Grateful Dead

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I have an Onkyo 6 cd changer also, and it has some issues reading discs. Sometimes I can put the CD back in a different tray and it will read, so it's not the CD. Some CD's it just will not read at all, so I started looking at CD players and was amazed at the jump in prices, double or triple what I paid for the same player a couple years before the pandemic. My solution was just to hook up an old Blu Ray player that was serving no other purpose, and that plays the CD's just fine, and you can still get a basic Blu Ray player for cheap. I am just using the disc player as transport and connecting to my receiver with an HDMI cable and using the DAC in the receiver, so the sound is exactly the same from the CD player or Blu Ray player.

I upgraded my stereo a few years ago and got some nice speakers, and then upgraded the receiver a little later. Not a lot of local opportunities to listen to products in a showroom here, so I had to compare specifications online, ended up working out pretty well to my ears. I have a pair of Klipsch RP 280 floorstanding speakers and a Yamaha RX-A 1060 receiver. The speakers have great bass output down to almost the edge of human hearing, so no subwoofers needed. Saved a bunch picking up the speakers as an open box on ebay, although I could find nothing to indicate it had ever been opened when I received it, and picking up the receiver at the switch to the newer model. I just run everything without any processing, the receiver has a straight mode, with the idea of hearing things as recorded. I get nice clear sound with nice rich bass response even at low volumes, no detectable distortion even at high volume. The speakers are sensitive enough that they require only minimum power, so I really can't get to more than about one third or half volume on the receiver without hitting volumes that are just too high for normal listening. Lots of choices at a lot of budget levels that will produce great sound these days. I have been eyeing a Panasonic player that plays 4k Ultra Blu Rays, Blu Rays, DVDs, all current HDR video formats, audio CD's and a number of hi-res audio formats with a separate audio out HDMI port to connect to a stereo, but it's a little spendy and I can't say I actually need it right now so I'm holding off. For now.

That Mike, I have noticed that I haven't really seen remasters of the Eagles albums, but I always assumed that meant they got it right the first time, 'cause the original CD's sound so good. I always thought the sound on One of These Nights and Hotel California were fantastic, full, rich sound. Still have my vinyl versions of both as well. Waiting for a Big Lebowski Eagles quote from somebody now.

What's on the grill today? Tri Tip! First music selection , Europe 72, that Cumberland is killer. Beer selection , Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. Next up, Louisana Fog, Charliie. Musslewhite. Fun Times. Beautiful day here in the Bay Area.

Charlie - you are right about the Eagles perhaps getting it right the first time. Frey & Henley were notorious for being quite particular about the sound of the band, definitely not a “one and done” band in the studio.

Oro - I knew this subject was right in your wheelhouse! Great info, as always. I’ve been meaning to ask you: You purchased a number of (first rate) jazz selections weeks back that had been recommended by the expert panel of Deadnet posters - have you worked your way through them yet, and does anything stand out so far? Anything disappoint?

I just have Bose 301 bookshelf speakers that aren’t high end, but I have them on Bose speaker stands that are placed on TV stands. This puts the bottom of the speakers 5 ft off the floor, so there is nothing blocking the sound. They can go loud and remain very clear. There is an Onkyo subwoofer on the floor to cover the low end.

I have a separate Onkyo 5.1 surround home theater system with Blu-ray, but don’t use it for playing CD’s because the Bose 301’s with the stereo system sound better than the little Onkyo speakers that are part of the 5.1 system.
I did consider merging the two setups but decided that I wanted to have a Cambridge Audio stereo system.
I used Onkyo tape decks during my tape trading days and never had an issue with them, so stuck with Onkyo when I went digital and was happy with it because it was affordable and sounded pretty good. Onkyo and other brands disappeared during the COVID shutdown (6-disc changers were impossible to find for a while) then reappeared at higher prices. So I decided to upgrade the audio system now, assuming that prices would only keep going up.
I’m glad I did because it sounds very nice.

Spot on Icecrmcnkd, speaker placement matters and I am going to choose the right moment to let my wife know that I'm not the only one who thinks so. Much to the annoyance of my wife, speaker placement has dictated the arrangement of some living room furniture. Standard two channel placement, about 12 feet apart on either side of the living room window, and about 12 feet from the sweet spot for listening on the couch. Set up to fill the open front of the house with sound, which means that you can't have a couch a few feet in front of a speaker even if it is a little off to the side, right? I mean, it seems obvious that you need a clear space extending out like a cone from the speaker to really optimize the sound on the far side of the open floor plan. I can't tell you how many times I've explained this to my wife. It almost seems like she doesn't care about sound quality nearly as much as I do.

I had the same problem with my Onkyo multi disc CD player. The laser is going bad. Check out Emotiva. Yes, a bit pricy but I have been very happy.

Overweight Americans. A combination of diet, large portions, and no exercise. The solution - clothes that stretch. Much easier than lifestyle changes.

I'm really digging hearing TC's organ frills on this cd!

