|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
162.205.183.92
In summer of 1992, I was a senior at UC Santa Cruz. My friends ACS, KJ, and Scylla were sophomores at UC Berkeley. That summer, ACS, KJ, and Scylla (individually, not together) would accompany me to audio stores: Audio Excellence, dB Audio, Eber Electronics, Music Lovers Audio, San Francisco Stereo Plus, Sounds Alive, The Audio Chamber, Ultimate Sound, and World Of Sound. I think Berkeley's The Sounding Board and Sound Well were still in existence then, but the latter wasn't open, on the day ACS and I walked by.
At the time, ACS, KJ, and Scylla were still in their teens. Moreover, they were female. Thus, audio stores' staff either pretended that the girls didn't exist, or acted like they were alien, diseased, and/or radioactive. Also frustrating was that each store was small. So even if it carried a brand, it may not have had any demo models similar to the one you were interested in.
On September 1, 1992, KJ only had morning classes. So she took BART into San Francisco. I met up with her, and then we went to San Francisco Stereo Plus, where we bought an Adcom GTP-400 tuner/preamp.When we brought that GTP-400 to my parents' place, the September 1992 Stereophile had this announcement of their upcoming March 12-14, 1993 show at San Francisco's Marriott Marquis. When the October 1992 Stereophile came out, I wrote a check for tickets to the Show.
On Thursday, March 11, 1993, I actually stayed over at Sachiko's off-campus apartment. She was my friend/classmate/study buddy. For an Econ class project, she and I teamed up. Early in the morning, I bought donuts for Sachiko and her housemates. It is located out on Mission, now called Ferrell's. I'm not sure if it was a Ferrell's, back in March 1993. But anyway, I went back to campus to attend a late-morning class. Our Econ class was in the afternoon. I needed to go home to San Francisco, so I skipped that Econ class. Sachiko attended the lecture, and took notes for me.I took a city bus from campus to Santa Cruz's Metro Center. From there, I took a shuttle bus to San Jose's Caltrain station. I then took Caltrain all the way to the end of the line, San Francisco's 4th & Townsend. KJ met me there, and we took the 15-Third bus to Chinatown, her home home, and where we went out for dinner. So no, I did not attend the Stereophile Show on that Friday, March 12.
On Saturday morning, March 13, 1993, I made it to the Marriott. See, I was used to attending concerts with a 2-drink minimum. Since we were under 21, your hand got stamped, so that no one served you alcohol. So it was kind of nice that, at the Stereophile Show, your hand wasn't stamped :-)As soon as I got my name tag, there seemed to be a "pinch me, this is too good to be true" vibe. Attendees were friendly. And for many, including me, this was out first time seeing this many vendors, and this number and amount of high-end audio products.
At one of the first rooms on the entrance floor, several attendees were happily singing the Unplugged version of Eric Clapton's "Layla."
I thought I saw Genesis' Mike Rutherford, but no, it was Roomtunes' Michael Green. Interestingly, that academic quarter, I had received a 24"-tall, 3-shelf Roomtunes JustaRack. I let Mr. Green know that the JustaRack made my Sony CDP-520ESII, Adcom GTP-400 & GFA-535 sound cleaner and clearer. He dimmed the lights, and then asked, "What do you want to hear?"
I suggested, "Joe Satriani," as I handed him The Extremist CD. Mr. Green, who was demonstrating loudspeakers with "tunable" cabinets, laughed, "No, I meant, how would you like this speaker to sound? By tightening or loosening, you can alter its sound."
The rooms were small. So if a room had big tube amps, it could get uncomfortably hot. But if they used the AC to cool the room, sometimes the AC's noise masked or ruined the demo.
In the early afternoon, Scylla met me on 4th Street. She ran a few steps, led with her fist, and sang, Joey Scarbury's "Theme from The Greatest American Hero (Believe It Or Not)."
I wrinkled my lips, and moaned, "Um, no, unfortunately, that's not what they play at these shows."
But oh ho ho! Scylla had bought some Tom's Cookies. These were used at the Clinton inauguration. And Scylla had blueberry white chocolate, which was Da Bomb!
Scylla and I had lunch. When she walked me back to the Marriott, she wagged her finger, and shook her rump to the "Neutron Dance." Yes, yes, yes, that is what high-end audio should be, but isn't.
