Blackbird Audio Gallery's Music Night with Dean Peer

The alarm clock didn't go off. It was 5:05 am when I woke up. I had a 6:15 flight to San Diego. The Austin-Bergstrom Airport is 25 miles from my house. And I still made it on the plane with ten minutes to spare. I don't know how I did it, but I think I tampered with the time/space continuum somewhere.

Even though it wasn't an auspicious beginning, I still had a blast at the Music Night at Blackbird Audio Gallery. I saw plenty of my old audio friends, met a few new ones and actually got to sit down with Dean Peer for a while and talk to him about his music, his bass and his plans for the future.

I haven't been in Southern California for a while, and my usual tradition in these instances is to head straight to Tommy's for a #1, chili cheese and mustard only. That's exactly what I did.

Then I took up a long-standing invitation to test drive a BMW M3, which I did as well. What a beast this is with its 414 horsepower and its roaring V-8. This one even had the hard-top convertible option. The price? $77K. Yeah, I want one. I'm only human.


Then it was on to the show! Here are some pics from the event:

Here's was Dan Muzquiz' set up for the evening. It consisted of pretty much the same system as he showed off at CES...Trenner & Friedl ART monitors with the new super tweeters, Heed Audio Electronics and digital front end and a Basis 2200 turntable with a Vector tonearm and a Transfiguration cartridge. It sounded spectacular, but the bass was much deeper and fuller than it was at CES. Then I spotted it, crouched between the ARTs and the Heed monoblocks...a Trenner & Friedl subwoofer! This isn't a current model, by the way; T&F has been around a long time and they have many models from the past that they still like to show off.

Here's a shot of the ARTs with the new super tweeters.

Here's the Basis 2200 with the Vector arm and the Transfiguration cartridge. This was a supremely musical analog rig that was detailed without being analytical. It's funny that as a general rule I tend not to like the sound of acrylic turntables--and yet I've always enjoyed every Basis turntable I've ever heard. They must sprinkle fairy dust on them back at the factory. I'm sure a lot of this magic also had to do with the Transfiguration cartridge from Japan, another audio brand that has never failed to move me with their amazing products.

Here is the Funk Firm turntable I wrote about a couple of months ago. That's the new FXR arm, which is very beautiful in person. The very thin and richly-colored arm tube adds an unexpected delicacy to the overall appearance. The Basis may have had the stage for Music Night, but I look forward to listening to one of these analog rigs in the near future.

Here's a pic of Dan thanking the crowd for showing up. Next to him are Colleen Cardas, George Cardas and the man of the hour, Dean Peer. Dan was incredibly gracious and made a point of thanking everyone for coming out.

Another pic of our gracious host.

Standing room only at Chez Muzquiz.

This is Dean Peer signing my LP copy of his 1992 album Ucross. He was extremely surprised when I handed it to him, saying "Where did you get this? I don't even have a copy of this!" He them told me to take a picture of him signing it because it was a historic occasion. According to Dean, this version of Ucross, the original, is now extremely rare because it was subsequently re-released several times by different record companies with different covers. He told me that another LP version is set to be released soon. I asked him, "Does that mean this version will be worth less?" He replied, "No...it will be worth a lot more." It doesn't matter, because I'm not selling it.

As I mentioned, I did get a chance to sit down with Dean and talk. Dean actually lives in the Austin area as well. I asked him if he was going to be playing at SXSW in March, but he'll be in Canada at the time. I told him I'd enjoy seeing him live whenever he played in Austin. In a slightly self-deprecating manner, he said that people always expect him to be a wild, flamboyant bass player after hearing what he accomplishes in recordings. He admitted that most of his other-worldly bass sounds are created through very small and precise movements of his fingertips. In other words, he can be very still when he plays...you know, like a typical bass player. I still want to see him play live.

He spoke a bit about the recording process for the Airborne recordings. Dean is much more than a bass player, he is an accomplished record producer and engineer as well. He described the very technical digital processes that went into the recording but also stressed the simplicity of the solution, thanks to the latest digital innovations. When asked about whether or not he was satisfied with the results of the Airborne LP pressing, he was enthusiastic. Dean said that he and the studio engineers were trying to make the LP sound like it came straight out of the '70s. The sound quality of Airborne is so breathtaking that it didn't even occur to me that a "vintage" sound was the target. After hearing Dean's comments, I can now hear what he's talking about. There's definitely a funky, loose '70s vibe running through the entire album.

Finally, I asked Dean what was next. He said he wanted to work on a project that was all about the year 1959. He discussed all the intriguing things about that year...it was the peak of Jack Kerouac's creativity, Alaska and Hawaii became states and it was the last great year of classic jazz recordings. I also mentioned that it was the "year the music died," referring to Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper, and he nodded his head in agreement. Finally, Dean said that he was born in 1959, which is why the year has such special meaning for him. I'm looking forward to hearing this project.

This is a wine stopper that Dan gave me (as well as others there) as a thanks for coming out. It's a beautiful handmade stopper from a friend of his at A-Skewed Creations. Thank you, Dan, for hosting this event! I look forward to the next one.

I'd also like to thank everyone I met for being so gracious and friendly such as the entire Cardas family, Gavin Fish of MIT and AudioEvo.org, Marc Almirall, Dave and Carol Clark of Positive Feedback Online, David Aitken and of course Bob Clarke of Profundo, who told me a few amazing stories about how he got started as an audio distributor. Thanks everyone!