Thanks for the suggestion. Always interested to see what other people are listening on and how they like it.

....went from out for delivery to Shipment Received, Package Acceptance Pending
Henderson, NV, United States as of July 30th. (Seems Doc fired up the DeLorean because we're going back in time). Seems to be a UPS to USPS transfer delay. Fingers still crossed!
Luckily, I was born with a roadrunner speed metabolism. 6'4" 190 lbs. I can thank my moms side of the family for that. But yeah. Fast Food convenience in the 80's sparked the fire.
Hey Charlie3. I think your wife does care about your speaker placement and just doesn't make it a big deal because she respects you. That's my wife at least.

Point out to your wife that at concerts they don’t put the speakers on the floor, that would block the sound.

My kitchen and living room are connected end-to-end, about 12 feet wide, so not a huge area to fill with sound. The speakers in the air project the sound into the kitchen perfectly, with the sweet spot from the front of the couch back to the island in the kitchen. Can also see the TV on the wall from the kitchen.
It’s just me and my dog, so I can turn the volume up as loud as I want.

I’ve had this new CD player for 2 weeks and have also been playing non-GD CD’s to see how they sound. The Cambridge Audio dealer that I got it from said that it needed about 100 hours of use to get broken in so I’ve been spinning CD’s instead of using my iBasso music player.
Once the CD player is broken in I might then run it into the DAC via stereo RCA cables which I did at first, and it boosts the signal by about 20 dB according to having to turn down the volume, but I wanted to break it in sending the signal to the receiver.

Spinning Rush - Exit Stage Left currently.
This morning was Floyd - More and then Piper.
I’m thinking next the Anthem of the Sun CD I bought in 1989, want to see if that sounds good or if it’s a victim of crappy 80’s mastering.

The iBasso music players come with a burn-in adapter which simulates the electrical resistance of being plugged into a stereo system. You plug that in and put a show on loop and just let it run for about 50 hours, and then it’s supposed to be broken in.

....that at concerts, they raise the stacks on cables for maximum efficiency.

While we're on the subject can I ask for a bit of advice? I'm in the market for a new system and at the moment I'm thinking of a Naim Supernait 3 amp and B&W 702 S2 speakers. I can audition these at my local hifi dealer. What CD player to accompany these? I'm not going for a turntable at the moment. I have 5 weeks to audition anything at my local shop before I move to the Shetland Islands and there's no hifi dealer there that I'm aware of so it's now or never. I'd sort of like to support Rega as their factory is about a mile from my current house but at these prices I'll go for the best fit for my ears.

I joke, but my wife has put up with my idiosyncrasies and such for 30 years, 36 if you count the time we were together before getting married. She deserves a medal, 'cause I am aware that I can be a difficult person to live with sometimes.

The speakers have a clear pretty clear path to spread the sound around the space and the actual speakers are at the upper two thirds of about a 43 inch high tower, so a bit above the ground, and built to tilt ever so slightly to direct the sound slightly upward and fill the space nicely, so I exaggerate about the impediments, or more accurate to say I just get a little obsessive about the impediments to the sound.

For tonight's classic '70s movie I went with the Godfather, the first one. I've watched it several times before but it never disappoints, I love that movie every time. A near perfect movie, weirdly gratifying.

To me, the best sounding recordings I ever heard were the first ones I got, between 1971 and about 1978. They were records, and what made them great was the magic ingredient. It had nothing to do with what I played them on. If your system captures that-you've got it. For me you can no more improve on that than you can The Grand Canyon

Nick1234 - having said that, I got a Rega Saturn-R cd player about 3 years ago. And it sounds great - but the first one I bought had to go back to the shop after about 9 months, as some cds wouldn't play-and others jumped to the 3rd or 4th track when I wanted to hear the 1st one. They eventually replaced it with a display model from the shop floor. That is great - although I have noticed that half way through a cd...when the music for track 4 starts, the display unit still shows track 3 for a few seconds - it is slightly behind the music. But the sound quality is top notch. As for the magic ingredient....

Wow, Daverock that’s a pricey player to be malfunctioning, and then be replaced by a floor model (which apparently has the same defect). They should have given you a new one from the factory.

I thought that my new Cambridge Audio CD player was defective but then realized that my Vizio TV remote interferes with it. I had the TV on and was going through the menu adjusting settings but every time I hit a button on the TV remote the CD player would jump tracks or stop playing. Was relieved to find that the CD player was fine.

Nick, go with what sounds best to you.

Last night spun the Anthem of the Sun CD that I bought in 1989 (it’s the 1971 remix) and it sounded pretty dull.
Then put in Steppin’ Out CD3 and started at Truckin’. Sounded better, but not that great.
DaP43 sounds far superior to those older CD’s.

For people who are listening on HDCD players, what sort of improvement can you hear in the audio? I would think there is some discernable improvement.

