PAST MEETINGS
2019 Meetings
December 7, 2019
Winter and Holiday Social
Time: 12noon-4:30pm
Place: Mercer Island Congregational Church
A time to share the fruits of the past year with fellow audiophiles. Feel free to bring food and/or drink (non-alcoholic, beer and wine only). Bring your no-longer-wanted audio gear for sale, trade or raffle. If you can, donate some of the proceeds to the club. Bring your favorite Christmas music, serious or otherwise. Note: the meeting starts a little earlier than usual.
November 2, 2019
Bring Your Own Music
Time: 1:00pm-4:30pm
Place: Mercer Island Congregational Church
This will be a "Bring Your Favorite Music" event. Bring a piece of music, on CD or vinyl media, that you would like to share with other members. If you wish, you may prefix it with a short talk about the music or why it appeals to you.
October 5, 2019
Host - Gary Koh of Genesis Advanced Technologies
Time: 1:00pm-4:30pm
Place: Mercer Island Congregational Church
The PNWAS will host a presentation by Gary Koh of Genesis Advanced Technologies. Gary will discuss the remixing of a digital recording to analog with examples of the process. Then he will play a test pressing of the result - a One-Step UHQR. (There is also a possibility that Gary will bring a VPI HW-40 on which to do the demo.) Finally, Gary will discuss the development of the Genesis Phono Preamplifier, an example of which he has donated to the club.
September 21, 2019
Speaker Swap Test and Voting + DAC Shootout
Time: 1:00pm-4:30pm
Place: Mercer Island Congregational Church
There will be two main events:
1. We will listen and vote for swapping the current club speakers (Genesis 7.2f) with larger model (Genesis 6.1).
2. DAC shootout – We will listen, comment and compare various DACs. Feel free to bring your DAC(s) to be added for the comparisons.
August 10, 2019
Puget Sound DIY Show
This is a joint effort of the Pacific NorthWest Audio Society and the Sound DIY Club.
Time: 10:00am-4:30pm (9:00am start setup)
Place: Mercer Island Congregational Church
This is not a contest as such, but rather a "run what ya brung" meet, that is open to all interested parties who would like to display, view or listen to DIY Audio equipment.
The event will also feature a swap meet, so you can trade no longer wanted items from your workshop that have previously managed (or not manged) to be part of a past project.
The meet is scheduled to begin at 9:00 am for entrants, 10am for spectators and will run until 4:30 pm. Parking is free and there is no admission fee.
We ask all interested parties that have gear they would like to show to let us know ASAP, in order to know how many tables, etc. we will need. If you bring bookshelf speakers, you may want to bring speaker stands from home. Hope to see you there!
July 6, 2019
Summer Social + Vanatoo visiting us!
Time: 12noon-4:30pm
Place: Mercer Island Congregational Church
We will start the event earlier than the usual club meetings. Great opportunity to meet and socialize with fellow members. We have a packed agenda.
• Potluck style: We will provide hotdogs, pulled pork, sandwiches, light snacks, drinks. Bring your food and drink selections to share with other members.
• Swap table: Bring your audio gear you want to swap or sell.
• Vanatoo visiting us! Details below.
• Vote for club cabinet build.
Regular meeting agenda:
1. We are excited that our very own club member Gary Gesellchen of Vanatoo ( www.vanatoo.com) will join us for a presentation about his unique approach to speaker designs and demo of his award-winning speaker line up. Gary graciously donated a few of his great sounding speakers to the club which we will auction. This is your chance to listen to the T1E pair that was also reviewed by Jason Victor Serinus in a recent issue of Stereophile, and bid to own them while supporting the club: https://www.stereophile.com/content/vanatoo-transparent-one-encore-powered-loudspeaker-system
Here is in Gary’s words:
• I'll bring a set of our new T1E's (Transparent One Encore) for demo. This is actually the same set that Jason Victor Serinus reviewed for Stereophile.
• We are willing to donate a set of T1E's to the club for auctioning off. This will be a set that has had the box opened but is in like new shape. They normally retail for $599 (or $529 for an open box), so hopefully someone will be willing to give the club several hundred dollars for them! Here’s the link for more information: https://vanatoo.com/shop/speakers/transparent-one-encore/
• I'll also have the set of passive cherry T1's I brought by last time that I can give to the club to sell. They’re probably worth ~$100.
• I have a box of speaker parts that aren't current production that I'd be happy to give away for club benefit and auction or donation. A few woofers, tweeter, and PR's.
2. Vote to confirm club’s additional cabinet build, which will cost up to around $750 materials and no labor cost:
• We will build a modular cabinet with 3 sections and deadlocks, to hold our club equipment and speakers. This will help to make our setup and teardown easier and faster, as well as providing an additional secure storage. Please plan to join the summer social as we will vote after 1:30PM.
June 1, 2019
Kitsune Hi-Fi Visiting the Club!
Time: 1:00pm – 4:30pm
Place: Mercer Island Congregational Church (usual club meeting location)
Kitsune Hi-Fi will be visiting the club, bringing some of their great audio gear:
Kitsune Tuned Edition Halo Spring2 DAC, the Azure amp, and highly-sought-after Meze Audio Empyrean and Focal Stellia headphones. You don’t want to miss it!
https://www.kitsunehifi.com/ https://www.kitsunehifi.com/product/holo-audio-spring2-dac-kitsune-tuned-edition/ https://www.kitsunehifi.com/product/holo-audio-azure-discrete-8-amp-module-headphone-amplifier-aluminum-remote-control/ https://www.kitsunehifi.com/product/mezeaudio-empyrean-open-back-isodynamic-hybrid-planar-magnetic-headphones/https://www.focal.com/headphones/stellia/
May 4, 2019
Phono preamps
Time: 1:00pm – 4:30pm
Place: Mercer Island Congregational Church (usual club meeting location)
We will audition a variety of phono preamps. Bring your favorite vinyl to spin.
April 6, 2019
Geoff Cole 3-D printed speaker design company launch!
Time: 1:00pm – 4:30pm
Place: Mercer Island Congregational Church (usual club meeting location)
NOTE: We will be spinning vinyl. Bring your own favorite vinyl LPs.
In the April meeting, we are lucky to host one of our very own club members, Geoff Cole, for the launch of his 3-D printed speaker company with two 3-D printed speaker models. We have been listening to the prototype for the last year or so, and now they are going to production! We will also have a complete all-tubes design amplification system (phono stage, pre-amp, and 100W/channel power amp) by our own Rene’ to help showcase these new speakers.
