13 Jun 2004: George Heropoulos

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George lives on a very nice house located near the top of a hill with a striking view of the waterfront. It was a very warm summer evening and the two verandas became the favorite spots for most of us, at least in the beginning...

Digital problem...

That is until George could fix the problems with his digital set up (the transport would not read so easily - although a good slap on the side would help - and the DAC had a preference to the left channel - ???). All the better for us because it was too warm inside the system's 'play room'. It was time for beer and wine tasting in the veranda, in order to prepare ourselves for the audition.

System running...

When the system was up and running we first listened to the solid state amp. The sound was dynamic and well balanced, considering the rough set up conditions. This system is 'digital-only', and we used one or two of our test CDs. S.M liked the speakers very much and thought that there is a lot of room for improvement. This was evident by the various tweaks that were tried on the system through the course of the night.

Later, due to popular demand, the power amp was changed to the DIY valve mono blocks. These stayed on for the rest of the night. Most listeners preferred the mono blocks, for their warm and full sound. But S.M insists that the solid state was truer to the recorded material. In any case, this matter remains open to be investigated in the near future. N.K, even though not present at the meeting, thought that this is an interesting set up, after being briefed by the rest of us.

... and some preferred outside

The best part of the night was spent downstairs at the dinning room, where a full course dinner was served, George's wife is a great cook and most people served themselves more than twice. I think that L.V did 4(!!!) times. I am almost certain that, if we had kept count, L.V would have been appointed 'the champion in food servings'. We thank Very much for her invaluable contribution to the success of this meeting!

System Description

ΑΤC-100 speakers, driven by Plinius SA-250 MK-IV or two parallel SE triodes mono blocks 2x60 W (by M. Geroukis) amplifiers.
Digital source: Theta Universal Data II / Theta Generation Va balanced-24/96 tr/DAC combo.
Wiring: DIY by Hatziminas, (DAC to pre), Cardas golden cross (pre to amps) for interconnects and Hatziminas speaker cables (tri-wiring).
Power cables/Electr. install.: Siltech 12 (digital) & Siltech 18 (amps), using dedicated power lines 20A.