Audio Video Club of Atlanta Founded in 2008 to share the enjoyment of high-quality Home Audio & Video Systems |
Past Meetings
Enjoy our many past meetings....
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Completed Program - Sunday - November 22, 2009. Audio Atlanta Shop - Marietta, Ga Despite the rain, chill and wind, we enjoyed a robust turnout of members and guests at Audio Atlanta - Marietta, GA featuring a dealer showcase of new products from PS Audio including the impressive and leading edge PerfectWave Transport and PerfectWave DAC. Also Rogue Audio Vacuum Tube Electronics, Tannoy and Boston Acoustics Loudspeakers, VPI and Music Hall Turntables and other interesting products. Many thanks Pete and Gordon long time supporters of top-flight audio in Atlanta. The PS Audio Combo of Transport and D/A is simply phenomenal and well worth an audition!!! Preview PS Audio's latest at: www.psaudio.com Host/owner Pete Marshall also provides turntable repair. retrofits/tuning and cartridge sales and mounting. Vintage gear refurbishing/upgrades, modifications, restorations including loudspeakers is also provided. Contact Pete or his able associate and skilled electronics engineer Gordon Waters - 770-499-0145. or info@audioatlanta.com Loc: 19 Atlanta, St, Marietta, Ga., 30060, just off the Marietta Square. On the web www.audioatlanta.com
Completed Members November 14, 2009 - Field Trip Very successful, well attended, great sound and indeed fun... Saturday, November 14, Members field Trip to - "ZU Audio Party" complete with ZU founders, Live Music and Refreshments. Members were treated to this special showcase of ZU loudspeaker products in Atlanta, including the new and acclaimed Essence. Many thanks to our hosts David Schwegman and Ron of Zu for this special event. Visit Zu on the web: www.ZuAudio.com Completed Program-Sunday, October 25, 2009 "Get Better Sound" - presented by author Jim SmithMembers and guests gathered to met the author of the best selling "Get Better Sound" © book. Jim actively demonstrated with a spectrum analyser and discussions how to achieve the best sound from an affordable audio system, with initial set-up and positioning of the loudspeakers most critical. He also exploded common held "myths" of speaker set-up in the average listening room, all quite enlightening...Sales of autographed copies of the Get Better Sound © book were available to attendees at 33% discount. Thanks Jim... This was a "triple whammy" program featuring not only Jim but two other presenters as well. Dr. Tommy J Anderson of ACA Recordings presented present a primer on the pros, cons and myths of HD Radio including both Broadcast and On-Line channels...and Dr. Phil Muse our in-house classical music reviewer played selections from his most recently reviewed CD's. These will be available for Raffle at a future meeting... To quote a review of Jim Smith's book all the way from Italy; "Jim Smith is a well respected "pro" in the US high-end market hence US readers might not need an introduction. For us EU readers let me just say that Jim Smith's CV is quite long and impressive. He started in the early Seventies, working as customer service manager (and even in the sales & marketing department) at Audio Research Corporation (ARC). At that time he wrote the installation manuals for the Tympani 1D Magneplanar loudspeakers. Then he moved to Magnepan, for which he wrote the manuals for various Magneplanar models (MG1's and MG2's, for example). In 1979 he opened his own high-end shop, Audition, in Birmingham, Alabama. The shop soon became - for the high-end niche - one of the top-10 HiFi stores nationwide. In the meanwhile he got involved in producing live music recordings of excellent quality. In 1993, unhappy of what the high-end scene was becoming, he left the audio industry. In 1999 he returned as the US distributor of Avantgarde loudspeakers. Despite the fact horns weren't much popular