[Marbles]

Yesterday I had a little GTG.

Attendees were Robert Schult and Steve Rothermel of Ridge Street Audio, Eric Hider, DrPhoto and his significant other Nancy, and TomS.

Robert brought a brand new (not broken in) set of Poiema!!! speaker cables and a GREAT power cable, Steve brought his wonderful Sasson granit speakers, Joe brought Gregg Straley Reality speaker and IC cables, Eric brought an APL modded Marantz CD player and a Superphon III pre-amp.

In Eric's system with his Dodd tube amps and large Epiphony 21/20 speakers, the Superphon sounded better than my Bent transformer based pre (silver TX102 transformers and Seidon volume control).

In my system with my SS amps and the APL CDP, it was a wash.  They sounded too similar to draw any conclusions, for me anyway.

We tried Straley IC's in place of my CVH Pulsars (cryo'd with WBT NExtgen copper) and they made Jennifer Warren sound like she was singing from the bottom of a toilet.  We then put the Straley speaker cable in place of the Ridge Street (and kept the Straley IC's in) and it snapped everything into place.
WARNING: don't judge the Straley IC's until you here them with the Straley speaker cable.

IMO the Straley and the Ridge Street speaker cables sounded about on the same level, with the difference in price it would be an easy decision.

We tried the Straley Speaker wire with the Pulsars and it sounded fine..again about as good as the RSA's.

There were two real eye openers for me.  The first was the APL $1200 MArantz CDP is wonderful.

The second was Robert Schults new power cable.

When we put his new PIII speaker cable in the system, we had too much bass..like the bass was muddy and smeared.

We put 3 of his power cables in the system, one on the APL, one of the pre, and one on the power filter.  When we put the last one on the pre, the bass smoothed out and everything got relaxed.  The bass was destinct and as bad as it was before, it now went to the other side and was detailed etc..and just the way I like it.

Anyway his PC's are the real deal...but extremely expensive

It's not true that DrPhoto only likes Nancy for her convertible BMW....she is pretty and nice...but what's she see in him???

It was a pleasure to meet Tom S, a great guy from my town and a newbie to AC, but not to high end.

Thanks to Steve and Robert for bringing their wares, they always have some top drawer stuff to listen to.

Steves Sasson's are a world class 2 way made from granit with XO's designed by George Short.  As Nancy said in regards to the speakers, they are Great and Great.  I agree.

Specail thanks to Eric for the Superphon III and APL.

The best part for me was when the grownups beat the children at kickball...a great way to clean the ears from hours of listening...we even got Schult to play a bit..all in all, I think a great time was had by all.

[lonewolfny42]

Rob...Did you happen to notice any increase in volume (did it sound louder) when using the Straley SC's and IC's together ? Thanks.

Chris[/list:u]

[Marbles]

Rob...Did you happen to notice any increase in volume (did it sound louder) when using the Straley SC's and IC's together ? Thanks.

Chris[/list:u]

Yes!!

Well actually when we went to the Straley IC's, keeping the RSA speaker cables, it was more like "did someone turn the volume down"?  Then when we put the Straley speaker cables in, the volume went back up  

[lonewolfny42]

Rob...Did you happen to notice any increase in volume (did it sound louder) when using the Straley SC's and IC's together ? Thanks.

Chris[/list:u]

Yes!!

Well actually when we went to the Straley IC's, keeping the RSA speaker cables, it was more like "did someone turn the volume down"?  Then when we put the Straley speaker cables in, the volume went back up  

Thats it....increase measure's between 2 to 4db...as per Radio Shack SLM.

[zybar]

Yesterday I had a little GTG.

Attendees were Robert Schult and Steve Rothermel of Ridge Street Audio, Eric Hider, DrPhoto and his significant other Nancy, and TomS.

Robert brought a brand new (not broken in) set of Poiema!!! speaker cables and a GREAT power cable, Steve brought his wonderful Sasson granit speakers, Joe brought Gregg Straley Reality speaker and IC cables, Eric brought an APL modded Marantz CD player and a Superphon III pre-amp.

