London Bake-Off Pics

[Beechwoods]

Sunday's Bake-Off, sponsored by Richard Dunn of NVA / Hi-Fi Subjectivist, and coordinated by a bunch of good people drawn from the Subjectivist, Wigwam, PFM forums, plus few members here, was held at the Marriott Waltham Abbey, just off Junction 26 of the M25. Five good size rooms were each given over to a different theme, the plan being to have the opportunity to swap in and out different bits of gear with keeping certain fixed points all the while.

I think this kind of approach is a good one, it's certainly more interactive than something like Scalford, with 30 or 40 different systems all up against each other. Here, you could get a feel for the effect of a change to an individual component. The trade off versus the Scalford approach is that there you might get a better sense of the synergy someone could achieve by having a system of very carefully matched components that they had refined and tweaked over a long time.

Comparing the 'few room themed approach' with the 'many room many system' approach is a bit like comparing apples and ornages... suffice to say both taste great!

I think the bake-off could easily have spread over 2 days, though I'm sure cost would have been issue. The pictures and comments below are just a flavour of a snapshot... I know I missed some good stuff from spending time in each room, rather than sticking with just one, not to mention having o leave a bit earlier than I would have liked :( The standard of all the gear I heard was excellent, and it's always good to hear other systems as a yardstick against which to measure your own.

It would be good if there were more events like this. The social aspect is great, and it's always a good learning experience to see and hear new gear...


Turntable Room


At the time I was in there it had a A&R Cambridge A60 amp running into a pair of NVA speakers. The Garrard 401 sounded fantastic... and had one of the most impressive heavy plinths I've ever seen.

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Loudspeaker Room


This was my favourite room for impressive sounds, I just wish i'd heard the Nagra D (open-reel digital) playing. I did get to hear Steve / Electric Beach's amazing nOhr 9.0 marble speakers (seen in the new banner, top right). Extremely tight, and shockingly deep, controlled bass from some pretty unique speakers. The smaller marble finish bookshelf speakers sounded extremely impressive too. There were also a pair of active Rogers LS5/8's with Quad 405 amps, an old BBC design IIRC. Sadly I didn't hear them play, but they looked excellent. There were also a pair of impressive transmission line speakers, which again I didn't hear, but I'm sure I'd seen them before somewhere, possibly Scalford.

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Cables, Interconnects and Mains Do-Dah Room


I must admit that I spent more time chatting in this room, than listening! Sorry Shuggie! It was a shame I didn't have longer to properly listen to the changes that were being made over the course of the day.

http://i560.photobucket.com/albums/ss49/aos_images/London%20Bakeoff%202010-10-31/file-13.jpg


Computer Room


I know there was a lot going on in this room over the day, but I only got to see a bit unfortunately :doh: What I did hear was fantastic... a Windows 7 PC into an unknown DAC, via the very impressive NVA Second Statement amp, into a pair of great sounding Audiovectors. The choice of music got decidedly avant-garde at one point, which was great to hear! Sometimes shows can be a bit conservative in the choice of music!

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Amplifier Room


There was a fantastic collection of gear in the Amplifier room, including a wonderful EMT950 turntable, which I have on my wishlist come the lottery win. The speakers as well were big Electro Voice Sentry's with an interesting history... salvaged from a theatre in London. There was a whole smorgasbord of amplification, sand and valve... I'm not sure which amp was playing when the Art Pepper was on the EMT, but it sounded excellent.


http://i560.photobucket.com/albums/ss49/aos_images/London%20Bakeoff%202010-10-31/file-18.jpg

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[John]

Sounds like a great day where people met and heard great gear without any sales pitch I really wished I could of visited but needed to rest my back sorry Nick

[Beechwoods]

I think you've got it in one John. This was by enthusiasts for enthusiasts, and one of the best bits for me was getting to chat to people about Hi-Fi! Everyone needs to go to a bake-off at least once, if you ask me!

[Jonboy]

Looks like a good weekend was had, i'm sorry i couldn't go due to Holidays, never mind perhaps next time eh :)

[Alex_UK]

Thanks for the pics, Nick. I really should have made the effort... next time. Looks like it was a great day for enthusiasts rather than sales pitches.

