Mark (MDP) Visit

Ritmo

Ritmo

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Mark made a trip to AR late this week and spent a couple of nights visiting. We had been discussing a visit for a while so I'm glad he was able to make it.

This past Thursday was my birthday so we enjoyed some good "vino" (Jarvis Cab 2006 and Caymus Special Select 2011 Cab) and steaks on the grill. My wife did an awesome job preparing a great gourmet dinner.

In the mean time, we listened to a little bit of music on Thursday eve in what would be the prelude to a very good day yesterday listening, tweaking and swapping some equipment.

Mark brought with him his Hegel amp and Kimber select cables (KS1116 and KS6063).

The first listening session on Thurs evening was somewhat lacking. We listened to my system without making any changes. The unfortunate thing is that I travelled for business this past week and the system had not even been turned on since last Sunday.

Yesterday morning things got much better. The system was more musical and very close to what I'm used to. It was great to have Mark provide his perspective on several fronts: first, the room can sound a bit lively at times (he noticed that very quickly - thicker rug and acoustic art panel incoming soon); second, the weakest link right now in the system is the interconnect cables I'm using (still have several Shunyata Black Mambas - more on this later); and, Mark continues to work on convincing me to get a turntable (very persistent!).

After establishing a reference baseline, we proceeded to change the Black Mamba IC for the KS1116 from the Lumin S1 to the ARC Ref5SE. The result was nothing short of stunning. We both looked at each other but did not say a word until we listened to several pieces of music. Overall, level of musicality, coherence and depth improved significantly. I have a Shunyata Anaconda already on order but the KS IC is very, very good. Mark let me keep his IC for a few more weeks.

We then proceeded to introduce the Hegel H30 amp into the mix and disconnected the DAG stereo amp. There was an immediate difference in the music presentation. The DAG is fantastic amp top to bottom with a fabulous soundstage and terrific musicality. The Hegel presentation on the Alexias was different than the DAG. My observations are that the Hegel moved the presentation a few rows forward. It was faster than the DAG with extremely good detail but the soundstage is not as wide. Also, the Hegel proved to be a terrific match for the Ref5SE and it did not have to work hard at all to drive the Alexias. The Hegel is indeed a terrific amp and a bargain (yes, I know it is still around $14K US to buy one).

I'm sure Mark will be posting some comments later today as he is still on his way to Dallas.

Mike
 
Mike...sounds like Marc's visit with you and your wife was fun and a good time was had by all. Glad you shared it with us.
 
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I had heard about this upcoming audio session. Very happy it was a smash hit. These memorable get togethers are what makes the hobby so special.

I had a visiting audio buddy from Boston yesterday to Geneva and we had a marvellous day and a half. Had him over for Dinner and listening at my home Thursday evening/night.
For Friday, I took the day off and we toured the Old Town - Geneva, had brunch, visited a high end audio boutique there, then off to Goldmund HQ for a private demo session. My pal is a recent Goldmund electronics owner (driving Aucoustic Zen speakers). We heard the Mimesis 32.5 processor driving the wireless/active Logus Anatta speakers and it was WOW… my pal was floored (so was I). He loves his AZ speakers but this $200K sub-flagship was unbelievably good….more impressive to me than the flagship Apologue, as it is better suited to that big room. The Apol seems to need a concert hall to strut its stuff. We played a variety of music and this proved to us that this behemoth is made to play all music, not just 1 or 2 genres. The Stravinsky piece simply was explosively dynamic and the Yuri Honing Trio walking on the moon just seemed to appear in mid space and project out like 3d video! The TOTO Rosanna cut had us both thinking that other people in the room were talking to us (on the left) while the music was playing…it was that convincing and neither of us heard this before on Rosanna. Finally, he put on my Jacb Miller reggae cut (A chapter a day) and these speakers gripped the bass line like the jaws of a pitbull and never let go. Tight all the way…real reggae jamming.
Delightful session, that was followed by lots of delicious conversation and visual expo of other speaker models and future speaker finishing material.

After we left Goldmund HQ well and truly exhilarated, we drove by Piaget, Rolex (Black campus) and Patek Phillpe's HQ. We then went to the Patek museum 35 mins before closing and had an intriguing tour of the vintage watches thru the centuries and my pal was wowed a lot more than he expected. I think he has developed another interest…unfortunatley VERY expensive. LoL

We ended the day with a Fondue dinner in the middle of the Old Town at Restaurant Les Armures (the Armoury)…yeah this is the Clintons favourite Gva restaurant, as their pictures are splashed all over the place there and Bill's letter of gratitude is bronzed (from his visit as POTUS during the 1998 G8 visit).