On Sunday, March 14, 1993, I learned my lesson. Take the elevator to the top floor, and then work your way down. And when I did get down to 4th Street during lunchtime, Theta Digital's Neil Sinclair was taking a smoke break. I told him that, in a few months, I was going to graduate from college. And when I had the money, I was going to get a Theta DAC, most likely the DS Pro Prime. Mr. Sinclair mentioned that he was a drummer. He shook his head, and said that the key to PRAT wasn't bass. Rather, it was getting the POP of the drums and bite of the cymbals right. Go Neil Go!!! He then lamented that, something got lost in translation, that the correct sound of drums on CD wasn't making it to the preamp.In the ballroom, some radio station was broadcasting live. IIRC, a pair of Thiel loudspeakers were used for monitoring.
Some record vendor had supplies of 10,000 Maniacs' Our Time In Eden, and Annie Lennox's Diva. But when I kept coming back, it seemed as if those supplies were still intact, i.e., no one had bought any of these titles :-(
I did see one guy buy an import copy of Peter Gabriel's Us. At the end of 1992 and beginning of 1993, the video for "Steam" caused all of the coeds to come out of the woodwork, and exclaim how they loved going to hot tub & sauna spas.
Speaking of vinyl, I don't recall the exact room. But one had a VPI HW-19 [not sure which iteration] with AudioQuest PT-6 tonearm. And it was tucked in a corner, difficult to access. Instead of using AQ tonearm-to-phonostage cabling, the guy was using XLO's Reference Type 3. He seemed embarrassed. But man, when he played some reggae, it was damn good!
The May Audio room had the little Totem Model 1 minimonitor. Here was one of the smallest speakers in the entire show, and it was that rare model which did justice to rock music. The staff had the good sense to play The Police. And then, a staffer bought Sting's just-released Ten Summoner's Tales. But he didn't open and play it, right then and there. Instead, they played Sting's "All This Time," which just might have impressed Theta's Neil Sinclair, had he been there to experience it.
I had already been in "high-end audio" since spring break 1990, my last days of being 17 years-old. But for me, the March 1993 Stereophile Show was a passage. It gave a glimpse of what could be achieved. There was just an optimism. The feeling was that, as we acquired better audio products, we'd get deeper into the music.
That March 1993 Stereophile took place a whopping 30 years ago. But its impacts, felt immediately, still resonate today. Even now, 2 or 3 people a year tell me that they, too, attended that show. It's not about agreeing or disagreeing. It's about sharing and enriching our experiences.
-Lummy The Loch Monster
Edits: 03/12/23Follow Ups:
It was in Miami, but I don't remember which year. In an incident that has become somewhat notorious, Corey Greenberg (then a reviewer for the magazine) was part of a panel discussion when someone in the audience raised the question of double-blind tests. Corey exploded. He jumped out of his chair, got up on the long table where the panel members were sitting, extended his arms in front of him, closed his eyes, and paraded down the long table, kicking off microphones, water pitchers and whatever else was on the panel's table. He shouted "blind testing, blind testing, blind testing." Not exactly the most mature thing I've ever seen, but I guess Corey had to be Corey.
The St. Francis Hotel? We attended the show there. I live in Dallas and have been to about 12 or 13 shows over the years. San Fran, L.A., New York, Miami, Chicago, Denver, heck where else.
*
It was a great show.
I was standing there talking with Roy Hall and Leland Leard from Music Hall when she pulled up. There were a couple of other bikes with her as I recall.
*
and Dave Wilson is pissed because the show was on Sunday and he couldn't go.
"Reality cannot exist because it cannot keep up with the lies on the Internet."
I remember a Louis Armstrong track "It's a Wonderful World" that really wowed.
I also remember the VTL room with scheduled demos of the then new Siegfried's and Luke Manley opening and closing windows in between as the room did warm some during the demonstration.
Years later my wife and I were riding the shuttle back to the Denver Airport after RMAF and conversed briefly with...- Ivan303
Ha!
was a big hit at shows over the years. It was stellar on the Pearls.
Yes, I do recall chatting with someone on a shuttle to (or from?) the airport that was a regular here, but...
Hope I was nice.
"Reality cannot exist because it cannot keep up with the lies on the Internet."
During the 2003 show there was a hotel workers strike. We were going to go to the show and sites, then 3 nights in Carmel. We canceled due to strike. The B&B in Carmel understood. The hotel billed me four months successively as they considered us a no show, even though I called and told them why we weren't coming.
