Jay Mitchosky
Senior HTF Member
- Joined
- Sep 6, 1998
- Messages
- 3,729
This past Saturday marked a long-overdue local HTF meet hosted by Jeff "Tweak Until You Bleed" Kowerchuk. Also in attendance were Andrew Pratt, Matt Broeska, Jeremy Santos, and Luc Labelle. It was a great evening that included product demos, giveaways, and a pre-screening of Fox's upcoming release of Willow on DVD.
Jeff works a local A/V store (arguably the finest in the city) and they were kind enough to let him borrow some great gear for demonstration over the weekend. On tap was the new Marantz SACD player, Anthem's updated pre/pro, and Monitor Audio's georgeous Gold Reference GR-10 speakers, as well as MA's Gold Center channel. Jeff can fill in the blanks for the part numbers.
We spent some time setting up the Anthem for the evening, including channel levels and delay times. This pre/pro has some nice features to allow you to tweak your system. Thankfully bass management uses an adjustable crossover (increments of 10Hz from 40 to at least 80, didn't check above that point). It's a global setting - individual channels would have been better, but at least you are afforded some flexibility. The AVM also includes a center channel EQ function to offset differences in speaker height relative to the mains - you actually indicate the size of the set that you're using. We didn't get the opportunity to play with this setting, but the idea is interesting. You are also able to save settings so they're not randomly changed. The sound produced by this unit was rich, crisp, and clear. Jeff likely spent some more time with it on Sunday and will be able to give a more detailed account. My only beef with the Anthem is the front panel design. It's a personal bias but I just don't see a need for so many buttons.
Next up was some comparative listening between Redbook and SACD versions of some funky blues tracks (again, Jeff will detail exactly which discs he brought home). The Redbook layers sounded terrific through the GR-10s. Great dynamics and punch with a clear top end. Vocals were very natural. We were all surprised at the low end response of these little speakers. {I later checked the specs to confirm that they extend to 40Hz +/- 3dB). In comparison the SACD recording offered a smoother response across the spectrum, with a little more "air". Midrange in the vocals was also less chesty. All in all it sounded terrific. Jeff was planning for a day of 2-channel on Sunday to take advantage.
The GR-10s replaced Jeff's Paradigm Reference 40s for main channel duty. All of us were in love with these speakers by the end of the evening. They presented movies and music with ease and grace. Fit and finish were immaculate. At C$2Kish a pair these are not inexpensive speakers, but for the price I think they are a bargain.
We also spent some time with a couple of DVD demos and a comparison of The Fifth Element original and SuperBit releases. Of the latter we all felt that the SuperBit version was cleaner and sharper than the original, but without A/B comparison you can still not complain about the first version's transfer. Jeff has done a fantastic job in calibrating his Toshiba 56H80 - TFE looked as good as I've ever seen it. Colors were spot on, contrast was just right, black levels were dark and detailed. And artifacts from the Panasonic RP-10 DVD player were essentially none.
Finally we enjoyed our feature presentation - a pre-screening of Fox's upcoming release of Willow on DVD. In short it was excellent. The video transfer ranged from good to stellar, the variability a function of the source material. There were scenes, particularly those that were well lit, that looked just a good as many current releases. Others could be a bit soft or murky but again we're talking about film elements from the mid/late eighties. Colors were natural and well saturated. Flesh tones were excellent.
The audio was truly great. James Horner's soundtrack was very rich and warm. Sound effects were well integrated and of excellent fidelity. Dialogue was good, if not a little chesty (Jeff's new HT layout includes an inset center channel, and the acoustic insulation had not yet been replaced after exchanging his Paradigm Reference CC for the MA Gold Center - likely the culprit). Overall there was little to suggest that the audio is around 13 years old.
Another very cool part of the evening were door prizes! Jeff's store ponied up a Tara Labs optical cable, and Ralph LaBarge (sp?) at Alpha DVD (through Andrew) provided a 5.1 classical music DVD. Luc and Jeremy were the respective winners of the evening.