The main speakers featured at the meeting will be the release candidate demos of the "Elevation M" speakers (M for Monitor). Geoff also has another new concept speaker design already, called the “Elevation D”, which is a small desktop version based on the monitors. The “Elevation D” speakers are going to be the introductory budget units and kits aimed at the 3d-printing folks and students. Check out Geoff’s new company website, as well as the Instagram site and Spotify playlist that will be used to showcase these new and exciting speakers: Orthographic Audio Orthographic Audio orthographic-audio.com Orthographic Audio (@orthographic_audio) • Instagram photos and videos 26 Followers, 24 Following, 6 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from Orthographic Audio (@orthographic_audio) www.instagram.com PNWAS Launch EP, a playlist by Orthographic Audio on Spotify A playlist featuring Pink Floyd, Modest Mussorgsky, Keith Jarrett, and others open.spotify.com
March 2 , 2019
Annual election for club officers + Olson Hi-Fi visiting the club
Time: 1:00pm – 4:30pm
Place: Mercer Island Congregational Church (usual club meeting location)
- Annual election for club officers: We need nominees for president, VP and treasurer roles. Plan to attend with your nominations and also vote!
- Olson Hi-Fi will be visiting the club, bringing exciting audio gear: The new Krell K-300i integrated stereo amplifier, and Roksan analog gear from UK. You don’t want to miss it!
Olson’s Hi-Fi would like to present 3 products from the brands they offer: • KRELL K-300i Integrated amp ( maybe also KRELL 300 Duo XD and Illusion Pre amp ) • Roksan Radius 7 Turntable, with Corus2 cartridge • Monitor Audio Gold 300 Gen 5 speakers
February 2, 2019
Jaguar Audio Designs of Bellevue Visiting the Club
Time: 1:00PM – 4:30PM
Place: Mercer Island Congregational Church
NOTE: • Bring your own vinyl/LP’s and digital music sources (CD/USB/DAC/etc…)
• Club annual dues are due. Please remember to bring your due payments to the meeting.
• There is a change in plan; Atmasphere will not be able to visit us. Instead, we will host Jaguar Audio Design of Bellevue. This is bound be a another great event that we will experience analog and digital sources, and compare the formats. Don’t miss it!
Bellevue’s JaguarAudioDesign.com will be presenting two products from the brands they offer:
• La Voce DAC from Aqua Acoustic Quality
• Runwell Turntable from Shinola.
Aqua Acoustic Quality is an Italian designer of digital converters. The Aqua house sound can best be described as hypnotic and musical; as DACs go, Aqua generally falls in the same camp as the DirectStream or Lampizator (as opposed to more digital sounding DACs). Aqua makes three DAC models, the La Voce, La Scala and Formula. The Voce is the least expensive model and biggest bang-for-the-buck option, at just under $5K. From the Aqua Website “Designed to provide absolute modularity, the La Voce S3 is a pure R2R ladder - FPGA-based DAC without digital filter. It has a sign-magnitude ladder converter. The absence of digital filtering means no processing of the input signal. The original digital samples are translated to the reproduced sound, preserving the transient shape and avoiding any ringing. In this way we also avoid the ‘intersample overs’ problem that is vital to faithful reproduction, considering current recording studio practices. With our R2R conversion technology the sound is natural, fast, dynamic, and without the sense of compression characterizing others converters.” Detailed technical specs can be found here: https://www.aquahifi.com/file/datasheet/LaVoceS3_datasheet_EN.pdf
Shinola products are designed and manufactured in the USA, Detroit. The Runwell turntable design is quite retro and the manufacture quality is superb. This relatively compact unit contains quite a bit of machined aluminum and weighs in at around 35lbs. At $2,500, the Runwell comes equipped with an internal phono preamplifier, Ortofon cartridge and VPI-designed tonearm. This all-in-one, plug-and-play orientation is not targeted at the tweaker audiophile who wants to experiment with different cartridges, tonearms or phono preamps…it’s more for the music enthusiast who wants a high level of performance and just wants to plug it in, collect records and listen. You’ll find the sonic performance of the Shinola Runwell’s turntable is as stunning as its looks.
JAGUAR AUDIO DESIGN.com
Darin Forkenbrock
Phone: Toll-Free (844)GOAUDIO - (844) 462-8346
E-Mail: Fork@JaguarAudioDesign.com
Online: http://JaguarAudioDesign.com
January 5, 2019
J-Corder Technics Event
Kim Anderson and Jeff Jacobs of J-Corder will rejoin us as a follow up to the fantastic Technics event we had in September 2018. Reel-to-Reel tape deck and reference turntable(s) from Technics will be highlights. We will spend more time spinning vinyl and having an all-around good discussion with Jeff and team.
PAST MEETINGS
2018 Meetings
December 1, 2018
Annual Winter Social;: Potluck, Raffle/Auction + AES (Audio Engineering Society) Pacific Northwest Section will also join us and this will be a joint social: http://www.aes.org/sections/pnw/
Don’t miss it! Come meet the AES community and socialize with your fellow members in PNWAS.
Time: 12noon – 4:30pm
Place: Mercer Island Congregational Church (The usual club meeting location)
• Bring your favorite food or drink to share.
• This year we will have a raffle, and for that we will need and appreciate your donations. Pending the items donated for the raffle, raffle tickets will be $5 each; You may purchase as many as you like to increase your chances and donate to the club. We will pick winners in sequence, and each winner will pick the item he/she likes from the raffle pool.
• Bring your donations, no-longer needed audio gear, vinyl or CDs to be placed into the raffle for the club's benefit.
• For high-value items, there will be an auction. Entrants are asked to donate some percentage of the auction price to the club.
• AUCTION ON US AUDIO MART: We have an auction on US Audio Mart which you are all welcome to participate and bid: Fulton Audio Premier Modular Speakers. These are truly rare collector items and are in excellent condition. They are precursor to the Wilson Audio designs with adjustable phase and time correction, and influenced many high-end speakers. They will be setup and available for you to examine and audition during the winter social. Winner needs to pick them up at the end of the social, so come prepared if you are interested.
https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/649479328-fulton-premier-modular-speaker-fmi/
• We will also have tables for swap, possibly silent auction and sales by the club members.
• It is time for Annual dues for 2019. Please bring your payment ($60) to the December social, or pay via Paypal at the club site: http://www.audiosociety.org/membership.html
November 3, 2018
Gig Harbor Audio Visiting the Club
Time: 1:30PM – 4:30PM
Place: Mercer Island Congregational Church
We are excited that Gig Harbor Audio (GHA) will be joining us, bringing their warm and inviting store ambiance with a characteristic full setup. Owner Erik Owen, their very knowledgeable technician George Martin and a few other staff will join us. They plan to bring the following setup for our enjoyment:
- NOTE: Please bring your favorite LPs to spin and listen on these great turntables.
Saturn turntable/AMG arm/AMG Teatro cartridge - This is one-of-a-kind top-tier turntable, must to hear. Great opportunity for the club members to audition. Don’t miss it! - Well Tempered Labs Simplex turntable with Well Tempered Labs cartridge
- Parks Audio Puffin phono stage
- Accuphase E270 amplifier
- Spendor A7 speakers & GHA Speedster custom speakers/GHA 24" stands
- GHA Dueland/Switchcraft RCA cables
- GHA Dueland/Deltron speaker cables
- Nakamichi cassette deck with GHA mix tape
You can find more about GHA here:
http://www.gigharboraudio.com/
http://www.gigharboraudio.com/gha-video
October 6, 2018
A fun day with Michael Bueckers, one of our club’s very own creative minds showcasing his audio equipment creations and music selections.
Time: 1:30PM – 4:30PM
Place: Mercer Island Congregational Church
Michael will bring his entire system, showcasing a 6H30Pi tube preamp with new Russian triodes. He usually brings and sets it up in the smaller room. This time we will host him in our main room as the main event.
• Polk Audio 60 series 2 speakers
• A modified Audio Research D100B power amp
• Michael’s own creation 6H30Pi tube line amp (This is the same Russian super tube that is used in BAT and Audio Research designs)
• IFi DAC
• Laptop
Come join us as Michael explains the parts and why they were used, the objectives that he worked toward to make it sound good. For those of us tube buffs, he will explain all about the 6h30pi tube preamp, the circuits used and why. He will bring a box of Phase Linear XPL-909 output transistors for those who want to experiment based on his experience.
Music selection will consist of Tidal and Spotify, with same songs in them to show the difference in sound between the two.
Interactive session to talk about streaming music and listen to tracks as requested by members.
September 22, 2018
Technics event – Details to be updated as the event approaches.
• Time: 1:30PM – 4:00PM
• Place: Mercer Island Congregational Church
This is a unique and fantastic event that you don’t want to miss!
Exciting new products will be showcased by Technics, The Absolute Sound magazine and J-Corder representatives: A full demo of the Technics Reference System, with the brand-new Reference Series Technics SL-1000R turntable as the primary source, and one of the latest and greatest Technics custom J-Corder reel-to-reel tape decks.
Light snacks and refreshments will be served. This should be a great event for all.
This is also open to the general public with great interest, so come join us early to get good seats, meet and talk to the representatives.
• Details at the Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1033748486789853/
Map and Directions to the event:Map
Once arrived at the parking lot, follow signs towards the basement area on left.
September 8, 2018
Winners of the DIY Speaker Contest:
• Time: 1:30PM – 4:00PM – Winners should arrive at the church by 11:00AM to setup their speakers
• Place: Mercer Island Congregational Church
Come meet the winners of the DIY speaker contest, see and hear their winning designs. Details at the DIY Audio forum:
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/clubs-and-events/321168-puget-sound-diy-speaker-contest.html
August 11, 2018
Joint event – PNWAS Meeting and DIY Speaker Contest:
• Time: 9:00AM – 4:30PM -- Entrants should arrive at the church by 9:00AM
• Place: Mercer Island Congregational Church
Bring your DIY passive speakers to enter the contest, or come meet the designers, see and hear the contest entries. Details at the DIY Audio forum:
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/clubs-and-events/321168-puget-sound-diy-speaker-contest.html
NOTE: There will not be another meeting in August.
IMPORTANT: There is no meeting on September 1st, the recurring 1st Saturday of the month in September. Instead, we will have 2 meetings on September 8th and September 22nd, 2018.
July 7, 2018
Annual Summer Social.
We will start the event earlier than the usual club meetings. Great opportunity to meet and socialize with fellow members.
• Time: 11AM - 4PM, with a regular meeting at 1:30PM
• Place: Mercer Island Congregational Church
• Potluck style: We will provide hotdogs sandwiches, light snacks, drinks. Bring your food and drink selections to share with other members.
• Swap table: Bring your audio gear you want to swap or sell.
• Amir graciously offered to test members’ audio gear: Bring your DAC, preamp phono preamp for measurements.
Regular meeting agenda:
1. Darin Forkenbrock has agreed to bring his Van Den Hul Grail phono preamp to the July meeting for a shootout with the club’s Coffman and a Genesis preamp.
2. Gary Koh of Genesis Advanced Technologies has volunteered one of his phono preamps, possibly as a long-term Coffman replacement loan.
3. Vote for club’s preamp change:
During the amp shoot out in May meeting, we used a loaner Wired4Sound STP preamp and many members thought it worked well for our A/B tests. Accordingly, we will vote to make a change in our current Coffman preamp for following:
• Buying the Wired4Sound STP preamp, and/or
• Selling the Coffman preamp
Please plan to join the summer social as we will vote after 1:30PM.
IMPORTANT: There is no meeting on August 4th, the recurring 1st Saturday of the month in August. Instead, we will meet on August 11th, Saturday.
June 2, 2018
A visit to Mike Lavigne's place to hear his latest audio acquisitions.
(More detail to follow when we send out the signup email.)
Due to space limitations this event will be limited to paid members on a first-come, first-served basis.
There is no planned first Saturday meeting this month.
May 5, 2018
Class D amplifier shootout.
Listen to the merits of IcePower, N-Core and other class D offerings from club members. The reference class AB amplifier may be the Monarchy Audio SM70 Mark II monoblocks.
April 7, 2018
BYO vinyl.
Bring one or two of your favorite music tracks on vinyl to play for the club.
We may have an assortment of phono preamps on hand for audition.
We will also listen to and evaluate a pair of Monarchy SM70 Mark II Monoblock Amplifiers for the club's consideration.
March 3, 2018
Yet another DAC; ChordHugo2, and possibly others.
Meeting time 1:30 at the usual place on Mercer Island.
February 3, 2018
Comparison between Schiit Audio Yggdrasil and Berkeley Audio Design Alpha DACs.
We may have one or two others to listen to.
January 6, 2018
Gig Harbor Audio Visiting the Club!
- Line Magnetic 518IA integrated amplifier (845 tubes, class-A SET, 22 wpc)
- Chartwell LS3/5a speakers
- Rega P6/Ania/FonoMC
- GHA 24" speaker stands
- GHA 5 FT power cable (Neotech)
- GHA 1 M RCA cable (Dueland, Switchcraft)
- GHA 8 ft speaker cables (12 garage, Dueland, Deltron)
You can find more about GHA here:
http://www.gigharboraudio.com/
http://www.gigharboraudio.com/gha-videos/
They will not bring any LPs or digital music selection. Please bring your favorite LPs to spin and listen on the Rega P6 turntable.
Gig Harbor Audio has donated lanyards with name tag holders to the club. Instead of using sticky paper name tags, we will distribute and use these going forward for the club meetings.
January 14 2017- Back to our old digs on Mercer Island for a Saturday afternoon event many have been waiting for: Bob Carver will bring his renown ALS (Amazing LoudSpeaker) columns plus subwoofer, a pair of his 350 watt mono-block amplifiers, his preamp and a Mytek Brooklyn dac fed with files from his laptop server. This is the same system that blew them away at the Chicago Audio Society and at the New York audio show. You don't want to miss this event! Show starts at 1:30PM sharp. Seating is limited, on a first come, member preferred basis, so be sure you have paid or will be ready to pay your annual dues for 2017.
February 4th 2017 - Philip Chance and his customized AMPEX 351 tape machine will play some of his R-to-R tapes. Meeting starts at 1:30PM.
March 4th 2017 - Several PNWAS members will treat you to their favorite blues artists' music.
