Thanks to all who came, we had a blast. Sorry to hear you are under the weather Tim, feel better!
Thanks to Ken for bringing the Modwright Transporter and ancilliary support gear like HD and laptop server. Ken also brought snacks, he is such a gracious guest. Thanks also to Vera if she made the spinach dip? I am so sexist, but after the brownies how could I not assume she is the chef?
Thanks to Steve for bringing the AR preamp, the Raysonic CDP, HD
full of music, cables, and his typically cheerful countenance.
Thanks to Carl for bringing the bag of 'warrs,' including the infamous "big yeller" 2M Analysis Plus digital IC (in yellow,) a staple at our G2Gs because of its special magic powers.
Thanks to Den and Kevin for driving in from Winston-Salem, it was great to meet you both. Den is originally from MA so we had that in common, and Kevin is a classical nut, so we enjoyed making the others squirm by playing Bach, Beethoven, Prokofiev. I warned him that it would scare everyone away if we played Bach at his request, and within 5 minutes we were the only people left in the house! Literally!!
Fuck em we had a blast listening to Brandenburg 6 on original instruments, then Stravinsky Concerto for Chamber Orchestra (Dunbarton), Beethoven 6th, and finally Prokofiev Symphony 5. Finally we showed mercy on the infidels and signalled all clear with some rock. hahaha
Den brought his Benchmark DAC, but somehow we did not have the presence of mind to play it. Sorry Den. I kept thinking about it and we talked about playing it at least 3 times, but it is too easy for me to get distracted as host. I hope you will bring it again and just break it out and hook it up. Then we can do a direct Altmann / Benchmark comparo which we are both eager to hear. Den brought some great music, especially a great swinging CD by Jane Monheit. I only heard her crooning previously, didn't know she can actually sing jazz. Very rare in these days of female "jazz stylists." Jane actually sounded like she was having fun and meant what she was singing. Which album is it Den?
I enjoyed hearing the combination of AR Ref 1 preamp with Manley Snappers with Grover's balanced cables again. It has been a year since I heard that combo, and it is still my favorite ever (in my house) for classical music, especially perfect for accurate tone, great dynamics, intense presence. This time with the Ushers and some acoustic treatment even more glory was available from this combo. If I had bought a Ref 1 a year ago instead of assorted hifi accessories adding up to the same, I would be way ahead of the game. But at the time, the idea of a $3000 preamp (used) was unthinkable. Now it seems like a bargain considering the listening enjoyment it brings. Once Steve (internet deal hawk) finds a used Ref 3 then I might have a chance.
The AR made comparing the sources easy and allowed each to strut its stuff without any impedance or gain problems so it wins my MVP award. "Component of the night."
I was amazed at how well the Altmann held up to these two world class digital sources. I was pleasantly surprised on a few occasions when I found out that the input I preferred was the Altmann. I guess I was biased by the beautiful casework and glorious tubes and abundance of internet acclaim that they have received, expecting Altmann and its opamp output to be trounced by the glowing triodes. It wasn't, but it wasn't perfect either. I enjoyed hearing the contrast to other great digital. The Raysonic was the most refined and tonally accurate, IMO. Best bass - detailed, controlled, well balanced, just right. It was also the most beautiful, like a sculpture. At night it is even more impressive with a light show that no other CDP can match! The Modwright's sound was bolder in the bass thru midrange, more literal compared to the romantic suave of the Raysonic, it sounded more confident and ready to please from the first note. The improvement over the stock TP is incredible, and yet some of the sonic traits do remain, soundstaging is improved, but reminiscent of how I remember the TP I heard last year which was treated with BSC's stealth "cryo and more" treatment. Of course the TP has the advantage of being a one box network player with MANY features that straight CDP or DAC lacks, making it the overall winner from consumer perspective, and as the priciest of the three it should be the winner! The Altmann had slightly more opaque tone than Raysonic, hotter output signal than either tuber, and better spatial presentation than the big boys, but not black anodized case or blue light show. Now I wanna put some super output coupling caps on it to see if it can start to approach the high bar of the others, like the tonal refinement of Raysonic and the punchy confidence of Modwright. Congrats to you guys for making such great picks and thanks for sharing.