among high-enders, he won seven "Best Sound of the Show" awards in five years, thanks to his accurate demos of Avantgarde speakers". This in-turn led to a book with 202 tips in almost 300 pages, with very clear and nice drawings and set-up schemes.The book comes with a 90 day Risk-Free Guarantee. www.tnt-audio.com/books/get_better_sound_e.html Location: Virtual Properties Realty office - 6650 Sugarloaf Parkway, Suite 700, Duluth, GA 30097. North Gwinnett County.View/Print expanded directions Completed Christmas Party - 2009 Sunday, December 13, 2009 - 2:30 to 7 PM - Members and spouses, significant others enjoyed a fine pot luck dish Christmas Party hosted by Tom & Dwana Horner. This holiday gathering is always tasty and delightful with lots of fun and fellowship. Our hosts have multiple A/V systems in their welcoming home for all to enjoy. Completed Special Field Trip.. Saturday, September 26, 2009 - 2 PM Vintage Radio, Audio, Hi-Fi, Studio and Cinema Gear Members and special guests (from the Southeast Antique Radio Society) were treated to a field trip and tour of vintage Radio, Hi-Fi, Loudspeakers, Broadcast Studio, Vacuum Tubes, Tape, LP, Ham Gear, Parts, Rare Sinage, Broadcast Studio Gear, and Historical Artifacts. Hosted by nationally known private collector Imre Vanyl. Some of the collection including R-to-R tape was in operation and was simply stunning. Excellent cookout refreshments were provided by our gracious host - Pix Wall of Vintage Gear Location: Defoor Ave. NW Atlanta. Completed program - Sunday, September 13, 2009 Re-visit to Meridian America (Austell, Ga. Hq.). We were invited back after our spring visit to and enjoy the stunning 10 megapixel 810 HD Video Projector. And indeed we were not disappointed!!! We also revisited the equally stunning Sooloos digital music server, playback and archive system . Other top-flight Meridian A/V systems were also auditioned. Sunday - August 16, 2009 - 2 PM Featuring a fantastic jazz classics program and award winning radio host "H. Johnson" heard Saturday evenings on WABE FM 90.1, 9 PM to 2 AM. "H" discussed and presented live performance video clips (via a large format projection system) of notable Jazz greats such as Eroll Garner, Milt Jackson, Ella Fitzgerald, Al Hurt, Maynard Ferguson and others... We spun some definitive Jazz CD and LP recordings via a first rate audio system... Our guest in brief; H. Johnson: "Veteran jazz host, raconteur, and savvy connoisseur of classic jazz recordings, the venerable and affable H. Johnson"... We also raffled a pair of top performing Usher V-601 loudspeakers generously donated by Gateway Audio of Tucker, Ga. which was won by member John Atwood. We'll also raffled numerous CD's, Contact Cleaning kits, Solder Buddy kits and other goodies... Playback gear was by; Audio Research LS 26 & PH-5 Pre, Benchmark D/A, Oppo universal CD, Aragon 8008 B-B Balanced, Audioquest "Colorado" battery bias balanced and SE interconnects, Kimber Select, Soundstrings, Project LP, Ortophon, and Usher among others... For more AVCOA information; Contact John Morrison at jhm3@bellsouth.net or Chuck Bruce at 770-493-7105 & chucksaudio@mindspring.com Sunday, June 28, 2009 - 2 to 5 p.m. Mini-Canfest - Headphone and Desktop, Computer Audio Showcase and demonstration. Featured special guest presenter; Tyll Hertsens President and Founder of HeadRoom, Inc. of Bozeman MT. 8 to 10 area hobbyists displayed their factory and DYI 'Headphone" gear and systems. All top performing and each participant made a mini-presentation of their set-up. Tyll also made an interesting and informative general presentation wth Q & A. See notes below. A fund raising Raffle of headphone gear and CD's was conducted which included; Tyll donated new in the box: A Micro Amp with DAC and BitHead and for top flight headphone listening... Won respectively by Mark Clay and Jimmy Wiggins. Phil Muse, Tommy J. Anderson and Chuck Bruce also donated