This was essentially the swan song of the day, as we were both tuckered out (the old town is mostly uphill) and I took him back to the hotel and to the airport in the morning. Fabulous vista that we both enjoyed and will never forget.
 

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Mike and his wife are fantastic hosts! After a perfect meal Thursday, with the best Cabernet I've ever had, we settled into some serious listening the next day.

As most here know, Mike has built a world class system and it was a pleasure to get the chance to hear it. As Mike said, the first evening things didn't sound as good as they should have, but don't think that means it was bad, far from it. With a system of this caliber you just have very high expectations.

The next morning after the system had time to really warm up, things were much better! The Alexias were starting to sing their sweet song. We listened to a wide variety of music, but we focused on Mike's favorite genre, Jazz.
After a bit of time we picked 3 tracks to really focus on before we swapped out the interconnect between the Lumin and the ARC REF 5se. As Mike mentioned, he thought he had a pair of Shunyata Pythons in that spot, but it turned out to be a pair of the Black Mambas.

We then put in the Kimber Select 1116 IC's. The difference was similar to a component change, it was anything but subtle. Better definition, instrument placement, larger soundstage, and definitely more body. The tonality of instruments was much more realistic. I left Mike the Kimber IC to experiment some more since I don't need it right now. It was definitely a big upgrade to the sound of his system.

A little later in the day, Mike decided it was time to slip the Hegel H30 into the mix. I honestly didn't know what to expect. I've heard the H30 with a few different speakers, but not with Wilsons. I shouldn't have worried, the Hegel sounded fantastic! Paired with the ARC preamp it had maybe the best tone I've experienced with it. Maybe a tube preamp with a great SS amp isn't a bad idea. As Mike said, the presentation of the music was very different between the two. With some music the Dag was better, and with other music the H30 was better, but in the end they are 2 fantastic amps that anyone would love. The Dag indeed had a wider soundstage but with the Hegel the Alexias just disappeared. The music was more between the speakers with the H30 and more spread out with the Dag.
I think it would be fun to own both :celebrate008_2:

Thanks agin Mike for a great visit!
 
wisnon said:
I had heard about this upcoming audio session. Very happy it was a smash hit. These memorable get togethers are what makes the hobby so special.

I had a visiting audio buddy from Boston yesterday to Geneva and we had a marvellous day and a half. Had him over for Dinner and listening at my home Thursday evening/night.
For Friday, I took the day off and we toured the Old Town Geneva, had brunch, visited a high need audio boutique there, then off to Goldmund HQ for a private demo session. My pal is a recent Goldmund electronics owner (driving Aucoustic Zen speakers). We heard the Mimesis 32.5 processor driving the wireless/active Logus Anatta speakers and it was WOW… my pal was floored. He loves his AZ speakers but this $200K sub-flagship was unbelievably good….more impressive to me than the flagship Apologue, as it is better suited to that big room. The Apol seems to need a concert hall to strut its stuff. We played a variety of music and this proved to us that this behemoth is made to play all music, not just 1 or 2 genres. The Stravinsky piece simply was explosively dynamic and the Yuri Honing Trio walking on the moon just seemed to appear in mid space and project out like 3d video! The Rosanna cut had us both thinking that other people in the room was talking to us (on the left) while the music was playing…it was that convincing and neither of us heard that before. Finall I put on a Jacb Miller reggae cut (A chapter a day) and these speakers gripped the bass line like a pibull jaws and never let go. Tight all the way…real reggae jamming.
Delightfull session, that was followed by lots of delicious conversation and visual expo of other speaker models and future speaker finishing material.

After we left Goldmund HQ well and truly exhilarated, we drove by Piaget, Rolex (Black campus) and Patek Phillpe's HQ. We then went to the Patek museum 35 mins before closing and had an intriguing tour of the vintage watches thru the centuries and my pal was wowed a lot more than he expected. I think he has developed another interest…unfortunatley VERY expensive. LoL

We ended the day with a Fondue dinner in the middle of the Old Town at Restaurant Les Armure (the Armoury)…yeah this is the Clintons favourite Gva restaurant, as their pictures are splashed all over the place there and Bill's letter of gratitude is bronzed (from his visit as POTUS during the 1998 G8 visit).

This was essentially the swan song of the day, as we were both tuckered out (the old town is mostly uphill) and I took him back to the hotel and to the airport in the morning. Fabulous vista that we both enjoyed and will never forget.
Click to expand...

Norman...thanks for sharing your wonderful story with your audio buddy from Boston (my town :D) :thumbsup:
 
MDP said:
Mike and his wife are fantastic hosts! After a perfect meal Thursday, with the best Cabernet I've ever had, we settled into some serious listening the next day.

As most here know, Mike has built a world class system and it was a pleasure to get the chance to hear it. As Mike said, the first evening things didn't sound as good as they should have, but don't think that means it was bad, far from it. With a system of this caliber you just have very high expectations.