I think I've listened to these shows 10x each. Moved on to others in the time period. Doing Dick's Picks 4 at the moment. I was not hardcore into the Dead when it was released. I imagine people were reacting even more positively into it than even this Dave's Picks, due to the Fillmore legend of the Feb 13 & 14 shows when it came out. Was there a discussion board up at the time to spread the enthusiasm?

Vguy - good to see the red dice and green felt has returned - it's positively you.

Nitecat - also digging TC's contributions on these shows. When he was "on" and audible, he really filled out their sound nicely.

Good talk.

More important to system?

Listening!!!

When I bought my system the guy told me, you will not hear what this system does, while doing the dishes, while cleaning, while doing anything else. You have to sit and listen.

It's true.

Sound systems and people are a funny thing. I think MOST people listen to the radio and only own a handful of cd's/albums, usually the stuff they listen to in high school or college,,,, after that they stop buying. Kids today seem to live off spot-e-fied and own nothing. I have found the largest genre in people's collection is christmas albums (go figure!)

I think this group of people are the exception to that.

What'd ya think?

Cnkd - It never occurred to me at the time that I could have asked for a brand new replacement. The replacement from the shop floor is better - the first one used to skip tracks out - with this one it's just the delay in registering which track is playing by about a second that's a bit odd. It plays to perfection apart from that. And really sounds good.

There are many things that can be done to get your system set up correctly that often can facilitate noticeable performance improvements equal too or greater than any electronics! Best part, they cost little or nothing!

SPEAKER PHASING: one of the most notorious mistakes that makes a huge noticeable difference and is super easy.
Make sure your positive amp/receiver terminal is connected to the positive of the speaker, ON BOTH speakers!!
So positive to positive, negative to negative etc. on both speakers.
If one is wired opposite of the other, your speakers are out of phase which means their working against each other instead of with each other. Speakers move back and forth, or in and out. If one is wired out of phase that means one speaker is pushing air out while the other speaker is pulling back in, thus effecting bass coupling dramatically! So what you say? You will likely laugh or gasp at how much better your speakers sound (bass enhancement) when you hear them in phase after getting used to them being out!

SPEAKER HEIGHT: the tweeter should always be placed at ear height. So if using stand speakers, measure so stand places the speakers tweeter exactly at listening position ear height. In conekids case he’s a little higher, which might effect his main position, but since he’s trying to cover 2 zones IR areas it’s a trade off. This is an example of how the situation may dictate slight tweaks, but you should at least start following these rules then tweek.

SPEAKER PLACEMENT: optimally should form an equilateral triangle: same distance from listening position to each speaker, and same distance between speakers. This can be tweaked depending on several variables.
Spread them out too far and you lose acoustic coupling and stereo imaging etc., too close together and your sound field collapses and you lose stereo effect etc. This is something you can play with and doesn’t cost anything.
Obviously you should try to avoid placing objects in front of speakers…
They should be placed along a wall, but out from the wall. Too close to the wall causes boundary issues that make bass bloated and unnaturally loud etc. Too far out from the wall and they can sound too thin (not enough bass).
Again, depending on your speakers and other factors you can play with this until you get it right.
Same with listening position: if you sit too close to any wall, but especially the back wall you’ll again suffer from boundary issues that unnaturally bloat/muddy bass.
Really you should never put speakers or listening position next to a wall!

RULE OF THIRDS: look it up. Though using the third dimension is usually not practical, the rule of fifths is and works perhaps better. What’s that you say? Divide your room into fifths. Place the speakers one fifth of the way in from the side walls, leaving three fifths between them. So a 20’ room would have the center of each speaker 4’ from the side walls with 12’ between speaker center points. Then, to form the equilateral triangle, measure 12’ from the center of each speaker to your ear position at your listening sweet spot! Depending on your speakers you may want to toe them in slightly versus having them point directly forward. Again, play around and tweek. Tweeting should be done vary slightly, sometimes an inch or two can make a big difference! Be slow and methodological.

SUB WOOFERS: I’m not a fan of subs for 2 channel stereo, but they can be a necessity for small bookshelf speakers etc.
Subs suffer even more from boundary issues described above! Corners are usually the worst place to put a sub woofer!
Here’s a trick. Place your sub in your listening position and put on some bass active music you know well. Now crawl around on the floor and listen. When you find the place the bass sounds best, put your sub there. This is a cheap down and dirty way to deal with room modes, one of the biggest negative factors in music enjoyment. (Look them up).
I have a fairly large above average system in a dedicated room, but my room is too narrow for my system so I often have horrible bass bloat issues because of these room modes etc. (funny but it’s mostly only a problem with old Dead when Phil was still playing Alembic lol). Usually I can just roll off a little of my 30 hertz eq nob on my C 40 pre amp. I have a DSP room unit that uses excellent Dirac SW, but haven’t gotten around to it (slacker).
There are many solutions and sometimes DSP can help (but that won’t do pure analog folks much good) but often the best way to deal with many of these issues is to follow these fairly simple rules and play around with things.