a table full of CDs. Congrats to all the winners!!! Sunday, July 12, 2009 - Picnic and Vintage A/V Film Noir program hosted by Lee Tingler - Sunday July 12, 2009 - 4PM - Members Picnic and Home Theater / A-V presentation with bonus "Film Noir" presentation by Dr. Phil Muse. A free Raffle of numerous VHS and DVD films Noir was also conducted, donations compliments of Phil Muse. Pot Luck cook-out and Picnic plus bonus demonstration of Lee's home built/engineered large scale Home Theater and 7.1 surround Audio System hosted by member Lee Tingler - Flowery Branch, Ga. Featuring: a 120"+ projection screen system (Panasonic projector) w/B & K electronics and Klipsch loudspeakers w/18" subwoofer. This was a member focused activity featuring a bonus presentation of
historic Film Noir by Music Reviewer and Cinema history authority Dr. Phil Muse. Spouses and
significant others were welcomed the gathering and provided many of
the home-cooked eats with chef Chuck at the grill turning out
delicious burgers and dogs.... Many thanks to lee for
hosting... Excellent Completed June Program Another terrific gathering of music loving audiophiles and showcase of latest generation of digital audio gear Sunday - June 13, 2010 - 2 PM Linn Audio Electronics This meeting seminar featured feature world class LINN Audio presented by local dealer Sound Image and owner operators Richard Jenkins and Lawson Hale. The seminar highlighted the Linn Akurate DS digital stream music player, Akurate CD player, paired with Naim Classic Series 282 Preamp with NAPSC power supply and NAIM 250 Power Amplifier. Phenominal 2-way, stand mount speakers were by Naim as well. Both standard 16-bit CD and high resolution music formats were be demonstrated with LINN’s latest digital music playback technology. Also, a big Raffle of Classical and other CD's was conducted, donated by Dr. Phil Muse, Bill McCulloch and others.... Refreshments provided guests and new members welcomed. Contact - John Morrison, President, 770-330-3919. Fantastic Completed May Program Hi-Rez Digital music Sources and Playback Comparisons Sunday - May 16, 2010 - 2 PM Meeting topic was hi-rez music playback and gear via multiple music sources, DVD-A, SACD, 24-96, 24-192, PC Audio and other sources, methods and technologies. Featured playback equipment was be PS Audio PerfectWave transport and D/A processor, Benchmark DAC-1 processor, Audio Research LS 26 preamp, OPPO Special Edition Blu-Ray Universal CD player, EAR-890 Tube Power Amp and Richard Vandersteen's latest 2Ce Signature-II loudspeakers, Kimber Select interconnects and Soundstrings latest bi-wire speaker cables were among other top-performing goodies. Five or more formats were demonstrated and compared featuring various music styles including Classical to Jazz. A marvelous KORG MR 1000 hi-rez portable digital recorder was also demonstrated to terrific effect featuring "needle drops" from LP's. We demonstrated an all digital "front end" and an all "tube" playback amplification end. Quite a diverse rig indeed... Guests welcomed, refreshments provided Attendees also brought some extra cash, checks or credit cards for CD and LP sales via Elusive Disc representative Kevin Berg. This included XRCD and other releases. 10% discounts were offered to AVCOA member attendees. Kevin accepted orders since not all stock was on-hand. Completed Live Orchestra Field Trip Saturday, April 24 - Macon Symphony Wesleyan College - Porter Auditorium in Macon Macon Telegraph Newspaper Review
On Saturday, April 24th, 7:30 PM, members
were offered FREE tickets to hear the Macon Symphony in
Macon Ga. Through our member Dan Byrd and his wife, Martha, we
were able to arrange tickets to hear this
wonderful concert. Led by Conductor Adrian Gnam, who studied
under Szell and Stokowski, the orchestra also playing
Also Sprach Zarathustra, The Pines of Rome, and the
Bacchanal from Sampson and Delilah in a spectacular concert
hall.
