The Muse Publication Team Contributing Editor: David Hicks Contributing Editor: Larry Deniston Editor in Chief: Alón Sagee
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Like 0 Share Share: September, 2018 New SFAS Website Update We're getting closer to the new SFAS website launch! We're shooting for September 10, but before we launch the new site we'll need to shut down the current site from September 6 - 9. This will give us time to transition some content and conduct functionality testing. Once the new site is up and running we'll still need to incorporate additional content. Please do let us know your thoughts and comments. AND DON'T MISS OUR SPECTACULAR DOUBLE PRIZE GIVEAWAY HAPPENING AT OUR SEPTEMBER 15th SWEET VINYL - KIRMUSS RECORD CLEANER EVENT!!! See below for details. Thanks! Larry Deniston [email protected] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Chasing Perfection By Albert Dall Hello, and Warm Greetings to the SFAS Membership! Lo and behold, it is nearly Fall on the calendar! And yet, these busy times with work, school, and family life, come with cooler evenings and longer nights that lend themselves to more listening time. Yay! I've been thinking about all of our club events and manufacturer's presentations and how we strive for the betterment and perfection of our systems. There's the reward of research, consideration of components, system layout, and tweaking of the setup. All these factors, lead to some amazing listening experiences. We hear them at home, we see them at shows, we visit manufacturers, and we get to do demonstrations at our club events, all with the goal of making our systems sound more real and involving. But is there ever enough? Don't we all dream of the next speakers, or component, or room, or house, all in the name of better sound and music? I know I do! Literally, I have dreams about listening to music, and sometimes about live performances by my favorite musicians. In dreamland, the music is always perfect! Perfect pitch, perfect balance, perfect stage, and depth. I want this in my home too. That is much easier said than done. I am always looking for and wondering what I can do to make my system sound as good as some of the wonderful setups I've heard over the years. As was demonstrated at Joe Hakim's and the CMS presentation last month, every piece in a system contributes to the total listening experience. When paired correctly, components, cables, isolation racks, footers, room treatment, all add up to a whole that is greater than the sum of individual parts. And no individual piece will give the magic. It takes a whole system with a synergistic effect to make that happen. Lately, to this end, I've been toying with the idea of swapping the positions of my listening couch and speakers. This will be a lot of work. As a first try to see what it might sound like, I've thought of running some long speaker cables from amps to the "new" speaker position about 17ft away. That should give me a basic idea if I'm moving, in the right direction. I'll let you all know if it turns out to be an improvement. This idea of flipping the listening/speaker positions came about a few weeks ago as friends were over for dinner and music. Yes, the amps were warmed up nicely, and wonderful jazz music of Pat Martino played through the house. As always happens, the guests congregated in the kitchen and dining area. The music sounded full, spatial, and natural. After dinner, as my high school buddy and I sat on the couch for some critical listening, the depth and width of stage went away. Bass too. What the heck? We thought we should experiment with finding just the right position of body and speaker. First, we started by turning the speakers 90 degrees so they faced each other, then we took turns sitting directly between them. There was a lot to like! We felt like we were on to something. Progressively we moved the listening spot back into the room and turned the speakers to point at the listener. We eventually found a very nice listening position while sitting on the floor, back against the listening couch's "sweet spot," with the speakers pointed over left and right shoulder. Then, as we raised the height of our preferred position to be equal to sitting on the couch. Bass, definition, and depth of stage went away. It was that position, AND height, that made all the difference! My room cancels things out at an ear height of 38 inches when centered between the walls and 1/3 depth of the living space. It turns out that the dimensions of my living room, and the physics of sound, makes the audio room and home I've built for the last ten years NOT ideal for listening. IN THAT SPOT! So, in the quest for better (perfect) sound, I'm willing to change the whole layout of my living room. I might even change houses! That's how important