Coupla new things today, though most were ordered earlier in the week.
For starters, on Thursday I had gotten our Fed Tax refund so I had called my dealer (Audio Video Therapy of Nashua NH) and asked John to get me an up-level replacement for the Audio Technica AT33Sa cartridge that I had trashed last year and since had re-tipped by Andy Kim of phonocartridgerepair.com with his boron cantilever and microline stylus. While the work is outstanding and the cartridge now outperforms my Hana ML, I longed to have a good Shibata stylus again. John ordered an Audio Technica ART9XA and another Luxman OPPD-SH1 headshell for me.
While talking with him about upgrades I hope to do this year, I mention my integrated amp, a phono amp, the cartridge, and perhaps a better tonearm for my best turntable (of 2), the Luxman PD-171A w/ Jelco SA-250 tonearm. He mentioned that he had just bought 8 new-old stock Jelco tonearms from the importer, stock that was remaining from show static demo and untouched new. The best one he had was a TS-750EB, which by the model number means it's all black. I settled for a TS-550S for $300 less.
I went there today to see what came in, and unfortunately walked out with only the tonearm. I then took a little drive up the road further to Infectious Groove of Amherst NH and got 5 records. Those included The Lumineers (eponymous, 1st album), Porcupine Tree "Signify", The Pretenders "Packed", Talk Talk "It's My Life" (12" single), Nathaniel Ratlieff and The Night Sweats "Tearing at The Seams." When I got back home I had a delivery from USPS waiting, the 3 LP's I bought a week before from a seller on Audiokarma. Those were Lake Street Dive "Fun Machine", David Bowie "Heroes", and War On Drugs "Lost In The Dream".
If I could have seen the future, I wouldn't have bought (and already paid for) the AT cartridge, the Luxman headshell, or the tonearm because at 1:04AM on Friday 3/1, our daughter got burned out of the shared living mansion where she lived. She got out with just the clothes on her back. We took her to get her a new phone, some clothes, and some food. She's staying with friends in another building on the campus, but that won't last long. I started a Go Fund Me campaign to help her get the funds to recover by getting an apartment, and she'll need EVERYTHING. Ouch.
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