Northern Exposure Meet

Spirit · « **Reply #20 on:** 20 Jan 2008, 11:28 pm »

What a fun time!
A major thank you to MarkC and Tony for hosting a fantastic afternoon. Sorry that I could only stay until 4pm, but I had other life responsibilities. They put a lot of effort into this and all I can say to you 2 is that it is very much appreciated!!!! You are both total class acts.
And of course, my appreciation goes out to Tony's better-half, Phyllis - she put out a wonderful spread for us and kept us happy and fed the whole time!
I actually liked the idea of getting out of the rat-race that Toronto is and taking some of that Northern country air (okay, I know it's not that far, but it still felt great)!
Please, PLEASE keep checking this Circle for further info. We will try to keep to a once a quarter timing for the meetings.
This was the kind of get-together that I had originally intended and wanted. Any comments and suggestions by other members would be appreciated.

PS -
Tony - great urinal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

jimdgoulding · « **Reply #21 on:** 21 Jan 2008, 03:15 am »

There is a proper way to hear and evaluate the effect of Jim’s surrounds and that is on YOUR speakers, in YOUR room, on YOUR equipment, with YOUR music, and at YOUR listening position. My bad. What is actually being attenuated or reduced is secondary energy from the speaker's baffle. Nothing more.

markC · « **Reply #22 on:** 21 Jan 2008, 04:07 am »

I had a blast! I'm very pleased with the way things turned out. Tony and Phyllis opened their home to us in a very friendly atmosphere. As I'm accustomed to, Phyllis went above and beond as a hostess providing us with terrific fare. Many thanks to my long time friends Tony and Phyllis.
It was a great oppourtunity to listen to different gear; speakers, dac's, pre amps and the like.
The ability to actually listen to, (instead of read about), different components such as non-over sampling vs. oversampling dacs was, as they say, priceless. Now we have heard with our own ears.
I think that everyone that attended will agree that it was a success.
We had quite a bit of stuff to go through, and I know that we didn't get to it all. Sorry to those that brought stuff that didn't get into the set-up. Perhaps next time we can have a bit more of a schedule, but I thought that just drawing off the group for "what's next" worked pretty well rather than a regimented format. I really enjoyed the side conversations about products, listening habits and future plans for peoples systems.
We'll definitely do this again, probably in late spring/early summer. I encourage all that attended to add their comments/observations and ideas to this circle so that we can keep things moving forward and at the same time have fun as I believe we all did and should do more often.
I will add more detailed comments soon.

Yorgi · « **Reply #23 on:** 21 Jan 2008, 10:02 am »

What a great meet! Many thanks to Markc for organizing and Tony for hosting. I'll post more comments later but I thought I would get some pictures posted first. Wish I had taken more.

The gallery is here with some picture descriptions: http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?action=gallery;area=browse;album=1329

Some samples:

KBK · « **Reply #24 on:** 21 Jan 2008, 02:34 pm »

Quote from: arthurs on 20 Jan 2008, 04:13 pm

Quote from: lo_tse on 20 Jan 2008, 04:25 am

Too bad, I have to leave early and did not get the chance to listen to the "liquid cable"

How were the "liquid cables?"

Looks like you might have to give Terry a call. He has a loaner set....

bluemike · « **Reply #25 on:** 21 Jan 2008, 02:55 pm »

It looks like you guys had a lot of fun

Great pics and dialogue ..keep it coming

Sorry Mark I would have loved to have been there.

phowell1 · « **Reply #26 on:** 21 Jan 2008, 09:19 pm »

Quote

There is a proper way to hear and evaluate the effect of Jim’s surrounds and that is on YOUR speakers, in YOUR room, on YOUR equipment, with YOUR music, and at YOUR listening position.

I am thinking of trying a pair as my speakers seem to have been created before diffraction was well understood

I didn't really like them in Tony's system but I think they may help me.

Thanks again to Tony, Phyllis and Markc for a great time.

markC · « **Reply #27 on:** 22 Jan 2008, 12:56 am »

Yes, I feel that Jim's devices have their purpose. Just not for Tony's 3rd order MTM's.
I'm willing to bet that they would be better with a 2-way speaker that has a more shallow x-over, helping to eliminate diffraction artifacts below the x-over point.
Thanks to Jim for supplying his product for us to audition.

Daygloworange · « **Reply #28 on:** 22 Jan 2008, 01:01 am »

Unfortunately I couldn't make it up. Looks like you guys had a great time.

Can you tell us a bit more about Tony's speakers?

