[sheldaze]

 
Nice! It's amazing how quickly some things come from China. I was still waiting for shipping confirmation from MHDT Labs when our DAC arrived. I was planning on bringing an optical splitter, so we could feed the same signal to two DACs and do some input switching. I wonder if straight optical out of my Macbook Pro, USB out into an SPDIF converter, or optical out of an iBasso DX80 would be better? I'll just bring them all. 

I have not tried my optical splitting as yet. I have compared DX80 and it beats just about everything else I have - perhaps only a dedicated transport costing $500-$1000+ could be better. But we're splitting hairs. DX80 sounds fantastic! I would certainly recommend using it versus the optical from any Mac laptop or desktop I own.
 
Rumor has it you may be seeking testers of USB cleanup. Definitely interested to experiment with that! One of my DDC boxes died, and the other is quite warm (tonally - perhaps if you remember, we could also try the Gustard, still at the shop, fed by a proper cleanup device). But straight into my DAC via USB, I could discern easily the delta between unclean and clean USB source. Perhaps not under meet conditions, but I'd like to try!

 

[Billheiser]

I went to look up the Carriage House in Kentlands, and there were some broken links - and the info I did find had no entries in this calendar year.  Can someone confirm that the venue is still good?  Thanks.

 

[doukhobar]

@sheldawn @willsw Not sure if guys are still interested in this, but there is a Bryston BDP-1 for sale on Craigslist in Washington DC for about $550. I thought that was a very good deal. In fact, I was tempted myself to pick it up for a second system! 

 

[doukhobar]

@thyname and others regarding internet: it is my understanding there is limited Wifi coming from a router located somewhere on the grounds. However, I am not sure how strong the signal will be. What I've done is gone ahead and purchased a Wireless bridge/repeater. Haven't messed with it yet, but my plan is to connect it to the WiFi network, and then use its ethernet jack to connect to my digial music player. At least that's the plan. 
 
@PJABBER @willswI was thinking, I am a little concerned about the tables for setting up. Do you have any suggestions? I realize last time we set up at Urban Hifi, there were several plastic tables, but also some wood racks. I realize we won't have that here, but I'm thinking some of the delicate equipment might not be optimal on a plastic folding table, especially if they are not reinforced. For example, I was actually considering bringing a second amp as well as a tube preamp, besdies my stand alone DAC and file player. I also have power filters and other secondary components that need space too. I was thinking of bring a shelf off my audio rack at least to hold some of the stuff, but I think it would be better served putting this on the floor. Any other thoughts?

 

[kendavis]

  I went to look up the Carriage House in Kentlands, and there were some broken links - and the info I did find had no entries in this calendar year.  Can someone confirm that the venue is still good?  Thanks.

The phone number they have listed on their facebook page is not in service and their website, as noted, is not there. Can anyone confirm that they still exist? It doesn't look good from here.

 

[PJABBER]

  @thyname and others regarding internet: it is my understanding there is limited Wifi coming from a router located somewhere on the grounds. However, I am not sure how strong the signal will be. What I've done is gone ahead and purchased a Wireless bridge/repeater. Haven't messed with it yet, but my plan is to connect it to the WiFi network, and then use its ethernet jack to connect to my digial music player. At least that's the plan. 
 
@PJABBER @willswI was thinking, I am a little concerned about the tables for setting up. Do you have any suggestions? I realize last time we set up at Urban Hifi, there were several plastic tables, but also some wood racks. I realize we won't have that here, but I'm thinking some of the delicate equipment might not be optimal on a plastic folding table, especially if they are not reinforced. For example, I was actually considering bringing a second amp as well as a tube preamp, besdies my stand alone DAC and file player. I also have power filters and other secondary components that need space too. I was thinking of bring a shelf off my audio rack at least to hold some of the stuff, but I think it would be better served putting this on the floor. Any other thoughts?

The room is stocked with two heavy duty 8-foot folding tables, one heavy-duty 6-foot folding table, six folding card tables, a writing board, about 20 folding chairs. If you have heavier or bulkier equipment we can have you use the large folding tables. Portable gear can easily be supported on the card tables.

 

[PJABBER]

Originally Posted by Billheiser 
 
I went to look up the Carriage House in Kentlands, and there were some broken links - and the info I did find had no entries in this calendar year.  Can someone confirm that the venue is still good?  Thanks.
 
Originally Posted by kendavis /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
The phone number they have listed on their facebook page is not in service and their website, as noted, is not there. Can anyone confirm that they still exist? It doesn't look good from here.

Not sure what you are looking at, the community WWW site is - http://www.kentlandstowncrier.com/
 
You can see an exterior photo of the Carriage House venue and scroll to our event right below -  http://www.kentlandstowncrier.com/venue/carriage-house/
 
We are the "Private Event" on March 12, 12:00 Noon - 5:00 p.m. on both the home and the venue pages. 

 

 

[kendavis]

  Not sure what you are looking at, the community WWW site is - http://www.kentlandstowncrier.com/
 
You can see an exterior photo of the Carriage House venue and scroll to our event right below -  http://www.kentlandstowncrier.com/venue/carriage-house/
 
We are the "Private Event" on March 12, 12:00 Noon - 5:00 p.m. on both the home and the venue pages. 

 

Yep... you're right. I feel better now. Do they answer their phone?

 

[PJABBER]

  Yep... you're right. I feel better now. Do they answer their phone?

I guess it depends on when you call them and how busy they are! They always answered when I called. 

 

[100VoltTube]

I'll be there with my beyer T70's, and hopefully a DIY OTL amp like a crack (I'm in the process of making it) I could also bring a pair of HD480 II's and a magni 2 uber if anyone's interested in hearing those.
 
Looking forward to it!

 

[doukhobar]

Hello Friends,
Really looking forward to this meet. It may be my last in the DC area, so I hope to make it worthwhile and memorable! @kendavis and @PJABBER thanks for checking into things and making sure we are safe and secure. I know we all feel more comfortable having all our i's dotted and t's crossed before bringing potentially expensive (perhaps very) gear out of our homes and into someplace new. 
 
I wanted to just briefly mention some of the things I am bringing and/or considering bringing to the meet, so you can check them out or give a listen, if you are interested. I don't often have time to write on here, but tonight I am feeling inspired! Speaking of which, one new thing I plan on bringing (that didn't come last time) is a Dennis Had Inspire LP2 preamp. Dennis Had founded Cary Audio (maker of well known tube gear) and "retired" a few years ago. In his "spare time" he has been making some wonderful tube gear. I have an amp and matching preamp of his, and will be bringing the preamp (the amp is my primary speaker amp and can use 6V6, 6L6 or KT88 power tubes). The preamp uses two 12AU7's and a 5Y3 rectifier. I have some fairly interesting rectifiers to run in there, if you want to swing by. I will definitely have a GEC/Marconi U50 (5Y3) rectifier with inverted cup getter at the very least. There is quite a bit of information written about his work on a website called Audio Aficionado. If you are interested further, you can skim this 300+ pg thread (here) from the users of his fine gear. 
Which leads me to why am I bringing this tube preamp? Well, it is because I want to bring two amps. And from the preamp, we can output to two different amps simultaneously. Some folks may remember the Decware Taboo III I brought last time, and I will bring that again. One of the big, big things I learned at our last meet was that this Taboo only really sounds 'good' (and by good, I mean great) from it's balanced outputs. The SE output is lackluster, IMO. Sounds fine, just not remarkable. The 4-pin XLR outputs though are indeed incredible. So please, if you have some headphones with balanced cables, please bring them by. I actually don't have any (I'm hoping to pull the trigger on some aftermarket balanced cables soon). The Taboo supports two balanced outputs simultaneously, so we can support two balanced listeners there. I plan on putting the preamp behind the Taboo, so even if you heard Taboo last time, it was with no preamp, and this time will have preamp. 
That leads me to the second amp I hope to bring. It is the Portal Audio Panache. This was my first 'audiophile' amplifier, and I really do love it, and researched the hell out of it b/f buyinh. It is well known as a speaker amp, but is an under the radar awesome headphone amp.
Stereo Times review
It is just GREAT with rock and electronica.
The amp was designed by Nelson Pass of Pass Labs, and the single ended headphone output runs directly from the speaker taps with only a volume attenuator in the way. I love this amp with Senn HD600/650 and even the HD800. For a solid state amp, it is remarkable. With a tube preamp behind it - even more so, IMO. 
So, that will be the primary gear that will be on display and running (I hope!) and if you want to listen to it, please come by! One thing I actually don't have much of is actually in the way of headphones. I will be bringing my HD800, but only have single ended cable currently. If anyone has an extra HD800 balanced cable to bring to the meet, that would be cool. I would love to listen to any of the headphones you bring over to share. I also hope to bring some interesting rectifier and input (E88CC) tubes for the Decware again. I will look through my collection and see if I can find a 'brighter' tube, though my ear tends to lean on the warm side. Right now it has a Valvo E88CC red label in there, which like most tubes made in Holland is probably considered 'warm' or 'lush'. 
This all hinges on me able to get ethernet running in the Carriage House. So I will try and arrive early to set up this network. 
 