Oh, lastly. You can help smooth out your room by dampening first reflection points. There’s diffusion and absorption and more. But to keep it simple. We’ll just look at some basics.
Have someone with a mirror move along the side wall with the mirror. The place where you can see the speaker in the mirror while being seated in the listening position is the first reflection point. Put something (all kinds of things both diy and professional) in that spot along the wall (and ceiling if you want to go the extra distance) that will absorb the sound, so that your hearing the direct sound from the speaker without the phase issues and coloration of the reflected sound off the wall. This is another simple but big improvement.
You can experiment with placing adsorption in other obvious places like directly back from the speakers on the opposite wall. If you have a big room, perhaps look at second reflection points.

NOTE: this is not sound proofing! That is a whole other field above and behind this tutorial. Save your money! Putting egg crates, foam, or most of the items for sale on line DO NOT WORK! They will not stop bass from passing through walls and structure! Some of these products may help the sound in the room, but will do nothing for stopping it’s transmission out of the room!

SPEAKER ISOLATORS: another thing you just have to try. Using the pointy spikes or not for speaker feet. Sometimes they help other times you may want to isolate your speakers from the floor to eliminate too much bass and our help with transference to another room or dwelling.
Oh, use a heavy carpet on the floor at least between the speakers and listening position if not bigger. Put this is yet another situational thing that you may have to play with.

Remember folks: the situation is the boss!
Hope this helps!

HDCD: if everything is set up and functioning properly you can hear a difference. How noticeable or if noticeable will depend on your equipment, set up and ears. If you have a nice system and actually play discs, you might find some improvements but for many you might not really hear a difference, certainly not a huge difference so I wouldn’t worry too much about it. Following the above mentioned rules as much as possible will!

Oh, ps, the above assumes best case practices. As no room is perfect, and some are just plain awful, and many of us need to live with our significant others, ahem, obviously not everyone will be able to follow all of these.

Both Dicks 4 and Dicks 8, Binghampton 5/2/70 were indeed cause for celebration. I used to visit a friend at that time, and he had 100s of tapes - so we had copies of these 3 shows already. But to have them on an officially released cd was amazing. They are still my favourite Dicks Picks.

....Tribal Seeds, SOJA and Dirty Heads. Forty bucks for five hours of solid entertainment. Great crowd.👌
Check out Rage and Vacation by Dirty Heads. Catchy af. They also do a solid cover of Life's Been Good.

In a Word: AWESOME! Obviously some things resonate more than others. I’ve been meaning to, but just don’t have much time lately. But I’ll try and give ya tge quick and dirty…

Keith Jarrett - Koln Concert: Nice surprise, perfect mellow piano vibe. Other one approved!

Hank Mobley - Soul Station: Awesome! OO approved!

Night Train - Oscar Peterson Trio: Awesome. OO approved.

Christian McBride (& Inside Straight) - Live at Village Vanguard: holy crap Batman, this one’s been the one, the biggest surprise and perhaps fav (so far lol). Warrren Wolf is da man! Good vibes, both literally and figuratively lol.

Wyton Kelly Trio w/Wes Montgomery- Smokin at the Halfnote- indeed, the name says it all. Complements what I already had by WM nicely.

Tito Puente - King of Kings: always felt I should have some Tito and this one shows up on a lot of those “lists”. Good stuff, great fir FAC vib. Niche stuff might not get played a ton, but when the situation calls for it, iiieeeeeeEEE!

Pharaoh Sanders - Karma: haven’t got to this one yet. Think it might be too out for the OO, so need to find right alone time?

SUN RA - Easy Listening for Intergalactic Travel: same as above ?

MONKS DREAM: seen on many lists like the above so figured it would round out what I have. Need more time with this one but think I was surprised that it wasn’t too boppy? I used to listen to mostly bop and fusion but over the years I have to be in the mood. Mostly because that music is so demanding and takes real listening which unfortunately is getting harder for me to do.

I didn’t listen to much mellow stuff, but now it’s my preferred, what I call “heroin Jazz” my best example of this is probably soundtrack to the cool film Round Midnight starring the great Dexter Gordon! Bill Evans too, pull a few tubes, and this music just eliminates all my stress!

MINGUS AT CARNEGIE HALL: great album but I probably won’t spin it as much (see above about bop) but magnificent playing none the less. The Seattle Live Train that I got last winter same thing: awesome, but perhaps not for everyday normal spins?

GRANT GREEN - IDLE MOMENTS: another cool surprise. I don’t think I was aware of Mr Green, and thought he was a pianist lol, but what a smooth player and a great album. Think this one will get lots of spins especially since it’s OO approved lol. In fact, she dug all except a couple of the hardest things.