In Eric's system with his Dodd tube amps and large Epip ...

Sounds like a lot of fun!

Thanks for the report.

George

[zybar]

Rob...Did you happen to notice any increase in volume (did it sound louder) when using the Straley SC's and IC's together ? Thanks.

Chris[/list:u]

Why would this combo be louder?

It is really louder (measured) or perception?

George

[lonewolfny42]

Rob...Did you happen to notice any increase in volume (did it sound louder) when using the Straley SC's and IC's together ? Thanks.

Chris[/list:u]

Why would this combo be louder?

It is really louder (measured) or perception?

George

With a full set of Straley...SC's and IC's...and not changing the volume control (same volume), they are 2-4db louder....I measured the volume with a analog SLM, Radio Shack. If I put in the RSA IC's...its lower in volume.

Setup :[/list:u]
Butler amp - Phillips CD-80 player w/volume control - Mirage M3 speakers....very plain and simple setup.[/list:u]

[JoshK]

One can guess the resistance (DC & AC?) is higher for the RSA cables if the volume is lower.  I didn't know cables could have enough resistance to make that much of a difference though.  Were the lengths similar?

[Marbles]

In my case, RSA 14', GS Reality 16'.

My RSA has not had a problem with other IC's to this extant that I'm aware of.  At this point I would put it down to the GS IC not integrating well with the RSA speaker cable, and or it having wonderful synergy with the Reality speaker cable.

[lonewolfny42]

One can guess the resistance (DC & AC?) is higher for the RSA cables if the volume is lower.  I didn't know cables could have enough resistance to make that much of a difference though.  Were the lengths similar?

Josh,

All IC's are 1M.[/list:u]
Straley SC's - 8 Feet[/list:u]
RSA MSE II SC's- 6 Feet.[/list:u]
Chris[/list:u]

[JoshK]

Then the resistance for the RS cables has to be higher then if it attenuates the signal (relative to the other) by 2-4db.

[lonewolfny42]

The big plus for me has been getting better bass from the Butler amps using the Straley SC's and IC's....much improved !!! I was not that happy with the bass in the past.They seem to be a better match with this amp.......and I don't mind that they sound louder as well....

[zybar]

Then the resistance for the RS cables has to be higher then if it attenuates the signal (relative to the other) by 2-4db.

I am not getting any difference in db's when I switched from TG Audio HSR speaker cable to Gregg's.  I am not using his ic though.

George

[lonewolfny42]

Then the resistance for the RS cables has to be higher then if it attenuates the signal (relative to the other) by 2-4db.

I am not getting any difference in db's when I switched from TG Audio HSR speaker cable to Gregg's.  I am not using his ic though.

George

Try Straley SC...and your IC....then switch to the Straley IC...see if you can measure a db difference.

[Marbles]

Some pics:



Playing some rockin' air guitar music....Robert looks a little tense lying there all knotted up like that



Those Sansui speakers can play loud






Everyone seemed to love my Butt*
Hell, I wasn't even drinking and I was on the floor!!
I did find that elusive CD though

[Marbles]

Blackmail picture of Eric right before closing time  



more pictures can be found here:

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?action=gallery;area=browse;user=4

[TomS]

Obviously, we had a great time at Marbles place (as you can tell by the incriminating pix - it's fortunate I left before things really got out of hand).  

I definitely have to reinforce what we heard with the RidgeStreet power cords.  The bass articulation really improved with lower hangover.  Overall, just plain better control on bass that already sounded very, very good on the Salks.

The Sasons were impressive as well.  Seems like a lot of careful thought and hard work/development time have gone into them.  I'm just glad I didn't get asked to carry them up and down the stairs.  A big thanks to Steve for lugging them round trip.

....oh the smoked butt roll was killer too

[audiojerry]

...oh the smoked butt roll was killer too

I hope he's not talking about that photo of Marble's butt.

