The Planets at Strathmore and MD-DC-VA tubes and Klipsch

[LarryC]

Yesterday, October 20, was a really fine day for those who visited my place in the morning, Garymd's place in the afternoon, and the concert at the Strathmore concert hall in Bethesda. Several visited or stayed overnight with Marty (Thebes as he is more famously known) to hear his very nice setups.

The highlight, in my opinion, was the performance that evening of Gustav Holst's out-of-this-world masterpiece, The Planets. The orchestra was a big, brass-and-percussion bunch, plus strings and usual and unusual wind instruments, that poured itself into the music. The first movement, Mars, is a powerhouse of genius that amazed everyone. I expect others will chime in with descriptions and pics.

We started in the morning at my place, playing the first (Mars, the Bringer of War) and third (Mercury, the Winged Messenger) movements of The Planets. I used the orchestral score to note a few of the unusual instruments (celesta, glockenspiel) and trumpet and French horn entries and the like. Colter got a full dose of tubes-and-horns for his edification, and I felt that CustomSteve01 and Caroline were very appreciative of hearing added detail in what was going on. Travis/Dwilawyer contributed reel-to-reel tapes, including one of Miles Davis -- 40-year-old RTR tapes may still be the best sound source around! The full cast of characters will show up in others' pics and postings.

To Gary's in the afternoon -- he and Catherine set out a nice little light lunch, and we listened to bop and jazz (something like that) and a powerful recording of Respighi's Feste Romane (what was the recording again, Gary?) on his K-horn system. Upstairs, we got to hear Blue Note monos on his perfectly-suited Cornwall system that included his new Thorens with an SME arm and Ortofon SPU mono cartridge. We agreed -- a very clear sound that was completely linear throughout the bass, middle, and treble ranges. Very unusual in my experience.

Steve/Skonopa and Travis and I capped off the day with a midnight snack/breakfast at the Tastee Diner in Bethesda, a nice little place that's been around since 1935 with prices mired in the 1950's or 60's.

I am very pleased that so many made it, and wish the dropouts had been there, too.

Larry

[whamo]

Sounds awesome. Can't wait to here the rest. It's been too quiet around here this weekend. Glad to hear ya'll had a good time. Mark

[colterphoto1]

Thank you Larry, Gary, Marty and the gang for a splendid day's entertainment.

Having just arrived at the House of Klipsch, I'll post briefly here, then in a bit more detail later.

I left KIipsch at 2 pm Friday afternoon for a 4:40 flight, supposed to arrive in Baltimore via Newark on Friday night. Unfortunately the weather had other plans and with NJ being a mess, it was off to Cleveland in a smaller jet. That hop went ok but the wind and weather kicked in on the way to Baltimore and wind-buffeted two aborted landing attempts later and we finally made it down on the third try. Not fun.

I was at the disposal of the many generous hosts and LarryC had driven with Steve []Konopa to pick me up. Sorry to have made them wait nearly an additional 45 minutes while we circled the airport in mortal fear. We made it to the rendezvous outside Gary's, where I met up with Travis and met Marty Thebes and Mike Lindsay. Mike Lindsay had helped me twice with purchases, carefully packing my Thorens TD125MkII and also picking up a single industrial Heresy this last year. Great guy MikeL.

The three M's were staying at Marty's on Friday night so off we roamed, arriving at his fabulous bachelor pad around midnight. Although tired, we went straight away to his lower level main listening room, replendent with Cornwalls with fresh K77 diaphrams and BEC networks. These were powered by tubes all the way and Marty treated us to a wide variety of music from his fascinating LP collection and a few CD's so I could try to judge which components were responsible for the magnificent tonal quality of his system. No lack of bottom end for these tubes and the highs were as detailed as I have ever heard. I must get busy with some crossover mods.

After a great nights sleep, wakening birds chirping in his quiet neighborhood, and a shower and tea, we spent some time on the main floor with yet another tube setup with Heresies. Marty had a box of LP's set aside for 'door prizes' and offered that Mike L and I should help ourselves. I came home with some very clean Rod Stewart, Irish folk songs, Kingston Trio, some comedy including Hal Holbrok doing Mark Twain, and Marty gave me a minty Billy Cobham Spectrum featuring one of my fave guitarists, Tommy Bolin. Thanks Marty! Oh yeah- his collection of pieces 'in the works' is as fascinating as his music collection. That workshop reminded me of home! And what was that disco flamenco CD you played? That was mind blowing!

