[doc0075579]

Thanks for the welcome. I'll have to make sure I'm in town for canmania. If so, you are more than welcome to give them a listen.

 

[Billheiser]

The "Magnepan 3D" event tonight, at Gifted Listener Audio, was interesting, good sounding, and annoying.  The setup was three Magnepan .7 speakers, which sounded great.  The idea was that using 3 speakers (left/center/right) gives better imaging.  The Magnepan gentleman demonstrating the system was enthusiastic and committed, and talkative.  He talked informally for at least 20 minutes before he played any music - and that's when I felt the first pangs of impatience.  
 
I had the first round in the sweet spot chair, for a delicate orchestral piece.  Then the guy turned off the music and talked some more.  He then played an audiophile track by Sara K., delicate audiophile new-agey music.  Music bad, but the sound was excellent.  After ending the song, and talking some more, he then played the SAME dam song.  Irritating.  Then, for the next song, he played the SAME gdam song yet again!  Then more talk, and then a guest asked if he could play his home recording of solo classical guitar.  It sounded great, but it was familiar to no one except for the guest.  After 2 tracks of unaccompanied delicate solo guitar, I had had enough.  It was nice to see @yage there, who arrived shortly before I left.  Hope you got to hear some more substantial music, yage.  I was there for about an hour, and heard maybe 15 minutes of music.  Dang.
 
The shop is very nice, as are the owners, who have excellent equipment attractively presented.  I saw nice headphone gear there too, w/ Audeze EL-8, LCD-3, and Ayre Codex on display in the first room.

 

[TimeLord]

Billheiser That is disappointing. Hopefully someone provided feedback to the demo guy so that this is not repeated in the future.

 

[sheldaze]

 
The shop is very nice, as are the owners, who have excellent equipment attractively presented.  I saw nice headphone gear there too, w/ Audeze EL-8, LCD-3, and Ayre Codex on display in the first room.

Thanks for the impressions! Sad they did not play a mix of music - and so much music today is just, well, I call it unreachable. There's one song by Corinne Bailey Rae:
 

 
It may not be obvious from the video above, but when playing back via my Apogee Groove, the sound meter pegs out red. I've played many songs on the Apogee, and a few touch the red. But I've not seen any peg the red so badly. I'd pay money for a good recording of the acoustic:
 

 
Or just a version of the original made for audiophiles.
 
::
 
So much distraction in the office today.
I forgot to ask my original question - do they have a listening area for the headphones? Or is it out in the open?

 

[yage]

Overall, I thought the event was ok - certainly not as well organized as previous ones that I've attended (Ayre / Vienna Acoustics, Linn) but the marketing guy mentioned that this was more of an informal stop rather than something planned. It reminded me of what I experienced in the Capital Audiofest listening rooms, but with more interruptions.
 
I thought it was ironic, though, that the setup was L-C-R when I've heard the Magnepans dissolve much better in the standard 2 speaker arrangement. The center speaker seemed to dominate the room at times - I bet it would've worked better if it were a little farther away. Other than that, you could tell that the Maggies offered a highly transparent presentation with huge images. If you listen to a lot of classical music or live albums and want the you-are-there feeling, Magnepans are one way to get them. The downside is that they're lowish in sensitivity and low impedance, which can make them challenging to drive. Usually a powerful solid state amp is your only (economical) option if you want full-scale dynamics. Each .7 panel was driven by a Bryston 7BSST
 
Eventually they played a second recording that the 'recording engineer' had on hand - Beethoven's Christ on the Mount of Olives. It sounded decent and you could really get a sense of the space that the piece was recorded in. I also sat in the sweet spot for some 'pop' music that reminded me of Enya but probably wasn't. That track didn't have much depth to it, though you could still easily localize where the (faked) reverberations were coming from.

 

[Billheiser]

  Overall, I thought the event was ok - certainly not as well organized as previous ones that I've attended (Ayre / Vienna Acoustics, Linn) but the marketing guy mentioned that this was more of an informal stop rather than something planned. It reminded me of what I experienced in the Capital Audiofest listening rooms, but with more interruptions.
 
