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s o t o h p The club’s modified Rega P5 table with Audio Technica OC9 MKII low output moving coil cartridge was used as the source.

June 12th Meeting Recap by Joe Pittman whopping 7 phono preamps Gary Koh and Jerry Pomeroy tended to be tabulated as we were were played at the June meet- brought the vinyl (see page 3, not trying to be ultra scientific. The ing. So instead of using a classic A- mostly from Gary’s unobtainuim audience were told to relax and lis- B comparison method, which would stash). ten, instead of straining to hear dif- take too much time and be horren- Everyone was given a sheet of ferences. During the set-up session, dously tedious, we decided to “just” paper to record their own impres- we discovered that some of the listen to them and keep it simple. sions, but the results were not in- (Continued on page 6)

Pacific Northwest Audio Society, P.O. Box 435, Mercer Island, WA 98040 ● www.audiosociety.org 1. AcousTech PH1 phono stage should be familiar to every- one and was our base-line reference for the comparisons (original MSRP was $1200, current value?). Notice our typical set-up where the preamp is up-side down and the chassis is damped by a heavy piece of granite. None of the other pre- amps were tweaked in any way.

4. Z-Infinity phono preamp from Zsolt Mathe is battery pow- ered and includes series and parallel impedance selection.

2. Musical Fidelity M1 phono preamp was provided by De- finitive Audio, MSRP $1200, being offered to the club for $700.

5. Lehmann Silver Cube phono preamp from Sean Archer uses an external power supply (black box on bottom shelf). Made in Germany, current MSRP $4,500.

6. Linn Linto phono preamp provided by Jerry Pomeroy is no longer in production, original MSRP $1500.

3. Genesis prototype phono preamp from Gary Koh is nice and compact. He brought a battery power supply (not shown 7. Thorens MM-008 phono preamp provided by Gary Koh, is in photo) and reference power supply (bottom photo). There a new entry level preamp that includes an ADC with an was a big difference between the two PSU’s. MSRP of $450.

2 Pacific Northwest Audio Society Audioletter July 2014 1. Temptation 2. On Green Dolphin Street 3. Aria

Holly Cole Les Brown and his band of renown Ito Ema Temptation Goes Direct To Disc Bach Goldberg Variations Blue Note JP5003 The Great American Gramophone MA Recordings MA 024-V Classic Records Re-issue Company Test Pressing 33-1/3 RPM version (1995) GADD-1010 (1977) (not available yet - Fall 2014) 4. Jupiter: Dani California 5. Far More Drums 6. Prelude - Carmen Suite

Red Hot Chili Peppers The Dave Brubeck Quartet Alexander Gibson/Royal Opera Stadium Arcadium Time Further Out House Orchestra Warner Bros. Records 44391-1 Columbia CS8490 original issue RCA LSC-2449 (2006) (1961) Classic Records Re-issue (1997) also 45RPM Clarity one-sided 7. More Than You Know 8. The Pink Panther Theme 9. Money

Sarah Vaughan Henry Mancini/The Pink Panther Easy Star All-Stars How Long Has This Been Going On Sony Legacy Records Re-issue on Dub Side of the Moon Pablo Records 2310-821 Pink Vinyl for Record Store Day Limited Edition, Green Vinyl (1978) 2014 to celebrate Mancini's 90th Easy Star Records ES-1012V birthday & 50th Anniversary of the (2003) original release & mastered from the original analog tapes. Limited Edi- tion No 135 of 6000 Pacific Northwest Audio Society Audioletter July 2014 3 I don't know why, but some of the club members think that I have the monopoly on "unobtainuim" LPs. I don't, but I do love music. This will be an irregular series of some of my favorite - not necessarily on analog, there will be some digital albums too.

