We're having a Chicago Mini-meet!

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Joey_V

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We're going to have a Chicago Mini-meet... ML style! So far, it's me, Cherian, and cspeter. If there is anyone else in the city vicinity who wants to meet, let us know!

We have 3 different ML systems that we are going to audition. Also, we will probably try to visit a local hi-end store for appetizers. Wilsons and Avantgarde anyone?

Anyway, we'll try to post pics....

Robin... I know you're far... but you're invited!
 
I got to thinking, it would be nice if we had a HUGE ML get-together. Many other speaker forums do this type of a thing, I know for a fact PolkAudio and AV123 have rather large meets.

Just something to toss out there to ponder on.

And yes... George, it is a trek. :)
 
I would TOTALLY be into this idea, Joey..

We could do it in Lawrence Kansas and then visit the ML factory. This was discussed briefly in the past, but nobody really picked up the ball and ran with it....

I think it would be fun - especially after seeing the photos of Roberto hangin with the ML guys in Denver.
 
Have fun Joey. Wish I could join you. :(

Tom, I also think a large scale ML gathering would be good. Would love to get a tour of the ML factory and hang out with my ML bretheren.

So far I've met Roberto and twich54 (Dave) here in Denver - both of them are class acts. Would enjoy having a coc*tail and chat with more of my bretheren.
 
Joey, Count me in as long as it's after October 20th.Out of the country till then. :cool:
 
theWB said:
Joey, Count me in as long as it's after October 20th.Out of the country till then. :cool:

Wayne~
Post 10/20? Uh oh... we're having this in 2 days! LOL...

We'll do it again sometime!

Joey ;)
 
Joey_V said:
Wayne~
Post 10/20? Uh oh... we're having this in 2 days! LOL...

We'll do it again sometime!

Joey ;)

2 DAYS OUCH!! :( I'm 8,000 miles away.Too bad.Definatly count me in for next time.How many of us here are from Chicago??
 
theWB said:
2 DAYS OUCH!! :( I'm 8,000 miles away.Too bad.Definatly count me in for next time.How many of us here are from Chicago??

There's atleast half a dozen of us...

Next time, we'll make sure you're around for that one!
 
Joey, maybe next time through the Windy City we could hook up. Are there any Audio Gatherings in the coming months ?? keep us posted as to what you saw / heard during your "mini gathering".
 
Have fun Joey.

Tom - the meet in Kansas sounds fantastic - I might even have to try to get over there from Australia for that!
 
TomDac said:
I would TOTALLY be into this idea, Joey..

We could do it in Lawrence Kansas and then visit the ML factory. This was discussed briefly in the past, but nobody really picked up the ball and ran with it....

I think it would be fun - especially after seeing the photos of Roberto hangin with the ML guys in Denver.


Tom, I second this idea, second quarter of '07 would work for me. If a commitee is needed to work this out I am willing to lend a hand.
 
Chris and Joey,

It was good to hang out with you guys and your better half this afternoon. We should do it again soon.

Chris, your Aeon system is awesome. I am sure in the next few weeks it will sound even better as you dial it in. It was very interesting to hear the Aeons without the external sub and then the external sub. What a difference. That little dynamo was very strong for its size. Also thanks for giving me a chance to hear the output of a Class D amp. It’s very interesting. I will be looking into this as an option in the future.

Joey, what can I say you have Summits. Your summits sounded so wonderful. The sound stage is so precise, and the bass so tight. No distortion what so ever. When you are ready to upgrade to the super summits just remember I have dibs your summits.

Thanks for a great day.
 
1st Annual Windy City Mini-Meet!!

Windy City Mini-Meet!
It was truly a great day! I didnt know what to expect but I thought the whole turned out great!

Chris' Place:
We started at Chris' place (which was very nice and chic.... made my crappy University Apartment look like garbage) and his Aeons. I've seen and heard the Aeons before so I was pretty familiar with the Aeon sound. His system was well placed, pulled forward and away from the walls. His Plasma TV was flanked by the speakers on both sides, while his PS Audio Digital Amp and Denon CDP anchored the bottom of his front stage. We played a few CDs (actually, Cherian got there before me so he was well into party mode. They couldnt hear me knocking on the door because they were so loud and rowdy) that Cherian brought in and each sounded very good. Classic ML transparency and classic ML box-less sound.

