Short Notice

greybeard

I will gladly chip in for Seasons pizza. I can bring some Monitor 7s with Peerless if it helps in any way. Nothing special. Most of my other stuff is too large and heavy to move. I can also bring an older McIntosh MC 7200 power amp, if there is any interest. Since it doesn't have autoformers, it's semi-moveable. My other amps are hernia inflictors. Oh yeah, and some CDs and SACDs.

MillerLiteScott

Paul,

Monitor 7's would be nice for the living room rig.

Ken,

Natty Bo is fine.

Tony,

Guinness works.

chargerman426

Scott its up to you i could bring some chips or since it looks like I'm the only one under 21 I could bring like a 2 liter of coke or something.

mdaudioguy

I'm getting closer to "in" on this, at least for a couple hours. What time will you be getting started, Scott?

Would there be any interest in Vienna Acoustics Haydn Grands?

I see what I can convince my wife to make... probably some sort of dip.

MillerLiteScott

Brandon please bring whatever you would like. And bring your power cord because mine may not be long enough for whee I want to put the DACs to make it easier to change them out.

Ed by all means I would love to hear the Vienna Acoustics Haydn Grands if it is not any trouble.


Scott

Vette C6.r

Did I miss it ??

When is start time ???

MillerLiteScott

We will start @ 4-5 so we have the time to get things together and order dinner.

Scott

PolkClyde

You guys, Vintage Polk fans, have so much fun...wish I was a part of it.... Enjoy yourselves.

F1nut

Ken is attending....cool.

So what are we eating, pizza? Is it wood fired?

Should I bring dessert..maybe some pie?

Vette C6.r

Pie is playing leftfield for the O's on saturday Jess.

mdaudioguy

Vette C6.r wrote: »

Pie is playing leftfield for the O's on saturday Jess.

Speaking of the O's, won't they be on the tube Saturday night? A recorded F1 race? You guys are killing me!

strider

mdaudioguy wrote: »

Speaking of the O's, won't they be on the tube Saturday night? A recorded F1 race? You guys are killing me!

I know, right? A night with the only three F1 fans south of the Mason-Dixon Line.

I may have another trick up my sleeve in terms of gear. It's burning in right now, but only has about 6 hours on total so far. Takes about an hour for it to reach operating temp as well, may not be the most ideal night for it, but I still might throw it in the car.

chargerman426

Scott I can bring my power cord but it is short as well about a meter. Do you still want me to bring it?

MillerLiteScott

Ben,

Is it an amp?

Brandon,

Bring it it may just be enough.

Scott

strider

MillerLiteScott wrote: »

Ben,

Is it an amp?


Scott

:biggrin:

Vette C6.r

Scott Jesse talked me into the bring the Parasound gear. No worries if we get to it or not.

I'm going to get some Bateman's wings on the way to your house.

MillerLiteScott

Tony,

You are awesome. +1 on the gear and who doesn't love Bateman's wings.

Guys for some reason my phono input is real noisy (it has always been real noise free) so I have pulled the turntable out of the rig.

Looking forward to a good night.

Scott

strider

We are tailgating in the street in front of Scott's house if anyone is interested. His wife didn't seem to thrilled for some reason.

Bloody marys are going down quick, the keg's iced down and the amps are warming up. See everybody soon!

Vette C6.r

That's why Scott was asking for an extension cord. For the blender.

It all makes sense now.

greybeard

strider wrote: »

We are tailgating in the street in front of Scott's house if anyone is interested. His wife didn't seem to thrilled for some reason.

Bloody marys are going down quick, the keg's iced down and the amps are warming up. See everybody soon!

---

So why did I, a noobie, ever volunteer to serve as the decoy for the gendarmes to lure them away from the tailgate party at Scott's?

I am currently leading them astray on my restored 1963 Vespa. It's a slow chase, especially on uphill runs. At least I have the twin, flush-mounted subwoofers to keep the SQ up. I find that I can apparenly go semi-fast or have thumping bass, but not both. Need more power-and an RDO tweeter. -greybeard

Vette C6.r

probably be a tad later then I thought Scott. More around 6ish

F1nut

We didn't take any pics, so it didn't happen.

strider

Yeah, it would have been good seeing you guys again. It would have also been nice to get a chance to hang out with Paul, Brandon, and Ken and hear what they had to say about audio and life in general....

Really enjoyed hearing Scott's DIY speakers, the bank breakers. Pretty impressive amount of bass from a small driver. Ed's Vienna Acoustics were really singing in the living room rig, was quite a double edged sword throwing my single drivers on the stands directly after. Nice to have a comparison between something you've built and a quality commerical product; sometimes I worry about having rose colored glasses on in regards to my efforts. Certainly not the case any longer, now I want to build new speakers.

Thanks again for having us over Scott!

[Deleted User]

Thanks for throwing a great get together, Scott! Good friends, good food, good music, great audio gear! Some tube testing, some speaker listening, some impressive DIY gear and a chance to hear the excellent Parasound amp/preamp. Some superb SDA classics and Monitor 7a, timeless sound!
You guys need to hear some reel to reel tapes! Maybe next time?
Cheers, Ken

mdaudioguy

Simply put, I had a great time!

Two rigs going at the same time on two different floors - my attention was truly divided. However, it was the upstairs rig that was intended to allow for easy swapping of gear, and there was plenty to try out. The source for the evening, which was never changed out was Tony's Sony SACD player (model # had a lot of 5's in it). When I arrived, Scott had it hooked to his Nikko integrated, which was punching his DIY Nano Neo speakers - very impressive, considering the amount this little project cost him - I believe he said about $85, which included a few cans of spray paint! I think I caught more than one person walk into this room and casually look around, trying to find the subwoofer that just had to be supplementing these tiny speakers...

