Steve M Posted October 23, 2013 Posted October 23, 2013 (edited) *( Warning long post, so big I am going to have to do this thread in Four Parts):PART 1 Well, I have just returned from a mind-blowing one week 'hi-fi trip' to the Eastern States traversing Sydney, the Blue Mountains and Melbourne CBD ...all timed to take in the Melbourne AV & Audio Show, 2013. []IMG[/img] To give you some background, my audio buddies here in the West have been encouraging me to attend the Melbourne show for a couple of years now and, between family and work commitments I had a window of opportunity, so I made the executive decision to go. In discussing the itinerary with others, I also decided to tag along with Kajak12/Mario and Teagle/Terry on their Blue Mountains run. We essentially created a side tour of Sydney & Melbourne to visit many SNA members homes - and what a good decision that turned out to be!! Listening to people's systems (all lovingly implemented) was a hi-light for me, in the comfort of their homes and in their enthusiastic and friendly company. It far exceeded anything that the hifi show could reveal/offer, that is, within the limited time that we all have in show room conditions, but perhaps more on that later.Those in attendance at the Melbourne Show from Western Australia were SteveM, Thomo/Jon, Tasso, John T, Tuyen, Teagle/Terry, Kajak12/Mario and Simon, from who I saw on Sunday at the show.*Now to the story of our hi-fi odyssey through Sydney and Melbourne. As you all know, Mario has a habit of saying 'Enjoy Your Journey' and boy what a journey it was. We hired a brand new Ford Falcon XR-6 at Sydney Airport and headed straight for the hills (Katoomba and the Blue Mountains). We ended up doing 1,100km in this car by the time we finished visiting people in Wentworth Falls, Blaxland and Bathurst (while trying to avoid the bushfires around Lithgow and Springwood). Some parts of the trip had to be curtailed due to the bushfires, and I sincerely hope and wish the best for the people affected by the fires including some SNA members (especially OzMillsy, I hope you are OK?).The first person that we visited was the infamous StevenValve aka Steve Garland. Steve has to be the most enthusiastic and passionate audio person that I have ever met! At his best when talking about his collection of rare tubes and more importantly his superb music collection. Once you meet Steve in person, you will never forget him, a wicked sense of humour and he had us in stitches at times and then scratching our heads at other times, a unique individual that's for sure. Just a few bars of music and the sound of his system told me that this guy has got very good ears, which is the essential prerequisite in this pedantic hobby of ours. Anyway, some pics of SV's system:Goodmans Axiom 80 point source loudspeaker in back loaded horn box with Raven R-1 tweeter (first generation) , Linaeum Foil tweeter and Altec 515-16C Open Baffle bass; suped up TDA1541 Killerdac; suped up Wadia 3200 transport; custom 45/50 DHT stereo valve power amp 1-2 w/ch (sweet amp tuned to the max) and custom PX4(?) 4-5 w/ch DHT power amp for bass duties; and the mighty Otari MTR-10 Reel to Reel tape machine playing Master Tape. The RtR also had a dedicated handbuilt valve output stage for some extra goodness.They don't call him StevenValve for nothing, lots of valves in da house, thousands actually!Somehow I don't think this valve is in full operating condition?? Steve's humour at play The power amp for the Altec 15" bassThe innards of Otari MTR-10 in its full glory ...Spare set of Axiom 80, now in the vicinity of $4K on eBay...Steve's collection of supreme TDA1541 dac chipsRaven R-1 on Right; Linaeum leaf tweeters at centre; Duelund VSF and Audio Note copper paper in oil capacitors.Sonically and in terms of voicing, I rate Steve Garland's system one of the VERY BEST I have ever heard. If your preference is for a natural tone devoid of the mechanics of hifi, then this is it. The likes of Peter Paul and Mary, The Idea of North, The Four Brothers, the Beatles and Johnny Cash were all played to perfection. Steve's system is very 'human' sounding as opposed to be being a machine, the Terminator (and Arnie), need not apply!We also caught up with Rawl99/Craig Connor a talented engineer and collaborator in the Killerdac, a man with a set ears to match SV's ...no wonder the Killerdac sounds so good. I also met Zenelectro/Terry Demol the highly skilled tech that did the valve rectification work on my Scott Thompson TDA1541 dac. Terry is as nice a bloke and as informative in person, as the way he