[Dave G]

Woodsyi wrote in another thread:

Yesterday, I had a few people who I have come to know through AC come over to listen to music, share ideas and check some gears out. 2 VMPS owners, 1 Von Schweikert owner, 1 Odyssey owner, 1 Salk owner and 1 owner of many tunas who is currently banned but has posted frequently in the past. We had a good time enjoying music, sharing ideas and checking out stuff. We discussed merits of CDWG, Felicia balanced power conditioner, tubes, biamping, SB2 digital out vs analog out, cables and many fun things in audio. Everyone left with good feelings and wishing to do it again in the near future. I credit AC for being a conduit for engendering this kind of friendship and comaraderie. Let's try to keep it that way on the net, too. Afterall, we should band together in solidarity. Where else can a person say "I refused to pay any more than $100 per meter for interconnect" and seriously think this is being frugal? We need each other............ sm_lyellow.gif sm_lyellow.gif sm_lyellow.gif sm_lyellow.gif sm_lyellow.gif

Man, am I sorry I missed this one!  Rim invited me to come, but I had long-standing plans to go skiing with my kids and couldn't make it.  See you all at Merle's on January 21.

Dave

[Chris_B]

Thanks again Rim for having us over.  This was my first time hearing the RM40s and they sounded great.  I wish I could have stayed longer.  When I got there, we went up stairs and ate/drank for over an hour talking about all things audio.  It was a lot of fun meeting and talking with you guys.  I had to leave about 40 minutes after we started listening to music.  Rim's system sounds fantastic.  His dual vinyl setup was fansastic.  I would like to come back sometime and compare the vinyal to cd and enjoy the RM40s some more.  They really provide a large sound field like only 5 foot/ 250 lbs speakers can      If only my wife would let me have speakers as big and as tall as I am     .  Maybe the RM30s would get me the big soundstage without dominating our family room.  Gordy's Felicia also sounded great.  We all thought it cleaned up some of the background noise and allowed a few more details to stand out.  A very good investment if you have the technical know how to put one together.

Thanks again Rim and I am looking forward to hanging out with you guys again soon,

Chris

[SWG255]

As usual Rim was an excellent host for this unofficial MAAC gathering. I arrived early because I really wanted to hear his RM40s with the new CDWGs. While waiting for gordy, Chris, Doug  and Scott to arrive i helped Rim configure his copy of EAC and listened to some tunes on his fine setup. I should probably put my impressions of the CDWGs in the VMPS circle, but suffice it to say that i'll be ordering them for my RM40s when Brian has the manufacturing glitches ironed out.

The Felicia balanced power supply was a real ear-opener. In a system as excellent as Rim's it was hard to believe that the rather unassuming homemade box would do anything, let alone clean up the sound like it did. It wasn't as dramatic as changing a major system component, but it did remove some "hash" from the sound, allowing cymbals to sound more brassy on the jazz vinyl we were playing as the music for comparison. As we listened to vinyl, CD and to his modified SB2, it became clear that this was a very big bang for the buck "upgrade". By connecting the ModWright preamp, the Northstar CD transport and DAC to the unit, CD performance was improved, exhibiting a "blacker" background and more detail, especially noticeable in the high frequencies. When we used it with one of Rim's turntables the same improvement was audible. It certainly seemed to offer benefit to power Rim's sources and preamp through the Felicia.

I'm sorry Chris didn't have as much time listening to music as he would've liked, he had the misfortune to arrive when Gordy, Rim and i were taking a late lunch, graciously provided by Rim, audio host extraordinare.

It was great to meet Chris and Gordy, and i appreciate Gordy driving down from Delaware to share his Felicia power conditioner with us.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy new year's weekend, and all the best to MAAC and AC at large for 2006.

[Gordy]

Thanks for posting Dave, I missed Woodsyi's earlier post...

It was well worth the trip to meet a great bunch of guys!  I was feeling right at home immediately and Woodsyi's system was a blast, almost entirely made up of equipment new to me... very cool!  I've read and heard a lot about the Hurricanes and RM40's and they certainly lived up to the 'hype', more so actually, as I didn't expect the 40's to have anywhere near the dispersion they exhibited.  The food... fantastic!  Sidney and I were chowing down all day     It was especially cool to finally meet the nameless one, I've been pm'n him off and on for a coupla years now with my various newby questions, nice to finally get to see him in the flesh...

Thanks again for the invite, Rim!  Next stop... Merle's    Hopefully by then I'll have some good news about the 'mini' Felicia's anyway...

[woodsyi]

Thanks for coming over guys.  I had a great time.  I don't know what it is precisely with the new CDWG on my speakers, but I am really favoring my LPs over CD's -- even more so than before.  Once, I get my bedroom monitors from Bill Baker, I will break them in downstairs and I am going to do the long waited Black Hole 5 treatment on the RM40's and Whispermat on the Largers.  I will try to set a date later for those who may be interested in hearing the Bella/SP1 monitors.  Gordy, I will take any 78's you don't want.  I will try to read the long Felicia thread to get a sense of what I need to get you to build me a pair or six.  By the way, you will have to bring a bigger car if you want any of my 700 discard LP's.  Stan, I don't see you posting.  Are you totally engrossed in playing with that SB2?

[Gordy]

  Maybe I can talk Roger into joining me...

All the caps and recepticles needed for the Felicia's are readily available in a few days time.  A chassis to your liking would be the main thing to choose, but that'll require knowing what transformers are to be used.  Unfortunately, I just now tested the ones I hoped to use for the "mini" units and they simply won't do.  Major voltage sag even at 25 watts     Guess I need to start harrassing Billy at B&G Micro again...

[SWG255]

Thanks for coming over guys.  I had a great time.  I don't know what it is precisely with the new CDWG on my speakers, but I am really favoring my LPs over CD's -- even more so than before.  Once, I get my bedroom monitors from Bill Baker, I will break them in downstairs and I am going to do the long waited Black Hole 5 treatment on the RM40's and Whispermat on the Largers.  I will try to set a date later for those who may be interested in hearing the Bella/SP1 monitors.  Gordy, I will take any 78's you don ...

I did post about the great day at Woodsyi's back on the 30th, since then I've been too busy with New year's stuff and getting ready to go back to work...

I'm looking forward to the meet at merle's on the 21st.

Woodsyi, let me know when you need your second SB2 returned. I decided not to buy one right now, funds are a little short after the holidays, too bad, but maybe i'll be able to get one second-hand. It's clearly a convenient technology, although I thought Woodsyi's North Star transport and DAC sounded slightly better than the modified SB2. it wasn't a thorough comparison, and the difference was very slight in favor of the transport/DAC which seemed to sound just a tiny bit more "alive". It would take a longer listening session with more varied material to know whether this observation has any validity. Even so, I'd be happy with a modified SB2 in my system, and once one gets one's CDs committed to hard disc, the convenience is unbeatable.

Thanks again Rim for a great day last Wednesday.

[woodsyi]

Woodsyi, let me know when you need your second SB2 returned. I decided not to buy one right now, funds are a little short after the holidays, too bad, but maybe i'll be able to get one second-hand. It's clearly a convenient technology, although I thought Woodsyi's North Star transport and DAC  ...

You can have it for a while,  I plan to use it for my bedroom and it will be at least a month before that system will get set up.  I am sure you can get one used since I see one on E-bay now and then.  I get the feeling (I know nothing) there maybe some competition ready to burst into the scene.  Price may come down later...........