Another Great RAS Meet

daboyz

Much thanks to all who showed up today for the Rockford Audio Society get together at my house. I got to meet Rich(SCompRacer) and Michael(McLoki)and we had the originals: Doug(dkg999),Brock (heiney9) and Aaron(a_mattison).

Just awesome people to spend a day with and I loved every minute of it. We spent some time with Rich's Surroundbar and a little time demoing LsiC's. Mike's modded definitely took the cake over Doug's standard so modding is definitely the way to go.

The great debate of the day came from the comparison of Aaron's Rotel CDP vs. my Marantz CDP/Adcom DAC combo. Myself and Brock preferred the Marantz/Adcom fullness to the more forward sound of the Rotel that Aaron,Mike and I think Doug(he was playing the statesman) preferred. Rich was very smart and stayed out of the way but I think we'll have to have a rumble to sort out this fight.

Rich also brought some bass traps which definitely helped tighten up the sound and improve the bass since the setting of the SDA's were not optimal due to room restrictions.

Doug's Paradigm bookshelves were awesome!! Definitely had great bass and overall soundstage. I also think we saved Brock from ditching his 5b's. They sounded very good(not as good as the SDA's;)) but were very impressive.

I think the winner of the day was Brock's MIT Terminator 2 cables and IC's. They definitely sounded great and I was definitely impresssed by their fullness to a point where I am seriously thinking of switching over.

Towards the end the whimps(Mike-2.5 hour drive and Aaron wifey whupped:D) had to go so the rest of us just listened to some tunes and chatted.

Once again,thanks to Rich and Michael for making the drive and the cast of regulars for a great day. I can't wait for the next meet!!!

Oh, by the way. I think I'll end up having a Karma for the great SDA demo cd
that I won. I think another Polkie should enjoy it as much as I did.:)

daboyz

Oh,by the way,Thank God Doug's heart is good because Rich definitely has awesome timing when it comes to snapping pics.;):D

Ricardo

I wish I could have been there. We need those pics!!!!!!

daboyz

Definitely missed you,Ricardo. Hopefully some day soon we can all hook up.

McLoki

Thank you for inviting us into your home. I had a great time meeting everyone again and listening to some great gear. I have the MicroPro 2000 set up and ready to go....

Here are some thoughts from the day....

I met at Dougs around 10:30 or so. We did some listening to his home theater (really awesome in such a small space) and 2 channel rig. (Maggies baby...)

We also did a couple swaps of his center for my modded one. (the first chance I have had to compare it directly to a stock LSiC.)

Doug was also gracious enough to loan me his MicroPro 2000 (mentioned above) so I can finally get a chance to hear how much improvement polk subs have made since the PSW line.

We listened to a few CD's and some vinyl and everything sounded really good. The Magggis are really nice (even better than I remember) but I still have to say home theater is where its at for me...
___________________________________________________________

Doug, Rich and I all headed over Dave's place for the rest of the day meeting up with Dave, Brock and Aaron.

We listened to the surround bar and I was shocked how good the bass was. (even without a sub) The highs and clarity were a definate step up from TV speakers, but it did show that while you can get qasi-surround effects from a single bar - the clarity afforded by a real home theater is still the way to go.... (although I heard that it can make for a killer center channel speaker....)

We did hook up the MicroPro 2K with the surround bar and without calibration or anything, it was still very impressive in quite a large room. I can't wait to try it out in my system at home. It really does look like Polk finally makes a sub I can recommend to people.

I am shocked at how good the MIT's sounded compared to everything else we were listening to (both interconnects and speaker cables). It was also interesting how drastic all the other changes we made (swapping CD players and such) sounded when the MIT's were in place. With some of the other cables in use, the changes were much less pronouced. (with some combinations both players sounded the same - with others, the were dramatically different) It just underscored the fact that in any given system almost anything (including source, cables (IC or speaker), pre-amp, amp or speakers can be the weak link. If you only look at the obvious things (speakers and amps seem to be the most talked about things on Club Polk) - you may not get the results or quality you are paying for.....

We did have the Gik bass traps in place for the 2 channel comparisons, but I wish we would have had more time to directly compare moving them around, taking them out and putting them back in. We will definatly have to do that at future meetings.

Monitor 5's put out some serious bass and with the RDO's in place (along with Solen crossover mods), some quality highs and mids.....

We also had SDA 2b's that we listened to for awhile, but in the room we were in, I really enjoyed the monitor 5's the most. (I left before the Epos and Paradigm's were brought out)

Synergy was highlighted for me as we swapped cables, CD players, DAC's.... My preferences changes as different combinations were thought of. The Rotel and SDA's were a great combo - as was the Adcom DAC with the Monitor 5's...

Dave (or his wife) is quite the cook and should be given the highest compliments for their culinary skills - and they can pick out some seriously good brew....


Thank you Dave and Doug for opening your homes to me today, and it was great getting together with everyone and spending a day listening to some gear that was new to me as well as talking about everything audio. For anyone that has not had a chance to meet with others from Club Polk, you really need to make an effort to. Talking on a board is one thing - but reading about others experiences is not nearly as much fun as actually having some of your own.