it is! I imagine a lot of you might feel the same way. So, as I said, I'll let you know how things turn out. And, please, share your own experiments and results. Enjoy your Fall listening! Albert Dall SFAS Director - Amplification Research ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ EVENT CALENDAR The San Francisco Audiophile Society -Presents*- SweetVinyl SugarCube September 15, 2018 1-4 PM You should have already received a registration email for this event at our conference room at The Shops at Hilltop for afternoon with Leo Hoarty and Dan Eakins of SweetVinyl. Leo and Dan will talk about and demonstrate the SugarCube SC-1 and SC-2. These pieces of gear that eliminate pops, clicks and surface noise from your records. Please find the program outline and system description here. PLUS #1 Members attending may enter a drawing to win an SC-1 provided by SweetVinyl! Must be present to win. S orry, guests are not eligible to enter. See the Michael Fremer review of the SugarCube equipment at the following link: Fremer Review. The following is an excerpt from the review: "The SweetVinyl team has been working on this "real time pop and project for a few years now, improving all aspects of the design and bringing each update to audio shows so we can all hear how the project has progressed.. These guys are committed audiophiles and vinyl fans who bring to this years working in Silicon Valley so what you have here is a product that is technically finessed in the digital domain, informed by experience and commitment in the analog world and built to the level audiophiles expect at an unexpectedly reasonable price." Additionally, we'll have a surprise guest joining us - Charles Kirmuss of the Kirmuss In The Groove ultrasonic record restoration system. Charles has been interested in all things audio since the age of six and has extensive background in many facets of the audio industry. For more information on Charles and his company please see the following link: https://www.kirmussaudio.com/about-our-company.html Charles will discus s record manufacturing, the lifetime of a record, what a record encounters and how to conserve vinyl. I'm sure he'd be happy to entertain your questions as well. PLUS #2 Charles is providing an In The Groove record cleaner for a second drawing at this event! Two ground-breaking technologies and two give-aways !!! You won't want to miss this special event! Sorry, guest are not eligible for drawings. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- David Gans Interview of John Curl October 20, 2018 Powerhouse legends David Gans and John Curl come together for a Deep Listening Session you won't want to miss. These two have been part of Rock history and will share with you the details surrounding the making of some of the most iconic recordings ever produced! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- Parasound's Richard Schram and John Curl November 10, 2018 We look forward to another great event with Richard Schram and John Curl of Parasound. Richard and John will talk about new projects they're working on and the latest insights into the audiophile industry. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *Please Note: Only current SFAS members may sign up for events. Members may invite a guest, but must pay the guest's program fee. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Pending Events * A presentation by Kent English of Pass Labs in the Healdsburg area. * A Sys-Hop, of sorts, between the South Bay's Gordon Burwell and John Johnson. * Steve Hoffman, recording engineer extraordinaire * Steve Hoffman, recording engineer extraordinaire * A used gear swap meet for members (let me know if this is of interest at [email protected] - so far we have heard from three people) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Critical Mass Systems August 18, 2018 Event Write-Up by Larry Deniston SFAS Members were once again treated to a very interesting and informative event at Joe Hakim's beautiful home in Soquel. This time the presentation covered the Critical Mass Systems (CMS) MAXXUM equipment rack and CMS 0.8, 1.0 and 1.5 Center Stage2 footers by the founder and president of CMS, Joe Lavrencik. Joe Lavrencik Joe Hakim Joe Hakim kicked off the event by reviewing the equipment in his system which includes Ypsilon electronics; EMM Labs DAC2X v2 DAC; Aurender A10 network streamer; Artisan Fidelity modified Technics SP10MK3 turntable with a Koetsu Blue Lace Platinum cartridge; PS Audio P10 power regenerator; MasterBuilt cables and interconnects; Von Schweikert VR-55 speakers; and Critical Mass Systems (CMS) MAXXUM rack and Center Stage2 footers. Joe H. also talked about the sonic improvements he's experienced since he's added the CMS rack and footers to his system including greater resolution and bass response.