After this it was off to find some breakfast. The local diner provided nice 50-60's atmosphere and vids while I selected the special California Omlette, Mike had the eggs Benedict and Thebes put away the biggest T-bone steak with eggs that I have ever seen! Thanks for the grub Mike!

Next to Larry C's, where we were sadly tardy to hear the good Doctor go through part of the score of Holst's Planets. Steve K showed me some of what they'd talked about and Larry played the spritely Mercury. Custom Steve and Caroline were also there and Travis joined up. Larry gave a tour of his equipment room and I was particularly interested in the wall mount/suspension system he uses for his turntable. He spun some more disks, hooked up Travis's open reel deck and we marvelled to the detail and top end still present on his recently opened minty Miles Davis Kind of Blue. Larry's system did absolute justice to this very old but well recorded and maintained tape and it was good to hear some music I was familiar with come to life as I've never heard it before. Solid resonant bass notes, delicate stick on cymbal, trumpet and sax with incredible detail but none of that brittle 'bite' that I've gotten used to on my solid state gear.

This tube sound is clearly a better way and this weekend gave me plenty of opportunity to hear many systems that are heads above my own. Very humbling. Surprisingly, we then played the two opening tracks from the Carpenter's Singles CD, even playing one cut twice. We marveled at the clarity of Richard Carpenter's orchestration, mix, and background vocals. It was possible for all of us to pick out the individual voices in the harmony mix. Karen's voice took on a poignant immediate air, her delivery sounding as though she were singing to each of personally. Absolutely breath-taking. I spent some time in Larry's library, noting his interesting technique of cataloging his collection by label instead of by artist of symphony. This serves him very well and I can understand how this could be more appropriate for a classical collection that might have many of the same works performed by many different ensembles on different labels. Splendid library of both music and books on music. I could spend days in there.

After some wacky group photos (to follow), we headed back across town (thanks for all the driving Thebes) to Gary's Place.

[Travis In Austin]

I am sitting on plane getting ready to go back to NYC., will post a whole bunch more later, but wanted to get a big thankyou to Larry and Gary. Had a great weekend.

Thank you both,

Travis

[colterphoto1]

At GaryMD's immaculate home, his wife had prepared some excellent snack sandwiches and goodies. I don't know why, but we started in his family room with the infamous zebra Cornwalls and what else, tubes. Scott 222 integrated this time.

**EDIT- I have to add here that I neglected to thank Gary for the many shipments of LP's he has sent me in the past two years at nominal cost. Without even ever having met me, he culled LP's from his collection based on my preferences, boxed and shipped them numerous times. The 'Gary' shelf in my LP collection probably has 150 pieces of vinyl that sadly I've hardly gotten a chance to listen to. Gary I promise you that I'm going to get some kind of vinyl rig up by holidays, circulate these records through, and send off what I don't value for my own collection to others on your 'friends of Gary' list. Meeting Gary and seeing his huge grin was like seeing an old friend, although we had never met. **

Gary plays SACD's and mono vinyl in this room, and it also serves as the family home theater. I confirmed what Gary himself knew well- this is one of the best sounding rooms around folks. With the CW's spaced about 1/3 in on a long wall, slightly toed in, there is an enormous sound stage unhampered by early reflections off of side walls. The 13' spread gives wide sound field to his large CRT TV. The bass coming through the framed floor was enormous, the mids and highs detailed and absolutely flat and without coloration. I echo Larry's statement that the sound was very linear. A stroll through the room showed nice dispersion, no discernable room nodes, just perfect. Must be the dimensions, placement, and multiple surfaces all playing together. Just fantastic.

Gary's home theater setup features the Academy center which mates perfectly with the CW's, and RS3's near the back of the side walls- much preferable to the rear-wall-shoots-over-your-head approach usually seen in this shape of room. Great double use of the CW's through a Niles AMP switcher box. A perfectly suited Klipsch RSW12 rounds out the theater well and terrorized the group through some of War of the Worlds soundtrack.

I met Mark (Klipsched with Yamahas) who I had emailed with a bit in the past. Mark not only brought me a minty Stan Getz LP, but on Saturday night after the show went out of his way to take me to the airport around midnight (yes I slept there until 6 am departure). Thanks Mark- great car and tunes on the drive around town- You're a WILD man for sure. Dhar (Dkalsi) was also there and a super great guy with a winning smile. Another CW lover- so we got along just great. He brought he beautiful gf to the show later that night.

The man-cave got a bit overheated with all the bodies, but we got a great listen to Gary's ALKjr'd Khorns, through VRD with his superb vinyl collection. I enjoyed the Alan Parsons, White Album, and the classical piece that Larry mentioned above. Gary has a large overstuffed chair located at precisely the right position for solo listening and we all took turns enjoying the Khorns from the perfect vantage point. The room's surfaces might make it a tad bright for some music but it well suited for the 60's-70's vinyl that Gary prefers. Like Larry, his system is designed to integrate with his personal listening habits, yes it's very subjective but they have very good ears and have perfected this business of equipment acquisition. Gary would have preferred us to hear the Khorns first, as their bass was nearly pedestrian in comparison to the mighty CW's upstairs but it wasn't the speakers lacking, it was just that his upstairs room is soooo good.

Next- on to the show...

[skonopa]

I made it back home safe and sound.

But yeah, that was a great time and thanks for Larry to let me stay overnight, which makes it easier than trying to come up that morning.

The definite highlight of the whole thing was going to the Symphony and especially seeing Holst's The Planets being performed. This has always been one of my most favorite classical pieces, especially "Mars : The Bringer of War". I was blown away at how awesome that was to actually got to see a real orchestra playing that right before my very eyes! It is one thing to listen to it on a recording (or even watch a DVD), but to actually be there in the orchestra hall and seeing it being preformed right before you is just so mind-blowing! The overall performance was really good, although, unfortunately, they did not have the complete complement of instruments that is typically asked for. For example, there was supposed to be an alto flute, but none was present. Same with a Wagner Tuba, but again, none there. There were also supposed to be four bassoons, but there were only two present. There was also no organ. However, it did not seem to compromise to much from the performance, though.

They also performed Brahm's Piano Concerto No. 2. It was also, overall, a very well done performance, although that third movement was sooo boooring (no wonder many people think classical music is so boring)! I honostly don't think they would've taken away from the performance if they skipped that third movement! That pianist they had there performing this was really getting into it. Cool to see it being played with such strong emotion, though, plus he really an excellent job.

Of course, it was awesome to get to see many of you guys again, such as Mike Lindsey, 'customesteve', 'Klipsch and Yamahas", Marty, and GaryMD and wife, and it was great to meet Travis (dwilawyer). Awesome that Mike Colter came out as well! I'll let him explain his little "adventurous" flight (thanks to the crappy weather that night - figures that we don't see a single drop of rain for the last month and half here, and the night when people coming in, if friggan pours!).

Thanks for Gary and his wife for supplying a very nice, tasty light lunch. Plus his downstairs system is really sweet. Of course, it was also great to get to play with Larry's excellent audio system as well. Really sounds incredible. I did manage to sneak in a listen of the new Nightwish album (Dark Passion Play) on Gary's upstairs Cornwall system, and yes, it did sound very good!

Going home was very uneventful, and only took me about an hour (but than again, not much traffic at 1 am, although I was somewhat surprised at how much traffic there actually was still out at that hour of the night, though).

Thanks for an awesome time. I really had a lot of fun.

I'll need to try to stay in contact with the local contingent of the Klipsch "family" here.

[colterphoto1]

We arrived at the Strathmore after dining nearby at a contemporary Italian spot. The architecture of the building is fabulous both inside and out. We quickly found our way to our balcony stage right OVER THE ORCHESTRA! I mentioned to host LarryC that 'these are very good seats'. He chuckled 'well of course'. How very understated- these seats were perfect for a 'class' such as ours. Imagine the sight of Travis, GaryMD, Colter, LarryC, Mike Lindsay in a row, with Caroline and Steve, Steve K, and others behind them. It was as disparate group as one could hope for.

