Smelly Newbie

[SteveFord]

Thank you, we have similar tastes.
EveAnna is such a great person to deal with so I think my next amplifier will be a Manley Snapper and I'll put together a Manley/deHavilland/Magnepan 1.7 system and maybe go upscale with an REL sub. For sources I'll use a Cambridge Audio Azur 840C a buddy has for me and a great old Harman-Kardon tube tuner another buddy gave me years ago.
We had a great old audio repair shop in this area but it finally went under a few years ago, I kept them busy with tube tuners for a few years which they always enjoyed seeing and working on.

Manley and VTL really chose totally different paths, didn't they? One you can repair forever, one back to the factory.
Even so, Siegfrieds and 20.7s in a bigger house would work just fine for me.

I've never heard a c-j amp but I suspect they're excellent.

Oh, much better to have a mouse nest under the seat than a stent through your groin.
Much less invasive although nobody chewed my insulation away as far as I can tell.

It just dawned on me: you guys know EXACTLY how this system sounds!
Any other place they have no idea.

[SteveFord]

The preamp is breaking in slow but sure and I'm spending a lot of time with a new (to me) Rega Saturn CD player.
I put on a bunch of the remastered Beatles CDs as what music am I more familiar with than that?
I did Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt Pepper and Abbey Road and cranked the volume up to a respectable level.

I was sitting there, pretty much unable to move, thinking how to describe VTLs and Magnepans and Rega and SVS and conrad-johnson, what is the sound like?
It occured to me it wasn't so much of a sound, it's a drug.

[AnotherJohnson]

Too bad the first one’s not free!

[SteveFord]

Good thing I'd swallowed my coffee before I read that, it would have been all over the keyboard.

[AnotherJohnson]

All this talk about Triumphs rekindled my interest.

I consider Randy Baxter and Jeremy Pendergast at Baxter Cycle in Marne Iowa as friends. I noticed they’d taken in a low mileage 2005 Bonneville T100. This was the first year for the 865 twin in the T100. The 865 had been introduced in the Thruxton model.

In 2005 Triumph were already building the Thai factory to move the production of the various Bonneville trims to Thailand. So the 2005 is really the last variant of the Bonneville and Bonneville T100 to be produced at the Hinckley factory in Leicestershire. Maybe 2006 was the last MY, but the 865 carburetted T100 was pretty much set in 2005.

This particular T100 had been sold new by Baxter to a collector in Florida. It had not been run for about 6 years, so ethanol issues had to be sorted, it needed rubber, and all fluids changed, valves adjusted, plugs, etc. But no one would be better to restore a 2005 to OEM specs than Baxter.

After some minor discussions, I drove the 1500 mile round trip and picked it up. Next to the 2016 Moto Guzzi Norge, the pair look like twins separated at birth… along the lines of Danny DeVito and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Both air cooled twins. One a 650 pounder and the other weighing in at about 450. One white, and one with scalloped white on black.

Everyone needs a classic Triumph.

[AnotherJohnson]

If you’ve never made the trek to Marne, and you’re an old Brit bike aficionado, it is worthwhile.

The back room houses a very large collection of vintage Brit bikes, most restored to running condition, and some restored to show condition. He’s even got bikes that Barber doesn’t have. Last Friday morning I saw the only BSA Fury known in the US. The Fury was to bring salvation over the Japanese invasion. 12 were built as BSA was closing the doors in 1971. It’s a 350 twin that looks like a joint project between BSA and Yamaha, although it’s BSA/Triumph through and through.

If you loved Matchless, Norton, BSA, Triumph, Ariel, Vincent, Royal Enfield, etc, Baxter is a great place to spend a few hours. If you’re lucky, Randy will make coffee.

[AnotherJohnson]

Baxter’s annual “homecoming” weekend is coming up later in August. The place to stay is the Rock Island Inn and Suites in Atlantic Iowa just a few miles down the road.

Lots of bikes. A serious auction. Lots of food and fellowship.
I’d go, but one 1500 mile round trip, after the 2000 mile round trip to San Antonio a couple of weeks ago is enough for me.

If you go, tell them you heard about it here.

[SteveFord]

I agree, everyone needs at least one or two European bikes in their garage.

Did some screwing around with tubes in the 17LS and Voskhods, no good. JJ Tesla just god awful. Amperex - muy bueno!
I also have some 70s Toshibas which I'll get around to trying sooner or later.

Tried them sooner and the Toshibas worked out the best.
The way the needle swung in the tester I don't think they saw much use and the sound is just right from top to bottom.