Maaaan! There sure is a lot of cool gear coming in. Just as I thought I was getting caught up, a new speaker unveils itself! A new X series addition from the best speakers made in the UK, and quite possibly the World. The X3 from Derek Gilligan’s KUDOS. Check out the new, updated Kudos Audio web site. I’ve had the X2 in for a couple months now and am overwhelmed by the sheer size of the sound these micro floor standers throw. I’m sure the X3 will take it to the next level. People are constantly asking me where the subwoofer is hiding. When I tell them there’s not one, they look like they’ve seen Houdini’s ghost! Yeah, they’re magical.. geez. maybe I should be a reviewer! heh heh.

On their way to the shop are some decent budget speakers from Canadian company, Sinclair Audio The product build and sound quality compares to products like Energy, Paradigm, Klipsch and PSB. The Brighton B15 shown here are only $249 a pair! The floor standing BT25 are a whopping $449. Take THAT Goldman Sachs! EVILDOERS!

I just had the Mystere ia21 integrated amp dropped off at the shop by one of my favorite audio reps, Papa (Tom Mcgehee) Smurf! This line is awesome! Fit and finish is top notch and the sound? Well, the sound is magnificent! 50 warm tube watts drives my hardest to drive speakers effortlessly. We switched out the KT88 tubes for the EL34 and both choices had their pluses. Boils down to personal choice really. The amp is auto biasing so it’s very easy to “tube roll”. New / Different tubes transforms any amp into a different monster. So, let the good times roll! More offerings from Mystere will be “rolling” in over the next few months.

As Papa Smurf and I were drooling over the ia21’s glowing beauty, I told him, I was bummed there weren’t any decent DACs that were under $1K. WELL GUESS WHAT! There are and I’m gonna get them in! Musical Fidelity have the V Series which includes a DAC ($299), MM / MC Phono pre amp ($149) and Headphone Amp ($199). The DAC has inputs for USB, COAX and Optical. Here’s a review. Instead of putting the guts in a fancy chassis and shipped in a velvet lined box, the V Series is presented “bare bones”. Who cares? I just want it to 1. sound great and 2. not break.

In my search for well built, good sounding gear that won’t leave you penniless, I’ve scoured the Earth for a couple new lines!! Coming very soon to the shop are Mystere and Antique Sound Labs! What’s cool about these amps is that they’ll drive nearly any speaker. No two watt amps here!

In my quest to bring you good people high value, I’m bringing in this new moving magnet phono stage! Add a Rega turntable and one of the excellent Ortofon 2M cartridges and start spinning the black gold!

“Most of the Nerve Audio products were born from demand. At the time we started the PH-1 Phonostage design there were few, if any, good quality inexpensive phonostages on the market. The PH-1 will easily perform with phonostages in the $250-$350 price range. Solid construction, minimalist circuit, RIAA Eq. and low profile design. The PH-1 Moving Magnet phono stage was designed by Jeff Boccaccio and is hand made in small quantities.”

SALE! Saturday, April 17th. 11am-5pm. 10% off all records, turntables and cartridges! Got an old turntable that needs some TLC? Bring it by! Got some old records you don’t want? Bring those by too! I’ll be playing records all day. Barley Pops (beer) while it lasts!

Record Store Day 2010

The Lonestar Roundup is happenin’! Hot Rods from all over! Charlie Sexton (plays with Bob Dylan… ’nuff said!) and Chris Layton (played with Stevie Ray) jamming at the show. Check out the cool guitar gear shifter in the rat rod!

Great show at the Continental Club. Their third of a 5 night run here in Austin. Last time I saw them was 15 years ago at Liberty Lunch (rip). They put on a great show! Real nice folks to boot. Go see them with a bucket of fried chicken.

Two Terrabytes Of Digital Media Euphoria

Tromping through the streets of downtown Tokyo… crunching tiny white audio players underfoot comes the iZilla. If you’ve been looking to step-up to a hungry man sized portable media player with incredible tech powers… this is it. First start with a whopping two terabytes of storage delivered by four 500 gig internal hard drives. Up the ante with a sweet 7″ TFT-LCD touch screen… then crush your opponents with high-speed ripping capability for CD, DVD, and vinyl. A handy iPod® dock allows you to transfer songs to and from the iZilla.

Listen to the iZilla roar through the internal six speaker surround system offering 5.1 channel surround sound with up to 120 watts per channel. Or enjoy your music privately with the included DJ-Style wireless bluetooth headphones up to 15 feet away. Built in wi-fi (802.11g), Gigabit Ethernet, Firewire and USB 2.0 ports ensure the maximum capability to transfer your tunes and video to external hard drives and computers.

Take the iZilla with you anywhere. It’s like having an entire home entertainment system in a handy 30 pound white briefcase. The iZilla can be powered by a standard 120VAC wall outlet, or runs off 16 D size batteries (not included).

Product Features & Specifications
2000 Gigabytes of storage
Built in CDRW/DVD-RW 52X/32X/52X/16X
Built in slot loading turntable with laser pickup
Plays back video and audio digital media in the following formats: MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG4, AVI, WMV, Divx, MP3, MP4, XviD, DVD(IFO, VOB), Ogg Vorbis, ADPCM, WMA, AAC-LC
Rips video from DVD (downloadable software patch required for encrypted DVD media)
Rips audio from CD (.wav, mp3 or Ogg Vorbis)
Rips audio from Vinyl (.wav, mp3 or Ogg Vorbis)
Transfers music to and from iPod (All iPod models with dock connector. Music from iPod must be non-encrypted.)
Burns DVD, Audio and Data CD formats
7″ TFT-LCD Touch screen 724×309 resolution
Touch-Screen menu system controls all functions
Wireless connectivity with wi-fi 802.11g and Bluetooth
Wired connectivity via gigabit ethernet, USB 2.0, and Firewire.
Wireless Bluetooth DJ style headphones included
Six speaker surround system offering 5.1 channel surround sound with up to 120 watts per channel.
Dimensions: 19″ x 14″ x 4.5″, weight 32.8 lbs. with batteries installed.