I took the plunge!

And ordered a Xindak MT-1 tube amplifier. It is also payed, so where is that postman? ;-)

The Xindak MT-1 is a 12,5 W amplifier with the 6P14 power tubes - as far as I can see they are the Chinese equivalent of the well known EL84. This amplifier is hard-wired and has got 3 line-level inputs. Just the right number for the DAC, the phono pre-amp and a direct connection to the tube output stage of the CD-player. 

I have ordered it at the Danish shop Now-in-Stereo, Kurt is a very nice man to deal with. My expectations to this little gem are indeed high - perfect synergy with my full range driver equipped TQWT's are a natural thing. I hope that the little almost-sharpness in the upper mid / lower treble the combination of solid-state amplification and a full-range speaker with whizzer-cone can give will be tamed. Stay tuned - I hope to be able to tell you more soon.

Treasures from the second-hand market

A week ago Jette and I went to a second-hand market in the next little village. My plan was to find some classical LPs. And I did - 12 LPs (one double) for a total of 100 Kr (less than 20$). Most of them in very fine condition (and a couple with scratches was left behind, even thou they were quite interresting).

2 recordings of Mozart piano concertos (15+21 and 20+23) with Alfred Brendel and Academy of St.Martin-in-the-Fields conducted by Neville Marriner. The great Haffner Serenade with Pinchas Zukerman and the English Chamber Orchestra (first time I have heard that). Mozarts concertos for 2 and 3 pianos with Ashkenazy, Barenboim anf Fou Ts'Ong as soloists and again the English Chamber Orchestra. Violin concertos by Mendelssohn and Max Bruch (first time I heard the Bruch concerto - very good indeed!) with Perlman as soloist and LSO lead by Previn. The Beethoven violin concerto in a tru classic recording - Menuhin as soloist and Klemperer conducting the New Philharmonia Orchestra.

Another number one for me is Fauré's Requiem with Victoria de Los Angeles and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and the Paris Conservatoire Orchestra lead by André Cluytens. This recording is from 1963 but in perfect state. A truly wonderful piece of music in a marvelous performance and recording!

Trumpet concertos by Haydn, Torelli, Viviani, Telemann and Franceschini. Trumpet and Obo concertos by Albinoni. The opera La serva padrona by Pergolesi in an East German recording with Staatkapelle Berlin from 1972. And not least the Symphony nr 7 - Leningrad - by Shostakovich in a Soviet recording with Svetlanov conducting the USSR State Symphony Orchestra. Not only a Russian recording, but still with the original price label of 5,60 Rubels on the cover.

I haven't heard all yet, but what I have heard is ranging from interesting to very good. And that at a price of 5 or 10 Kr for each LP! That was not my last visit at a second-hand market.