Bay Area Ra8

Berndt · « **Reply #20 on:** 3 Jul 2006, 08:46 pm »

Al is sending the ht8s for our August 6th listening session.
It looks like we will have the RA8s, HT8s, Ht3s, and the Selah tanzenites from the California tour.
Front end is midfi. Luxman 100wpc integrated, B&O TT, Olive musica (fingers crossed).
Please pm for address that way I can keep track of how many ribs I'll need to have on hand...

MUstageFan · « **Reply #21 on:** 4 Jul 2006, 01:05 am »

Hi my name is Ben Reginato and i live at the Crossing across from the Tanforan Mall,I have reserved the club room (which holds 100+) for Oct. 8 th for a Speaker&Tube DIY Festival. Is there any way those speakers could make it there? The Club room has a full kitchen I could bring a Modwright 9000 SACD player and a custom tube amp. My phone is # 650 588-8505 if you would like to talk further about it.

Berndt · « **Reply #22 on:** 4 Jul 2006, 03:50 pm »

Ben, email sent.

Berndt · « **Reply #23 on:** 12 Jul 2006, 11:14 pm »

Aug 6th is the date, and 1pm in the afternoon is the time.
If someone would bring a digital camera that would be nice.
Bill

R_burke · « **Reply #24 on:** 1 Aug 2006, 06:18 pm »

Quote from: Berndt on 12 Jul 2006, 11:14 pm

Aug 6th is the date, and 1pm in the afternoon is the time.
If someone would bring a digital camera that would be nice.
Bill

I can bring a camera along with the HT3s and some microbrew. What are people's preferences regarding beer...IPA, Amber, Stout, all of the above

RAW · « **Reply #25 on:** 1 Aug 2006, 11:02 pm »

Just a heads up, recieved notification that the HT8 have just arrived to Bills.

R_burke · « **Reply #26 on:** 1 Aug 2006, 11:41 pm »

Quote from: RAW on 1 Aug 2006, 11:02 pm

Just a heads up, recieved notification that the HT8 have just arrived to Bills.

I second the emoticon

Berndt · « **Reply #27 on:** 2 Aug 2006, 07:55 pm »

time to change the thread title to when will the RA8s be done?
Denise my wife loves the veneer finish on the HT8s enough to make me suspect I will have to enlist Al to make the same finish on a set of RA8 cabinets for me and end the wait from my "friends".
Denise prefers black lager while I prefer IPA.
Perfected a new Louisana style dry rib rub, this will be served on sunday.
Is there a sugested placement for the ht8s, Al?
I believe that Matthew from Olive will be attending and bringing an opus so we can A/B with the musica.

RAW · « **Reply #28 on:** 2 Aug 2006, 09:56 pm »

Bill
Room to room
Try them out from the wall 2-3ft .
You may find facing the woofers out if placed close to a wall can really load a room.
Just swap the speakers locations and fire them into each other and this will reduce the loading.

Berndt · « **Reply #29 on:** 3 Aug 2006, 05:39 pm »

There will be 6 or so people coming that are not AC'ers. A brewer, his friend, and a dj just to mention a few...

RAW · « **Reply #30 on:** 5 Aug 2006, 03:17 am »

Can we say walls will be a shaking at Bills.

Any Idea from you people that are going to Bills, he needs a few dozen bass traps after the HT8 got going

Not from a pair of 6.8" drivers

Say it is not so

jackthecat · « **Reply #31 on:** 5 Aug 2006, 05:09 am »

Hope as many of you guys put your thoughts down before hitting the brews!
I for one am very interested to read the review on this RAW shootout.!!

Cheers

MUstageFan · « **Reply #32 on:** 6 Aug 2006, 03:34 am »

HI BILL,

I do not have the address for the event and i would so much like to attend.
I could bring a Modwright SACD player and a pair of tube amps if you would like.
Call or email me at 650-588-8505 .

