Another Great RAS Meet

dkg999

Sorry for my late posting in this thread. I picked up my daughter right after the get together and we have been non-stop with things to do!

First off, thanks to Dave and his wife for being absolutely gracious hosts! The italian beef and baked beans were to die for! Unfortunately I'm still off of alchohol from my dental surgery, the selection of beer was killing me to not be able to partake.

It was great to see everyone again. We have a fantastic group of audio/HT enthusiasts, and it just keeps getting better. MikeC78 - let us know when you are back in town and we can see if we can have a get together.

First off, I'm only Russman's gear ****! The rest of you will have to switch your own cables from now on! The first time I shoved an IC into the Marsh amp and at that very moment Rich's flash went off ..... oh holy crap batman, my life flashed before my eyes :eek:

Not sure what Aaron isn't hearing with the tube pre's running with a SS amp, but he will be assimilated I have the same Dodd ELP/Marsh A200S setup, so I'm a big fan of that combination. The Rotel CDP vs the Marantz/Adcom DAC combination was very interesting. Depending on the speaker, the cables being used, etc. I liked both and for different reasons. I also have the Rotel RCD1072 CDP and really like it in my setup. I think it really highlighted that synergy between pieces of gear is very important in the overall system. As said previously, it's not right or wrong, it's what you like to listen to.

The MIT cables were very nice, and definetely the eye opener of the day! Cables do make a difference ....... but let's keep the resulting debate in a different thread

It was great to hear my, errrrr Dave's SDA 2A's again! They sound as good as ever. Dave is definetely driving them with the right gear and they sounded incredible. I'm not sure what Brock thought was lacking in the Monitor 5B's? They've come a long way since I picked them up at the flea market for $35:cool: I thought they sounded really, really good! I'm glad everyone liked the Paradigm Studio Reference 20v3's. I've been really impressed with them as a small monitor, although it takes 300 to 500 hours for the tweeters to settle down.

I want to thank Rich and Michael for dropping by my place earlier that morning, and thanks to Rich for buying breakfast We had a good time and the LSiC comparison was eye opening. The mods make a definite improvement, and I may have to take the plunge on my LSiC. It's that big of difference folks, and the LSiC has always been the weak point of the LSi HT.

Hopefully we can put together a spring Midwest Polkfest. It's a great way to spend a day with great people, lots of gear, and incredible amounts of fun!

Doug.

schwarcw

Dave, tell me about the stands under the Monitor 5's?? Brand, Model, height, cost?? They look really good!

hoosier21

a_mattison wrote: »

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

love to, got to make a run up to Indiana for Thanksgiving, close but not close enough

dkg999

Those stands came with the Monitor 5B's when I bought them at the flea market (I then sold them to H9). I think they are stands that Polk Audio must of been pushing to dealers when the Monitor line was active, as I have seen several variants of those stands that were bought with Monitor series speakers. They are a nice little stand!

Lowell_M

dkg999 wrote: »

The Rotel CDP vs the Marantz/Adcom DAC combination was very interesting. Depending on the speaker, the cables being used, etc. I liked both and for different reasons. I also have the Rotel RCD1072 CDP and really like it in my setup. I think it really highlighted that synergy between pieces of gear is very important in the overall system. As said previously, it's not right or wrong, it's what you like to listen to.

+100

and...what does assimilated mean? I know it has **** in it....

Lowell_M

By the way... I also agree that H9 if freaking nuts for thinking the 5B's were missing something. they sounded fantastic. Crank-um up Brock!!

ben62670

When we had our little get together here in GA we went back, and forth between a Jolida, and the Adcom GDA-700. Again both had their strong points, but I was less embarrassed by my system after the comparo. That being said I am going to get that tube buffer back in place for some material;) I do aspire to have some MIT's someday. For the most part the MIT's, and some higher end Goertz are the main upgrades that my cables get the boot from;) It's a big price difference, but I am itching to go for when the economy turns around:(
Ben

heiney9

Sorry I'm so late to chime in. Been on the run all day. First off thanks to Dave and his wife Penny who was mysteriously missing for the great spread of food and selection of beer. You have a lovely home and I enjoyed the entire meet.

It was great to see Michael again, it's been about a year and a half since the Chicago area Mini- PF. Glad you made the trip up. Good to see Rich as well although we've hung out a couple times recently, always a pleasure. Aaron it's been since the last RAS at your place, don't be a stranger. I see Doug the most but it was good to see you again brother.

Where to begin.................the surround 360 sounded fantastic and when we hooked up the Polk Micro Pro 2000 it sounded better than it should it have. The SB and the small sub made one helluva nice, simple, compact, unobtrusive HT experience. The room was huge and it still sounded damn good. Polk should be proud to offer such simple performance from a very small overall foot print.

The SDA 2A's sounded pretty good as well. It was hard to get them dialed in properly simply because of the set-up in the room. Nice thing about SDA's is even when they aren't 100% perfectly set-up they still sound really good. Not sure Michael was digging the SDA performance with the MIT's. He thought it sounded a little artificial.

