[elrod-tom]

Hi all,

I wanted to get this thread started quickly. I'll be adding more later (more impressions, pics, etc...), as I'm sure will others.

First off, I wanted to thank our gracious host, David of David Michael Audio in Royal Oak. David welcomed the Head-Fi mongol hordes into his home. He also treated us to some great speaker gear too, which I really enjoyed. I especially enjoyed listening to the Harbeth speakers (the HL P3ES-2's might just find their way into my home one of these days

)

Thanks too to member chesebert for organizing the meet. It's always great to get together with a bunch of audio enthusiasts. Some (bhd812) came from as far as Chicago, others from the far western reaches of Michigan (gordolindsay and spineynorman). Thanks to all of you guys for making the long drive.

Billy, as usual, is a meet waiting to happen. Thanks so much for bringing, among other things, the Ray Samuels Audio B-52!! I really enjoyed listening to this with the Meridian G08.

Like I said...more later...

 

[chesebert]

You are quick

Thanks for coming tom. really enjoyed your gears and really really enjoyed billy's

Now I gotta get some work done seeing how I blew my day off

Let's do this again in a few month

 

[spineynorman]

I want to thank Jude and all his minions

for a very cool meet. I learned a lot, mostly about how little I know! I did learn that I like my Superfi 3's a lot, especially amped through a Tomahawk!

It was fun to converse and learn that many were there in an attempt to find their own "point of diminishing return". Several college students on limited budgets were the ones I was trying to learn from.

A special thanks to Dave....you were very gracious to allow us into your home.

Joe

 

[Morph201]

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make it this time (considering I'm only 1.5 hours away!

)... hopefully next time!

Care to expound on that diminishing returns lesson? I'm still trying to learn that, myself.

 

[boomana]

Royal Oak, my childhood home...915 Englewood...can't believe I still remember. Looking forward to impressions and pics.

Elrod-tom, I noticed you have Brightblack Morning Light in your sig. I've been trying to turn people on to that CD for awhile, and they all think I'm nuts, except for jp-nums, who is nuts. My boss, with whom I regularly share music, suggested I get drug tested...no lie. Anyway, nice to see another fan.

 

[Dexdexter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by boomana /img/forum/go_quote.gif Royal Oak, my childhood home...915 Englewood...can't believe I still remember. Looking forward to impressions and pics.

I remember scoring a mint vinyl copy of The Velvet Underground & Nico at Sam's Jams for $15 when I was in high school...the banana sticker was pristine and intact (still is!

).

Oops, nevermind, that was Ferndale!

 

[Dedpoet]

Thanks for the great time, all, especially to Dave for the hospitality.

I did a lot more listening to conversation than I did listening to equipment, also trying to learn as much as I could from those with more experience. I didn't really listen to anything critically or for a great length of time to post much for impressions - there were a lot of folks there and the conversation was good. I did get to have brief listens to K1000, RS-1, RS-2, 325, HD600, an electrostat I can't recall the name of (HE-60?), and K701. All of these were from various amps. Gilmore Lite, Lunchbox, my PA2V2, Tomahawk, Raptor, and of course, the B-52(!). With so much gear all over the place, so many people, and only a few hours, it's really hard to get into too many details. I heard several people this afternoon say something like, "it's hard to tell if you're hearing the phones, the source, or the amp."

I did make sure to spend a good few minutes with the Tomahawk, my own headphones, and my own music as I will be purchasing either a TH or a Hornet in the next 6 or 8 weeks. The TH is incredible. I liked it with both my DT-770/80 and my ER-6i. It's a huge improvement over the PA2V2, which is what I have to compare it to. Now I need to try to hear a Hornet...

One thing I can say about the diminishing returns statement above is that I think Radioshack probably sold 5 pairs of Koss KSC75 after the meet. We even had them plugged into the B-52 for a while and everyone was blown away by their price vs. performance. I'll let someone who spent more time with them to elaborate.

Again, thanks to everyone for making a newbie feel comfortable.

 

[boomana]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dexdexter /img/forum/go_quote.gif I remember scoring a mint vinyl copy of The Velvet Underground & Nico at Sam's Jams for $15 when I was in high school...the banana sticker was pristine and intact (still is! ). Oops, nevermind, that was Ferndale!

I had some serious fun in Ferndale...but that came after childhood

Just think, Dex, if these current residents would get busy and post some impressions, we wouldn't have to fill this thread with our nostalgic banter.

 

[socrates63]

Excuse my lameness, but who's David? What is his Head-Fi name?

 

[gordolindsay]

Quote:

Originally Posted by socrates63 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Excuse my lameness, but who's David? What is his Head-Fi name?

