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Monthly Meeting ACA at Christos GonisThis afternoon we were welcomed by Mr. Christos Ghonis, an old club member, who greeted us at his home in Faliro, Athens for our regular meeting and the presentation of his system. The listening...The first sounds of the accordion from Reboutsika’s "Autumn Story" theme fill the air with their pure sensual presence compelling one to pay attention. Next, the famous "Good morning little school girl" by Muddy Waters, on vinyl, achieves a balanced spread between the two speakers in the correct balance, revealing the size of the recording room. In the next CD – a compilation of songs by the great Jazz guitarist George Benson - the groovy "The Ghetto" is rendered realistically with dynamism and precision! The rhythmic presence of the percussions stands out in the famous "Amigo Santana", as does the harmonic richness of the voice.
The same applies more or less to the interpretation of "Tin Pan Alley" by the wonderful Steve Ray Vaughan. I noticed a slight decrease of the cymbal’s presence and the drum-set dynamics which may have been due to the general smallness of the space. On to the Greek repertory, with a ballad by Haris Alexiou with piano accompaniment, which was a realistic rendition highlighting the expression and the timbre of the human voice and the piano transients. The basic program ended with a J. Haydn symphony which was rendered with satisfactory soundstage dimensions and a fairly pleasant timbre to the classical orchestra instruments. System Evaluation...Maximum listening level from my position reached 94 dB, while the average level was measured at 89 ~ 91 dB. In general it was a remarkable and pleasant system which would need a larger place to reach optimum performance!!!
This is a dipole speaker that requires a more than 1.20m distance from the back wall, which also needs to be fitted with sound diffusion materials. The fact that there was a curtain behind the speakers, together with the small distance from the wall, compromised the listening to some extent! The Sound System…Turntable : VPI HR-X CD player : Marantz SA-15 - S2 Phono preamplifier : Audio Note: M3- RIAA Line preamplifier : Krell KCT Power amplifier : Krell 750 Mcx monoblocks Loudspeakers : Magnepan MG 20.1 Speaker Cables : Furukawa Rack : Custom made Listening space surface : Approximately 30m2 & 2.60m in height The Ending...My thanks to Christos Gkonis for the interesting musical program and, of course, for the appetizers that followed.
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