  Command Records part II  Marc van den Hoof & Skallie at Gent Jazz.  PDS at Ronnie Scott's (2011)  The Martian at the infamous KP-dj-boot.  animusdesign.be |
Jazzcats & kittens!, Jazz Kuurne is comin' up fast, so check out what great line-up we're gettin in 2012. AKA Moon is about to release their long awaited new trio-album, and they are celebratin' their 20th birthday. Needless to say JK is proud to have them on top of the bill. Villu Veski's iLife feat. Hedvig Hanson is a phenomenon from Estonia. Nordic contemporary jazz freely taken one step further, that is. Root is on BTJ's want-list for some years now, but for some reason we could never pick a date... No panic, at JK12, the best Belgian fusion project in years will be takin' us right back into the seventies. Firsttimers at the Jazz Kuurne Festival should know you will get great music, at a swell venue, at affordable prices and drinks served at your table. Life can be easy! Music before, inbetween and after by Martin the Martian & Elek'tricia. Jazz Kuurne Festival - Saturday 24/03/2012 - Kubox Kuurne. www.jazzkuurne.be  SHARON REDD – REDD HOT – 1982 This was one of the better disco/Funk records of that time. It contains the unforgettable “Beat the street”, a real disco-tech monster. “Never give you up” is also a classic. There are no LP fillers here, all songs are good. The LP was released on Prelude records in 1982. Sharon’s voice is great here, as is Eric Matthew’s synth music. Too bad Sharon died in 1992, she’s remembered best by this album. It is still available on CD, with a few extra remixed tracks.  Radio Modern Comin' on strong with the swing jazz, check these cats! Lady Linn Check out the cool swing sound.. Metronomic family A labour of love by Philarmonix.. Damberd café Legendary Jazz Café in Gent.. |
 A longtime friend of mine, and BTJ-dj, Burd has them: the Sunfire pre- and power amp combination. The signature versions were then, in 2002, the best components Sunfire had to offer, and they are hand signed on the front plate by the designer, Bob Carver. This guy was the design engineer with Phase Linear, Carver and, now, Sunfire. He patented many audio inventions, like the “tracking downconverter” power supply in this power amp. An explanation how this works can be found in a white paper right here!. Once upon a time, Burd lended me the two components, “for testing, trying”. Two large boxes filled the floor, quite a job unpacking. The power amplifier is a big box, with just one meter on the front page. This dial shows the energy available in the power supply! Typically Carver… I didn’t succeed later in playing so loud that you could see the power reserve getting less… The output is a staggering 600 wpc, thanks to the “tracking downconverter” supply. Instead of a fixed supply voltage on the power transistors, this supply varies with the music signal! It always stays only 6 volts above the music signal. You could say the supply is an amplifier in itself, which feeds the actual power amp. So the transistors stay cool, an can deliver lots of current without overheating. Brilliant! Bob Carver worked years on this… There is also a second output, which acts more like a “current source”. This is meant for electrostatic tweeters. Now for the pre-amp, also a special looking beast. The box is as big as that of the power amp, and it has a kind of rugged, metallic design. If Harley-Davidson made amplifiers, this is probably how they would look. A bit like Manley, too… Also one window here, which shows four vacuum tubes. Now, how does this all sound? I tried them on my Carver speakers, which have low efficiency. The result was awesome! How would I describe this? It’s like listening to the sea, sounds quiet, calm, but yet impressively powerful! All musical detail is restored precisely, really, I didn’t know my Carver speakers were that good. A wide, open sound field, very dynamic and yet restful. And then, that bass! I heard never anything like that! Very deep bass is suddenly there, not heard with other (good) amplifiers. This must be Levinson or Krell territory! This amp really makes your speaker shine with a perfect, dynamic, musical sound; what more could one ask? In this regard, maybe the units don’t seem so expensive as on the first sight… (Both components cost about 3000 euros). Now, Sunfire is rather involved in cinema surround systems. Further info can be obtained at sunfire.com or me, martin.staelens@skynet.be The Martian.  Sunfire Amp.  Sunfire Pre-Amp |
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