[Dr. Picker]

Oh, no.

I got back in town in time to find out what I had missed.

John

 

[archosman]

He had 2 sandwiches for dinner! Had to have a roast beef after his first one.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DevilDog Let's see, he had pizza for lunch and a sub sandwich for supper. Well, that's what it was.

 

[archosman]

Those were Ray's stock 3Ks and my 3kWoodys by Xanadu777...

Quote:

Originally Posted by elrod-tom Looks like you guys had a great meet. Were those R-10's?? I'm sooooo jealous.

 

[Ray Samuels]

I truely enjoyed this meet so much, the one thing that always strike me in these meets is how much we care about each others even though we have not met at all. I had offers from DevilDog to pick me up from an airport close to where he lives & drive 2 hours to meet & back to the air port, now this is a person I have never had talked to or had any kind of give & take relationship.
What a true gentleman.
MrDetermination, was the very first to get in touch with me through e-mail then telephone calls offering assistance in picking me up from the air port & driving me to the meet. Thanks Chip, I do very much appreciate that & may be some day it will be my turn to give back some of what I have been given.
As to "archosman" o man, I love what you do, if I was in your place with all those expensive components, I would live there just to play with them, now I can see how you developed your ears to a very high resolution sound & video,
Thank you for organizing the meet & inviting us over, the pizza was great, I would have come just for the pizza alone.
I had beautiful time A/Bing all kind of amps with "NightWoundsTime" it was a lot of fun talking to you my friend.
Now we have the funny person with the name "ph34rful" This is supposed to be (phearful), his avatar was the talk of the day, when he put those links with the higher resolution pictures just for me I just could not believe the beauty of this girl, she is blessed with best looks, I hope she is above 18 years.
The components at the meet represented many models & manufacturers, each had it's own flavor to offer & there was nothing bad sounding at all.
Some how I do not believe in sound cards as a source, but I gave it a try at this meet as there were two cards one moded the other one was stock, neither one had the quality to satisfy my hunger for resolution, detail & dynamic, I believe that, until the sound cards are put out of the noisy environment of the computer with a speciall dedicated power supply to feed them, the outcome will be the same, just a sound card.
Thanks to all those who were there & gave me a warm welcome, those whom I did not mention thier names.
IT WAS FUN.
Ray Samuels

 

[mbriant]

Had my business partner not been on a Mediteranian cruise while this meet was being held, I would have come down for a visit. I love Tennessee and have visited Memphis twice in the past year and stay at a friend's cabin in Sevierville for a week's golf every year. Yet I've never managed to make it to Nashville. Hopefully, next time. Looks like it was a great meet.

 

[gsferrari]

I love small meets (about 10-15 members) in a large room with tables. The FL meet was just about perfect (could have been a little bigger but altogether not bad at all considering the location and the wonderful hosts!!).

I generally prefer to spend the first 2-3 hours listening and the rest of the time preventing others from listening by taking pics, pulling cords, swapping amps and CD's

Nobody likes to yell at me (except Wayne

) and therefore I get a free run on the proceedings

Oh and before I forget...I have a tendency to spill drinks...didnt fail at the FL meet...tyrion got a picture of me mopping up as well.

This meet looks like another one of those "Meets I would have liked to be in". Too bad I havent met Ray in person...I am sure he is a fantastic person. (He looks Italian...is he italian??).

DevilDog - who organized this meet? Matthew brought in some gear and stuff but who did most of the work calling people, getting the emails in and out etc.?


Not too much extraneous gear at this meet - which is a good thing!!

Smashing baby!

 

[dusty_v]

Looks like it was alot of fun, wish i coulda been there.
I don't know Ray but he seems like pretty neat guy...I like people who are passionate about what they do.
A big thanks to all of you for listening to our first prototype and the good feedback (especially NightWoundsTime). I'll let you know when we have the final version and will offer a few here for beta testing.

 

[MrDetermination]

Hey there!

I was there but I had to go out of town early Sunday morning and just got back home (its late).

Just wanted to say, like all the others, that it was a really good experience.

Ray's amps kick so much ass, I'm saving up for an XP-7 (with the 797 chip) myself (which will be my first piece of equipment over $500... it just gets worse and worse, eh boys? eh wallet?) Ray himself also kicks ass. Thanks for coming and packing all that gear, Ray. I hope you enjoyed the sliver of Nashvegas you saw too, we'll have you back anytime.

As well as does Steve/Archos kick ass for being such a gracious host.

Also, DD, the profiles I burned... they work like a charm, thanks. I do hear the "hiss" you heard though. Its in the right channel, dominantly, and its definately there. I think I may have borked something with my ghetto soldering job

I'll dink around some more with output levels and such tomorrow and see if I can minimize it. But right now, its bedtime.

