phase linear: fine old sound system (our dilemma)

the sound power of the 70's

last year sometime we lost one channel and have been meaning to take the pre-amp in to get a repair as it is the usual suspect. its last repair, some years ago, eric lovre made. total cost $45.

amp & case. (VU meters no longer start at 0)

two days ago nic began the process of taking our sound system down… cd player, double tape deck, speakers… all dysfunctional without our phases. long ago we had to give up on playing vinyl unless we got an external preamp, which we could have got then for around $50, but somehow never got around to it.

pre amp and case

thunderous, warm sound. rock n roll, blues, jazz, rap, parts you never hear with modern receivers. we, being at glad times poor neighbors, would crank it to 12 or 1. anything past that would rattle the windows.

back of amp with its big boxer cooling fan

back of amp

here i sit watching nic dismantle and photograph our much loved and long serving stereo. we’re not young any more either. a 60′s nikkormat camera, our 78 ford econoline van, the phase linears, not too many of our old companions left.

inside back of amp

back of preamp

original phase linear brochure

we kept everything. all the provenance including an envelope of receipts for a complete restoration april 22, 2006 at circle stereo in dripping springs, texas, by william green. the complete restoration cost $274, but with shipping, various extras, and a $119.90 diagnostic, we ended up paying ol’ billy  & UPS $794.11.

amp owner's manual

pre amp brochure

now that nic’s got each piece wrapped and boxed up, we get to gnaw & deliberate.  should we get the pre amp right (or left?) channel repaired? or should we move on, simplify, find another good home for this elegantly styled, high end (in its day) phase linear stereo?

if you or anyone you know would be interested in adopting our Phase Linears and all the documentation, owner’s manuals, articles from ‘high fidelity’ (april 1976 issue), restoration receipts & eric lovre receipt for pre-amp repair, let us know below.

we’re looking to the stars for answers!

& here’s info from the Phase Linear History website:

phase linear history site on the amp

phase linear history site on the preamp

peace & love, sloy

nic’s box

live in nicholsloy studio tonite we have nic in his own keystrokes. what are we looking at in this photo, nic?

art box

turns out it’s the unstacking of the box i made to hold my ‘somewhat’ flat cardboard stuff.

vintage art postcards upright in box

your grandma pigler’s (mary goebel’s) piano stool in the upper right with a mooneyes stool. your hotrod postcards in the lower right & still in the box cardboard customs & hotrods.

pulp fiction collaged mail art postcards

digging turthur i knp i do. the next to be removed is a series of ‘part’s boxes’ from a weyerhaeuser pulp mill inlaid into pieces of cardboard boxes. notice EAK appears.

cardboard hotrod under 'rifle scope', inlayed circles.

TA, BUENO KEEP UNDER Northwest Pears, reading the lettering on the box.

looking in as the box empties

the cardboard for the ‘part’s box’ pieces i got from my beatific niece lexie (rip). in the back a portrait by kent barton (rip).

final compartment

so nic, what’s on the clipboard & what’s in the boden glass mug?

cardboard constructions from parts boxes

on the clipboard a time log of a painting, offscreen upper right, & a poem. in the glass whisky water ice.

emptied interior

EFRIGERATION VEGE S UE JAY. why the box?

view, with cardboard art, from the back

ya need a cardboard art box to put the art ya make out of cardboard boxes into.

easter ashes

mukilteo beach

here nic sits watching the sun going down on lighthouse beach in mukilteo, WA.,  a short walk from the silver cloud inn, our pied a terre for the easter events.

sloy with outgoing ferry in background

and here i am. beautiful mukilteo, my childhood home. i learned to swim in these waters. clung to cliff sides during bomb drills at rosehill elementary school. in our day children prepared for atomic bombs.

lighthouse & grounds

we trouped down the hill from school to tour the lighthouse and climbed up the winding stairs into the light tower itself.

nic & rusted steel object

the strong, sculptural presence behind nic is on the lighthouse grounds. it seems to be  serving some purpose, but what it is or does mystifies us both.

ferry on way to clinton from mukilteo

always the incoming and outgoing ferries to whidbey island. from our room at the silver cloud we lay propped up in bed watching the activity at the landing into the late night. the cathlamet leaving and the kittitas returning. walk ons, bikers, passenger cars and commercial trucks.

jacki & suzanne

good saturday on whidbey island at a gathering to honor my mother’s and her husband’s wishes to have their ashes scattered together onto the waters off the island. our host, larry carton, my stepfather’s son opened his lovely home to the combined families. here on the balcony suzanne, my brother’s wife, and their daughter jacki.

walk to the beach

and now the trek to the beach with the ashes.

margaret's family

a cold, but gloriously clear day. sun and snow peaked mountains.

jack's family & margaret's family

the gathering. mom ironed our t-shirts, hankies, sheets, pillowcases. jack’s offspring told of their dad attempting to transform his homemade tub of a boat into a hydrofoil.

their ashes commingled

jack and margaret carton. rest in peace.

nic's ACEO of the ferry

an ACEO (artist card edition original) drawing nic did from our silver cloud window. ‘the cathlamet’. 3 1/2″ x 2 1/2″

all bob knows is tires

bob's OK tire store

since 1978, the year our nicholsloy studio econoline van rolled off the assembly line, bob’s been the guy to go to for tires.

