This blog post, focusing on the Leben CS-600 and CS-600X tube amplifiers, began as a thorough introduction to vintage tubes after I bought a Leben CS-600 in 2024. It expanded to cover other Leben Hi-Fi Stereo Company amplifiers, from early models to their latest tube-based products, with a focus on integrated amplifier designs. In addition,… Continue reading The Leben CS-600 ~ An Introduction to Leben Tube Amplifiers
System Poetry: Gibson, Wordsworth, Shakespeare (3 x Williams)
« The archivist produces more archive, and that is why the archive is never closed. It opens out of the future. »— Jacques Derrida « Wordsworth invented modern poetry in English. Before him, the poet could cultivate subjects outside the self. After Wordsworth, the poem is the man or woman who composes it. »— Harold… Continue reading System Poetry: Gibson, Wordsworth, Shakespeare (3 x Williams)
Bill Evans: The Paris Concert Edition Two
“Unfortunately, many of our best performances are out there in the universe someplace, and you still as professionals have to go in at ten o’clock on Wednesday and make a record and hope that every few records you might catch a really good day. And the rest of it is being professional and, certainly as… Continue reading Bill Evans: The Paris Concert Edition Two
The Nikon D3 in 2026 ~ Review, Photos, Thoughts
Contents Build quality and life expectancy Second-hand market prices in 2026 What I use the Nikon D3 for In brief Nikon D3 ratings D3 specs Nikon D3 photos In December 2023, I switched from a Pentax K5 to a Nikon D3. With the K5, I used either a 35mm macro limited lens or a Pentax… Continue reading The Nikon D3 in 2026 ~ Review, Photos, Thoughts
Sunbuck Kondo Audio Note KSL-M7 preamplifier “clone”/ Exploding Capacitors
Here is my first tube photo in a while: a Russian 5U3C (Cyrillic: 5Ц3C) rectifier tube from 1976. It’s what’s known as New Old Stock (NOS), meaning that the tube has never been used. The tube was bought for a Kondo Audio Note KSL-M7 preamplifier clone produced and sold by the Chinese brand Sunbuck on… Continue reading Sunbuck Kondo Audio Note KSL-M7 preamplifier “clone”/ Exploding Capacitors
The Pentax K10D in 2026 ~ Review, Photos, Impressions
In October, I did some night photography experiments with a Nikon D3 and a Pentax K1. On a Pentax forum, I came across some photos taken with the Pentax K10D, the last Pentax DSLR to use a CCD (Charge-Coupled Device) sensor. The 10D was released in 2006 following a range of CCD-based 6.1 megapixels DSLRs… Continue reading The Pentax K10D in 2026 ~ Review, Photos, Impressions
The Nikon D4 in 2026 ~ Photos & Thoughts
In June 2023, I got a cheap Nikon D3 to document a series of relatively rare vacuum tubes (starting with the 6CS7 family) for the Swiss Radiomuseum and Wikipedia. The project reignited my interest in visual art, leading to a number of photo series—perhaps a few too many (see an overview here). In December, I treated… Continue reading The Nikon D4 in 2026 ~ Photos & Thoughts