Looked something like this: [][8-|][H][][*-)]

[H][:^)][]

Little did Larry know how much we would 'get into' this performance. I hope he realized what monsters he created on this night. I hope we weren't jumping around and gesturing to much. It was difficult to keep still and Travis, Gary and I about had to sit on our hands to keep from applauding after solos and musical breaks.

The first piece was adequate, a piano concerto with a very gymnastic pianist who managed to get in a lot of head banging and 'whew I'm satiated' Jimmy Page-like back bends, played with about as much dynamics as the instrument is capable of. That he polished off four movements of extremely difficult passages sans sheet music was unbelieveable.

From our vantage point we could look into the conductor's face and he was equally animated. No baton was used, his gyrations, swooping movements, and delicate hang gestures were magnificent to watch as he coerced the musicians. I don't know squat about conducting, but he seemed to be communicating very effectively.

After a short break where the hardy fueled up with some more beverages, we hunkered down in our rapidly intemperate balcony to watch the main event. We had discussed the audiences faux pas at applauding between movements earlier, so our hands stayed tied throughout the entire Planets.

We were seated above the celeste, a small keyboard instrument that makes bell-sounds aka Sugar Plum Faries, Xylophone, and twin harps. In front of them were some 24 violins in two sections To our left, the rear line of the orchestra featured tubular bells (2) and two percussionists with cymbals, triangle, gong, bass drum, and tamborine. Just beyond that were a mighty tympani section of a 4 piece and 3 piece sets.

ln an arch immediately in front of the percussion were the brass with 6 french horns, 4 trumpets, tenor tuba, 3 Trombones, bass trombone, tuba

In the center section were woodwinds with two each flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoon. A alto clarinet (looks like 4' long silver saxophone), tenor (?) oboe were added for the Holst piece, although the deeper instruments like contra-bass bassoon, organ, and tuba were missing.

Beyond them were 8 celli, 10 viola, and 6 double bass completed the string section. An offstage womens choir is used in the final movement.

It was simply amazing to sit this closely and watch the solo and unison playing. Due to the power of The Planets, there is a lot of percussion and I think that as a group, we rock and rollers really enjoyed watching the drummers the most. The players used a variety of sticks/beaters on their instruments to obtain quite a lot of unusual sounds. For instance the xylophone player used very tiny metal mallets at one point for tinny, high pitched crystal sound. There were many different beaters used with the huge bass drum to very good effect, some soft for less attack, some very hard giving a more click/thud sound. The snare player looked somewhat hesitant at first, but when he started rattling off the staccato sections of drum fills and then extended crescendo drumroll it was fascinating to see how a very schooled player used his instrument. The two timpani players were astounding also, sometimes quickly dampening the resonance of the large drum heads, sometimes letting the decay ring on. Even the gong, tamborine, and triangle could be played in many different ways.

More on the performance later....

[garymd]

I had a GREAT time this weekend!! Thanks for coming guys (and gals). I'm glad you made it home safely Michael. I bolted out of there so fast last night I missed some of the goodbyes. I completely forgot to take care of some things at home before we left for the show so I had to hurry home.

Always happy to have everyone over although my basement is a bit cramped with large crowds. Still, it all worked out pretty well I think. It was nice to spend some time with Travis and Marty Friday afternoon and evening and meet new folks on Saturday. Believe it or not, it was the first time I'd met Michael and he is every bit the nice guy (and character) we've come to know and love on the forum. Also, I was able to spend some quality time spinning LPs before the show with Mike L which is always fun. I really enjoyed meeting Dhar for the first time. He lives very close by but we'd never met. I hope to see him again soon and check out his system(s)! Always a pleasure to see the rest of the local folks, Steve & Caroline, Mark S., Steve S., etc. and sorry so many others had to cancel. You missed a great time!