I don't think David is a member here. He owns a Hi-Fi shop and it was his house and his willingness to host the meet. Thanks Dave!!

I also want to thank Chesebert and everyone else that helped for setting up the meet and for all the work that is put into that.

It is always fun to hear some great gear and maybe find some new music, but it's the people that make head-fi what it is. We had a great conversation with the one and only Jude and how much of his and the mods time it takes to run this place.

As far as impressions go...I can say the HE60 was the one phone that actually let me drown everything out and say wow, now this is what "I" like. (Big emphasis on "I")

Most of the other gear I really liked but felt like there was something missing. Good thing the phone I liked the most is not made anymore....

Although, when I listened to the 650's it made me miss them from when I had them.


So I guess what I'm getting at is, I'm more confused about what I want now than before I went to the meet!!

Anyway, thanks again to everyone and it was great to meet and talk to all!

 

[bhd812]

just got home...everything on the drive home went fine but a few bad snow thingys came in and slowed me down to 20mph on I-94 while in Indiana, I took a video of it and will probably post it on u tube tomorrow..
5:09hours to get home and 3:30 to get there to the meet, of course I walked out with a 27.6 aver mpg on the way home but 23.9 on the way there..anyway that's what kept me up most of the time..and fighting with the chic in the Garmen Nuvi (the voice guide)..i won the fight!


will post more later totally, need to unload the gear and really got o the bathroom..


it was well worth it for sure! i can say that now..oh my blat-er!

 

[chesebert]

Thanks all for coming. David said he had such a blast that he wants to do this in a few month. He is even contemplating carrying STAX headphone as one of his lines ..LMAO..the curse..its the headfi curse.

He asked me if I think its a good idea for him to go ahead with the STAX dealer thing I said I will ask around since I have 0 experience with STAX stuff

any ideas?

 

[Nightfall]

A special thanks to David for hosting this, a great guy, and a devoted audiophile, with exceptional taste, as the lines he carries clearly point out. As always, I got to meet some new people, and listen to lots of good gear.
Thanks, especially to Billy for driving all the way from Chicago (as usual) and for bringing his beautiful B52, Ray's apparent masterpiece (serial number one, of course). I only wish I could have heard it as a preamp today.
The Harbeth line was everything I heard it was, absolutely wonderful speakers.
Oh, and add me to the list of people just amazed at the Koss KSC-75's. Impossible to believe those things are only $25.00, or about half of that, apparently, when they go on sale. For portable listening with an iPod, an incredible value.
Thanks to all for a great afternoon.


JC

 

[doomride]

Thanks to Dave for hosting all of us, and everyone else for bringing some pretty cool gear and knowledge. The Yuin, Koss, and GE-60 were all great surprises. I was the kid who was still a little under the weather with no voice that rb67 dragged along. I'm still getting my toes wet in headphones/hifi, so today was a treat because there was a lot to try out and learn. Where any of those high end cd players today non-oversampling?
Had i known what a B52 was and that someone was bringing one (im still noob), i would have brought a matched pair of vintage GE 12AX7s (black plates) to try out. Would have been interesting to hear the sonic differences.
Here's a link to the binaural ultrasone cd that rb67 brought along: http://www.pointstone.com/steven/Au...rasone%20CD.rar
I saw a lot of copies of Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You were Here being sourced. These are 2 of my fav albums to listen to, and for those interested try and hunt down (or pm me) a 1984 japanese harvest release for WYWH and a 1984 Toshiba Black Triangle release of DSOTM. It's like hearing a completely different album.
anyway, thanks again. Hopefully next meet i'll be healthy and experienced enough to thorougly enjoy the fantastic gear people generously bring.

edit: oh and where are all the pictures?

 

[rb67]

I just wanted to thank David for hosting us. You have a beautiful house and one day I hope to have a audio set up like yours. I am very excited about the possibility of stocking Stax! Always heard good things and there just aren't many (any?) places where you can see/buy electrostatics around here.

Anyways, I was extremely impressed with the K1000's. They were more amazing than I had expected them to be. I hope one day AKG will get their act together and put it back into production so kids like me can get their hands on a pair!

I also discovered that I am in the Grado camp. It was a question that I was going through and, while the Senn HD650/600s were awesome, I continually found myself back in the grado park. Thank you for helping me solve that burning question.

I'd say the most surprising of the lot were the KSC75 and the Yuin PK1. I had heard good things of the former but didn't expect them to be that great. That is just ridiculous for $20's. I will definitely be getting a pair for my sister sometime. The Yuin's just shocked me in how well they performed. It is unfortunate they couldn't choose a better name

Pictures should be coming up within the next day or so.
-Steve