[Daygloworange]

Held on Saturday Jan. 27 & Sunday Jan 28 starting at noon, both days.

I'll update this as I get itinerary info. Keep checking this post.

Just a recap. The front end driving these amps will be a Bolder Cable fully analog modded Squeezebox 3/with Bolder Cable modded power supply, feeding into a Burson Buffer disrete op-amp, then out to the amps.

Speakers will be GR Research OB 5's (3 way, 91db sensitivity) and RAW Acoustics HT 8's (3 way, 88db sensitivity)

Interconnects and speaker cable will be by Bolder Cable and Electra Cable(GR Research supplied)



-Dodd Audio 120 mono blocs confirmed-----------------Sunday

    -McAlister MB 130 mono blocs confirmed.....                    .....Sunday

-Red Wine Audio Sig 70 mono blocs confirmed-------------Sunday

     -Song Audio SA-34 SB confirmed.....                            .....Saturday

-ATI 1202 confirmed------------------------------------Saturday & Sunday

    - Kallisto Audio 300 B confirmed.....                              .....Saturday & Sunday

-Moscode 401 HR confirmed-----------------------------Saturday & Sunday

     -Odyssey Audio Monoblock Extreme, Special Editions(SS) confirmed....            .....Saturday

- custom hybrid mono bloc prototypes (courtesy of MarkC ) confirmed------Sunday

     -Electrohome PA-100 MK-1's.  (KT-66) confirmed.....                .....Sunday

-Bryston 9B ST confirmed---------------------------------Saturday



Cheers

[Syrah]

Sorry for not getting back to you sooner Dayglow.  I should be able to bring my Dodds on the Sunday.

[Daygloworange]

Itinerary complete! 

Cheers 

[Daygloworange]

The Amp Comparo 2007 is on! 

Cheers

[bolly]

wooohooooo!!! have fun guys!! 

[Daygloworange]

Today's event went great! We had a lot of fun. 

For those that attended, here are the code numbers corresponding to the amps.

#280-------Bryston

    #16---------Moscode

#121------Odyssey

     #87 & #64-------ATI 1202   (Sneaky me, ran this amp twice, at different times)

#74-------Song Audio

     #317-------Kallista

#29-------Dynaco ST70

     #49--------McCormack DNA 0.5 Deluxe

On to tomorrows event. 

Cheers

[phowell1]

Thanks Spirit, Dayglow and the others who contributed to the running of the event, and to everyone else who made amp comparo 2007 so much fun. It has been a long time since I had so much fun, and the results were so interesting.

It clearly was a labour of love for those who hosted, as it is obvious how much work went into putting that together. The nature of the people and the running of the event put a good face on audiophilia- no snobs!

Dayglow, would you mind emailing me the results of the event overall, if they are to be tabulated? Also, would you include the playlist of the tunes/artists used during the event?

Nice to have met you all.

Has there been any talk of a theme for the next meet?

atb

[bolly]

pics of Sundays installment, thanks for the great time people! 

[Daygloworange]

Here was today's list of amps, and the corresponding code numbers we used in the blind test, in the order that they were played today.

#23---------Song Audio 300B mono blocs

    #42............Red Wine Audio Sig 70 mono blocs

#63---------McAlister MB-130 mono blocs

    #7.............Dodd 120 (modified) mono blocs

#94---------ATI 1202 (stereo)

    #74............Moscode 401HR (stereo)

#13---------Dynaco ST 70 (stereo)

    #17............Kallista 300B

#9----------MarkC's Fvalve mono bloc prototypes

    #85.............McCormack DNA 0.5 Deluxe (stereo)

#3----------Electrohome PA 100 MK-1 X2 mono blocs




Cheers 

[Daygloworange]

Now that it's in the history books, I'll run through the whole setup and procedure we when through for the TAAS Amp Comparo 2007.

THE SETUP:

The transport we used was a Bolder Cable modified Squeezebox 3 (fully modded analog section, Sonicaps w/Sonicaps platinum bypass caps/no Bybees) . The Squeezebox 3's power supply was a Bolder Cable Rev1 unit(with Jensen caps) with a cryo treated power cord/with Bybees. Interconnects were Bolder Cable with WBT ends. Speaker cables were simple OFC 14 AWG with gold plated banana plugs.