The Planets was spectacular and exceeded my expectations by a long shot!! I don't know how that performance stacks up to others, but for me it was probably the most enjoyable live classical experience of my life thus far. Just amazing!! Thanks again Larry for pulling off another successful classical outing for a group of mostly rock maniacs. It was fun seeing the performers turn around after the show to see the rowdies sitting above the orchestra. I don't know if they were appreciative of the support or appauled at our behavior!!

Great time everyone. Thanks again for coming and a huge thanks to Larry and Marty for all you did to make the weekend's festivities a success![Y]

[LarryC]

Thank you, Gary, and all others who have posted. I also thought seeing the Planets up close and personal was an amazing experience!

As mentioned above, there were a few "artful" deletions of selected instruments -- someone has to pay extra for unusual extra instruments, and there may have been a touch of economizing. Already mentioned above was no contrabassoon (pic immedately below), which has a noticeable role in finishing off "Mercury." Its part was covered by bowed string bass, I think, but the open, definite sound of the real thing fits the ending much better.

A regular bassoon:

I expected a Wagner tuba for the tenor tuba part, but some other instrument, possibly a more modern tenor tuba like the euphonium (left in the picture below; regular tuba on the right) was used instead.

Skononpa and I saw real Wagner tubas in the Alpine Symphony/Rite of Spring concert we saw at Strathmore in January. Wagner invented them to expand the palette of orchestral brass sound:

Three flutes instead of 4 and no deeper alto flute to make Saturn and Neptune even more ghostly. Below is the straight alto flute, which you can see is quite a bit bigger than the regular one.

Alto flutes also come in the U-turn version like the bass flute, for people with shorter arms and smaller fingers:

Also 5 French horns instead of 6.

These are nitpicks for most, as I think very few would notice. It made me wonder if some pliable re-orchestrator had written a slightly reduced version for orchestras who wanted to use it. In fact, Holst himself put some alternate parts into the score (in miniature cueing notes), e.g., a bassoon in place of the alto flute, for smaller or school orchestras. But not for the contrabassoon.

But look how our eagle-eyed group picked up on those things!!!

Larry

[colterphoto1]

Gary sez: "It was fun seeing the performers turn around after the show to see the
rowdies sitting above the orchestra. I don't know if they were
appreciative of the support or appauled at our behavior!!"

Yes Gary, there were two of the ladies in the Violin section who gave us more than a few looks during the extended applause (standing ovation started with the Klipsch section!). [] []

Perhaps they were scoping out our handsome Travis, resplendent in suit and dapper bow tie? [:#][8-|] [:$]

Can Larry give us a call on our 'audience behavior'? There was some whispering and jabbing, thumbs up, and a more than a few quiet questions and pointing out of musicians launching into expressive segments. Impossible to keep still, just too exciting. I felt like a kid hearing MUSIC for the first time!

This was truly a very memorable evening, and trip. I hope you all got as much from it as I did.

Michael

[LarryC]

Yes Gary, there were two of the ladies in the Violin section who gave us more than a few looks during the extended applause (standing ovation started with the Klipsch section!). [] []

Perhaps they were scoping out our handsome Travis, resplendent in suit and dapper bow tie? [:#][8-|] [:$]

Can Larry give us a call on our 'audience behavior'?

Yes, very winning smiles. I couldn't tell what they were appreciating!

Our symphony deportment was fabulous!! I think audiences are getting away from the old don't-you-dare-applaud-between-movements, but it was uncalled for in the incredibly lethargic piano concerto perfromance. Between glacial conducting and too much wandering by Brahms the composer, I thought the concerto part of the program was everyone's worst nightmare of going to the symphony! I couldn't believe how much better the conductor was in The Planets. Presumably why he was chosen (he wasn't the regular conductor). [EDIT: It turns out he WAS the regular conductor. He sure didn't look the same, and I thought he'd done better than that with late romatic composers like Brahms.]

Anyway, I'm really PROUD of our group for leaping to its feat in a standing ovation after the Planets ended so quietly. Where did you guys get all that expertise, anyway?

Larry

[colterphoto1]

'glacial conducting' - yup we were at the same show alright. I was so relieved to hear you use a term like 'pedestrian' about the Brahms performance.

