It's always a lot of fun to make new friends and visit with you all when you stop by.
Rafe (Part-Time Audiophile) and his brother, Don, also a devoted music lover and audio nut, made the journey from beautiful Vancouver, B.C., to Jeff's Place.
Welcome to Jeff's Place, Rafe and Don!
Left to right: Ron, Leo (behind Ron), Rafe, Pete, and Don.
Pete and I met Rafe while in Denver at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest (not to be confused with the Rocky Horror Picture Show, which is not nearly as much fun as RMAF!), and had a great time talking hi-fi.
We started cooking up a plan to get together since we all live in the same time zone! Ok, that's not completely accurate, as Rafe's brother, Don, lives in lots of time zones due to his day job of a being a Boeing 777 pilot!
We were all hoping Mal Kenney (PTA) was going to be able to make it too, but he had to cancel out at the last minute. We missed having you here Mal! Next time!
After their long drive from Vancouver, B.C., first up was a really nice Pacific Northwest & Vancouver, B.C., wine tasting event and a little socializing.
Thanks to Pete, Ron, Leo, Rafe & Don for a superb selection of very tasty regional wines!
Above, that's Rafe getting an action shot of the Garrard Project 2016.
We had some fun solo listening sessions with the Stokowski A7 Voice of the Theatre loudspeakers in my morning coffee room (below). These are seriously big loudspeakers, each the size of a refrigerator, but it's hard to tell in the photos.
"Silky" said Rafe, and "They're huge!"
The Stokowski VOTTs with the SPEC amplifier makes a good impression on everyone, with their easy-going nature, silky smooth and seductive sound, and just sheer musicality!
The Stokowski A7 VOTTs.
We're still getting my vintage McIntosh MX110 tuner preamplifier sorted out. It's better than it was, but we're still not there yet. Thanks to Rafe & Don cutting us some slack on the sound in the big Westminster system for this visit!
I figured plenty of wine would help improve the sound until we got the MX110 sorted out - it worked!
We had lots of fun listening to music, and we did a musical journey through the recording arts, starting with early mono recordings, then working our way through time to the stereo era.
It always amazes me how great those old mono records are!
The Garden of Earthly Delights.
Today and tomorrow we have lots of audio adventures planned, including a visit to Pete's place, The Garden of Earthly Delights, to listen to a trio of very special loudspeakers.
Stop by and join us for the fun when you can!
More to come!