Thanks again guys. Hope we do it again sometime.

 

[Tuberoller]

Ray kicked ass? Are we talkin' about the same Ray? Did somebody have a milkcrate for him to stand on so he could swing his legs high enough?

 

[DevilDog]

Guru, I'll take some credit for at least getting guys who normally wouldn't have looked at the meeting board to take a look at it. I sent a few pms and got things rolling, but then it took off mostly due to archosman who hosted it and did a great job. BTW, Ray is not italian. I thought so, too, but nope. I'll leave it to him to tell you where he was born. Also, SHHHH!
MrDetermination, honestly, I thought I'd kept quiet around you about that hiss, oh well, it was there. I'm glad you got your computer back up and that my profiles worked. I can imagine you're still enjoying the blissful sound of the modded Emu 1212m. (Sorry, Ray, but I like it.)
Tuberoller, Ray DID kick ass. He was so passionate and informative and kind and courteous. He made this meet what it was.

 

[archosman]

Whew! Finally had time to sit down and give my impressions. Been burning the candle at both ends of the stick since 2 days before the meet.

I really enjoyed being able to listen to a whole bunch of different gear. I've been wanting to listen to the MPX3 (both versions New Hotness & Old School NWT & DD!), PS-1s(certainly not light), RS-1s (I have a pair of 325s and based on those I figured I would't like them due to the "Grado" sound... boy was I wrong. I'll own a pair before too long.) I haven't had any experience with soundcards but I liked DevilDog's Emu 1212m. Also probably helped that alot of the tunes he had I liked. Would have liked to do some comparisons between the 600s and 650s. I was too busy running around making sure everyone had power and such! By the time I got around to the prototype Channel Islands headphone amp it had already been pulled and was in the big room being passed around. I know a few of you got to listen so I'll look for the results as this amp develops.

And then we come to Ray...


What can I say...

What a guy! Ray's one of those people you instantly like once you meet him. I could talk to him for forever... as those of you at Pizza Perfect know! I have to admit I totally forgot we had an amp designer and manufacturer there. He did no hard sales, discussed no prices (unless you asked what they run), and was just like anyone else there. He brought in his amps for us to listen to, period. Being in the TV industry here anytime we go to an event where new gear is being presented we always get the hard sale... get it now while it's new! We'll make you a great deal. Now we come to Ray. He's just like you or me... there to talk about audio, music, amps (mostly his own... I kid!) and the hobby. Not standard salesman's behavior that's for sure. BTW Ray... thank your Mrs. Samuels for us. When I went back and read the original meeting thread you were "negotiating" at the time to come down... so please on the behalf of all of us thank her!

Ray also had a little box that would allow us to hear the same source on 2 different amps at the same time. Same thing as an A/B switch. I had a ton of fun guessing what was what. I had a pretty good sucess rate too. We had the HR-2, Stealth, XP-7, SR-71 as well as Ray's Meridian 508. Spent alot of time with all of them. SR-71... man this amp kicks ass. Couldn't believe it would drive my Senns as loud as they did. If you need a portable I'll say this... it's alot more than a portable. We A/B'd a few other amps with it and it really held it's own. I know there's a shootout coming between this one and a "similiar" looking one. I'll be curious to see how it goes. After A/Bing the SR-71 with some of the other amps at our meet I think any other competitors are going to have a hard time against it. I really do. Stealth. Hate to say it... looks like Steve's going to be selling off quite a bit to get this. I suspect my MG OTL and RKV will be going up for sale. Ray had alot of praise for all of the amps there... including the RKV. In fact he owns a Mark III. I've found that I really like the Ray Samuels sound. I'm sorry I didn't jump on it when it was offered at $1395... although I'm sure Ray's glad.

It'll be awhile but I'm going to start setting back a little every month until the Stealth is mine! The one I spent the most time with was the XP-7. What a great sounding amp! And portable as well. I can't remember what op-amps it had in it (797s Ray?), but to me it had a fantastic soundstage. In fact I preferred it to the HR-2. It had great bass response and a warm, smooth sound. It was quiet too. I'm pretty picky about the way I like my music. On the live tracks I felt like I was really there. Really fantastic detail. BTW... who was that last artist you played for us Ray? The one who slapped the bass? Going to have to get that cd. I really like Rays philosophy in his designs. Basically maintaining the purest signal path... no left turns or right turns. You don't really need bass boost, crossfeed, bass & treble. You should listen to your music. That's kind of his philosophy. Once you start veering off the building path you'll start adding things into the signal path that you don't really need or that will give your music a particular sound. Then again I guess you can say there is a Ray Samuels sound and for that matter if you like bass boost and crossfeed... more power to you. They're just not for me. I've tried over the years to make sure I listen to everything flat... which is pretty much what I have to do in my post production job every day. I feel this is the way to go... so I figure that's why I'm really receptive to his amps. All things considered I'm just a little mad at myself though. I left all of my cds at home the day of the meet as well as my checkbook. I'm sorry I didn't have it with me 'cause I'm sure I would have been dealing with Ray to go home with the XP-7 (Mental note: bring more money to meets.).

