Announcement

**MylesBAstor** · 08-21-2016, 03:18 PM

It would be hard to find any self-respecting audiophile who doesn’t know about Mike’s system and his quest for the Holy Grail. Mike’s system is legendary and I jumped at the opportunity to visit and hear his jukebox while on vacation in Seattle. Mike was the perfect host and DJ and after the talk about his system, equipment, the Entreq and Tripoint ground device, Herzan isolation platform and AC delivery systems died down, we just kicked back and spent the rest of the evening listening to an assortment of rock, jazz and classical recording and admiring how great, yet how different, the various albums and tapes sounded.

First things first though. I was awestruck by Mike’s home and his listening barn/room set out in the back. Mike (and everyone else I’ll visit in Seattle) simply live in one of the most beautiful areas of our country and I can’t imagine what it’s like for Mike to wake up every morning with a view of the mountains in his backyard.

I’d be also lying if I wasn’t looking forward to hearing Mike’s system. In many ways, we are kindred spirits carefully balancing our love of audio equipment with our love of music. Both can fuel each other! For the sake of transparency, too, I’ve always liked the Dartzeel/Evolution Acoustics speaker combo. Smooth, warm and every so easy to listen to. Neither tubey nor solid-statish and reminding me much of the Audia Flight amplifiers I had in my system for a while. Just with much, much more refinement. Liked so much in fact, that the Evolution Acoustics speakers were on my short list of speakers (along with the Sasha 1 and Martin-Logan Summit-X) several years ago; sadly, just couldn’t swing the cash to get the speakers at that time. But maybe regret a little as the new crossover has elevated the 3’s performance even more.

That said, Mike’s system lived up to and exceeded expectations. Two things, above all, stood out during my visit to Mikes! First, when you are bored with what you are listening to and don’t know what new music to order, visit an audiobuddy. Conversely, it was ironical to feel the shoe on the other foot; I now know how it is for people to visit me. I took a good half dozen snapshots of albums that Mike played for us that evening that are now atop my wish list. Some easy, some harder to find, some courtesy also of Joel Durand, manufacturer of the Durand tonearms. Among the standouts were two direct-to-disc Jeton albums (no I passed these by over the years and now regret it!), an amazing Henri Dutilleux EMI recording with Rostropovich both conducting and playing and a Black Saint recording of Sonny Clark, John Zorn etc. that he long praised. Sealed copies of two of them, the Jeton D2D and the Sonny Clark, were available and hopefully will be at my mailbox awaiting my return from Seattle. None of these albums are to be missed!

[No, I didn’t bring any of my own albums along on the trip to Mike’s as it would be like bringing coal to Newcastle as my old PHD advisor (who was Welsh) would say.]

Two, one should no matter whatever the level of one’s system ever stop experimenting with ways to improve it and get better sound. As I’ve said in the past, buying the equipment is only half the battle. Setting the system is the other half. Even Mike, with the room and equipment he has, is constantly searching for new tweaks to get everything out of each piece of equipment and ergo his system. Mike is always looking at ways of improving the room acoustics, adjusting the speaker’s crossover, electricity supplying the equipment, outlets and power cords and connectors connecting the gear to the AC, grounding of the system (with the Entreq and Tripoint devices), vibration isolation of all the gear, vibration, etc. There’s no doubt that attention to detail pays off in the long run.

The payoff is that Mike’s system and room brings you one very big step closer to a concert hall sound! Despite their imposing presence, the Evolution MM7 speakers simply and utterly disappear into the background. Some might even be surprised that despite being among the largest speakers out there, they don’t bloat image size like some other large speakers are want to do. No. Whether it’s a small chamber ensemble, rock group or orchestra, the sound projected always seems to maintain the correct proportions.

For most of the evening, being the guest of honor, Mike gifted me the primo listening chair. Interestingly, the chair relative to the size and position of the speakers, seemed very near field. Not that much different than in my smaller listening room. But Mike pointed out that the chair is at the apex of the equilateral triangle in relation to the speakers. No question, that this was the best position either though being a bit shorter than Mike, my head position might have been a little low in relationship to the speakers.