Next up, decided to give the Vienna Acoustics Haydn Grands a try, along with Ben's home-built First Watt F5 clone - which was cleverly hidden inside an old oscilloscope enclosure! Of course, his matching pre was also in a similar o-scope box - very cool gear, Ben! Oh yeah, the SACD output was also now being sent via coax to another creation of Ben's - a DAC in some kind of case without a faceplate. What would this all sound like? Absolutely incredible! I've never heard the Haydn's sound so lush and full. I could have listened to this rig for hours or forever, with no fatigue whatsoever. We listened pretty much all the way through a CD Ben had just picked up - Rodrigo y Gabriela's (Ben was kind enough to translate that for us as Rodrigo and Gabriela) Live in Japan. Very dynamic, acoustic guitars - busy, complex tunes - cool stuff. :cool:

We then switched in Ben's home-built, single-driver Fonken speakers - pretty eclectic! The Beatles' Rubber Soul remaster was perfect for these. It's amazing what a relatively small, single driver can accomplish. I was staring at these tings the whole time, trying to figure out how they do what they do. A unique cabinet design, I must say. Ben says these speakers are perfect for his situation, since they don't have a booming low end, but I have to say, they performed well within the range that they do have.

Next up, we were in for a real treat, as Paul carried in his 1977 Polk Monitor 7A's, and they were paired up with Tony's awesome new Parasound amp and pre. What? These are 34-year-old speakers?? Paul says they are all un-modded original, too. Played some more Beatles through these. Wow. Paul said he has only used these as surrounds in his SDA-driven HT - I think even he was impressed with how good they sounded.

Jesse had missed my Haydn Grands earlier (he was downstairs soaking in some SDA love with Ken and Brandon), so he easily convinced be to pull them out again. Personally, I was excited to get to hear them with Tony's Parasound gear! The result was not quite as I had expected. Dull, flat, almost lifeless. Tony was perplexed. Something wasn't right - he started playing with tone controls... Then we decided it must be the CD - The Counting Crows' August and Everything After. Track 1 was blah, but track 2, Omaha definitely sounded better. Jesse (he of few words...) simply said one word - synergy (or a lack thereof). Great - I've avoided tubes this long, only to find out that perhaps what really makes these speakers sing are some tubes. Oh well, guess I'd have to start down that path eventually... Tony salvaged the listening experience by introducing me to Keb' Mo's Slow Down. Some well-recorded and performed blues that I'd never heard before that could probably make any rig sound better. Oh, and did it! Seemed to put Jesse in a trance-like state, too.

Finally, I made my way downstairs to pay homage to Scott's incredible Squeezebox Touch -> Jolida tube DAC -> Musical Fidelity amp -> SDA 2B TL rig. Whoa! Listened to some Steely Dan and Cowboy Junkies, and then was privileged enough to get to sit in the sweet spot and pick out a couple of tunes from one of my favorite albums - Wilco's Sky Blue Sky. Fabulous! Like I've never heard it before. Thanks Scott, and thanks Mrs. MLS, for hosting us! One day, I hope to be able to return the favor, but I've still got a little ways to go. Ok, maybe a lot!

Thanks,
Ed

mdaudioguy

F1nut wrote: »

We didn't take any pics, so it didn't happen.

Oh yeah, never mind. Nothing happened.

greybeard

he he he... I have a picture from the event, so it DID happen.

My picture shows our host "sniffing" some sort of Jolida device, apparently determining its sonic character through olfactory analysis. This technique is new to me, and arcane.

I learned several things at this gathering:
1) There exists some type of electronic device known as "tooobs". These can best be described as cylindrical glass objects with a number of metal pins or legs protruding from one end. "Tooobs" can have different numbers of legs, but I believe the ones with eight legs are fastest. “Tooobs” produce light, heat, and sometimes sound. Transistors, limited to only three legs and lacking the ability to provide light and heat with the occasional brief and violent exception, are notably inferior to these "tooobs".

2) It is possible to host a social gathering in Maryland requiring food, without having crabs present. I did not know this. I refer here to crabs as aquatic decapod crustaceans, not surly people, of whom there were none present.

3) Cables matter. This became most clear when swapping out components in the living room system, and basking in the eerie silence of the latest components for a brief time, before realizing that the speakers and amplifier were separated by an air gap, unbridged by any electrical conductor. When the cables were connected, things sounded better. Thus, cables matter.

4) It is possible to produce lots of sound and high quality from small boxes. Please do not let this secret slip out or I will lose my battle to retain the larger SDAs in my shared house.

I had a great time, and got to meet some super people. Thanks to all for the warm welcome.

-greybeard

shack

greybeard wrote:

2) It is possible to host a social gathering in Maryland requiring food, without having crabs present. I did not know this. I refer here to crabs as aquatic decapod crustaceans, not surly people, of whom there were none present.

I thought Jesse was there....

Hawkeye

I'd have been there had I not been in DC at a show. Several guys I'd like to meet in person where there.

There may never be another MD gtg if there were no crabs present!! I didn't think it possible!

Sounds like you guys had a blast.

Gordon

chargerman426

Defiantly a great time last night. Was really glad to compare my PS audio DAC with the little Jolida with some different tubes in it. I was really shocked how much of a difference the tube made in that DAC as they are only buffers. Had good food and good tunes so can't complain about that. Thanks again Scott for having us over, and let me know when you get an itch to try some more tubes.