Couple of things I noted though:
1. Chris' speakers were a little off-center (and I told him, so I'm sure he'll fix it)... so it was a little difficult to sit off-center from the TV and focus on the image.
2. The speakers were toed in, but some work still needs to be done (Cherian and I agreed) with the placement. I think it's too close together and the seat is a little too far. My suggestion is to move out the Aeons a foot or 2 more and that should be sufficient to snap the equilateral triangle in place.

Other than that, I thought the system was superb. I know Chris just unpacked the whole setup this week and he knows it will take some time to completely dial in his system to mil-spec caliber. The staging was of proper height and the lateral width was good.

I will say this, at Chris' place... the two guys kept on talking about the Summits so many times, it was getting to be funny. I told them to relax since my Summits are not the best representation of the full potential, but they kep going :D !

Here are a few excerpts of what the two crazy guys said:
1. If they were in the bathroom, I'd still listen to them.
2. If the Summits were in the closet, I'd still think they sound good.
3. If they were in the box, they'd sound good.
4. You own Summits, man!!
5. Etc... etc...

Cherian's Place:
Chris had to study and finish his paper (he's in Law School) so he sadly opted out of the rest of the adventure. It was cool though, as we promised to get-together again sometime in the future. We headed out to Cherian's place. Again, I felt like my apartment was even more of a garbage as Cherian's place is totally out of this world. When you enter the building, you are greeted by this majestic foyer... ahhh.. so nice. We headed to the top floor and entered his apartment.

His place overlooked the area where much of the Batman Begins chase scene was filmed. I even saw the exact rooftop parking garage where the Batmobile LAUNCHED from :D !! His view was fabulous!

So, we sat down and he showed me his massive rack of gear. From a Class A CDP to a Tube CDP, this guy had everything. I knew he was a gear-head when I saw his rack... no wonder Cherian's an engineer! He had Carver gear, Sunfire Gear, and many others that I lost count.

He was running 4 Scenarios and 1 Cinema center... his sub is a little Yamaha, but he does have the Grotto on the way so he will truly be an ML fanboy soon!

Cherian has a different taste in terms of soundstaging, and I noticed this right away. He didnt toe in his speakers aggressively as his were BARELY toed in, and this pushes the singers back and behind the plane of the speakers. He likes to what I call "observe" the action. He likes to pick out the images but he doesnt like it the way I do. I love being IN the action! So my idea of a loudspeaker is more in your face... I like being SPIT at. I like pushing the speaker as far forward and infront of the speaker plane as possible!

Anyway, back to the audition. I liked the speakers - classic transparency and classic boxless sound. True to the ML house sound. Although it doesnt have the palpability of the bigger MLs (i.e. Summit), the Scenario play well above their price range IMO.

But the REVELATION of the day came when Cherian told me to listen to his Tube CDP and compare to his Class A SS CDP. I was like sure.... but there shouldnt be a difference, right? OK... boy was I wrong! What a noob I turned out to be! The Tube CDP, though not as dynamic, was so warm and fuzzy... oooh... you could cuddle up and sleep. The thing that was even more of a revelation for me was how the IMAGE FOCUSED! It was truly a significant (I wont say night/day) difference when compared to the clean and pristine sound of the SS CDP. I will admit though, with the SS CDP, I had trouble placing the 2 singers on the soundstage... however, with the Tube CDP, the image was better and easier to locate on the stage.

He got me thinking about TOOBS!!

Then we got a chance to hear ML do HT. And I will say, anyone who thinks ML cant do theater is deaf. It was great (aside from the missing lower octave bass nether-regions) and coherent across the 5 channels.

Joey's Place:

At this point, it was getting a little late. Cherian initially said he couldnt come over to my place to hear the Summits, despite all the excitement he built up from when we were over Chris' place. Grocery shopping he said (with the wife)..... but I convinced him and he said... ok, what the heck. So we left to go over my place.

I told him to drop his expectations a little because I didnt have the best setup or best room. He proceeded to tell me that even if the Summits were in the bathroom, he'd still come over for a listen!

We arrived at my place and I told him again,


My place isnt as great and grand as their places, but it gets the job done. I showed Cherian where I used to have the Summits (living room) but I told him that I had to move them to the other side of the living room as there was a terrible echo in that part of the room. Then, I proceeded to tell him that even this side presented its own problems as the side walls were asymmetric! I think by this point, he tought I was cuckoo!