So the first “half” of the game consisted of vinyl being played on Mike’s NVS table, Durand arm and Ortofon Anna cartridge. Halftime consisted of a short break for dinner, a little discussion about millennials and then it was time to head back to the field for the second half of the game. Then it was back for second half and coach decided to change his strategy and run 15 ips tape through his Studer A820 with King-Cello electronics. Truly a winning game plan. No matter who the person—and no matter how good the turntable front-end—there’s nothing that shows off a system’s attributes more than reel-to-reel tape. But—and this is a big but—it wasn’t as if the “sound” of Mike’s system changed dramatically. No. His system basically had the same qualities—imaging, tonality, speed, resolution, low end—you name it. What basically differed was just there were more of these qualities. That’s not unlike I hear in my system or the best audio system’s out there. Face it. There would be somewhat really wrong if the system totally changed in character. If it went from bright with the table to dark with tape. Or vice versa.

That was with one exception (and this was only with a very short time with Mike’s system!). I had the feeling that the Jeton D2D of Ray Brown and Laurindo Almeida sounded in some ways better than tape. What struck me was the delicacy, attack and overtones of Almeida’s guitar as well as the presence and solidity of Brown’s bass. As if both instruments were in the room and firmly anchored in place and space. Some out there feel that D2D, not tape, is the penultimate recording medium. While I can understand that sentiment, and in some areas D2D could exceed tape, overall I think tape still wins out. But here, the D2D was sensational sounding.

In fact, the tonality of Mike’s system was very striking. No matter what we played, and much has to be the system loafing along with all that power not to mention room, the system’s character didn’t change with volume. It was always easy to listen to. One example was the ’59 Decca recording of Ansermet and the OSR performing Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker. As many know, Decca strings can on some systems be a little edgy. But not here. The string section was always controlled, defined and easy to listen to. All things being equal, there’s no substitute for power. What many misunderstand about power is that it doesn’t make things louder; after all, doubling power equal 3 dB gain in loudness. But what good power brings is ease. The music just never seems strained.

[I guess it would be an interesting discussion/debate of high efficiency speakers/low power amps/importance of the first watt vs. less efficient speakers/big amplifiers/well built large amplifiers; though Mike’s speakers being 96 dB and 6 ohms impedance are hardly inefficient and one could argue Mike has the best of both worlds here!]

Another thing that I really enjoyed about Mike’s system was how the bass was understated. With all those woofers, you expect to be clobbered over the head. But no. The low end was very restrained, yet there when it had to be. Nor was it muddied but very clean and detailed. In fact, the whole speaker was very linear from top-to-bottom with no particular frequency range standing in respect to another.

So if you got there was a slight twinge of jealously here, you were right. After hearing and being in rooms like Mike’s and Marty Wax’s, there’s no question that a carefully thought out room is a huge plus (but still even after building these rooms, getting them right is more than just applying some acoustical equation). And thanks again to Mike for taking the time to host Heidi and me and treating us to a great time and audio experience.
It would be hard to find any self-respecting audiophile who doesn’t know about Mike’s system and his quest for the Holy Grail.

**rockitman** · 08-21-2016, 04:11 PM

Very cool. Looking forward to more pics and commentary.

**MylesBAstor** · 08-21-2016, 09:45 PM

Heidi and I spent four hours today at Paul Allen's EMP (Experience Music Project) Museum today built in the shadow of the Space Needle. A must-see for any self respecting audiophile visiting Seattle. In fact, put this one at the top of your list!!! Oh, and the Star Trek exhibit is to die for also!

**MylesBAstor** · 08-21-2016, 09:47 PM

The Jimi Hendrix Gallery. (sorry for the crappy pics; I arrived at the museum and found the battery in my camera was dead.

)

**MylesBAstor** · 08-21-2016, 10:09 PM

Another favorite exhibit at the EMP museum was the history of guitars exhibit!!!

IIRC Woody Guthrie (top) Pete Townshend's guitar (bottom).

