Steve (SL1800) hangin' with Buck and Mark in the Southeast
 

So Steve, a member of the RMAF gang, in his ever present quest to hear fine audio systems, has taken the plunge, flown out of Dallas, TX in a journey here to us fine folk here in the southeast US. We tried to gather a couple of other members (Rob from Rhode Island whose brother lives here in Atlanta and Jim (WeirdCuba) but it didn't pan out due to travel/work.....the important things in life of course :D. Anyway, Steve has arrived (I told him to fly into Greenville/Spartanburg so he could hang with Mark, check out Asheville, NC and also since I live on the NE side of Atlanta so he doesn't have to deal with the mass of humanity that passes through Atlanta Hartsfield airport). I'll let him chime in with his journey so far, but hopefully he's gonna check out some systems including Mark's Legacy/Esoteric setup, the D'agostino/Avalon Acoustics/DCS system of yours truly along with some Atlanta exploration including a trip to meet the good guys at Hifi Buys and maybe even the Audio Co. of Atlanta who always are toting the big Von Schweikerts to the audio shows. I'll try and feed him well and take good care of him as long as he's nice to my wife and kids. :D Stay tuned for some cool audio pictures along the way.

- Buck

Wonderful! I’m looking forward to reading more about Steve’s adventures, and seeing pictures of course. Meanwhile the PNW contingent of the RMAF crew (Marc, Ed and I) is getting together Wednesday for dinner and to here the Wilson Chronosonic XVX at Definitive AV in Seattle.

Tony - Yeah, that's gonna be an event, I would assume they're going to sound great....the usual caveat being they better sound great for that price. I'm gonna be curious to hear you guys' opinions as to what you hear vs. your systems vs. the difference in cost. As far as the Atlanta trip, I'd like to go over to The Audio Company and see if they have that insane state of the art Von Schweikert system set up that they take all over the country....I think it retails close to $1.5 million if not more. Those guys seen a little standoff-ish but it would be worth the trip. I'll let Steve comment on Mark's Legacy Audio system, I was thinking about meeting them up there tonight after work but figured I better not press my luck with the wife and kids!

- Buck

Unfortunately, I’m the one with the work/travel conflict and am missing out on all of the fun. I’ll be in lovely and frigidly cold Grand Rapids, Michigan on Tuesday. Next time ....

Grand Rapids? I’m so sorry. ;}

[emoji33]

No excuses! Play it!

The Audio Company is my dealer of choice, and I live just down the block from them. They're good guys. Yes I can see the impression of standoff-ish-ness at first; there are a lot of time wasters in this hobby and IMO this is a result of that. They are generally NOT hob-nobbers. But I really appreciate having a relationship with them - an honest no-bullshit dealer is worth a lot more to me than one that falsely pretends to be my buddy or acts like an artificially super-nice guy. Once a relationship is built it's really nice to have access to hearing all these kinds of amazing gear.

I was in there just the other day to pick up some VAC 200iQ amps. There was a quad of those insane vertical VAC Statement amps (452 MusicBlocs?) and some big Von Schweikerts in the main showroom, but I'm not sure if they were the super-big ones or not. I mostly tune-out that level of gear because it's well above my pay grade lol.

Hi guys. I made it to Mark’s place (SCAudiophile) on Sunday, my first time to meet Mark in person, super nice guy. We had a great evening jamming to his system and enjoyed Mark’s mastery of the BBQ grill.

Spent some time Monday checking out some local sights then drove down to Bucks that evening. More to come with pics and impressions of these two awesome systems.

Great, have some fun, look forward to hearing back from you.

It was great to meet you after all these years, hang out and hear great music together!!!

You guys are killing me. Here I am in snowy and cold and dark Grand Rapids.

We miss ya Jim, full trip report coming this evening! We were down near your house yesterday at Decatur CD.

Adios to Steve who just left a little while ago .....had a GREAT time shopping for records, listening to the system and visiting a few dealers here today. When I get the kids settled this evening I’ll post our pictures and vinyl finds of the last couple of days.

- Buck

To Mark and Buck both, thanks so much for your hospitality, I really enjoyed the visit and hearing your awesome systems.

Thank you Steve,...it was great to meet you and spend time listening to alot of good music and having great conversations!

Trip Report!

