Mini meet in Lancashire

[Marco]

What a brilliant day - one of the best bake-offs I've ever been to! Thanks again to Dom and Natalie for their excellent hospitality, and to all who attended. It was great meeting you guys

I'll post some thoughts of the day after, but right now I'm off to have some breakfast. I didn't get in until after 1pm, so am not long up!

Laters,
Marco.

[snapper]

Many thanks to Natalie and Dominic for a great day, great hosts and very welcoming.

Was also great to meet so many other forum members and have a good chin-wag.

I'm off for some brekky just now, very tired. After taking a wrong turning I ended up in Blackburn but eventually found my way home. Didn't get in until quarter to five this morning though.

[Greg2010]

One of saturdays lessons
There were others but I'm sure someone else will fill you in on those.

As part of the day Dom had invited Karl Brown of Blacksea Audio and criminal records (http://www.blackseaaudio.com /http:/...ecords.eu.com/)
an accomplished audio professional.

Karl brought with him a few items, some tannoy supertweeters, and his PC with sound monitoring software and associated hardware (mike etc) and a
tunable bass trap (looked like a mobile rocket launcher).

I'd taken along a pair of OB's with Audio nirvana 8" fullrange, eminence 15" bass and coles supertweeters with passive crossover to compare with Dom's
Hawthornes. Earlier in the day with various decks and music styles it was evident that my OB's were significantly lacking in midrange and a little over the top on the bass front.
In my room at home I've not been aware of the midrange shortcomings highlighted at Doms. I was a little disappointed at the result, having taken some time to get an acceptable sound from what are a pair of comparatively cheap drivers.

Karl set up his gear, ran the software, explaining the procedure and the graphed results, did a few calculations on Alf's mini-bank statement (first piece of paper that could be found). On went Marco's Technics to give us all a baseline from which to compare the forthcoming changes.

Karl then set the bass trap using the calcs he'd just done and on again with the technics. The test had revealed a low frequency standing wave in the room of around 180hz, the trap was tuned to eliminate this as much a possible.The immediate result was a significant increase in bass control and a widening of the soundstage, I was probably in the best listening position in the room, and wondered whether the change was as apparent to the others. Marco was sitting next to me, as I turned to face him it was plain from the look on his face that it wasn't just the imagination of old ears and an addled brain (mine not Marco's ).

So, what to do with the information? Back home, I ran some test tones that Karl has on the website. Now things become clearer, my room at home is an acoustic bloody nightmare , standing waves at all sorts of frequencies, This explains the midrange reinforcement I get, which wasn't present at Dom's thus appearing as a lack of midrange frequencies. What I had done in my ignorance was to alter the attenuation etc on my OB's to sound good in what is a listening unfriendly environment.

Question: Did I know anything about standing waves previously ?
Answer: Yes
Question: Did I do anything about the situation?
Answer: No
Question: Will I do anything now?


A big thanks primarily to Dom and Natalie,but also to Marco, Dave(http://www.mains-cables-r-us.co.uk/), Dave(snapper), Alf, Steve, Peter and Karl for making an excellent day

Regards
Greg

[Marco]

Yes, it was great meeting Alf, Karl, Peter, Steve, David, wee bawheid (Snapper) and of course the hosts, par excellence, Dom and Natalie

Dom has an excellent system of carefully chosen components, which gel together to create an addictive musical whole. This is the effect you get when sonic synergy has been achieved from a system's constituent parts, and it can only be arrived at by using one's ears as the final arbiter.

I loved his valve monoblocks (can't remember what they were called?) and these formed an enthralling sonic partnership with his (Hawthorne Audio) open-baffle speakers, which were very open sounding and detailed, allowing one excellent insight into the musical programme, but not at the expense of straying into harshness, and augmented by an extended bass (unusually so for OBs), which underpinned beat-driven music with an infectious rhythmic propulsion, driving tunes along with great energy and conviction - excellent stuff!!

The star of the show, however, as the assembled cognoscenti were all lovers of the analogue art of music reproduction, was Dom's superb slate-plinthed Garrard 401, the former being his own design, which was beautifully finished to an immaculate standard, rendering it looking both impressively constructed and also highly tactile to the touch. Dom will need to remind me what tonearm he was using, but it was fitted with a lovely vintage Supex MC cartridge, which had recently been expertly re-tipped by the man himself.