April 1st 2017 RSVP - On April 1st the PNWAS will be traveling to Port Townsend to visit with Jason Victor Serinus, contributing editor and equipment reviewer for Stereophile magazine. Jason will host a listening session of two amplifiers, the Audionet Max monoblocks, currently under review and Pass Labs XA200.8 monoblocks, his personal reference. Speakers will be Wilson Audio Specialties Alexia. Note: This is an invitation only meeting as seating is limited. Please RSVP to: rene@jaegeraudio.com Meeting times at Jason's will be limited to 1:30 - 4:30PM. I suggest invited members travel early and lunch in Port Townsend before the meeting. That way we can be sure that everyone arrives promptly. Because of the distance and travel time to Port Townsend, I am suggesting that invited members work out carpools. To facilitate that, please indicate if you are willing to be a driver, how many you can take and your approximate physical location. Be aware that for the club to coordinate this, we will need to share your email addresses with other attendees.
May 6th 2017
Guest Speaker, Mat Weisfeld, President of VPI Industries will talk about VPI and demonstrate three tables Mat and the VPI Vanquish turntable VPI Industries Inc. is a family owned high-end audio manufacturer that was started by Sheila and Harry Weisfeld, the founders of VPI 35 years ago. Still family owned, it is run by Harry and his son Mat. Since taking over the day-to-day management of the company, Mat has redesigned the VPI lineup and introduced the Prime table and 3D printed tonearms and other significant business additions like the Shinola and Mark Levinson tables. Should be an interesting meeting, don’t miss it. Gary Koh and Joe Pittman will set-up three VPI tables similar to the May 9th, 2013 meeting where we had three Thorens tables. This demo will include three of VPI’s latest tables including the $2K Scout, $10K Avenger and $40 Vanquish. The 3D arms on the Avenger and Vanquish will have the new Dual Pivot bearing and the Vanquish will
June 3rd 2017 - Affordable Acoustic Measurements and How To Apply Them
Presented by Bob Smith owner of SoundSmith Labs, Chief Audio guru at Physio Control and AES PNW committee member. Bob Smith, with demonstrations of analysis software, hardware, and technique, will show you how you can take advantage of no cost to low cost measurement tools to help you understand and treat your listening space for a more enjoyable listening experience. Using a low cost microphone, a small loudspeaker, a tape measure and a piece of string, Bob will demonstrate how to use the following tools to detect and treat standing waves and reflections:
Room EQ Wizard (PC, Mac, Linux, any Java)
Holm Impulse (PC only)
ARTA (PC only)
We will also hold the annual club elections, so if you are prepared to step up to a leadship position, be sure to attend! Our meetings are held at the Mercer Island Congregational Church on Island Crest Way and start at 1:30PM.
July 1st 2017 - Annual Barbeque and Summer Social
Dogs and burgers on the grill plus other culinary surprizes from our master chefs. Swap meet; bring your no longer wanted equipment, cds and vinyl.
August 5th 2017 - No meeting due to Seafair events. Please plan to attend our August 26th DIY gathering. There will be plenty to listen to and discover there.
August 26th 2017 - Biannual DIY show-and-tell
PNWAS members, Sound DIY fellows and local builders will present an assortment of audio handiwork for your listening and looking pleasure. A swap meet for audio related parts will also take place, so be thinking of your next project's needs (and what you are hankering to get rid of).
September 2nd 2017 - Gary Koh, club EXCO member and designer of Genesis
loudspeakers will talk about the making of the "Anne Bisson Trio:
Four Seasons in Jazz Live at Bernie's" direct-to-disc album. He
will take us behind the scenes and give club members an "open kimono"
look at the decisions and technology behind making excellent music and
sound from conception to delivery. He will also demonstrate the sonic difference in various formats - including tape, different vinyl formulations, and a direct from the studio lacquer.
October 7th 2017 - Presenting three of the best sounding speakers at the August DIY event.
Jay Hope's 2 1/2-way in a tour-de-force cabinet with new stands by Michael Drez
and updated crossovers from Humble Homemade HiFi;
Howard Grim's 4-way improved open baffles;
and Geoff Cole's 2-ways with 3-D printed cabinets.
All powered by Rene Jaeger's 100 watt class A, Silicon Carbide JFET amplifiers.
November 4th 2017 – Jerry Pomeroy Presents music videos to die for.
December 16th 2017 (3rd Saturday) - Annual Winter Social and Auction.
Bring your favorite food or drink to share and your no-longer needed
audio gear, vinyl or CDs to be auctioned for the club's benefit.
Entrants are asked to donate some percentage of the auction price to the club.
April 12th 2016 - Rene Jaeger will talk about the history of dbx noise reduction and its evolution to dbx encoded discs. He will play selections from his collection of discs.
May 10th 2016 - Richard Mueller will give a talk about the growth of the jazz big bands with some examples of bands you perhaps have never heard.
March 1st 2016 - Philip O'Hanlon of On a Higher Note will present the Merging Technologies HAPI dac. The HPAI is an 8 channel device which can be configured in stereo mode. He will play music files in different hi-res formats to demonstrate their differences. Members please note the meeting date which is one week earlier than usual. Please see the following links for details:
http://www.merging.com/uploads/assets/Merging_pdfs/Brochures/HapiBrochure-2014.pdf
http://onahighernote.com/
http://news.aesshow.com/2016/02/merging-technologies-continues-to-celebrate-25th-year/
Feb 9th 2016 - Jeff Jacobs of J-Corder (http://www.j-corder.com/) will talk to us about the evolution of open reel tape recorders. He will bring along one or two reel-to-reel machines that he has refurbished, and play some prerecorded tapes.
Jeff rebuilds Technics and Pioneer tape decks, among others, and has recently opened a store in Gig Harbor where he will sell vintage equipment from the 70s and 80s. He has just become a dealer for the new Technics line of electronics.
June 14 2016 - An evening with Mike Lavigne. Come out to the country and enjoy an evening filled with premier audio equipment playing music from analog tape and disc as well as quad DSD digital sources. Space is limited to the first 25 people who sign up, so RSVP to: rene@jaegeraudio.com Directions to Mike's will be provided to those who have been invited.
July 9 2016 - PNWAS annual Summer barbecue starting at 4 PM. Feel free to bring your favorite food, drink, and music to add to the festivities. Space is limited, so RSVP to:Rene'. Directions will be provided to those that have been invited.
August 9 2016 - Music; any kind of music. Bring a piece of music you like to play for the group; introduce it; tell us why you like it. Held at the Woman's Club in Kirkland.
August 27 2016 - Bi-annual Speaker Contest, where speakers built by members of the PNWAS and local DIY community are listened to and judged by an expert listening panel. Awards are presented in each different category of design. To follow developments leading up to this event please go to: http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/clubs-events/290124-puget-sound-diy-speaker-contest-2016-a.html This year's event will be held again at the usual Mercer Island Congregational Church on Island Crest Way. The speaker contest will be combined with a swap meet, so bring your unwanted parts and/or components to sell or swap.
September 13 2016 - Winning designs from the Speaker Contest will be presented. Meeting will be held at the Kirkland Woman's Club.
October 11 2016 - Ki's choice tapes will be played, open reel tapes exclusively from Ki Choi's collection. Ki may or may not be able to join us for this event.
