15 Feb 2014: Christos Simopoulos

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Monthly Meeting ACA at Christos Simopoulos

I will skip the commonalities and the “cliché” texts that are the natural outcome of such gatherings..... Texts that primarily concern the detailed reference in the system components, the discography of the presentation and the thanking for the hospitality and kind treatment.

I will focus on trying to write my impressions as follows:

1. Sentiment and passion!!!

I do not care if Christos approaches the hobby rationally, with technocratic efficiency, under romantic naivety, in a right or in a wrong way.

What impresses me is his feeling and his passion for his audio system. Experiencing his presentation was unprecedented. With a highly eloquent way he referred to the history of acquisition and management of his speakers. With great humor and qualitative self-sarcasm he was describing emotionally stuff and situations he went through all those years!

Two great moments were included: Firstly, the one related to the move of the speakers from Great Britain to Greece. He asked to land himself the plane in Elliniko airport, in order to succeed the best landing, avoiding conditions that could have provoked suffering to the sensitive system of rear folded horn of low frequencies of Tannoy!!!

And second and foremost his urge to his wife to manage his speakers after his death. It goes without saying that I do wish to him with all my heart that his happens after he turns 100 years old!

2. A top expert!!!

Christos proves to be a top expert in the field. This is evident from the acoustic result he has managed, having as main source the cd. An outcome that was succeeded with strong Greek assistance. Assistance that is consisted mainly by the amplifier, the d to a converter and the phono preamplifier from great Kostas Kourkounis, and secondarily by the cabling from Giannis Vlachos and Andreas Polakis.

3. The flagships!!!

Listening to the flagships of Tannoy is a big experience for anyone participating in the hobby. Anyone who concerns oneself with the (utopic) approach - discovery of the reproduction of the “real” music event should listen at least once to a well-set system that includes these speakers. Regardless to whether they give little or absolute priority to the cumulative spectral-decay plots, the impulse or the step responses, the structure of the magnetic systems and diaphragms, the control of the diffractions , the dispersion features, etc....

The hospitality...

Last but not least, there are no words to express our appreciation for the Christos family hospitality which was key to holding another very pleasant and successful ACA meeting.