Doctor's Orders-Part Two-The New Listening Room Of Steve Williams

This has been a most enjoyable Memorial Weekend as a special guest arrived in Southern California with his wife and two daughters for a brief vacation. Mullard88 (Sam) who I had the privilege of not only meeting last year in Manila where I got to hear his sound system as well as 4 other special system. It was probably one of the most enjoyable vacations my wife and I have ever taken. It is documented here

http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showt...mazing-Systems&p=407883&viewfull=1#post407883

I got to know Sam last year and found his knowledge in all things audio to be remarkable. Sam has literally a museum of vintage gear which he has maintained in pristine condition as he rotates components through his system. Last year Sam and I discussed his visit to Southern California and spending some time with me. After Sam spent the proverbial 2 days at Universal Studios with his wife and daughters seeing Harry Potter world they then traveled further south to my neck of the woods to spend the next three days. The first night the 6 of us had a fabulous French cuisine diner in Dana Point Harbor as we rekindled our memories of last year. The following day Sam invited us to San Diego for a sumptuous Chinese Sea Food dinner.I thought I knew Asian cuisine but going with Sam and his family and letting Sam order opened up a whole new meaning of Asian cuisine. It was delicious. After lunch they rolled us all back into the limo where we then visited the Hotel Del Coronado and hung out on the beach for a few hours before returning to Orange County where am and his family went on to see Mediaeval Times. Yesterday was designated as our listening day as I arranged for my wife to take Sam's wife and daughters to Disneyland for the day. This gave us the next 10 hours to listen to music. Along the way I also invited Leif Swanson and Damon Von Schweikert from VSA to come along as well. Sam had met Leif and Damon recently in Manila after the Singapore Audio Show. Sam owns VSA speakers as well as MasterBuilt cables so it was a fun day. We had lunch at the club and then resumed listening.

Sam has a very eclectic taste in music and went through my entire CD library and brought out about dozen CD's that I either didn't know that I had or else hadn't listened to in many years. It was fun to hear music of mine that really made me sit up and listen. Sam has never heard hires digital files played and he seemed to have a good time as we scrolled through my modest 7TB library of files followed by vinyl and finally reel to reel tape.

Sam made some interesting observations about much of the music to which we listened as did Damon and Leif. It was an afternoon of great fun and friendship. There were kind words by the VSA team who came to listen and share stories. This hobby for me has not only introduced me to new music when meeting new music lovers but so also has provided me with a life time of wonderful friends. It was invigorating for me to be able to sit for almost 10 hours yesterday as we listened, laughed and shared stories about the hobby. We all came away feeling refreshed. This hobby for me has produced a lifetime of fine memories and great friendship. That for me is what it is all about. Today my wife and I will be joining Sam and his family for one final lunch as he returns home to Manila tomorrow. Safe travels Sam and thanks for taking time out of your vacation plans to spend with Cathy and I

mullard88 said:

Thank you Steve and Kathleen for making our visit such a wonderful experience. My whole family had a great time. We hope we can reciprocate the next time you visit us.

I noticed that Stanley is not with us in the picture.

Your room and system are truly remarkable and among the best that I have heard. We listened for nine hours but I did not feel the time at all. I wish there was more time and as you know, there are still many music selections I had picked out that I would love to hear. My apologies that I listened too long and made you tired as you were standing the whole time.

Your listening room is a wonderful spot to be in. The location is inside a secure gated and very quiet community. That in itself is already a big plus for conducive listening.

Add to that your purpose built room that allowed such clarity whenever we had something to say. I felt as if I was entering a movie house in my younger days when there was a curtain wall immediately after you open the door. The room seemed a bit small for the size of your speakers. However once the music starts and the lights dim, the room sounded much much larger. I could not tell through listening where the room boundaries were.

Music reproduction was totally awesome. There was an ease that told me your system could reproduce any sound without any hint of strain. The synergy among the equipment was such that the sound was so balanced it did not highlight nor hide any particular part of the frequency range nor the dynamic range. I am very much impressed with the ability of your system to reproduce the effect of the body of an orchestra. This really reminded me of the feeling of attending a live concert. As I told you, I not only hear the music in your room but I also feel the music in your room; and this was experienced without cranking up the volume level.

You also have a most comfortable listening chair. I could feel the softness and smoothness of the leather putting me at ease, making me slouch into it. This is the position for me to marvel at the soundstage at its largest size. I also leaned forward where imaging became sharper at the expense of losing the size of the soundstage.

Thank you too for playing Elvis's Fever even when your legs were already hurting. It is an beautiful recording and I will be looking for it in CD format.

Thank you Steve and Kathleen for making our visit so enjoyable. My family were already resigned to missing Disneyland but were so fortunate and happy that they were not only able to visit Disneyland but were accompanied by the most knowledgeable and best guide in the world.

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Sam


i appreciate your kind remarks but more so I appreciate the fact that after almost a year you were able to work a trip in to SoCal with your wife and daughters and included Cathy and I in your 3 days in my neck of the woods. It was an absolute pleasure for Cathy and I to show you around as well as getting your wife and daughters to Disneyland while you and I had an extended listening session which I found fun as you were re-introducing me to some great music that I have in my library and had forgotten about.

Have a safe flight home tomorrow

JackD201 said:

I'm so envious! Had the calendar at work not changed, I would have been with you guys. As it stands my trip was cut short then shorter again. San, I'm working on that school schedule problem . I'm glad you had a great time. Miss you all!

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Sam told me about the bill you are working on to rectify the school schedule program

JackD201 said:

They've been filed at both Houses

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Fabulous

then we can count on next year at summer break

GianLuigi

I will be in Russia from June 20-27 and from there we will be in the north of Italy from June 27-July3.

We will be in Milan, Lake Maggiore and Piemont region

There will be 8 of us in Italy some of whom are ardent audiophiles

With the conclusion of the LA Audio Show I finally brought my CMS Racks to a final conclusion. I drove back to LA on Monday and picked up Joe and Joy Lavrencik and brought them back to my house until today where Joe upgraded my Black Diamond amp stand to the current Mk lll version. Also I put the icing on the cake to my horizontal CMS rack by adding two more Black Diamond filters. This was done in lieu of my anticipation to update the digital side of my system and having done that I will have hopefully reached audio nirvana. I feel that I am very close. The tewo new Black Diamond filters were installed in the anticipation of a new DAC as well as a server.

It was good to once again have Joe do all of this as it went so quickly and so smoothly so much so that we had a chance to enjoy some fine restaurants on the water in San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano

This was the layout out my rack prior to the addition of the 2 new filters

http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showt...Steve-Williams&p=420767&viewfull=1#post420767

and here is the finally finished 16 shelf horizontal rack and 4 shelf amp stand with Joe getting the first listen after completion.....As you can see I also moved the tape deck one shelf to the left to open up the front part of the rack away from the speaker









Joe also left me with some goodies that I will explain further about as they settle in my system as Joe has left me with a very new product of his that he is hoping to bring to market and he has left with me to review