a trip to jazz city

Well..

Firstly, great big thanks to Ian (Sideshowbob) for his hospitality.

Spent a fantastic night listening to music, and first and foremostly for me getting a list of albums which are on the ''must buy'' list!!

Also got a chance to hear Ians kit of course

A lots been about it, so I thought I'd put in my 2ps worth.

ATC active 10's.
A very suprising speaker this. I had preconceptions about studio monitors and harshness and stuff like that. Suprised to hear they dont sound like MY idea of studio monitors at all, and not in the least bit harsh at all.
They sound neutral in the best meaning of the word, tonally correct, not over detailed, bright or bassy. It was unnerving how ...'natural' they made music sound. Not natural as in accurate to a real instrument or completely full range, more natural as in cohesive and... appropriate somehow. Difficult to put a sound into words I find. Certainly, just the right size for the room, and great at portraying the piano, saxophone, drums and bass in the music close to Ians heart I think.. aswell as any instruments we heard through them really.

Orbe/Sonneteer
Good CDP the sonneteer. The extra 'wumph' of the Orbe though made a sound I was more naturally at home with, and opened things up in a very enjoyable way.

Multiroom
Fantastic multiroom system! all daisy chained room to room... even to the extent of being able to listen to the turntable in the shitter! lolol. fantastic.
Biggest suprise of the multiroom kit wasnt the tivoli's or the Classic but the 'Onix' Naim Nait clone, which got everything right to my ears within the confines of the kitchen. The Onix looked natty too, which is a bonus IMHO.

Cans
Ians got 3 pairs of cans! Excellent fun. I heard the Seinheisser 600s and the Grado 125s. Grado's were clear, detailed and exciting, but eurghhhhhhh with the wrong track they tore my ears off. They sound like they need a valve in them somewhere. The 600's were more my cup of tea. A slightly restrained treble, bass very full (slightly overly) but an enjoyable presentation that I could listen to and enjoy easily. They felt a bit heavy and squashing on the head though.

Remote Control
'All in One' Chameleon. I want one!!!!!! It looks like a control panel from a clingon ship. This is cooler than cool. If Miles davis was a remote control etc..

CD/LP collection.
Wow.
I aspire to this.
Actually, I aspire to 30% of this.

In case anyones interested, here's my shopping list from the day.
*Smog - Supper
*Ahmad Jammal - Live at Montreal
*The Beta Band - 3 EPs
*The many sides of Fred Neil
*Tim Hardin - Hang on to a dream
*Bert Jansch - Jack Orion
*John Fahey - Anthology
*Fairport Convention - Unhalfbricking

Some fantastic stuff there. Makes me want to do a 'cookie monster' and sell all my kit and buy tons of music!



NB
Ian - hope you dont mind the kit-dissection. I thought people might be interested.

Cheers
Chris

 

Glad you had a good time, good to see you again.

The Sideshowbob Active ATC Experience is still taking bookings, form an orderly queue, but be prepared to have to listen to a vast quantity of records in a very short space of time, and also to me rabbiting on about how every piece of music I own is intricately connected in some way to everything else in the universe.

Glad you liked the ATCs, when people say they're clinical or ruthless or brutal I honestly have no idea what they're on about.

Never did play the Gong record, must do that next time.

-- Ian

 

You still on that acid SB?

 

Not for years. Must be in a permanent flashback state....

-- Ian