, I modified my Marshall 112 speaker cabinet. The Marshall 112MX comes equipped with a Celestion seventy/80 speaker. I favor the sound of most Celestion speakers, but the seventy/80 turned out to be not such a favorite. It is a budget speaker in the Celestion line and I found the higher frequencies to be spikey and somewhat unpleasant. I ordered a Celestion G12T-75 replacement speaker from Avatar speakers in Idaho – they have the best Celestion prices.

The 112 cabinet back plate was very tightly fastened and it took some doing to get it opened. When I removed the seventy/80 speaker, I found some excess glue hardened into a ball where the dust cap meets the speaker cone. This couldn’t have helped its performane any.

New speakers can be somewhat stiff and benefit from a break-in period. Avatar offers a break-in service on some of their speakers, but not the G12T-75. Their service involves 15 hours of break-in tones. I hooked my signal generator into the input of my Marshall 18 Watt amp and ran a 1000 Hz tone through the speaker for about 12 hours. Then I played through it for a few hours and I’m very happy with the sound of the Marshall 112 cabinet now.

In my last post, I mentioned a problem in the treble bleed circuit of my Stratocaster guitar. I should have mentioned that I didn’t wire this circuit originally – I’d ordered the pickups, control pots and selector switch pre-wired. However, I may have had a hand in creating the problem. When I shielded the control cavity, I needed to add a ground lug and wire it to the pot. I used some scrap16-gauge wire that I had on hand. I don’t know what I was thinking – 16-gauge is way heavier than I needed and it was really stiff. It may have interfered with the circuit once I installed the pick guard. I rewired it with 22-gauge wire which is plenty to handle the millivolts present on the ground and it’s flexible.

Donna came back Saturday evening and I picked her up at the airport. My two nights of bachelorhood were mostly uneventful – in fact, I was down for the count Friday afternoon and most of Saturday. I had shingles vaccine (Shingrex) and pneumonia vaccine shots on Thursday and it knocked me for a loop. I ran a low-grade fever (101.5) and had a very sore arm. I’m glad that’s behind me now, but I need a follow-up shot for shingles in a couple of months.

Tuesday was Pearl Harbor Day – December 7th. Eighty years ago, Hawaii was hit with a surprise attack. Four battleships were sunk, many others damaged and 2,335 people lost their lives. I always take a few moments to honor those that were in Pearl Harbor on that date.

We are 12 days short of the winter solstice – the days have noticeably shorter with the sunrise coming later and sunset earlier in the evening. After December 21st, the daylight hours will start increasing again.

Yesterday Donna hit the golf course with some of her girlfriends. I was inside, reading a book when I thought they ought to be coming up to the fifth hole soon. I went outside to the rear deck just as they came into view. I watched them play the fifth hole behind our house.

While Donna was away and I was feeling punky, I didn’t have the best meals. Now that she’s back I’m getting much better nutrition. Sometimes it’s a simple thing – like the green chile bratwurst we bought at The Pork Shop served with fire-roasted corn and grilled zucchini and peppers topped with feta cheese.

Tuesday night I manned the grill and grilled bacon wrapped petite filet mignon from Basha’s – I still have it when it comes to the barbeque grill. The filets were perfect. Donna baked potatoes and steamed green beans.

The weather has cooled here in Mesa, Arizona. We’ll be lucky to see 70 degrees on the thermometer today. Tomorrow is predicted to be downright cold with a high of 59 degrees – in this climate that qualifies as cold. We probably won’t see temperatures above the upper 60s for the rest of the month.

*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!