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Text Box: What was the music that got you interested in Stereo?

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Meeting notes from July 9, 2008 Planning Meeting at Sound and Image:

 

In general, the meeting last week was very well attended and very positive.  It’s obvious we have the nucleus of a good club, but there needs to be more direction for the leaders and help/suggestions from the members.

 

John Herzog felt the focus should be on gear, rather than listening to music.  We have other gatherings for members to come and enjoy the music, but the clubs should allow members to listen to, compare and hear gear they would not normally be able to audition.

 

Future meeting topics

o        November 2008 meeting to be at John’s. Eric Wilcox to cater w/ awesome food again? 5pm to 8pm?

o        Michael Spanel to host at some point soon

o        Chalice audio meeting? (Chalice makes very high end tube monobloc, $50k per pair) (Rusty to contact Chalice)

o        Another music meeting where we all bring in 2 recordings that must be awesome and not mainstream to share with the group

o        Stock vs. modded gear - CD players, amplifiers, etc.

o        Another DIY day - Open for requests. Tube amps, Tweaks, Speaker cables

o        Go visit a recording studio

o        Active vs. passive x-over shootout

o        No more than 3 watt systems!

o        Systems by budget…$2.5k, $5k and $10k (Tom Craggs to handle one, Tim one and Rusty one?)

o        Everyone shares their favorite low cost tweak

o        Please forward other suggestions to us

 

Things to do:

o        Howard to be new web master and migrate the web site to www.richmondaudiosociety.org

o        Alan to research club announcements in Stereophile and The Absolute Sound

o        See if Randy Minor will take on the secretary role once again.  He was too darn good at it to allow him to remain removed!

o        Put a “stock” announcement on website that members are to help clean John’s, David’s, etc. facility at the end of a meeting

 

General:

o        Meetings to remain pro-gear!

o        Idea of donating gear, cables, etc. to give as a door prize to those who “bring a friend to RAS day.”

o        Next officers meeting top be 1st Wed in Dec 2008 for 2009 RAS.

o        Encourage photos and gear list for systems owned by RAS members.

 

Vinyl User Group, Sun April 20 2008

 

Host:  John

We will have John's Rim Drive VPI-HRX to listen to.  John would like to use about 15 minutes of the group's time to introduce us to a few of  the best female vocalists from the 1950s.  He is thinking June  Christy, Chris Connor, Anita O'day and maybe one or two others that most folks haven't heard.  (I can bring my Cisco reissue of June Christy's  "Something Cool", two original Julie London LP's and some Sarah Vaughan.)

 

March 16 2008 System Crawl

 

Ed

"Home Theatre" System

· Amplification: Plinius 8200 Integrated Amp

· Speakers: Cambridge Soundworks Newton T500

· Source: TBD

 

"Ears Only" System

· Speaker: Innersound EROS MK3 Electrostats (Note from Rusty – These are incredible)

· Amplification: Bi-Amped

· Electrostat Amp: Innersound

· Electrostatic Amplifier Bass Amp: Innersound Crossover/Bass Amplifier 600 watts RMS/Channel @4ohms

· Pre-Amp: Innersound iPre Balanced Preamp

· CD Transport: Musical Fidelity kW series DM25 Transport

· DAC: Musical Fidelity kW series DM25 DAC

 

Roy

Equipment

· TV – Panasonic 60” 720P LCD Rear Projection TV

· A/V Receiver – Denon AVR-3806 with HDMI and Audyssey MultEQ XT (auto-setup and room EQ)

· Disc Player – Denon DVD-2910 Universal Player (plays everything minus newer hi-def disc formats)

· Media Server – Apple TV with software version 2.0 (allows movie rental direct from couch); great transport for lossless audio streaming (even supports HDCD encoding and transport via iTunes)

· FiOS TV – Motorola 6416 Multi-Room HD-DVR

· Speakers – Revel Concerta 7-speaker system (F12’s for the FL and FR, C12 for the center, S12’s for the side surrounds, and M12’s for the rear surrounds)

· Subwoofer – SVSound PB-10 ISD

 

January 20 2008 at Howard Stern’s

 

Topic:  Stereo Amp Comparison

Howard to host

 

January 24 2008 at Tim Stinson’s

 

Topic:  Usher Audio Be-718

Tim  to host

 

Saturday Dec 29 at John Herzogs, after 2pm

 

Topic:  Direct to Disc Records

Thanks to Howard & John for setting this up.  Please contact John and let him know what time you expect to be there.  John Herzog—host.  This meeting played a number of direct to discs on John’s VPI HRX TT.

