The North East Bake Off

[RichB]

I noticed it immediately and I don't think it's a trick of the light!

The owner of the turntable seemed a fastidious sort so I'm going to suggest it might be trick of the light.

There were also a fair few eyes on it that night too, especially when it was put in the valve system and everybody stood spellbound.

I was trying to describe the sound this system made to mate of mine the other day and the nearest I could get was to compare it to an audio equivalent of a cuddle with Kelly Brook.

[Colin]

Hi

Its my P9, and it is either a trick of the light, or the picture was taken when the deck had been put down, but not set up. Well I assume that, as when the deck was put back together after the bake off if you put a level on the plinth, sub platter, or platter they are all level.
The Apheta is not for everyone that’s for sure, especially anyone looking for a warm and cuddly take on vinyl replay.
The apheta and minimax phono stage made a really nice pairing to listen to, thoroughly enjoyable, some of the detail and leading edge attack that I enjoy with the ios was missing, but it did not make it any less satisfying.
I thought Steve’s Ruarks did a really good job of reflecting changes to the preceding system all night. Changing the Ming Da phono stage to the minimax was really very marked, for the better to my ears. The change took the slightly smeared and slower bass away and replaced it with a quicker fleeter footed sound, with really good texture and timbre to vocals and through the mids. Swapping the Radford in brought more of the same. That Radford was really a bit special.
In the digital system, I obviously have a problem with my ears, as I preferred the sound of either the Saturn or Rega Dac, and when we had the laptop feeding the Rega Dac, Cursa Exon and RS3’s the musical involvement was right on the money. The system was just forgotten, all you were aware of was the music, the interplay between instruments and voice, one musicians reaction to another was wide open to enjoy. All the detail you wanted without being detail for details sake, may not the highest of fi, but just musical enjoyment laid out.

When you consider the rats nest of speaker/mains/I/c's and far from stable table in use, I wonder just how much better a sound we could have achieved if we had been able to spend a few minutes on a bit of basic housekeeping.

[Marco]

Hi Colin,

Nice to see you popping in again to say hello. I enjoyed listening to your system at Scalford: very cohesive and musical sound

Marco.

[MartinT]

Its my P9, and it is either a trick of the light, or the picture was taken when the deck had been put down, but not set up.

Ah, thanks for that Colin and sorry to cast aspersions on your deck!

[Colin]

Hi Colin,

Nice to see you popping in again to say hello. I enjoyed listening to your system at Scalford: very cohesive and musical sound

Marco.

Thanks for that, it was a enjoyable day, as was the NE bake off good bunch of guys.

[Halfway Tree]

Sorry, I missed this thread - thanks Richard for posting the pics. It was great night and I enjoyed the chat we had (I'm the guy with the long hair and checked shirt whose face you can't see in the picture because I'm too busy gabbing to Richard). And I'm on AoS - the system Richard refers to is here
Gordon

[RichB]

Sorry, I missed this thread - thanks Richard for posting the pics. It was great night and I enjoyed the chat we had (I'm the guy with the long hair and checked shirt whose face you can't see in the picture because I'm too busy gabbing to Richard). And I'm on AoS - the system Richard refers to is here
Gordon

Hi Gordon, nice to make your acquaintance. Yes we had a good chat about our respective DACs and I remained most impressed with how your M-Dac performed as a pre amp with Rega power and speakers. I'd previously heard it described as quite 'dry' sounding but not a bit of it. I'd have one in my system anyday. Look forward to catching up again at another of the local meet ups soon. I've always been fascinated with Maggie's and electrostatics, an itch I will scratch one day. Maybe get yours along to a future meet up.

All the best.

[Halfway Tree]

Yes, hopefully we'll have another North East get together soon. Would love to bring along the Maggies, but they are just too big, need two amps, active crossover and have a rather fragile ribbon when it comes to moving them. However, if you're down Durham way anytime you are welcome to stop by and have a listen. Just let me know.

[337alant]

If there is another bake off I would like to attend as I live in Hartlepool as well

Alan

[Sand Dancin Donkey Walker]

Hope this helps Alan



Andy - SDDW