The Golden Ear

Newsletter of the Chicago Audio Society August 1999

Sunday, August 15th - 2:00pm

Our dance card is full this month! Joe Fratus, who has participated in the design of the Art Audio amplifiers, will tell about why they sound so good, demonstrating the Jota amp. Ric Cummins, designer and builder of the unusual looking Rosinante speakers and purveyor and sage of Dark Matter, will show us what these remarkable loudspeakers can do. And Todd Laudeman, a True Believer in Dark Matter's ability to take you to the next level in musical fulfillment, will talk about what these funky looking (dare I say tubular?) things called Room Lenses will do to focus your sound. Todd will tell about David Gill's tube CD player, which should also be of great interest.

So bring some music and your dancing shoes, and get ready to have some fun!

Last Month

Keith Herron (of Herron Audio) presented his tube line stage and phono stage preamplifiers, as well as his new solid state monoblock amplifiers. He used a VPI Aries turntable with JMW Memorial tonearm and Lyra Parnassus moving coil cartridge, along with Audio Physic Virgo speakers, and we used Rich Sacks' Aiwa CD changer (used as a transport) connected to a modified MSB D/A converter via an Audioquest digital cable (ask Rich for details).

We don't expect you to take our word for it that we had one of the best sounds we've been able to achieve at a meeting--just ask someone who was there. Yes, the music was very enjoyable, and we played more LPs than at any other meeting we can recall, which perhaps says something (despite the missing tonearm unipivot damping fluid and lack of VTA adjustment). All we can say is, good show, Keith! This company has some serious stuff at decidedly less than second mortgage prices.

Keith Herron had a couple of interesting system tweaks, one being plugging all components into the same electrical outlet. Why? Star grounding gives you a better chance of having everything at an equal potential relative to ground. Practices of plugging amplifiers, analogue, and digital components into different outlets do not give this benefit, claims Herron. Another tweak, shared enthusiastically by our friend Marty DeWulf, editor of Bound For Sound, is to try reversing polarity on power cords. Herron's components all have a polarity switch next to the IEC receptacle, to make experimentation easier (and so you don't have to hack your plugs to turn them around). Lower noise is the major benefit. Why don't more manufacturers do this?

Here's a list of a few of the many pieces of music we played at the meeting:

(CD) Christian McBride, Gettin' To It, "Night Train", Verve 314 523 989-2

(LP) The Immortal Victor Herbert, The Robert Shaw Chorale and Orchestra, "The Fortune Teller" and "Naughty Marietta", RCA LSC-2515

(CD) The Heads, No Talking Just Head, "Indie Hair"

(LP) Shostakovich, Symphony No. 6 in B Minor and Symphony No. 11 in G Minor, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, EMI Angel SLS 5177

(CD) Johann Sebastian Bach, Violoncello Solo Suites I, II, & III , Paolo Beschi, baroque cello, Winter & Winter 910 001-2

(CD) Take Love Easy, Ella Fitzgerald and Joe Pass, "Lush Life", JVC XRCD XR-0031-2

(LP) Aaron Copland, Rodeo Folk Dance Episodes, El Salon Mexico , and Danzon Albano, Antal Dorati conducting Minnesota Symphony Orchestra, Mercury Living Presence SR 90172

Future Meetings

What an all-star lineup! You'd best not miss any of these!

September 19th - Jud Barber of Joule Electra and Bobby Palkovic of Merlin Music Systems. Another one you must not miss!

October 17th - Tact Audio. People have been raving about this digital amplifier's ability to reveal detail. Come find out why!

Recording companies are coming later, including Chicago's own Cedille Records.

For Sale/Wanted/Trade

Conrad-Johnson Evolution 20 preamplifier, includes MM/MC phono input; VTL 125 monoblock amplifiers; Quad ESL 63 US Monitor loudspeakers. Call Steve Hess at (630) 858-2846.

As a service, members may advertise their own personal items here at no charge.

President Vice President Treasurer

Brian Walsh Rich Sacks Dennis Anderson

(847) 382-8433 (847) 843-2554 (630) 830-9142

bpwalsh@xnet.com rich2@mediaone.net