Me and You. Recorded just 3 IMHO, it is the better both y favorite genre of music is months earlier at Group IV Studios for music and sound. big band /swing - it's got it all, and mastered by Dennis Sands, Me Unfortunately, unlike 88 Basie the foot-tappiness, explosive dy- and You is more explosively dy- Street, there was only one release of namics, massed brass, , namic, has better bass, and a more Me and You - the 1983 LP on , woodwinds. When it's Pablo: 2310-891. For both 88 Basie fronted by an exponent like Count Street and Me and You, the CDs Basie, it is difficult for me not to remastered by Joe Tarantino in 1987 stand up and groove. are good, but the original Pablo vi- Count Basie passed away in nyl are SPECTACULAR! 1984, and one of his most popular You need a really good turnta- albums among audiophiles (and ble, tonearm and cartridge to do jus- rightly so) is 88 Basie Street - re- tice to Side 1 Track 2 on Me and corded the year before he died. This You - Moten Swing. It starts very won the Grammy for Best Jazz In- simply - and really shows what strumental Performance, Big Band. Count Basie is capable of as a band Recorded at Ocean Way studios and leader/pianist. engineered by the masterful Allen His hands fly over the keyboard, Sides, the sound quality is great as but only strikes a note when it is the is the musical performance. There is swinging groove. perfect note at the perfect time. Af- a very contemporary feel to the al- On Me and You, Eaton plays ter a couple of bars of the intro, bum as Cleaveland Eaton plays upright double-bass and this shows BAM!! The entire band comes in electric bass on this album. better as more warmth and tonality with saxophones, , trum- However, whenever I think that of bass. It is over-shadowed by the bones as a triple crescendo. Great as of Count Basie's final 3 albums, the award winning 88 Basie Street, but a demo piece when some asks you - best of the lot (the one I prefer) is are your speakers dynamic?

4 Pacific Northwest Audio Society Audioletter July 2014 The Bright Mississippi had its and by the melodic sensibility of a llen Toussaint was born in genesis during a studio session with most particular kind of songwriter." New Orleans, the Birthplace of Jazz, music producer - Tous- Recorded in the famous Power but is better known as a rhythm & saint was amusing himself between Station (now Avatar) Studios, it has , rock and soul musician. He takes by blowing freely through a a wonderful live, fresh sound. As wrote a roll of hits and many of his song by Fats Waller. Henry said, "I noted by Toussaint, "This isn’t the songs got covered by others - kind of assembly line music where Robert Plant, The Rolling Stones, somebody put the wheels on here Aaron Neville and Boz Scaggs and somebody put the top on there. among others. In the 1970s Glen Everything got done at the same Campbell took one of his songs to time, so everybody fed on each the Number One position on the other, their personality and tonal- Pop, Country AND Adult Contem- ity." porary charts. In 1998, he was in- A truly wonderful album - I ducted into the Rock and Roll Hall thought that the CD was great, but I of Fame. He was also inducted into am glad that I took the time to hunt the Blues Hall of Fame in 2011. down the vinyl. It is one of those However, this album is a Jazz rare albums that distribute the music album - with jazz standards from across four sides at 33 1/3 rpm in- Louis Armstrong, , stead of cramming everything into , Django Reinhart, was stunned. It was a revelation to two. As a result, the pressing and Billy Strayhorn and Jelly Roll Mor- hear this music interpreted through production does justice to the fabu- ton. Allen was accompanied by jazz Allen's very unique point of view. lous music and musicianship. On stars such as clarinetist , The song, inherently rhythmic as a the Nonesuch label catalog number pianist , and saxo- composition, was transfigured by a 480380-1 - as a double LP pressed phonist . left hand schooled in New Orleans, in Germany.