Oh, and last but not certainly least, GETZ/GILBERTO: another holy crap situation! Only heard once so far but wow wow as Jim would say. Pairs nicely with Melody Gardot - The Absence, and My One and Only. Funny, my music servers maker loaded some hi res albums on my machine when he built it, or he’ll add some stuff when it’s getting fixed etc, and so it’s been on there for years but I never checked it out until this winter, yet another cool surprise, cool mood music!
I got there because I discovered Nora Jones, (more I had but did not know) this past year and man, I need more! Any suggestions? (We have Day Breaks, Feels Like Home, and FAC fav so far: Come Away With Me) Need More!
She also in turn got me at least listening to Diana Krall. The Other One has had several for years but I blocked it until recently. I’m still trying to figure her out? Not bad, but I’m not sure I see “it”? Well we have like seven of her albums so I guess eventually I’ll figure it out lol.

Oh, and whomever suggested GEORGE WINSTON - Linus & Lucy, thanks for the reminder! Got that as a gift years ago, another nice mellow good vibe album, of course then there’s David Benoit - It’s a DB Christmas, and tge real deal and one that you might think is “just” a Xmass album, but man what playing and vibe (heroin Jazz) from Vince Guaraldi Trio on the original peanuts influenced material! Speaking of holiday Jazz, check out Jazz to the World from 1995 with various artists!

So many of the choices provided by all you knowledgeable nice folks had me salivating, but alas many currently not available or too pricey used, so I’ll keep my eyes open. And hey, with what we did get we’ll be busy for awhile. Throw in the once through and supremely excellent DaP 43, and next up Mickeys new Planet Drum outing: In The Groove and I’d say Im good to go lol. Well…; )

Thanks again too all y’all for the great suggestions and for just being you!

Oro, nice write up, my equilateral triangle is set up just about perfect according to your guidelines, which were also the same as the guidelines provided by the speaker company. Even have the first reflection point situation covered pretty good, and I can verify that the sound changed in my living room after we got a large area rug a few months ago in front of the speakers where the area was previously just bare laminate floor.

Dennis, I was thinking similar thoughts about my kids and nephews, ranging in age from late teens to young adult, and their lack of any music collection outside of whatever they stream. Seems like it is more and more common that people don't have any actual collection beyond access to a streaming service or satellite radio. And honestly, streaming seems more limited to me than the radio. When you listen to the radio, the radio plays whatever is on the playlist and it may have nothing to do with your likes and dislikes, so you get exposed to new stuff you might not seek out on your own. With streaming, it seems like it is set up to select songs that are similar to songs the algorithm knows that you like, so it seems like you would get a narrower slice of available music, and would decrease the chance of some serendipitous discovery of something new and different. Also, none of my kids or nephews seem to give much thought to what they are listening on, which often seems to be a phone or earbuds hooked to a phone. I finally got my kids each a small bluetooth speaker to connect to the phone and they agreed that it sounds better than the phone alone, but I doubt they would have picked it up on their own. Just seems odd to me as I started jonesing hard for a stereo system in like 6th grade when I first started buying records and collecting music.

Great vibes on this thread lately folks.. many thanks to all.

I'm just starting my second listen to 43 as I write this. Man.. this one is special. Great performances, great sound and although these shows did widely circulate, this one has a rarity aspect to it.. It might not be as out there as 11/8/69 but I really rank it right up, in fact I think it's better.

Also, I think there is something to the sealed Banana boxes.. how many were there? Like I wrote after my first listen.. This has a Bears Choice feeling. Also, Bears Choice was called "History of the Grateful Dead, Volume One (Bear's Choice)."

Volume 1 of 1???

To those that rename these (thinking of you KeithFan), Bear's Choice Volume 2 rolls right off the tongue. So my question is... how many freaking Banana Boxes are there Lemieux? We need to start a new Bear's Choice series. Brought to you by the person who coined the phrase Boxzilla.. it's better marketing for these highly special, ancient Bear recordings left to age like fine wine in Banana Boxes.

That's all I've got.. back the previously scheduled technical workshop on Wall of Sound, home version.

Yeah Charlie I don’t get it either, maybe that’s why I’m a geek!
I think it’s just generational/cultural. The lure of convenience and suddenly being able to take huge collections anywhere (relative to the time) at a time when radio could be argued had completely been ravaged by greed/commerce. So I think at first people noticed the aural differences but for the majority it was a trade off worth taking, for the previously unimagined convenience, and then add to that what a “trend” this was and well…
But the problem to me was when it got even more convenient I.e., phones, and another generation came along that only ever knew this new, but horrible aural spectrum and it’s like any of the other fine things in life. If your not given proper exposure, you might not get it? I probably wouldn’t know a expensive wine from a just good one because that’s not my thing: I haven’t been exposed. As you mention Charlie, when given the opportunity to experience the music they already know well, but on even a modest step up in quality, they could appreciate it.
I guess it’s that too: quantity versus quality. Like BITD I bet most folks had decent, but modest collections by todays standards (I’m looking at you Dennis ; ) but we KNEW, we KNEW the music we did have! How many of us now have so many shows we have only heard many once, and gulp, some never (I’m still working my way through Boxilla)
I with you, from an early age I wanted a stereo. I worked so hard landscaping in the summer and snow blowing in the winter for all the older folks in the hood when I was young just so I could feed that Jones!
Even as I got older, I didn’t even have a car, but I always had a good stereo and musical equipment!
No mater how poor, best gear I could wrangle, cus good gear will get ya through times of no money better than lots of things!

