Author Topic: Richidoo G2G - July 30  (Read 24633 times)

Offline mdconnelly

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Re: Richidoo G2G - July 30
« Reply #45 on: July 31, 2011, 06:26:18 AM »
Rich, thanks for another great G2G!   I'm sorry I couldn't stay to listen to some vinyl.   I was definitely in awe of how you have transformed your living room - particularly the ceiling treatment!   Both esthetically and sonically impressive!  Your trials and tribulations on those speakers is clearly paying big dividends.   You're 95% done - but the next 95% may prove more challenging!  Finishing any project that big is emotionally difficult... there's always that last ounce of tweaking you just know will make all the difference in the world.  

It was great seeing some faces I haven't seen in awhile as well as meeting a few new folks.   Thanks for pulling this off!

Offline woofersus

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Re: Richidoo G2G - July 30
« Reply #46 on: July 31, 2011, 08:56:37 PM »
Just finished the drive home from Richmond.  It was great to meet everybody there and put a few more faces to forum usernames.  The chili was top notch and the music was great too.

Thanks to Rich for putting this together.  Those acoustic panels were fantastic!  The speakers did a lot of things right and continued to be tweaked even during the gtg. ;)  Lots of gear swapping was fun, but alas I brought no camera and took no pictures.

For those of you who attended, we talked about some special gtg pricing on melody products.  I'm going to make that offer good for the whole week for anybody on the fence. :)
Tim Evans
East Street Audio
Onix, Melody, & ACA

Offline richidoo

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Re: Richidoo G2G - July 30
« Reply #47 on: July 31, 2011, 10:06:32 PM »
Thanks for coming down Tim. Nice to meet you and to listen to the Melody AN300B. It has impressive bass punch, and good transparency due to the huge transformers. Beautiful construction. Rolling tubes would be fun with this amp. Glad you made it home OK. That's a lot of driving!

Yes, the speakers functioned adequately for the meet, but they still need more tuning. I'm considering various options ranging from mild to radical, while I rest and lick my wounds. They sound nice with my Manley's, which is what counts to me, but they'll improve as I have time to experiment with more adventurous horn damping experiments.

I also brought out some corner bass trapping that proved too much once the room was filled with people so ditched those.

Steve brought a lot of equipment. Fortunately we got to listen to all of it. He also brought chips and delicious cheesecake!  :drool: Thanks Steve. Rick Craig came over with a batch of Thai curry chicken and noodles which tasted awesome. The eastern heat contrasted nicely with the western heat of my wife's mild chile. Thanks Rick, for the dish and for the advice about the speakers.

There were several DACs that we played. psoeidensvoice's Buff32 with Hynes regs, Shane's Antelope Zodiac Gold with Voldemort PS, Tim's Onix DAC, and my dooDAC. I liked the dooDAC the best. It had the most natural treble, and I felt the most resolution too. These Jensen transformers are simply unbelievable. But the Zodiac seems more solid in bass and midrange, but less natural upper mid through treble. Some people preferred the more intense treble. I liked the relaxed effortless openness of the transformers. The Onix sounded good too. I don't remember much about it except that it was a hell of a low price for how good it sounded.

Shane also brought JPS digital SC3 cable. Tonight I compared it to my Black Cat Veloce running between Sonos ZP-90 and my DAC. The SC3 gave the usual improvement in clarity and dynamic impact, more intense. Same exact characteristics as their SC3 analog cables. The Veloce was smoother, softer edges, initially sounded easier to take, but the SC3 brings more resolution and control so it is the winner. Big surprise! :)   I am happy with the black cat for now. It is very sweet and loveable, like a fat tabby. The overall feeling of the music with the cat was solid and authoritative like the SC3, but with less resolution. The smoothness was not objectionable, it was warm and sunny so I can see how people might prefer the cat's smoothness and ease of listening to the intensity and truth of the JPS. If you like general microtexture on your tone, the SC3 digital is worth thinking about, and get transformers on your DAC! haha

We played Sol's latest i15 integrated amplifier, everybody liked it. Extremely low distortion, clean and inoffensive. This little amp has balls in the bass and very pure treble.