November 8 2016 - Stunning videos from the library of your master of ceremonies and VP, Jerry Pomeroy. This year featuring (no more than) 15 minutes of famous zydeco bands and maybe some opera.
December 13 2016 - Starting at 6PM this year, the annual Christmas bash will see the return of The Raffle. It will also include the used equipment and music swap meet. Starting in 2017 our meetings will be held at the former Mercer Island location, the Congregational Church at 4545 Island Crest Way. Except for January and December, meetings will begin at 1:30PM on the first Saturdays of the month.
December 8th 2015 - Our annual Christmas Social where members get to renew old friendships, discuss their latest acquisitions and generally have a good time. The meeting will start early at 6PM.
Bring you favorite music for the season, humorous if you like, and any vinyl, tapes, digital media or unused equipement you wish to sell. A percentage donation of your proceeds
would benefit the club.
Snacks and drinks wiil be provided from club stores. Please feel free to bring any goodies you'd like to share.
January 12th 2015 - We plan to listen to several DSD dacs, possibly including the Lampizator "Golden Gate" dac.
November 10th 2015- Jerry Pomeroy will host the annual music video awards, presenting some of his personal best from his extensive collection.
Oct 13th 2015 - Kevin Wolff VANA Ltd.
Kevin Wolff of VANA Ltd. http://vanaltd.com/index.html will debut the Audio Physic Avanti loudspeaker system. In addition he will talk about and demonstrate progressively higher performance power conditioning from IsoTek. He will provide electronics from Primare, including digital playback electronics. If time permits, it may be possible to play some of your favorite CDs.
Definitive Audio Bellevue Showroom
We will be listening to some of the club's choice systems including the rarely heard Magneplanar 3.7i and the newest Maggies, the .7s.
August 29th 10:00 am DIY Get-Together Merecr Island -
This is a fun event of interesting projects that our members and non-members have put together ranging from amplifiers, pre-amplifiers, servers, DACs to speakers and even cables.
July 14th 2015 - Summer BBQ
Our July meeting is our annual BBQ social. Come join us on Tuesday the 14th at 7:30 for food and music, Jerry will be our fry master cooking up burgers and dogs and Dave Ellis will be providing music through his Devialet integrated amp. You are also welcome to bring music you would like to play. We will have the turntable set up if you would like to bring some vinyl and will also be playing digital. We will provide burgers and dogs and beverages please bring side dishes to share chips, dips,salads, desserts etc… We will also be having a swap meet, so bring anything audio related to sell, you will be responsible for taking care of your gear. If you wish to donate part of your sell to the club that would be greatly appreciated as we are trying to save for a new amp. This is one of the funnist meetings of the year and a chance to get to know everyone better so we would love to see everyone there.
Aug 22nd 2015 - Doc Bottlehead- Meeting will include some short presentations by Dan, headphone listening stations (also featuring the new “Neothoriator” headphone amp using 845 tubes driving AKG K 1000 ear speakers!!!), and a lot of great music from the custom multi-amped audio system in Bottlehead’s main listening room. Bring your significant others for a beautiful road trip to hear some great music on Bainbridge Island. Soft drinks and snacks will be provided, with stronger beverages available a few steps from the venue. Because of the location for this meeting, the meeting will be held on Saturday August 22nd, 2015, from 12-4pm. Bottlehead is located at 9415 Coppertop Loop NE, Suite 101, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110. It is approximately three miles from the Bainbridge Island Ferry dock. Most of you will be taking the ferry from Seattle, or as the locals say “the boat” to Bainbridge Island. We will discuss this at upcoming meetings, but think about carpooling, ridesharing, or even renting a van or two if there is enough interest. This event will constitute the regular August meeting for PNWAS – there will be NO meeting on Tuesday August 11 (our normal meeting day).
June 9th 2015 - 3beez - Jeffrey Barish, founder and president of 3beez, will give a two-part presentation to PNWAS. The first part will be based on his article in the current issue of The Absolute Sound (issue 253) called “Understanding Digital Music Systems”. This portion of the presentation will address issues that confuse and intimidate many newcomers to computer audio, particularly the inaccurate and inconsistent terminology used to describe products in this category (including the term “computer audio”). A simple set of terms accurately describes all digital music systems. The presentation will continue with an open discussion of other issues related to digital music systems. Bring questions.
The second part of the presentation will be a demonstration of the Wax Music Management System (winner of a 2015 TAS Editors' Choice Award), the product that Jeff originally designed to rip, organize, and play his own music collection. You will see and hear Wax Box 3, the latest version of the product, which has not even been announced yet. Many users comment that the Wax software is the first to solve the "classical music problem", but lovers of music of all genres appreciate the ease of use and flexibility of the software. 3beez's custom software makes it easy to catalog by work (rather than track), to survey a music collection (rather than search), and to preserve information that used to appear on the record jacket or in the liner notes — even by users who lack degrees in computer science. Ripping a CD collection is usually a big project, but with a system like Wax, the end result amply rewards the effort.
Dr. Jeffrey Barish is founder and president of 3beez. Prior to 3beez, he was founder and president of EuPhonics, a software firm specializing in audio and music synthesis products for the computer and professional audio industries. At EuPhonics, he invented many signal processing and system architecture innovations, including a fundamentally new music synthesis technique based on spectral modeling which produces very realistic instrument sounds. During this period, he was also a professor of electrical engineering at the University of Colorado at Boulder. When 3Com acquired EuPhonics, Dr. Barish became Director of audio technologies for 3Com. Prior to establishing EuPhonics, Dr. Barish was founder of Sonic Solutions, which introduced his NoNoise system for eliminating noise from audio recordings. Earlier in his career he was hardware manager at Lucasfilm/The Droid Works of the team developing SoundDroid, a programmable system for processing digital audio. Dr. Barish has a PhD and MS in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University, and an SB from MIT. His doctoral dissertation on concert hall design established design principles that have been applied in concert halls around the world, including Symphony Hall Birmingham, England and Harris Concert Hall Aspen, Colorado. Dr. Barish was awarded a Fellowship by the Audio Engineering Society for this work. He also served on the review board for the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society for many years.
May 12th 2015 - Rockfest - We will be having our own "Rockfest" in May. All participants are encouraged to bring in selections of their favorite type of rock; blues, country, classic, funk, hard, jazz, progressive, punk, rockabilly, roots etc.. As an additional twist, we want to find some new gems. We have all heard the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, etc., so bring in some music (vinyl or cd's) that may not be familiar to rest of the members. We will try and accommodate two or three songs per individual depending on our turnout. Please feel free to share any information you may have on the artists with the membership. It should be a fun and entertaining evening!
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April 14, 2015 - Paul McGowan, Co-Founder and CEO of PS Audio makes a special trip up from Boulder, Colorado to visit our club. Paul is a very interesting and entertaining speaker, so this is a meeting that you won’t want to miss! Paul is bringing along a Sprout to demo for us. This small, affordable integrated amp is strikingly simple with a nice feature set, so it’ll be fun to have it in our system at the meeting. We also look forward to hearing a little about the company, the new BHK Signature Amplifier, their upcoming pre-amp, and whatever else Paul might share about PS Audio’s adventures. Please join us, and bring a friend or two - visitors are welcome.