 

Sunday, Nov 18 2007

 

The DAC shootout at Sandy’s.  This meeting was very well attended.  We picked 4 tracks and played 2 minutes of each track.

Best:

· Rusty — Oracle Audio DAC1000

Better (Not in order)

· Jonathan's Chord DAC 64

· Howad’s Musical Fidelity Tri-Vista 96/192K upsampling tube DAC

Good (Not in order)

· Papa Tim — Audio Synthesis Ultra-Analog DAC

· Jeff — Muse model 192 DAC

· Steve — Dodson upgraded DA-217

 

Sunday, September 16th 2007—1PM

 

Ray will be coordinating this System Crawl.  There will be 3 homes for your review.  Also, Ray will email you directions, details, times and meeting points for the event. 

Ray:

· Panasonic SA-XR70 digital 5.1 receiver

· Pioneer CD, SACD, DVD audio player

· Harmon Kardon Rabco ST-7 straight tracking turntable

· Denon DL 103R cart

· Samsung SIR-TS360 HDTV tuner

· Panasonic LCD projector

· Magnepan 3.6’ speakers

· NHT VT-2 rear speakers

· DIY Sub w/ 15” Titanic driver

Jonathan:

· ATC 20 Tower Active speakers

· Audio Synthesis Transcend Decade CD transport

· Chord 64 DAC

· I should have an Atma-Sphere MP 1 MK 111 Preamplifier in the coming week, I ordered it with a built in phono, however, I don't think I'll have a turntable, etc. in place in time for the "crawl".

George:  (Also George added this for the guys when they visit his house. It should be included when you send the info to the guys. He said no shoes, no smoking, and no eating downstairs. The food will be upstairs and there is a cat so anyone with allergies – be warned!)

· Front end: Sony DVP9000ES SACD/CD player, unmodified

· Preamp: Meridian 541 analog preamp with Meridian 515 phono preamp.  However, I haven't had a turntable for 20 years.

· Power Amps: Meridian 505 mono amplifiers

· Crossover: Slightly modified Ashly XR1001 set to 50Hz, 24db/octave, with a high pass at 20Hz, 18dB/octave

· 50Hz up: QUAD ESL 988

· 25Hz to 50Hz: Meridian M2500 subwoofer

· Connections: cheap, generic balanced microphone cable for interconnects; even less expensive lamp cord for speaker wire; all power cords came with the equipment at purchase. However, the system does have its own electric circuit.

· Equipment stand: a leftover pots-and-pans rack from the kitchen remodel.

Other junk:

· Speakers: Celestion SL700 Special Edition, Quad 12L Active

· Amplifiers: Quad 99 modified by me, Naim NAIT

· Sources: Onkyo SACD player, 80GB iPod, Squeezebox v3

· Headphones: Sennheiser HD650, with the original Sennheiser headphone amp.

· Power Supply: Hewlett Packard 3630A used to power iPod and headphone amp.

 

July 15 2007—2nd Annual RAS Picnic

 

Chris Keating hosted the event and picnic.  There were around 30 of us there.  A good time was had by all.

 

 

June 16 2007—Vinyl Special Interest Group

 

Ken has asked me to send out his invite for the meeting at his home this Saturday at noon.  Ken’s masterpiece turntable is not yet ready.  Vinyl will be spinning through the SOTA played through Ken’s awesome system.  Please bring vinyl to play.  I will bring my record cleaning goodies to clean any vinyl that we will be playing, if needed.  Ken will have a grill going with Brats, sausage, etc and he needs to have a fair approximation as to the number of attendees. There will be plenty of beer, soda, and tea, etc.

 

May 20 2007—Howard’s Analog Lovers Session

 

I would like to offer my home as the location for our first meeting on Saturday April 21st, 2007 at 12 noon.  If anyone wants to come by earlier than noon to clean vinyl, do DIY stuff, listen, etc., just let me know in advance.  Lunch and beverages will be provided.  I recently purchased much new vinyl, and I have somewhere between 2000 - 3,000 LP's.  Please feel free to bring LP's and Red Book CD's.