JIM/DaP 43: only once through, so not ready to “review”, but I can’t help but add to your insight with, holy pha king sheet what a amazing recording!! (Gets the Eddie Van Halen unusual dbl exclamation) When you consider he was first and foremost probably tripping hard much of the time (yas yas tolerance build up, but still) and mixing the band live when equipment sucked and often the venues etc, it’s damn near spiritual how fucking good these Bear recordings are, “please sir, may I have some more”?
Yasss, amigo, what is in those boxes!!

Oh, speaking of ridiculously sounding new recordings: Mickeys latest with Planet Drum In The Groove is a hi fi wet dream! As per youssh, our illustrious Mr Hart has provided superior aural magic and kinda in your face grooves. In a good way, as compared to say the more new age stuff (some of my fav!) I was hitting over 100db without breaking a sweat. Started freaking myself out, I could have gone louder but I was afraid I’d piss my neighbor off lol.
This phenomena has never been experienced before. Usually my room modes make things too much for clean, intelligible volume at more than 95 DB or so. You can say what you like about Micks role in the Dead etc, but that mofo knows how to produce audio nirvana! Kudos to you good Sir!

MacOro - First off, a great tutorial on speaker placement and room alignment. Excellent, and I kept a copy of it. I’ve said it before: You know you’re stuff!
Next, the jazz - great news you loved it! Welcome aboard. It gets under your skin, and before you know it, you are chasing those hard to get Blue Note classics from the 50s, or checking out European jazz on the ECM label. This all circles back to the Dead - their open minded ethos is a big reason I got into jazz.

Unrelated, but for those who cannot get enough Dead literature or Europe 72, I see author Howard Weiner, who writes frequently on the Dead, and has published a couple of lightweight (IMHO) but ok books on them, has a new one out - Europe 72 Revisited.

About seven sleeps until I see Emmylou.

I received the new live Neil Young CD and the new Mickey Hart on Friday, still untouched, that kind of weekend. But on deck, for sure!

Hey, has anyone got this one yet?? I’m super excited to hear it!!
You know, I’m usually one of the last to get these, even later than some of our Euro friends, but damn, I’m really starting to wonder how much longer. I know, I preach patience, and I’ve been patient, but Damn!!

Music is the Best, even when you have to wait for it!!

....always has. It's on Spotify and I'm digging it. Tiding me over, which brings me to my next point....
I haven't gotten it yet either Mr. Ones. All good things in all good times. We're both are looking forward and it seems we're in the same boat. Our friends here seem to approve of it. Good enough for us!

Sierra Nevada hazy little thing ipa. Dap 43 is smoking.

Interesting, if slightly arbetary, jazz choices.
But, heres a suggestion, you all know Real Gone, yes?
The label putting out the Road Trips series?
Well, last year they did a great service to humanity, and put all- thats right all- of the magnificent Black Jazz label.
It seems to me, you could all do a lot worse than dipping your toes into this largely modal, independent spiritual jazz.
Now I am always hoping to find stuff that gives me the same feeling as a 69 Dark Star gave me, and when I got my first hearing of the Black Jazz catalogue, via an insanely expensive Japanese box set on P Vine, I knew I had found a motherlode. Like the Dead it can (rarely) give rise to the odd WTF moment.
Black Jazz was one of a series of local, often collective groups of artists, putting out music when the bottom fell out of the jazz market, when panic set in, and nobody had a clear idea of how to regain relevancy, fusiony twiddling and disco were ultimately dead ends, but Strata, Strata East, Tribe,and a bit later, Nimbus West and others, carried the flame for awhile.
Hope some of you dig the suggestion.

Carlo13, Sierra Nevada makes great beer. Garcia used to drink their Porter.

#3082
Tracking still says LAX.
What a beautiful day!

Volume 2 sounds like a great name to me to me Jim! I can usually remember the first dozen or so. And don't forget, you also also coined "The Full Norman" which I'm sure will make it's way into some liner notes one day. Your comment about 11/8/69 made me think I need to give that one another listen. I went back to the December stuff from DaP 6 & 10, and ahead to the early 1970 releases recently, but not DP 16, which was the 2nd Dead show I had on CD when the fever took hold.

I am sinking my teeth into 8/6 and 8/7 1971 today. There is something "extra magic" for me, listening on or near the anniversary dates.

Lyceum 23rd Sept try looking under NRPS and portmerch if interested

What I find funny? about the streaming stuff is the concept of if you like this, than you must like this.

You start off listening to Andy Williams and an hour later you got death metal from hell,,, you say to yourself, how did we get here?

Thanks for the heads up. Ordered the Mickey disc,,, coming tomorrow. Ordered the vinyl also,,,, comes in November?

