[Bob in St. Louis]

Bob, I would still love to experience the walls shaking and the big screen in action. 

Hey Chris, if you'd like, you can come over today or tomorrow. I'm not busy, just piddling around the house.
The two channel rig is extremely handicapped right now as my SqueezeBox is gone, but we can do the wall shaking/big screen thing.    aa

PM me if you're free this weekend.

Bob

p.s. Oh.... I have a nice selection of beer too. 

[MerRev]

I'm sure I've forgotten many other locals with terrific finds this year as well.  That's great to hear Scott, maybe another pair of vintage speakers will make it into my life someday.  I almost begged of you to try out the combo but I try to be an adult about things.   Bob, thanks for the invite-I'll pm you in a minute.  Congrats Mark, not a bad year at all

I can neither confirm or deny the existence of the Yamamoto YC-03S cartridge, Yamamoto headshell, K&K SUT and triple tonearm, constrained layer table under design )

Chris H.- I can't let you get away from all this fun without reposting this 

[MerRev]

What about Bob? 

I finally took Bob up on an offer to come listen to some tunes and kick back for a few chapters of ear and eye candy on the huge projection system -140”.    Pretty cool to say the least and that experience makes me feel like and old fuddy duddy refusing to change with our  little 27” tv.  Hey, in this hobby you’ve got to scrimp somewhere.  Bob’s all Hawthorne based system uses (6) 15” Augies for bass and (3) Silver Iris’ for LCR along with surrounds of course.  I’m not used to bass so to hear that was really a treat.  The way he explained it to me he kind of has (4) Augies behind his screen in an infinite baffle arrangement.   I imagined the gel in my hair was no longer and I may look like I just stepped out of the Magic House after touching the electric ball after watching a scene from War of the Worlds.  The little Jolida powering the Hawthorne’s pleased my ears but I had to admit having the foundation of the “bass augmenters” really made my listening all the more fun.  The Silver Iris' made for big lovely guitar riffs-there's something to those larger drivers.  Thanks for having me out Bob. 

[Bob in St. Louis]

You're very welcome Chris. It was great to have you over, I enjoyed it a lot.
No extra charge for the change in hair-do. 
As always, time goes by way too fast when you guys come over.

Bob

[dwarfed centipede]

I'm a little late on the Merry Christmas, so Happy New Year! 

I would love to go "sample" people's movie rooms sometime to compare sound and speaker placements.  Maybe we should have a day where we go house to house in a close-ish proximity for whoever wants to host?

I still want to hear Sterges(sp?) stereo even though I was told I shouldn't because it will spoil me and I won't ever feel satisfied again with my setup. 

Looking forward to seeing you all again soon!

[BPT]

Bob:
The amp is based on the Hypex UCD 400 HG module with HrX regulators. I have been using the Ice (1000 & 500) modules this year and with some tweaking they sound pretty good. This made me anxious to try a digital amp that was designed more with the audiophile in mind, so I tried the Hypex modules. They do sound better than the Ice modules--no doubt. Because the Hypex 400 module has very simple DC power requirements (uses DC voltage between 45-60V + and -, other designs require multiple supplies), I thought using an old 48VDC +/- battery supply I had on hand,  might be interesting. Yep it sounds, quite good. Immediately the soundstage drops back about 20 ft. with big improvements in micro-details and micro-dynamics due to the lower noise floor of the battery supply . It's intriguing when you listen to CDs you have heard over and over for 20 years that all of a sudden have new details you've never heard before (they've always been there, just masked by noise). The big question is how long will this thing play with the 7AH supply. Don't know yet. Right now it only lasts about an hour due to one of the 16 batteries not holding a charge anymore (these bats are 5-6 years old). I will replace this week and let you know about longevity. My guess is between 4-8 hours of play time. Due to the "pain in the butt" nature of big battery supplies, it will not be a commercial product, but will surely be a fun one. Maybe I'll bring them along to next GAS gathering.

Chris:
The big BG ribbons are back in their boxes for a while and I'm currently listening to a multidriver OB line source using 4" full range dynamics above 150Hz. I started out with one 4" driver on each side (wow--talk about insane pin point imaging), now with three 4" drivers on each side, next will be 7 drivers and eventually work my way up to maybe 17 drivers on each side. I want to live with each version for a while to see how the soundstage changes as you add multiple source points. The 4" dynamic drivers mate sonically a little better with the big 15" woofers than the ribbons did, as they are just a little slower sounding (the crossover point is transparent). All in all a very good match. Maybe Adrian will comment as he has heard the new speaker design.

Happy New Year to all the great Gassers.

Chris H.

[Joe_K]

A Happy and Prosperous New Year to all.
JK

[RSquires]

Sorry I am getting to this thread late, but I wanted to wish everyone a happy new year as well! Bob, I still need to come and hear your system. It sounds like Chris liked what he heard

Rick

[Bob in St. Louis]

Rick, send me a PM/email if you're ever bored on a weekend.
I'm (almost) always home and eager to have a fellow dude come over for a listen, view, and a cocktail or two. 

Bob  - Always eager to show-off.

p.s. I haven't forgot about that 'other thing', but my buddy hasn't been able to get a straight answer yet.

[daves]

A happy new year to all! Here's hoping we can get through this next year in good shape, with lots of music and fun for all

[jedi35]

Hello all,

I tried to send a rather lenghty reply from my cell phone this morning, only to lose the text when it tried to post. I'll respond again when I get in front of a real computer, with my thoughts on Chris' system and a battery power supply he built and revamped for me.

Adrian

[jedi35]

I made the mistake of trying to reply a second time from my touch screen phone, and touched the wrong button. The entire message was lost again. Oh joy. Let's try this again. I've had the pleasure of hearing Chris' system several times. With the ribbons in place, I'd heard the largest, most finely detailed soundstage of any system I'd experienced. Tonal balance was very good, and the speed of the system was something to hear. However, with the OBs in place, especially with 3 of the 4" drivers on each side, the system started taking on some new qualities. I began hearing a rare cohesiveness, and the inner detailing was first rate. Chris is right, the OBs mate much better to the large woofers than the ribbons did.

Enter the new battery powered amplification. OMG!! I simply was not ready for this. It was hard to imagine how things could get better, but I didn't have to imagine it. I heard it. Guys, you just have to go over and hear for yourselves. You won't believe it. I heard it, and I still don't believe it. Out of a black, noiseless background rose rivers of liquid sound that defied any sense of boundaries or confinement by any earthly devices such as speakers. It was just me, Chris, and the music. It's the closest to live sound that I've heard to date. You all owe it to yourselves to get over to Chris' and be amazed. You will not be sorry.

Chris reworked a battery power supply he designed and built for my Audio Alchemy DTI Pro and the 3.0 D to A converter with HDCD. I already loved the original version of the bps unit, but we had problems getting a long enough charge to conduct any listening. Chris replaced all the batteries, and also added a second transformer, atleast that's what I remember from his explanation. While my system doesn't yet match up to his glorious magic, it has risen several levels because of this new battery power supply. I'm quite proud of what I'm getting now. The sound is less fatiguing, more dynamic and subtle, powerful and yet subtle, bright yet dark. Next, I need to try his interconnects and power cords for some true revelations. I'd also like to get my hands on a digital speaker processor with room corection down the road. This is exciting. I haven't had many over to listen because there are things I still want to work on, but I'm so happpy with my progress. Perhaps it's time to start sharing.

Adrian

[innov8ion]

Looks like I'm a month late.  In any case, happy holidays! 

[Bob in St. Louis]

Right back 'atcha dude. Enjoy the snow! 

Bob