[GBB]

hey guys, I am going to have to bail on Tuans get together.
Please post some pics and descriptions!
Bill

Bill,
Your wish is our command.  We had a mellow gathering at Tuan's very nice loft.  It was just Richard (R_burke), Tuan (Sonny), and I.  The focus was sharing music and a little bit of system tweaking.  Richard's system has some great home built speakers that look a lot like Von Schweikert VR5s but probably have better quality parts and construction.  When we arrived he was driving them full range with his Cyber 800 tube monoblocks and that combo had great midrange and naturalness, but it was also clear that the tubes didn't grab a hold of the low end the way you need in his large listening space.  Tuan had already concluded the same thing and told us he normally biamps, using some Odyssey solid state amps on the woofers.  That combination was the real deal and provided a lot of listening enjoyment.

Both CDs on the Marantz CD/SACD player and vinyl on the Scoutmaster sounded great.  I lean towards vinyl sound but it is high maintenance and not the best thing for casual listening.  But with good records, it's hard to beat.  The few records I brought along sounded really nice and makes me even more motivated to get my vinyl rig set up.

We did a few other experiments playing with the level of the monitors compared to the woofers but didn't reach a clear conclusion.  And getting into real tweakdom, we played with a few different cones under his phono stage with interesting results.

Thanks again to Tuan for opening his home to us and to his girlfriend Ashley for putting up with the mini-invasion.

---Gary




our smiling host



his great system



and a close up of the equipment rack

More photos here: http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?action=gallery;area=browse;album=1180

[Sonny]

gary, thanks for the kind words...
first off, it was "Tuan's" place / loft...not Richards...I can see that you corrected it at the bottom of the post.  And my GF's name is Ashley...and thanks to her for loaning me to you guys... aa

it was amazing the differences in the cones' effect under the phono stage. We used the Black Diamond #4, the Herbie cones and some others...they all sounded difference, and I think we decided, that the BD cones had the best balance, based on the records that we listened to!

Thanks to Gary and Richard for their long drive up...I guess, it's my turn to drive down to the South Pennisula or even to Boulder Creek next.

T

PS, THANKS FOR THE GREAT PICS Gary...

[GBB]

gary, thanks for the kind words...
first off, it was "Tuan's" place / loft...not Richards...I can see that you corrected it at the bottom of the post.  And my GF's name is Ashley...and thanks to her for loaning me to you guys... aa

Tuan,
Sorry for attempting to give your loft away to Richard and for getting your gf's name confused - I've corrected both in my post.

And I'm glad you liked the pics.

I'll have folks down here once I actually get a reasonable system set up again. 

Thanks,
---Gary

[Berndt]

Tuan, looks like you guys had a great time. The cyber 800's are pretty.
Wish I could have attended.
what is the audio rack?
Also what are the speaker components, kit?
Do you still want to try the innersound?
Regards, Bill

[Sonny]

Gary....can't wait to hear the main system once it's up and running...

Bill, when will you be getting the OB2X?

T

[R_burke]

So as Gary said, the meet at Tuan's was mostly about music.  We listened to several CDs and then went to Vynyl for a while.  Although I liked the vynyl a lot I still couldn't deal with the occasional pop, crack or hiss.

Tuan's set up is nice, the cyber amps do really well with the mids/highs and once he hooked up the oddyseys for biamping the bass, things really opened up.  Don't know much about the speakers other than they are Scanspeak kits and they sounded good and never strained with anything we threw at them.  I especially liked hearing a Holly Cole I was unfamilar with (Temptation).  She does covers of Tom Waits songs and it hit the spot for me.  We also compared the 20th anniversary version of Famous Blue Raincoat by Jennifer Warnes with the original release.  Everyone agreed the original was more smooth and the remastered version was more dynamic with greater detail.







All in all I would say a good time was had by all    Thanks Tuan

[Sonny]

Bill, Gary and Richard...
The speakers are called the GeerS eVe II, designed and built by Edgar Beers and Tony Gee, in the Netherlands.  You can find more information here: http://www.speakerbuilding.com/content/1104/index.php

They use all Scan Speak Drivers:
Tweeters are the 97000 1" silk dome
Midrange are the fame 18W8545-K 7" Carbon Paper
Woofers are the 21W855-00 8" Carbon Paper

This kit is free, all you need is to buy the parts and assemble!!!

Thanks for the compliments on the speakers and system gentlemen...much appreciated!

Tuan

[lonewolfny42]

Thanks for posting photo's.....nice system.