Thanks for your reassurance VGUY, coming from you, that is meaningful.
DOGON, I have been buying a number of the Black Jazz label releases, and really enjoy most of them. In particular, both of the Calvin Keys (guitar) albums are fantastic, Henry Franklin (bass) "The Skipper" also quite good (I want to get his other one "The Skipper At Home"). In addition, Doug Carn (keyboards), but if you don't like vocal jazz, his sister Jean Carn, with who some of you are familiar I'm sure, does sing on some cuts. I have the first 3 Doug Carn cds, and like most all of them. I have not picked up "Adam's Apple" yet. there's a 'collective' known as The Awakening that has 2 albums available. I have the first (Hear, Sense, Feel) one, and am anxious to get the second one (Mirage).
You gotta love the way this crew shares the musical knowledge, it's quite simply 'out of this world' enjoyable.

Am about to head out way down east Maine for a few days, no internet where I am headed. Have 43 along for the ride. Much enjoyed the audio and jazz discussions, would add more comments no time for now, simply what Oro says, our voice of much experience. All box speakers and especially dipoles should stand away from their back wall for best imaging. Newer gen DACs are worlds better than the crap that gave digital audio and CDs a bad rap decades ago. Advocate for spending the bucks on the best single disc CD player you can if thats your chosen source, after checking to see it has contemporary quality DACs. One more, interconnect cables are a key thing. No need for megadollar cables, but high quality audio and speaker cables are important, as well as the connectors. There's casual listening when music is back round, then there's critical listening when being at the sweet spot with no extraneous noise will produce great detail, depth and breadth of sound stage. Nick1234, love those B&W speakers. Since your Naim has balanced inputs, humbly suggest, see if that dealer has players with balanced outputs. Balanced cabling is a significant improvement over the standard RCA type.

DAMN !...Ordered the Dave`s Picks Vol.43, San Fran on : July 13, 2022, ...STILL WAITING !!!..What Gives Guys ???? I Guess You Think New Mexico is another Country!..NOT !...I Believe I`m left out on this one....EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTING...
As Bill Graham would say...A BUNCH OF AMATEURS....
TOM TOM

This is a spectacular release and very much like an expanded Bear's Choice, as Jim is saying. Love all of it. Another JiminMdism is that the last version of a particular song is his current favorite. I am not sure if that is why I am thinking this, but The Eleven on the Family Dog presented here is my favorite. This is just an outstanding rendition, dropping the From the Vault 2 version to #2 for me. And the Eleven is one of my favorite tunes. That Dark Star-Death Don't sequence here is an 11 out of 10.

I get many of the official releases, but I don't spend my time finding and downloading other shows. I just don't have the time and/or patience for it. A good friend sends me other shows sometimes and tapes from back in the day are burned in my memory, but my GD listening is mostly the official shows. I say this as a precursor to my observation I am going to share now, freely admitting I have not heard every 1969 Dark Star and there are many, many people who know much more than me.

Having now heard a decent # of late 1969 and early 1970 Dark Stars, I am of the belief that the Dark Star jam sequence captured on 11/8/69 and immortalized in DiP 16 is an outlier for the era. The Dark Stars from November and December 1969 for the most part seem to follow a trail-- intro jam, verse 1, interlude, atonal breakdown/feedback, thematic jams (Feelin' Groovy, Souful Strut or Tighten Up), outtro jam and verse 2. That 11/8/69 version, however, skips the atonal feedback section and instead does The Other One, skips the standard for the era thematic jams and does the UJB jam before finding the theme again and finishing Dark Star. That is a unique performance for the era. They all have their unique elements, but that 11/8/69 sequence is special indeed, and then rounding it out with the St. Stephen, Eleven and full-blown Caution to end a loooong jam. That week might be the week to hit with time machine-- start at the Family Dog and wrap up the week at the Fillmore Auditorium.

Last comment-- does anyone else wonder if there was something played between the Dark Star and Speedway at SMU? Sounds like the tape cut at the end of Dark Star and the Speedway starts up in a fashion that does not sound like a transition from DS. Perhaps we are missing St. Stephen and The Eleven from that night , similar to 12/20?

Thanks DMCVT excellent advice. I had to look up what balanced/unbalanced cabling is but I think I've got it now.

I’ll admit I have been guilty of often “accidentally on purpose” hitting FF on many “Drums/Space” selections, but it when it comes to Mickey’s solo releases, I’m a fanboy. I had a chance to play this new Planet Drum release “In The Groove”, and much like Oro stated earlier, “WOW”. A bit of jazz, AfroBeat, Amazon textures, World beat…is there a category for “OtherWorldly”? Five stars, Mickey.

Thanks to Dogon for the heads up on the Black Jazz label, I was personally not familiar with these releases, will do some digging - literally, and metaphorically, I am sure.

both of my sources say nothing between

Volume 43 is a glowing example of why this is such a great series. The artwork, the booklet, the cover info and articles and... the music! The love that goes into these is obvious. Listening to "All Around This World" under headphones and standing between these two guitars is spectacular. Thanks to everyone who brought this to life and got it into my ears.

