Mike and Nuck's excellent redux
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Gold Member Username: NuckPost Number: 8497 Registered: Dec-04 | Welcome to Dallas. It's like, hot. Mike's box is spinning Johnny Cash at the mment, Rush;Hemispheres was outstanding! Details to follow, just a huge vinyl night. |
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Silver Member Username: DmitchellOttawa, Ontario Canada Post Number: 250 Registered: Feb-07 | Vinyl and scotch? |
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Bronze Member Username: WattsssupBarrie, ON Canada Post Number: 63 Registered: Aug-06 | And a whole lotta Mac. Enjoy. |
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Gold Member Username: NuckPost Number: 8504 Registered: Dec-04 | OK, so, I may not be up on my garage sale etiquette. I just seems odd to do requests at garage sales. Yet we went to a sale down the street on Sunday am for a look. When Mike saw no vinyl, he asked the mother of 2 if there was any vinyl? Well, she rolls her eyes and says that her husband didn't want to add those to the sale. Well let her go ask now. So we waited about a cigarette, and she came back with 'He's thinking about it'. OK. 2 minutes later, the guy comes out with a 40 lb plastic tub full.Now we be talking! We went to start rifling through them, and buddy comes out with another one! Story short, Mike got 65 or so. I guess it pays to ask! Oh and Mike has new friends up the street! |
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Gold Member Username: NuckPost Number: 8505 Registered: Dec-04 | Just as we got back from the gun range, the family pulls up and Rob jumps out with an ELO box set that was missed somehow. Nice guy. |
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Silver Member Username: DmitchellOttawa, Ontario Canada Post Number: 256 Registered: Feb-07 | Gun range? Where are you again? Oh yeah, Texas... :-) |
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Gold Member Username: NuckPost Number: 8507 Registered: Dec-04 | Just got back, DM. I gotta bunch of good stories  |
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Gold Member Username: My_rantzAustralia Post Number: 1552 Registered: Nov-05 | Tales of the Texas Strangers.  |
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Gold Member Username: NuckPost Number: 8508 Registered: Dec-04 | hehehe Hey, I even hit the paper with all 6 shots first time out with a .44 magnum. I kept the target. Maybe I will post a pic......never mind. |
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Gold Member Username: My_rantzAustralia Post Number: 1553 Registered: Nov-05 | Yeah Harry (as in Dirty), everything is so big in Texas, including the targets maybe, huh?  |
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Gold Member Username: NuckPost Number: 8513 Registered: Dec-04 | LOL, MR! Excellent! |
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Gold Member Username: NuckPost Number: 8515 Registered: Dec-04 | We stopped by a shop on Saturday, Hi-end Audio. They carry Rotel, Classe, Simaudio(a bit) and a good bit of Mac. Also VPI tables. Nice place. I had a good chat to intro my stuff to the woman in the store(Co-owner with husband.Smokin hot). What we ended up listening to was a Classe ca-m400 power with Classe pre, and a Meridian player. B&W 800 speakers and some low orchestral. That works real good. Then a bit of Sade. That works real good. I scoped out the B&W's, they have them all, and liked the new 600 a lot. Mike liked some Mac preamp... |
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Gold Member Username: NuckPost Number: 8516 Registered: Dec-04 | If you come up with another one, MR, you get the parking spot for the month! |
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Gold Member Username: My_rantzAustralia Post Number: 1554 Registered: Nov-05 | Little good that'll do Nuck. My dealer is no longer stocking the B&W's. In order to sell the new 600 range, he has to order the whole range - without any opportunity to listen first. I think he told them in no uncertain terms. Oh, and he said they are made (or maybe assembled) in China now. It would be great to have a REAL hifi shop on the coast here. Sounds like a good time is being had there. |
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Gold Member Username: NuckPost Number: 8517 Registered: Dec-04 | hic. It was grand. |
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Gold Member Username: NuckPost Number: 8518 Registered: Dec-04 | Sorry, MR, I was referring to your two snappy comebacks, waiting on a third. You are sharp this morning! I am waiting to digest the mental notes on MW's setup, before writing something subtantive. But what I can tell y'all is the the Anthony Gallo ref 3.1's with the stand alone sub amp is a very very formidable setup for around 4k. VERY. And I mean across the board. Mike plunked me into his chair and fed me drinks and spun vinyl/cd till my head spun(love a host like this). The impression I staggered away with, after 4 hours, is that this setup is probably the most versitile that he could conjur. The only weak point is the jumpy Linn Sondek12, tiptoes only. That is a known quantity, but hard when one might teeter a tad. My next move might be to a Gallo. |
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Silver Member Username: Mike3Wiley, Tx USA Post Number: 667 Registered: May-06 | The target was at 15 yards, 5 ft off of the ground, 10 inches outside circumference. We used the big target all the way back, like 75 - 80 feet. Nuck got 2 out of 6 head shots as did I. The gun is a Ruger Super Blackhawk, 6 shot .44 Magnum, 7 1/2" barrel. Dirty Harry wishes his was that big. |
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Silver Member Username: Mike3Wiley, Tx USA Post Number: 668 Registered: May-06 | The system is what I want it to be. I am demoing the MAC C2200 Tube Pre-Amp on it until Saturday. The dealer is closed Thursday and Friday for what I don't know but it allowed for an extended audition. He asked that I burn it in for 24 hours so that is what I am doing. It is repeated Amused to Death over and over. Mercifully I sent the dog to my son's for the next few days. Initial impressions, prior to prescribed burn in, are that it is tighter, faster?, a hair more detailed, a little better lower end extension. As it sounds now it will not replace the Rogue Magnum 99 Tube Pre-Amp. But I have until Saturday... |
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Gold Member Username: NuckPost Number: 8525 Registered: Dec-04 | I must, must highly recommend the I/C's that Mike built from Jan. Deucedly clever, cheap and very available, these are a pair(or pairs) that I am going to build. https://www.ecoustics.com/electronics/forum/accessories/342576.html and syatem pics https://www.ecoustics.com/electronics/forum/accessories/342576.html |
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Silver Member Username: Mike3Wiley, Tx USA Post Number: 669 Registered: May-06 | same link twice... |
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Gold Member Username: NuckPost Number: 8527 Registered: Dec-04 | so I was right twice. A Mulligan for next the kerfuffle. |
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Gold Member Username: NuckPost Number: 8546 Registered: Dec-04 | oh oh...one last note. I whined and moaned about the first Boston album being mutilated on radio. And every copy after was one of those. You know the one where the mix falls away in transition to the the strumming guitar 3 chord in the latter part of the song? Well, Mike has(had) a beauty copy of a master that does not do that.Just beautiful loud rock from start to end. I have the half-speed mastered copy here now. No TT, but I may frame it till then. |
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Gold Member Username: NuckPost Number: 8608 Registered: Dec-04 | Allrighty then. Mike Wodek's stereo. Mike has been an active member here for a while, and has taken and added some advice along the way. Without bias, here is a review of Mike's setup. The setup and the room are basically the boy that you don't want your daughter to date. It is rude, crude and effective. It is the hammer without the velvet glove. Man room that never got past 14 yrs old.OK? Mike has treated the room with all the care of a one armed paper hanger by the looks. The effect, however, is something completely different. The Gallo ref 3.1 speakers are a side firing woofer design, http://www.roundsound.com/reference-3-speakers.htm which can be very deceiving. These speakers may be the most versitile high end speakers that I have ever heard. The speaks require a special sub amp, to drive the dual voice coil bass drivers, as described in the link above. This amp is powerful, accurate and most appropriate for the speakers. This combination kicks large azz. The bass presentation from the combination is huge.It lacks nothing, except if you are a car sub guy. The bass is of the wide bandwidth style, crossing from 28hz and on up, to a natural XO at about 45hz for the second bass coil. They stretch together to the midbass drivers, and the whole cocophany makes wonderful, effortless music throughout the entire range.At startlingly large volumes, if you like. The volumes are provided from 2 sources. The Linn Sondek lp12(yumm) and the Rega Saturn. These signals are delivered via the well documented Wodek/Vigne IC's,(hereby known as the WV) in a confoundedly amusing/distressing configuration which is designed to trip drunks and make changes immpossible to all but helpers with the dexterity of a Circ de Sol acrobat and the ocular ability of a Chilean bat. The 7300 Mac amp is a very powerful unit, particularly since it is not driving the lowest of frequencies and thus the required current. The Mac has the little leds that show how hard it is working. The lights never got beyond an intermittant yellow, because frankly, I could not sit in the room. I do not think I could sit in there if they went another vibrant color. Think as loud as you can. No, louder. The Rougue 99magnum preamp did it's job just like it is supposed to. Invisable, just let the tubes do the work. Mike has put rings on the switch tubes to reduce microphonics. He said that this works, so I believe him. It is invisable, right? The headphone out is located on the back(see acrobatics above) and works like a charm for Zep II, on the Sein 5480 cans. Cure any hangover, these cans are to die for, with new wires that Frank A. suggested. The Saturn is a strange beast. The cdp just sounds better the louder it is played. I know the signal does not change, but the Saturn is just not normal. The Saturn can drag out the depths of a recording that will rival the lp12 in my estimation. If you just plain prefer vinyl, that is fine. That is why the Linn lp12 is there. This table is maybe a little more persnickity than some, but Mike's is set up to perfection. Doxens of lp's were spun, and some new unopened(till then). The table played flat lp's with pure abandon. Just wide open fields, desperate high's and full attentive bass. It does nothing wrong. As long as the vinyl is flat. And the Canadian guy doesn't step too hard on the fine broadloom. Or fall over the speaker runs. Overall, I would have to rate MW's setup as a 9.8 out of 10.And there ain't no 10, cause Pavoroti is dead. Kids, this system plays P. Barber as well as it does triumph. Rush Hemispheres was as real as seeing the band in my high school gymnasium. Jazz plays like a small club. This does it all. In a room that your mother would not let even cousins look into. Any improvements to be made? Yup. Pull another 2 circuits into the room, the amps eat a LOT of power. Other improvements? Yeah. Don't let Canadians run your stereo! Cheers! |
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Silver Member Username: Nickelbut10Post Number: 372 Registered: Jun-07 | Very Nice Post Nuck. |
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Gold Member Username: NuckPost Number: 8611 Registered: Dec-04 | Thank you, Nick. |
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Silver Member Username: DmitchellOttawa, Ontario Canada Post Number: 273 Registered: Feb-07 | You should be a writer Nuck. Love the metaphors - or are they similes? |
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Gold Member Username: NuckPost Number: 8617 Registered: Dec-04 | They are simile to metaphors. Thanks, David. I worked on that review for a while, wanting to do justice to Mike's efforts. The only cd that sounded bad was the one I brought, Yer Favorites from the Tragically Hip. The worst part? It sounds OK on my best stereo. |
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Gold Member Username: NuckPost Number: 8618 Registered: Dec-04 | That recording was exposed like a Maple Leafs defenseman. |
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Bronze Member Username: WattsssupBarrie, ON Canada Post Number: 65 Registered: Aug-06 | McCabe.....AGAIN????? |
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Gold Member Username: NuckPost Number: 8619 Registered: Dec-04 | still. |
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Silver Member Username: Nickelbut10Post Number: 374 Registered: Jun-07 | LOL good old Toronto MakeMeLaughs. |
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Silver Member Username: Mike3Wiley, Tx USA Post Number: 671 Registered: May-06 |  I guess this means you might come back, cool. Need to spend more time listening to JV's gear too. Spinning Holly Cole (not Holly Cole Trio) Vinyl - LC 6142 T&M 1039 This is nearly as perfect as the Patricia Barber LP I refereced on other threads. Nuck, dude, cracking on my room and that is after I tidied and cleaned it up in anticipation of your stay! Not to mention that courtesy of Nuck I now listen with one of my double doors open, providing more depth to the listening experience. There is also an additional 2X4 of Auralex in front of my plasma with the foam tubes and ASC panel there moved to other places in the room. So the overall presentation has stepped up thanks to my fine guest. Holly Cole has some really nice range in her voice. A couple of thoughts on my system; It really hits it out of the park on the small combo Blues / Jazz presentations. Jan's system has better vocals than mine, deeper more lush. My it is more exact (I think), but not as warm, caring, and penetrating with vocals as Jan's. Demo'd that for Nuck just on the Roger's with Jan's MAC 6200. Think about those speakers with Jan's MAC tube amps and you will certainly understand what I mean. My kit is the best I have heard for guitar, whether it be B.B. King, John Lee Hooker, EC, or Page. It is a fussy system, for example if my laptop is on my lap (where else you might wonder) I need to close it to get the full center stage. It literally negatively affects my listening experience. Lastly, HAPPY BIRTHDAY NUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
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Platinum Member Username: Jan_b_vigneDallas, TX Post Number: 11244 Registered: May-04 | . b'day b'happy, Nuck. |
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Silver Member Username: DmitchellOttawa, Ontario Canada Post Number: 274 Registered: Feb-07 | Happy Bday Nuck! I'll have a beer (or three) in your honour tonight. |
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Silver Member Username: Nickelbut10Post Number: 375 Registered: Jun-07 | Whiskey for me Nuck, Happy B-Day dude. |
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Bronze Member Username: WattsssupBarrie, ON Canada Post Number: 67 Registered: Aug-06 | Yup. H-B-Day. |
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Gold Member Username: NuckPost Number: 8626 Registered: Dec-04 | Thank you all verra verra much! |
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Gold Member Username: My_rantzAustralia Post Number: 1573 Registered: Nov-05 | Nice write up Nuck. Man, I love Mike's speakers. Have a great birthday and don't drink too much. Well okay, do - it's a year until the next one. But you know that right? |
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Gold Member Username: NuckPost Number: 8627 Registered: Dec-04 | I wIll ke ep it in min d;Lucy |
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Silver Member Username: Mike3Wiley, Tx USA Post Number: 672 Registered: May-06 | Finishing off the Johnny Walker Red, for your BD of course Nuck. MAC Pre-amp demo ended today.Rogue wins out over MAC pre-amp. I plugged it back in with the weights on it that I had to use on the MAC due to resonance and there is truly not enough difference to change. MAC C2200 is better, but not by much. I also think I have grown used to the Rogue pre-amp and that adds favor to it. I probably would have done the MAC but the dealer lacked flexibility. Do not examine that contradiction too hard, there is deeper down logic to all this. Just listening to the music tonight and tomorrow between football games. I have done enough reference / critical listening to last through the end of the year and then some. It's all about the music for a while. Might be checking out some estimates from an electrician near term, that and growing interest in a new (used?) tuner as the Carver Tuner quit working. Plugged in the Yamaha TX-492, but it is not as good as I remembered it. |
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Gold Member Username: ArtkAlbany, Oregon USA Post Number: 5338 Registered: Feb-05 | Excellent Mike, I raise my glass to the music!!! |
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