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The Three Sounds – Good Deal (Mono)

Japan's SHM-SACD

This is in my top 10 favorite songs ever. With obviously some Cure stuff and Talking Heads and Rammstein etc.

Yard Act- 100% Endurance

Let's talk about Frankie, baby! In the early 1960s, Frank Sinatra commissioned a home hi fi that was an impressive mix of studio gear and high end consumer kit. The heart of it was a modified McIntosh C-22 preamp. It had one input that was three channel, made specifically for an Ampex correction: a Presto 800 open reel tape deck (visible behind Frank.) Studio recordings in those days were primarily three channel, with the center being for the lead vocals. Final mixes were almost always mono, of course. Sinatra liked to take home the day's recordings from the studio and see what he thought of them that evening. An artist taking home the actual multitrack masters might sound insane, but it was Old Blue Eyes in the 60s. Though visibly impressive, the three units below the Presto are just VU meters. The tuner below the C22 is a Fisher R200. Below the Fisher at the bottom are a trio of tape head preamps made specifically for the Presto. Of course the tape transport, VU meters and preamps are all studio gear, not generally used by (or available to) the public. There were three power amps for the speakers, housed in a different room. Presumably they were Mac tube monoblocks, but there is basically no info out there. Similarly, there is no reliable info on the make/model of the speakers themselves. I've seen Altec-Lansing and JBL floated as likely brands. There was also a huge "Rek-O-Kut" turntable system that could both play back records and cut acetate disks(!) It had its own dedicated space. What the unit lacked in sex appeal, it made up in physical stature. Even a stock C22 has complex mono/stereo routing. (I oughta know, I've owned two of them since 1999 ...for reasons I cannot entirely explain.) Frank's custom unit was modified, but I don't know to what extent. Based on my research there is conjecture that the television output was wired into the C22. Frank was an early pioneer in the world of home theater. In the bedroom, Frank had a high end Grundig all-in-one system. I can neither confirm nor deny if Nancy Reagan ever got to hear a tune or two on that Grundig. Thank you for coming to my TED talk, now help yourself to a pack of smokes on the way out.

Finished the right channel today. Feedback as suggested by Justin. Bias servo as suggested by Kevin. Red smoke – Super Symmetrical mode. Green smoke – Zero Feedback mode.

I Was thankful we were lucky with our timing. Others may not have been so lucky https://www.sfgate.com/centralcoast/article/big-sur-wildfire-22381679.php https://www.instagram.com/p/Db3V1TIFGzb/?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== EDIT: California’s Big Sur sees evacuation orders as Timber fire grows https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/11/big-sur-timber-fire-evacuations?CMP=share_btn_url