On 26 Feb 2007 10:52:13 GMT, John Phillips
wrote:

My favourites now are still the favourites I had in my late teens and early
twenties. Maybe I just haven't evolved.

I think this is fairly normal. I think tastes or personal references
are, as I have said, often set by first experience. But then, for me, it
has often been chance which has caused evolution.

Some of the stuff I liked then now seems rather trivial. But
conversely, I've come to appreciate some of the pop and rock music
that previously I'd dismissed as mere noise.

"John Phillips" wrote in message
...
On 2007-02-25, Keith G wrote:
"John Phillips" wrote in message
...
On 2007-02-24, Keith G wrote:
The Boult/Bean 'Larka' would be the disc I would take if I was allowed
only *one* - it's almost a daily (post prandial) ritual for me....!!

I am sure I have that in the LP archive which I am unable to play today.
I have distant memories of its quality. I must get a CD copy the next
time I raid Amazon.

(If your Larka LP is the EMI ASD 2329 and you really are not ever going
to
play it, I would like to buy it off you - my copy has done many
*hundreds*
of performances over the last few years and still sounds good, but it
ain't
gonna last forever!! :-)

I will look the next time I am at my parents' place - the archive isn't
here with me at the moment.



Okey dokey! I would be very pleased to have it if you really weren't going
to play it again!

"John Phillips" wrote in message
...
On 2007-02-25, Keith G wrote:

"John Phillips" wrote in message
...
(Actually I think I have now got copies of much of what I really liked
on LP in the late 1970s - probably a case of the first version you hear
defining the reference.)

Yes, I believe that entirely - not only music (discs &c.) but kit also,
speakers especially! I have had a number of emails (UK and US) from
people
who are now trying to find the *same* kit they had a few decades ago!

I have been occasionally listening to new loudspeakers over the 20+
years since the last pair got bought. I kept on deciding that nothing
was better until three years ago when it became clear that at least some
new speakers were indeed *much* better. They probably had been better
for a long time, in spite of my denial.


Interesting - what were the 'old and new' speakers..??

I think, out of anything, it's the 'speaker sound' that gets ironed in at an
early age - that and the 'sound of vinyl', which I have never been able to
shake off!!

On 2007-02-27, Keith G wrote:

"John Phillips" wrote in message
...
On 2007-02-25, Keith G wrote:

"John Phillips" wrote in message
...
(Actually I think I have now got copies of much of what I really liked
on LP in the late 1970s - probably a case of the first version you hear
defining the reference.)

Yes, I believe that entirely - not only music (discs &c.) but kit also,
speakers especially! I have had a number of emails (UK and US) from
people
who are now trying to find the *same* kit they had a few decades ago!

I have been occasionally listening to new loudspeakers over the 20+
years since the last pair got bought. I kept on deciding that nothing
was better until three years ago when it became clear that at least some
new speakers were indeed *much* better. They probably had been better
for a long time, in spite of my denial.

Interesting - what were the 'old and new' speakers..??

Old: Celestion Ditton 25. New: Proac Response D15.

The rather large Celestions (12" bass-mid driver, 12" ABR etc.) had a
very flabby not teribly extended bass which the somewhat smaller Proacs
with a 6.5" (SEAS Excel) midbass driver soundly thrash (actually the
Proacs are just much better all round).

However in my defence the Celestions were very good on vocal music which
is perhaps my personal yardstick for a good 'speaker. That was probably
why it took so long to finally replace them.

--
John Phillips

"John Phillips" wrote in message
...
On 2007-02-27, Keith G wrote:


Interesting - what were the 'old and new' speakers..??

Old: Celestion Ditton 25. New: Proac Response D15.


How very apt, I've just finished this evening's 'Larka' - a particularly
sweet rendition tonight, thanks to the V15/III I put on yesterday!! :-)



The rather large Celestions (12" bass-mid driver, 12" ABR etc.) had a
very flabby not teribly extended bass which the somewhat smaller Proacs
with a 6.5" (SEAS Excel) midbass driver soundly thrash (actually the
Proacs are just much better all round).



And very interesting - a recent visitor here (last Friday) has Impulse
'Lalis' (I forget the model number) with Seas and, I think, Focal drivers.
He mentioned that he was seriously considering a pair of Ditton 66s. I said
that he might find the bass a bit flabby in comparison, after this period of
time!!

(But, having said that, he claimed my Fidelios had better bass than the
Lalis...???)

http://www.acoustica.org.uk/impulse/images/lali1.jpg

http://www.acoustica.org.uk/impulse/images/lali2.jpg



However in my defence the Celestions were very good on vocal music which
is perhaps my personal yardstick for a good 'speaker. That was probably
why it took so long to finally replace them.


Understood and agreed....

Hmmm desert island discs.

1. Dr John - Afterglow
2. Scriabin Sonatas 3,5,etc, Horowitz
3. Donald Fagan - Morph the Cat
4. Chopin Mazurkas etc. Moritz Rosenthal
5. Bach Christmas Oratorio, Munchinger
6. Ahmad Jamal - Poinciana revisited
7. Manuel de Falla - Tricorne, Ansermet
8. Stravinsky Les Noces, Bernstein
9. Wagner - Die Meistersinger, Knappertsbusch
10. Janacek - Jenufa, Jilek