concert. The energy of this jam ses- bum is the first track "Compared to ne of the things that I work sion is incredible and the album was What". It is a funky breakout to very hard on with my speaker de- one of the most successful jazz al- mainstream music - and emblematic signs is the "get up and boogie" fac- bums of the period - certified Gold of the time, the Vietnam War. The tor. I believe that music is appreci- lyrics contain a rant against the ated not just with our ears, but that Vietnam War and President Nixon, we listen to and appreciate music but they seem just as relevant today through our bodies. Movement and "The president, he's got his war / feeling are as much a part of music Folks don't know just what it's for / as are the notes and timing. As part Nobody gives us rhyme or reason / of my "design tools", I use a set of Have one doubt, they call it trea- music that has this boogie factor. son." This is one of my key albums. The album is easily available The Les McCann Trio and the used as millions were sold. There Eddie Harris Quartet performed were also a couple of re-issues, no- with great success at the 1969 tably on Rhino Records in 1996 and Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzer- 2010 and on 4 Men with Beards in land. Towards the end of the festi- 2001. The few copies of the original val, Eddie and Les felt like they in the US - fantastic rhythm and 1969 pressing have been excellent, wanted to play together. They re- boogie with all the energy and ex- so I have not explored the re-issues. cruited Benny Bailey to join them citement of good friends jamming Of course, the original 1969 press- on , Leroy Vinnegar on bass, together. ings I own are all promos...... and Donald Dean on drums, and The album is jazz at its live, raw recorded this joyous impromptu jazz best - but the stand-out on this al-

Pacific Northwest Audio Society Audioletter July 2014 5 The Set-up

Jerry Pomeroy and Gary Koh did the system set-up. And Jerry brought several pairs of Oyaide PA-02 TR interconnects so as to eliminate sound differences due to interconnect variation. In addition, time was spent setting impedance for the OC9 cartridge (when possible) and matching playback levels to +/-1dB on the club's Genesis I60 integrated amp for all the phono preamps. The committee tried as much as possible to present a level playing field for the preamps with identical or similar interconnects, power cords and even the rack. The club has had the AcousTech as our reference for many years and we had already determined that it sounded best when placed upside-down with a granite block damping the underside (now top) of the chassis. Also prior to the meeting, members of the Executive Committee were given a speaker set-up lesson by Gary Koh for our Genesis G7.2f’s. He used his CD with music tracks selected to dial in the speakers. The set-up would then pre- sent the best possible sound for the phono preamp listening.

(Continued from page 1) EXCO members felt that the harder they tried, the less of a difference they heard. A cut from the first 4 albums were played on all 7 preamps. After listening to the Holly Cole, Les Brown, Ito Ema and Red Hot Chili Peppers, we all agreed that the AcousTech, Musical Fidelity, Linn, and Thorens were not in the same league and were eliminated. The Genesis, Z-Infinity and Lehmann phono amps were used to play the rest of the albums after a short break. The Z-Infinity was warm, lush and pleasant but also eliminated because its bass was not sufficient for our system. Zsolt told us that he had the bass of the unit tuned to his system at home. That left the detailed and highly resolved Lehmann and the transparent and musi- cal Genesis. I really liked what the Genesis did to bring the music that is on the album closer to me. Gary told me that he had only worked on the design for less than a month, and that it was only his first prototype (he was waiting for more parts). I can't wait to hear what his production model will sound like. I hope everyone enjoyed listening to all of the phono preamps and the outstanding music as much as I did. And thanks to everyone who provided the phono We now have the Klaudio ultrasonic record cleaning machine preamps to listen to and especially to Jerry for being in hand and are in the process of getting a padded case with the Master of Ceremonies, Spin Meister and Cable wheels to move the beast around. Thanks to Peter Cheon for Swapper (MCSMCS or MCS2). giving the club such a great deal on the machine! The Execu- tive Committee is working on the use schedule...

6 Pacific Northwest Audio Society Audioletter July 2014 by John Stone y k s t u b o s o K

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s o t o h p Steelhead preamp/phono stage, Evo- dogs. We encourage members to ur July 10th meeting will be lution Acoustics MMThree speakers contribute side dishes, salads, or our annual summer social event and driven by the DartZeel NHB-108 desserts, and your beverage of BBQ. This year’s party will be held amp, all wired with premium cables choice. at club member and former club and power conditioning. There will This event is one of the most enjoy- president Andrew Kosobutsky’s not be a formal program for this able events of the year. Don’t miss house in Newcastle, WA. Andrew event; members and guests are en- it. has a wonderful listening room and couraged to socialize, eat, and sam- will be spinning vinyl (and digital if ple the audio treats. Andrew’s lis- Members will receive an email no- you insist) from his extensive col- tening room is of modest propor- tice with address and directions. lection strictly for our listening tions, so sweet-spot sharing and seat For more information, contact any pleasure. swapping will be necessary to allow of the members of the Executive Andrew’s system features the everyone an opportunity to listen. Committee (see back page for Forsell Air Reference turntable with On the culinary menu for this email addresses). Ortofon Anna cartridge and Manley event will be grilled burgers and hot

Terry Olson reminds everyone that we will be having our biennial “The Puget Sound” speaker building contest at the end of August (date TBD) so get ready. The event is a lot of fun. Try and attend if you can.