I hope you all had a good time. It was alot of fun for me and I enjoyed meeting everyone... DevilDog, ssblood, Ray, Chip, Matthew. I'm sure I missed a few but the more meets we have I'll start remembering everyone's name. Remember folks ... what happens on the road stays on the road!

 

[archosman]

Oh yeah... one more thing. Thanks to Davey for resurrecting the meet thread because I probably would have missed it otherwise. When I logged on that night there it was!

 

[Ph34rful]

Quote:

Originally Posted by archosman Whew! Finally had time to sit down and give my impressions. Been burning the candle at both ends of the stick since 2 days before the meet. I really enjoyed being able to listen to a whole bunch of different gear. I've been wanting to listen to the MPX3 (both versions New Hotness & Old School NWT & DD!), PS-1s(certainly not light), RS-1s (I have a pair of 325s and based on those I figured I would't like them due to the "Grado" sound... boy was I wrong. I'll own a pair before too long.) I haven't had any experience with soundcards but I liked DevilDog's Emu 1212m. Also probably helped that alot of the tunes he had I liked. Would have liked to do some comparisons between the 600s and 650s. I was too busy running around making sure everyone had power and such! By the time I got around to the prototype Channel Islands headphone amp it had already been pulled and was in the big room being passed around. I know a few of you got to listen so I'll look for the results as this amp develops. And then we come to Ray... What can I say... What a guy! Ray's one of those people you instantly like once you meet him. I could talk to him for forever... as those of you at Pizza Perfect know! I have to admit I totally forgot we had an amp designer and manufacturer there. He did no hard sales, discussed no prices (unless you asked what they run), and was just like anyone else there. He brought in his amps for us to listen to, period. Being in the TV industry here anytime we go to an event where new gear is being presented we always get the hard sale... get it now while it's new! We'll make you a great deal. Now we come to Ray. He's just like you or me... there to talk about audio, music, amps (mostly his own... I kid!) and the hobby. Not standard salesman's behavior that's for sure. BTW Ray... thank your Mrs. Samuels for us. When I went back and read the original meeting thread you were "negotiating" at the time to come down... so please on the behalf of all of us thank her! Ray also had a little box that would allow us to hear the same source on 2 different amps at the same time. Same thing as an A/B switch. I had a ton of fun guessing what was what. I had a pretty good sucess rate too. We had the HR-2, Stealth, XP-7, SR-71 as well as Ray's Meridian 508. Spent alot of time with all of them. SR-71... man this amp kicks ass. Couldn't believe it would drive my Senns as loud as they did. If you need a portable I'll say this... it's alot more than a portable. We A/B'd a few other amps with it and it really held it's own. I know there's a shootout coming between this one and a "similiar" looking one. I'll be curious to see how it goes. After A/Bing the SR-71 with some of the other amps at our meet I think any other competitors are going to have a hard time against it. I really do. Stealth. Hate to say it... looks like Steve's going to be selling off quite a bit to get this. I suspect my MG OTL and RKV will be going up for sale. Ray had alot of praise for all of the amps there... including the RKV. In fact he owns a Mark III. I've found that I really like the Ray Samuels sound. I'm sorry I didn't jump on it when it was offered at $1395... although I'm sure Ray's glad. It'll be awhile but I'm going to start setting back a little every month until the Stealth is mine! The one I spent the most time with was the XP-7. What a great sounding amp! And portable as well. I can't remember what op-amps it had in it (797s Ray?), but to me it had a fantastic soundstage. In fact I preferred it to the HR-2. It had great bass response and a warm, smooth sound. It was quiet too. I'm pretty picky about the way I like my music. On the live tracks I felt like I was really there. Really fantastic detail. BTW... who was that last artist you played for us Ray? The one who slapped the bass? Going to have to get that cd. I really like Rays philosophy in his designs. Basically maintaining the purest signal path... no left turns or right turns. You don't really need bass boost, crossfeed, bass & treble. You should listen to your music. That's kind of his philosophy. Once you start veering off the building path you'll start adding things into the signal path that you don't really need or that will give your music a particular sound. Then again I guess you can say there is a Ray Samuels sound and for that matter if you like bass boost and crossfeed... more power to you. They're just not for me. I've tried over the years to make sure I listen to everything flat... which is pretty much what I have to do in my post production job every day. I feel this is the way to go... so I figure that's why I'm really receptive to his amps. All things considered I'm just a little mad at myself though. I left all of my cds at home the day of the meet as well as my checkbook. I'm sorry I didn't have it with me 'cause I'm sure I would have been dealing with Ray to go home with the XP-7 (Mental note: bring more money to meets.). I hope you all had a good time. It was alot of fun for me and I enjoyed meeting everyone... DevilDog, ssblood, Ray, Chip, Matthew. I'm sure I missed a few but the more meets we have I'll start remembering everyone's name. Remember folks ... what happens on the road stays on the road!