So Steve journeyed back to Oklahoma today after what I hope was a fantastic trip down south here to see Mark (SCAudiophile) and yours truly. We had a great time doing a lot of listening and giving him the quick 10 cent tour of the Atlanta metro. He met me here after I got off work on Monday evening and we ventured back to the house where he got a quick tour of the home theater as well as the dedicated audio room. This is him in deep thought upon first listening in the sweet spot.

https://i.imgur.com/X0LzzMz.jpg

It was fairly late so we didn't have a ton of time on Monday night, but I managed to give him an introduction to the room design and some things that Jim Smith did when he did his room play in my room. Tuesday would be record store day for us. :thumbsup:

Tuesday. Got up and did some more listening, namely perused Paul McGowan's PS Audio playlist on Qobuz which was pretty cool, found some new stuff that I wasn't familiar with as well as played him some of my more "collectible" records including Holly Cole's Don't Smoke in Bed on Classic Records 45 RPM box set, introduced him to Lyn Stanley's jazz recordings on vinyl and promised him I wouldn't play any ABBA. Other selections included Brothers in Arms MFSL 45 RPM (of course), and we also spun some CDs using the DCS Rossini as the DAC. Once Atlanta traffic died down, we headed out first to grab some lunch......picked a place called the General Muir near Emory Univ...., voted one of the top lunch places in Atlanta two years in a row, it's a deli/restaurant known for their burgers and sandwiches

https://i.imgur.com/QDfw1Dx.jpg


After lunch we headed over to Decatur CD, a small but well stocked shop near midtown Atlanta that carries a ton of new and used vinyl as well as numerous CDs. They have a pretty decent audiophile section too.

https://cdn.styleblueprint.com/wp-co...DecaturCD1.jpg

I picked up a few things there that I'll share in a minute. From there we headed over to the Little Five Points area known for their eclectic shops, restaurants and of course Criminal Records, one of the founding fathers of Record Store Day.

http://d9ct4gd8xnhn0.cloudfront.net/...97288040_n.jpg

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

Steve posing in front of the collectible wall....they had some really good (but expensive) stuff on display including an original MOFI Led Zeppelin II

https://i.imgur.com/jbS6Ly7.jpg

Had a couple of pretty good finds here...I found a NM pressing of John Lennon's Imagine from the EMI 100 anniversary reissue project.....an all analog release that sounds better than the newer one from the Lennon box set. After hanging there for a bit, headed back to the house to beat Atlanta traffic. :thumbsup:

Tuesday Evening. After we left downtown, we picked up my girls and headed back to the house. They were dying to show Steve the home theater and give him a proper demonstration, so after much deliberation, Audrey decided on Avengers: Endgame as a proper demo. Not being much of a Marvel movie fan, we may have put Steve to sleep a bit, but dang, 4K Dolby Atmos on the JVC projector.......the girls didn't want to turn if off. After we got the girls settled, headed back upstairs for more tunes........I did a quick cleaning of the Lennon album and we checked out "Imagine"......sounded pretty good for the recording it is. Here's what I picked up that day:

The aformentioned Lennon EMI record, the new Van Morrison record, Cassandra Wilson and NM original Telarc record on vinyl of Stravinsky's Firebird. Excellent.

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


Moving on, we played all kinds of stuff including the really impressive Classic Records' Houses of the Holy. That pressing is almost mind blowing.

https://i.imgur.com/fOx6w8O.jpg

obligatory sock shot of the evening:

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

Then Audrey decided to join in......this is a picture of her schooling Steve on the finer points of the MOFI Bob Dylan Blonde on Blonde vinyl box set. :laughin:

https://i.imgur.com/Clr5jEi.jpg

Then she demanded we put on the new 50th anniversary Abbey Road.....I'm trying to be a good influence.


https://i.imgur.com/6jqP1jO.jpg

On Wednesday we made the trip to 3 of Atlanta's finer audio stores, the Audio Co., Georgia Home Theater and Hifi Buys. We started out with breakfast at J. Christopher's, a popular breakfast/lunch spot around Atlanta and from there we headed over to Marietta to visit the guys from The Audio Co. For those of you not familiar with them, these are the guys that tote the massive Von Schweikert/VAC/Esoteric reference system all over the country to all the audio shows. We met them 2 years ago in Denver but they were missing in action this year at the Gaylord Rockies center. The other part of their business is an antique store called Sweet Melissa's Records...the front of the shop has all kinds of antiques and collectibles with the records in the the back. The high end showroom is one door down separated from the record shop.

https://thehomeicreate.com/wp-conten...ique-Store.jpg



Of course I should've called ahead of time....when we introduced ourselves and told them we met them in Denver, they didn't exactly roll out the red carpet as is par for the industry. Anyway, turns out they're by appointment and just got back from Capital Audiofest so their showroom was in disarray and he said it wasn't up for any listening:boring: Well, he at least walked us next door and gave us a quick tour of their listening rooms. Heres a pic of Steve next to the big Von Schweikert's and VAC equipment:

https://i.imgur.com/1G7q3QI.jpg

From there we headed down the street to Georgia Home Theater, one of Atlanta's premier Home Theater Dealers.

https://georgiahometheater.com/media...e0960159e8.jpg

The guys over here are first class and very friendly. They have an impressive building and numerous theaters on display with equipment from Monitor Audio, B&W, Paradigm, Klipsch, Sonos, McIntosh, Mark Levinson, JBL, Martin Logan and Anthem.

https://i.imgur.com/Plj8goV.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/qeqq9PN.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/Gi9s3nf.jpg


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


Guys were really cool, talked some home theater, Disney + and they treated me to the first 5 minutes of the new Star Wars show "The Mandalorian" in one of their Martin Logan home theaters.....really cool. From there it was time to hit one more of Atlanta's premier record stores and then the great guys at Hifi Buys.