[Sonny]

Thanks for posting photo's.....nice system.

Thanks Chris...
We here in NorCal have gatherings...but we'll still working on the abundance of monthly gatherings that your NY group has.  I almost went over to Mike's this past March!!!
If you find yourself in the Bay Area....you should look us up!
Tuan

[lonewolfny42]

Thanks for posting photo's.....nice system.

Thanks Chris...
We here in NorCal have gatherings...but we'll still working on the abundance of monthly gatherings that your NY group has.  I almost went over to Mike's this past March!!!
If you find yourself in the Bay Area....you should look us up!
Tuan

Will do....thanks.

It does take time to grow.....but as many find out....gatherings are good experience....and loads of fun.

Good luck.....

                           Chris

[GBB]

Bill, Gary and Richard...
The speakers are called the GeerS eVe II, designed and built by Edgar Beers and Tony Gee, in the Netherlands. 

Tuan,
Thanks for the details on your speakers.  I took a look at the website describing them and looked over the crossover.  One thing I noticed is that they recommend an iron core inductor for the 21W855-00 woofers.  It's a little hard to read the values but it looks like 3.3mH and 0.07ohms resistance with an E133 core.  Did you use these type of inductors?  I thought I saw you put air core, foil inductors in your crossover but I didn't look too carefully.  These are great parts but the one area where they might be different from the original design is the series resistance.  Typically an air core inductor will have higher resistance than an iron core resistance since it needs many more windings to get the same inductance.  This can hurt the bass performance.

I remember that there was an interesting discussion over in the SP Tech forum about the amazing difference that happened when they upgraded their crossover parts to Mundorf caps and inductors.  The caps you used are comparable in quality to the Mundorfs but the Mundorf zero ohm coils would probably be a big (but expensive) upgrade for your speakers.
Here's a link to the discussion in the SP Tech forum:
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=37243.0
and here's a link to the Mundorf website.  Take a look at the Zero ohm coils, N106.
http://www.mundorf.com/english/bauteile/frspule.htm
Or for a lower cost alternative, these parts look pretty good:
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=255-812

---Gary

[Sonny]

Gary, the note is a 3.9mH and a .o7 resistance.  When I was sourcing this, the best I could do was the 12awg Goertz Coil, which is RDC .304 ohm.  Perhaps I should try the Jantenz, which I think is .07ohm.

In regards to the caps...I actually am happy witht he SoniCaps over the M caps as they are affordable and perform well.  I should or shall look into the Jantzen
Thanks
Tuan

[Sonny]

Tuan, looks like you guys had a great time. The cyber 800's are pretty.
Wish I could have attended.
what is the audio rack?
Also what are the speaker components, kit?
Do you still want to try the innersound?
Regards, Bill

Bill the rack is a Billy Bags Rack...
Not the Pro line, just the normal line.
Five shelf...

[Sonny]

hi there all,
Just wanted to post some more pictures of the Cyber 800 and GeerS eVe II Speakers...

Cyber and GeerS eVe (thanks Tony Gee and Edgar Beers)


Back of speaker, crossover box and DIY cables connections to cyber 800


Top view of Cyber 800


Cyber 222 Preamp and Oppo 981


GeerS eVe Prototype from Tony and Edgar in the Netherlands


Thanks

[Sonny]

Gary...
as recommended by you, i went and bought the inductor with a .007 dc resistance and well, after plugging it in, we didn't hear much of a difference...we did a calcuation, and with the .007 RDC of the Jantzen, it was 1/20 louder, based on the crossover design than the current Goertz inductor (foil)...
So, I stayed with the Goertz and will use the Jantzen on my next project...

How are things???

Also, will you be around on the 6th of October???
If so, you may want to check out the gathering with Norvinz's Vinh Vu....

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=45323.msg405776#msg405776

[GBB]

Gary...
How are things???

Sonny,
Sorry about the wild goose chase .  I honestly thought it would be just the trick to help the low end.  At least you didn't spring for the really expensive Mundorf coils

Regarding the Oct 6 get together - right now it's looking like I will be on a plane flying back from Japan on the 6th.  Theoretically I will actually be in by the time of your bash but from past experience I wouldn't be good company.  I'll be sorely in need of a bit of down time.

I am planning on attending the Burning Amp meet in San Francisco a couple of weeks later.  Did you notice that?  I'll drag along a bit of my gear which is days away from actually being set up at my place.
http://burningamp.com/

---Gary