The Rage Date is Set!

Russtafarian · « **on:** 25 Apr 2006, 04:17 am »

Saturday, May 6th I'll be hosting the next SoCal Audio Rage get-together at my place in Westminster from 2 to 5pm or whenever we get done.

Bring your favorite music and we'll spin tunes and talk audio. PM me to let me know if you're coming and to get directions. See ya then.

Russ

John Casler · « **Reply #1 on:** 25 Apr 2006, 04:23 am »

Coooolll!

Hey Russ, I'm gonna try and make it.

Are we doing any equipment swapping, of any type?

I could easily bring the Ref 9's if anyone wants to hear them on your rig.

I'm trying to plug it into my schedule.

Russtafarian · « **Reply #2 on:** 25 Apr 2006, 08:09 pm »

Thanks John.

I'm not going to say no to the Ref 9's, but given my bi-amp set up, swapping amps involves resetting and even re-eq'ing subwoofer/surround levels. But if there's enough interest, we can certainly do it.

If we want to do some gear comparisons, I suggest we focus on source components. An interesting comparison that we can run is listening to a CD from the Sony-ES, PC disc drive and PC hard drive. The differences are subtle but fascinating.

Russ

Hajime Sato · « **Reply #3 on:** 25 Apr 2006, 08:48 pm »

Russ, I'm looking forward to it.

Everyone: As I have seen and heard Russ's system before, I can guarantee that this will be a great session. It is a very unique system, and the sound will blow your mind!

tnewell · « **Reply #4 on:** 25 Apr 2006, 09:13 pm »

Russ,

Count me in!!!

Tom

John Casler · « **Reply #5 on:** 25 Apr 2006, 09:38 pm »

Quote from: Russtafarian

Thanks John.

I'm not going to say no to the Ref 9's, but given my bi-amp set up, swapping amps involves resetting and even re-eq'ing subwoofer/surround levels. But if there's enough interest, we can certainly do it.

If we want to do some gear comparisons, I suggest we focus on source components. An interesting comparison that we can run is listening to a CD from the Sony-ES, PC disc drive and PC hard drive. The differences are subtle but fascinating.

Russ

No problem, the less equipment swaps the better. The 9's are just the only thing (besides a cable or two) that I can throw in the car easily.

I'd much rather bring Reference Cut CD's and hear your rig.

Mad DOg · « **Reply #6 on:** 2 May 2006, 09:41 pm »

sounds like it's gonna be alot of fun...and i'm missing out again...i wish i could make it, but i've just got too much going on right now....

have fun, guys!

John Casler · « **Reply #7 on:** 2 May 2006, 09:53 pm »

Crud

I have a client in from Pennsylvania, who is coming up from a San Diego trip and found out he can only come in on SAT.

I may have to take a bye, unless I can work out the scheduling.

(Just got in Stan Warren's SuperPhon pre-amp too)

Russtafarian · « **Reply #8 on:** 4 May 2006, 11:41 pm »

For those who are planning on coming by Saturday, please drop me a PM or email so I can give you my address and driving directions. See y’all on Saturday.

Russ

Russtafarian · « **Reply #9 on:** 4 May 2006, 11:42 pm »

duplicate message deleted

Russtafarian · « **Reply #10 on:** 4 May 2006, 11:43 pm »

For those who are planning on coming by Saturday, please drop me a PM or email so I can give you my address and driving directions. See y’all on Saturday.

Russ

Hajime Sato · « **Reply #11 on:** 9 May 2006, 03:23 am »

Russ, thanks for the great listening session. As always, you are a gracious host and we all had a great time. It's a bit late, but I'd like to post a brief report.

This was my second time at Russ's. I won't list all his equipment here but he has a very nice, involved system set-up. The core of the system is a pair of Anthony Gallo Nucleus Reference speakers driven by Quicksilver tube monoblocks. The lower frequencies from Sony multichannel preamp are fed through Outlaw ICBM, digital equalizer and his hand-made multichannel digital power amp to a pair of hand-made stereo subwoofers.

With the combination of measurements and fine-tuning by ear, Russ has achieved a seamless integration of the main speakers and subs. The system sounds dynamic, powerful, detailed and tuneful. You get the best of both worlds: sweet and airy treble and luscious mids from the tube amp and the Gallos; and the chest-pounding bass from the stereo subs and digital amplification. The integration is so seamless that you never "hear" the subs. The wood bass and bass drum kicks seem to come from where they should be coming from: somewhere between the Gallos.

For surround sound, Russ uses a pair of small Maggies for the rear channels, driven by the same digital amp modules as used for the subs. If you want to hear the potential of a well-recorded and mixed surround music, you've got to hear his system. I was blown away when I heard Kodo's 'Mondo Head' here for the first time, and it was no less impressive the second time. We also had an interesting comparison of different surround mixes of Pink Floyd's 'Dark Side of the Moon.'

We also had a brief two-channel playback comparison: Russ's Sony NS999SE's CD playback; its SACD playback; Ah! Njoe Tjoeb 4000 CD Player with upsampling board (mine); and Russ's hard disk based PCM playback (Apple lossless compression, i-Tunes and outboard soundcard). We used Rebecca Pidgeon's 'Spanish Harlem' which bore repeated listening well.

I'd have to say the SACD was the best, with its detailed textures for bass, sweet and extended treble and 'air' around instruments. As for other PCM playback, each had their own strengths and it was hard to judge which was better. My Njoe Tjoeb had that rich midrange and the sound balance tilted a bit toward the low end while the Sony's balance tilted toward the treble which was more extended. The computer playback had a surprisingly liquid texture and very quiet background.

If I'm forced to state my preference, it would be Ah! the first (I admit I'm biased), the computer playback the second and the Sony the third. But I repeat that this is just my preference and that the differences were very subtle.

We had a great time listening to our favorite music, both two- and multi-channel, marveling at Russ's wonderful system and talking audio. Russ, I can't thank you enough for your hospitality. Also, please send our regards and thanks to April and the boys who kindly opened their house for us and let us have fun.

Russtafarian · « **Reply #12 on:** 9 May 2006, 04:27 am »

Thanks for your complimentary comments Hajime. We had a great time spinning tunes and talking audio. With five of us there, we all had plenty of opportunities to play our favorite cuts and get quality time in the sweet spot.

Roman brought by his Alan Parson quad mix of DSOTM on DVD-A which blew us away. What an interesting contrast to the SACD MC mix; sparser, more organic and more etherial sounding... Art brought by his CD sampler disc with an XRCD cut of a bass clarinet performance that was breathtaking. And Hajime brought the MA recordings SACD sampler which just took us to another world musically. What a great trip! We even broke out the vinyl and revelled in analog glory for a few moments complements of an old Emmylou Harris record. This is my favorite part of a get-together like this; sharing and experiencing great music together.

Thanks y'all for coming by. We'll have to do it again real soon.

Russ