March 7, 2012

  • Nordost Red Dawn, Part 1

    I am in constant touch with a small circle of audiophiles.  Because I've known some of them for a number of years now, we've reached a status quo.  When it comes to audio products, they just wait for me to get and review them.  However, they do get excited about the music.  You see, hardly any audio publication has any expertise in popular music.  Thus, their reviewers frequently ignore or do not use/cite popular music.  But as you know, I was born and raised on popular music.  And who else listens to popular music?  My circle of audiophiles.

    For a couple of weeks, one of my audiophile contacts has been talking about music from the 70s.  I promised him that I'd cite England Dan & John Ford Coley in my blog.  He said, "England Dan & John Ford Coley?  Are you serious?!  No one uses England Dan & John Ford Coley."

    No one?  For me, as a child of the 70s, England Dan & John Ford Coley were lite rock staples.  And now, we are coming upon the 35th anniversary of Dowdy Ferry Road, which features "It's Sad To Belong."  My wife's family used to listen to this.  In fact, her late sister had "It's Sad To Belong" on 7" 45rpm vinyl.  And let me tell you something.  Check the credits.  You will see that Randy Goodrum wrote this song.  And the drummer was Larrie Londin.  In 1984, Goodrum would co-write Steve Perry's "Oh Sherrie."  And the drummer on Perry's solo Street Talk album?  Larrie Londin.  In 1986, when drummer Steve Smith left Journey, who replaced him?  Yep, Larrie Londin.

    Hmmm, I know I have England Dan & John Ford Coley somewhere on the rack.  Ah, they're to the left.  But what else is here?  Ah yes, just as we audiophiles share and exchange music, one of my audiophile friends lent me a Nordost Red Dawn interconnect.  It is NOT sad that all these audio products belong to someone else.  I don't think I've had the Red Dawn since 2008, at the latest.  I may or may not have shown it in these pages.  If so, it was only while showing Krell gear and Nordost's Valhalla.  But anyway, the Red Dawn came in a clear plastic box.  'Tis far better than that grossly wasteful and pompous wooden box the Valhalla came in.

    As a ribbon-like cable, the Red Dawn can coil.  'Tis far better than stiff interconnects.

    The original Red Dawn came with Moonglo RCAs.  The current versions come with crappy locking-barrel WBT RCAs.  Note that the cable itself is white-colored.  'Tis infinitely better than the ubiquitous ugly black cables.  Most people will use the black for left channel, red for right channel.  Note that the red side has a red-colored stripe running along the cable's edge.  That makes it easier for you, while contorted behind the audio rack, to differentiate left from right.

    Oh yes.  Unlike most electronics, the Red Dawn was actually made here in the United States.  Oh yes.  The Red Dawn is directional.  Make sure you pay attention to the arrows.  Oh no.  Margaret would say that the retractable metal collar at the tip is like a penis' foreskin.

    Whether or not you pull back the foreskin metal collar, a closer look at the Moonglo RCA reveals the dickhead solid center pin.