Seattle Hi-Fi Meetup Part 1

Seattle meet-up? Can I get an invite next time? 

Yes, I think the next time we are planning on Charlie's house, he said he wants to try to get 50 or so people (hehe).  We started small with my ghetto system, but the next meeting we will go up a few brackets.

I'm becoming a hermit as I get older, so having two people over at my house in this decade is a big deal.

Ummm...  I have no problem with a party for 50, but there will be likely way more conversation and partying than direct music listening.The conversation goes up by the square of the number of people.

Thanks SS for being a great host.  I had a great time.  SS has a good sounding, well balanced system.  I really like the Credo's.  Naim make good speakers (to my ear).  Sneaky has them placed well, as there are really no room issues with the bass - it sounds very natural.

Charlie

Joe brought a Quadraphonic version of Chicago IX, we compared it to my non-quadraphonic version; they were totally different.

There was another vinyl we listened to, and I can't remember it for the life of me now, Joe what other vinyl did you play right at the beginning (I can't remember much after we started playing music)?

Truly it would take an enormous amount of time to play several people's music through multiple sources at one of these events.

SS, at our suggestion, you shuffled your shelfs a little bit, and attended to a bit of cable dressing.  I will be curious to hear your opinion of how that affected your tunes when the dust settles.  Will you leave it that way or put it back the way it was?

Charlie

Oh I'll leave it that way.  My brain and hearing is all confused now...we did so much sampling I don't know what sounds good or bad now.  Hearing exhaustion.

As we were all joking about, one millimeter can make a huge difference...and there are an infinite number of adjustments...even thinking about it makes me tired. 

P.S.  One album we played was Fleetwood Mac - Then Play on

Pour another glass of wine and spin some fresh-cleaned vinyl!

Charlie

Speaking of pour...

...poor Joe is still probably in traffic. 

OK, I will pour another glass of the Pinot Noir (which I opened when I got home) and we will both toast our condolences for poor Joe.  We have worse than average traffic due to China President Xi's visit here.

I think I will pay the whole album, "Then Play On," which is a real gem from early Fleetwood Mac.

Cheers,

Charlie

Looking forward to the next time.  My system isn't nearly up to snuff yet, but I'm a quick study.  Nait XS2 is the heart of my modest system, but in time I'm leaning toward the 250DR/272 route, but I'm still very flexible. Nice to see there are other Naim lovers in the Northwest.

We listened to the Nait XS today.

Maybe Richard will mail us some Naim turntable mats for the next meetup?

A NaitXS sounds very good indeed.  Nothing for which one need apologize!

I think we spent a lot more time talking about the music we were sharing, than about the HiFi equipment.

Oh, another album we enjoyed:

Charlie

PS:  my phone can be found in profile.

That's the one.

Thanks guys.  I'm definitely not complaining about my XS2 (70wpc). I love the thing actually, but I'm just going through upgraditis.  I've been getting lots of rest and taking aspirin but it still hasn't passed yet 

There's also MangoMonkey and another 1 or 2 people that piped in.

We also played this one, which is one of the few new vinyl I own, cleaned of course:

  It's nice you guys are gettin it on in south west Canada.

Traffic indeed! I won't be voting for President Xi in the next election. Took me 50 minutes to get to SS's and over two hours to get back home. Worth it all, though. So nice to meet Charlie and our gracious host.

I most enjoyed Sneaky's vinyl side, which is literally anchored by his Tiger Paw Vulcan shelf mounted on a brick wall. A very smart looking set up with the cherry Quadraspire rack and black boxes below. The "Best Of The Doobies" LP was outstanding, as were the Miles Davis and Midnight Sugar. I'm an instant fan of Sneaky's Credos. Bass control the likes of which I haven't experienced before. The Credos have a wide dispersion and fill the room seemlessly with a very involving, tonally balanced sound. The bass is tight and satisfying, but doesn't overlay or crowd listening room from the higher frequencies. I think Sneaky has the Nait XS/Stageline/RP3/NACA5/Credo combo working beautifully in his listening space.

The Rega DAC fed by Spotify is also quite nice for digital listening. Very quiet, yet with a tad flatter dimension than the vinyl offered. I think we all agreed that direct CD replay on the Oppo was a relative a compromise, but Sneaky burns his CDs and the Oppo is a go between for his TV sound and Blu-Ray viewing, so serves its purpose well. All in all, you've done well for yourself in a short time, Sneaky, and you've got a system you should be proud to share with others. Thank you for inviting me today.

I'd be remiss not to mention what a pleasure it was to meet Charlie, a true gentleman, and I think rather unassuming sage with his engineering background. We had some scattered discussion of racking and microphony issues, and I'm looking forward to furthering those when Seattle Hi-Fi Meetup Part 2 commences.

Oh, and I'd also be remiss not to mention what a cool RCM Sneaky's Loricraft is. A vintage looking creature (Charlie and I both posited it had a heftily-constructed 1970's look to it), yet fast and effective. Cool to watch it work!

Charlie and I can now attest that Sneaky and Mango are two independent entities.

Sorry to disappoint the forum's conspiracy theorists .

+1

Great report, joerand.  Glad you finally made it home. 'Twas a pleasure meeting you in person.

Charlie

Charlie is soft-spoken, and a very patient listener...however he's way over my head when you start talking about actual acoustics, electronics, speakers, etc.  You both had me glazed over with a few of your discussions.  I'm just simple folk, really.

TOBYJUG, we are in the Seattle metro area in Western Washington.  Thanks!

Cheers,

Charlie

Charlie went white in the face when I casually threw his Midnight Sugar vinyl onto the Loricraft, but it was hairy as a poodle. 

I guess I should be careful about cleaning other people's vinyl...however Charlie had not made it clear whether he had brought the Vinyl as a gift or not at that point.  IMO if you bring vinyl you shouldn't be able to take it with you.  (I'm only bringing CDs to the next one)

Have you finished off the gift Charlie left with you?

Tomorrow...I got to get some work done tonight...it packed quite a kick.  Wine is the iron hand in the velvet glove...add some good music and pow.