writes on Stereonet.In concluding, we would like to thank Steve and his very accommodating wife Jennifer for looking after us for the 3-4 days we were there and making a nuisance of ourselves (up to 2.30am in the morning on most nights).Next up is the esteemed Edgar Kramer's, Aussie HiFi & 6Moons.com reviewer's system. Heard in his lovely home in the Blue Mountains. First up, a big thank you to Edgar for putting up with and entertaining us in the wee small hours of the night (the chocolates and nice port were appreciated too). He was quite busy at work with the Melbourne Show as you would expect, thanks Edgar you are a beaut bloke.Quite obviously, this system is meticulously set-up and thoroughly thought through from the rather expansive and lofty room to the exquisite components, comprising of the latest Wilson Alexia loudspeakers, AMR-77(?) cdp using valves and the much loved Philips TDA1541 dac chip and the Musical Fidlelity pre-power amplification. The beautiful Elson Silva 13Ei valve monoblocs were missing as they are not capable of driving the power hungry Wilsons and he also apologized that his system was at 65% potential (his words not mine) because his much loved Supratek Sauvignon preamp was missing from the equation, due to its maker Mick Maloney upgrading the pre to the latest 71A DHT tube circuit. Anyway, here's Edgar's system:This system had many attributes, control and composure at mid-to-high volume levels being one of them. No bloat, boom or tizz just music in the room, as it was recorded - it would be great for reviewing and judging other components, which is Edgar's modus operandi I guess? The room sounded very clean too, like the sound was floating off, dissipating and not interfering with the sound of what the components are doing. Well done Edgar, great sound and, it can only get more enjoyable as the magic of more valves return to the system. I thought the Alexias were sounding nicer in Edgar's home compared to the pair at the Show, goes to show what room conditions can do I suppose.Some tourist shots of the beautiful Blue Mountains and The Three Sisters at Katoomba:There were lots of tourists staying at Echo Point to see The Three Sisters, this guy was visiting from WA, I think ??These giant noisy cicadas had hatched out from the ground and were everywhere! A once in 50 year event apparently - that'd be right, just when we were there! It didn't help our music listening much as the little buggers chirped in a cacophony of sound at about 100dB echoing throughout the whole of the Blue Mountains!*(Parts 2, 3 & 4) of the journey to follow ...Coming up is: - Mr Rogers/Mendo's Syrinx PU-7 arm tt & Elson Silva amp system;-Tax/Taksil's pseudo Trio & Azura Horns , Audio Note 300B monos, Concert Fidelity preamp & DAC and Micro Seiki SX5000/FR66/64 turntable system;-Terry J's Ultimate 18" PHL/Maelstrom/DEQX, Phase Linear room treated killer system;-Peter's Quad ESL-57 electrostatic speakers with Otto Major treble panels, and 47 Labs of Japan ancillaries-Dragon's Altec Voice of the Theatre (V.O.T) cellular horn loudspeakers with Killerdac and DHT valve amp system;-AlistairM's Avantegarde Trio horns with Dartzeel, dCS, Basis/Lyra Atlas/Phantom II tt system;-Lovetube/Duc's big GTG and his Vintage Turntables/Tubes galore/JBL/Azura Horn system (awesome host and with such passion, what a man!)-Lansche Plasma Guy/Bryan's and Rab/Richard's directly driven Acoustats with Roger Modjeski valve amplifiers, TDA-1541 Killerdac and suped up Tram2 DHT valve preamp (this electrostatic spkr is literally a 'killer system' with 5000v on tap! all forgiven though once you hear it).-The Melbourne AV and Audio Show, 2013 (briefly as it has been done elsewhere on SNA) Edited November 28, 2013 by Steve M 18
Peter_F Posted October 23, 2013 Posted October 23, 2013 Great write up Steve, glad to see you enjoyed your journey! Look forward to reading the rest of the write up. Cheers Pete
Braddles 63 Posted October 23, 2013 Posted October 23, 2013 (edited) A great read Steve. Looks like great fun. Looking forward to part 2 and the rest. Edited October 23, 2013 by Braddles 63
Willco Posted October 23, 2013 Posted October 23, 2013 Thank you for taking the time and the pictures--greatly appreciated Willco
joz Posted October 23, 2013 Posted October 23, 2013 (edited) C'mon Steve, stop the dilly dally and bring on the rest!! tap tap tap! Edit, if I see you post anywhere else before you finish this thread Ill report your posts! Edited October 23, 2013 by joz
wolster Posted October 23, 2013 Posted October 23, 2013 Excellent work, Steve. Very much appreciated.