How are you guys doing with the FValve amps? What's the update on them?

Cheers

markC · « **Reply #29 on:** 22 Jan 2008, 02:52 am »

Tony's speaks are,(obviously mtm), with powered subs. Construction of both base,(sub), and satallite is 1'' solid walnut baffle bonded to 3/4" mdf. The rest of the enclosure is a mix between double 3/4" mdf and maple ply. Maple veneer is used as needed.
Drivers are scanspeak mw and morel tweets with hi-v subs.
Both the satallites and subs are ported. Each sub cab. has it's own plate amp.
Efficiency is around 91 db and these are very dynamic and best suited for a medium-large to large sized room.
B4 the meet on Sat. morn, we, (Tony and I), listened to a couple of tracks of Lonewolfs cd @ high volume and man the chest impact and couch shaking was wild. I don't normally listen @ these volumes, but it was cool to see-hear- that they could do it without strain.

Daygloworange · « **Reply #30 on:** 22 Jan 2008, 03:53 am »

He did a nice job on them.

I'm still curious about the F Valve amps?

Cheers

Gtasound · « **Reply #31 on:** 22 Jan 2008, 04:16 am »

Thanks to Tony and MarkC as well as Tony's better-half Phyllis for a wonderful afternoon get together to listen to music and to evaluate various equipment and cables. They put a lot of effort into providing a perfect listening environment for all of us to enjoy, which was very much appreciated.

Tony's and MarkC speakers as well their amplifiers driven by their preamp as well a Mcalister tube preamp Through 2 different Dacs and various cables provided a first class stereo sound.

We had a wonderful food table provided by Phyllis to keep our tummy's very happy, thanks.

Again thanks for a wonderful Audio listening afternoon.

lonewolfny42 · « **Reply #32 on:** 22 Jan 2008, 06:55 am »

Looks like Labatt Blue Light.....

Thanks for the photo's....looked and sounded like a very good gathering...keep it up !!!

Chris

eiseneers · « **Reply #33 on:** 22 Jan 2008, 10:09 pm »

Thanks to MarkC for organizing the event and special thanks to Tony and Phyllis for being such great hosts. It was a feast for the ears and tummy and was really appreciated. There were no liquid cables but there were waves of sound - big and smooth. Congratulations to Tony and MarkC for building some really great sounding equipment. Looking forward to the next time.
Andrew

markC · « **Reply #34 on:** 22 Jan 2008, 11:21 pm »

Then we sampled other dacs, with I believe a pioneer elite transport brought by spirit. I don't recall the name of the dac I heard, but it did sound similar to Tony's homebuilt dac. One possible reason for this is that Mark c had replaced the coupling caps in it to Auricaps, which Tony also uses in his Dac. Not to say that this is all there is to it but that it may account for their similar sonic signature. Marks dac was a little softer on top, but with a little less attack and sparkle as well. Close, though, any way you cut it.

Just a little correction here. I replaced the coupling caps in the Dac-60 with Sonicaps. And to be fair, they only had about 8 hrs. on them. I've since run a "break-in" disk on my system 6 times, (Thanks Igor). I dunno, but it seems to help. Highs are now more extended, but it still isn't crystal clear on top-albeit close. I've got a nice pair of n.o.s tubes on the way, might make all the difference.

markC · « **Reply #35 on:** 23 Jan 2008, 03:44 am »

Quote from: lonewolfny42 on 22 Jan 2008, 06:55 am

Looks like Labatt Blue Light.....

Thanks for the photo's....looked and sounded like a very good gathering...keep it up !!!

Chris

I know, doesn't even come Close to a Lonewolf lean, and it's even light beer!

wafermadness · « **Reply #36 on:** 2 Feb 2008, 04:46 pm »

Thanks Guys,

It was an interesting meet, great room, most excellent food, and stimulating conversation. A lot to squeeze in for an afternoon, but a success nonetheless.

I will be posting pics in my gallery as soon as I take care of some "post funeral events" as that consumed some time after our meeting.

Again thanks for a great day,see you all soon.

Igor

wafermadness · « **Reply #37 on:** 20 Feb 2008, 03:49 am »

Hi Guys,

Finally got around to shrinking and posting some pics to my galleries

Enjoy!

Igor

bluemike · « **Reply #38 on:** 20 Feb 2008, 04:07 am »

Nice Pics Igor
Thanks for sharing these with us

Pat

Daygloworange · « **Reply #39 on:** 20 Feb 2008, 04:12 am »

Looks like it was a great meet. I'm sorry I wasn't able to attend.

Cheers