Such a sad tale.. music is the best, followed by oh sweet mama, your daddy's got those post mailman blues.

Hope you get yours today. I just know you're gonna love it. I'm just getting to the liner notes now, which is rare for me. I like to read them when I give it the first spin. This time I got sidetracked putting everything in the correct order, which I think is very important for this one. I also started with 12/26 because it begins with a (super wonderful) acoustic set. My thinking was ease in with the softer stuff. Another good choice for this one.

Super good.. wowwow stuff for sure. Today's the day via MaryE bicycle delivery.

DRPRYAN, thanks for heads up on the NRPS realease, it looks cool. My brother will really dig it.

I just would like to thank Dave and especially 'Bear" for releasing this volume. I haven't hear stuff this great since the early 1980s on Maxell Bootleg cassettes....These early tapes is what we listened to on our Boom Boxes back in the High School Days until the Dead came to NY and played at Radio City Music Hall. After that.. I was hooked to 1995!!!

Two excellent shows!
I still have a CD changer and I like to hear shows in the correct order, so I burnt 4 CD-Rs - two for 11/02 & two for 12/26. 12/26 sounds great despite a little overlapping. The acoustic set of 12 /26 is really cool to listen to all at once. I added the Casey & HTH on the first disc because I don't like to have fully burnt discs because sometimes my fingers are greasy or dirty and it may leave a fingerprint on the CD-R and "screw" up the laser.

Hope you folks get yours soon, it’ll be worth the wait!

After 2 times through:
11/2 perhaps starts out a little ruff and ragged, so nothing unusual for the boys lol. But it slowly morphs, though it feels like their…not…quite…entrained? I’d call the first half of this good, but maybe not great? Perhaps for 69 it’s tight?
But no matter, splitting hairs, and from Dark Star onward they seem to morph and things are most definitely taken up a step! And someone mentioned the 11, yep, dats da ship fo sho! Really appreciate the Death Don’t instead of “yet another Love light”, HA, did ya ever think we’d bitch about too many killer Lovelights 40 years ago? We truly are spoiled! But I appreciated the variety overall on this release: only Casey J and DS were repeats, and who doesn’t like multiple Dark Stars!!
I know I’ve heard Seasons of My Heart at some point, but probably just on some old tape decades ago, so this was a nice treat. Then a sweet little three peat o grease, though interestingly JG sings the lead on Lied Cheated with Pig. Not sure I’ve ever heard that before? Think Bear took a little longer to get this one dialed in, at least compared to the sonic wonder that 12/26 is!
12/26 seemed like they were more relaxed and dialed in, even with the Billy situation. Lol, Billy, I’d love to know what that story was about? And Phil, I like how Jer politely mentions something about getting Phil out, and Bob like the teenager he basically was, turns and yells “HEY PHIILLLL” like a kid might do after being asked by his mother to “go downstairs and get you father”and then some shenanigans about last time I saw him he was in the back with some chick. And what about that subdued crowd, weird gig but the boys rise to the occasion and then some!
Man JGs harmonies on Monkey had me thinking their was some gal singing with them, such a range still. Wonder what kind of mic he was using? Not sure I’ve ever heard him sound so high (voice not that, get yer head outta the gutter!), the harmonies alone are worth it, and man what a great acoustic set. Bears choice vibe indeed! And how funny that the folks there seemed to have no idea how special this was? Oh, think this was the first time ive heard Masters Bouquet, so that was cool too.
Sweet somewhat early Black Pete and what sounded like a early raw version of Uncle J’s.
All around a wonderful acoustic set and what a mix, don’t think I’ve ever heard old era acoustic sets sound that good?
But hey that’s just the first set, next we get decent versions of some era staples and another newish one, a nice High Time. You can really tell their into this new direction, though they show they can step right back into sonic mode when necessary! The Dark Star is proof, and another beauty to be sure. We don’t get the full suite, but a very new and raw New Speedway which is a little ruff but made up for by the cool factor. Then, a decent Lovelight, coming in at around (a good for my current taste) 15 minutes, no offense to you grease heads who can’t get em long enough ; )
Besides the Owselystein factor, I’d say one of the things that sets this one apart for me is the variety. Both erawise as well as it’s place among Dave’s Picks. I know some folks have been not so thrilled with all the picks lately, but I’ve really enjoyed the variety, and no offense, hope he/they keep mixing things up!
Still say we need 5 picks a year: 2 70s, 1 60s, 1 80s, and 1 90s, OR, 2 70s, and rotating between 60s, 80s, or 90s for tge other 2 picks!
Oh, putting in my two centavos for more utilization of these shorter shows! I’d take 2 like these over yet another long same ole 70s show, but that’s just me, and just being picky as I love all the wonderful shows we get, though, some, like this one, might receive a little favoritism!

What a year: a 77 I didn’t want but love most of, one of the last remaining great 74s, this total surprise top shelf 69! Can’t wait to see how it ends!
Thanks!

Oh, thanks for heads up about Black Jazz label, looks interesting!