swt61

I'm just teasing Marc at any rate. He really does have ample man space as is, and he's allowed to bleed over into the parlor/dining room. How many wives allow that?

My Original 2008 MkII CDP. I can't imagine how good the addition of my incoming Buffalo32 will be. I may become a recluse.

Lookin' good Marc. That's definitely a good start on a man cave. I dare you to put a sign on the workbench that says 'Estrogen Free Zone'.

Not to de-rail this thread (or re-rail as the case may be), but I had my first listen to the HD800 yesterday. Al brought his APS cabled 800s to Austin, and I had to plug 'em into the β22. This combo is remarkable! Al was gracious enough to lend them to me until the Houston meet on the 17th, so more to follow after I've had some time with them.

Excellent! Hope you enjoyed it!

Glad to hear he's getting better, and in a better mood. My cat slept on my feet all night, after I was gone for one night. The cat on my feet, and the dog next to my face...not a lot of REM, but kind of cool anyway.

Jim Pemry slowly approaches with Hannibal's dinner tray.

Johnny Cash - Hurt

Well you're not that far from Ireland, a stray leprechaun perhaps?

Dusty, surely you can understand my frustration at holding back here, but I'll take the high road.

Absolutely! I'll send a PM, but he's gonna whine about this! Just ignore him.

I tried to get you to make a cut with my worm drive saw, but you went all girlie. That would have been two manpoints. Al pulled up at the start of the workbench project, and jumped right in. 5 manpoints for Al! Marc now has the only workbench covered with Birch plywood as far as I know of. That's all Lowes had, but it makes a really nice, smooth work surface. In Marc's defense, he did manage to get his soldering iron into places Al and I couldn't even see, and saved both our butts in the process. 2 manpoints!

We thought we had it up and running for a minute. Then Marc plugged in one side of the source RCA IC and BAM! We should note that we used an XLR-RCA adapter, but I think we're still baffled as to how plugging in a source could blow a cap in the PSU, but seeing Marc move that fast was entertaining. I'll copy and paste from the 'What are you driving your K1000 with?' thread... Alex Cavalli stopped by Marc's place yesterday. What a cool guy, I wish I'd have had more time to talk with him. Unfortunately I was knee deep in a workbench project for Marc's very nice, new Jet drill press (bastard!). Marc and I did manage to get The Pass F5 up and running Friday evening. We had a short litening session with a few phones, the K1000 being one of those. I do believe that the F5 will indeed be a really top tier amp for the K1K. We ran into what seems to be a connection issue of some sort Sat. morning, so the F5 is still with Marc for the moment. But what we heard in our brief session impressed us both. However, I think that even Marc may have to admit that it did not slay the mighty β22. In fact I think Marc was fairly impressed with the β22/K1000. The F5 was a formidible challenger, but what we really concluded in our brief time was that they both brought a different flavor, while both being very suitable K1000 amps. The β22s sound is very neutral. That can have a tendancy to sound boring when you say that, but the β22 is anything but boring. It just gets it right IMO. Marc was impressed by not only the wide soundstage (unnaturally wide he said at one point, due to his unfamiliarity with the K1000), but he noted how vertically expansive the soundstage was as well. We used the term 'tall soundstage' to describe it. Also, I need to admit to being a dumbass once again. I had previously commented on the β22 being possibly underpowered for some that listen at higher volumes. It had enough gain for my listening levels, but was at the 3:00 mark for what I qualified as a comfortable level for me. Well my assumtion was that the knob would bottom out at around 5:00. I did not test this theory at the time. In fact what happened was that Nate had sent the amp back without the knob (something he'd already made me aware of), and I had decided to use a knob I'd bought from Justin (which I like better anyway). The knob from Justin has an indicator indentation mark, where my previous knob had none. So when I installed the knob, the mark was at 7:00 at zero volume. That's what made me assume that 5:00 would be full volume. Well it's not. The knob wraps around to almost 7:00 again (Joshua Tree ladder type attenuation). So to make a short story even longer, the β22 does in fact have plenty of gain at a gain setting of 10, balanced. A big shout out to Nate here, as the β22 is sounding the best she ever has! Also I should note that my source has an even lower output than I had realised. Once the new DAC is in the chain, I'll have gobs of headroom. The F5 has a bit more of a flavored sound sig. That's not to say it's highly characterized, it's not, but compared to the neutrality of the β22 you get the impression just a pinch of spice was added in. It's a good spice though, and the F5 brings a slightly warm lushness, somewhat reminiscent of a tubed sound quality. Although top end is extended like a good solid state. The F5 seems to have some real grunt at the bottom too, and that can only be a good thing with the K1000. Unfortunately I didn't have much of a selection of music with me. The hope is that Marc can find the connection issue, and resolve that by the Houston meet on the 17th. Then we can get a whole host of impressions to Pass along (pun intended). A man of few words, but I'd have to concur. Also of note, NoNoNoNoNoNo is a complete sentence in Texas...Meaning - 'Is that you?' I brought my camera, but never got it out of the case.