Pacific Northwest Audio Society Audioletter July 2014 7 fantastic price. Two Finally, if anyone wants to prepay a of them do not have 50% down deposit (non-refundable) for the the remote or the MC coming G1-B before the release announce- option, but the price ment, I will hold the original G1-A pricing is $2500 plus ship- and sell them a G1-B”. You should plan on ping if you are inter- delivery with 30 days of the product an- ested. I have just nouncement, which I’m targeting for Sep- two or three pieces tember. Please email: of this [email protected] for more infor- type remaining, they mation. are the last MM/MM that will be made. I actually use the MM in my own system with the Blackbird From Damon Coffman at Coffman Labs: I’m cartridge for fabulous sound. The quality of going to be bringing out a newer version of the MM cartridges is so good these day that the G1-A (G1-B) later this year—main differ- you really need to get close to 5 figures to ence will be around extras (including gold get a significant improvement with MC. This wire for all internal connections) and the BlackBird is better than the $5000 Koetsu price will go to $6995. The existing internal Urushi that it replaced. RIAA and line stage design will not I may have two of the MM/MC variety Disclaimer: The Pacific Northwest Audio change. However, I am going to sell off the with and without remote coming available Society does not endorse nor is liable for existing inventory, so this is an excellent as well. These will be $3000 and $2750 opportunity to get one of the G1-A’s at a any advertisement in any way. Everyone is respectively. cautioned to proceed at their own risk.

Visitors Welcome! ship deems appropriate. Editorial Meetings are held on the second Thursday Club Website Editorial submissions are welcome. of every month at 7:30pm at 4545 Island www.audiosociety.org Content must be audio-related or of general Crest Way, Mercer Island, WA 98040. interest to the club in plain text or Word E-mail document format without automation PNWAS Mission Statement [email protected] To bring people with a common interest in (macros and scripts). We reserve the right US Mail music reproduced at its best, for their to edit for style, content, and length. Pacific Northwest Audio Society, PO Box mutual edification and pleasure. Editorial Deadline: three weeks before 435, Mercer Island, WA 98040 To facilitate the exchange and dissemina- meeting date. tion of accurate data concerning audio Annual Dues Publishing any editorial material is contin- equipment and musical recordings. $60 due each January. New members pay a gent upon the approval of the Executive Committee. To promote, sponsor, and cultivate the prorated $5 per month for remainder of highest quality reproduction of music in year. Disclaimer the home. Elected Officers Opinions in this Audioletter are those of their To encourage maintenance of high stan- President: Jay Hope authors; the Pacific Northwest Audio Society dards in the performance, recording and [email protected] itself does not endorse or criticize products. transmission of music. Vice-President: Jerry Pomeroy Copyright 2014 by the Pacific Northwest [email protected] Audio Society except as noted; all rights PNWAS Objectives Secretary/Treasurer: Bruce Brown reserved. 1. Provide a forum for meeting other audio- [email protected] No part of this publication may be reprinted philes and exchanging information on or otherwise reproduced without the written musical recordings and audio equipment. Committee Chairs permission of the: 2. Demonstrate and compare equipment Editor: Joe Pittman and recordings. [email protected] 3. Give members opportunities to become Equipment: Jerry Pomeroy familiar with the techniques of audio Music: Gary Koh manufacturing, testing, repair, recording, Refreshment: Open broadcasting, etc. The Pacific Northwest Audio Society 4. Explore related avenues as the member- PO Box 435, Mercer Island, WA 98040