Every time I hear a good Garrard 401 what immediately impresses me is the sheer solidity and security of its musical presentation - it simply takes everything in its stride, seemingly unhindered by the inherent complexities of the accurate reproduction of music on vinyl, creating a rock-solid presentation, underpinned by a solid and extended bass, which times beautifully, allowing music to develop naturally within its own acoustic space, and to ebb and flow in tandem with the rhythmic pattern of the music, and as such always remains tuneful and never leaden or 'one-note'.

Garrard's, however, are often criticised for their lack of ultimate high-frequency extension, but with Dom's 401, no such characteristics were in evidence, as high-frequencies were delivered with a crystalline clarity which, although incisive in nature, were never 'glassy', nor did they draw unnecessary attention to themselves, but simply blended into the mix, performing their natural role in the musical proceedings. Midrange detail, such as with voices and acoustic instruments, had superb definition and an addictive panache, making for palpable realism and a sense that one was taking part in a real musical event, rather than listening to a mere recording of such.

There was also never, at any point, even the slightest hint of rumble; another criticism often levied at Garrard 301 and 401s, which is testament to both the superb quality of the sample Dom was using, and the first-class structural integrity of his high-quality slate plinth, which I have no doubt whatsoever was contributing significantly to the excellence of the 401's deftly-judged musical presentation. This turntable exhibited both detailed musical analysis and fun-factor in abundance!

No, let there be no mistake: this was one of the finest sounding Garrards ever to grace my ears and a credit to Dom and Northwest Analogue, whose beautifully constructed slate plinth is undoubtedly one of the finest examples of such on the market, spectacularly elevating the sonic performance of this 'old warhorse' of a turntable to, for me, a standard previously not achieved by offerings from other manufacturers. As such, if you own a Garrard 301 or 401, you owe it to yourself to check out the superb slate plinth designs of Northwest Analogue. My hat goes off to Dom; as they say, the boy's done good!

Dom and I agreed that there wasn't much difference between my modded Techy and his 401, which I take as a great compliment, especially considering that my T/T was without its main tonearm and cartridge, and instead was using a borrowed Jelco SA-750 (thanks again to David Brook) and an, admittedly rather good, Goldring G800, fitted with one of Dom's superb elliptical styli - more on that later!

I shall let others comment, should they wish, on any observations they made of my modified SL-1210. However, lunch beckons now, so chaps and chapettes, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to scoff it

More on the bake-off, later - including my thoughts on Karl's excellent demonstration on room acoustics!

Marco.

[Spectral Morn]

Not exactly true but did no one take photos, it would help give a fuller picture to those who could not go



Regards D S D L

[John]

I heard a few good 401s but imagine Doms plinth design and workmanship has taken the 401 even further.
The Hawthornes are nice speakers (Darrel done a great job designing them) and think there is a lot more Dom can do with them to take them up a few more steps, in the past he talked about a slate baffle and theres a few tricks to the tweeters too. The augumented bass really helps very well matched drivers

[Dominic Harper]

Here you go. Natalie took these shots, so sorry for the dodgy pics

Marco's Techy and my 401


Greg's home brew OB's


The Tsakiridis Apollo mono's and 10" Hawthorne Duet OB's


Me probrably fitting another cartridge


Karl of Black C Audio/Criminal Records

[Dominic Harper]

Tonearm was an Audiomods, rewired with solid silver and with my own gold plated silver arm lead. Supex had just been fitted with a ruby cantilever and FG S tip. Still needs running in. I wish I had fitted the 12" arm as this has much more bass extension, but hey ho, will hope to have this on for the next meet.
Thank you for the kind words Marco, but you forgot to mention how good the Techy was sounding. I was very impressed with it, especially with the Goldring G800!
I am wondering how far I can take these carts now. Ruby cantilever sounds intriguing!!!

[MCRU]

It was a stupendous day out for me, both turntables had little difference, both sounded excellent but the main thing I learnt from the day was what an expert Dominic is on his chosen subject, cartridges. Every time he tweaked the arm or cart. the sound got better, I only wish I was as skilled in this area, IMO a true master of his art and an absolutely superb host.

I cannot praise him enough so will end it there and thanks for inviting me in the first place and it was a pleasure to meet new faces and fellow audiophiles.

I have decided to have a bake off myself hopefully before Christmas.

[Dominic Harper]

Thanks David, your a true gent. Put myself and Natalie down for that please