People brought CDs so they spun what they brung, and played some stuff off my Sonos too, while we swapped in gear occasionally. First the ref 3 replaced the Ref1 with vt100, then AN300B, then Manleys, finally Phono5 with the Concept TT. Sol, Steve and I closed the place down at midnight, with a full belly of vinyl satisfaction. Steve brought some Seals and Croft, Loggins and Messina, and BST. I played some Red Garland trio, Miles 'Round Midnight, Basie at Birdland. We ignored a brief lightning storm outside because it all sounded just too good to turn off.

Thanks to everyone who came over. I had a lot of fun. Pics:









Offline stereofool

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Re: Richidoo G2G - July 30
« Reply #48 on: August 01, 2011, 04:59:53 AM »
Rich,

Had a great time, as usual  :thumb:! Thanks to your 'family' for allowing us to invade your happy home, AGAIN!

It was wonderful to see friends and meet some new knowledgable people, as well.

I thought your new speakers sounded good, especially with more relaxed music. We could hear some issues with complex music, and I'm not talented enough to know how to describe those, or how to fix them.

All of the DACs sounded good, and it would take me a lot of personal listening to be able to pick apart any issues. Tim's Melody sounded rather strident when first inserted, but smoothed out once it had a chance to warm up.

The best sound of the night was late...most people had gone and we started spinning vinyl. Just a nice 'musical' sound, one which you could completely relax and enjoy.


Some pics here...
http://www.audionervosa.com/index.php?action=mgallery;sa=album;id=95 
Steve
Have you ever noticed.... Anyone going slower than you is an idiot...and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?

Offline mdconnelly

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Re: Richidoo G2G - July 30
« Reply #49 on: August 01, 2011, 05:49:46 AM »
Damn, sorry I missed the Black Cat vs JPS digital cable comparison.   I've been a Black Cat fanboy having compared it - quite favorably - to a number of relatively inexpensive digital ICs.  But not surprised by the JPS comparison.  When it comes to ICs and SCs, JPS has proven to be a winner over and over again.  On the other hand, that 'smoothness' of the Black Cat Veloce makes for a highly musical cable - quite the yin to the digital yang of my Logitech Touch.

Offline richidoo

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Re: Richidoo G2G - July 30
« Reply #50 on: August 01, 2011, 06:10:55 AM »
Mike, I compared them just last night, not at the g2g, because Shane had to leave early, while we were listening to his DAC, so he graciously left it behind, along with some cables. Since you know what SC3 sounds like in other types of wire, you know what this sounds like too. Amazing that it does the same thing in digital as well as analog!

Thanks for the pics Steve!

Offline Carlman

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Re: Richidoo G2G - July 30
« Reply #51 on: August 01, 2011, 06:47:27 AM »
Really wish I could've been there... Sounds like a pretty awesome time.. and busy!  Lots of coming and going people, gear, and fun.  Much like your audio projects... And you got a lot done, Rich!  I hope you can take a moment to pat yourself on the back.  The panels, speakers, and DAC project were all really big projects.  You've completed some major tasks in your audio journey... and the biggest being what you've learned.  Congratulations!

I missed seeing our regulars and meeting Tim and any other new faces.  I will plan a G2G in the Fall sometime.  I graduate school at the end of this month.. so things should get a little easier after that.

-C
I really enjoy listening to music.

Offline richidoo

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Re: Richidoo G2G - July 30
« Reply #52 on: August 01, 2011, 07:56:17 AM »
We missed you Carl. After I get the speakers positioned and tuned the way I want, I will have another mini meet pretty soon to get some feedback. One thing I am really happy about is the synergy with my amps. I was up listening late last night to digital and LPs, and again this morning, it is difficult to walk away. The combination of diffusion and transformer output straight into the amps with JPS ICs makes my solo violin recordings sound the best I've ever heard in my system. So in the important ways it is a success, but there's always more on the table.