Wednesday afternoon. Now it was time to head down to Fantasyland Records, one of my favorite record shops in Atlanta and just around the corner from Hifi Buys.

https://afar-production.imgix.net/up...719&q=80&w=954

Picked up 3 more things here, an original "tulip" Deutsche Gramophone box of Von Karajan's Bach's Brandenburg Concertos and a Rossini overtures as well as an old Record Store Day release of a live show from Wilco:

https://i.imgur.com/iYS6qz0.jpg


From there it was over to see Alan and David at Hifi Buys, the people most responsible for separating me from the money that I've worked for. Steve got to meet Alan (the owner) and David and we talked for quite awhile regarding the industry and industry politics.....very interesting albeit confidential :nono:
Spent quite a bit of time enjoying their Vandersteen 7 MKIIs, D'agostino, Audioquest and DCS system.


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


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

Once 3 PM rolled around, it was time to hit 85N to get ahead of ATL traffic since Steve had to be back to Greenville for an early Thursday morning flight. Anyway, I'll let him chime in about his travels if he wants, but all in all had a cool time.

- Buck

Buck.......The photos had me smiling. Thanks for the narration, too.

Finally, me photo bombing Steve attempting to take a picture of the system.

https://i.imgur.com/3tdzXR5.jpg

No doubt you guys had some fun!

Great job with the narration and pictures!

I look forward to getting down there and checking things out.

Long Live Audio!

I don't know if Atlanta can handle you Ed. :p

Great pics AND great summary! Looking forward to experiencing some of that soon & looking forward to Steve's visit here in Monroe, LA.

The record stores look so cool. There is nothing like that here or anywhere close.

Glad you guys had a great time!

Great reporting Buck. It looks like you guys had a great time. You also have some fantastic record shopping options.

The decatur pics made me so sad to have missed this. Too bad you weren’t at the general Muir on Friday night when they have, in my opinion, the best fried chicken in Atlanta. Hope that warren (the old guy) was at decaturcd- he really knows his stuff. When you were there, you were about a half mile from the house I’m renovating and a half mile from the rental I’m in during the renovation.

Great trip guys.

I need to head down to General Muir for dinner sometime, never had dinner there......yeah, Warren was manning the store as usual. I told Steve that we were probably only a minute or two from your home. Hopefully we'll be able to hook up next time.

- Buck

I had a great time hanging with Mark and Buck. Here are a few pics I took of their systems. Thanks again guys for letting me hang out a few days and listen, great fun.

And speaking of visits. Forum member Robert_Anderson, came by and listened to my system today. Bob and I have some mutual friends that told me some 35 years ago that I needed to meet him but we never got together in person until today.

Bob came by this morning and hung out a few hours, we had great visit and shared some good music. Attached is a couple of pics, Bob and my speakers and his latest vet.

Steve, you are welcome anytime..glad we could do some listening!

I had the opportunity to listen to this system earlier in the year while I was still in Asheville and was pretty impressed with it. This was my first experience with Vandersteens. I made the 4-ish hour drive down to audition the Bartok and the guys at Hi-Fi Buys were very welcoming. I spent a few hours there listening to my headphones through the Bartok, listening to other systems, and chatting with a few of the guys. I'd be interested to hear how that system compares to Buck's so I can see if I need to make a new friend when I move back toward the Asheville area.

Buck’s system is much better. Maybe I should say Buck’s room is much better, to me that room at HiFi Buys was really bright with lots of echo.

Dan - I've always liked the guys at Hifi, first class dealer and they don't treat you like you're intruding. As far as the Vandersteen system....I think it's a wonderful sounding system, very dynamic and lifelike as well. The Vandys are very coherent top to bottom. They have the bass dialed in virutally flat all the way down to 20 Hz and you can tell with absolutely no boominess or annoying bass. The only thing about this system that makes it difficult to compare is that Steve and I were both bothered by a good bit of slap echo coming from the room. They do have room treatments, but I can tell you that the amount of slap echo would be too much for me if it were my room. Steve played several cuts with acoustic guitar and male vocals and you got some of the hand cupped around the mouth effect. He picked up on it right away. My room is treated and you get NO slap echo....it makes comparison difficult since I can tell you with certainty that the Vandersteen 7s do not spit out that kind of echo. Steve was wondering why something like this hasn't been addressed there and the only thing I can speculate is that perhaps they don't realize it being used to it day in and day out. The guys down there know what they're doing but we even clapped our hands a few times and was very obvious. I really do think it would be one of the better rooms/systems I've heard if they could eliminate that.

- Buck