For the men...

That pink turntable from Scheu Analog certainly created a stir on both my blog and my Facebook page. A couple of men objected to the idea of marketing a pink turntable to women. Not surprisingly, a number of women audiophiles took one look at the pink Diamond turntable and thought it was absolutely beautiful.

Jeff Dorgay of TONEAudio commented that "I know quite a few women who would be highly insulted if I even suggested that they like something because it is pink or simple to operate...never good to pre judge [sic] your audience. I know more women who prefer black to pink." Colleen Cardas replied that "I think most women are afraid of tables that are expensive and have all the bells and whistles. Anything that can be done to make them feel user friendly to women should be considered." She went on to say that "this table is advertised as designed with a women in mind."

Adam LaBarge, a reader of this blog, commented "WOW - I mean - I know 'pink' is the new 'black'. But doesn't is really show the 'out of touch'ness the male makes of hi-fi audio are? Many other industries have moved way beyond the 'pink is for girls' color scheme. BTW - I'm a guy - and I'd own that in a hot second."

MY final take is this: For every woman who doesn't like pink, there are probably five that do. Do you risk turning off one customer to make five sales? Of course you do. In fact, most business people would risk turning off five people to make one sale. And if you're a woman who doesn't like pink, you're probably used to having pink marketed to you so you're not going to get truly upset or offended anymore...you just won't buy. Most women do like pink. Market research backs this up.

So where do you stand?

By the way, the Blue Moon turntable above is made by another German turntable company called Audio Agile Unterhaltungs Elektronik (boy, that's a mouthful) and the pic is courtesy of Eduardo Gutierrez of Eduardo Audiofilos Mexicanos. I love that shade of blue!

Here's one more shot of the Scheu Analog Diamond:

One for the ladies...

 
Colleen Cardas of Cardas Audio just sent me a link for Scheu Analog, a German audio company that makes high-quality turntables. This particular turntable, called the Diamond, is being aimed at that rare and elusive market segment known as the Female Audiophile. Here is some of their copy:

"Pink, classic, seductive, simply ladylike--that is Diamond. A turntable designed specially for ladies--an innovative new product from Scheu Analog!"

Other than the color, I'm not sure what distinguishes this turntable from those made for grunting, belly-scratching male audiophiles. If I say that it's easy to operate, would that be sexist? How about if I phrase it like this: women are probably less likely to put up with the inconveniences that male audiophiles take for granted. For instance, macho purist audiophiles are more likely to put up with cartridge loading that can only be done by opening a component case with a flimsy Allen wrench, re-inserting jumpers and setting tiny DIN switches. Or, hairy, smelly male audiophiles thinking nothing about eschewing tone controls, balance controls and even cueing levers for the sake of ultimate sound quality. Or, strong, insensitive hunks are more than willing to sacrifice the integrity of their lower back muscles by shifting their 450 pound full range speakers a quarter of an inch further from the back walls of their listening rooms to achieve that last iota of imaging and soundstaging.

If you check out the comments section of the Scheu website (at http://www.acoustic-dimension.com/Scheu/Diamond/Scheu-analog-diamond-main-page.htm), you'll see at least one man who kind of digs the look of this turntable. And for those of us who aren't quite so secure about their masculinity, a version of the Diamond is available in drab, dreary black.

All kidding aside, Scheu 'tables are highly regarded, and I'm sure the Diamond offers a level of sound quality that will appeal to both men and women. That said, Scheu is not the first audio company to offer one of their products in pink--Rega recently announced a pink version of their venerable P3-24 turntable! So pink is the new black!

Trenner & Friedl ART monitors in the house!

Here are some more pics of the Trenner & Friedl ART monitors, courtesy of...me! They just arrived via FedEx a little while ago, and now they're breaking in in my listening room as I write. I won't give you my initial impressions yet other than the fact that they sounded awesome right out of the box.

These babies took forever to unpack because they are shipped like the precious little gems that they are. The ARTs aren't double-boxed or even triple-boxed--they're quadruple-boxed and even shrink-wrapped. Needless to say, they travelled from Austria to El Cerrito, California (into the hands of US distributor Bob Clarke of Profundo Audio--thanks for everything, Bob!) to my digs in central Texas without a single mark, scratch or ding. They are as pristine as the day they were inspected and tested by Trenner & Friedl.

By the time they were unpacked, my listening room was a mess! As you can see from the pictures, these ARTs are finished in a rich, textured cherry veneer with a front faceplate made from black Corian (it's marked "volcano" on the box!).

Note how nicely my Cardas Twinlink speaker cables fit onto the rear terminals. That's because the ARTs are internally wired with Cardas cable as well. So if you buy Trenner & Friedl speakers, it makes sense to continue using Cardas cable externally as well for the best results! (Note that Cardas cabling already provides the best results in most systems.)

So I'm going to grab some appropriate stands, let these gorgeous little critters break in for a couple of hundred hours and then I'll sit down and start some serious listening. I'll be posting reviews of the ARTs as well as the Cardas cabling in the next few weeks. Until then, I'll probably be rediscovering my entire record collection with these massive improvements to my system.

Special thanks to Colleen Cardas of Cardas Audio and Bob Clarke of Profundo for getting the ARTs into my hot little hands. There are some truly great people in high-end audio.