SMAC July 2010

[jmathers]

The July SMAC meet will take place at Steve Sinkoff's place on Sunday, July 11 from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM.

Note day and time change!!: This is a Sunday meeting - not the usual Saturday and it's of shorter duration.

For more details see my email and check Steve's site at http://www.superiorsightandsound.com

See you there!

Jeff

 

[DC]

I think I can make this one ... looking forward to it.

And it is close to home!

 

[slow_jazz]

Should be a good time there....

 

[VinylRob]

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It will be interesting to see if Steve has one of the ClearAudio/Basis/Nottingham turntables up and running, as he never seems to have analog at the Fests... A few years ago he commented to me that a TT was too much hassle to set up. Hoping for the best, I look forward to hearing some of his offerings, the TT's, Bel Canto CD2 and DAC, and the new Dali loud speakers are on my short list for this meet. Wonder if he has a Aesthetix Rhea Signature in service???!
Happy Listening!

*Nice avatar Jeff!

 

[jmathers]

Don't forget

Don't forget the July SMAC meeting is this Sunday, July 11 from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM.

Hope to see you there!

Jeff

 

[Maron]

Will it be a full house today? Is the other club still coming to this meet?

 

[cwall99]

IsoTek put on an excellent demo of just what good power conditioning can do (even if, because of the great condition of Steve's power coming into his house, it was under less than optimal circumstances for a power conditioning demo).

I was of the opinion that a lot of things related to power were more on the snake oil side of the equation, but after listening to the impact that the Isotek products had on the (already very high) sound quality of the systems at Steve's house, I'm now scrambling to figure out how to pay for one of their Sirius conditioners.

Dang, I just bought a new TV... there goes my disposable income for a while. Maybe for Christmas.

Seriously, though, the focus of the music, the imaging, the spaces between the notes all were easily and noticeably improved.

Thanks for the demo (and, yeah, thanks for creating the sense of a new need!!! My wife thanks you guys, too! Hah!!!)

 

[jmathers]

Many thanks to Steve for putting on this event - we all appreciate the time you spent getting this organized.

I thought the demo was very impressive as well. Thanks to IsoTek's Keith Martin for a very clear presentation and for answering all the questions we had - not many folks have travelled all the way from London to attend a SMAC meet. It was a pleasure to be able to get to meet the man behind Isotek.

Thanks too to Matt for providing some great info a long the way on the variety of Rega and Dali products there. A very cool time indeed.

Cheer guys!:thmbsp:

Jeff

 

[Andyman]

I have to agree that the demo was eye opening. I'm not much of a cable guy, but I certainly heard some changes when those power conditioners were plugged around.

I also enjoyed those speakers in the upstairs living room, what were they? I'm guessing Dali Mentor 6s from digging about online. Quite nice!! :thmbsp:

 

[jn229]

Iso Tech’s Keith Martin’s demonstration of the sound improvement achieved with his power cords and line conditioners was a first for me. Hard to believe but with each separate introduction of one of Iso Tech’s products, there was an audible improvement.

Thanks Steve, Keith and Matt for a most informative meet.


I also liked the Dali’s that were in the living room.

 

[jmathers]

Interesting. I disliked the Dalis in the living room (just about blew my ears off with their high frequency extension) and loved the different Dalis setup in the basement. Listening to speakers is like tasting wine or appreciating fine art - everyone has their own peculiar taste.

Jeff

 

[Andyman]

Well, my high frequency hearing is pretty shot, so maybe it takes sledgehammer highs to register with me. And one of the guys was explaining to another that they had a "polite" sound. :yes:

Yep, I guess that's why we all order different at the restaurant

 

[olson_jr]

I also enjoyed those speakers in the upstairs living room, what were they? I'm guessing Dali Mentor 6s from digging about online. Quite nice!! :thmbsp:

Matt said they were Helicon 800's but I believe them to be Helicon 400 MK2's

Interesting. I disliked the Dalis in the living room (just about blew my ears off with their high frequency extension) and loved the different Dalis setup in the basement.

Is this were I am supposed to wisecrack about tube/vinyl guys just not being used to hearing any high frequency extension?

Seriously, they had the same set up at the fest, and those speakers seemed to have much more bass presence and body in the smaller room at AK.

Listening to speakers is like tasting wine or appreciating fine art - everyone has their own peculiar taste.
Jeff

And every SMAC meet exposes us to more peculiar tastes!:yes:

 

[dgwojo]

I was really amazed at what those power conditioners and nice power cords did, the db improvement alone was something that could be heard, I'd love to try the Aqaurius on my tube amp system some day.

 

[Quint]

The meet was nice. Steve put on a good show. The Isotek demo was nothing surprising to me—I’m already a big advocate of line conditioning and hear the results in my own system.

Like Jeff, I didn’t care for the Dalis in the living room—way too much high-frequency emphasis for me. But I’ve heard that the flagship Rega products are a bit forward as well, so maybe that contributed to it. The system downstairs was very pleasant.

 

[Kegger]

I've played with conditioning, what could be an cheap tip for some is if you have
a computer UPS/Battery Backup (or could borrow one) quite often the ones that
charge a battery then convert from the battery back to AC "can" be a very good
home audio line conditioner, I was quite surprised at the positive influence it made
in my system after pickup up a giant 1 from a mainframe/server setup a while ago.

Along those same lines keep your eyes out for larger PC power cords, you'll find a
few 12 an 14ga ones now an then that the PC doesn't really need, so swap them
for your audio setup, some are very nice power cords that work well.

Anyway just a couple possible cheap tips to try out..

---------

I was indisposed and unfortunately couldn't make that meet, Steve is a great host.

 

[Maron]

Great tips Keg, those UPS units are really helpful on digital (CD players) equipment. They help prevent them from sending "digital hash/grunge" back into the power strip and contaminating your more sensitive equipment.