AudioAficionado.org - My visit with Ivan

I'm now home after a great trip to Cape Cod with my girlfriend, Debbie. We spent an entire day with Ivan and his family.

Before I talk about big, impressive audio gear, let me just say that the biggest, most impressive thing I saw on Friday was Ivan and Donna's hospitality. They went far out of their way to make sure we had a memorable visit. Donna didn't even feel very well, but she took Debbie out for lunch and shopping. Debbie greatly appreciated the day.

Ivan started out getting to know us better, then took us on a house tour. Let me just say that I love his house. It has so much space, and so many hidden, secret doors with more and more stuff behind every one of them. It was like a treasure hunt. He designed and built the entire downstairs from scratch, and it's very cool. Debbie was raving about how cool the shower is - it's got jets that are in the walls and ceiling, and different lighting effects. You can customize settings for every person in the house.

Then it was on to his two channel room with the TAD's and "mac attack rack". I mentioned to Ivan that I didn't want him to go very crazy with volume because of my various ear issues...my right ear gets fatigued easily due to a eustachian tube problem. Ivan really took this to heart, because he played the music softly and as the day went on, I kept having him move the needle higher.

So at first, we didn't spend much time in the two channel room. We listened to a few things, and moved on to the Aida's and Strads, which are in the same large room, but at opposite ends. I'd never seen Aida's in person, so I was shocked at their size. I am 5'8", and they are as tall as me, if not an inch or so taller. And they look HEAVY. The craftsmanship is second to none, they are quite literally works of art. And the sound is HUGE too. It is like a wall of sound coming at you, seemingly from every direction. I thought the bass would be overwhelming (two F113's in the corners, too), but it wasn't. It was appropriate to the music and the volume.

One of the more awe-inspiring things I noticed in great detail during the day was not just the sound, or even the equipment itself (which, by the way, is way more equipment than my dealer has in his showroom). It was the excruciating attention to detail: Wiring all hidden, everything lined up perfectly, shined, dusted, and presented like a jewel. Plus, all the room treatments! I have never seen so many treatments in a house in my life...again, more than in my dealer's showroom. But everything was done aesthetically in a very pleasing way. Nothing called itself out...everything that could be concealed or matched to it's surroundings was.

We listened to the same Chris Jones track on several systems, including the Strads. I really was impressed with the Bryston/Strad combo. I don't know much about either brand, so it was all new to me. On that system, all the gear is behind the Aida wall, but the Strads are on the far wall. No wires anywhere. Everything completely concealed. The Strads are in a relatively inconvenient spot, close against the walls with a fireplace between them. But they sounded great to me anyway.

We spent some time in the theater next. That was a real treat - Ivan has a demo professionally made up for him, and it has some cool clips. My girlfriend was really taken with that part, she is way more into movies than music. And Ivan had plenty of clips of her favorite movies. It's something that you just have to experience, what can I say...Ivan never has to go to a public theater again. They don't have anything on him but sticky floors.

The girls took off for lunch, and so did Ivan and I. Afterwards, we had a few hours to ourselves where we really took things up a notch in the volume, and it didn't bother my ears at all. I wanted more! We listened to his two different Aerial systems upstairs - 7t's paired with Accuphase, and 20t's paired with Esoteric. I don't like the look of the 20t's but they sound really great. I felt like they were similar in character to my own Sasha 2's. But there was plenty deeper bass due to stereo Aerial subs. Imaging was perfect. The 7t's are so impressive...Ivan didn't even set them up perfectly. He said he just plopped them down and they sounded good to him, so he left them there. I noticed that one was about an inch farther from the wall than the other, so he wasn't kidding. But the bass on those things is amazing...6 inch drivers! I think that's what they are. It's crazy. But they were being driven by some stellar electronics too. Ivan says he sells a lot of 7t's, I guess they pretty much sell themselves at that price.

Then we went back to the Aida's and put the new Led Zeppelin II LP on. Ivan didn't hold back (well maybe he did) on the volume, and we just rocked out. The drums and bass were soooo much better than I have ever heard them on any recording or any system, period. I can't wait to get my own copy of that LP. The Aida/Burmester system proved that it can play delicate stuff or insane levels of rock, and do it all with ease. I told Ivan that it seemed like the system was just toying with us...no hint of strain or stress, the sound was crystal clear, yet I was at my limit of comfort. Ivan pretty much let me call the shots, I could turn it down if I wanted to.

We also went back to the TAD's and cranked them up a bit too, with some high rez files. They really opened up at higher volumes (it wasn't LOUD, but we just listened so softly at first). Ivan is toying with the idea of going with higher current solid state amps in that setup. The speakers seem to like current, according to Ivan...and judging from what I heard, I would agree. Those things started to really grow on me...but then the girls came back and we all went to dinner.

I could go on and on...but the point is, if you have a chance to visit Ivan in the Cape, do it. The very fact that he even invites all of us out there is impressive, because if you think about it, that's a LOT of strangers coming through his house. I don't know if my family would put up with it. Ivan's got a great family, and by the way, Richard aka Masterlu jr, is way more involved in AA and audio than I knew. He's extremely passionate about this stuff.

THANK YOU Ivan, and your whole family, for hosting a memorable day for Debbie and me. We won't forget it!

P.S. Tell Donna that we did end up going to Martha's Vineyard, and had a great time! And I hope she feels better!