Thanks Jim, it was a really fun party. I'm trying to work out a head count, and I get 34. For most of the evening we focused on a system with Orcas on their new bamboo stands, a single BUF sub, a Stereomour and either the BottleNagra playing Tape Project albums or the Analog Engineering modded Empire 208, SME 309 and the astoundingly beautiful Haniwa HTCRO1 cartridge playing through the Bottlehead Tube Phono.
The imaging of the Orcas continues to amaze me, with an almost spooky depth of soundstage. We had about 7 chairs set in the room initially (more like 10 or 12 later - the room got packed!). Clark set the system up relatively near field to the sweet spot and the soundstage was remarkably good even in the back row to one side. The latest iteration on the stands gives the setup the best bass I've heard from it. We shot the system in the room before we started to get a sense of the subwoofer level match. One shot done without the sub on showed how remarkably flat in the lower end response the tiny little Orcas are, clear down past 100Hz. Color me impressed! The system handled all sorts of music with aplomb. Those stiff little bamboo cabinets are super quick and the Orcas are so nimble.
The Haniwa cartridge is so far beyond any cartridge I've had before that I'm kinda stunned. At the end of the evening some folks wanted to hear our reference system. We put on the old Sheffield Labs King James Version, as the room was packed and it seemed like a good time to go for high horsepower to get direct to disc big band level sound. That cart is simply amazing. Suffice to say that PJ just leaned over with a big smile on his face and whispered "F**k!" My understanding is that the Haniwa cart is getting some serious consideration by the big name reviewers for their favorites lists. It happens that Haniwa distributor and my good bud Bob Bean has been authorized to sell for a deep discount from the $5000 retail price, simply to get more into circulation in the community so people can see just how great a cart it is. If you are interested shoot me an email or give me a call next week.
The Tode got a little audition by a couple of talented guitar players too. They seemed to like the sound and to my pleasure they also liked the compact, briefcase like size. I also saw smiles on their faces when they plugged in headphones, cranked on the brake, rolled up the volume and played heavily overdriven tones into the cans.
Thanks so much to everyone who came by yesterday. Thanks also for the contributions of great food and beverages and for putting up with the heat of a room crammed with 30 people and 20 or so tube amps.