The speakers were custom built GR Research OB 5's. ( Three way design, 91 db sensitivity, 8ohm load)
We also had the RAW Acoustics HT 8's ( Three way design, 88 db sensitivty, 8 ohm load) on hand, but did not get around to them.

The Squeezebox 3 was fed straight to the amps (no pre-amp). No power conditioners were used on any components. The venue has it's own dedicated 30 Kva stepdown transformer, and the AC lines were measured to check for DC on the lines. There was none.

The venue is approx. 45'X 45' industrial building with a 17' high ceiling. The listening area was surrounded by 24 (30" X 72") Eckel acoustic panels of perforated metal (diffusion)facing with 2" rigid fiberglass insulation. Carpet was laid out on the floor from the back wall to a few feet in front of the speakers. A wall was erected behind the speakers of absorptive panels made of "Quash" (by Dow Chemical) to hide the amps from view of the participants.

This was a blind comparison. Amps were identified by a " random number" indentification only. No other details of the amps were given. At the end, we announced what "random number" corresponded to the amp it was assigned to. Participants were provided with tracks sheets with a rating scale on various sonic qualities and additional space to write their own observations for each individual amp.

Every amp was fed white noise(and measured on a "C" scale (measured slow) on an SPL meter at the same spot ( approx. 8 feet ) from the center line of the speaker baffles and volume adjusted to achieve a 95db reading, prior to listening. One amp max'ed out at 91db, and that was remarked to the listeners so that it was taken into account. All others hit 95 db.



A playlist was created on the Slim Devices "Slim Server" and was streamed to the Squeezebox 3 wirelessly. The playlist was played in the same order for every amp. Each track was played for approx 1 1/2 to 2 min. ( We used cues in the songs, so that the skips from song to song were consistent throughout the event)

The song list was as follows:

1- Michael Buble     " Fever"  & " You'll Never Find"
2-Chris Isaac        " Wicked Game"
3-Delerium             "Terra Firma"
4-KD Lang            " Save Me" & " Constant Craving"
5-Seal                 "Fly Like An Eagle" ( on Saturday, but omitted on Sunday's event)
6- Beethoven        "Fur Elise" (Bagatelle in A minor, Wo0 59)

The selections were chosen for the following criteria, variety of musical instruments, dynamics, timbre, nuance, male and female solo and harmony vocals, bass extension, transients, low level information, occurences of isolated feature instruments (and vocal), and overall sonics, low noise floor, frequency bandwidth and production value.

THE AMPS:

-Song Audio SA-300 MB mono blocs

    -Red Wine Audio Sig 70 mono blocs

-McAlister MB-130 mono blocs

    -Dodd Audio 120 (modified) mono blocs

-ATI 1202 (stereo)

    -Moscode 401HR (stereo)

-Dynaco ST 70 (stereo)

    -Kallista Audio Sinfonia 300 (stereo)

-markC's (prototype custom) Fvalve mono blocs

     -McCormack DNA 0.5 Deluxe (stereo)

-Electrohome PA 100 MK-1 X2 mono blocs

     -Bryston 9B ST (5 channel) (not pictured)

-Odyssey Audio Monoblock Extreme, Special Editions (not pictured)






I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did.

Cheers 

[RHB]

Hi Danny;

Truely a great effort on your part to put up with all of us for two entire days!  Many thanks. I think that a couple of lessons can be taken from this in that 11 amps was perhaps a little ambitious as a goal, 4 might have been more realistic and possibly allowed a little more variety on the choice of material. You did a remarkable job on keeping things objective and fair to all the participating equipment and I commend you for it now that my butt has finaly thawed out. 

[Daygloworange]

All the comments regarding on how things could have been done differently are completely valid. Keep in mind, this all started as an impromptu get together between a couple of TAAS members who commented that they would like to hear their amps play into the OB 5's.

So I thought about having a little get together with the owners of the amps on a weekend. Then I thought, why not make it a party, and put out an invite to other TAAS members....then it just progressed and got bigger and bigger and got serious. A lot of people thought that there was no way it could be pulled off with any success, and I had my own serious reservations about how it could turn out.