We may be neophytes to your Symphony Larry, but we longhairs know how to enjoy a great show and to express our appreciation.

There was probably 1000 concert experiences seated with you last night.

Good of you to notice, we tried to behave but it's hard for us.

Those last trailing notes of The Planets where it just fades out into nothingness (rather unique for an orchestra) seemed to take forever, I remember listening intently to make certain that the last remnants of room reverberation had left the building, looked at the guys, and we instantly rose. There was no question of our enthusiasm at this show, I don't know how else to say what a marvelous time it was and it was worth every bit of coin and time it took to hang out with you guys and see this. One of my better Klipsch excursions, and I've been on a few.

[colterphoto1]

shameless bump- all attendees please check in!

[fini]

Sounds like a fine time, guys!  I'd love to see photos!  I'm sorry I couldn't swing it.  Next time, maybe?

[dkalsi]

Guys,

I made it back home safely too (at whopping distance of 10 miles). I had a great time this weekend - had the opportunity to meet Gary - and yes - he is turely as great of a guy as was mentioned in that one thread about him.

I couldn't make it to LarryC's but I have heard his setup before - and it is absolutely amazing and flawlessly organized.

One of the most exciting part for me was seeing how beautiful a pair of Zebrawood Cornwalls look like - absolutely has to be the most beautiful speakers I have seen to date. And the sound was just incredible. I have to agree with Colter that it may have to do with the perfect placement. I own two pairs of Cornwalls and not one sounds as good as Gary's --- mind you I dont have it hooked up to a NOS rebuilt 299b (I think thats what it was).

Both, the Conrwall and Khorn setup, were amazing. I can not thank Larry and Gary for organizing this. Although the perfomance at the Strathmore was priceless, I do not think we have to wait for an event like that to get together again.

After listing to Gary's setup and having heard Larry's already, I have a long way to go before I can invite anyone over for a similar experience.

Nonetheless, I will definitely try to host something soon just for the sake of getting together. I am hoping all who are local to attend but anyone who can make it is more than welcome/encouraged to come. I do not have a good 2-channel setup yet - but I can show you how good a budget homtheater system can sound like (with a little bit of DIY work).

To all those who attented - it was an absolute pleasure meeting you guys. And Yes - Colter is crazy (he tought I was crazy not willing to drive several hundered miles to pick up a pair of speakers at a fair price). Marty is definitely a character - you guys have to meet these people - some of the coolest people on the forums here. Marty - I am hoping you would make it should I host something in the near future - I think its reasonable to assume that Colter would be up for it.

[Mike Lindsey]

I got home late last night and am glad to see Larry started this thread. All I can say is what a great weekend!

For me it started with a flight into BWI on Friday night arriving around 8:30 or so, and Gary picking me up right on time. When we arrived at his house I got to see my old friend Marty (Thebes) and my new friend Travis (Dwilawyer), whom I had never met before. Not 2 minutes after arriving, Gary's got me sitting in the sweetspot of his Khorn system in the basement. Just when you think your system can't get any better Gary has to ruin it by letting you listen to his for awhile. Even though his room isn't ideal at the moment, you can't help but be astonished at the clarity and the details from the near-field listening experience. Simply stunning!

Since we had a long drive back to Marty's we left around 10:30 to meet Michael at Larry's house, and then arrived at Marty's around midnight. We then proceeded to spin vinyl on Marty's basement Cornwall rig until 1:30 in the morning before calling it a night. Suffice it to say we were in no hurry to get up the next morning but all of us were up and about by 7:30 am. Marty fired up his upstairs system (Heresy's, Marantz 8B, AH! NjoeTjoeb CD) and we listened to more music while sipping on tea and telling stories.

After getting cleaned up we went for a nice breakfast at the local Silver Diner where Marty told us to go easy since Gary and Catherine were preparing lunch for us a little later in the day. Marty then proceeded to order steak and eggs (a T-Bone no less), and when it came out it had to weigh 16 ounces or so, and taking up the entire plate in the process. Not a problem... Marty ate the whole thing! []

After the lovely breakfast we headed over to Larry's. We didn't get there until 11:00 and things were in full swing. Larry was going over The Planets score with both Steve's (Skonopa and CustomSteve01), Caroline (CustomSteve's wife) and Travis, and played a couple of movements for them. I had familiarized myself with the score by listening to the Mobile Fidelity pressing (London Symphony with Sir George Solti) every day of last week. I couldn't get enough of it...It's that good!

After lots of good music and conversation we headed over to Gary's around 1:00, where Gary, Catherine and Mark (Klipshed with Yamahas) were waiting for us. We then proceeded to eat again before settling into the upstairs Cornwall room. This is a very good rig, and most people would kill to have this as their main system, but in Gary's house this rig plays second fiddle. It's a lovely sounding room with a Scott 299 feeding the Zebrawood Cornwalls, and Thorens TD-124/SME 3009/Ortofon SPU and CD player (not sure of brand) as his sources. Gary played a number of CD's for us from different genre's and it all sounded wonderful. My only complaint is I never got to hear the Thorens, but we'll save that for another time. About this time Dhar (Dkalsi) showed up and joined in the fun.

We then proceeded downstairs, with each of us taking turns in the coveted sweetspot. Gary played cuts from numerous albums (rock, classical, jazz, acoustic), but it wasn't until he played the Mobile Fidelity UHQR pressing of Respighi's Pines of Rome when everyone stopped what they were doing and started listening. I can honestly say I have never heard anything sound so good on anyone's system previous to this. It was hauntingly good! The last time I was at Gary's he played the UHQR pressing of I Robot, and it was unbelievable, but this blew it out of the water. This album doesn't come cheap but I will definitely own it one day.

The other cuts that really made an impression on me were the Mobile Fidelity pressing of The Beach Boys Surfer Girl (In My Room) and Led Zeppelin's Classic Reissue of Houses of the Holy (No Quarter). Both of these cuts sounded phenomenal on Gary's Khorns, where the details and clarity are simply staggering! This went on until 4:30 or so, when everybody left to go to Mama Lucia's, but I stayed with Gary to hear more records and pick out a few of his duplicates. Gary also gave me some albums from his good pile which I am very grateful for. A nicer gentleman you will not find. Thanks dude, I owe you one... you know I'll have something in the mail for you shortly.

Gary and I headed over to the concert around 6:30 and we got there around 7:30, right about the time everybody showed up from the restaurant. My old roommate and his wife joined us, and Travis and I decided to have a quick Tanqueray and Tonic before the show. We then got ushered into the concert hall and took our seats. Like others have already mentioned I wasn't too impressed with the Brahm's piano concerto. It was good, mind you, but this was really not my cup of tea. I know very little about classical up to this point, but the classical that I own (and like) is big orchestra movements (Rimsky/Korsokov's Scheherazade, Straus's Alpine, Saint-Saens Symphony #3 with Pipe Organ, Holst's The Planets, etc), with lots of strings, brass and percussion. While the pianist was very animated (and a bit eccentric) it just didn't do it for me. The 1st and 4th movements were tolerable and I'll leave it at that.

During the break Travis and I had another Tanqueray and Tonic to put us in the right mood for The Planets. [] We then went back inside and I noticed there was about 20 more musicians than what was there for the Brahms piano concerto (4 trombones, tuba, 4 trumpets, 5 handling percussion and 2 ladies below me on the harpsichord). As soon as the first movement started (Mars - The bringer of War) I knew this was going to be fantastic! And it was! All 7 movements (I loved Jupiter - The bringer of Jollity as well) were great, and the orchestra seemed to be into it as much as we were. I looked at Michael and Gary, and could tell they were really into it too. Both of them with smiles on their faces - just like me. It was as good as any concert (classical or otherwise) I had been to previously (maybe except Rush in 1982 ;-)

After the show, and after saying goodbye to everyone, Marty and I headed back to his place for a well needed night's sleep. I got up around 7:30 again and noticed Marty was up already and had some tea waiting for me. We proceeded to clean ourselves up and headed out to pick up Travis from the Willard Hotel in downtown Washington, DC, and then headed back to Marty's and listened to both of his systems again, spinning some vinyl and playing some cd's. The Suzanne Vega (Tom's Diner) and Al Dimeola (Mediterranean Sundance) cuts we played sounded awfully good.

Travis and I had some good conversations about music and reel-to-reel players, and I think it's safe to say another friendship has been born. We exchanged phone numbers prior to dropping him off at Dulles Airport for his flight back up to NYC. Marty and I then had lunch at Five Guys, a place I hadn't been to in over 6 years. They have great burgers and give you enough fries to feed a family of 6.

Around 1:00 we headed over to TC's (Dax616) house to hear his Khorns in an unfinished basement that they are converting to a party room. This place has a full restaurant bar with 3 sinks, a soda fountain, kegged beer on tap, lights, disco ball, neon signs, etc. The room is a 27' x 25' x 8' room with the Khorns along the 25' wall facing the bar. At present it has a concrete floor but will be tiled when completed. TC has a rack in the wall with all of his gear in the rack (McIntosh MC2105, McIntosh C26, Cd player, built in computer, DMX box to control the lighting, etc). His Khorns have ALK Universals and tweeter attenuators. He also had a 18" Velodyne sub complimenting them with a 1000w amp.

While the system sounded very good, it definitely sounded very hot up top at the volume TC wanted to hear them at when partying (105db with peaks higher than that). We played around with the tap settings and the tweeter attenuators, but never really could get them to settle down in the upper volume region. Wasn't sure if it was the room or the networks (which TC made), but suggested he may want to try ALK Trachorns, Beyma tweeters and the ES Networks.

Around 4:15 Marty took me back to BWI for my 7:00 flight back to Orlando. We got there around 5:30 where I proceeded to give him a big hug. I had a great time hanging out with him for a second year in a row, and really appreciated him putting me up for the weekend. I'm certain he drove close to 500 miles this weekend as well, carting us (Michael, Travis and I) all over the place. Thanks again, Marty! You know you are always welcome to come down and stay at my place, and I'll return the favor. I look forward to our next get-together.

Mike

[colterphoto1]

Hey Dklasi - dude! Nice collection, I knew you had Cornies but didn't know you had the collection you have in you sig line. Man, keep that up and you'll be passing me up sometime soon.

Yeah, getting out and meeting the people is what sparked my collecting hobby. I would like it noted that I didn't buy any gear on this particular excursion however. I was a particularly nutty and eccentric crowd this time. I like that about this gang!

Michael

[Klipsched with Yamahas]

Hey gang, you left me nothing to add on the musical performance other than OUTSTANDING![]

Larry's organizational skills are to be commended, and the city excursion to the Hall was an interesting adventure to say the least[8-)] Did I ever say I detest city driving[:#], but it was well worth the trouble.

I cannot thank Gary/Catherine and Larry enough for all their hospitality, and Michael, when in Rome.........well, you know the rest[] Definitely a great group of people with which I had the pleasure of sharing time.

As for me, it was a long, long, weekend starting @ Gary's mid-day Saturday and ending 11:30pm Sunday arriving back home. Except for northbound Sunday I-95 traffic which forced me into detouring over to 301, and a screw in my tire (which I discovered this morning), it was incident free and a wonderful weekend all the way around. Amazing I actually back-doored the BWI airport for Michael, but it gave us time to talk. WHO NEEDS A MAP/ATLAS[]

I love driving on trips of this nature, albeit NOT every weekend. Sounds like a good time was had by everyone, and sorry for not posting earlier, but just arrived work, so onward I go.

I'll check back later

Mark

[dkalsi]

Hey Colter,

Check out my set up right now

http://s185.photobucket.com/albums/x205/dkalsi/

all speakers no components.

Someone is begging me to sell the Decorator cornwalls (new Bob C. woofer and upgraded caps). I think I should - i need to invest more in componenets. I still can't believe what I was hearing at Gary's

[Mike Lindsey]

Holy crap, Dhar! Those are all beautiful! Really nice work... do you have any closeups of the Decorators? Did you refinish all of these? If so, please provide your instructions for doing so. I also love the subs you built! Great work!

Mike