[size=large]Micro Meet at Eddie Current 7/18/2008[/size]
Well I was down in the LA area on business and to check out a few hotels with David (909) so a stop by Craig's (Eddie Current) house was in order.
So on my way home I stopped by with David (909) for a listen.
Craig has been cooking up a new balanced amp since the Mayberry on Acid meet. The Balancing Act and the Nautilus have been in various states for prototyping for a while now. So we were able to hear the Nautilus which debuted at the recent NorCal meet in San Mateo and the latest version of the balacing act. The BA first appeared at the Maberry on Acid meet with smaller tubes that were enclosed in the amp. While we all liked the amp Craig scrapped that one and present V2 at Can Jam this time with 300bs in it. Once again it seemed to be well received but was scrapped in favor of the Nautilus. Now the Nautilus was at the meet we held about a month ago and was a hit a the meet and fared well against the HD2 (my amp).
Well yesterday we heard the Balancing Act with a new tube set the 307a tube. Now my first reaction was ok this is going to sound like the millet 307a amp we jsut had at the last Norcal meet. I could not have been more wrong. This amp was some of the most beautifull tone I have heard from an amp in a long time. The two amps come from very different sonic places, both great but may appeal to different users depending on their preference.
Ok on to the two amps, we listened with both Senn 600s and L3000s.
The Nautilus was as good as I remembered it to be. Wide open sound stage with a presentation that was slightly set back like maybe 3-5th row style sound. Very nuetral across the spectrum but with an ever so slight wooliness in the bass. This is only in comparsion with my amp or the new BA if you did not have either as a point of refernce you would not notice it.
The Balancing Act just blew me away! It represented a clear step up from the Nautilus with a more wet tone with a closer presentation. With vocals they are right smack dab in the middle with all the detail from great recording like the wet mouth lip smack and every breath the vocalist takes is present on good recordings. Ever instrument seemed to have more body with guitars really standing out on this amp.
The differences were more apparent with David's L3000s than with the 600s.
We listened to the Mudcrutch cd, Neil Young Harvest, Black Sabbath Paraniod and Pink Floyd DSOTM. A reall wow moment was War PIgs from Parniod the guitars really shined out of the BA over the Nautilus.
At the end of the meet I was joking with Craig and asked if I could have the BA for a month to get a feel for it against my amp the HD2 and he suprisngly agreed
. So I'll be checking this out with the HD2 for the next month. I'll probably post a comparision in the high end room at some point using the balanced 650s, Audio Technica AD2ks and Grado RS1's (old school version).
Well I was down in the LA area on business and to check out a few hotels with David (909) so a stop by Craig's (Eddie Current) house was in order.
So on my way home I stopped by with David (909) for a listen.
Craig has been cooking up a new balanced amp since the Mayberry on Acid meet. The Balancing Act and the Nautilus have been in various states for prototyping for a while now. So we were able to hear the Nautilus which debuted at the recent NorCal meet in San Mateo and the latest version of the balacing act. The BA first appeared at the Maberry on Acid meet with smaller tubes that were enclosed in the amp. While we all liked the amp Craig scrapped that one and present V2 at Can Jam this time with 300bs in it. Once again it seemed to be well received but was scrapped in favor of the Nautilus. Now the Nautilus was at the meet we held about a month ago and was a hit a the meet and fared well against the HD2 (my amp).
Well yesterday we heard the Balancing Act with a new tube set the 307a tube. Now my first reaction was ok this is going to sound like the millet 307a amp we jsut had at the last Norcal meet. I could not have been more wrong. This amp was some of the most beautifull tone I have heard from an amp in a long time. The two amps come from very different sonic places, both great but may appeal to different users depending on their preference.
Ok on to the two amps, we listened with both Senn 600s and L3000s.
The Nautilus was as good as I remembered it to be. Wide open sound stage with a presentation that was slightly set back like maybe 3-5th row style sound. Very nuetral across the spectrum but with an ever so slight wooliness in the bass. This is only in comparsion with my amp or the new BA if you did not have either as a point of refernce you would not notice it.
The Balancing Act just blew me away! It represented a clear step up from the Nautilus with a more wet tone with a closer presentation. With vocals they are right smack dab in the middle with all the detail from great recording like the wet mouth lip smack and every breath the vocalist takes is present on good recordings. Ever instrument seemed to have more body with guitars really standing out on this amp.
The differences were more apparent with David's L3000s than with the 600s.
We listened to the Mudcrutch cd, Neil Young Harvest, Black Sabbath Paraniod and Pink Floyd DSOTM. A reall wow moment was War PIgs from Parniod the guitars really shined out of the BA over the Nautilus.
At the end of the meet I was joking with Craig and asked if I could have the BA for a month to get a feel for it against my amp the HD2 and he suprisngly agreed