Thanks Ben

James Romeyn · « **Reply #33 on:** 7 Aug 2006, 04:01 am »

Would love to read comments regarding the sound if anyone's up to it! I sure wish I could have made it.

yo2tup · « **Reply #34 on:** 7 Aug 2006, 04:27 am »

bill's shortribs were AWESOME! good beer, good ribs, good music

-kevin

Berndt · « **Reply #35 on:** 7 Aug 2006, 03:05 pm »

First I would like to thank everyone for attending and making the event a success! Secondly I want to thank Al for giving us the chance to listen to the HT8s.
The listening began with the HT8s as I had been listening to them through the musica/acurus dia 100.
Next up was Bens tube mono blocks powering Roberts Ht3s.
Not enough power for the ht3s but the tube sound was promising. We rotated the ht8s back in with the tubes and as they warmed up the sound stage grew deeper and deeper. Ben was using a modright sony sacd player with a tube output stage that was no slouch either.
This was the configuration we stayed in for the rest of the day. These were the first tube amps I have heard and they lived up to the hype, albiet the comparison is to the acurus which is a very stereotypical SS sounding amp.
The MTM presentation was very nice, my only nitpick would be the bass integration of the sidefiring woofers.
I made some bass traps at ALs suggestion, these helped for the boominess but there was still an issue on some songs were the bass seemed delayed. Not sure how I could have tuned the room further to allay this issue.
Robert took a bunch of pictures so I look forward to seeing them and hearing more comments from the attendies.
Thanks again, to everyone involved.
Bill

RAW · « **Reply #36 on:** 7 Aug 2006, 03:16 pm »

Bill can you or anyone else give us a low down on the room layout

As well what speakers did you have and what were the comments on them.

R_burke · « **Reply #37 on:** 7 Aug 2006, 05:42 pm »

I'll post some pictures and a more detailed review later, but for now here are my initial impressions.

Although we had the HT3s and the HT8s there along with some Selah audio monitors the only thing we listened to with any amount of time were the HT8s. Bill's RA8s weren't yet completed and the 3s and Selah weren't really efficient enough for the tubes amps. At one point we tried going back to the SS amp, but we all loved the tube sound so much that we went back to the tubes quickly. In summary this turned out to be more of a music listening session than a comparison of speakers, although the simple fact that the 3s and the Selah weren't compatible with smaller tube amps was a comparison of sorts. I'm not sure of the actual wattage on the amps that we used, they were DIY and used two EL509s in conjunction with two EL34s (I think) in a push-pull configuration. I can say that the HT3s sound wonderfull in my house with a tube amp (Sonic Frontiers Power 2), but it has a lot of power (115 per side)

The sound of the HT8s with the tube amps was superb and emotionally engaging. I can only imagine what the RA8s and/or the new towers will sound like with the right amplification.

BTW, the name is Richard, not Robert

Berndt · « **Reply #38 on:** 7 Aug 2006, 05:44 pm »

I'll give you the room dims and speaker placemnt details tonight when I get home.
The ht8s played the majority of the day due to their efficiency. The tube amps sounded so much better than my SS amp that we didn't want to spoil the music by hooking it back up. The ht8s could have used a solid 100wpc power to drive them as the 30~50wpc tube monoblocks Ben brought gave us just enough oomph to play at moderate listening levels.
All the speakers present were...
HT8s
HT3s
Selah Tanzenites
fr125s with a passive
m-130s set up on an OB

We really didn't do much equipment switching, we found the best match for the tubes and sat and listened to the music.
As soon as those amps warmed up the 3d detail became gripping.
I believe Kevin and his friend were preparring to leave when these amps warmed up they were gripped.
I hope Kevin posts more impressions!
Perhaps even comments regarding the playlist?
I was too busy cooking/hosting to really get a good listen early on.
I wish I would have thought of byamping the tanzenites yesterday, I saw the dual binding posts this morning and went duh!
We didn't play the tanzenites with the tubes because of their efficiency.
My listening room has a hallway on the side of the front speaker wall so I didn't try firing out with the woofers because I thought it would just kill the bass on that channel.

Berndt · « **Reply #39 on:** 7 Aug 2006, 05:47 pm »

Quote from: R_burke on 7 Aug 2006, 05:42 pm

BTW, the name is Richard, not Robert

sorry!

Bay Area Ra8

jackthecat