March 10, 2015 – It's Polish Night at the next meeting of the Pacific Northwest Audio Society! Forget about kotlety mielone and pierogi, we're going to take you on a journey with Polish DACs! First, we're going to be exploring the new Mytek Manhattan DAC. Designed and built by Michal Jurewicz, we're going to explore all its features and listen to the wonderful DSD music it can provide. After the break, we're going to delve into the Lampizator DSD DAC by Lukasz Fikus. His purely analog DACs defy imagination. We'll listen to both DACs through an EMM Labs Switchman 3 to see if we can even the playing field. Should be a great meeting for anyone wanting to move up into the ever-growing popularity of hi-end DSD DACs.
February 10, 2015 - This month, we will be playing vinyl on the club turntable. Our Rega P5 has recently been modified with a new Groovetracer sub platter and bearing , and a new Groovetracer delrin platter. Both are a nice improvement, and if you have not heard it please check it out. We encourage you to bring one or two favorite records that you would like to share with the club.
January 13, 2015 – A very informative and educational evening. Bring a friend or family member. We are honored to have Gary Dahl and Robert Trainer as our speakers. They will be speaking on the topic ”A Brief Survey of Classical Music” from Early Music, to 20th Century. The talk will be accompanied by slides and recorded music via CD on our Club Music System. We may even get to hear music being played on the baby grand piano!
December 9, 2014 – Our annual holiday social event. It will be a time for conversation and interaction between club members. We are encouraging folks to bring any analog or digital music that you really enjoy, which may not be widely known by the membership. In addition, there will be tables set up for an informal swap meet to find a home for those items that have been taking up space in your closet or drawer. Please bring any signage for your items. The club will be providing food and beverages for this event and are requesting a monitory donation to help defer the cost. We hope to have a large turnout for this meeting and look forward to the music, camaraderie and conversation!
November 11, 2014 – As part of our settling in to our new digs at the Women’s Club in Kirkland, we will be investigating the effects of acoustic treatments deployed in various configurations. To do this, our own Joe Pittman will be facilitating and orchestrating the placement of acoustic treatments around the room, then all of us will listen and judge the results. We need your help to do this. We need your ears and your opinions, and we need your arms and legs to help move things around. Don’t worry (be happy), it won’t be all work. Joe will be providing tunes from his server with playback through parts of the club’s reference system with some notable guest equipment appearances.
October, 2014 –
September 11, 2014 – Our meeting will feature most of the entries from "The Puget Sound! DIY Speaker Contest" which was held last month! It seems that each time we hold the Contest, the quality of the entries improves and this time was no exception. One significant difference were the number of three-way speakers that were entered. A total of four entries were 3-way designs! There have been several times in the past when there weren't any three way designs entered at all. There were also several 2-way speakers that sounded quite nice, as well. We believe that you'll be amazed how well these speakers actually sound in the Club's system. We also intend to have as close to the same system as we used in the Judging Room. This is one of the fun meetings where you can see what some of the members have been doing.
August 14, 2014 – The Audio Society and the Seattle Head-Fi crowd team up to welcome Doc Bottlehead and Clark Blumenstein (of Seattle’s Blumenstein Audio). Doc has just a released a new DAC kit that sounds amazing and Clark has been working on a new floorstander design. If you love high-sensitivity speakers with tubes or headphones, this promises to be a banner meeting. This event will start a few hours early (5:30pm) for a mini Head-Fi meet (we'll also have an extended mid-meeting break to explore headphone setups). We expect to have some very advanced headphone setups on hand, so show up early to take advantage of this opportunity to hear them.
July 10, 2014 – Our annual summer social event and BBQ! This year’s party will be held at club member and former club president Andrew Kosobutsky’s house in Newcastle, WA. Andrew has a wonderful listening room and will be spinning vinyl (and digital if you insist) from his extensive collection strictly for our listening pleasure. This event is one of the most enjoyable events of the year. Don’t miss it.
June 12, 2014 – Phono Preamps
May 8, 2014 – Our May meeting will feature a presentation of the new PS Audio DirectSteam DAC. This DSD-capable DAC is the brainchild of Ted Smith, a longtime friend of PNWAS, and now lead designer for this product. Ted presented an early prototype of this unit some three years ago. We liked it (a lot) then, and look forward to hearing the production version.
April, 2014 –
March, 2014 –
February 13, 2014 – Album Covers – Our February meeting will focus on music, mostly new music, at least new to many of you. You will likely recognize the track title, but the artist and the style will likely be someone and something you’re not expecting. We will be presenting interesting covers of music in several genres, whose original or popular version you likely have in your collections. Fun stuff, representing possible additions to your collections.
January, 2014 –
December, 2013 –
November 14th, 2013 - Madrona Digital will host the Audio Society for a presentation by Vicoustic acoustical treatments. Join us for food, drinks, interesting discussion and the coolest home theater room in the city.
October 10th, 2013 - Buying vinyl, either online or in a record store, is a bit of a gamble. Only that first 15 seconds after you get it home and put the needle on the record will determine whether you bought a gem, a dud or something in-between. Our members as a whole have a mountain of vinyl gems at home that we would never individually know about, including many that are easy to find and inexpensive. King of the Mountain Vinyl is all about bringing those gems to the attention of our members, so you can add them to your collection.
September 12th, 2013 - Ki Choi is a formost expert on reel tape machines and their restoration. He owns about 40 machines from Studer, Nagra and others and is the man behind the resoration of many of the machines owned by audiophiles around the country. Ki lives in the Puget Sound area and will take a break from his day job as a nuclear scientist to visit the audio club with a machine and some of his best tapes.
August 8th, 2013 - Meeting at Mike Lavigne's house to hear his world-class system, including his new Evolution Acoustics speakers and Dartzeel monoblocks. Reel tapes and premium vinyl will be in full effect.
July 11th, 2013 - The PNWAS Summer BBQ Social is coming up. Dogs, burgers, buns, condiments, bottled water, plates and the like will be provided, as well as some newly-styled chicken burgers from our gourmet cooks. Card tables will be set up if you'd like to bring anything to swap or sell. A Vanatoo / Exemplar Audio system will be set up to pump out the tunes. Come ready to socialize.
June 13th, 2013 - The 2nd Annual PNWAS "Live vs. Recorded" Event
Featuring Seattle Opera Soprano Kimberly Giordano and Seattle Violin Soloist Marie' Rossano
After the fantastic success of last year's "Live vs. Recorded" meeting we decided to make this an annual June event for the Audio Society. It's hard to beat the energy and excitement that goes along with a live performance and recording and playing back the performance is our way of putting our own audiophile spin on the evening.