Through Saturday, May 31, 1997, there was a heatwave. The rooms at the Westin St. Francis either didn't have air conditioning, or if they did, it wasn't effective. Overnight, the fog rolled in, and the last day of the show was cool.
The NBA Finals were about to begin. Kimber Kable were from Utah, and Ray Kimber felt resigned, that the Jazz would not beat the Chicago Bulls.
NHT had adjacent rooms. In one room, they had a singer, who was performing live. In the other was a regular stereo, with the big 3.3 loudspeakers. You'd go from room to room, to see how far from reality the stereo room sounded, versus the in-room performer.
We agree on low mass systems for best sound and I have used his Room Tune stuff and his big honking brass ballistic shaped audio footers. Sure we disagreed on some things but I always say try to look for common ground. Stereophile forum is a vast wasteland after Michael and I left. The Belts also partook in the festivities. A grand time was had by all. Well, maybe not all.
Lummy,
I exhibited at that show-
I was working for Audible Illusions at that time - and we were showing the Modulus 3a, along with Art Ferriss' SS amps (120WPC IIRC)-
as for inputs, we had a VPI w/ an SME V arm and a Koetus Urishi
along w/ a Revox B77, and I think an Accuphase CD player-
I could not tell you the cables used -
but we had good traction and lots of happy visitors-
Great show - and my last in the industry...
Happy Listening
...Art Ferris was a big part of the Northern Califoronia Audio Society I co-founded in 1979.
In the early 1980s, he took a Bruce Moore preamp design and created the Audible Illusions company to sell them.
I talk a little about this in my book.
The Lucky Audiophile
Yes, all the AI designs were originally Bruce Moore Designs-
Art just supped up the components and spaced out the traces etc.
The one exception was the M# MC Phono PCBA - that was a John Curl design...
Happy Listening
See? It turns out that more and more of us did indeed attend that March 1993 Stereophile Show.
In the early-90s, I read reviews of the Koetsu Rosewood Pro IV (I think that's what it was called back then). You could just feel each reviewer get tied up knots, struggling with what that model did well, did poorly.
That March 1993 Stereophile Show was the first time I actually saw a Koetsu cart. My ears told me that Koetsu carts would better handle the usually subpar sonics from popular music vinyl. That led to, in the early-2000s, the Koetsu Black. Eventually, I moved up to the Jade Platinum, which I still have.
Maybe I'm mistaking them for another company, but I was under the impression that, back then, Audible Illusions were located on the 680 Tri-Valley corridor.
Yes, At the time Art Lived in Dublin, CA, and the "Lab" was behind the Hilton in the 580/680 interchange-
Hard to recognize the place now-
and AI is out of CA...
Happy Listening
This is the June 1992 TAS. I didn't actually receive it, until the third or fourth week of that month. The covers featured photos of the Big Sur coast, and inspired my friends to go on a road trip down Highway 1, with the goal of meeting our SoCal friends.
Anyway, this issue was what brought the Koetsu Urushi to my attention. Man, I did not know that, at the March 1993 Stereophile Show, the Audible Illusions room had an Urushi!
My wife has an office in San Ramon, so we fairly often go there, Dublin, and Pleasanton. My coworker (who's now out on maternity leave) lives in Castro Valley, and turned us on to Boba Bliss . It's on the Dublin side of Alcosta. For those in the South Bay, Boba Bliss also has a shop on San Antonio Road in Mountain View.
In the mid-1990s, San Francisco's Ultimate Sound became an Audible Illusions dealer. I liked the phonostage in the AI Modulus 3. I thought it was more accurate and honest than the competition. As we threw more cartridges, tonearms, turntables, and cabling at the M3A, it did a good job of letting us hear the differences.
The Lucky Audiophile
Even if my old friends went away for college, we were all from San Francisco. So when we initially saw/read "MK's Listening Bias" in the June 1992 TAS, we did not know anyone in S.F. with a 27'-long room. Unreal.
But here's the thing. Through UC Santa Cruz's KSA (Korean Student Association), I met a Michelle Kang, Michele Kim, and two Michelle Kim's. One of the latter was a tiny and cute girl, whose parents worked in L.A.'s Koreatown. During the Rodney King riots, this Michelle was understandably feeling afraid and helpless.
So when I received the April 1992 TAS, the "MK" at the end of the Bitwise Musik System One DAC reminded me of Michelle Kim.
I didn't know the KSA girls well, but some of the guys were my Econ classmates. I was really proud, that UCSC faculty and staff got KSA and the Black Student Union to get together, work together, and heal and understand. Santa Cruz was so far away from SoCal, that our groups easily and peacefully got together.
