By Panagiotis Adamopoulos
Monthly Meeting ACA at Kyriakos Kougioumtzoglou
In general...
September the 14th and it is the end of the summer period and the beginning of the new season is coming round, for the Audiophile Club of Athens.
We welcomed the new season round, in the house of vice president of ACA, Kyriakos Kougioumtzoglou, who resides in the south of Athens. The majority of members of the club where there. We were more than 35 members and friends.
It was a cool evening with a soul mood amongst us which created a friendly and warm atmosphere with no less humor than other meetings, the conversations and fun between us resulted in the forming of a friendly meeting rather than a formal ACA agenda.
Kyriako’s made sure to welcome us in his home in the best way, as usual, offering us a very warm welcome, making sure we are comfortable all the times. His son Vassilis, offering us excellent care during our stay in their home. It was obvious there was a lot of preparation to welcome us and everything was in perfect order, but the highlight of the day was surely the cutting breath floor standing Wilson Alexandrias X 2 speakers and the changes concerning the room acoustics that Kyriako’s recently made.
The meeting...
All set and at 20.30 the meeting started with the traditional speech of ACA’s president George Heropoulos who informed us about the latest news and decisions concerning ACA protocol. He also introduced Antonis Koniotakis who is a remote, but dear member and was welcomed with a big warm applause by all of us.
A new member was also announced, Michalis Gyzis, who might be new to the club, but well known between us.
After the speech Kyriakos took his turn presenting his system which consisted of the huge Wilson Audio flagship Alexandria X 2 driven by a set of Jadis JA 200 monoblocks- with separate PSUs chassis, a massive amplification implementation, driven by Jadis JPS2 line preamplifier , TLA Reikon phono stage, Mikro Seiki RX-1500 FVG turntable with three arms and cartridges that were, SME V arm and Dynavector XV-1S Ruby, ET2.5 arm and Dynavector XV-1T, Zeta arm and Kiseki Purpleheart Sapphire.
The digital frontend included the charming Jadis JD1 MKII transport with the Metronome C2A Signature DAC.
Well... First words that come to thought were… State of the Art!
The listening...
Lights dim, everybody silence and music fills the room. The program started with a female Greek singer Charis Alexiou singing ‘Agriolouloudo’ (Wildflower) and first impression? Big Sound! Big stage with clear presentation and focus of the artists vocals and the musical instruments at a level that you could feel them ‘play’ between the instruments, a feeling that is highly intense, in a live performance. The program continued with a variety of musical choices which included Jazz recordings, classical music and rock. The system reproduces every recording so faithfully that you can listen to each detail individually with great ease but without distracting your attention from the music. What really impressed me was the capability of the system to present the atmosphere of each album taking you back to the 70’ with Janis Joplin, 10CC, and Creedence Clearwater Revival, with an impressive way of ease! I caught myself, in a trance a lot of times with many pieces of music, a fact that means that the system has a great Fun Factor. It achieved the goal of its owner, that is to lose yourself in music! Transparency comes in loads with every song and album presented ‘as is’ with great ease!
Huge bodies in orchestras prove the capabilities of the speakers to present a no limit soundstage with tube amplifiers driving with no effort the Alexandrias and tubes making their presence felt with warm and expressive mids, charming all the time with their musicality but never in an excessive or coloring the final result. The acoustic treatment of the room was more than obvious, with the system performing with no problems of annoying toning or frequency amplifications, or any kind serious problems that could occur from home environment.
Micro dynamics and macro dynamics were reproduced with the same ease with difficult parts of recording made seem like piece of cake. Analog recordings really impressed us with their atmosphere and detail, especially in recordings like the ‘I’m not in love’ of 10CC which really stunned us.
Later on...
After the listening session which was divided into two sections because of the big participation of members we were all gathered to enjoy the food and beverage preparations of the family of Kyriakos, who really deserves big thank you from all of us for the unique warmth and hospitality they offered to every one of us!
The time machine!
And suddenly it happened! A loud music filled the room with retro sound and classic original 60’s recordings! The AMI 200, the beloved Juke Box of Kyriakos started playing music and the mood changed instantly! Party mood was all around and you could feel the 60’s even if you hadn’t lived the time! A really beautiful machine perfectly preserved showing in every corner of its design the passion and care of its owner!
The conclusion!
It was surely one of the most successful ACA meetings with very big participation that reflects the love of the club members for Kyriakos and the club as well! He was very energetic like and always going around with his son Vassilis who took care of the guests with professional level service while making us feel at home!
Many thanks to the excellent wife and family of Kyriakos for their great preparations and effort for us that made us feel more than friends, better say, like part of the family! Great family, great system, great meeting!
A great start for the new ACA season!
Many greetings and thanks to all! To the best yet to come!
Kyriakos Kougioumtzoglou' Member Page