Question: Any ideas from the voices of experience on bringing all this stuff? I was thinking of making a run to the Container Store tomorrow. We are moving in May, so any large rolling box I buy could be of use in the near future anyhow. I hope to fit all of this gear into one rolling box and one small box. 
Have a great night everybody!

 

[doukhobar]

Getting into speakers is scaring me with how quickly the price scales. I have a setup in mind, but its demanding more money than i spent on headphones put together in one shot.

You don't need to spend alot of money to get great music from speakers! 
Depending on your tastes, if they were primary acoustic music (i.e. live instruments) and you didn't care about listening to loudly (i.e. headache levels) I would just say look at Omega speakers and you could probably stop there. The bang for the buck is incredible, however they will show every weakness in the links in your system. A low powered tube amp is ideal with these ultra high sensitivity speakers. They make jsut sublime music together! On the used market, you can find a Decare SE84UFO (their top of the line tube amp) for $850 (I can tell you where, shhh, I want it...) and Omega speakers for <$1,000. Done. Won't need to upgrade amp or speakers for years. Cables and power cords, a whole other matter...Just my opinion, of course!

 

[markm1]

  You don't need to spend alot of money to get great music from speakers! 
Depending on your tastes, if they were primary acoustic music (i.e. live instruments) and you didn't care about listening to loudly (i.e. headache levels) I would just say look at Omega speakers and you could probably stop there. The bang for the buck is incredible, however they will show every weakness in the links in your system. A low powered tube amp is ideal with these ultra high sensitivity speakers. They make jsut sublime music together! On the used market, you can find a Decare SE84UFO (their top of the line tube amp) for $850 (I can tell you where, shhh, I want it...) and Omega speakers for <$1,000. Done. Won't need to upgrade amp or speakers for years. Cables and power cords, a whole other matter...Just my opinion, of course!

I'm learning in my own stereo upgrade path that room acoustics have as much affect as any component. If I were to start again, and had some choices in terms of rooms in my home,  I would definitely do a little research on room acoustics and find a room or at least optimize the room layout so if you ever go the route of adding room treatments you are working with the strengths of the room. I'm going to add some room treatments to my small listening room this summer, so this aspect of audio is in my mind, currently. 

 

[ScottFW]

I'll be making acoustic panels for my listening room sometime this spring. Roxul Safe-n-Sound rock wool type insulation framed out with some wood with some type of decorative fabric stretched over. Search the web for DIY acoustic panels to get an idea. The big box stores only carry that Roxul product in the 16" width but I was hoping to use 24" width batts for my panels. Minimum special order quantity for the 24" width at the big box stores is 3 packages (each pack is 8 batts of 24" x 48"). I only need one pack. Anyone want to go in with me on a special order?
 
Also a Cary Audio owner here. CAD-5500S preamp that I do actually use in my main rig, retubed it last summer. Also have a pair of CAD-300M monoblocks that have not been used in years because they need new output tubes (4x 300B per monoblock) and at this point I really need to recap them too. So I'm looking at $500-600 in glass plus another ~$250-300 in capacitors. Gonna spread out the pain over a few months and hopefully get 'er done this spring/summer.

 

[gandhisfist]

  You don't need to spend alot of money to get great music from speakers! 
Depending on your tastes, if they were primary acoustic music (i.e. live instruments) and you didn't care about listening to loudly (i.e. headache levels) I would just say look at Omega speakers and you could probably stop there. The bang for the buck is incredible, however they will show every weakness in the links in your system. A low powered tube amp is ideal with these ultra high sensitivity speakers. They make jsut sublime music together! On the used market, you can find a Decare SE84UFO (their top of the line tube amp) for $850 (I can tell you where, shhh, I want it...) and Omega speakers for <$1,000. Done. Won't need to upgrade amp or speakers for years. Cables and power cords, a whole other matter...Just my opinion, of course!

 
 
Definitely still need to explore my options in the speaker market, but I have a setup in mind with those fantastic Evoke Eddie speakers that @willsw has in his shop and it's certainly not going to be the cheapest thing in the world to put together.  I haven't heard the Omegas, I'm going to need to swing by Urban Hifi to check them out and do a comparison to the Eddie, but I have a feeling the Eddie is still going to win out for me.