ed heading for bob's office

old skool tire shop. same as it ever was only more so.  ed, on the left, who will be doing the work on our tire change.

view of the shop

the art of a working garage.

front desk of office

and here’s the office.

lisa, bob's daughter

bob’s daughter lisa. she’ll give you hell if you haven’t been in for the free rotation every 4 or 5000 miles.

mike, bob's son

bob’s son mike. he’s drilling a hole through lisa’s work station for a new power cord to her computer.

van on the rack

meantime, off with the old.

ed on the job.

bob's collections

nic in the back alley checking out bob’s collection of rims.

bob & i jaw over tires and old times.

nic, one of bob's longtime employees

this is nick. one of the old timers. been working for bob for 15 years.

vintage OK Tires sign

you want personal service, honest service, service from years and years of experience with tires, you can’t beat bob’s OK tires. 2305 commercial st. ne. salem, OR.

78 econoline studio van spiffed up

all dolled up in nexen roadian HT’s and out and about in less than an hour. our studio art van has 343,568 miles on it. almost every mile from the beginning on bob’s tires. we get top of the line for many reasons. bob talked up 4 great possibilities, but recommended one $200 less than the most expensive of the 4. old skool service and old skool decency. bob knows his tires, and he knows what we want and need. a tip o’ the hat to bob.

visiting the dead

headstone of a great grandfather

salem’s pioneer cemetery. sunday feb 19, 2012.  nic kneeling in front of his ancestors.

charles pigler

here is the stone for the patriarch of the family, charles pigler. note the broken, flat top of the monument. several years ago, on another occasion to visit, nic found the heavy round marble top broken off & balancing precariously on its perch. fearing some other might take it, nic took it instead, & it is now a cherished artifact in our studio.

in loving memory of

charles pigler

died

apr. 5, 1892;

aged

62 y’rs 4 m’s &

5 dys.

walter

walter's stone

next to charles lies little walter. a sad story with no words but these:

walter

son of

charles & susan

pigler

born 14 may 1887

died 14 july 1889

on some future visit nic plans a rubbing to decipher the final four lines, which here time has rendered unreadable.

susan

on the south side of charles’ headstone, his wife susan’s inscription:

susan

pigler

born

july 15, 1854

died

may 18, 1934

tho she lost walter, their son of 2 yrs, she survived  80 years & is commemorated on the side of charles’ slab of stone.

susan s. stegmire, her maiden name.

pigler family plot

horst spandler, a beat scholar, musician and friend in germany informs us that pigler does not have anything to do with pigs.

i guess that’s a relief. pigler means, he says, lives on a hill. salem’s pioneer cemetery is on a hill off south commercial and hoyt.

The earliest death celebrated in the cemetery is reportedly that of the methodist missionary david leslie’s first wife, Mary A. Kinney Leslie,  in 1841.

mother

mother. a small rounded stone. is it for susan? most likely so. we saw several other stones among family plots exactly like this one, small, hunched stones inscribed mother.

my uncle chet (chester) murray died this february 15. he is the last of a line of my mother’s siblings.

he was 95.

nic made me this valentine for the 14th. i dedicate it to my uncle chet.

inside our hearts

RIP piglers: charles, susan, walter & RIP my own dear uncle chester murray.

peace & love,

sloy

cool valentines

my name is sloy. this is my blog. just so you know, nic is my mate of 31 years. we are the two main characters you will read about here.

tomorrow being valentine’s day  i burrowed into my mother’s cedar chest, which i inherited, and pulled out 2 of my favorite valentines, both from nic.

baby don't cry

‘baby don’t cry’ is a cardboard valentine nic made for me  in 1991. it is nearly 1 inch thick, and thus difficult to scan, but here is the best our scanner can do. front of card.

now and forever

and here is a photo of the back from my iphone. not much better than the scanner pic, but you get the point. nic’s sweet inscription on the lower right hand corner reads, ” sandra, now & forever. love, dave”  but of course, without the punctuation.

sandra is my given name. dave is nic’s. confuses some, but we’ve got it straight in our minds. sloy & nic are artists. sandra & dave make beds and vacuum floors and interact with family and friends. the date inscribed is 2.14.91.

love

when the arrow through the heart is pulled, LOVE appears in the center.

san sun SAN

and this sweet handmade valentine nic sent me through the mail. here you see the front with a copper heart inserted into the heart shaped center.

i really don’t go through life as a sandra. i go as san. wherever he found this cardboard that says SAN remains a mystery to this day.

sweet

and here you see the back of the valentine. the dove stamp is a “G Rate” make-up stamp, i suppose to supplement the 75 cent wendell willkie. wendell’s stamp tells us he was a statesman, and that his years were 1892-1944. very romantic.

the sloy lettering nic inlaid from fonts found on various pieces of cardboard originally advertising products on the boxes they were shipped in. notice the brown tape on the right. nic’s directions for a valentine surprise.

i love you

back to the scanner for this one. the copper heart is replaced with more inlaid cardboard lettering. an exquisite little collection of tiny colored fonts it says, “i love you.” ingeniously, the v of ‘love’ and the period after ‘you’ are cut in one slim piece from the same source.

so these are 2 of my favorite valentines. easter i’ll post my favorite easter egg.

for now, i’m off to make nic a double bloody mary. CHEERS!!

peace & love,

sloy