[krikor]

Just wondering what it was I listened to at the Fest.  Sounded great driving the Salk HT3 speakers as well as the vintage KLH9 electostatics in the next room.

[nicksgem10s]

Hello Krikor,

I have copied this info from the AKfest thread that I posted yesterday.  Hope this helps.

Next was the #1 reason I went to the show Salk Sound speakers & Audio by Van Alstine electronics.  This system was comprised of the following:  AVA Ultra SL Hybrid Preamp, AVA Fet valve ultra 550, AVA Ultra DAC being fed by Squeezebox, & Salk Sound HT3 speakers.  The first thing I did was take a good look at the speakers as I have seen so many nice photos over the last couple years  on AC.  The photos don't even do the speakers justice.  We had a seat in the sweet spot which seemed fairly wide in this room and began listening to parts of several different songs.  About 10 seconds into the first track my buddy & I turned to look at each other with ear to ear grins.  It didn't take long for me to realize how special this sound was.  I also had the chance to get to meet and talk to Jim Salk who was just as nice as he could be.  Frank Van Alstine and his employee (can't remember his name) were also chatting with other guests and having a great time.  My friend called another guy he knew at the show to tell him to make sure he had a chance to visit the Salk/AVA room.

Nick

[Dan Kolton]

I thought the restored KLH 9s driven by Frank's electronics were among the very best in show (not as good before Frank lent his gear to the owner). Franks electronics can make almost any speaker sound better! The Salks were very nice, but still sounded to me like box speakers despite having an excellent, rich, full sound (although among the very best of that variety).  As one might expect, the limitations of a hotel room did no favors to any system.

[avahifi]

I was running an Ultra DAC, Ultra SL preamp, and Fet Valve Ultra 550 amplifier (all hybrids) in the Salk room with Jim's outstanding HT3 three way loudspeakers.  I took the speakers home after the show and they are now in my living room AV system.  Enough said about the sound here!

I was running an Ultra DAC, Transcendence 8 tube preamp, and Fet Valve Ultra 550 amplifier in the Cosmos room next door driving two sets of restored original KLH 9 full range electrostatic speakers producing a amazing wall of sound.  It was hard to decide which room was better, they were different, but both were so good that it was a "who cares" situation in my book.

The small room did get in the way if the HT3s were played too loud on deep bass, that generated room boom big time.  Oh well, every one had to live with that.

I had fun.

Frank Van Alstine

[OldCoder]

Frank,

I read somewhere (Stereophile?) that you used a Squeezebox and laptop to feed an Ultra Dac.

Is that comparable to feeding the Ultra Dac directly from the CD player?

[DMurphy]

I sure wish I could have heard the KLH 9's with Frank's front end.  I designed the crossover for the HT3's, and before I heard any of Frank's equipment I never thought that electronics had any appreciable impact on sound (assuming we're talking about decent equipment to start with.)  But I have to say that the sound I heard at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest in the AVA-Salk room was better than anything I've heard in my own listening room.  But back to KLH.  I owned and loved the model 5 for 20 years, and still regret having given them away.  I've always wanted to hear the 9's, and I could kick myself for not having plopped down a couple of C notes for a roundtip ticket to Detroit.  Maybe next year.