Volunteer sir sanders zingmore Posted October 23, 2013 Volunteer Posted October 23, 2013 Great write up Steve. This has the makings of a terrific thread. Can't wait for the next instalment
JeffK Posted October 23, 2013 Posted October 23, 2013 Thanks very much Steve for collecting, collating and posting this information. Very interesting and I'm looking forward to more. I have a question about Edgar's system. What models are the Musical Fidelity pre-power amplifiers. And when the Supratek Sauvignon preamp is in place what power amplification is used? Thanks, Jeff
Super Mustud Posted October 23, 2013 Posted October 23, 2013 Good read. Will be a major travelogue by the time you finish!
Marsy Posted October 23, 2013 Posted October 23, 2013 Great read. I'm looking forward to part 2. I always love seeing others beautiful systems. Thanks.
Guest Posted October 23, 2013 Posted October 23, 2013 Great read. Thanks for sharing it with us! And Ed's one of the nicest guys you'll meet in this industry/hobby I suspect! 1
Tony M Posted October 23, 2013 Posted October 23, 2013 Thanks Steve - keenly awaiting further installments.
Steve M Posted October 23, 2013 Author Posted October 23, 2013 Great write up Steve, glad to see you enjoyed your journey! Look forward to reading the rest of the write up. Cheers Pete Thanks Pete, it was a memorable trip you should've been there. And, thanks for the further encouragement from you all, so I shall soldier on with the Second Installment ... 1
Steve M Posted October 23, 2013 Author Posted October 23, 2013 (edited) (Sydney ~ Melbourne Hi-FI Odyssey, October 2013) continued ...PART 2Next on the Blue Mountains part of the journey was Mr Rogers/Mendo's place. He ain't called Mr Rogers for nothing either, as he owns the British made Rogers Studio 2A SE two way loudspeakers, Elson Silva two piece valve preamp (with massive separate power supply) and KT88 stereo valve amp, Once Analog turntable+Syrinx PU-7 tonearm+Stanton 881S cartridge, Yamaha CDS-1000 cdp, Alan Wright preamp and an ME15 preamp with built in phono stage. Here are some pics: Mendo's system sounded pretty good maybe perhaps limited by his speakers which he is aware of, as he has mentioned moving to panel speakers one day. The ancillaries are certainly of high calibre, especially the Elson Silva gear and turntable set-up. Elson's workmanship is ultra neat and second to none, imho. Mendo has recently sold the turntable on SNA and will look for another in due course, and he will continue to use the Syrinx PU-7 tonearm which he considers to be one of the very best. Mendo played to us a lot of lively Argentinian music which sounded great, pacey and full of emotion and life. Part of the joy for me with meeting people at these gtgs is being introduced to new and wonderful music and we certainly got this. The most amazing track of the day was a Test Record of a train starting up and rumbling along the railway - played at about 110dB, the Rogers speakers handled it with aplomb and it sounded like there was a train crashing through the room!! Amazing stuff and I think that the Once Analog turntable and Syrinx PU-7 tonearm is a VERY GOOD combination.Many thanks to Mendo and his very friendly wife Abi and their beautiful 2yr daughter Elanora who kept us entertained. I certainly felt very relaxed and welcome at their place.*Next on the Agenda was Tax/Taksil's house near the base of the Blue Mountains and, his pseudo Avantgarde Trio + Azura horns, I have been wanting to hear this system ever since his postings on Stereonet about his 'new friends' from WA (ie, the 140 Hz Azura horn made by Martin Seddon in Perth, Western Australia). I think Tax got a bit of a surprise when we rocked up with a few more people than he expected and being a bit concerned about feeding us all (blame Mario for that one, she'll be right mate ). Anyway, Tax's wife Corinne had it all in hand and did the fishes-and-loaves thing and fed us in abundance in the end (great