In your little article, you mentioned Steve Winwood. At the March 1993 Stereophile Show, I walked past a room (sorry, I don't recall which), and just caught the end of Steve Winwood's "Talking Back To The Night '87."
...when I was doing some internet research for my book, "The Lucky Audiophile", I came across a conversation you had with your friends about my room, and the surprise at its size.
In retrospect, the room was actually too big - if I had it to do over again, I would have made it about 1/3 smaller.
I was very lucky.
There are photos of it in the book along with much of the equipment and personalities along my journey.
Thanks.
During Spring Break 1990, while a freshman at UCSC, I went home to S.F. By acquiring an Adcom GFA-535 power amp, I entered "high-end audio."
When I returned to my dorm, for the Spring 1990 quarter, I ran into my neighbor Andrea, the petite curly blonde. When she asked what I had done over Spring Break, I enthusiastically told her that I had entered high-end audio. She understood the premise that better audio gear should connect us more deeply with the music.
The next school year, Andrea was my next door neighbor. She was in a triple room, with Haley and Lumberjack Girl, both of whom had steady boyfriends. Thus, Andrea, who did not have a boyfriend, was constantly sexiled. So, she spent many nights in my room.
The end of 1990 was cold and dry. Two of Andrea's favorite albums that quarter were A-Ha's East Of The Sun, West Of The Moon and Prefab Sprout's Jordan: The Comeback .
The Vandersteen 2 series garnered lots of enthusiasm with audiophiles. Then a review of the 2Ci appeared in the November/December 1990 issue of TAS. I really really really liked and appreciated the writing. I pointed out to Andrea, "Hey! This guy uses the same Adcom amp I have!" And then I pivoted, "But damn, the Sound Anchors stands ($250) cost almost as much as the Adcom amp ($300)!"
While telling her that my (within reason) dream speaker was the Thiel CS1.2 [we loved the way the CS1.2 "lit up" the soundstage, when playing Whitesnake's "Judgment Day"], I let Andrea read the TAS review of the Vandy 2Ci. She said that the writing was "restrained." A case in point was that, regarding the rule of thirds , "room design considerations will not make this practical in most homes." She and I would have used much harsher language. So kudos to the reviewer, who used a bit of tact, and showed maturity.
The reviewer actually came right out, and said, "The sound of the Vandersteens is difficult to describe." Wow! In those days, we just never saw such modesty and candor. With other reviewers, you got the feeling that they thought of themselves as always-in-control experts.
Andrea saw that the review pointed out what the 2Ci didn't do, but then segued into the product's thoughtful set of compromises, its sense of balance. She and I appreciated the CS1.2 verses 2Ci comparison; and that the reviewer pretty much left the reader to decide for herself.
But there was a bit of an editing problem. Both Andrea and I thought that, after the Manufacturer's Response, the review was over. Not so. If you did not turn the page, you would have missed Michael A. Fox's additional observations and comments.
At the time, TAS was probably focusing on and cultivating Stereotypical Audiophiles. It may not have had the foresight and resources, to grow the audience. Although the industry hooked me , it missed, overlooked, ignored, or actively opposed the rest of my music-loving generation.
Andrea looked at me, and smiled, "Obviously, I don't know what the future holds. But maybe after we graduate, this [audio products] will get better, and/or the price will come down. Someday, you'll get these things."
I don't know if I was "very lucky," but in early June 1991, Andrea went with me to Santa Cruz's Recycled Stereo Plus. We had to resist getting distracted by all the Rotel components. I paid $200 - in cash - for the little Pinnacle PN-5+ minimonitors. Andrea escorted me back to campus, and even helped me carry the box, for little stretches.
Your last show and my first! An audiophile coworker who lived in the city took me to that Stereophile show in the city. High-end audio was completely foreign to me as was the incredible sound. I was hooked!I sold my Sony receiver and JBL speakers and went with Classe amplification and the small Thiel CS 1.5 speakers. My first high-end CDP was the Cal Icon MkII. All purchased used via that used audio gear publication back in the day. Forgot what it was called.
Edits: 03/13/23
It Slices And Dices!
I went to most of the Stores you mentioned, Sounding Board was my Fav.
Did you ever go to Honkers, also in Berkeley?
Terrible name, tho.
I got a CD with one of my Big Band Arrangements played in the
McIntosh Room.