[TomS]

..uh to clarify, Marbles is also quite the chef on the ceramic smoker (see earlier post)

[ehider]

Here's some feedback from EHider's perspective of Marblefest 2005:

 - As always, Rob was the perfect host that set the standard for what an Audio get together is all about! His pork butt in particular (the one that was cooked mind you) was as tender and juicy as one could imagine. Many kudos to his family also as they are surreal in their manners and hospitality. I am convinced that Rob's chidren were only exposed to one TV show their first 6 years of their lives (Leave it to Beaver) not to mention his wife must have been sent to a hypnotist.

- The pre-amp showdown definately showed that the Superphon guys mean business with their new offering. Rob's pre-amp was special made and built beyond the level of what is offered to the public. For the Superphon unit to meet or exceed those standards really says something of this new design. Personally I felt the Superphon was slightly more open than Rob's and offered up as much detail without having any sonic downsides whatsoever. I think it's not a stretch to say that the Superphon may just be one of the most transparent pre-amps on the planet regardless of price or topology! Then again I may be biased becasue it has beaten everything else I've ever compared it to in regard to that sonic charactaristic. Can we say "trasparency re-defined!"

- The interconnect comparison revealed quite a few surprises that I was not expecting. For starters we all learned that some cables should not be mixed. The Reality interconnects and Ridge Street's loudspeaker wires worked completely against each other allowing neither to show their capabilities. In my expericene I've always found mixing cables problematic, but in this case it was so obvious that these two were definatley not mutually exclusive when put together. As far as using the Reality interconnects and loudspeaker cables together it definatley showed that Gregg Straley has produced a combination that knocks on the door of world class cables without breaking the bank. That combination sounded very balanced and open on Marbles' system without any sort of notable sonic issues or downfalls whatsoever IMHO. Way to go Gregg Straley!

- One of the biggest eye openers for myself   was the sonic improvement yielded by the new Ridge Street Audio power cords. Those wires are jsut damn amazing at what they do! When we switched them into the system the bass took on a change in flow and ebb that I had never ever experienced before when changing power cords. Up until that point I always heard differences with many different power cord change outs, but nothing like this! On a great system that shows the finer details (such as Marble's this using these PC's is a no brainer! I think that Robert (of Ridge Street) may be on to a breakthrough here that sets a new standard in power cord design. Way to go Robert Schult!

- Another interesting standout were the Sason granite loudspeakers. For the first time it was very obvious that Steve (the designer) has produced a lightning fast sound delivery system. I'm not sure that I ever appreciated the speed of his speakers until that day. They seem to have electrostatic delivery of transients that make them one special speaker indeed! If I had a smaller listening room I'd be beating down the doors to get these into my own sonic showdown with other world class contenders. Since my room is a bit bigger though (39' x 29') I guess I'll have to live with my Epiphanys. Oh well, the things you have to sacrifice for a big room

- I don't think any of the above findings would have been possible without the improvements that were made to Marble's room. The sound absorption on the right wall really allowed the image and spectral defintion to come about from his sound system. I'm again reminded of the most important part of the sonic equation   the room itself! If I see one more picture of a "audiophile's listening room" with the speakers in the corners or speakers close walls that are untreated I will have to write something nasty and put them in their place It still seems like it is the MOST OVERLOOKED part of the sonic equation by way too many of us audio geeks. The transformation in Marble's room was NOT SUBTLE and that is only from about 10 square feet of foam absorbers.

- One more point, I was also impressed with the bass tautness and tunefullness of the Salks. This was the first time I heard them sound very balanced with great bass tunefullness. IMHO they obviously need a decent sized room and don't like being placed near corners or the front wall. Once they are in the right sized room a location they definately do bass definition damn good indeed! Even better than the RM-40's that Rob previously had in their location. Sorry Brian, but there's always a new kid on the block and the Salk's have the RM-40's beat hands down in the bass deparment IMHO.

- Lastly, I don't remember anything about making propositions to a Deer mounted on Marble's wall. Obviously that photo was someone's dasterdly work with Photoshop  Perhaps Joe a.k.a. "Dr. Photo" is the culprit