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| 15 years ago, I heard someone bellow, "Who's that foreigner?!" For the life of me, I can't remember where that was. Was I at San Francisco's Ultimate Sound? Was I at S.F. Stereo? Was I at a record store? But I do know that the "foreigner" the guy was referring to was Basia.
Basia had come out with the solid The Sweetest Illusion. I don't know why audiophiles, who like lounge chick jazz singers, do not warm to Basia. The recording is excellent. The songs display variety of moods, tempos, and rhythms. Basia treats each song with care.
The Sweetest Illusion really gets going in the second half. The lightly breezy, brooding "Perfect Mother" gently suggests that a young woman would still make an outstanding parent. But the real surprise comes on "Perfect Mother's" footsteps. Basia the band then launches into the rocking "More Fire Than Flame," which sounds like Basia is having a battle of the bands with Berlin. The mid-tempo pace of "My Cruel Ways" disguises the maturity of learning from mistakes in a relationship. When the album ends with the cool, pretty, thankful "The Prayer Of A Happy Housewife," you realize that you've lost track of time, and wish for more quality music like this.
The Kimber KCAG came in a black velour case, kind of like what would hold jewelry. For Bay Area audiophiles, the KCAG was audio jewelry. I could very easily take pictures of the many jewelry stores around Union Square. That is where S.F.'s Kimber dealer, Ultimate Sound, was located. Because of the City's distictive skyline and bridges, San Francisco is often considered a jewel.
Because of its tropical beauty, Honolulu is predominantly photographed during the day. But at night, Honolulu can also be a jewel. This is the view from Kaheka Street. In the distance is the Ala Wai and Waikiki. Somewhere behind the tall building on the left is Audio Directions, located on Algaroba.
Flat. While audiophiles tout flat frequency response, flat is no good, if you're into surf. I like bodyboarding off of Kewalo. If there were no waves, you'd just lie on our board for minutes. That gave me lots of time to daydream about audio. If I got frustrated at the lack of waves, I'd just come on in to shore, and head to Audio Directions.
Audio Directions have long been a Kimber dealer. S.F.'s Ultimate Sound had lots of demand for the KCAG. But when I visited Audio Directions in 1994, owner Stewart Ono said that, while he had strong demand for the PBJ, he only had mild interest in the KCAG. He had one thrown into a nest of other cables.
As I mentioned in my previous post, the KCAG was available balanced with Switchcraft XLR or single-ended with Ultraplate RCA. 15 years ago, my system was wired with PBJ. I tried several pairs of Ultraplate KCAG from Ultimate Sound. But the first KCAG I actually bought was a balanced pair, to go between the B&K Pro 10MC and Muse Model One Hundred. In this application, the KCAG wasn't much of an upgrade over the PBJ. Later on, I would replace the upstream PBJ with KCAG. That made a difference, especially the link between DAC and preamp. A couple years later, when Kimber Kable became the distributor for WBT, I sent back my Ultraplate KCAGs, and had them re-terminated with WBT-0147s, above. The sound became more open, with less grain. That allowed the variety of sounds on The Sweetest Illusion to bloom. And "More Fire Than Flame" simply rocked!
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| I have never liked wearing jewelry. I can not stand necklaces twisting around my neck. I can not stand rings messing with my fingers. I can not stand bracelets jiggling around my wrists. I can not stand earrings dangling from my lobes. But ever since junior high, the one thing I can not be without is a Casio watch. Now, back in '84, Casio watches came in a utilitarian black. And, in case you have forgotten, when the calculator watches first came out, they were $50. And that is in 1984 dollars!
Once Swatch watches became a fad, Casio took notice, and adopted glam colors. Lummy likes! As I am not your stereotypical fat audiophile, Casio's Baby-G series perfectly fits my skinny wrists.
It was Wham's George Michael, who really broke down walls, and made it okay for males to don earrings. But I just loved "Everything She Wants." The lines "If my best isn't good enough, Then how can it be good enough for two?" are simply awesome.
In the 70s, audio equipment typically had faux wood paneling and cheap-looking silver faceplates. Yuck. In reaction to that, the 80s equaled black audio gear. Yuck. But in the early 90s, it was Kimber's KCAG interconnect, which drew criticism/notoriety for being "audio jewelry." It was a simple, tri-braid design. The high-quality silver Vari-strand conductors were sheathed in clear Teflon. The KCAG is not marked for direction of signal flow. Therefore, most audiophiles burned it in, using the writing as a guide.
The audiophiles can argue about audio jewelry all they want. In practice, the KCAG, by being skinny and light-colored, visually disappears. That is infinitely better than the ugly black eyesores. But do be aware that the KCAG twists and tangles easily.
Originally, the KCAG was available balanced with Switchcraft XLRs, or single-ended with Ultraplate RCAs. When Kimber Kable became the U.S. distributor of WBT, the KCAG then became available with the WBT-0147, above. That's kind of like how Wham's "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" was a hit during the summer of 1984, but the album did not hit U.S. stores until the Fall.
My wife always remarks that Wham's "Heartbeat" is "candy-ass." "Freedom" is never heard on the radio, but is known for its video, shot in China. And by 1985, "Careless Whisper" became a huge hit.
