Some pictures from last night's listening session at Mike Lavigne's wonderful home (what a spectacular view of the mountains from his home and can see why people live here in Seattle and surrounding country! I would love waking up to this view every morning!!!). 
Some of the crew from last night's marathon listening session! Think we started a little after 4 PM with vinyl, took an hour or so break for food and then continued listening to Mike's Studer 820 plus King-Cello tape preamplifier until roughly 11 PM. (Of course for Heidi and me, it was 2 AM New York time!)
Left to right: Mike Lavigne, Mark Zobel (jazzdoc), myself and Mark's son Ben who plays the sax and is currently matriculating at the Berklee School of Music in Boston. Missing because he had to head home earlier: John Brooks (ikkyu2). Oh yes, you can get a little perspective of the size the speakers from this picture!
Mike's system that consists of the all out Evolution Acoustics MM7 speakers and Dartzeel NHB-458 amplifiers. The Darts put out 450 wpc into 8 ohms and the 96dB efficient Evolution Acoustics just cruise along. Interestingly, you'd expect the Dart amps to be hot, even warm to the touch, but they were ice cold. Definitely not room heaters and definitely didn't sound solid-statish or tubey at all.
The stunning looking Dartzeel 458 monoblocks. In the back you can see the Wave Kinetics power cords, speaker and interconnect cables. Mike's also using the Furutech NCF AC outlets in the back as well as the Furutech AC plugs and outlet covers.
Not one but two Studer A820 decks occupy space in Mike's room! The right is 1/4 and the left is 1/2-inch tape IIRC. Oh yes, the towels are over the meter bridge to prevent reflections.
The outstanding Wave Kinetics Direct Drive turntable with the Durand Telos Sapphire tonearm and Ortofon Anna in the front and Telos arm in the back. The Wave Kinetics sits on a Herzan active isolation base; as Mike put it, when your woofers go down like the Evolution Acoustics speakers do, you need all the isolation you can get!
Little closer look at the Durand Telos Sapphire where every part and choice of material is carefully auditioned and chosen before being assembled into the final production version. Also in the picture: the specially designed Durand record weight.
Some of the crew from last night's marathon listening session! Think we started a little after 4 PM with vinyl, took an hour or so break for food and then continued listening to Mike's Studer 820 plus King-Cello tape preamplifier until roughly 11 PM. (Of course for Heidi and me, it was 2 AM New York time!)
Left to right: Mike Lavigne, Mark Zobel (jazzdoc), myself and Mark's son Ben who plays the sax and is currently matriculating at the Berklee School of Music in Boston. Missing because he had to head home earlier: John Brooks (ikkyu2). Oh yes, you can get a little perspective of the size the speakers from this picture!
Mike's system that consists of the all out Evolution Acoustics MM7 speakers and Dartzeel NHB-458 amplifiers. The Darts put out 450 wpc into 8 ohms and the 96dB efficient Evolution Acoustics just cruise along. Interestingly, you'd expect the Dart amps to be hot, even warm to the touch, but they were ice cold. Definitely not room heaters and definitely didn't sound solid-statish or tubey at all.
The stunning looking Dartzeel 458 monoblocks. In the back you can see the Wave Kinetics power cords, speaker and interconnect cables. Mike's also using the Furutech NCF AC outlets in the back as well as the Furutech AC plugs and outlet covers.
Not one but two Studer A820 decks occupy space in Mike's room! The right is 1/4 and the left is 1/2-inch tape IIRC. Oh yes, the towels are over the meter bridge to prevent reflections.
The outstanding Wave Kinetics Direct Drive turntable with the Durand Telos Sapphire tonearm and Ortofon Anna in the front and Telos arm in the back. The Wave Kinetics sits on a Herzan active isolation base; as Mike put it, when your woofers go down like the Evolution Acoustics speakers do, you need all the isolation you can get!
Little closer look at the Durand Telos Sapphire where every part and choice of material is carefully auditioned and chosen before being assembled into the final production version. Also in the picture: the specially designed Durand record weight.
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