I would like to thanks Dan and his family for the great hospitality. We had great food and music. It is nice to meet many members of the Mid-Atlantic AC. This is indeed a happy bunch that loves much about music. It was indeed a good afternoon well spent. Thanks again and I look forward to future gatherings. .
Thanks Howard…The Get-Together was a great time and the Family enjoyed having all of you over for the afternoon. Many tunes were played, discussions about many aspects of audio were discussed – intelligently and without barbs flying
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]p.s. I am listening to the CD. Check out track 7 in your system: it is a nice organ track.
Howard…Glad you are enjoying the compilation CD and the many great songs on it. It is one of my favorite Redbook CD’s to date showing some of the true capabilities of Redbook when done correctly.
The gathering at Dan's yesterday was indeed a pleasure. Everything from his system to the hot dogs from Buffalo with his sister's home-made mustard-relish was great. My thanks to him and his family for making us feel so welcome, well-fed and content. My thanks also go to his fish for the wonderful visual entertainment, which even I could appreciate.
Stan…The Hot Dogs you are referring to are Salen’s. They are some of the best Hot Dogs I have found to date. The only other brand that I have eaten, that rank up there with Salen’s are Maple Leaf Hot Dogs from the New England area – those are good too!!
The Fish Tank is a great piece of eye-candy and everyone that comes into our home loves looking at it. Due to its size, it looks like a daunting task for upkeep, but in reality it only takes about 2 hours per month to keep it looking top notch. The biggest thing for any fish tank is the filtration of the tank. With my tank it has a filtration rate of 2000 Gallons/Hour – this equates to a good looking tank and healthy fish.
Dan's Martin-Logan panels were splendid, offering up extremely natural vocal reproduction, with all the speed and detail one could ever want. The reproduction of female vocals was downright seductive. I was also impressed with the sound of Dan's Plinius power amp, especially after it warmed up. He is correct in his assertion that it is more tube-like in the midrange and treble than most solid-state amplifiers and it sounded a perfect match for the M-L panels. It is a room-heater in class A mode though, I wouldn't want to run it that way on a July day with poor air-conditioning.
Martin Logan speakers are unique speakers, and the CLSIIz’s that I own are a unique version, as they are full range panels with no additional woofers added like other Hybrid ML Models. I have found that people either love them or hate ML for their sound reproduction. While ML’s do not do everything well, I have yet to find a speaker that does everything well independent of cost.
The mids (vocals) and high end are where an ML speaker really shines IMO. The CLS play very well up to a certain volume level and then the sound becomes bright, compressed, etc. But since most of my listening levels occur in the 75dB-85dB range, this is never a factor for me and my setup. I am in the camp of Quality over Quantity. I have had my days of 100dB+ SPL’s and those days are long gone. Even the other planar, electrostatic, or ribbon speakers that I have heard do not sound good at higher levels as they do at lower levels. Again I appreciate the Quality of Quantity aspect of sound reproduction. IMO, if you want head banging, hearing reducing, levels of music there are much better choices that planar, electrostatic, or ribbon speakers.
I consider the weakest point in my 2-Channel setup as bass reproduction, due to my room and current equipment. The Velodyne SMS-1 and room treatment has been a real asset to improving the bass, but the Main Sub Amp that I normally use with the sub is currently being worked on, and the replacement amp just does not control the sub the way the Main Sub Amp can. (But I am glad to have another amp sitting around as a replacement) Considering that I have spent under $1k on the entire Sub section (Velodyne, Amp, & Sub), the performance versus cost is excellent. Hopefully over time, and when I can get some funds that the kids are not sucking up for college, I can upgrade that part of my system.