 

Nov 19 2006—Ken’s Music Lovers

 

First John discussed his experiences at the Denver Audio Fest.  John highly recommends that it was an interesting experience for all.  Ken showed off his phenomenal 5.2 stereo system and gave us some insight on the turntable that he is building.  RAS members brought some LP and CDs for the group to listen to.  We encouraged music that would be new and interesting.

 

September 24 2006  - DIY Stations

 

There will be DIY stations. Each session will last approximately 45 minutes

· Tim will host a group to explain the design theory, applications and differences between interconnects.

· Jeff will host a group to explain and demo how to make a quality power cord

· Howard will host a group to explain and demo how to set up a turntable to include speed, cartridge alignment, etc.  Turntables can take hours to set up, so Howard will layout the process and explain the terminology.

 

July 16 2006—System Crawl

 

1st System Crawlee— Julian

 

System:

Main system is in family room, consists of:

· Magnepan 20.1 speakers

· Clayton Audio S-2000 power amp

· ARC Ref3 preamp

· ARC CD7 player

· Equitech balanced power conditioner

· XM satellite radio tuner

· Discovery and Luminous cables

· Equarack equipment rack & amp stand

 

Secondary system in 1st floor master bedroom:

· Sehring Audio 702 speakers

· VPI scout turntable and arm

· Dynavector cartridge

· Graham Slee phono preamp

· Rotel receiver

· Yamaha CD recorder

· no name cables

Use second system mainly to burn LP's, in process of exiting analog.

 

2nd System Crawlee— Howard

Howard has a vast plethora of fine vintage gear.  His listening habits revolve around 80% vinyl, 10% FM and 10% CD. 

· Software:  Thousands of LP's, sorted alphabetically by artist and also by year

· Genre: Classical, Jazz, Rock, Pop, Lots of 70's and 80's music

· Nearby essentials: Refrigerator stocked with golden beverage. :) 

· Room:  Dedicated audio room in basement on carpeted concrete slab in recently built custom home, with custom built-in Vinyl shelving and record-store style vinyl rack.  Audio room caddy-corners to home office including dedicated electronics workbench.

 