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| In the early 80s, former Led Zep lead singer Robert Plant had a moderately successful solo career. But he had always wanted to be in a rock band with R&B roots, so he formed the Honeydrippers. Though the Honeydrippers only released an EP, Plant was kind of taken aback at its success. Uncomfortable with this success, he put the Honeydrippers project(s) on hold, and continued his solo path.
It's always good to have a "debate" about which phase of Plant's long career you like best. Some love him as lead singer of Led Zep. Some like his solo material. Some favor his Honeydrippers project. And others like his partnership with Alison Krauss. Alas, there can be no debating that the Hawaiian BBQ here in the Bay Area sucks, and doesn't come close to replicating that from Hawaii itself.
In the summer of '85, I once played softball at Moiliili Park, shown here. It is now across King Street from H.K.'s. One taste of H.K.'s BBQ chicken, and I know why it is superior to that on the mainland. The chicken itself is more moist, and the sauce hints at teriyaki, but never goes fully into the sweet, syrupy teriyaki style.
To make audiophiles happy, I set aside the Cable Cooker, and hooked up the Q-Audio Red balanced interconnect to the Meridian 508.24.
I also used a Cooked and well-used Q-Audio Tao single-ended interconnect. I then adjusted the 502's input offset. Yuck. Even after two weeks of regular use, the Red does not sound as good (clear and unambiguous) as the Tao. The Red is like when you wake up, and your hair is a mess. Or, it's like the Bay Area's Hawaiian BBQ. I played The Honeydrippers: Volume One, and if you think of the music as a piece of paper, the Red is like crumpling that piece of paper, and trying to flatten it out. No matter how much you smooth over the piece of paper, it still has crinkles. It will never be like a new, unmolested sheet of paper.
We then tried the BBQ chicken at Yummy Korean BBQ, located next to Don Quijote. Here, Aiden likes the skinless, juicy meat. So far, the old Tao is like real Hawaiian plate lunch, while the Red is like the Bay Area's.
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| 20 years ago, I remember being stuck in traffic, and I heard Phil Collins' "Another Day In Paradise" come on the radio. It was a song talking about homelessness. A year prior, Anthrax's "Who Cares Wins" broke this subject matter to the public.
Aiden sighs, "I'm stuck in traffic."
I couldn't believe my eyes. Growing up in the San Francisco's Western Addition, I heard sirens all the time. But in all my years here, I had never seen a funeral procession pass through the intersection of Geary & Webster.
If Q-Audio's Steve Eddy has a sense of humor, he might giggle that his Red interconnect is being shown at the same time as a funeral procession. Unlike the unheard of funeral procession going through Geary & Webster, Eddy chose the oft-heard Neutrik XLRs for the Red.
Yes, the U.S. Mint made Kennedy halves in 1989. It still does. And it's nice that an audiophile company still makes a flexible cable. If you ever get to touch the Red, it is as soft and flexible as a shoelace. Ergonomically, that is the best. Speaking of the best, my favorite song on Collins' But Seriously is the rockin' "Something Happened On The Way To Heaven." Our typical audiophile interconnect, voiced to wound warm and slow, retards "Heaven." We shall see if the Red not only looks different from the typical audiophile cable, but sounds different, as well.
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| Wah wah wah. Some people lament that Tessa, by getting Aiden's hand-me-downs, does not wear girls' clothing.
But she finds Aiden's clothes comfy enough. Even though lingerie is very popular, I'm sure that a silent minority of women find men's underwear more practical or comfy.
Wah wah wah. The audiophiles are always whining about something. This time, some are complaining that I haven't used or featured any new music. As you well know, there's hardly anything since the late 90s worthwhile. Anything good usually comes from artists who have been around a while. And that is the case now, with Basia's It's That Girl Again.
Wah, wah, wah, audiophiles are always demanding big, expensive, fancy boxes. But what do they do, after they put the product to use? Why, they have no use for the box, so the packaging ends up taking up lots of space. Hey, remember when you went to school, and you wrapped your textbooks in paper grocery bags? The Q-Audio Red interconnect's box comes wrapped in a material that is like a paper grocery bag.
You have already seen, in these pages, the Q-Audio Tao speaker cable and single-ended interconnect. Why isn't there a balanced interconnect? According to Q-Audio's Steve Eddy, there just wasn't any demand. Ahem. So along comes yours truly, who likes the Tao IC and does have balanced equipment. From time to time, I drop a hint that I'd -- cough, cough -- be interested in a balanced Tao interconnect.
Remember how the Tao speaker cable came in a brown, shoelace-like outer jacket? Well, the new Red interconnect has a material which looks and feels similar to the brown on the Tao. Except, this time, the Red is in, well, red! Funny how I end up receiving the balanced Red interconnect, before I've ever seen the single-ended version, but that's life.
While we await the single-ended Red, let me investigate the balanced version, and listen to It's That Girl Again. Because of compression, today's music all sounds the same. Well, when you hear It's That Girl Again, the detail, openness, and freedom from compression may stun you. Some of you may be shocked at how much closer to live this album sounds. For others, it will be a breath of fresh air. And the music? Here, Basia shows off an understanding of how to use her voice. The songs are varied, and show a maturity and reflection sorely lacking in today's music. For those of you in need of putting the "adult" in adult contemporary, do not miss It's That Girl Again.
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