I urge you all to go out and get your listen on.

Michael

McLoki

I almost forgot - I brought along my "giant killer" the heavily modded Toshiba 3960 DVD player to be used for CD playback. Not sure what giants they were talking about but it was crushed by both the Rotel CD player as well as the Adcom DAC.

It may be ok to be used as a transport for an external DAC, but while nice for an under $100 dvd player - it will not be killing any even moderatly priced CD players that I have heard.....

Oh well - live and learn....

Lowell_M

Dave, Thank you for another great get together! The food was great and the beer was well chosen. it was great to see everyone as well!

To add my thoughts to comments already made... I am definately in the market for a set up MIT Terminator 2 IC's now and maybe the speaker cables to go along. We've done cable swapping before and noticed definite differences, but what was crazy about this time was how the different cables brought out different characteristics in the CDP's. At one point the Rotel and the ADCOM DAC sounded the same, at others very different.

Depending on the combination I preferred Brocks ADCOM DAC and in others my Rotel 1072. (I'll always defend the Rotel though since it is mine. :rolleyes:... and I think I could take Brock if it came down to a cage match)

What really got me is that I just can't get into the tube preamps. It seemed like something was missing all day. When I finally got home for the night I played some tunes and realized I was missing the solid state preamp sound of my Nakamichi CA-5. The great thing about this hobby is that there isn't one right answer. Everybody has different preferrences. I can't do vinyl either, but others swear by the experience.

Get out there and listen to some stuff!!

Ricardo

Wow. Looks like you had a great time.

Monday morning I'm calling MIT to ask for a cut on their midwest sales; the demo is starting to pay

heiney9

Here are the pics Rich took. I'll post these now and I am in the process of my write up of the day.



Table 'O gear before myself and Aaron arrive with even more gear. That foyer area was very crowded by the time everyone got there.



Motley Crew. Seated: McLoki (Michael); Heiney9 (Brock); A_mattison (Aaron); Standing: (DKG999) Doug; (Daboyz) Dave (aka-the host). Not pictured; SCompracer (Rich)



The back up singers who were present in almost every recording we played :):p



From up above



Madmax's Modded Toshiba 3960 or 3690 can't remember the exact model number. But a few years ago these were considered "giant killers"; it's not. This was modded by Madmax and Michael bought it from him. Underneath: Dave's wonderful Marsh A200 amp and Dodd Pre-amp; Pioneer cdp and Adcom GDA 600 dac.



Shortly after completing the 2 channel set up. I have no idea what Dave's doing..............it's his house so he can do whatever he wants

Setting up some gear--The gear **** (as we affectionately called Doug) working hard Setting up Aaron's Rotel RCD 1072 for a shoot out






Me uncoiling my MIT's





Michael swapping in Ben's I/C's vs. the MIT's



Finally ready to listen to Dave's SDA 2A's w/RDO's



My 5B's with RDO's and Solen/Mills upgrades.



Doug's wonderful sounding Paradigm Reference 20's





Rich told us to be sure and take a pic of him so his wife would believe he was here but we forgot and have none of him. How does that saying go" "Pics or it didn't happen". Sorry Rich you'll have to find another alibi

H9

heiney9

Ricardo wrote: »

Monday morning I'm calling MIT to ask for a cut on their midwest sales; the demo is starting to pay

See what you started Ricardo! . While I was there I had my esnipe program bidding on a 2nd set of MIT Terminator 2 I/C's. I won them so I'm all MIT now. It was very apparent the differences in sound with all the pieces of gear using the MIT's vs. all the other cables which I'll go into in more depth in my review of the day.

Face

Looks like a fun time!

SCompRacer

Dave, it was great meeting you in person, and thanks for hosting the event in your beautiful home. And let’s not forget the INCREDIBLE food and BEER.

To the attendees of the 11/15/2008 Rockford Audio Society meet, it was GREAT seeing you all again! I can’t add much to what has been said. It was FUN! We reaffirmed that audio is subjective. Even if you moved on, SDA’s are still a great speaker. That tube and SS proponents can assemble and insult one another without physical violence. That popping a flash while someone is connecting cables gets their heart rate up momentarily. That life was better as an audio enthusiast, versus its more rabid cousin, the audiophile.:D That bass traps help but placement is important. The corners should have been cleared and they should have been placed/stacked there. But you can only accomplish so much in a small time frame, and we wanted to leave the place as we found it.

High marks to Doug’s Maggie set up. It felt like home to an ESL freak. High marks to Michael for his center channel mod.

Here is a slideshow link over at Photobucket.
http://s417.photobucket.com/albums/pp260/scompracer/Rockford%20Audio%20Society%2011152008/?albumview=slideshow

cfrizz

Looks like you all had a great time all around! WTG!

By the way, is there a shoe stealer around there, since no one is wearing any!:eek::D

heiney9

cfrizz wrote: »

Looks like you all had a great time all around! WTG!