Text Box: July 20 2008—Audiophile Applications for Streaming Audio   Hosts:     Tom of Blue Oasis Audio                 John If you have ever wondered how to leverage the convenience of new digital audio formats without sacrificing quality, don't miss the next RAS meeting.  The July meeting will be held in Carytown at Blue Oasis Audio, owned by RAS member Tom Craggs.  There will be a presentation of current digital formats and the tradeoffs associated with them, as well as a "shootout" to hear the differences for yourself on top  quality equipment.  There will also be a demonstration of the latest in wireless music distribution for the home.  Bring your skepticism and your golden ears, but remember that you can't knock it until you've tried it. July 9 2008—Future Directions Meeting notes from July 9, 2008 Planning Meeting at Sound and Image:   In general, the meeting last week was very well attended and very positive.  It’s obvious we have the nucleus of a good club, but there needs to be more direction for the leaders and help/suggestions from the members.   John Herzog felt the focus should be on gear, rather than listening to music.  We have other gatherings for members to come and enjoy the music, but the clubs should allow members to listen to, compare and hear gear they would not normally be able to audition.   Future meeting topics o        November 2008 meeting to be at John’s. Eric Wilcox to cater w/ awesome food again? 5pm to 8pm? o        Michael Spanel to host at some point soon o        Chalice audio meeting? (Chalice makes very high end tube monobloc, $50k per pair) (Rusty to contact Chalice) o        Another music meeting where we all bring in 2 recordings that must be awesome and not mainstream to share with the group o        Stock vs. modded gear - CD players, amplifiers, etc. o        Another DIY day - Open for requests. Tube amps, Tweaks, Speaker cables o        Go visit a recording studio o        Active vs. passive x-over shootout o        No more than 3 watt systems! o        Systems by budget…$2.5k, $5k and $10k (Tom Craggs to handle one, Tim one and Rusty one?) o        Everyone shares their favorite low cost tweak o        Please forward other suggestions to us   Things to do: o        Howard to be new web master and migrate the web site to www.richmondaudiosociety.org o        Alan to research club announcements in Stereophile and The Absolute Sound o        See if Randy Minor will take on the secretary role once again.  He was too darn good at it to allow him to remain removed! o        Put a “stock” announcement on website that members are to help clean John’s, David’s, etc. facility at the end of a meeting   General: o        Meetings to remain pro-gear! o        Idea of donating gear, cables, etc. to give as a door prize to those who “bring a friend to RAS day.” o        Next officers meeting top be 1st Wed in Dec 2008 for 2009 RAS. o        Encourage photos and gear list for systems owned by RAS members. Vinyl User Group, Sun April 20 2008   Host:  John We will have John's Rim Drive VPI-HRX to listen to.  John would like to use about 15 minutes of the group's time to introduce us to a few of  the best female vocalists from the 1950s.  He is thinking June  Christy, Chris Connor, Anita O'day and maybe one or two others that most folks haven't heard.  (I can bring my Cisco reissue of June Christy's  "Something Cool", two original Julie London LP's and some Sarah Vaughan.)   March 16 2008 System Crawl   Ed "Home Theatre" System · Amplification: Plinius 8200 Integrated Amp · Speakers: Cambridge Soundworks Newton T500 · Source: TBD   "Ears Only" System · Speaker: Innersound EROS MK3 Electrostats (Note from Rusty – These are incredible) · Amplification: Bi-Amped · Electrostat Amp: Innersound · Electrostatic Amplifier Bass Amp: Innersound Crossover/Bass Amplifier 600 watts RMS/Channel @4ohms · Pre-Amp: Innersound iPre Balanced Preamp · CD Transport: Musical Fidelity kW series DM25 Transport · DAC: Musical Fidelity kW series DM25 DAC   Roy Equipment · TV – Panasonic 60” 720P LCD Rear Projection TV · A/V Receiver – Denon AVR-3806 with HDMI and Audyssey MultEQ XT (auto-setup and room EQ) · Disc Player – Denon DVD-2910 Universal Player (plays everything minus newer hi-def disc formats) · Media Server – Apple TV with software version 2.0 (allows movie rental direct from couch); great transport for lossless audio streaming (even supports HDCD encoding and transport via iTunes) · FiOS TV – Motorola 6416 Multi-Room HD-DVR · Speakers – Revel Concerta 7-speaker system (F12’s for the FL and FR, C12 for the center, S12’s for the side surrounds, and M12’s for the rear surrounds) · Subwoofer – SVSound PB-10 ISD   January 20 2008 at Howard Stern’s   Topic:  Stereo Amp Comparison Howard to host   January 24 2008 at Tim Stinson’s   Topic:  Usher Audio Be-718 Tim to host   Saturday Dec 29 at John Herzogs, after 2pm   Topic:  Direct to Disc Records Thanks to Howard & John for setting this up.  Please contact John and let him know what time you expect to be there.  John Herzog—host.  This meeting played a number of direct to discs on John’s VPI HRX TT.   Sunday, Nov 18 2007   The DAC shootout at Sandy’s.  This meeting was very well attended.  We picked 4 tracks and played 2 minutes of each track. Best: · Rusty — Oracle Audio DAC1000 Better (Not in order) · Jonathan's Chord DAC 64 · Howad’s Musical Fidelity Tri-Vista 96/192K upsampling tube DAC Good (Not in order) · Papa Tim — Audio Synthesis Ultra-Analog DAC · Jeff — Muse model 192 DAC · Steve — Dodson upgraded DA-217   Sunday, September 16th 2007—1PM   Ray will be coordinating this System Crawl.  