So I was working on how best to do it with the means and time available to do it as best as I could. I am extremely happy that everyone was able to clearly hear differences in every amp played, and they all sounded pretty darn good. I'm sure with a little tweeking, we could get it where we could hear differences even more clearly. I spent all day today talking with numerous industry people that were in attendance who participated and were very pleased at the results. All want to come back and do it again. That was the most rewarding compliment, as for us, it's all fun and games, but for the manufacturers, it's their reputation.

I would like to thank all the manufacturers that were in attendance and brought along their products. They were very cordial, and totally cool about the event. They were not demanding at all, pretty much just presented their gear and let us do our stuff. Thanks to all.

Gage Rommel / Moscode

Peter McAlister/ McAlister Audio

Song Kim/ Song Audio

Bruce Ng/ Kallisto Audio

MarkC/ Fvalve


HONOURABLE MENTION:

Vinnie Rossi/ Red Wine Audio   (while Vinnie was not in attendance, he did put me in touch with Paul Candy from 6moons who had the Sig 70's in for review, and Paul graciously drove in to offer them up for the Comparo)

Wayne /Bolder Cable for the IC's, SC's, PC's and Burson Buffer that was sent up for the Comparo.

Danny Richie/ GR Research for the OB 5 design, and ongoing technical support, also supplied us with Electra Cable IC's

Al Wooley/ RAW Acoustics for the HT 8's, and technical support.

All these guys contributed to making this the fun, informative, and educational event that it was.

Please give a big round of applause to all these guys. They all rock!   

Cheers

[G2moscode]

It was a long drive to get to and from Toronto, but well worth the effort.

I’d like to thank Denny for hosting and working hard putting the comparison together.
A stellar performance Denny! I’d also like to that thank the Toronto Area Audio Society for sponsoring. Moscode was glad to participate and welcomed the invitation. I met some great people and made some friends as well.

As the manufacturer of the Moscode 401HR we have a few amplifiers that we use for reference, OTL mono-blocks, a push pull design using KT-88s, a SS design as well as a few others. We have used a few different speakers, mainly using Quads for voicing the Moscode 401HR. The TAAS amplifier comparison 2007 gave me an excellent opportunity to listen to a number of different amplifiers in a controlled format. It also gave me the chance to talk to audiophiles with educated ears and get their impressions. For a manufacturer this kind of event provides me with very valuable information.

I thought all the amplifiers did a very nice job. It was easy for me to determine if the amp was SS or tube, I prefer the tube sound, I find it more palpable. Listeners who attended both days probably noticed some differences with the Moscode 401HR, on Saturday I ran the 401 with (6DJ8)s and on Sunday I used (6H30pi)s. The tube amplifiers mated very well with the GR Research OB-5s. With proper setup, equipment and synergy each of these amplifiers could provide an audiophile many happy hours of listening.

I own different amplifiers for different moods and seasons. I run the OTLs in the winter and SS in the summer and I enjoy each for different reasons. I find that I explore different music with each different system. I also found it refreshing to hear Song Audio’s system at the end of our session on Sunday. Song hooked his amplifier up to a pair of his Loth-X single driver speakers and Denny’s sub with excellent results.

Overall, an enjoyable time. Good people, good fun. I hope that TAAS continues this event each year. The TAAS amp comp could become a standard.

Sincerely,

Gage Rommel
VP Moscode, Inc.

[Sonny]

Was a rating done on the amps compared?
If so, would or could the results be released and listed?

[markC]

Great way to spend a Sunday, listening to a lot of amplifiers!
It was a great experience that further grounds me in this passion of audio.
You read and hear, (read hearsay), a lot of buzz about the way equipment should and does sound.
Only actually listening to several piecies of equipment, in a controlled enviroment, that perform the same task, can you really really grasp the qualities and shortcommings of said equipment, imo.
Thanks to Denny for making that happen.
We were glad to have the oppourtunity to present our F-valve monoblocks and look forward to future meets.