The next morning after the system had time to really warm up, things were much better! The Alexias were starting to sing their sweet song. We listened to a wide variety of music, but we focused on Mike's favorite genre, Jazz.
After a bit of time we picked 3 tracks to really focus on before we swapped out the interconnect between the Lumin and the ARC REF 5se. As Mike mentioned, he thought he had a pair of Shunyata Pythons in that spot, but it turned out to be a pair of the Black Mambas.

We then put in the Kimber Select 1116 IC's. The difference was similar to a component change, it was anything but subtle. Better definition, instrument placement, larger soundstage, and definitely more body. The tonality of instruments was much more realistic. I left Mike the Kimber IC to experiment some more since I don't need it right now. It was definitely a big upgrade to the sound of his system.

A little later in the day, Mike decided it was time to slip the Hegel H30 into the mix. I honestly didn't know what to expect. I've heard the H30 with a few different speakers, but not with Wilsons. I shouldn't have worried, the Hegel sounded fantastic! Paired with the ARC preamp it had maybe the best tone I've experienced with it. Maybe a tube preamp with a great SS amp isn't a bad idea. As Mike said, the presentation of the music was very different between the two. With some music the Dag was better, and with other music the H30 was better, but in the end they are 2 fantastic amps that anyone would love. The Dag indeed had a wider soundstage but with the Hegel the Alexias just disappeared. The music was more between the speakers with the H30 and more spread out with the Dag.
I think it would be fun to own both :celebrate008_2:

Thanks agin Mike for a great visit!
Click to expand...

Mark...great follow up report. Sounds like you both had a great time. Glad you made it out to visit Mike. These experiences are special when two like-minded enthusiasts can bond over shared interests :thumbsup:
 
Mark - Glad you were able to work things out for the visit. Door is always open for you and Susan.

All - Indeed, these get togethers, while normally a bit short on time, are unforgettable. It's quite special to share our hobby with friends that enjoy music and have an appreciation for excellence in music reproduction. And, of course, enjoy a good meal and great vino. Doesn't get much better than that!
 
cmalak said:
Mark...great follow up report. Sounds like you both had a great time. Glad you made it out to visit Mike. These experiences are special when two like-minded enthusiasts can bond over shared interests :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

Thanks Cyril, I agree completely!

My hope is that more of our members can get together and share their knowledge and their passion for this great hobby of ours.


Norman, sounds like a fabulous visit. I'm glad you guys had such a great time!
 
One item of note that both Mark and I failed to mention is that we listened to many recordings - regular red book, Hi Res PCM and DSD. There were many red book recording that sounded spectacularly - even better than some DSD and Hi Res recordings. The Lumin S1 did an extraordinary job playing all of these.

So, it's about the recording and not necessarily the format. Also, the Lumin continues to impress. Yes, I'm sure there is better but, in my mind, one would have to spend a heck of a lot more to get the flexibility and sound quality the Lumin offers - my 2 cents.
 
Mike - glad you had a great time! So nice Mark could come and hear your system.

Mike


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Mike and Mark,

Sounds like you had a wonderful visit! Great friends, food, wine and stereo, what more could anyone ask for? :) I just recently purchased the Kimber KS-1116 interconnects and KS-6063 speaker cables. They are wonderful cables, transparent, quiet and very neutral from treble to bass. They are one of the great values in high-end audio.

Ken
 
I'm going to start offering house calls with my h30 and kimber gear for Caymus Special Select, Jarvis 2006 and steaks!! And good tunes of course


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Ritmo said:
One item of note that both Mark and I failed to mention is that we listened to many recordings - regular red book, Hi Res PCM and DSD. There were many red book recording that sounded spectacularly - even better than some DSD and Hi Res recordings. The Lumin S1 did an extraordinary job playing all of these.

So, it's about the recording and not necessarily the format. Also, the Lumin continues to impress. Yes, I'm sure there is better but, in my mind, one would have to spend a heck of a lot more to get the flexibility and sound quality the Lumin offers - my 2 cents.
Click to expand...

Mike is so right on about the different recordings. Anyone that buys into the idea that Hi-Res is supposedly better, needs to really examine the recordings.
Very many redbbook recordings were much better than "THE SO CALLED HI-RES".
This is always a recording and mastering result. In other words, don't take anyones word for it, trust your ears!
 
MDP said:
Thanks Cyril, I agree completely!

My hope is that more of our members can get together and share their knowledge and their passion for this great hobby of ours.


Norman, sounds like a fabulous visit. I'm glad you guys had such a great time!
Click to expand...
Yes, we did…Thanks. I see that you and Mike also did the same…special time indeed.
 
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