Time/Location: 7:30 pm in Porter Auditorium on the historic campus of Wesleyan College in Macon, located appx. 2 hrs south of Atlanta. Many thanks to Dan and Martha - this was a truly special live classical concert, the ultimate reference and free benefit to AVCOA members. Note that historic Wesleyan is the oldest Women's College in America. Completed Program... Sunday, April 25 - Avatar Acoustics Monthly Meeting - Fayetteville, GA Terrific hosts Bonnie and Darren Censullo owner/operators of Avatar Acoustics welcomed us to their spacious home in Fayetteville Ga, (South of Atlanta off I-85). Four showrooms were set-up to showcase and appreciate their fine line of imported electronics, speakers and accessories. These include Abbingdon Music Research, Karan Acoustics Electronics, Rethm Saadhana Loudspeakers, Acoustic System Tango Loudspeakers, Dr. Feickert Analogue and newly imported Musica Eleganza-Rosso Firoentino loudspeakers from Italy among others. These interesting products not normally seen and heard in our area and sound in the listening rooms was first rate. Members and Guests brought numerous their fave CD's First rate LP was also showcased. Several spouses also attended and the refreshments were excellent!!! And we should note that the Censullo's two helpful kids (boy and girl) were as much fun as the audio, indeed budding young audiophiles and learning the business from the ground up. Location: 545 Wentworth Court, Fayetteville, GA 30215 in Whitewater Creek, gated community. Detailed directions and featured eqpt. details See the AVATAR website: www.avataracoustics.com Darren and Bonnie Censullo - 1-305-608-6079. We also completed 2010 AVCOA officer elections. See Officers and membership links on this site for results. Congrats to all... Questions/inquiries: jhm3@bellsouth.net Completed - Sunday, March 21, 2010 Chris Sommovigo - Signal Collection Showcase with bonus live violin mini-recital by Mayu Sommovigo of the Atlanta Opera Orchestra We enjoyed a thrilling showcase of high-end audio products that few of us have seen and heard. These are presented by local Atlanta audiophile, designer and veteran manufacturer; Chris Sommovigo. Chris had planned to demonstrate his David Berning "Siegfried" 10 W, OTL (Output Transformerless) tube power amp, but due to some last minute output tube issues, he substituted a very capable Bel Canto e. S300iu integrated and very compact switching supply amp (150wpc 8 ohms & 300 wpc 4 ohms). The Bel Canto served the most unusual and remarkable performing Lansche 4.1, 3-way, 99dB sensitive plasma tweeter loudspeakers from Germany, EERA DL2 CD player (former Helios from France) and Stereolab interconnects and "Black Cat" Coquette cables among other items designed by Chris. Chris is also the father of the famed Stereovox and Illuminati analog and digital cables. The sound was quite impressive and engaging and we spun quite a few CD's of various genre's to get the full flavor... A lot of fun was had by all to this well attended program. As a special bonus, Chris Sommovigo's spouse Mayu a member of the Atlanta Opera Orchestra played three classical Violin pieces in a mini-recital. Several members recorded the marvelous pieces and replayed the recordings for all to enjoy and compare as different gear and mics were used. Bob Levi's terrific meeting and Lansche 4.1 Plasma Loudspeakers report on Positive Feedback On-Line President John Morrison conducted a short business meeting were nominations for 2010 officers was held. The election will occur at the April 25 meeting. Also, it is annual dues time as we have this and other exciting programs planned. See details at the bottom of this page Share the fun with us... Location: Virtual Properties Realty Meeting Room, 6650 Sugarloaf Pkwy., Unit 700, Duluth, Ga., 30097, exit 108 off I-85N near Gwinnett Civic Ctr. Members and special invited guests should RSVP to: jhm3@bellsouth.net Directions: Location: Virtual Properties Realty Meeting Room, 6650 Sugarloaf Pkwy., Unit 700, Duluth, Ga., 30097, exit 108 off I-85N near Gwinnett Civic Ctr. See aerial view of final turns to meeting site March 21 gear web links. Chris Sommovigo's Signal Collection: www.TheSignalCollection.com David Berning - Siegfried OTL: www.davidberning.com/support/siegfried Completed Field Trip - Sunday - January 24, 2010 Members afternoon field trip to the home of Bruce and Alice Schlein in Greenville, SC. A group of us carpooled to SC and was a fun-filled afternoon hosted by truly devoted audio and music lovers. The Schlein's host three remarkable and different audio systems that were enjoyed by all - and that few if any of us had seen and heard before... Completed Annual Members Pot-Luck Picnic This Year's Theme - Rock 'n Roll, several attendees showed-off their best 50's to 70's outfits... Paul Tarver won a CD for best dressed "Old Hippie" outfit. Congrats Paul. Sunday, August 15, 2010 4 - 7 PM Hosted by Tom and Dwana Horner This was a pot-luck dish gathering of home created goodies that were appropriately gobbled-up in grand style by our hungry audiophiles, their spouses and guests. Tom and Dwana expertly grilled burgers and dogs for the eating pleasure of all attendees and as usual were terrific hosts. We had excellent A/V viewing and sound via our hosts extensive Home Theater Systems (4 total) including a high-rez 100" projection system w/Blu-Ray. The playback of Roy Orbison's "Black and White Nights" on re-released Blu-Ray was stunning, visually and sonically (in multi-channel surround).
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