Seattle-area R2R Enthusiasts

garylkoh · May 12, 2011

Dan Schmalle (aka Doc Bottlehead) will be speaking at the Pacific Northwest Audio Society tonight (Thursday, May 12). He will be playing Tape Project tapes and also some samples from the upcoming Series Three through a Nagra T (in another thread John72953 was asking about this machine).

We will be playing through two pairs of 8wpc single-ended parallel-feed 300B Paramount amplifiers and the 96dB sensitive Straight 8 loudspeakers. There will also be four headphone listening stations with various headphone amps.

So, something for everyone.

All are invited:
Pacific Northwest Audio Society
@Mercer Island Congregational Church (basement)
4545 Island Crest Way
Mercer Island, WA 980404

7:30pm to about usually past 9:30pm

Bruce B · May 13, 2011

Just got back from the meeting. Was a large crowd there tonight.

garylkoh · May 13, 2011

Yeah! The music was fabulous.

We had three first-timers to the meeting. Must be some record

Ki Choi · May 13, 2011

garylkoh said:
Yeah! The music was fabulous.

We had three first-timers to the meeting. Must be some record

I'd like to think that it was the "tape" that drew the new people...
It seems I missed a good one.

Bruce B · May 13, 2011

Ki Choi said:
I'd like to think that it was the "tape" that drew the new people...
It seems I missed a good one.

Yes Ki, it was a good show. I'm sure the "tape" was the main attraction.

Mike Lavigne · May 13, 2011

it was a full house. Dan brought some 10 year old 'kit' speakers (with about $200 worth of drivers) which had some issues if you sat up front. when i went to leave i stood in the back for a few minutes; it sounded much better back there.

the 'Nojima Plays Liszt' was outstanding. that will be the next TP title sent out.

i cannot wait.

Ki Choi · May 13, 2011

With Gary in the group, he should've provided the speakers. ;-)

If the old "kit" speakers were the same ones I heard at Dan's new place few months back, they did sound better standing againt the wall in the back than sitting in one of the chairs set up front to me as well.

Nojima Plays Liszt was the very first Reference Recordings LP I heard almost twenty years ago and thought it was one of the best recorded piano ever to my ears. Before I can get my copy months from now...as #98...I may have to come visit you Mike when you get your copy way ahead...of everyone else ;-)

Doc B. · May 13, 2011

Thanks for the kind words guys. I brought those old kit speakers out of retirement because after a few weeks of looking around for something efficient the club came up empty handed and bringing our big setup would have required a parcel truck and about five hours to install. Being a linear array they do need some distance from the listener to properly smooth out and image well. Unfortunately the back of the room was filled with the headphone rigs and we could only move the chairs back so far.

Re Ki's comment, I think you actually heard our big setup. Getting the lively room with its vaulted aluminum ceiling calmed down has been a continual process since we moved in last September. A lot of the problems heard sitting closer have been helped by rigging a silk parachute as a cloud over the listening area. But we still have quite a ways to go. The ultimate solution will be a purpose built isolated room within the existing room when we get the time to do so. And build bigger amps for the mids, add a new subwoofer, revise the active crossovers, get the 1" machine installed, change the woofers...does it ever end?????

Johnny Vinyl · May 13, 2011

Doc B. said:
I guess that just goes to show that the room and the speakers are a system, and you roll the dice every time you move 'em into a different room.

Something that should be remembered in discussion here, there and everywhere. Alas often it's not , and instead numbers are, and stats are provided as the ultimate proof of one speaker's superiority over another. The speaker that least impresses on a graph is oftentimes a much more pleasurable one to listen to (taking away extremes of course)

Room acoustics, room size and components used have a much greater bearing on the enjoyment of a certain speaker than any measurement taken from a "perfect" environment any day. That doesn't mean we don't need measurements ( we do), but they can't be used as a deciding factor.

I have Totem Sttaf speakers, and on another forum a few guys have some Dynaudios. They say I'm missing out and they feel I would be better off with Dyns. When I ask why, they quote me graphs and stats. They however can't tell me why my Sttafs are inferior or their Dyns are superior, and you know why>>>>the room and the speakers are a system, and you roll the dice every time you move 'em into a different room. This doesn't mean the Dyns wouldn't sound terrific, but I made my choice and I'm happy with it.

Mike Lavigne · May 13, 2011

I may have to come visit you Mike when you get your copy way ahead...of everyone else ;-)

yeah right! promises, promises. you and Amir both promise visits but never come. i do realize it is a long, 20 minute drive from Sammamish to my barn.......

mep · May 13, 2011

Mike Lavigne said:
yeah right! promises, promises. you and Amir both promise visits but never come. i do realize it is a long, 20 minute drive from Sammamish to my barn.......

If I lived 20 minutes from your house you would be thinking you had a new relative that wouldn't leave.

Mike Lavigne · May 13, 2011

mep said:
If I lived 20 minutes from your house you would be thinking you had a new relative that wouldn't leave.

Mark,

there are a few local audio friends who are regulars and you would be welcome to join in the group. you would have to listen to Lps and Tapes mostly, it's tough.

as far as relatives who never leave, there is a reason i have a front gate and have caller ID. we can always pretend we are not home. they can't not leave if they never arrive.

just kidding, i have no relatives who i avoid. but i can undertand the concept.

Doc B. · May 14, 2011

John72953 said:
Something that should be remembered in discussion here, there and everywhere..

Oops, I bet folks are wondering where you quoted me from, John. I edited my post and lost that line but it looks like you found it before I did the edit. To help others understand what we are talking about, the context of my quote was that although the Straight 8s were working just so-so and only sounded smooth at a distance at the meet, they happened to surprise me and image like gangbusters in our new listening room at 12 feet, better than our big setup. Go figure...

garylkoh · May 14, 2011

Dan, I won't worry about it as the members of the club are used to it. The room we use for meetings is extremely challenging for loudspeakers. I had suggested that we use the club's speakers for the meeting, but there were some who were concerned that your 8W amps would not drive them well. I didn't want to press the issue as they are my speakers, and didn't want to seem to be self-promoting.

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