I also own an Adcom GDA 600 and I love mine. The shootout with various cables (Signal, MIT and Ben's Silver's) all had different characteristics with the modded Tosh 3960; Rotel RCD 1072 and Adcom GDA 600. For the most part I still liked the Adcom but the Rotel is always an eye opener because it's a great sounding player. The Tosh 3960 was respectable for what it was but couldn't really deliver the detail, clarity and bass of the big boys.

I'm glad everyone was digging the MIT Terminator 2 speaker cables and I/C's and I'm glad I picked up all I need so I don;t have to compete with youse guys on the the 'bay or the 'gon. They make a really nice and dramatic improvement in my system.

Something in my mind has been missing from the 5B's since I added the RD0's and Solen/Mills. They sound 100 times better than stock sl2000's but I just couldn't put my finger on it. They sounded absolutely fantastic at Dave's so much so that I've ended my quest for LSi 7's to take their place in my office rig. I'm now using custom made shotgun style Canare 4S6 Star quad (dual run) cables I just completed. I've determined the bottle neck was in the "zip" chord I was using for cables. They sound 10 times better now.

Doug always brings something nice to these meets and this time it was the Paradigm Reference 20 bookshelf speakers. Those small compact monitors sound really, really good. The natural bass they put out is surprising. I'm not a big fan of ported book shelf speakers but these I could get in to very easily.

Michael's modded LSiC was no contest. The modded version was better in a lot of ways. Subtle yet dramatic all at the same time. The clarity and spaciousness was most noticeable over the stock unit. Things from the center were less jumbled and more coherent.

The Marsh A200 of Dave's...................not much to say other than it's a superb sounding amp. I wish we would have had a solid state pre to mess with. I'm like Aaron...............not 100% sold on the tube sound. More comparison is in order.

Overall an outstanding day. Good food, beer, company and conversation. Michael and I had a little difference of opinion on a few things but that's what meeting face to face is all about. Audio discussion and other people and their perceptions, thoughts, analysis are what the hobby is all about. I would never want to sit around with a bunch of "yes" men.

In the end as had been said there is no right or wrong, it's all about the interaction, synergy and what you like/prefer. We all agreed we heard differences.

I had a great time...............as always, and thanks to Dave for hosting this one and Rich and Michael for making the trek in from out of town. This is what this hobby is all about.

Hopefully Ricardo can make his way over one of these times as well as the other "Mike" from Bloomington.

H9

Lowell_M

ben62670 wrote: »

When we had our little get together here in GA we went back, and forth between a Jolida, and the Adcom GDA-700. Again both had their strong points, but I was less embarrassed by my system after the comparo. That being said I am going to get that tube buffer back in place for some material;) I do aspire to have some MIT's someday. For the most part the MIT's, and some higher end Goertz are the main upgrades that my cables get the boot from;) It's a big price difference, but I am itching to go for when the economy turns around:(
Ben

Don't worry about the economy for your gear. Enjoy what you've got! I told Scompracer during our get together that it is pretty cool to be at the point I'm at with my rig. I joined this forum a few years ago with a cheapo JVC receiver and some RTI70's, have learned a ton and now have a rig that could probably be tweaked, but is better than 95% of the 2-channel systems out there. Enjoy those big **** SDA's! I bet they rock! This was the first gathering that I didn't leave lusting after equipment. (well...accept for the Marsh amp) But basically, we heard distinct differences between different equipment and everybody has different tastes. Now that I'm back in my house and have listend to tunes for 5+ hours while drinking our entire wine collection (not very extensive obviously) I've come to really appreciate what we've put together over the past 2 years. Keep rockin Ben! There's plenty of time to tweak!

ben62670

Yeah Aaron. I do appreciate my system. When ever I go out and hear uber $ systems I come home, and I am quit satisfied. I am not in tail chasing mode yet! Did that for a little while, and found some rough gems, but for what I have I am very happy. My future holds room treatments, and then MIT's;) I too started with a "real nice" JVC receiver:D

Lowell_M

Opus's son bought my JVC from me. Hopefully he is fully addicted now and has a fully LSi bedroom system in Opus's house now. The JVC was cool and all, but i spent way too much on it new.

heiney9

schwarcw wrote: »

Dave, tell me about the stands under the Monitor 5's?? Brand, Model, height, cost?? They look really good!

Not sure of the brand (as Doug said they may be Polk issue or sold as an accessory). They stand about 15" high but I have spikes in them so they are about 15 3/4" high. Oak bottom and center supports with a black top plate.

Really nice, solid units. There are no markings on them anywhere. I bought the 5B's from Doug and he threw in the stands (which came with them when he bought them at the local flea market).

heiney9

ben62670 wrote: »

Yeah Aaron. I do appreciate my system. When ever I go out and hear uber $ systems I come home, and I am quit satisfied. I am not in tail chasing mode yet! Did that for a little while, and found some rough gems, but for what I have I am very happy. My future holds room treatments, and then MIT's;) I too started with a "real nice" JVC receiver:D

Just keep pluggin away looking for deals. That's what I've been doing. The MIT's are the first major "jump" I've heard in cables. I've heard differences before but not quite this dramatic.

ben62670

I need to borrow a pair. If anyone is into letting me do this I promise not to open the box!


Edit: Two pair if possible for the full glory. You can hold one of my kids as collateral:D