For LvR 2013 we have two musical artists you won't want to miss. We're fortunate to have partnered with the Seattle Opera to find soprano Kimberly Giordano. Kimberly appeared most recently at the Seattle Opera as Suor Osmina in Suor Angelica. She also joined the Seattle Mariners last summer on Safeco Field to perform the National Anthem. In addition, we have Seattle violin soloist Marie' Rossano. Marie has appeared as a soloist with the Seattle Symphony and is also the winner of the 2012 Classical KING FM Young Artist Award. She'll be performing at the Juliard School before our event and with the Salt Lake Symphony after.
May 9th, 2013 - The PNWAS 9th May meeting will feature a range of turntables from Thorens, a German company that has been in business for 130 years. Thorens was a very popular brand in the early high-end audio days when vinyl ruled. Many of you may remember the popular Thorens TD125 and the TD160 which are still much sought-after today. In 1979, the Thorens Reference Turntable set the high-water mark for reference turntables as much as the Infinity Reference Standard in 1978 set the high-water mark for reference loudspeakers. We'll have three Thorens tables ranging in value from $1k-10k and the club's Rega table as a reference.
April 11th, 2013 - Don't miss our April meeting when we'll be joined by Emmanuel Go of First Sound Audio (Renton, WA), to demonstrate his fantastic line of handmade tube preamplifiers. Emmanuel is renowned for his attention to detail in his products and he'll discuss some of his philosophies and approaches to design and building. We'll have two Fist Sound models on hand as well as Emmanuel's Berning OTL (output-transformer-less) tube amplifier (and possibly a solid state amplifier), all connected to the club's Genesis 7.2 speakers.
March 14th, 2013 - We'll be assembling a fantastic system using the club gear with Rene' Jaeger's tube amplifier and Berkley DAC, as well as a Modwright-modified BD-105 player. However, the focus of this meeting is your musical masterpieces...bring the vinyl, CD or digital file version of your most mesmerizing music selections for everyone to hear.
February 14th, 2013 - Jim Merod, the Positive Feedback reviewer who raved about our Genesis 7.2F loudspeakers will join us. You may not know Jim is a recording and mastering engineer who's worked with artists such as Tito Puente, Joe Lovano, Tommy Flanagan, Sarah Vaughan, Eddie Palmieri, Wynton Marsalis, Ella Fitzgerald, Stan Getz, Tolu, Los Lobos, Ozomatli, and Luciana Souza. He'll be bringing some of his high-resolution master recordings to demo.
January 10th, 2013 - We did a meeting about Tweak devices a few years ago and it was great fun listening to a myriad of far out devices and hearing how they affected our sound. This time we'll also throw in a few modified components to up the interest factor. This is going to be a fantastic meeting to get some fantastic ideas for your system at home.
December 13th, 2012 - Join us this Thursday for the Pacific Northwest Audio Society's annual holiday party. Our resident master chef, Jay, will be working up a desert tray and we'll be playing holiday music, so be sure to bring your funniest or most inspiring holiday discs and vinyl. Come be a part of this fun and festive evening.
November 8th, 2012 - One of the most renowned engineers in the digital audio world, Andreas Koch, will join us in November. Through his company, Playback Designs, Andreas has created some of the most fantastic digital audio products out there. He'll have his MPS-5 Reference Player at the club for us to hear. In addition, Andreas will discuss his long career as a designer, starting in the 1980's with Studer Revox and then with Dolby Labs and Sony.
http://www.bluelightaudio.com/products/playback-designs
October 11th, 2012 - This month we have a very interesting combination. Our 2012 speaker contest winners and runners up will be bringing in their speakers for us to listen to. We'll play some of the judges selections from the contest. We also have Zsolt Mathe of Z-Infinity demonstrating his tube based preamp and amplifiers. We'll hear the Z-Infinity amps through the club speakers as well as the speaker contest speakers.
September 13th, 2012 - Durand Tonearms will be featured at the Audio Society in September. Come hear amazing vinyl performance from some of the best tonearms out there.
http://www.durand-tonearms.com
August 9th, 2012 - Vanatoo, Small Size...Big Sound: Join us in August to hear amazing sounds coming from this compact, all-in-one system, designed by two of the club's own members. The Vanatoo Transparent One Powered Speakers include everything you need to make great music with your computer, inside these two 10" high speakers. You won't believe how these little speakers perform...they are awesome. We'll hear the story of the company and its first product as it's on the verge of hitting the market.
July 12th, 2012 - Summer BBQ, Hangout and Swap Extravaganza: Join the group for a summer barbecue. We'll be firing up the grill with burgers and hot dogs. Be sure to bring any albums, CDs or audio gear you'd like to sell or trade, because our Swap Meet will be going strong on Thursday night. For your listening enjoyment we're going to assemble a system with all vintage gear; if you have any killer gear from the good-ole-days that you can add to the mix, let us know.
June 14th, 2012 - "Live" vs. Recorded: Join the Pacific Northwest Audio Society on Thursday, June 14th at 7:30 for a meeting with renowned recording engineer Todd Garfinkle of Ma Recordings for a live recording of budding Seattle woodwind artist Benjamin Zobel. Todd will demonstrate and discuss his unique and innovative recording techniques. http://www.marecordings.com/main/default.php
May 10th, 2012 - DSD Demystified! What is this "DSD" creature? Much talk has been generated lately about DSD open-source coding and more labels offering DSD downloads. Most of you know the DSD format from SACD's. Unlike CD's, there wasn't much you could do with the data. This meeting will answer all your questions. Hopefully by the end of the meeting, everyone will be able to download DSD files, set up the computer and enjoy the magic of music in the Megahertz!
April 12th, 2012 - Join us in April to meet Kara Chaffee and see her fabulous line of deHavilland HiFi tube gear. The evening will feature her Model 50A, 45 watt, triode-wired KT88 output stage, mono block amplifiers. She'll pair this with her UltraVerve 3 preamplifier, featuring 100% hand wired point-to-point circuitry, as well as the 6SN7 octal tube, and tube rectification using the 5AW4 / 5U4 rectifier.
To top it all off, Kara will also bring her Model 222 Vacuum Tube Magnetic Tape Playback Preamplifier, which we will pair with a reel-to-reel machine and reels from Bruce Brown's private stock at Puget Sound Studios.
March 8th, 2012 - Many members still remember the magical evening of music we had more than two years ago when Steve McCormack presented his Virtual Reality Engine-1 preamp to the club and pretty much blew everyone away. By the end of the meeting, some members were proposing to spend entire treasury of the club to buy the VRE-1 from Steve! Good thing that cooler heads prevailed...but we still long for that magical moment again.
Here's the chance. Steve is bringing his latest version, the VRE-1C for yet another presentation. This is the first time ever that a remote-controlled version of a preamp sounds better than the manual version using a stepped, discrete-resistor attenuator. Steve will tell us how he managed to do it.
In case you don't know who Steve McCormack is, he was the founder of McCormack Audio (since sold to Conrad Johnson), recorded and engineered some of the most sought after Direct Disc LPs ever made with M&K Real Time, founded the Mod Squad, and invented Tiptoes.
Visitors and guests are always welcome.