So we proceeded to my bedroom, where the Summits are located. He said, "wow, these are a lot bigger than the other Logans!" He proceeded to caress the Summits and admire the veneer job and the air-frame panel. He looked closely at the XStat and the MicroPerf.... and I hoped he liked what he saw. He moved over to the other side of the room and saw the Rotel stack and he commented that the amp looked very beefy! He saw the little Squeezebox3 and we talked about the little guy.

I pulled out the chair to the spot... equilateral triangle from panel to ear to panel. The Summits are about 6-7 feet apart and about 1-2 feet pulled from the wall. The chair is about 6-7 feet away from the each of the panels. I thought the stage was set.

So I played several songs for Cherian and I hope he was satisfied. I played mostly FLACs but also a few MP3s. I should've turned off the lights and let him bask in the glory of the Summits' blue lights (Chris would've LOVED this as he has a thing for BLUE LIGHTS!)... but my GF was studying in the background and I couldnt turn the lights off. I did have Cherian close his eyes a few times to better visualize the intimate soundstage and he even wore my "blindfold".

After a good audition, I drove Cherian back to his place so he could grocery shop with the wife... and we agreed to do this again but next time, he was going to bring TOOBS!

So... just to recap:
1. TOOBS are cool!
2. I like my soundstage close and intimate.... not far and "observing".
3. I like being spit at.. and so does Cherian.
4. Everyone has bigger LCD tvs and better apartments than I do.

Last words and special thanks!
I would like to give a super special thanks to my gf for coming out with me and putting up with all the audio-geekiness that we displayed during the Windy City Mini-Meet, and taking our pictures! She kept her composure the whole time and survived!

She did notice all the hoopla talk around the Summits.... and she asked me later, "Are the Summits that good?" She was surprised at the attention the Summits got from the other guys. I asked her what she thought about the Summits. I told her that these guys were wanting to hear the Summits, while she had the luxury of hearing it everytime she came over... but she takes it for granted.

She answered my question, "The Summits sound good. I think they should be priced $1,000."

I pointed to the Polk LSi9 bookshelves beside the Summits in my room, "Those are $1,000 speakers."

She said, "No, those should be $100. They're stinky."

:eek:
 
Everyone's favorite.... PICTURES!!!

This is Chris (cstpeter) and his Aeons flanking the fire place and his massive TV.
DSC00622.jpg


This is all three of us, taken by my gf. Chris, Cherian, Me (Joey) from left to right.
DSC00623.jpg


Cherian's setup... Scenarios all around with a Cinema handling center.
DSC00628.jpg

DSC00629.jpg
 
My (Joey's) Setup.... ready for action!
DSC00664.jpg


Cherian admiring the Summits from up close... you also see the Polk LSi9 bookshelves which I was going to use as a replacement for the Summits had the sale gone through.
DSC00633.jpg


The view from the sweetspot! Niiiice.... 7-foot equilateral triangle baby!
Bring on the intimacy!!
DSC00667.jpg


ML buddies! Me, Cherian... and a Summit!
DSC00648.jpg
 
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What you guys may not know is that Chris (cstpeter) is obsessed with BLUE lights. So... in honor of Chris, I present to you... the BLUE LIGHT Building that we saw as we were headed home.
DSC00632.jpg


And the Summits say hello... with its BLUE light backend!
DSC00682.jpg


I will leave you guys with pics from the viewpoint of Cherian's balcony on the 21st floor!

Batman Begin's parking lot.... where the Batmobile launches from!
DSC00627.jpg


Cherian and the view...
DSC00626.jpg
 
Yup... so that's all from here! :(

I hope we do this again soon... and I know there's a lot more of ML Chicagoans around as I got numerous PMs regarding future meets. I will make a list of the Chicago ML Club members and I will make a note for a future Windy City Meet! :D

Perhaps we shall have a 2nd Annual Windy City Meet next year?

And, Tom, I'm all for the ML Club National Meet at ML Factory! ;)
 
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Joey,

That was an excellent job of meeting minutes. I nominate Joey as the ML club secretary. I think you summarized the mini meet very well. Sorry Chris that you could not hang around. It was an eye (ear) opening day. I have seen the Summit and now I want to be in the Summit club.
 

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