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MEETING IN
GREEN BAY JUNE 11th 2005
Thanks to all who were able to attend the meeting at
Dan's place on Saturday.
The NEWAS
die-hards turned out for a very enjoyable session and
were treated to some fine music, played through a
great system. Dan
has clearly put together a very musical and balanced
rig and has achieved a high standard of playback
without spending too excessively. I
think most of the components in Dan's system were new
to the group, perhaps with the exception of the
digital rig. The Essence Gem (2 way transmission line)
speakers were remarkably full-range with great low-end
extension. The Hsu VTF-2 sub seemed to have an easy
task and blended seamlessly with the main pair. I've
heard of MFA amplifiers but have never had the
opportunity to listen to them before the meeting, so
that was quite a treat. The analog rig was both
visually and sonically excellent. Dan
commented that each component was purchased for under
$1000, which is obviously quite an achievement given
the level of performance. Highlights
- For me at least, this has been the most musically
satisfying meeting to date. Dan's system sounded great
even when sitting well off-axis, and Dan has a great
collection of music that spans so many different
genres and influences. It
was great to hear some classic blues recordings, the
MoFi Muddy Waters was big and lush sounding and full
of ambience, and the classic blues CD that Wilbur
brought along really spotlighted the different presentation
of analog versus digital. (and of course, analog
sounded better!) Another
treat was hearing a recording of Wilbur's son - a
couple of guitar/vocal tracks that sounded really good
and pretty well recorded too, despite a bit of
something going on in the sub-sonic frequencies that
had Dan's subwoofer objecting quite forcibly! The
Pete Townshend/Ronnie
Lane-Rough Mix recording was great and I enjoyed
hearing a couple of classic Yes tracks courtesy of
Gene. For the
second meeting in a row we
had the Pear Cable on hand, kindly loaned to us by
Adam Blake at www.pearcable.com
The consensus seemed to be that the cable sounded
sweet and extended, and really seemed to do nothing
wrong that we/Dan could detect. Dan
went out of his way and provided the group with an
excellent refreshments spread later in the day, and as
always various folk contributed samples of WI's finest
ales, not to mention beer of the European
variety. Good
sounds, good food, good beer/wine and good
conversation. What more could one ask for on a hot and
humid afternoon in Green Bay Wisconsin?
Rooze
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