[PhilNYC]

Did anyone take pictures?

[Sonny]

Sorry I missed the RAVE....I try to make every RAVE....but....wait...it was in CA .....  

Hope you guys had fun.....did you wind up comparing IC's ? Thanks....

                         Chris

Chris, yes, the weather was beautiful here in Emeryville (in the middle of Berkeley, SF, and Oakland)...
We were all inside, enjoying each other's company, eating, drinking and in between, listening...

No we didn't get a chance to do any real critical listening or i/c comparison...everyone was having fun mingling and didn't want to disturb the fun...

Here are some pictures:

First, Bill's famous Chilli and his hands...


Everyone eating and enjoying the company of others...


Finally, some listening Front: Jacob, Tuan (Sonny / Me) Nikhil  back: John, Rob and Bill


Drummer on the right speaker looking at guess


The girls:  Denise (Bill's wife) and Ashley, my gf (the blonde)


Taking it in, listening to Louis Armstrong sing St. James Infamory


Bill's DIY Randall Museum Pre (bill wanted to hook it up to compare with the new Bent Audio Autoformer pre but he didn't have two sets of output for my bi-amping set up)



The system...

[Sonny]

and some more system pics:
Ed listening...


Marantz and Bent Audio Autoformer Pre


EVS and Marantz


System


Diva Audio Phono w/ Step Up and Marantz


VPI SCOUT and SHELTER 501 mkii

[GBB]

. . . the weather was beautiful here in Emeryville (in the middle of Berkeley, SF, and Oakland)...
We were all inside, enjoying each other's company, eating, drinking and in between, listening...

Here are some pictures:

Marantz and Bent Audio Autoformer Pre

EVS and Marantz

Sonny (and everyone else),
I'm sorry I couldn't make this one.  I was back in NY last week on business and didn't get back in time.  It sounds as if you had a good turn out and everyone had a good time.  I hope to make the next one.

I also see that you've gotten some interesting new gear.  How do you like the new Bent preamp and the EVS amps?

---Gary

[tablaloops]

A BIG THANKS to Sonny aka Tuan and Ashley for hosting this "rave" in their beautiful loft space. It was great meeting up with the who's who of NorCal AC'ers. I enjoyed the music and chatting with the crowd for as long as I hung around. Hope to see you'll soon again. 

nikhil

[Sonny]

. . . the weather was beautiful here in Emeryville (in the middle of Berkeley, SF, and Oakland)...
We were all inside, enjoying each other's company, eating, drinking and in between, listening...

Here are some pictures:

Marantz and Bent Audio Autoformer Pre

EVS and Marantz

Sonny (and everyone else),
I'm sorry I couldn't make this one.  I was back in NY last week on business and didn't get back in time.  It sounds as if you had a good turn out and everyone had a good time.  I hope to make the next one.

I also see that you've gotten some interesting new gear.  How do you like the new Bent preamp and the EVS amps?

---Gary

Gary...
Sorry you couldn't make it, it was  fun!

Well, I've had the Bent Audio pre for about a month now, I can say that I am happy with it...It's amazingly transparent, fast, dynamic and open.  I got a few compliments on the systems openess and details.  However, at times, of course it's the system dependent, the Bent matched with the EVS switching amps can be unforgiving to thin or poor recordings...if you're used to tubes, my set up won't give you that lush warm fussy feeling, but if you're a detail, transparency, dynamic and airy craver, than this is the system for you...

I am quite happy with it, just getting used to the bad cd's sounding worse and the good cds sounding better on this system versus my previous set ups...


Tuan

[GBB]

Well, I've had the Bent Audio pre for about a month now, I can say that I am happy with it... just getting used to the bad cd's sounding worse and the good cds sounding better on this system versus my previous set ups...

Sonny,
I've played around with TVC preamps a bit and have a homebrew preamp using the S&B transformers that Bent Audio used before S&B stopped selling them Bent.  It might be fun to compare them one of these days.  My experience matches yours - the TVCs are very transparent, which can be a mixed blessing.  Perhaps you need to dig into that Marantz and see if you can tweak it's output stage to be a bit more forgiving.  Or if you want something a bit less invasive - you can try some power line filtering.  I've found the DIY Felix power conditioner (look over in the Lab Circle) can make a dramatic improvement in digital equipment.

---Gary

[Sonny]

A BIG THANKS to Sonny aka Tuan and Ashley for hosting this "rave" in their beautiful loft space. It was great meeting up with the who's who of NorCal AC'ers. I enjoyed the music and chatting with the crowd for as long as I hung around. Hope to see you'll soon again. 

nikhil

Nikhil,
thanks for attending, it was good to finally meet you and the other NorCalers...
It too was nice that lots of mingling was done and well, since it's a loft space, it's almost impossible to do both listening (critically) and mingle at the same time, but it was enjoyable for sure.

Let me know what you think of the speaker cable and the Rollins album.
Tuan

[Sonny]

Well, I've had the Bent Audio pre for about a month now, I can say that I am happy with it... just getting used to the bad cd's sounding worse and the good cds sounding better on this system versus my previous set ups...

Sonny,
I've played around with TVC preamps a bit and have a homebrew preamp using the S&B transformers that Bent Audio used before S&B stopped selling them Bent.  It might be fun to compare them one of these days.  My experience matches yours - the TVCs are very transparent, which can be a mixed blessing.  Perhaps you need to dig into that Marantz and see if you can tweak it's output stage to be a bit more forgiving.  Or if you want something a bit less invasive - you can try some power line filtering.  I've found the DIY Felix power conditioner (look over in the Lab Circle) can make a dramatic improvement in digital equipment.

---Gary

Gary,

Yes, i'd be interested in hearing your S&B passive with the Bent to do an A/B...
You know, though the Bent is ultra detailed, transparent, dynamic and unforgiving (to bad recordings) I absolutely enjoy it in the system, hearing things i've never heard before. 

In regards to modding the marantz, i am not sure I want to do that...I'd rather change out the caps in my XO (Speakers) from say the Sonic Cap Gen 1 caps to something warmer, say Auricaps or Mundorf S/O caps...

but for now, just taking it all in.

You back in town?
Tuan

[GBB]

Sonny,
Yes I'm back in town for another few weeks.  I'll be taking some time off the week around the 4th of July but for the next 2+ weeks or so I'm home.

I'm know that there are bad recordings out there but I think that they become much more listenable as one's CD playback chain improves.  My suspicion is that there's more performance to be coaxed out of your Marantz.

These days I'm hooked on computer based digital, with all my CDs ripped to my hard drive and then streamed wirelessly to a Squeezebox.  The convenience is great and sound quality close to the best.

---Gary

[kurtbauer]

Tuan,

Sounds like I missed a great time.  I was hoping to make it but ended up staying in NYC for the weekend after all.

Hey, did you build your Bent?

Cheers

KB

[Sonny]

Tuan,

Sounds like I missed a great time.  I was hoping to make it but ended up staying in NYC for the weekend after all.

Hey, did you build your Bent?

Cheers

KB

Kurt,
No I didn't...
John doesn't have his newest invention as a kit yet...
He built this one, the third of it's kind.
T