February 9th, 2012 - Our February meeting is a very special event which will feature presentations and discussion with two Pacific Northwest audio manufacturers. Coming up from Amboy (Vancouver) WA, Dan Wright, from ModWright Instruments, will be bringing his KWI 200 integrated amp with integral DAC, LS 100 tube linestage (also with DAC), a KWA 150SE SS Power amp (a very special piece - ed), and likely a tube-modified Oppo BDP-95. From Ferndale (Bellingham) WA, Lou Hinkley from Daedalus Audio, will be bringing his Athena speakers. These speakers are characterized by their ability to remain clear as well as natural, with a wide range of music and at all volume levels. In addition, their high (96 db) efficiency makes them amp-friendly, and it doesn't hurt that they're beautiful to look at. Both manufacturers encourage members to bring their favorite demo discs to the meeting. These same manufacturers partnered at the 2011 Rocky Mountain Audio Festival to produce great music for visitors to their rooms.
January 12th, 2012 - The January meeting of the PNWAS will feature an exciting showdown of digital playback systems. This will be both an interesting preview of state-of-the-art digital audio components, as well as a showcase of digital gear our Executive Committee has selected as candidates for consideration in our own digital playback system. Headlining the first half of the meeting will be a duel between the stock Oppo multi-player and a modified player from John Tucker, at Exemplar Audio. The second half of the meeting will pit the stock Oppo against the Eximus DAC. The music will be a mixture of top-notch Redbook and hi-res tracks.
December 8th, 2011 - Annual holiday party and gift exchange.
November 10th, 2011 - Road trip to the Madrona Digital studio, in Bellevue. Be sure to RSVP a few days ahead. Guests, please email / call Darin or Joe to RSVP. You won't want to miss this one.
October 13th, 2011 - The October meeting will feature a comparison of the two very different amplifier topologies. The Class A* Plinius SA-103 will square off with the Class D Genesis GR360. Both of these amps have received critical acclaim in the media and both sound terrific. Special thanks to members Peigen Jiang (Plinius) and Joe Pittman (Genesis) for providing the gear for this event.
September 8th, 2011 - Our next meeting will focus on music, specifically, your favorite music. We are asking that all members and guests bring music that brings you enjoyment, has special meaning, or represents something new that you’ve heard and want to share. We’d like you to bring one or two discs or records, and if you’re comfortable with it, say a few words about what you like about the music. This type of event is always fun and simple, and makes it easy to come up with new additions to your music collection. This event is all about sharing the music you like with the rest of us.
August 27th, 2011 - We will hold our two year DIY project event on Saturday, Aug 27th. Watch our events page for more details as the date approaches.
August 11th, 2011 - Road trip to Mike Levigne's, to listen to his world-class system. Those of you who attended last year and the year before will be amazed when you hear the changes he's made this year. RSVP to joe@kosmic.us
July 14th, 2011 - A few small tube amps will be on hand to explore the allure of high efficiency speakers. We will use the 95dB efficient, Cain & Cain Abby.
June 9th, 2011 - Audio Society member and inventor of the amazing Ground Control tweak, Bud Purvine, will demonstrate his speaker driver modification process, he calls enABLE. This process elimnates the resonance that resides on the surface of the driver, a problem which today's drivers do not address. We'll have two sets of the same speaker (one treated, one not) and you will hear the before and after in an A/B listening test. Get ready to be shocked by the improvement.
May 12th, 2011 - Dan Schmalle (aka Doc Bottlehead) will demonstrate his creations. Dan is renowned in the audiophile world for his low-power amplifiers and headphone amps, which can be purchased as a kit by DIYers. The source will be Dan's reel to reel tapes, from the Tape Project and the gear on hand will include a set of Dan's 300Bs and his 2 watt OTL Set amp, connected to his Straight 8 (eight driver) speakers. In addition, Dan will have four listening stations set up with his headphone amps and several models of headphones.
April 14th, 2011 - Jules Bloomenthal, will give a presentation on the ground breaking work he did with Soundstream Inc, at the dawn of the digital music age. The meeting will include listening to several early digital recordings made by Jules and his colleagues.
March 10th, 2011 - Ted Smith will come by with his new DAC prototype, which utilizes DSD technology.
February 10th, 2011 - Is Digital Ready for Prime Time?
The club has many members who are dedicated vinyl-philes, and as many members where the CD/Music Server is their primary source. There have been endless debates on digital vs analog - theory and specifications vs "just listen". This month's meeting is not a debate on analog vs digital, but an exploration and discussion on state of the art in analog and digital playback.
As a basis of discussion, we have attempted to put together a system that is equally optimized for analog and digital. We will be able to compare high-quality analog playback with a pass through an ADC and DAC loop. While this is certainly not exhaustive, it will give attending members food for thought..... and whether with the system assembled, members in the acoustic space of the club meeting can hear the difference between straight analog, and analog digitized and then converted back to analog.
The system will comprise the following:
Roksan Xerses 20+ record player
Roksan Artemiz arm
MicroMagic Virus cartridge (with ruby cantilever and optimized contour stylus)
Burmester Top Line Ph100 phono stage with built-in 24bit/192hz ADC
Weiss Minerva DAC (plus mods by Gary)
Genesis SMc-1 Preamp
Genesis GR360+ amplifier
Genesis 7.1f loudspeaker
Members are encouraged to bring their LPs to play.
January 13th, 2011 - Contestants from our speaker contest last August return to show off their creations. From horns to 3-ways to monitors, we will have nearly all of the award winners from the contest.
December 9th, 2010 - Annual Christmas and holiday party.
November 11th, 2010 - High Definition video and music with Jerry Pomeroy.
October 14th, 2010 - Guest speaker TBA.
September 9th, 2010 - Tweaks...amazing gizmos and devices you may not have tried yet.
August 28th, 2010 (Saturday) - PNWAS Biennial (every two years) DIY Speaker Building Contest: entrants will have their speakers played and judged from behind a curtain, with the exact same gear, music selections and SPL calibration. To the victors go the bragging rights.
Doors at 9:00am and judging starts around 9:30. The contest will go until all the entries have been evaluated by the judges and their scores are totaled and ranked within classes and overall. Winners will then be announced and presented with certificates, with the Best of Show then announced. Everything should wrap up around 4:00-5:00pm. Please contact us if you have further questions
Click here for detailed information about the contest.
August 12th, 2010 - This month's meeting will be held at Mike Lavigne's listening room. Guests not on our distribution list, go to the contact page and contact Darin Forkenbrock, for details.
July 8th, 2010 - 70's night...gear and music from a golden age.
June 10th, 2010 - A reel-to-reel listening session with Bruce Brown and his best reels, from Puget Sound Studios.
May 13th, 2010 - Turntable setup tips, followed by a listening session with various tables and gear. Bring your special vinyl.
April 8th, 2010 - Rollout of a few prototype commercial components from club members, as well as some DIY component and speaker projects built by members.
March 11th, 2010 - Guest amplifier designers present their new monoblocks, which yield an amazingly tube-sounding solid state design, along with the newest speaker designs from Northwest-based Eficion.
February 11th, 2010 - Presentation by Bruce Brown, of Puget Sound Studios, on converting LPs to high-resolution digital files.