We listened to the LNPAs for a little while after most of the gang left (after the 9pm storm cleared.) Compared to the Snapper we had been listening to all night the bass was more pronounced but also less resolved. The highs were not as subtle as the tube amps, but stronger, seeming more detailed. The new room treatments enhanced the treble energy in the room, so the LNPA was a little forward, but without the treatments is close to perfect, I spent plenty of nights listneing up close for hours. I thought that the Snappers werre a little much in the treble also. Acoustics are not a one day job. It will need a lot of tuning and changing to get right. The midrange is this amp's strongest attribute, and the one for which it has garnered some great reviews, like from Lynn Olsen. It gets the midrange right in a very impressive way, with bass and treble well balanced to support an overall very musical and satisfying sound. I love this amp. At home in regular day to day use I prefer it over the Snappers with the Minimax preamp. But with the AR preamp the Snappers were hard to beat last night. I have wanted to hear these amps for 2 years and finally got the chance. Thanks to Mike Galusha for lending them. Mike bought the very last pair. Had they been in production 3 months later I would have bought them too.
Sol's I30 has reached a high level of refinement and transparency. It was very satisfying listening. The imaging of this amp is incredible. It really gets the timing right, tempo, Prat, dancy feeling are very strong. Tone is sufficiently detailed for me to listen intently to string quartet, but I do tend to get carried away by the music with I30, which is what Sol wants to happen. I like to be on the fine edge of swept away OR study the details - my choice. So I-30 is a bit too involving and hypnotic.. hehe, just kidding... The music really does wash over you though, not the sound, the music. Very cool for a piece designed to a price! I awoke with a vision for a beautiful casework for I30. I-30 is getting closer to finished, which will be a great day for budget audiophiles. I would like to hear the formula 1, boutique audiophile parts version myself, but whenever we tried that on my projects against Sols advice, it is mostly a waste of money. Sol's parts selection is painstaking and experienced.
I made some diy acoustic treatments for this meet. They were simple wooden 1x4 frames glued and stapled together. 4x8 feet in size they were stuffed with 5" cotton bat from Sensible Sound Solutions. I chose to use kraft paper over them to prevent sucking out too much air, but that was too bright, so I will try plastic pallet wrap again, but it is so ugly I will have to cover with acoustic fabric. A couple comforters dulled the side panels for last night. Panels were placed front rear and both sides. All panels were up on extension legs to center them on the tweeter/mid since midrange reverb is my biggest problem. It worked good, the space was noticably more cozy and less ringy, but Den still heard some, and so did I. I tried to tell him how crazy it was before, but I don't think he believed me. hehe The front panel had a homemade binary amplitude diffusion mask. It was drilled by hand with about 5000 holes over a 4 day period.
That will never happen again. But the result was awesome. Image specificity, tonal detail, midrange ringing, even some bass control were added with it. It has 5" of cotton behind it, with a 8" airspace behind that, and centered between the front speakers. Best part, Julie thinks it looks cool, so I can add more. Oh my aching back from all that drilling!! I think she only said more because she knew I would never do it again... I had a couple boxes of cotton bat left over after building these 4 panels so I stuck those into the front corners kitty corner, still in their cardboard shipping boxes. Awesome! The best bass traps I have ever heard! Enormous difference in bass clarity and power. Even bettering the GIK tritraps, Carl's 6" thick FG panels. They are 2 x 4 feet wide, and 20" thick!! My son thought it was too much bass, I told him "you will get used to it." With more panels added sides and rear it smoothed out and was well balanced and low distortion crystal clear through all bands. I still think it is a bit hot in the mid/treble due to the hyper clarity of the b.a.d. panel, but Steve convinced me that it sounds correct and said "you will get used to it." haha Thanks to Bryan at Sensible Sound Solutions for advice and inspiration on the acoustics. He sells the cotton too, which is a great abosorber. I will try OC703 FG for further treatments because it is easier than building wooden frames for the cotton, even though FG is not quite as good absorber and more expensive.
Next G2G I hope to have finished the acoustic treatments, which will be more numerous, better integrated and better sounding than this first diy try. Also I'm hoping to feature a demo of the H-Cat pre and power amps from H-Cat dealer Dennis Jeffers of Jeffers Electronics in King's Mountain, NC. Since Dennis is also the area Feastrex dealer I'll play my Feastrex single driver speakers with yet another new new box, based on planet10's Maiko design. Maybe we can have some world-class amps on hand from the society's personal collection to compare to H-Cat. Butler? Plinius? AR? Mac? Samet?
Nice pics steve, I will upload mine shortly.
Rich