I thought it was ironic, though, that the setup was L-C-R when I've heard the Magnepans dissolve much better in the standard 2 speaker arrangement. The center speaker seemed to dominate the room at times - I bet it would've worked better if it were a little farther away. Other than that, you could tell that the Maggies offered a highly transparent presentation with huge images. If you listen to a lot of classical music or live albums and want the you-are-there feeling, Magnepans are one way to get them. The downside is that they're lowish in sensitivity and low impedance, which can make them challenging to drive. Usually a powerful solid state amp is your only (economical) option if you want full-scale dynamics. Each .7 panel was driven by a Bryston 7BSST
 
Eventually they played a second recording that the 'recording engineer' had on hand - Beethoven's Christ on the Mount of Olives. It sounded decent and you could really get a sense of the space that the piece was recorded in. I also sat in the sweet spot for some 'pop' music that reminded me of Enya but probably wasn't. That track didn't have much depth to it, though you could still easily localize where the (faked) reverberations were coming from.

Good observations.  On the solo acoustic guitar tracks, it sounded perfect, EXCEPT that (for me), the image of the guitar was too big - it sounded like it was 8 feet long.  That's a problem in many stereo systems, and this system didn't conquer it, IMO.
 
That might have been a function of the reverb.  The recording engineer said he recorded it in a treated, acoustically dry room; and then added reverb tastefully.  It was certainly well done, since before he said that, 2 listeners mentioned that they could really "hear the room/hear the space".  But maybe that's why I could not close my eyes and envision one normal size guitar.

 

[Billheiser]

   
I forgot to ask my original question - do they have a listening area for the headphones? Or is it out in the open?

 
What I saw was out in the open, but still probably a good place to listen, when there are fewer people there.

 

[yage]

  But maybe that's why I could not close my eyes and envision one normal size guitar.

 
My take is that it's actually a result of the panel size - the radiating surface area is big and all the times I've heard them, produce big images. When I listened to the Linn Exakt Klimax system in the front room, I noticed that performers seemed smaller, even though those speakers were quite imposing.
 

   
What I saw was out in the open, but still probably a good place to listen, when there are fewer people there.

 
Yeah, go on a weekday if you can. You'll have the whole place to yourself for hours.

I'm always trying to get Tom more into headphones, but he claims that there's no market for it. In his words he's sold maybe 12 headphones in the space of a year, which make sense if you don't have an online presence. Having said that, the Bryston BHA-1 and Ayre Codex as well as an EL-8 Titanium w/ Cipher cable and LCD-3 are on display. He's also a Grado dealer.
 
Oh, and if you're in the market for an LCD-3 newly reconditioned by Audeze (customer trade-in for the LCD-4), he offered it to me at $1500 which I'm advertising to the broader community.

 

[sheldaze]

@Billheiser the Moon NEO 230HAD is inbound perhaps by next weekend (June 25 - 26) and definitely by Fourth of July weekend. But I know no one wants to be inside on the Fourth of July. Just passing the information if you had an interest to re-listen to it.

 

[Billheiser]

Cool!  I would love to hear it again.  So far, it is the best amp I've heard on the TH-X00 (your Deckard was 2nd best).  But I might be out of town during that time; let me know when you have a definite date.

 

[sheldaze]

I could try to find a space at a library on the June 25 - 26 weekend, but I have no guarantee that I'll have it by then.
I'll go ahead and search, if one of those days works?

 

[Billheiser]

yeah, that weekend works for Saturday for me; and for mid/late afternoon of the Sunday.
 
(I don't want to spend $1500 on a dac/amp, but am still tempted by that Moon.  Maybe an alternative temptation would be @yage 's deal on the LCD-3.  But would that be suited to Valhalla 2?)

 

[sheldaze]

yeah, that weekend works for Saturday for me; and for mid/late afternoon of the Sunday.

Is 5pm too late? On a Sunday?
It gets us into the larger meeting room - meaning you can bathe in the morning, not 5 minutes before. And breath mints aren't required 

 

 

[Billheiser]

  Is 5pm too late? On a Sunday?
It gets us into the larger meeting room - meaning you can bathe in the morning, not 5 minutes before. And breath mints aren't required 

 

No, not too late.  And I only bathe on Saturdays, anyway, whether I need it or not.

 

[sheldaze]

  (I don't want to spend $1500 on a dac/amp, but am still tempted by that Moon.  Maybe an alternative temptation would be @yage 's deal on the LCD-3.  But would that be suited to Valhalla 2?)

I understand.
 
But I'm still a little surprised you did not think that much of the m9XX? That was the best pairing I'd heard when I had the TH-X00. My thoughts, in order from least expensive to most are:
 

1. Schiit Magni
2. Grace Design m9XX
3. Simaudio Moon NEO 230HAD
4. Meridian Prime

 
I would guess the Ayre Codex should sound fine as well. But in terms of pricing, I would think somewhere between m9XX and 230HAD would be the sweet spot.