[GW1800]

I was there also and it was a great experience!! It’s one of those things you wonder why we did not do this earlier? It actually all came by a bit of by accident so not even sure if planned it could have been done better. It was my first time to meet Steve/ Buck and my 2nd time at Tim’s place. This time I brought my wife, Diane so her and Alicia could spend some time together with the group and then by themselves. Probably comparing rings right Tim? I think Diane came out on the short side of that one which I’m sure I will pay for at some time. Thanks Tim!!

First off Tim feed us all well with a great selection of southern food. Buck took a liking to the crawdads (or crayfish not sure what is right) much more than the rest of us but the chicken, pizza, catfish and especially the steak were all great! I’m sure Alicia had her hand in some of that so we do thank her also. I think we all put on a few pounds. Tim even went so far as special liquids – Steve with green tea, Buc with real Coke w/sugar, Diane with peach tea and me with a great bottle of Scotch!! Tim you set a pretty high bar for the next visit!!

Just so you know how this all came about. Originally Steve was to visit Tim to help him setup his new tone arm. Tim and Steve had been planning this for a bit eventually decided on a date. I have been promising Tim a visit for the last few months and was interested in also seeing Steve setup a TT. I do not have one but I was just curious to see the process in action. Around that time Tim was getting more and more frustrated in his Cary DAC and was trying to get a dCS on loan to demo. He mentioned it to me on a phone conversation that he was serious and I said why not give Bricasti a try? Long story short Bricasti sent to Tim two loaner DAC’s a M1 and M21 after he requested it. The dCS dealer would not but eventually Buc was able to convince him to do so. Buck also had an interest in seeing Steve setup a TT so he asked to join in. Buck drove a similar distance to Steve 7 hours with the dCS DAC in tow to join the group. As discussed earlier in the thread the stylus was broken off by the cleaning service so this was a big disappointment all around. However as a group we quickly turned our attention to reviewing all the DAC’s and compare. I’ll leave it up to Tim, Steve and Buck to explain what they did or did not hear but what I will say is we all enjoyed each other’s music and company. Maybe not so much Buck’s classical but even some of those were interesting to listen too on a great system like Tim’s. I left with a SoundHound list of 62 tracks, yes even a few classical ones I will admit, that I’m first starting to go through last night. I’m thinking 40-50ish or so I will end up on one of my playlists.

There are pictures earlier in the string how Tim’s system looked. To me the visual look of Tim’s system is just outstanding with the Mac colors, tubes, black racks, shiny wire and all his special room treatments it’s a great look!! Nice job Tim!! Beyond the obvious I really like his front wall treatments and color they complement his whole system and did a great job controlling sound.
I helped with the CLX speaker placement with Buck helping out to vastly improve Tim’s bass. In the end we all agreed the whole system sound was much improved after the adjustments. In addition I brought down in a carry-on a set of Nordost QPoints and a QSource with the premium wires. As the time flew by they were not hooked up until after Buck left but both Tim and Steve were impressed. So much so they actually ordered a set for themselves which they should have shortly if not already. Not sure I would do that again as at security I had a bit of a hassle going and coming. Lots of strange looks and odd questions if you know what I mean. I did not want to ship them or check them as I don’t trust UPS or airline baggage handling. But I’m glad I did so they could hear for themselves what these new products can do. Steve heard them at a show and was not all that impressed but that changed at Tim’s. All I know is Ron from Liquid HiFI seems to come out ahead on things like this!!

It was in the high 60’s the whole time we were there which was a nice break from Wisconsin weather. Diane and I left for home and returned to 3” of fresh snow the morning after returning – go figure. In thinking about the trip and all the good times if we waited just another week this trip would of never happened because of the virus.