By Panagiotis Adamopoulos
Monthly Meeting ACA at Epaminondas Tsandis
An artistic experience and the Goldfinger’s system!...
A meeting in a gallery, could somebody say for Epaminondas‘s home monthly gathering of ACA! Invited by Epaminondas this ACA monthly meeting took place in the Northeast of Attica in a very special place where we were surrounded by art! It was a feeling like ‘pictures at an exhibition’.
What a person! Epaminondas and his kind wife Marietta made our stay an experience full of nice surprises all the time. Indeed it was one of the most or maybe the best meeting of the year.
Epaminondas is an eccentric man in a way and a passionate music lover or better passionate for arts! Energetic as always he welcomed this ACA meeting in his home in the best way!
Friends start to gather as time went by and soon the place was full of audio enthusiasts of the Club and not only. The system was also a surprise as every component was custom made for Epaminondas with gold finish who by the time was wearing silver shoes, which created a lot of nice and funny comments from the audio friends until they ended to say that this was the Goldfinger’s system!
The room were the system was set, was very spacious and al the walls were decorated with paintings of high class art with each one being a unique piece of creation. Great impression also made the painting behind the system which was created by plastic and vinyl giving a sense of relationship with the analog records and a sense of musical ‘in trance’ feeling as an image, creating a positiveness during auditioning.
After going around and enjoying all the artistic details everywhere in the room, the meeting started with the welcoming call of our ACA president who gave his turn to Epaminondas to open the listening session.
Epaminondas surprised us with a wonderful system presentation that included his previous set ups, a presentation of his record collection where he stood for a while to tell us some things concerning the authenticity of records and sound quality throughout various editions and labels, a thing that was more than obvious that he had deep knowledge.
The System...
- Turntable : Kuzma Stabi XL, Graham Phantom B-44+ZYX Airy 3M, Kuzma Airline+ZYX Airy 3G
- CD Transport : Accuphase DP-800
- D/A Converter : Accuphase DC-801
- Tuner : Magnum Dynalab MD109
- Cassette deck : Nakamichi 1000 ZXL Limited
- Preamplifiers : WAVAC LCR-X2+PS-X2+TR-B1 (phono), Viva Audio Linea XP custom (line)
- Amplifier Tube : CAT SIGNATURE JL 1 MK II
- Speakers : Sonus Faber Stradivari
- Cables : Jorma Prime for interconnects, Jorma for speakers
The Listening...
Listening session started and music filled the room, with analog recordings of Stravinsky, Dire Straites and then Epaminondas surprised on more time with some great live tape recordings, of Elli Paspala and Vassilis Papakonstantinou Greek artists, which were played through the legendary Nakamichi 1000 ZXL Limited, a unique tape deck.
The Sound...
The sound of the system was by common confess one of the best we‘ve heard with loads of detail and energy from low frequencies to high in the spectrum. The CAT monoblocks drove with ease the huge and elegant Stradivaris of Sonus Faber making a wonderful combination with the tubes transmitting a very expressive human like musicality to the music, with great transparency making it easy and an experience to listen and notice details such us interventions in remastered editions or choices of mastering and mixing.
Great dynamic range and low noise floor was another great advantage of the system that let the music breathe out of the component chain and express itself freely creating a charming result that was taking you there, to the music itself!
Listening sessions were paused for a while and then we gathered in another spacious floor of Nondas house were art was again present everywhere and in every detail proving the high taste of both Epaminondas and Marietta, where another surprise waited us.
A nice buffet with a rich variety of tastes waited us. The atmosphere was very warm among us with many friendly group discussions, and people exchanging between them. People kept coming and the meeting ended to be more, an event! Each meeting is great chance of people meeting again and communicate between us, confess and express our energy on the hobby!
Listening part 2...
After the food, the drinks, the cigars and the conversations, came the second part of listening session that was and the most interesting. Epaminondas had made a selection of rare 1950’s 1960’ and 1970’s vinyl selections with their remastered audiophile vinyl editions to give us the chance to experience ourselves the differences and interventions between first pressing edition and remastered editions which opened a great friendly debate between us concerning which edition was the most preferable or correct in the aspects of rhythm, musicality and frequency correctness. It was another great experience because we listened to 60 years old mono recordings with the great sound capabilities of the system transmitting the atmosphere of each recording through time.
Concluding...
Surely a meeting that an experience in every aspect, with the two host making their best to make us enjoy our stay in their home in every way! Every meeting of our club is successful and every time we say that this meeting was one the best. Yes it’s true. Every meeting is success but this one was special. It was an artistic experience, a musical experience, but most of all our monthly meeting that we wait every month anxiously!
Many thanks to Epaminondas, his wife, Marietta and all of us for this nice Saturday evening to remember!
Epaminondas Tsandis' Member Page