By the way, is there a shoe stealer around there, since no one is wearing any!:eek::D

Cathy,

Look in the 2nd pic (of us on the couch) and I'm wearing shoes. Now I'm extremely embarrassed I didn't take mine off. Where are my manners :eek:

MikeC78

Jealous! Maybe some day I can hang with the big boys.:o

Michael,

I'd really like to get my ears on that modded center. I'm sure it's a good improvement over stock, however, I'm really not looking forward to spending the money to mod the rest!:(

McLoki

MikeC78 wrote: »

I'm really not looking forward to spending the money to mod the rest!:(

You and me both. I modded the center first as I thought it was the weak speaker in my system (more due to placement than anything), it was one of the cheaper sets of speakers to do (since their was only one) and it would be a good test to see if it was all worth while or not.

It is very worth while. The 7's won't be to bad to do either, but I expect the 15's to end up costing me about $400-$500 for the pair. (with the mods I am thinking about right now anyway)

The 7's will probably be my next mod in the home theater just due to cost. The 15's will come last just so I have more time to plan out exactly what I want to try and do (and save up the funds to do it).

Michael

MikeC78

Crap!:eek: After posting those numbers, you might just have to keep it at home!

McLoki

You can certainly do the 15's cheaper, but I am thinking about going all out on them....

(my 7's should be around $150 for the pair.)

McLoki

Well since I can't edit... This is what I came up with for the 15s.

My original thought is just going to be to expensive to do so this is my revised plan....

It looks like it will total about $370 for both speakers (LSi15's) not including shipping.

That is replacing all resistors with mills, Tweeter caps with Sonic caps, all others with Daytons and both woofer inductors with Alpha-cores.

Replacing those 130uf caps with SonicCaps is just to much money Just adding the one 130uf cap with SonicCaps drives the total over $700.........

Michael

Face

Mike, you should consider giving Mundorf resistors from Madisound a try. I found them more neutral than Mills. Soldering several Mills in series to achieve a specific resistance made the circuit sound very dull compared to doing the same with Mundorfs.

SCompRacer

cfrizz wrote: »

By the way, is there a shoe stealer around there, since no one is wearing any!:eek::D

I felt like I was at home, and I rarely wear shoes there. Just socks or bare feet.

Brock did wipe his feet at the door before entering. :D

Maybe some day I can hang with the big boys

Are you calling some of us fat? LOL

Mike, you get home and want to come up this way, I'll make time. You want some visitors, I'll come down.

MikeC78

SCompRacer wrote: »

Are you calling some of us fat? LOL

Mike, you get home and want to come up this way, I'll make time. You want some visitors, I'll come down.

No no no... I was insinuating as the audio big boys.:p

Rich,

I appreciate the welcome and you know you are more than welcome to visit, whenever you happen to come my way. I'll shoot you a call around the holidays when I'm home...

Mike

hoosier21

cable DACs resistors a caps, who cares what beer did you drink?

schwarcw

WOW! It looks and sounds like you guys had a great time. Nice gear, I'd love to hear some of the stuff you guys had your ears on.

Dave, nice looking house. I'd get dizzy from the heights that Rich took that picture.

Doug, Brock and Rich all in one place. Hmmmm, deja vu? :)

I'm glad everyone got together to have fun, listen to music, good food, drink and friends. Life is good.

Nice pic's Rich!

daboyz

Russ - We had a Blue Moon sampler and a nice Belgian sampler: Fat Tire,Mothership Wit,1554 and a Cherry Wheat which was interesting.

Carl - It was weird but all of a sudden Rich does a Spidey and starts climbing up the wall!!:eek::D He said he was looking for that perfect shot............

SCompRacer

schwarcw wrote: »

Nice pic's Rich!

Thanks Carl! I was only 89% effective though, with 25 out of 28.

They stuck me on a long pole to get them high shots.

ben62670

Man I wish I could have been there:( I like every one of you guys, and some of that gear...

McLoki

ben62670 wrote: »

Man I wish I could have been there:( I like every one of you guys, and some of that gear...

The brews, food, tunes and company were all excellent. As great as we are though - it would have been a heck of a drive for you...

hoosier21

Blue Moon has been in my frig steady for weeks now

great get together

Lowell_M

hoosier21 wrote: »

Blue Moon has been in my frig steady for weeks now

great get together

Come up here next time we have a gathering at my house. I always have a Belgian Wit home brew on tap (blue Moon)

shack

McLoki wrote:

I almost forgot - I brought along my "giant killer" the heavily modded Toshiba 3960 DVD player to be used for CD playback. Not sure what giants they were talking about but it was crushed by both the Rotel CD player as well as the Adcom DAC.

It may be ok to be used as a transport for an external DAC, but while nice for an under $100 dvd player - it will not be killing any even moderatly priced CD players that I have heard.....

Oh well - live and learn....

In my experience the so called "giant killers" rarely are. I purchased one of the Toshibas back during the "giant killer frenzy" when they could be had for $59 at BB. It only took me a couple of days to realize it was not what many had built it up to be when compared to a "good" CDP. I either returned it or sold it to someone else who had designs on it being the next great "GK".