*CANCELLED* Special Event in December! A High End Audio legend visits the LVAC! *CANCELLED*

*ATTN LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, DUE TO UNFORSEEN CIRCUMSTANCES, THE SPECIAL EVENT BELOW HAS BEEN CANCELLED. THE EVENT WILL BE RESCHEDULED TO A LATER DATE AND TIME*

*UNTIL THEN COME TO CES 2016 AND VISIT THE DAN D'AGOSTINO MASTER AUDIO SYSTEMS ROOM. IT WILL BE ROOM 122 ON THE 30TH FLOOR AT THE VENETIAN HOTEL AND CASINO IN LAS VEGAS*

And who is this pray tell? Well, it's a man that really needs no introduction. His name is Dan D'Agostino, and he has been building high end audio electronics since 1980. His first company was Krell Industries, which revolutionized the way Class A power amplifiers could be built and how they could drive any speakers known to man. Right around 5 years ago, he struck out on his own with a new company that bears his name; Dan D'Agostino Master Audio Systems. These units are the culmination of what Dan has learned over the years, and if both reviewers and end users are correct, this is the best stuff Dan has ever created to date.

So, since the D'Agostino factory is just south of Vegas in neighboring Arizona, we extended to Petra D'Agostino (Dan's wife) an invitation to Dan to come up to Vegas and demo his wares for our humble little club. We weren't expecting much, matter of fact, we were expecting something along the lines of; "who do you think you are CES? RMAF? get the F outta here!" or just the old silent treatment. Surprisingly enough, Dan has been oh so kind to agree to demo his wares for us on Saturday, December 5th, 2015 from 2-5pm PST. Yes, this will go down, believe it or not. It's a major coup d'etat for this club. Never in our wildest dreams did we think this would happen when we formed 2 years ago. Well guess what, it's happening. And no Dan, we're not worthy!

This oh so special event will be at LVAC member Mike's place. Mike has hosted a few time before over the last 2 years, and he never ceases to amaze us with his professionalism and hospitality.

However, this is a members-only event. Because of space, cost, and time considerations, itt is not open to the public. To become a member of the LVAC, click on the link below.

http://lasvegasaudioclub.blogspot.com/2014/10/membership-in-lvac.html

Now for a few photos of Dan and the wonderful works of art that he has created. Enjoy...

Component of the Week: Accuphase E-600

LVAC member Dave says: "A soon to be reference standard for integrated amps! Need I say more? It's not cheap, but the nothing of this caliber is!"

The integrated amplifiers from Accuphase operating in full class A enjoy an excellent reputation both in Japan and overseas for their outstanding musical qualities. The E-600 represents a model change from the popular E-560. While incorporating the sophisticated technological know-how gained by Accuphase over the years, it features a further refined AAVA volume control and uses the latest circuit topology and strictly selected parts of the utmost quality. The E-600 is destined to become the new reference model for high-class integrated amplifiers.

AAVA is a revolutionary principle designed for high performance and ultimate sound. It integrates the amplification and volume control tasks in a single electronic entity that uses analog processing and eliminates all variable resistors from the signal path. Its performance and sonic purity do not deteriorate over the years, providing excellent reliability. The AAVA version in the E-600 takes the principle to the next level, delivering the same peerless performance in a more compact form factor.

The power amplifier section is built as an advanced instrumentation amplifier, which enables fully balanced signal transmission throughout. Together with the further improved MCS+ circuit topology and the highly acclaimed current feedback principle, this makes for even better electrical characteristics. In the output stage, high-power MOS-FET devices renowned for their great sound and utter reliability are arranged in a triple parallel push-pull configuration per channel.

TECHNOLOGY

Revolutionary AAVA volume control
Output stage with triple parallel push-pull power MOS-FETs
Instrumentation amplifier principle for power amplifier input stage allows fully balanced signal transmission and enhances current feedback and MCS+ topology
Tone control circuits
Logic-control relays for straight and short signal paths
Option board slots provide capability for digital signal input (DAC-40) and analog record playback
Logic-control relays for straight and short signal paths
Robust power supply with large high-efficiency toroidal transformer and high filtering capacity
EXT PRE button allows separation of preamplifier and power amplifier stage
GUARANTEED SPECIFICATIONS (with AD-20 Phono board installed)
Continuous average output power: 120 W/ch (2 ohms), 60 W/ch (4 ohms), 30 W/ch (8 ohms)
Frequency response (1 W output): 2 Hz - 150 kHz +0 -3,0 dB
Damping factor: 500 (EIA 8 ohm, 50 Hz)
Input sensitivity: 0,05 mV (DISC MC), 0,98 mV (DISC MM), 77,7 mV (HIGH LEVEL), 0,617 V (POWER IN)

MAIN FEATURES

Recorder switch
Copy switch
Tone controls
Loudness compensator
Speaker selector
Meter operation/illumination switch
EXT PRE switch
Balanced inputs
Two sets of speaker outputs
Maximum dimensions: 465 (W) x 191 (H) x 426 (D) mm
Mass: 24,0 kg

Component of the Week: The McCormack DNA 1.0 Deluxe amp (gold level)

This is LVAC member Nick's pick for Component of the Week.

Nick says:

"I bought the McCormack DNA 1.0 Deluxe amp used on Audiogon for $1,000 last year. Have upgraded it to gold level which cost $1,865. That includes the high performance diode bridge and HiFi tuning fuse. I did the diode bridge not necessarily for performance at this time, but rather because Steve said it is so much easier to do now while the gold upgrade was being done. Here's the link to his site   http://smcaudio.com/  upgrades   The amp has 100 hours on it. It is a huge improvement over my CIA D100's. Excellent resolution, more body and slam. Gorgeous midrange. I have SP Tech 2.1's upgraded to 3.0 status. It's a great speaker imo. Both the amp and speakers are very neutral. I am only running my dac into the amp. It is a modded Squeezebox 2 with dedicated power supply. The sound is quite good considering it's from 2007. But it has that digital edge. A friend is lending me his Buffalo diy dac. I will have it in a few days and that should (hopefully) be an eye-opener for me. I'll be auditioning interconnects and speaker cables soon as well. I also have a Basis Ovation turntable with a Graham 1.5 arm, but I haven't run phono for 5 years. I know, I have to get that going.... So I'm going to be a busy guy for a while with all this going on."