[Daygloworange]

Sonny,

Keep in mind, this was a Comparo, not a competition. I would never run a competition. This was a less than ideal scenario. This all started off as an impromtu thing that we tried to make into a bit more of a serious and controlled study. If I had to do it again (and I will) I would do things much differently. It was done by the seat of the pants. I even picked the song list while everyone was seated and waiting for this to begin.

MarkC,

I'm glad you and Tony could actually make it out with your amps. You guys now have an idea how they stack up to other well known, and well respected amps. If all turns out well, we might have another amp manufacturer right from our own backyard. Very nice work, guys.

Gage,

You're a trooper for driving up late Friday in the snowstorm, with all the other little things.....Personal thanks from me. I really wanted to hear the Moscode, and hear what I'd read others here on AC say about your amp. I'd easily recommend it to just about anyone. We'd love to have you back sometime. Keep us posted about the stuff you guys have in the works, and if you need a test mule, you've got one here with the TAAS.

Cheers

[markC]

Thanks for the kind words Denny,
Not sure how others thought about our amps, but I was quite proud to have them in the line up.
I was a little nervous taking notes on all the different units knowing that mine was one of the amps that I was critiquing.
I honestly could not pick mine out of the line up in an unfamiliar set-up. I was very happy to discover the amps identities afterward and check my notes to see that see that I liked my own product!
Also, it was a real pleasure to meet Gage of Moscode, a truly nice, down to earth guy. Great sounding amps with very cool features.

[Daygloworange]

MarkC,


I'll bet that that was nerve wracking. You should let more people know about your amps now that they've made an appearance. Will you be offering your amps commercially?  What are the specs? I must admit, that at times I felt privileged being the only one to know which amp was playing, but also that I felt envious of the listeners who were doing this blind. But I got a huge kick out of it regardless.

I enjoyed seeing the manufacturers rub elbows and talk to each other. That was real nice. They genuinely wanted to hear each others stuff as much as we did, and if you didn't know, wouldn't have suspected that the manufacturers were in attendance. It was very laid back. Cool.

Cheers

[markC]

I have added a link to our less than polished web site to my profile, so anyone interested can check out specs, pictures, etc.
We have made a few changes which are not yet reflected on the site, such as input impedance, (can be changed to pretty much whatever value one would like).
As for Bolly's comment on them sounding bright, my blind notes from Sunday stated..."a tad bright upper mids".
I assure you they don't sound that way in my or Tony's system. And, if they did, a little tube rolling would soon change that.

[zybar]

It was a long drive to get to and from Toronto, but well worth the effort.

I’d like to thank Denny for hosting and working hard putting the comparison together.
A stellar performance Denny! I’d also like to that thank the Toronto Area Audio Society for sponsoring. Moscode was glad to participate and welcomed the invitation. I met some great people and made some friends as well.

As the manufacturer of the Moscode 401HR we have a few amplifiers that we use for reference, OTL mono-blocks, a push pull design using KT-88s, a SS design as well as a few others. We have used a few different speakers, mainly using Quads for voicing the Moscode 401HR. The TAAS amplifier comparison 2007 gave me an excellent opportunity to listen to a number of different amplifiers in a controlled format. It also gave me the chance to talk to audiophiles with educated ears and get their impressions. For a manufacturer this kind of event provides me with very valuable information.

I thought all the amplifiers did a very nice job. It was easy for me to determine if the amp was SS or tube, I prefer the tube sound, I find it more palpable. Listeners who attended both days probably noticed some differences with the Moscode 401HR, on Saturday I ran the 401 with (6DJ8)s and on Sunday I used (6H30pi)s. The tube amplifiers mated very well with the GR Research OB-5s. With proper setup, equipment and synergy each of these amplifiers could provide an audiophile many happy hours of listening.

I own different amplifiers for different moods and seasons. I run the OTLs in the winter and SS in the summer and I enjoy each for different reasons. I find that I explore different music with each different system. I also found it refreshing to hear Song Audio’s system at the end of our session on Sunday. Song hooked his amplifier up to a pair of his Loth-X single driver speakers and Denny’s sub with excellent results.

Overall, an enjoyable time. Good people, good fun. I hope that TAAS continues this event each year. The TAAS amp comp could become a standard.

Sincerely,

Gage Rommel
VP Moscode, Inc.

Gage,

Which tubes did you use?

George