home cooked Thai food) .Tax's system and room were magnificent, located in a dedicated Home Theatre room of about 6m x 8m x 2.4m dimension, a cosy entertainment area that loaded the bass very nicely I felt. His loudspeakers are Avantgarde Duos which are two horn units with a sealed active bass module, to this he has added the Azura horn with a Fane driver which takes over around 150 Hz ...making the speaker in effect like an Avantgarde Trio, hence the 'pseudo' moniker by me. The ancillaries consisted of Micro Seiki 5000 turntable (all 130kg of it with lead filled base), tonearms were Fidelity Research FR66 & FR64, cartridges were Miyabe (?) and another whose name escapes me? The phono stage was a Lamm unit from the USA. Digital front end was a Teac VRDS-10 into a Concert Fidelity DAC @ $10K, preamp being another from Concert Fidelity @ $20K, power amps were Audio Note Ankoru (?) 2 x 300B tubes yielding about 18 w/ch push pull I think? One other thing, he had a very good selection of audiophile pressings in vinyl format, sounded superb especially the Three Blind Mice jazz record from Japan that he played. Tax can correct me if necessary about all this, and here are some pics:Now on to the all important sound of Tax's system. In a word 'impactful' ... I have never heard anything like the sheer speed and impact and force of the lower mid to midbass twack! to the lower bass thrust coming out of a loudspeaker. I felt it nearly knocked the eyeballs out of my sockets! WOW what a sound was my first impression. It also had enough finesse and refinement to play any of Tax's superb selection of music. Jazz numbers were delivered with such speed and alacrity that you felt you were in front of the live event. Perhaps it did not quite have the beguiling naturalness of Steve Garland's system, but it definitely took you to places that Steve's (and most other normal systems) cannot go. Even with this aspect, these are still early days for Tax with the Azura horn flare which was only recently delivered to him. With a bit of further tweaking of crossover points and perhaps increasing driver quality (?), I felt this system could be stratospheric. I certainly would be a very happy-chappy with this system 'as it is'. Beautiful sound Tax, no complaints from me.Many thanks to Tax and Corinne for looking after us very well and plying us with enough drink and food to bursting point, cheers from us all.*Here endith Part 2 of the journey ...to be followed by a review of Terry Jones's all conquering 4 x 18" PHL-Maelstrom beast of a system with 1000 w/ch on song! Peter's Quad ESL-57 electrostatic speakers with Otto Major treble panels, and 47 Labs of Japan ancillaries; and Dragon's Voice of the Theatre (V.O.T) horn set-up. Edited October 24, 2013 by Steve M 8
Steve M Posted October 24, 2013 Author Posted October 24, 2013 Just to let everyone know that this thread has been moved from the GTG section to the Showcase Your System section, as it is more about show casing the wonderful Sydney ~ Melbourne SNA members' systems that I heard recently on my trip over East. Cheers, Steve.
joz Posted October 24, 2013 Posted October 24, 2013 Nice work Steve. It would have been a great trip to do with your buddies.(I'm a bit jealous). So sorry to distract you, now get back to the keyboard! Mush Mush!!...j/k
Guest JohnA Posted October 24, 2013 Posted October 24, 2013 enjoying the read Steve. best road trip i have read yet
Braddles 63 Posted October 24, 2013 Posted October 24, 2013 Now this is what all hi fi shows should be like. 1
Guest JohnA Posted October 24, 2013 Posted October 24, 2013 Makes me want to take a road trip to Sydney now and do the rounds. Got holidays as of next week, and need to get some KM's up to the rocco hmmmmmm
bzr Posted October 24, 2013 Posted October 24, 2013 John, take your Supratek preamp with you, everyone wants to hear it in their system......... could be a door opener!!!
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