There will be 3 homes for your review.  Also, Ray will email you directions, details, times and meeting points for the event.  Ray: · Panasonic SA-XR70 digital 5.1 receiver · Pioneer CD, SACD, DVD audio player · Harmon Kardon Rabco ST-7 straight tracking turntable · Denon DL 103R cart · Samsung SIR-TS360 HDTV tuner · Panasonic LCD projector · Magnepan 3.6’ speakers · NHT VT-2 rear speakers · DIY Sub w/ 15” Titanic driver Jonathan: · ATC 20 Tower Active speakers · Audio Synthesis Transcend Decade CD transport · Chord 64 DAC · I should have an Atma-Sphere MP 1 MK 111 Preamplifier in the coming week, I ordered it with a built in phono, however, I don't think I'll have a turntable, etc. in place in time for the "crawl". George:  (Also George added this for the guys when they visit his house. It should be included when you send the info to the guys. He said no shoes, no smoking, and no eating downstairs. The food will be upstairs and there is a cat so anyone with allergies – be warned!) · Front end: Sony DVP9000ES SACD/CD player, unmodified · Preamp: Meridian 541 analog preamp with Meridian 515 phono preamp.  However, I haven't had a turntable for 20 years. · Power Amps: Meridian 505 mono amplifiers · Crossover: Slightly modified Ashly XR1001 set to 50Hz, 24db/octave, with a high pass at 20Hz, 18dB/octave · 50Hz up: QUAD ESL 988 · 25Hz to 50Hz: Meridian M2500 subwoofer · Connections: cheap, generic balanced microphone cable for interconnects; even less expensive lamp cord for speaker wire; all power cords came with the equipment at purchase. However, the system does have its own electric circuit. · Equipment stand: a leftover pots-and-pans rack from the kitchen remodel. Other junk: · Speakers: Celestion SL700 Special Edition, Quad 12L Active · Amplifiers: Quad 99 modified by me, Naim NAIT · Sources: Onkyo SACD player, 80GB iPod, Squeezebox v3 · Headphones: Sennheiser HD650, with the original Sennheiser headphone amp. · Power Supply: Hewlett Packard 3630A used to power iPod and headphone amp.   July 15 2007—2nd Annual RAS Picnic   Chris Keating hosted the event and picnic.  There were around 30 of us there.  A good time was had by all.     June 16 2007—Vinyl Special Interest Group   Ken has asked me to send out his invite for the meeting at his home this Saturday at noon.  Ken’s masterpiece turntable is not yet ready.  Vinyl will be spinning through the SOTA played through Ken’s awesome system.  Please bring vinyl to play.  I will bring my record cleaning goodies to clean any vinyl that we will be playing, if needed.  Ken will have a grill going with Brats, sausage, etc and he needs to have a fair approximation as to the number of attendees. There will be plenty of beer, soda, and tea, etc.   May 20 2007—Howard’s Analog Lovers Session   I would like to offer my home as the location for our first meeting on Saturday April 21st, 2007 at 12 noon.  If anyone wants to come by earlier than noon to clean vinyl, do DIY stuff, listen, etc., just let me know in advance.  Lunch and beverages will be provided.  I recently purchased much new vinyl, and I have somewhere between 2000 - 3,000 LP's.  Please feel free to bring LP's and Red Book CD's.   Nov 19 2006—Ken’s Music Lovers   First John discussed his experiences at the Denver Audio Fest.  John highly recommends that it was an interesting experience for all.  Ken showed off his phenomenal 5.2 stereo system and gave us some insight on the turntable that he is building.  RAS members brought some LP and CDs for the group to listen to.  We encouraged music that would be new and interesting.   September 24 2006  - DIY Stations   There will be DIY stations. Each session will last approximately 45 minutes · Tim will host a group to explain the design theory, applications and differences between interconnects. · Jeff will host a group to explain and demo how to make a quality power cord · Howard will host a group to explain and demo how to set up a turntable to include speed, cartridge alignment, etc.  Turntables can take hours to set up, so Howard will layout the process and explain the terminology.   July 16 2006—System Crawl   1st System Crawlee— Julian   System: Main system is in family room, consists of: · Magnepan 20.1 speakers · Clayton Audio S-2000 power amp · ARC Ref3 preamp · ARC CD7 player · Equitech balanced power conditioner · XM satellite radio tuner · Discovery and Luminous cables · Equarack equipment rack & amp stand   Secondary system in 1st floor master bedroom: · Sehring Audio 702 speakers · VPI scout turntable and arm · Dynavector cartridge · Graham Slee phono preamp · Rotel receiver · Yamaha CD recorder · no name cables Use second system mainly to burn LP's, in process of exiting analog.   2nd System Crawlee— Howard Howard has a vast plethora of fine vintage gear.  His listening habits revolve around 80% vinyl, 10% FM and 10% CD.  · Software:  Thousands of LP's, sorted alphabetically by artist and also by year · Genre: Classical, Jazz, Rock, Pop, Lots of 70's and 80's music · Nearby essentials: Refrigerator stocked with golden beverage. :)  · Room:  Dedicated audio room in basement on carpeted concrete slab in recently built custom home, with custom built-in Vinyl shelving and record-store style vinyl rack.  Audio room caddy-corners to home office including dedicated electronics workbench.