Me & philodox met up at a local store yesterday where he was introduced to vinyl and had Massive Attack ruined for him. I'll let him fill in the rest of the details, but suffice to say, we had a fun time listening to cool music & gear.

It's true. I heard Massive Attacks Group Four on a pair of $12k speakers in an absolutely insane setup... Audio Aero CDP [i think], EAR preamp and Gamut power amps. With all sorts of power/RFI tweaks of course, not to mention the room treatments. I am not sure which brand the speakers were, but I am sure that Eaphan knows.

I got a little taste of vinyl, which was great and think I will be buying a Debut off of the dealer at some point. I happen to have 4 6H30's that are not in use at the moment and am presently looking for DIY phono stage designs.

I will be getting my Amp back tomorrow night and am hopeing that I haven't really been ruined by that hi-fi rig I heard. Peter got it fixed up incidentally. Apparently some sort of grounding issue or something... all I know is he said it had something to do with the LED, the faceplate and the input stage. Figure that one out.

Anyways, he listened to it for 3 hours last night after he got it fixed up and said to me, "You know, these headphones of yours are really good."

I had a great time at the shop. I still can't believe the time warp we stepped into. I swear we were in the place for an hour or so, but it was 5pm when we entered and 10pm when we left.

- Jay

Sounds like your meet was bigger then mine.

Biggie.

It's true. I heard Massive Attacks Group Four on a pair of $12k speakers in an absolutely insane setup... Audio Aero CDP [i think], EAR preamp and Gamut power amps. With all sorts of power/RFI tweaks of course, not to mention the room treatments. I am not sure which brand the speakers were, but I am sure that Eaphan knows.

So...it was good?

So...it was good?

Yes, that is what I meant when I said it has ruined Massive Attack for me. I suspect, though I can't confirm without my amp, that everything will sound second best for the next little while after hearing that amazing setup.

Hehe I refuse to listen to a well setup vinyl system.

Biggie.

So...it was good?

Yeah, it was sweet. Audio Aero Prestige CD/SACD player, EAR preamp, Gamut amps, Opera Divina speakers, it's a pretty sweet system. Analog setup was a Nottingham Dais turntable with Anna arm and Van den Hul Grasshopper IV cartridge. The turntable setup is ridiculously fast & clean while remaining quite musical, the music wraps around and basically, there is no front to the soundstage. It's like wham, here's a dude with a guitar like 3' to the right of me, and another time it was bird chirps and monkey calls coming from behind me. The first time I heard that setup a couple months ago I was like this can't be real, where the hell are the hidden speakers? I'd like to own the system one day, but I'd have to sell a kidney and a lung.

Approximate total cost? ^^

Biggie.

Let's see,

speakers aound $12k

CDP $16.8k

amp ~$7k

preamp - no clue probably $5-10k

turntable & arm ~$10k

cartridge - no clue

cables - probably a couple grand

power conditioning & RFI prevention - a lot

My rough ballpark figure with loads of guesswork comes out to something like $65k or thereabouts.

What vinyl did you guys spin? The owner must be really nice to let you guys hang around for 5 hours

What vinyl did you guys spin? The owner must be really nice to let you guys hang around for 5 hours

Played some Talking Heads and Depeche Mode, and I can't remember the others. The owner's a great guy, he's a member of the local audio club and he's hosted a few small meets at his store in the past. Lots of amazing gear in there, Quad ESL 57's & 63's, Lowthers, Wilson Benesch, Opera, Audio Aero, and more turntables than I can count. Every single drawer & cabinet is also stuffed full of LP's, you could probably spend months in there listening 24/7 to vinyl before going through them all.

Played some Talking Heads and Depeche Mode, and I can't remember the others. The owner's a great guy, he's a member of the local audio club and he's hosted a few small meets at his store in the past. Lots of amazing gear in there, Quad ESL 57's & 63's, Lowthers, Wilson Benesch, Opera, Audio Aero, and more turntables than I can count. Every single drawer & cabinet is also stuffed full of LP's, you could probably spend months in there listening 24/7 to vinyl before going through them all.

Damn sounds incredible. Gear aside a drool worthy vinyl collection would be sweet.

It was definitely a great time. I loved his comment after 'Group Four' finished... he said, "Why can't I walk into a room at an audio show and hear someone playing that instead of Norah Jones?"

PS. The amp is back and in working order. Not to downplay the fun I had with those speakers, but Massive Attack is most definitely not ruined for me.