[oneinthepipe]

George (zybar), Mark, and I had the pleasure of Dennis Murphy's company for a few hours yesterday afternoon.  Dennis had traveled to Boston early yesterday morning to make a presentation at New England Medical Center, and after an already long day of travel and speaking, he was kind enough to meet with a few Salk owners, listen to three Salk-based systems, and share his wisdom about loudspeakers and about the audio industry.

After I met Dennis at NEMC, our first stop was my house, where George and Mark met us.  My HT2-TL are in a very small room which does not do them justice.  When we were listening to a particular track, Dennis commented that the artist appeared to have recorded her vocals in a tunnel.  I had moved the speakers late the night before and hadn't listened to them very much before I went to work yesterday, but when I returned home last night, I listened more carefully, and the speaker placement had narrowed the depth of the soundstage.  Fortunately, moving the speakers farther apart and pointing them inward a few degrees increased the depth of the soundstage and brought the vocals to the front. 

Then, we went to Mark's beautiful home to listen to his HT3 two-channel system and his HT3-based home theater.

http://www.salksound.com/gallery-votm-0707-1.shtml

Mark's HT3 in waterfall bubinga, in his two-channel system, were gorgeous, and his home theater was extraordinary.  The theater is in an acoustically isolated and treated room, and the speakers, placed behind an acoustically transparent video screen and other materials, were driven by (2) 6' racks of Odyssey amplifiers and associated equipment.  Both the video and sound was incredible.  The best that I have ever seen or heard.

Then, Dennis, George and I had a quick dinner (unfortunately, Mark was unable to join us), and George and I brought Dennis to the airport for his return shuttle to D.C.  I hope that Dennis' return travel was unremarkable.

The visit was very enjoyable, and our only regret was that there wasn't time to listen to George's system.  However, George and I were scheming about ways to convince Dennis to make another trip to Boston.  Otherwise, we will need to wait until 2010, but we will surely make plans further in advance.

Thank you, Dennis, and thank you George and Mark, for a great time.

[zybar]

As Henry put it, it was a very enjoyable afternoon and I was happy to meet Henry, Mark, and Dennis.

Henry's HT2-TL's are beautiful and sounded very nice on the few songs I heard.  While they are indeed in a very small room, they never overloaded the room or sounded boomy.  Brass was very good without any edge or stridency.  I am sure they will sound even better when they reach their eventual destination (a room almost triple in size).

Mark's two setups were equally beautiful to look at, but his HT was truly SOTA.  Not only did he have the outstanding Salk speaker setup, his video equipment was top notch as well (SIM 2 pj, Isco anamorphic lens, SmX acoustically transparent screen in 2.35:1 instead of 16:9).  But it didn't end with the killer equipment; the room was tastefully designed and implemented to provide a true movie theater experience.  From the fiber optic ceiling, to the comfy chairs with elevated seating, to "hiding" speakers in columns, this was simply awesome! 

As for Dennis...it was truly a pleasure to finally meet him in person.  While he comes across as being extremely knowledgeable around crossovers and speaker design here on AC, spending a few hours with him highlighted to me that his on-line persona only scratches the surface of his true abilities and insights.  For all that skill and domain expertise, Dennis is an even better person.  We discussed a variety of topics (even some outside of audio) and the time just seemed to zoom by.  Some way, we need to find a suitable reason to get Dennis back up to Boston (outside of his yearly commitment) so that he can hear some other systems and spend a little longer time with us.

Lastly, I really want to thank the guys again for a fun few hours on a Friday afternoon.  Henry thanks for putting this all together and letting us have an all too brief demo of your system.  Mark, thanks for opening up your home and allowing us to experience your SOTA HT setup.  Dennis, thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule and delaying your return home.

George

[DMurphy]

Hey--the pleasure was all mine, as are the thanks.  Henry Picked me up, drove us from site to site, paid for a wonderful (if brief) dinner, and delivered me to the airport.  What's not to like?!  And we actually could have had some more time together, since I had time to kill at the airport last night (thanks to Henry's skillful handling of Boston traffic).  I really liked the HT2's.  The room was small and we couldn't really crank them up, but I could easily hear the improvement in bass response.  And they looked fantastic.  (BTW--my comment about the tunnel sounding vocalist was aimed at the recording, not the speakers.)  I really wasn't quite prepared for Mark's home theater system.  Besides the drop-dead gorgeous room, the sound and video had been calibrated to the nth plus degree.  Everything was absolutely seamless.  I wish I could have transported the whole set-up to the Audioholics HT show in Florida last February.  I heard and saw some good stuff there, but...............     It's always a thrill to hear your work being demonstated under ideal conditions.  Thanks to Mark for all his hard work putting everything together, and for hosting us yesterday.  Finally, it was a great pleasure to meet George (even if he is a Yankee fan).  I would have loved to hear his Vandy 5a's and ST home theater, and hope to get another chance.   And I can report back to Jim that all of his Boston customers are extremely intelligent and engaging guys.  It was a great day in Boston (once I finished the lecture).

[oneinthepipe]

(thanks to Henry's skillful handling of Boston traffic)

I didn't think that I was driving fast.     Do you, George?     Besides, 700PM at the terminal is 700PM at the terminal.  Dennis didn't say he needed to be at the terminal at 701PM, 702PM, or 703PM; he said he needed to be at the terminal at 700PM.  (Actually, I don't think we arrived until 705PM, at the earliest.)  Even if we picked up the pace a bit to get to the terminal on time, the responsibility rests with the fellows at the Cosworth plant in England, where my Jaguar's engine was built.