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Re: Richidoo G2G - July 30
« Reply #53 on: August 01, 2011, 09:06:37 AM »
Hey Rich,

Thanks again for opening up your home and being a wonderful host. I only wish I could have stayed longer - needed to get back to the missus.

The sound treatments were impressive! I remember when I was last there, you were talking about how to wall off the openings to the kitchen - you did an awesome job!


Dave

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Re: Richidoo G2G - July 30
« Reply #54 on: August 01, 2011, 11:49:54 AM »
Rich:

I hate I missed your G2G and not having the opportunity to hear your new system.  Also, I missed seeing all of the local guys as well as meeting some new folks.  Trust me when I state I thought many time about rather being at the G2G that being on the ground Saturday replacing tandem boat trailer springs, hub and brakes in that heat on the Eastern Shore!   I know I missed a good time and a great learning opportunity.

Ken

Offline richidoo

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Re: Richidoo G2G - July 30
« Reply #55 on: August 01, 2011, 11:57:36 AM »
We missed you too Ken!  Look on the bright side, at least you weren't scraping barnacles under the boat!

You can come over anytime, but I'll be having a mini-meet pretty soon, vinyl only, listening only.

Offline richidoo

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Re: Richidoo G2G - July 30
« Reply #56 on: August 01, 2011, 03:38:41 PM »
Just realized Mike, that we didn't get to try Pete's wires. Sorry! Next time.

Offline mdconnelly

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Re: Richidoo G2G - July 30
« Reply #57 on: August 01, 2011, 07:51:37 PM »
I think Pete's power cords are pretty awesome but - trying to compare power cords at a G2G is always challenging, particularly when unfamiliar components are being swapped.   There will be plenty more times to do so!

Offline hometheaterdoc

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Re: Richidoo G2G - July 30
« Reply #58 on: August 08, 2011, 08:45:42 AM »
I just realized I didn't post any comments or provide thanks to Rich and family for hosting us....  where did those manners go? :)

Thanks again for a great time as usual Rich... I didn't get to stay nearly as long as I wanted, but it was great to hear all the new stuff at your place...

by far the biggest improvement is the acoustic treatment...  that's far and away the best your room has sounded.... it felt cozy like my place... nowhere near the ringing and echo that's normally in there...  it's also the best it's ever sounded in the kitchen, where I spent a lot of time chatting with others....

with the right gear, the thing I like about the speakers is that they have a big kind of sound and disappear reasonably well with some body to things... it's not a razor sharp, place everything in precisely this 1/4" of space kind of sound... more roundness and flesh to things... they remind me a bit of the Monitor 40.1s in that they are big speakers in your visual field but at the same time, you can't really pick out the speaker in the sweet spot... still some disconnects with the blending of the drivers together and some resonances to work on... I wish I could have been there to hear them with the Manley 300Bs...  the best sound of all the combos I heard was the original one with the AR Ref1 and AR amp... that Ref1 kind of prettied up the speaker more than reality and hid some of the flaws... its syrup was what was needed... hearing other combos that had more resolution showed the issues...  They certainly sounded good early on with your classical stuff....

Thanks for everything again, Rich...  looking forward to hearing it again soon...  definitely want to hear the Buffalo more ......
Shane Sangster
Used to be Night & Day Audio.......

Offline richidoo

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Re: Richidoo G2G - July 30
« Reply #59 on: August 08, 2011, 10:48:51 AM »
Thanks for the compliments and honest critique, Shane! You are always welcome to come over and listen, anytime. I hear what you are talking about and agree with all of your comments. I think the cause of some of the subtler audiophile issues we are hearing is the phase error in the non-symmetrical slope crossovers. I could fix those with considerable investment in time and parts to make them all true LR2, but I am enjoying listening to symphonies and solo piano at decent volume levels with minimal distraction from tone problems which was my goal for these, so I'm happy with their performance for <$2k investment. There is a little more to be gained with some minor tweeks like padding tweeter to 3.7 ohms, remove a little more mid stuffing, and improve the cable connection. Then some varnish and I think that will be "La Fin."