Audio Aficionado to invade Monroe, LA this weekend (trip report)

[Timobi]

Just now saw this thread! Had no idea..until Steve linked it to me.

We did have a great time and yah my cartridge was a casualty of war! GRRR. Turned out to be a very expensive Cleaning service The good news is I wanted a new one anyway BUT was going to wait a bit.

Got to finally meet Buck who drove in from ATL. Both Steve & Mike had been down here before but like most of us here, my system has evolved each time. Much more of the Nordost Odin cabling; a new Shunyata Triton V3 power conditioner; and added room treatments. Can't really say enough good about room treatments to those who are on the fence about them.

We ate some GREAT food; had GREAT fellowship...and some laughs too! Thanks to Mike's wife & my fiancé to bring some class to the setting

Both the Bricasti DACs and the dCS dac are really terrific and a nice jump up from the Cary Audio. The Cary is a fine dac and great value. BUT with each price category one can hear the differences.

The new speaker cables were barely broken in and one of the DACS was brand new. Actually the system sounded the best on Sunday & Monday.

Mike brought along his Nordost Q Points & Q Source & I must say I was skeptical. BUT....its real They did make an audible impression and for the best. They are probably system dependent as are a lot of our Audio Toys. But they brought more weight to the instruments and vocals. A bit more centered but not closed in...In fact I ordered some after this meet up.

One of the sad things about these kind of meet ups is the highs are so good and the fellowship...then its over. Lets face it we are all in such a small minority..a minority of audio freaks who just get it! But when it's over; its kind of sad to not have friends close by to share this hobby with.

Oh, I almost forgot. BIG BIG thanks to Buck who had a nice system software thingy to measure bass response. My bass was not good. And we did some cable swapping & dummy me connected one of the subs wrong. Sounded Horrid for about 2 hours. So we all got our heads together and actually turned OFF the Martin Logan custom filters. And some other things that I can't remember But the bass was now really good and tight. Sounded pretty amazing.

Looking forward to the next time these guys come down and whoever else wants to come to!..

Jason, I totally forgot about you! We are just 3 hours apart.

One thing I will say; I think each of us have some really special systems. And I think they all sound different. But all good. Some of us may like a bit more bass than others; or a slightly different soundstage. But all in all; many here have fabulous audio systems that we can be proud of.