Alex Cavalli stopped by Marc's place yesterday. What a cool guy, I wish I'd have had more time to talk with him. Unfortunately I was knee deep in a workbench project for Marc's very nice, new Jet drill press (bastard!). Marc and I did manage to get The Pass F5 up and running Friday evening. We had a short litening session with a few phones, the K1000 being one of those. I do believe that the F5 will indeed be a really top tier amp for the K1K. We ran into what seems to be a connection issue of some sort Sat. morning, so the F5 is still with Marc for the moment. But what we heard in our brief session impressed us both. However, I think that even Marc may have to admit that it did not slay the mighty β22. In fact I think Marc was fairly impressed with the β22/K1000. The F5 was a formidible challenger, but what we really concluded in our brief time was that they both brought a different flavor, while both being very suitable K1000 amps. The β22s sound is very neutral. That can have a tendancy to sound boring when you say that, but the β22 is anything but boring. It just gets it right IMO. Marc was impressed by not only the wide soundstage (unnaturally wide he said at one point, due to his unfamiliarity with the K1000), but he noted how vertically expansive the soundstage was as well. We used the term 'tall soundstage' to describe it. Also, I need to admit to being a dumbass once again. I had previously commented on the β22 being possibly underpowered for some that listen at higher volumes. It had enough gain for my listening levels, but was at the 3:00 mark for what I qualified as a comfortable level for me. Well my assumtion was that the knob would bottom out at around 5:00. I did not test this theory at the time. In fact what happened was that Nate had sent the amp back without the knob (something he'd already made me aware of), and I had decided to use a knob I'd bought from Justin (which I like better anyway). The knob from Justin has an indicator indentation mark, where my previous knob had none. So when I installed the knob, the mark was at 7:00 at zero volume. That's what made me assume that 5:00 would be full volume. Well it's not. The knob wraps around to almost 7:00 again (Joshua Tree ladder type attenuation). So to make a short story even longer, the β22 does in fact have plenty of gain at a gain setting of 10, balanced. A big shout out to Nate here, as the β22 is sounding the best she ever has! Also I should note that my source has an even lower output than I had realised. Once the new DAC is in the chain, I'll have gobs of headroom. The F5 has a bit more of a flavored sound sig. That's not to say it's highly characterized, it's not, but compared to the neutrality of the β22 you get the impression just a pinch of spice was added in. It's a good spice though, and the F5 brings a slightly warm lushness, somewhat reminiscent of a tubed sound quality. Although top end is extended like a good solid state. The F5 seems to have some real grunt at the bottom too, and that can only be a good thing with the K1000. Unfortunately I didn't have much of a selection of music with me. The hope is that Marc can find the connection issue, and resolve that by the Houston meet on the 17th. Then we can get a whole host of impressions to Pass along (pun intended).

Well I'm home now, and I've had a chance to sleep a bit. Things are always fast paced when at Marc's, even when we plan a kick back weekend. I didn't have a chance to read through the new posts in this thread before I posted my quick impressions (we we're performing surgery on Al's amps), but after reading through I think I can say that dBel accomplished his LCD-1 goals in spades. I would have to say that Marc's LCD-1 is the best ortho I've yet heard. Yes I like it even better than the Donuts. It's just a little better all around. A really nice balance, congrats Don! So much so, that I told Marc he may as well sell his T-50. Although the T-50 sounds a bit better after mods too, but can't stand toe to toe with the LCD-1 IMHO. We only had the F5 up and running for a short time. The next morning the left channel decided it was tired, and needed a break. It seems to be a simple connection related issue, but we wanted to accomplish other things first. When we do get it running, I'd like to spend more time with the F5/LCD-1 combo, as the taste I got was really, really good. As for me, I can live with the prices, and slight funkiness of the LCD-1/LCD-2, if the 2 is a step up from the 1. The SQ is good enough to override the slightly funky, garage project looks. But they do seem quite solid to me. I actually kind of like the look of the LCD-2, funky headband and all. And let's face it, these designs are leaps and bounds above the Take-T and Jade planar headphones, aesthetic wise. And both of those are well above the Audeze in price.

Is it just me, or does the woodwork (finishing) and the overstuffed Denon pads look familiar? Dear God please set our minds at ease, that they did not outsource to Lawton Audio! If not, then I'm interested. I'll be happy to compare. My memory of the Donuts is still pretty vivid.

Well one thing's for sure Duggeh, I'm not taking you to Vegas with me anytime soon. I hope your bad luck is soon to run out.

Excellent point. Fitz and I both have upcoming wooden cases with inlayed aluminum faceplates. It's the latest rage.

I used to use V05, back in the day.

I'll bring my drill index.

I'll be there tomorrow evening.

I packed the car tonight. You'll be happy to hear I'm bringing all my Celine Dion CDs.

Those don't work once they cross the border. Best send them my way.

Well this probably wouldn't work well for metal. I use it strictly for wood, but why would anybody want anything other than an exotic wood faceplate?

Worked on a bedroom remodel, then packed the car for an Austin micro-meet. Will head out late afternoon tomorrow.