Actually. If I recall correctly. Ray's XP7 had the AD8610s in it. While his HR2 had the AD797s. My HR2 had the LT1028s at the beginning of the meet, and then later I switched to the OPA627s.

 

[Ph34rful]

I just realized I haven't really posted any "impressions"... So here are a few...

The Senn HD600 with Cardas is clearly a large step below the HD650 with either the Silver Dragon or Zu Mobius.

Also to me. Headphones have the largest effect on sound. Versus everything else. I have a hard time hearing the difference between high end amps and sources. But switch out any variable of the headphones and I can notice a fairly large difference.

The SR71 really is incredible. It easily compares to high end "home" amps. And honestly in quick switches between it and the HR2 I couldn't tell much difference. (Though I think amps really require thourough listening to bring out the differences) If I wanted a portable amp this would definantly be my one stop on the way to portable heaven.

I was glad to hear Ray doesn't "believe" in high end power cables and power "conditioning" as this will save me some money.

Also I have an idea for Ray. (Since so many seem to think his A-B switch box may be "faulty")

Construct a new switch box out of lexan or lucite or some other plexiglass variety. That way people can see exactly what is going on in there.

I still think tubes aren't for me. I prefer being able to leave things on all of the time. And not having to worry about warmup time, tubes failing, etc. Even though most of the tube amps I heard there sounded wonderful. (MPX, RKV, Etc)

I also have a hard time (quickly at least) hearing the differences between moderate to high end sources. So I don't wanna make any statements there. Except that nothing really beats the conveinace of a computer setup.

And also a quick statement about the Emu 1212m, it really is an outstanding value.

I am glad Ray brought his Grado PS1s. I had really been wanting to hear them. And I was thourghly impressed. Though I must admit $1400 is a bit much. Especially when you consider how much the RS1 costs. (And while the PS1 is better (to my ears) it isn't a LARGE step above the RS1.

An interesting note. I used to hate Grados. Like all of them. However now I seem to really like the SR225s, RS1, and PS1. (Not to mention the tremendous value the SR60 is) I don't if it's simply because I now have a nice amp or what. But something definantly seems different.

Oh. And the "Woodied" CD3000s! Wow! What a tremendous improvement over stock. While still not really my preferred choice. (HD650 with SD or ZU) I could definantly live with them now. (Stock kills me) I honestly could not believe the difference some wood and recabling can make. Very nice work Larry! If you like the CD3000 then this (IMO) is the best thing you can do for them.

Etys are a wonderful value. But I just couldn't live with the "itch" and the lack of bass. Shure E5Cs while lacking the detail of the Etys to me is a better sounding ear canal. It has "real" bass and is fun sounding.

Hmm. What else. Oh. And Headroom's Total Airhead (not sure which version it was, I believe it was quite old) sounded like dump to me. I would definantly go with a DIY option over one of those. (No offense intended to anyone who owns one)

A HUGE thanks to Steve (Archos) to hosting the meet! And ordering the pizza (yum, yum) and everything else he contributed. (Dude had tons of gear!) The studio was an absolutely great place for the meet! (I look forward to having another one there again sometime

)

Also Ray! Thank you so much for flying down. It was wonderful of you to bring all your great gear. The meet really would of not been the same without you! (Thanks to your family also for letting us "borrow" you

) Also to all your "nay-sayers" : Leave Ray alone! Also if you need me to make any more hotel reservations just let me know.

(I look forward to our paths crossing again someday!)

Oh! And thanks to Matt (NightWoundsTimes) for coming all the way from FL. I think it was Matt anyway. Or Mark or Mike. There were too many "M" names there!

I hope everyone had as good a time as I! Until next time... I wish you all well.

Andrew

 

[strongml]

My apologies for missing the meet. A lot of things suddenly came up, and I am just now suddenly realizing that I missed it. I'm dissappointed that I didn't get to come; it looks like you guys had a great time. I'll be sure to make it to the next one.