The 2016-2017 Season so far: May 16th Meeting: Audio by Van Alstine! For our final meeting of the season, we are very fortunate to host Frank Van Alstine of Audio by Van Alstine, a local and long-standing audio manufacturer who is (or perhaps should be) familiar to us all, will be showing two brand new AVA offerings: First, AVA’s new DAC MK Five, which supports all bit rates up to PCM 192 and DSD 128 interchangeably, with no transition noise or drama between tracks of any bit rate or type. Standard inputs are two coax digital inputs, two optical digital inputs, and USB digital inputs. Second, AVA will present their new DVA 4/2 amplifier, producing 350 Watts per Channel (WPC) in stereo or 125WPC in discrete four channel mode. Very useful in a very clean stereo system or in a surround sound system, and is based on AVA’s Synergy solid state circuits with significant enhancements. Lastly, Frank will bring an inexpensive UTurn Orbit turntable with Longhorn Grado cartridge and optional Grado 8MZ stylus, plus AVA’s Vision phono preamplifier. Combined with the ASM’s CD capabilities, members are encouraged to bring LPs or CDs for playback. April 18th Meeting: Halsten Entertainment! We are excited to host Erik Beutler, General Manager at Halsten Entertainment in Golden Valley. With 30 years of audio and video retailing, system design, and installation experience, Halsten has deep knowledge of what it takes to deliver great family entertainment. Erik will demonstrate the new $2,200 per pair KEF LS50 Wireless system, the powered version of one of our favorite loudspeakers, ever. The LS50 Wireless system combines audiophile-grade amplification and sound processing, as well as extensive connectivity options. It’s hi-fi plug and play! So, please join us at the Pavek Museum of Broadcasting in St. Louis Park for an exciting look of what home theater and untethered listening can be. Attendance is free for all, and light refreshments will be on hand. The presentation begins at 7:00 PM, and, as always we encourage you to join us at 6:30 for more casual conversation. We will also discuss details of the upcoming May presentation and flea market. March Meeting! Under construction :D February Meeting - Line Array! On Tuesday, February 21st, Don Meger presented an in-depth analysis and demonstration of his Line Source (Line Array concepts) speaker system. This was very informative and interesting, and sounded great! January Meeting - Bring and Brag Music listening session On January 17th, we will have our annual Bring and Brag music fest, where we encourage attendees to bring an interesting recording or two to listen to on our "Mostly Minnesota Made" system. We can accommodate many digital disc formats on our multiformat player and we also have an excellent turntable to play (clean please!) vinyl records. November Meeting: DACs ! On November 15th, attendees of the ASM/MSP Audio Geeks joint meeting will get a rare opportunity to directly compare several DACs in true A/B/X listening tests. We will also have a MQA-certified DAC on hand, Mytek’s Brooklyn, for non-encoded/non-decoded and decoded listening tests with a variety of program material. Bring your HRA files, on a flash drive please, along with your DAC for possible inclusion in the testing. We hope to see you there! October Meeting: Bel Canto On Tuesday October 18th, our guests for the evening will be local manufacturer Bel Canto. Just back from the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest in Denver, they will be showing us and playing their latest gear. We may even get to hear some exceptional speakers from Fine Sounds stablemate Sonus Faber! September Meeting: Pure Audio Project For our opening meet of the season, Pure Audio Project graced us with a demonstration of its Trio15 speaker, a boxless dipole speaker of modular design. We enjoyed hearing about the formation of the company, and its unique approach to modular, semi-DIY speakers for the customer to assemble IKEA-style. And even more important, we loved listening to the clear sound. We were even able to hear the speakers with the center Tangband "full range" driver swapped out for a Beyma planar horn tweeter, to hear a second flavor of the Trio15. |