Thanks to Jeff for hosting this event, the "sponsors" who provided demo equipment and giveaways, Ron Epstein (and Fox) for providing the Willow screener, and the gang of local HTF members who contributed to a great evening.
Jeff works a local A/V store (arguably the finest in the city) and they were kind enough to let him borrow some great gear for demonstration over the weekend. On tap was the new Marantz SACD player, Anthem's updated pre/pro, and Monitor Audio's georgeous Gold Reference GR-10 speakers, as well as MA's Gold Center channel. Jeff can fill in the blanks for the part numbers.
We spent some time setting up the Anthem for the evening, including channel levels and delay times. This pre/pro has some nice features to allow you to tweak your system. Thankfully bass management uses an adjustable crossover (increments of 10Hz from 40 to at least 80, didn't check above that point). It's a global setting - individual channels would have been better, but at least you are afforded some flexibility. The AVM also includes a center channel EQ function to offset differences in speaker height relative to the mains - you actually indicate the size of the set that you're using. We didn't get the opportunity to play with this setting, but the idea is interesting. You are also able to save settings so they're not randomly changed. The sound produced by this unit was rich, crisp, and clear. Jeff likely spent some more time with it on Sunday and will be able to give a more detailed account. My only beef with the Anthem is the front panel design. It's a personal bias but I just don't see a need for so many buttons.
Next up was some comparative listening between Redbook and SACD versions of some funky blues tracks (again, Jeff will detail exactly which discs he brought home). The Redbook layers sounded terrific through the GR-10s. Great dynamics and punch with a clear top end. Vocals were very natural. We were all surprised at the low end response of these little speakers. {I later checked the specs to confirm that they extend to 40Hz +/- 3dB). In comparison the SACD recording offered a smoother response across the spectrum, with a little more "air". Midrange in the vocals was also less chesty. All in all it sounded terrific. Jeff was planning for a day of 2-channel on Sunday to take advantage.
The GR-10s replaced Jeff's Paradigm Reference 40s for main channel duty. All of us were in love with these speakers by the end of the evening. They presented movies and music with ease and grace. Fit and finish were immaculate. At C$2Kish a pair these are not inexpensive speakers, but for the price I think they are a bargain.
We also spent some time with a couple of DVD demos and a comparison of The Fifth Element original and SuperBit releases. Of the latter we all felt that the SuperBit version was cleaner and sharper than the original, but without A/B comparison you can still not complain about the first version's transfer. Jeff has done a fantastic job in calibrating his Toshiba 56H80 - TFE looked as good as I've ever seen it. Colors were spot on, contrast was just right, black levels were dark and detailed. And artifacts from the Panasonic RP-10 DVD player were essentially none.
Finally we enjoyed our feature presentation - a pre-screening of Fox's upcoming release of Willow on DVD. In short it was excellent. The video transfer ranged from good to stellar, the variability a function of the source material. There were scenes, particularly those that were well lit, that looked just a good as many current releases. Others could be a bit soft or murky but again we're talking about film elements from the mid/late eighties. Colors were natural and well saturated. Flesh tones were excellent.
The audio was truly great. James Horner's soundtrack was very rich and warm. Sound effects were well integrated and of excellent fidelity. Dialogue was good, if not a little chesty (Jeff's new HT layout includes an inset center channel, and the acoustic insulation had not yet been replaced after exchanging his Paradigm Reference CC for the MA Gold Center - likely the culprit). Overall there was little to suggest that the audio is around 13 years old.
Another very cool part of the evening were door prizes! Jeff's store ponied up a Tara Labs optical cable, and Ralph LaBarge (sp?) at Alpha DVD (through Andrew) provided a 5.1 classical music DVD. Luc and Jeremy were the respective winners of the evening.
Thanks to Jeff for hosting this event, the "sponsors" who provided demo equipment and giveaways, Ron Epstein (and Fox) for providing the Willow screener, and the gang of local HTF members who contributed to a great evening.
