actually, i'm not friends with him really. i just bought a preamp and a cd tube buffer (when i needed it) from him and thought, MAN this guy really, really, really knows what he's doing, he's super nice, and his prices are so low it's stupid. See, i believe South Park's original post is right. this stuff that wadia, audio research and the likes can be done for a fraction of their sales prices. when you buy from them you're paying their advirtising, r&d, payoffs to certain publications, owner's yachts, all that crap - which they deserve in my opinion because they worked hard to create their companies. but when you hear a real set up system of a knowedgeable do-it-yourselfer there is just no comparison - the quality is HUGE and the prices are tiny. I think albert is that kinda guy. if he would try to market himself better he'd really go far, the the yacht and we'd be back to where we started with the other guys, paying $3000 for his $300 introductory preamp. the fact that this little Space-Tech Laboratory $300 preamp held up to a $3000 arc preamp actually pisses me off. and you know what, arc didn't hand-wire that new preamp, and they didnt' pack it up for you after they did and send it out asap so you could enjoy your music the sooner the better and they didn't write long long letters to you about setting it up and they didn't talk you out of their higher priced items because the rest of your system wouldn't gain from it at that time. i could go on - sorry, i just got on my high horse there for a moment.
anyway, albert's a cool guy but i never met him. maybe he'd take a swing at me if he really knew me for who i really am. but in cyberspace this guy's a winner.
in fact, he's a mad-scientist type and doesn't visit audiogon and didnt' even know audioreview and some other places like that existed. I'm the one who told him about this thread so he'd respond. I'll tell him again.
sorry about the rant, i just came off a nap.