Our 25th Meeting

OK, fellow audiophiles in the Las Vegas area and everywhere (really, this is the worldwide web after all), the first official audio society ever in Sin City, has now completed its 25th meeting!

We had our 25th meeting on 9-19-15.

This time LVAC member Les hosted. This was Les’ second time hosting in 2015 – the first time was in January, 8 months ago. In the interim, Les had moved from a condo to an apartment and re-installed his audio and video system.

Les had also taken his speakers from the prototype stage (or, as I called it in January, “a DIY project”) to a finished furniture quality system. Both the appearance and sound quality (which was good to start with) have improved. Les credited part of that to the assistance he received from LVAC member Barry, who spent several hours in Les’ living room Thursday evening tuning the system with Barry’s TEF system to prepare for the meeting.

As he did in January, Les presented a wide range of vinyl, CD and video source material. He contrasted the differences between those media. The music ran the gamut from classical to jazz to rock including vintage and current recordings. As was the case in January, all of the different genres of music sounded great on Les' system. The system does not discriminate on recording quality, either. It features several octaves of “lower mid-range” often missing from other systems which highlight the full sound range of pianos,guitars, many other musical instruments and male and female vocalists. The system was very neutral without sounding thin and bright as many audiophiles would think that horn speakers with solid state electronics would be.

Les also played selections submitted by other members. One of them, "Father and Son" by Cat Stevens, which member Jonathan brought on both vinyl and on CD, proved that CDs don’t wear out but records do.

Thanks to Jonathan as well for loaning Les a Musical Fidelity V-DAC for the demo. It “Plugged” and it “Played.”

Les presented two separate speaker systems using the same “front end” starting point in a form of an “A – B” comparison. He is obviously a big JBL fan, so all of the drivers are by JBL. Les called the systems “The Big Horns” and “The Black + Whites” – looking at the photo it is obvious why. An equipment list and photos from Jonathan and Les follow.

During the meeting, Les mentioned that he would like to sell any or all of his equipment to any interested party.

So, once again, there you have it - yet another successful LVAC meeting. Thanks again to
Les for hosting, the various members for showing up, and you for your support.

Equipment for Les' September 19, 2015 LVAC Demo

System 1 - The "Big Horns"

Speakers
  

Bass
  

1 Pair
  

Vintage JBL Apollo Cabinets with JBL LE15A woofers (refoamed by OC Spekers)

Midrange/HF
  

1 Pair
  

Custom 36in Smith Horns In Walnut And Maple with JBL 2451J drivers and Truextent BeX

diaphragms.

Electronics
  


Amplifiers
  

2 JBL UREI 6260s - 150 watts per channel each at 8 ohms

Crossover
  

Rane AC23 three way electronic crossover (set for two way at 350 Hz)

Equalizer
  

SAE Mark 17 (restored 2014)


System 2 - The "Black And Whites"

Speakers
  

Bass
  

1 Pair
  

Custom LaScala replicas with JBL D140F woofers

Midrange/HF
  

1 Pair
  

Custom 24in Smith Horns with JBL LE85 drivers

Electronics
  

Amplifiers
  

SAE Mark 3 - 120 watts per channel at 8 ohms dual monoblock


JBL UREI 6260 - 150 watts per channel at 8 ohms

Crossover
  

Rane AC22 two way electronic crossover (at 750 Hz)

Equalizer
  

SAE Mark 17 (restored 2015)


  
Other Electronics

Pre-amplifier
  

SAE Mark 9b

Equalizer
  

SAE Mark 7

DAC
  

Musical Fidelity V-DAC (loaned by Jonathan Meyers)


  
Play Vinyl
  

Turntable
  

SONY TTS 3000 (restored 2014)

Tonearm
  

SONY PUA 237

Cartridge
  

Stanton 681


  
Play CDs
  

DVD player
  

SONY SR210P


Video
  
Projector
  

EPSON 8350


Photos are below. Photos by Les and Jonathan: