NEBO 14

[Floyddroid]

https://i.imgur.com/02S0VKs.jpg

The Blacksmiths arms situated in the centre of Hartlepool is one of the oldest pubs in the town and has a great vibe. NEBO 14 will be held on Saturday 24th February 2024 11am – 22:30 in the lounge at the rear of the building and has its own bar selling some great beer not least Camerons Strongarm. The Blacksmiths sells hot food and there is also a converted horsebox outside selling pizza which I am informed are excellent. There is parking for a few cars at the front of the pub though more places to park can be located around the corner outside Stranton church. The room is smaller than the previous venue at Billingham synthonia. I looked for a smaller room in response to a request from one of NEBO’s regular attendees. The room is used for concerts and games and I have been reassured that we are allowed to rearrange the room to accommodate our needs for the day which is very helpful. Of course like all other NEBO meetings we need to leave the room the same way as we found it! There is a pillar in the middle of the room though I don’t think this will cause us any problems. There is a small wooden dance floor in one corner which on a positive note gives us options. Like all NEBO’s we will adapt to our surroundings. Please feel free to contact me via the NEBO Facebook page or email at stevep@progzilla.com
As usual it will be helpful if attendees let me know what kit they are bringing.

[Lawrence001]

Would love to come to this one, I'll check out the date. Hopefully no rail strike again [emoji51]

[Floyddroid]

Be great to see you.

[Mickyricky]

Sounds good !

[Pigmy Pony]

Good sounds, good people, and it's in a pub! What's not to like? I'll be there :)

[Ali Tait]

Will be there if I can Steve, be good to see you all again.

[Floyddroid]

As always it will be a pleasure so see you there Ali.

[Swann36]

Putting it in my diary , really enjoyed last year especially as made to feel so welcome .. I’ll give some thought as to what I could bring

[Jac Hawk]

As always mate I’ll be there.

[Floyddroid]

Excellent.

[Patrick Dixon]

I had one of those Trio KA-1500 amps in my first 'hi-fi' system. I think I looked at the specs of all the c£50 amps and picked the one with the highest output in watts. It was OK at the time (particularly as I couldn't afford any speakers and had to use headphones to start with). Things have improved since.

It seems like everyone else on hi-fi forums could afford LP12s when they were at university, but I obviously came from poorer stock.

[Pigmy Pony]

I had one of those Trio KA-1500 amps in my first 'hi-fi' system. I think I looked at the specs of all the c£50 amps and picked the one with the highest output in watts. It was OK at the time (particularly as I couldn't afford any speakers and had to use headphones to start with). Things have improved since.

It seems like everyone else on hi-fi forums could afford LP12s when they were at university, but I obviously came from poorer stock.

I was nearly 30 before I could afford a secondhand one, probably because I didn't go to university :(

[walpurgis]

I was nearly 30 before I could afford a secondhand one, probably because I didn't go to university :(

Never owned one or particularly wanted one, used a couple though.

I tend to avoid anything fashionable or cliquey.

[Macca]

I had a Tensai at University and my mate had a Goodmans. We used to aspire to getting a Rega 2!

The rich kids had CD players but then it was the late 80s.

[walpurgis]

We used to aspire to getting a Rega 2!

I always wanted a Garrard 401.

Eventually had one for a few years, then moved on.

[Floyddroid]

I had a couple of Garrard 401's and failed to see what all the fuss was about. They didn't reign long. I bought a VPI and had it nearly eight years now which tells me something. I also have a souped up Technics that i use for 12'' singles and older records which to be honest performs and sounds better than either of the Garrard's did.

[Floyddroid]

The one in the picture is mine. It has been re-capped and the phono stage and headphone output sound incredible. It is'nt very powerful put it bloomin good. It certainly has one scratching ones bonce.:scratch:

[Halfway Tree]

Will definitely try to be there, Steve.

[Floyddroid]

It wouldn't be the same without you Gordon

[Jimbo]

It wouldn't be the same without you Gordon

I agree I heard Gordons set up and it was superb, way back at about NEBO 11 I think:doh:.

[Gazjam]

Tha5 the one with the Nakanichi amps (I think?)
Lots of boxes anyway.

Hears it m'self at that venue,
Damn impressive.

[Halfway Tree]

Tha5 the one with the Nakanichi amps (I think?)
Lots of boxes anyway.

Hears it m'self at that venue,
Damn impressive.

Thanks guys - yes there was a ridiculous amount of boxes back then. The whole thing is a lot simpler now - a single multi-channel Apollon amp and a single multi-channel Okto Research DAC with x-overs/eq done in JRiver if I'm using the digital setup. I also have a Linkwitz ASP 2.0 analogue x-over/eq box if I'm using my TT. So, all digital or all analogue. Oh, and the speakers have a new Magnesium lower mid driver. which has lower distortion and better power handling than the old polypropylene driver. Whether at my age I can hear a difference is another matter. :lol:

[Floyddroid]

Well, that's Christmas over, better start thinking about Nebo and getting me arse into gear. Really looking forwards to it.

[Lawrence001]

I think that's around school half term and I plan to take a few days off work so hopefully it will work out I'll update when I have a definite plan.

[Floyddroid]

I think that's around school half term and I plan to take a few days off work so hopefully it will work out I'll update when I have a definite plan.

Excellent.

[Lawrence001]

Excellent.Turns out half term is a week earlier this year (so 2 weeks before NEBO) so I won't be in the NE with the kids as hoped. I'll still try and look at options to come though.

[Floyddroid]

I hope you can join us Lawrence

[Floyddroid]

Less than a month away. Better get me arse into gear!!

[Qwin]

Forget the change of plan Steve, I'm bringing the ATC's and subs.

Just can't bear parting with the Yammies, so I've withdrawn them from Sale.

[Vince]

Myself and Steve, (Vinyljunkie) will be there. Really looking forward to this Steve, been a while for me.

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

[Pigmy Pony]

Only ten more sleeps!

[Floyddroid]

That's great. Be fantastic to see you both after so long.

[Floyddroid]

Ha ha. Be great to see you.

[Pigmy Pony]

Mike JacHawk (who I'll travelling up with) has no plans to bring his t/t, and I see no mention of any others making an appearance, so I'll bring my Monarch t/t just in case. I know Macca (who's also coming with us) intends to bring his big Krell (and maybe his new TEAC CD transport), so that should be interesting :)

[Floyddroid]

Mucho excellanto! I will be bringing a slightly modified Technics 1210

[Ali Tait]

I’ll bring the Neurochrome monos and the Lector cd player.

[Macca]

we best bring some CDs too then!

What's the loudspeaker situation?

[Floyddroid]

we best bring some CDs too then!

What's the loudspeaker situation?

Which pre-amp are you bringing Macca?

[Floyddroid]

Sounds great Ali.

[Macca]

Which pre-amp are you bringing Macca?

I can bring a few pre-amps - Sony, Philips, Pass, Avalon.

[Halfway Tree]

we best bring some CDs too then!

What's the loudspeaker situation?

I'll get my old Magneplanar MG1s out of storage this weekend and if they are still OK I'll bring them along. They're 45 years old so there is the potential that the tweeter wires are just a pile of aluminium dust now, but hopefully all will be fine.

I'll bring a power amp of some kind and a Benchmark DAC1 HDR which also has an analogue pre-amp.

[Floyddroid]

I'll get my old Magneplanar MG1s out of storage this weekend and if they are still OK I'll bring them along. They're 45 years old so there is the potential that the tweeter wires are just a pile of aluminium dust now, but hopefully all will be fine.

I'll bring a power amp of some kind and a Benchmark DAC1 HDR which also has an analogue pre-amp.

That sounds excellent Gordon.

[mayebaza]

I just took a Densen B-100 out of seven years storage, it sounds surprisingly good, so I bring it with me along with some tunes ����

[Floyddroid]

I just took a Densen B-100 out of seven years storage, it sounds surprisingly good, so I bring it with me along with some tunes ����

Coolio:)

[Pigmy Pony]

This is shaping up to be a pretty good turnout, hope there's enough beer :)

[mayebaza]

Sorry everyone, I just realised I have a birthday party to go to. I thought it was the end of the month, apparently not��

[Floyddroid]

No worries Barrington. Take care my friend.

[Floyddroid]

Less than a week to go. Really looking forwards to the day and listening to some great music as always.

[Ali Tait]

Aye, shaping up to be a good do. Nice mix of kit to listen to. You bringing your speakers Steve?

[RichB]

I'll be along lads... Be good to see yous.

I could bring an Audiolab Omnia, Primaluna amp, or a joker card in a pair of tiny sub £100 desktop monitors which have no right to sound as good as they do.

[Halfway Tree]

Got the Maggies out of storage (well, laid down behind the sofa in the music room where they've been for about 8 years :lol:)

Got the stands from the Maggie 2.5Rs fitted, set them up and listened to some music. Sounded a bit dark, so pulled the tweeter fuses - sounded just the same. Not good. Ran a REW frequency sweep...oh, dear dropping like a stone after 7kHz. Pulled the fuses again and ran another sweep, identical result. Checked the fuses, both OK. Put the fuse back in on the left speaker and ran a sweep just on that channel...just the same. Noticed that the fuse seemed a bit loose in the holder, so clamped it tight. Ran a sweep on that channel...Bingo! all OK. Did the same on the right channel...still dropping after 7kHz. Damn! Pulled the fuse and got out the Deoxit which I bought to clean the 15 silver plated contacts in the AMI jukebox pulse convertor (1959 high tech). Put the fuse back and ran a sweep on the right speaker...Bingo again! So, both fuses now "deoxited" and both speakers now good up to 16kHz which is as high as they ever went when they were new.

So, hopefully the old ladies will behave themselves on Saturday!

Deoxit is ridiculously expensive but in my experience it does work - definitely not foo!

[Floyddroid]

Got the Maggies out of storage (well, laid down behind the sofa in the music room where they've been for about 8 years :lol:)

Got the stands from the Maggie 2.5Rs fitted, set them up and listened to some music. Sounded a bit dark, so pulled the tweeter fuses - sounded just the same. Not good. Ran a REW frequency sweep...oh, dear dropping like a stone after 7kHz. Pulled the fuses again and ran another sweep, identical result. Checked the fuses, both OK. Put the fuse back in on the left speaker and ran a sweep just on that channel...just the same. Noticed that the fuse seemed a bit loose in the holder, so clamped it tight. Ran a sweep on that channel...Bingo! all OK. Did the same on the right channel...still dropping after 7kHz. Damn! Pulled the fuse and got out the Deoxit which I bought to clean the 15 silver plated contacts in the AMI jukebox pulse convertor (1959 high tech). Put the fuse back and ran a sweep on the right speaker...Bingo again! So, both fuses now "deoxited" and both speakers now good up to 16kHz which is as high as they ever went when they were new.

So, hopefully the old ladies will behave themselves on Saturday!

Deoxit is ridiculously expensive but in my experience it does work - definitely not foo!

I can't wait to hear them. be great to see you again too Gordon.

[Floyddroid]

See you there amigo's

[walpurgis]

Have fun folks! :)

[mayebaza]

Have a great one Peoples!

[Qwin]

Well, that was a classic NEBO meet.
Good turn out of folks and gear, the music was good and so was the crack.
The venue turned out to be one of the best, good acoustics, nice size room for two set ups and the staff made us very welcome.
Well done and thanks Steve for finding such a great place.
Also thanks to Mike for supplying the Pizza.
Nice to see some old faces and one or two new ones, I had a great day, thoroughly enjoyed it.
I'm sure someone will be along soon with some pictures.

[Floyddroid]

Yes indeed, a fantastic day. Can folks message me with their kit so i can jot something down. Thanks to all for coming and making it a special day.

[Macca]

I did take a handful of pictures:

These are Allchris V-200 brought along by Steve himself:

https://i.ibb.co/K9Kq6kV/allchris-v200.jpg (https://ibb.co/4j1TWG4)

Lector CDP-7TL with valve output stage, brought along by Ali.

https://i.ibb.co/cXXNhZj/lector-cdp7tl.jpg (https://ibb.co/Qjj6vT4)

Moon Audio CD transport with modified Arcam DAC (belonging to Alan) into Mick's Pioneer monster receiver from 1976

https://i.ibb.co/1q8byP8/moon-arcam-pioneer.jpg (https://ibb.co/Z8WN4FW)

Triangle speakers (I think Borea B8?) belonging to Gary. Liked these a lot probably because similar to what I use. Open sound but smooth and clean with it.

https://i.ibb.co/HBgNLCF/Trangle-Borea-B8.jpg (https://ibb.co/7jygxQY)

Rack of equipment brought along by Ken, including LDA phono stage, Nord power amp, Pass pre-amp and his turntable (not sure what that was, most of it I think built by himself). There was also a dinky CD transport which I can't recall the make. Plus an Eversolo streamer.

All three sources sounding excellent. Shown here running with some Canton CT1000 MK2 speakers.

In the background are some vintage Magneplanar speakers belonging to Gordon. Interesting panel speaker, if you've hear QUAD ESL with a subwoofer, that's what these sounded like to me. Probably the best speaker for stereo imaging we had there, if you were sat dead central anyway.

https://i.ibb.co/x62P18b/ken-plus-Canton.jpg (https://ibb.co/kXGk46T)

The Canton CT1000 were brought along by Mick and were something of an unexpected star of the show. Maybe not the most revealing speaker there, but just superb with blues, rock, funk. They had - as Ali put it - a 'meaty sound'.

https://i.ibb.co/PTnkHmW/canton.jpg (https://ibb.co/GsLmSxM)

Great meet at a very good venue, many thanks to Steve for organizing another top NEBO event.

[Macca]

There was a black 4 way mains extension block with a fancy cable left behind.

Odds are it belongs to someone fairly local so we left it with the pub staff - if it's yours get in touch with them.

[Qwin]

My CD Transport was the NuPrime CDT8 Pro Martin.
The TT is based on the Lenco L75 mechanism, with a Mission (original) 774 Arm and Van den Hul ONE special cartridge.

[Macca]

My CD Transport was the NuPrime CDT8 Pro Martin.
The TT is based on the Lenco L75 mechanism, with a Mission (original) 774 Arm and Van den Hul ONE special cartridge.

Thanks Ken. I always kid myself that I'm going to remember it all but I never do.

[Barry]

I also have a Van den Hul ONE Special and it's a very, very good cartridge. :)

[Vince]

Really enjoyed the couple of hours I spent there. I thought the Alcharis speakers were sweet as and the Neurochrome, ( pardon spelling if wrong) power amps were lovely.
I was gobsmacked at the Magnapan speakers couldn't believe the bass they produced......and the little amp driving them.
All in all a very nice time.....thanks Steve and everyone else for their participation.

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

[Jimbo]

Looks like you had a great selection of gear there chaps and a great weekend? Thanks for sharing the pics.

[Qwin]

I also have a Van den Hul ONE Special and it's a very, very good cartridge. :)

Totally agree, VDH also do a reasonably priced re tipping service if and when I need it.
Apparently, old man Van Den Hul builds and tests every cartridge himself, I like the special touch, which is the hand written and signed, cartridge specific data sheet in the box.
He's got to be 80 or there abouts, don't know what we will do when he finally retires.

[Halfway Tree]

Really enjoyed the couple of hours I spent there. I thought the Alcharis speakers were sweet as and the Neurochrome, ( pardon spelling if wrong) power amps were lovely.
I was gobsmacked at the Magnapan speakers couldn't believe the bass they produced......and the little amp driving them.
All in all a very nice time.....thanks Steve and everyone else for their participation.

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

Thanks Vince, glad you enjoyed the old Maggies. The little amp Vince refers to is an Ayima AO7, a tiny Texas Instruments TPA3255 chip amp that produces about 75w pc into 4 ohms with the 36V 6A power supply I was using. It was hidden under the white stand at first and we pretended the amp was one in Ken's equipment rack. Then a few folks realised that there wasn't a power amp in Ken's equipment rack and started pointing at the little amp under the stand, so all was revealed. Always fun at at a NEBO event. :lol:

https://i.imgur.com/RQNoz5i.jpg

[Macca]

If anyone's found themselves with some RCA interconnects - black sleeve, WBT plugs - that they don't recall having before - they're mine!

[Floyddroid]

I wrote a little piece on my Progmeister website. Click the link to read https://theprogmeister.com/nebo-14-the-blacksmiths-story/

[Floyddroid]

If anyone's found themselves with some RCA interconnects - black sleeve, WBT plugs - that they don't recall having before - they're mine!

I left some stuff Martin so i will ask to see if they have been found.

[Barry]

Totally agree, VDH also do a reasonably priced re tipping service if and when I need it.
Apparently, old man Van Den Hul builds and tests every cartridge himself, I like the special touch, which is the hand written and signed, cartridge specific data sheet in the box.
He's got to be 80 or there abouts, don't know what we will do when he finally retires.

The data sheet is instructive, but the cartridge loading is ambiguous. VdH suggests 50 - 100Ohm. With a coil resistance of 9Ohm, a load impedance of 50ohm implies a transformer step up ratio of 31:1, creating an output voltage of 23mV; overloading the phonostage.
A better loading would be 200Ohm using a transformer ratio of 15:1, giving an output voltage of 11mV and a transfer loss of 0.37dB.

[Barry]

Really enjoyed the couple of hours I spent there. I thought the Alcharis speakers were sweet as and the Neurochrome, ( pardon spelling if wrong) power amps were lovely.
I was gobsmacked at the Magnapan speakers couldn't believe the bass they produced......and the little amp driving them.
All in all a very nice time.....thanks Steve and everyone else for their participation.

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

I'm a big fan of planar speakers, and am always amazed that bass cancellation from the rear of the speaker doesn't seem to be as bad as theory would suggest.

[Pigmy Pony]

I'm a big fan of planar speakers, and am always amazed that bass cancellation from the rear of the speaker doesn't seem to be as bad as theory would suggest.

I was surprised by he bass performance of those MG1s - the owner (Gordon Halftree) told me the bass drops off at about 60hz iirc, but they certainly didn't sound lacking to my ears, and the way the music just 'hung' in the air between them I thought was really impressive. I could have listened to them all day.

[Jimbo]

Looks like a nice selection of kit at this years NEBO. Interesting to see ancient and modern equipment juxtaposed and I expect there were some great sounding combinations?

[Floyddroid]

If anyone's found themselves with some RCA interconnects - black sleeve, WBT plugs - that they don't recall having before - they're mine!

Been to the Blacksmiths today Martin and it wasn't there.