Hiya Guys,
The days are growing shorter until our Christmas gathering. As you all know, the event will be this Saturday the 10th. We'll get things going about 2:00. You are welcome to show up earlier but expect to be put to work cleaning, rearranging or doing final tweaks to the systems
Looks as if this is going to be a pretty good sized event. At last count, I think there will be sometwhere between 20 and 25 people that will be here (including everybody bringing friends).
As I mentioned, we’ll have at least three systems plus my fledgling home theatre to play with. Some of the gear I expected to show up, didn't. Thats OK, we've still got plenty to sample. Here are the systems.
FleapoweredAH! Tjeob, upsampled, tubed
Sony SACD 595
Opera LP-5 Turntable, Dynavector 507 arm, various carts
Slee Jazz Club phono stage
Highly modded Korato KVP 20, tubed pre and phonostage
Pioneer SF-750 active crossover
Welborne 300B DRD monoblocks driving the Lowthers
AKSA 55 driving the 15” Goodmans
Big Fun SystemArcam 8se CD player
Pioneer Universal player (SACD, DVD-A)
Audio Note TT-1 turntable
Highly modified Korato KVP-10 tubed pre
NHT active XO (guest gear borrowed from Tim)
Highly modded Radii GS-75’s running KT-88’s and driving Odyssey Epiphony’s
Spectro Acoustics SR-500 driving a pair of 12 Adire Shiva’s.
Mystery System (subject to change)
Lazarus tubed pre with phono stage
Odyssey Khartago SS Amp (guest gear)
ADC CD player
Dual 504 turntable (modified, it doesn't sound like a Dual anymore)
Aperion 633 floorstanders (guest gear)
Guest Gear (scheduled to arrive between now and then)
Stock Squeezebox, computer based music server interface
Red Wine modified Squeezebox, computer based music server interface
Bolder modified Squeezebox, computer based music server interface (two versions on hand)
?Dared VP300B with Shugang tubes? Brents 300B rig
Yamamoto 300B (Blackmore)
50 Convertable amp (Willie creation)
As for gear that you all could bring, the only thing I can think of is maybe Sturgus' modified CAL DAC. Honestly, the DAC's on the modified Squeezeboxes sound pretty darned good. A good tubed DAC will do what a tube DAC does but an average external DAC probably won't sound better than the modded onboard DACs.
As for food or drink to bring, this is what we'll have on hand (that way you can determine what else you may want). We'll have grilled burgers, salsizza (sp, Italian sausage), ribs, cheesey potato casserole (sp), chilie cheese dip, chips and salsa, veggie tray, and mixed fruit (grapes, strawberry's, and the like). I'll have Pepsi and Diet Caffine Free Pepsi on hand. I'll also have a limited amount of tastey spirits (light and dark) on hand but I won't have any beer (sorry, I don't normally drink it, Scotch and Burbon are my drinks of choice).
If it rains within four days of the gathering
it is not safe to park on the grass in my front yard (ask Sturgus). I'd suggest parking up on the street and walking down. Just pull past my driveway and up the hill a ways (don't forget there will be guys parking behind you so pull up fairly far). Of course, if you are bringing something big or heavy, drive up, unload, then please park up on the street. I've got room for about 7 or 8 cars up near the house on the driveway, so if you want those, better show up early
I'll email all the new guys directions later this week (Wednesday probably). If you've been here before and need them again, drop me a line.
Thats all I can think of for now. If I think of anything else, I'll make another post.