[Marco]

Great pics and write-up, Nick. You seem to have captured the essence of the event rather well :)

Did you get a chance to listen to Nick G's 211 valve amp or his new two-box valve preamp, the latter is supposed to be very special indeed!

Marco.

[Beechwoods]

I may well have done, later in the day in the Amplifier room. At the start of the day they were using the A&R Cambridge A60, but I know that other amps were swapped in later, and that Nick G's amps were there... One of the drawbacks of the 'few room format' - if you really want to hear one particular combination, you either need to be there at the right time, or things have to be timetabled so tightly it starts looking like a Glastonbury lineup!

[Marco]

Yeah, I see what you're getting at... Hence why I suppose the show would work better spread over two days :)

I find the same with the Owston D.I.Y fests. The Saturday (daytime) is mainly for having a chinwag and allowing everyone's gear to be heard once, but the Saturday night and Sunday is when the real testing/experimenting happens.

It would probably be a good idea next time to make it a two-day event, with people staying overnight in the hotel (perhaps at a discounted rate?) to facilitate this :cool:

Marco.

[Concerto Audio]

Hi
Could anyone tell me the date of the show...Which Sunday is it?:scratch:
I just live a mile from the Marriot. It will be a pleasure to come and see you all
:cool:

[Marco]

Lol - it's been and gone, Santosh... It was last Sunday! :eyebrows: ;)

Marco.

[Concerto Audio]

donno what to say.....:doh:
what a shame, may be next time:lol:
Thanks Marco for letting me know

[michaelhigh]

The St. Louis gang will be congregating this Sunday (day after tomorrow) and I should report back with tales of imbibing and enjoying the sounds. Looking forward to sharing the findings here, too.

[nat8808]

http://i560.photobucket.com/albums/ss49/aos_images/London%20Bakeoff%202010-10-31/file-6.jpg




Did you get to hear these Jordan driver based speakers? I've just bought a pair of drivers to DIY something with - wondering what to expect.




The speakers as well were big Electro Voice Sentry's with an interesting history... salvaged from a theatre in London.

http://i560.photobucket.com/albums/ss49/aos_images/London%20Bakeoff%202010-10-31/file-20.jpg



From the National on South Bank? If so, I bid on these when on Ebay a couple of months ago.. needed a re-foam. Was second highest bidder.. Glad they went to someone who got them done quickly and is using them! Sure they would have sat around as project had I won them.

[michaelhigh]

Our meet was less-organized, casual to be frank. Mostly second-hand bits changed hands, if I remember I saw a Tandberg tube r2r, tons of vaccuum tubes, I was given a pair of JBL 2345 horn lenses to go with my E-140's, lots of SS separates and a big Otari went home, and like that. We ate curry and drank various brews, and had excellent pumpkin gooey butter cake (Gooey buttercake being a St. Louis original like toasted ravioli) and brilliant strawberry-rheubarb pie as well. All in all, a great time. We listened to vintage tube audio through modified Khorns, and heard many gear acquisition stories from sheltie dave, from AudioKarma, which is where most of these folk hang out online. I also mentioned AoS to most of them, so we may yet see them here at some point. So there you have it. Not as structured as your event (which I would have much preferred) but still fun to get some jawwagging in.

[Ali Tait]

Did you get to hear these Jordan driver based speakers? I've just bought a pair of drivers to DIY something with - wondering what to expect.




From the National on South Bank? If so, I bid on these when on Ebay a couple of months ago.. needed a re-foam. Was second highest bidder.. Glad they went to someone who got them done quickly and is using them! Sure they would have sat around as project had I won them.

Those drivers are Mark Audio,not Jordan.Very good they are too. Here's a link to some piccies of the Eggborough get together-

http://www.audio-talk.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2832&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

[Tripmaster]

Ed's...Mark Audio Alpair 10 monitors sounded surprisingly good considering the size of the cabinet, they also managed to play a wider range of music when compared to your average Fostex full range driver.

The Electro Voice Sentry were excellent as were the Marble Nohr 9s. For me the two highlights of the event :)

[Puffin]

Ed's...Mark Audio Alpair 10 monitors sounded surprisingly good considering the size of the cabinet, they also managed to play a wider range of music when compared to your average Fostex full range driver.

Oh..ok.

[Covenant]

Its not often I wish that I lived near London but this is one time. Love that NVA gear.