Sounded pretty awesome on those big Mac Speakers.
The room was full of chatter, but about a minute or so into the tune, people got quiet and listened.
Pretty cool!
I also bought Coltrane's Black Pearls in a new process for mastering.
Sounded like all the meat was removed, sounded pretty thin.
I like the regular issue CD more.
How does your wife feel about all the High School Female Friends you remember and write about, even with photos?
I hope she's one of them!
Not having any/enough guys was the problem. We never had a clique, and always struggled to get enough bodies, to go out and play team sports. When the girls came along, they were not in cliques either. They were not the pretty and popular girls. Our girls were all-academic strays.
Most of the girls were stereotypically quiet. ACS was always firing off quips. And my future wife was bombastic. But that's it. These girls could not talk trash. They just turned around, and regurgitated whatever was hurled at them. Where you did hear them was around the boombox, when they sang along to music.
When we started to get all discombobulated, it was, as Cat rolled her eyes, "Like trying to put out a fire with brooms."
Little Laura never smiled and rarely spoke. So when, sitting on the bench, she said, "We can beat these guys!," those were marching orders! The rest of us had no choice, but to play with smarts and energy. And that's when the music gave us a boost.
I never went to Honkers. I'm not sure which Berkeley radio shop I went to in the late-80s, but the guy said that those who were dissing the discontinued JAN Phillips vacuum tubes would regret it. Okay, it's taken a few decades, but he's right; those "nobody wants 'em" JAN Phillips tubes are now pricey.
If I have the Stereophile CD opener, it is at my parents' place. I'm pretty sure the March 1993 button, pamphlet, and maybe ticket stub are in my room there.
Works like new.
I didn't know that e-Town had a CD opener. I never got one but I did attend a few e-Town live concert broadcasts held in the Boulder Theater on Pearl St. in the early to mid 1990's.
we're talking about to different e-town's.
e-town was a site that was headed up by some well known
audio people.
The only name I recall is Tom Nousaine.
It was many years ago and I can't find anything about it.
All gone.
"The following year [in 1991], eTown was born, launching on NPR with roughly 40 stations carrying the show every week. " In those early days eTown used the Boulder Theater on Pearl Street for concert events and live recordings until eTown Hall was built."eTown was founded in 1991 by host Nick Forster and his wife, Helen Forster who serves as co-host and executive producer of the show. eTown presents a wide range of roots music, conversation and examples of environmental and community activism to listeners around the world. eTown host Nick Forster's involvement in music began as a teen playing guitar in various amateur folk and folk-rock bands in upstate New York."
eTown Home Page
https://www.etown.org/eTown Hall
https://www.etown.org/etown-hall/eTown Recording Studio
https://www.etown.org/etown-hall/recording-studio/eTown Find a Station
https://www.etown.org/media/find-a-station/
RECORDERS
Pro Tools HD Native 10.3 with 48 channels of I/O via Avid HD I/O interfacesCONSOLE
Avid D-Command control surfaceMONITORING
ATC SC25A and NHT M-20PREAMPS
1x BAE 1073MP (2 channels)
1x API 3124 (4 channels)
1x Chandler TG2 (2 channels)
2x Grace M801 (8 channels each)
1x Millennia (8 channels)
1x ATI 8MX2 (8 channels)OUTBOARD COMPRESSION
1x API 2500 stereo bus compressor
2x Empirical labs EL8 Distressors with brit mod and stereo linking capabilities
2x Rupert Neve Designs 5043 Dual Mono/Stereo Compressors
1x Retro Sta LevelOUTBOARD EQ
1x API 5500 stereo eq
2x API 560
2x Great River Harrison 32
2x Kush Audio ElectraSUMMING
Rupert Neve Designs 5059 SatelliteMICS
Dynamic:
1x Audix D6
1x EV RE-320
2x Beyer M88
1x Beyer M201
2x Sennheiser 421
1x Sennheiser 906
Ribbons:
2x Coles 4038
1x Royer 121
1x Beyer M160
Condensers:
1x U87 AI
2x Gefell M300
2x Shure KSM32
2x Audix SCX-25a
Tube:
1x Wunder CM7-GTS w/M7 capsuleBABY GRAND PIANO
1x Kawai Baby Grand (*Requires advance notice for moving and tuning)
Edits: 03/14/23
NT
FAQ |
Post a Message! |
Forgot Password? |
|
||||||||||||||
|
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors: