Next owston meet ?

[mf 1000]

Just loaded my kit into the wife's van .....700 lb weight .....I must be mad

looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow - aiming for a 10am arrival

[Michael L]

Thanks everyone who organised and participated in this year's show. Sadly, owing to a previous commitment I had to leave at 2pm. Apologies to Steve and others whose kit we couldn't listen to. Next time we'll have to come for the whole weekend. It would have been very useful to be there tomorrow to hear the different DACs. It would be interesting to hear any feedback from Morgan on the show.
It was great getting to know people better and to Pepperoni and Greg - hope to take you up on your offer to invite Adam and me for a listening and cider tasting session.

[Paul Barker]

[Cressy Snr]

Was a good do.
Thanks to Steve for organising once again. And a special thanks to Greg for his generosity in letting me have the Mayware arm to rebuild

[Ali Tait]

Enjoy Glastonbury, Ali !

Got all the stuff in the car OK - phew. Setting off for Warrington in about 15mins.

Cheers Mark, I intend to, rain be damned!

[Cressy Snr]

Just got up after a bit of a Fathers' Day lie in. Was going to go to the Sunday bash, but after waking up at 4 this morning with a shocking headache, I thought it better to stay at home.
So what to say about Saturday? Brilliant! it's been too long and let's not leave it as long again.

The system brought by MCRU and his merry men, Nick and Colin, with the Longdog 300B amp, Clearaudio TT Colin/Scott designed Edingdale MkII speakers was fab. There was a bit of vinyl ropiness at the end of the Daft Punk track that threw me, probably caused caused by the siting of the TT, which wasn't really ideal.
HOWEVER! the last track David played, where the guy sings about his Dad and brother had me fighting the tears, it was that emotionally intense. it could have got a bit embarrassing; STUNNING! is the word, and if David comes on here later, I want to know the name of that album as I want it badly.

Steve's latest big OB speakers were great; IMO the best he has come up with yet, and later in the evening with the STC 4300As in Nick's amp it was fooking superb on Mark Cohn; further evidence that those old 30s valves represent the pinnacle of triode development.

DTB's 300B with multiple bench power supplies did its usual trick of cutting right through to the heart of the performance. Loved the John Schofield track. He's getting all funky and groovy in his old age.

Nick DS little system was completely out of its depth in that large room, but it put up a good show in the near field. The Microfonkens are a blindingly fast little speaker and in the right circumstances should be a fab little mover.

Phil's GK 71SE monoblocks are stunners on choral although it would have been even better had the volume been edged down a tad. Choral is difficult to get right so full marks to Phil for the amps. The OBs are as ever, a good listen.

Mike's EL84 pentode mode PP amp was excellent. It was musical in spades. Brass stabs had that EL84 creaminess about them and it dug out the timing clues and boogied like a good 'un through his speakers, with their Monacor RBT 95 ribbon tweeters. It also threw a good soundstage backed by the speakers. Ultralinear? PAH!

Dave's Transcendent Audio "Son of Beast" OTL was another great sounding piece of gear through a nice little pair of LS9A speakers. Dave was telling me that he and Meredith use the OTL on a daily basis with great results at home and that it is a thoroughly reliable workhorse. For me it was great to hear a self-built OTL that worked for more than five minutes without blowing up.

The big horns driven by the digital amps brought by the other Steve, were spectacular, but a bit much for my delicate sensibilities. Nevertheless I can appreciate why some listeners get addicted to these types of speaker and why, for them, nothing else will suffice.

Mark's mono horn/ OB combo was nearly there after a few years of development and was producing a big sound despite a lack of low bass, from only the one speaker from where I was listening. The overall tone was pleasing. I can imagine that when he gets the othe channel built, the soundstage is going to be huge.

Neal's turntable was great on Steve Hillage and was an interesting comparison to DTB's Techie. It also played FIne Young Cannibals like I know it should sound, not like the abomination it was on my old flat earth LP12 etup fom the 80s.

It was great to talk to Chris (Stratmangler) about the finer points of arms and cartridges. I have been so long out of the vinyl loop that his advice certainly needed and was very welcome.

It was also great to talk with Dave and Meredith about amps and speakers. Thanks for the positive comments about my system guys. It was certainly apprciated

Only regret is that I didn't get to talk to Morgan Jones. Understandably, he was much in demand. I would have loved to have chatted/ learned a bit more about the finer points of pentode amps with him.

All 'n all a great day out.
Apologies to the chap who wanted to buy my type 26 valves, but I'm still a bit numb in the head from the early hours migrane attack, so thought it unwise to drive to Owston this morning. Maybe I could post them once we agree a price by PM.

[Neal]

[Neal]

What a great weekend! Many thanks to Steve for organising another great event. It was great to catchup with you all and meet some new faces and also meet Morgan. Many thanks also to DB for the use lend of his cleaning machine a stunning bit of kit and also for his exceptional generosity on Friday night. Thomas has done a splendid job on his own design and built phono stage and the power of tower rocked as well....CE certified it is too... The big ear opener for me though was Nicks MOSFET amp simply great for something that is a 'lets see if this idea works.......' experiment.

[mf 1000]

Just got back from my Sunday jaunt to Owston with 700 lb of kit. Good to meet up with fellow obsessives and listen to a variety of diy kit, apart from my speakers mi e os more tweakery than diy but I wasn't made to feel unwanted

we finished off listening to my kit with nicks MOSFET monoblocks droving my speaker combination , and what a good sound they produce

Thanks for letting me come over guys

Raining here so the speakers can stay in the van till tomorrow

Keith

[IslandPink]

Thanks for coming Keith - a big effort to bring all your stuff and it was very good in many ways and gave me a lot to think about on the way home. Wrote quite a long reply here just now but it failed to post, so will drip-feed some comments in due course.
Thanks Steve for organising - very enjoyable. Great to see all the familar faces.
My efforts to get the OB working this week seemed to have failed when demoed, disappointed in that, it was emarrasing to be honest, but hope you liked what was 'good in places' eg. some of what the wooden horn does.

[Michael L]

https://www.flickr.com/gp/140505027@N03/38KcM5

Few more pics. Not sure how to make images appear on thread without using Flickr link.

[Cressy Snr]

@ Mark It sounded alright to me apart from the lack of any low bass.
Have you thought of refining those baffles to produce a flat treble to upper bass response, then adding (horrors) a
pair of a active class D subs? It might just work a treat and save a whole load of heartache.

[Cressy Snr]

https://www.flickr.com/gp/140505027@N03/38KcM5

Nope..nothing there that I can see at the moment.

[cressy]

The link says michael has nothing available to you
If you paste the img tag into the text the picture should appear

[Michael L]

https://www.flickr.com/gp/140505027@N03/38KcM5

Nope..nothing there that I can see at the moment.

Haven't used Flickr for years. It says Any private photos in your photostream will remain private. Only people you share this link with will be able to view them.
Well I've shared the link