Meeting Topics 2005

January 16	CAS member Larry Musial demoed a number of products from Chicago-based Bizzy Bee Tube Audio Design (Paul Grzybek). The demo system consisted of: modified Cayin TA-30 35-watt tube integrated amp, a new beta version of a Bizzy Bee Tube Audio Design 35-watt tube amplifier, a TAD-150 remote control tube preamp, a Marantz CD-67SE modded with a new analog section by OGRE Systems, Frank Putnam's modified Denon turntable with Micro Seiki MA-505 tonearm & Grado G15 cartridge, and Larry's highly modified industrial Klipsch La Scala horn speakers augmented with a DIY subwoofer with 2 12" Eminence drivers.
February 20	Ridge Street Audio demonstrated their Sason Ltd. Granite loudspeakers and reference Poiema!! line of cables.
March 20	Music Direct demoed a system of their products for both analog and digital. The system consisted of Legacy Victoria LE speakers, an Avid Acutus turntable with Benz Micro Ruby 2 cartridge, mounted on a Shure SME Series V tonearm, an EAR 834P Deluxe tube phono stage, a Marantz DV-9500 universal SACD player, a PS Audio Edge G-2 preamp, PS Audio Edge GCA 100 Gain Cell amplifier, Shunyata Hydra 8 Power Conditioner, and Solidsteel speaker and audio stands. This allowed us to do many vinyl-to-SACD comparisons.
April 17	Essential Audio of Barrington sponsored the meeting that had Ralph Karsten of Atma-sphere revisiting us again! The demo system consisted of: Atma-Sphere MP-3 preamp, MA-1 MkII.3 OTL tube amps (140 watt monoblocks), Atma-Sphere-modified Empire 208 turntable with TriPlanar tonearm, G&D Transforms UTP-1 CD transport, Entec Number Cruncher D/A converter, ProAc Response 5 speakers, Creative Cable Concepts & TG Audio cabling & line conditioning.
May 15	Brian Bienfang & Rick Elsworth from Signature Tech in Milwaukee area presented their lines of speakers and electronics. The system consisted of the following: a SRp-7g tube pre-amp, SRa-9m 200 watt mono block amplifiers (FET front end with tube outputs), a SRd-25 vacuum tube CD player, an EC-1 electronic crossover, a BELLES 350 A reference sub-amp, & SRM-5.1 & SRM-.7 loudspeakers.
June 26 (4th Sunday)	Joe Jurzec of Jam 'n Audio a member & previous cohost at the meetings of SP Technologies speakers and Audiopoints products, demonstrated a system of his latest products consisting of: Dynamic Audio One speakers from Daedalus Audio, Reference 8 100 watt monoblocks from NuForce, SWL 9.0SE linestage from Modwright, Denon 3910 with Ultimate Truth Mods, a Mark Levinson No. 39 CD player for comparison, Empirical Design Interconnects and Speaker Cable, SP-3 and SP-004 Sistrum racks/platforms from Star Sound Technologies.
July 17	Meeting was at the home of Rick Berta in Orland Park, IL. 2 high-efficiency speaker systems were demoed. The first consisted of a Lowther driver with a circular horn with a large bass bin off to the side and used focal woofers in a horn loaded arrangement. The other setup combined the 15" Lambda low frequency driver crossed over low at 50 Hz, with an 8" French design PHY-HP extended range driver and Fostex tweeters crossed over at a high range (about 8kHz). This system was also actively biamped. Both systems were driven by custom-built 300B amps from Rick's friend Minh from Canada. The digital player was a modified Denon 3910 by Exemplar Audio. See the July newsletter for more meeting details.
August 21	Meeting at the home of Brian Richardson in Arlington Heights, IL. A multi-channel all-tube Magnepan SACD setup was demoed. The player was a Stan Warren modified Philips SACD-1000. See the August newsletter for details.
September 18	John Van Leishout of Van L Speakerworks will be presenting the latest revision of his Quartet speaker system. It features a unique crossfeed design that uses an additional speaker wire between the two speakers to capture ambience. The speaker has been through a number of design changes and tweaks by John over the years. The associated electronics will include a Cary tube amp, Cary upsampling CD player and a custom octal tube line stage.
October 16	ZU Cables, who are getting recognition for their speakers will be demonstrating their Definition 1.5 & Druid speaker models, as well as their cables. The Definition 1.5, the top of the line, received a very favorable review in the August 2005 online edition of 6moons Audio.
November 20	Jon Verhalen from Lowther America demoed the Alerion speakers with their new matching subwoofer, the Basszilla Platinum edition. The demo system consisted of Sony ES9000 with Level 4 Vacuum State Modifications, Pass Labs X1 Pre-Amp, First Watt (Nelson Pass) Aleph J Amp, Jena Labs Cables.
December 11 (2nd Sunday)	Holiday meeting with Song Audio demoing Loth-X speakers.