The following is my opinion and comments on Bass: Bass reproduction is critical in keeping music from sounding too sterile and thin. A lot of setups that I have heard tend to put the Bass Player and the Drummer too far back on the sound stage. I have yet to hear a Jazz Group where the Bass and Drummer are subdued or located FAR BACK on the sound stage, as much as most people want or configure that part sound to be. But then again too much bass and/or boom is just as bad. I recently have heard the NSO at the Strathmore Music Hall with an organist and the low end octave was simply amazing, filling the entire hall with not only defined and accurate bass, but also with feeling and presence. Without this type of bass in our systems, the warmth, depth, ambience, and feeling of the music is lost. Now, I am not saying to add the boom, boom, boom, to our systems, but remember that live music is not sterile or thin sounding as the kick drum and bassist are very evident in the music being played.
]It was also a convincing demonstration of the strengths and weaknesses of current multi-channel reproduction. When the recording was right for 5-Channel, such as the new Pentatone SACD Dan played, the spaciousness, warmth and detail of the classical ensemble were exemplary. On the other hand, the multi-channel reproduction of my Moody Blues "Days of Future Passed" SACD was pretty artificial sounding at times, especially when the vocal tracks came exclusively from the rear speakers.
The surround processor that I currently use is very main stream, and is used primarily for HT Movies, but since it is there I also use it for SACD MCH listening – primarily for Classical Music. Classical Music uses the MCH mix properly (in most cases) IMO, as the surrounds are used more for ambience instead of placing instruments there. As Stan noted, the Moody Blues MCH was not bad until the vocal came exclusively from the surrounds. Personally I have never attended a performance where I am sitting in the middle of the group playing
Also, with Classical MCH, the addition of the center channel really helps solidify the orchestral instrument placement across the entire width of the stage.
In order to improve my reproduction of MCH Music, I would need to upgrade to a much more expensive processor and that is not my intention for the system, as my priorities are 2-Channel with the abilities for HT Movies for the family. I did do a quick demo of a couple of movies for people while they were there just for fun.
I agree. I've never heard Ana Caram sound sexier. Sorry about the wet spot on your couch, Dan. Her presence makes one forget/not care that other speakers may offer some things, like extreme dynamics, that some may find lacking in electrostatics. Priorities indeed. . . Thanks for spinning my discs, and thanks to the Mrs. for the tea.
Den, thank you for bringing many different discs and artists for all of us to listen to. I have seen the Ana Caram discs on Chesky and have heard some short cuts, but never entire songs, and was very impressed with the quality of the discs, her vocals, and the music accompaniment. It was very nice.
You make a great point about ML speakers, as they are not rockers or high level type speakers. Again as I stated above, IMO, they are more about Quality not Quantity. There are much better options out there for people to choose from if they want higher levels of SPL’s.
BTW, the wife always enjoys another tea drinker and sharing her leaves!!! We were glad to assist you with proper beverages!!!
Thanks Dan. Sorry I had to leave early but I am glad I got there early to go over your set up with you. You certainly have done a lot of work setting up your MLs with good matching gear and judicious work on your room. I like it. Since I am a sucker for good female singing, yours get two thumbs up for me. The bass augmented with your sub is good and your crossover toy definitely makes it easy for sub integration. I hope I can spend more time with yours system in the future. My Sound Labs I set up for my mother does not sound as intimate as yours and I would like to get them to be as engaging as yours. Thanks again to you and your family for making us feel at home.
Woodsyi…So glad you could make it over to share some good music and good food with the rest of us. Most of your comments I have addressed above with comment to the other members.
The ability to setup planar, electrostatics, or ribbons, takes great care not only with the room but also with associated equipment. I am not saying that regular cone driven speakers are a snap to setup, just extra care needs to be taken with planar, electrostatics, or ribbons. They are so finicky with room placement and up-stream components, and is the main reason why most people who audition them do not like them. Why? The stores usually have bad placement and/or bad component matching to make them really show their true abilities.
I have heard Sound Lab speakers and absolutely love their sound. But again proper placement and associated electronics are required in order to make them “sing” properly. Being that the setup is at Mom’s house, I am not sure how much tweaking you plan on doing to them in order to reach their potential.
Thanks again to all the MAAC members who showed up making the afternoon a great way to enjoy food, listen to music, and enjoy and discuss each others audio opinions.
Later….Dan