**MylesBAstor** · 08-22-2016, 01:58 AM

And for fans of the '90s grunge scene and Nirvana like myself----

The tape machine that Kurt Cobain recorded his demo tapes on:

bbbbb

Loved the listening stations and hearing songs from groups kind of long forgotten like Soundgarden, Bikini Kill, etc. The one group that I loved back then and totally forgot about on the listening station was The Presidents of the United States of America.

**MylesBAstor** · 08-22-2016, 02:11 AM

Last but not least was the amazing sculpture dedicated to the blues!

**MylesBAstor** · 08-22-2016, 02:41 AM

It wasn't quite all music at the EMP Museum. Here's Heidi and me taking a time out to tour the Star Trek exhibit and save the world! (sorry for the rotation, Heidi accidentally turned the phone!)

**MylesBAstor** · 08-22-2016, 07:02 PM

Audiobuddy stop number two is the home of The tape guru himself Ki Choi. And I wasn't disappointed. Ki also invited his friend Peter Cheong (Peter is for those who don't know, the designer of the KLaudio US RCM) over to demo a prototype of his new pivoted/tangential tracking arm. (the arm was first shown publicly at Munich 2016.)

Ki's audio system consists of the latest MBL 101D Mk. 2 omni-directional speakers, MBL 9008A monoblock amplifiers, Dartzeel 108 preamplifier and phono section, NVS turntable and currently an SME 3009 and Ortofon A90 cartridge.

Ki's NVS direct-drive table sitting on a Herzan vibration isolation table (same as seen previously in Mike Lavigne's system). It was very interesting to see before undamped vibrations affecting the turntable and then the after the Herzan vibration damping system is engaged.

Ki (right) is helping Peter Cheong (left) install the Klaudio tonearm on the NVS table. The NVS's design makes installing a second arm on the table pretty easy.

The KLaudio arm will come with different size headshells to accomodate different cartridges. Here Peter is holding two the optional headshells mounted with cartridges.

And Ki's standard arm at the moment, a SME 3012R recommended by David K. and an Ortofon A90 cartridge.

**MylesBAstor** · 08-22-2016, 07:09 PM

Some more shots of the KLaudio tonearm. The square tonearm is made from carbon fiber and you can see the split counterweight that not only sets VTF but balances the arm is it moves across the record. If you look carefully from the front, you can see the linear VTA/SRA dial; from the side/back shots, you can also see the track that the arm goes through to maintain tangency to the record. In some of the other shots, you can see how the headshell angle changes as it moves across the album.

**MylesBAstor** · 08-22-2016, 07:24 PM

Finally, you know we couldn't go without listening to tape.

Ki is fine tuning the azimuth and EQ for his (one of) Studer A820 with 1/2-inch headstack for the 30 ips AES EQ Ito Ema MA Recordings piano release. Ki is using here the Manley tape preamplifier with incredible flexibility for getting the most out of the tape. Here Ki first sets the level using 1 K test tones and then adjust the azimuth for low, high and VH frequencies using the oscilloscope on the meter bridge. Nothing is easy; everytime Ki adjusts the frequency level, he has to go back and readjust the level setting too. Everything little bit counts here so the closer the specs, the tighter the frequency response.

Heidi is holding the 30 ips MASTER tape of Ito Ema playing Bach's Goldberg Variations done by Todd Garfinkle of MA Recordings in her right hand. In her other arm, for those who have never seen one, is a 14-inch take up reel. 14-inch reels come in handy when recording at 30-ips.

Ki also had on hand the 30 ips, 1/2-inch master of the latest Vincent Belanger and Anne Bisson recording Conversations. Ki will when he gets back from his next business trip, be hard at work duplicating this tape for sale. Sales and distribution of the tape will be handled by Gary Koh of Genesis Advanced Technologies.

**allenh** · 08-22-2016, 08:10 PM

Thanks for sharing your vacation and the great visits! Look forward to hearing more!

**david k** · 08-22-2016, 10:03 PM

Nice job Myles, bet you picked up a trick or two from Ki!

david

**c1ferrari** · 08-22-2016, 10:28 PM

Echo allenh's post above!

The 14" tapes are heavy, aren't they?

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