|
NEWAS MEETING IN
APPLETON JULY 23rd 2005
Thanks to all who were able to attend the meeting at
Gene's place on Saturday, and thanks of course to Gene
and his wife for opening up their home to the club and
providing us with a great spread of food and beverage
through the day. Each
of the meetings I've attended so far has been
extremely enjoyable and memorable, and this was no
exception. Gene
has an incredible listening room and system, based around the gorgeous
looking Martin Logan CLS 1's, which he's owned since
1988. Finished in black, their see-through panels
provide a visual clue for the audible delights to
follow. Black is the color of choice and a
prerequisite for any new piece of equipment in Gene's
system, with exception made only for the Cary V12 tube
amp, which is finished in Jaguar Carnival red. I'm
sure Gene won't mind me saying that it isn't just
about music with his system, it's also about
aesthetics. Gene
has an impressive CD and vinyl collection, along with
many music reference/history books and various marble
composer busts keeping a check on things; all serving
to provide more than just a subtle clue to his musical
genre preference - classical. To
those of us driven more by the left side of the brain, there's the occasional feeling of a Sorites
paradox when looking at what Gene has accomplished,
and the way in which he has accomplished it. For
example, we all know that taking the preamp output
into the crossover of a subwoofer, splitting the
signal in the sub and outputting whatever is left at
70hz and above into the power amp, is going to strip a
system of its transparency, right? So how is it that
Gene's system is perhaps the most transparent I've
heard in many years of involvement with this hobby? We
all know that subwoofers belong in the corner, where
they can draw on boundary reinforcement to provide the
most impactful and tuneful bass from a modestly sized
enclosure. So how does Gene's sub provide all of this
performance when placed in situ between and on plane
with the main speakers? And what about the coiled-up
speaker wires, "they sound better that way"
remarked Gene, and I believe him. Clearly
this system has been tuned by ear to make music in the
way that its owner likes to listen to music, and not
by the requirements of some audio textbook. The sound
I heard was striking in so many respects. The
Rubinstein
solo piano recording of Chopin was perhaps the nicest
rendition I've heard of any solo piano work. My
previous reference is Misha Mengelberg 'Solo' (which
I highly recommend). However, my Magnepan's create an
image that is larger than life, a 14' wide piano
keyboard played by an odd looking guy with really long
arms. The Magnepan's provide a fairly cohesive picture
from around 250hz upwards, below which they sound
loose and flubby with a deviation in tonal/harmonic
accuracy most noticeable on piano recordings. Gene's
system provided a more natural and tonally accurate
presentation through the entire frequency range, with
a more believable rendition of scale. With rock solid
imaging, extended yet non-fatiguing highs, clear and
delicate midrange revealing subtle detail in spades,
all underpinned by the weight and authority provided
by the seamless integration of a quality subwoofer,
what more could one ask? Of course it isn't just
the hardware and software. The listening room is
particularly impressive, it seems to offer just the
right level of absorption and diffusion. Not overly
damped, but sufficiently so to allow the listening
seat to be placed 15' from the speakers without loose
reverberations and other undesirable room-effects
masking the fine detail. It
was great to hear classical music presented on a
system that is clearly optimized for the playback of
classical music. That isn't to say that Gene's system
doesn't do other musical genres remarkably well, it
does, as demonstrated quite clearly by its articulate
handling of Jazz, rock and even a little bluegrass
earlier in the day. It
has to be very rewarding when a great deal of time and
effort finally comes together in the form of a highly
musical and involving playback system. I appreciated
the experience very much. Cheers
Rooze
|
