June 2017 SAC Meeting
For our June club meeting … Morris Swift of OneAudio Music Systems (https://oneaudio.com.au/) will present the active µ2 speakers. (That “µ” character is pronounced “mu” and is the Greek symbol for small or micro). OneAudio released the passive version of their µ2 speakers a while ago and it has received acclaim from Len Wallis Audio and others. The active version is very new. Brad Serhan designed the cabinet and did the voicing for both the passive and active speakers. Brad also designed the DSP in the active version. Morris designed the electronics and amplification.
Here is an excerpt from a OneAudio brochure which explains their design philosophy…
“The relationship between designing equipment and verifying its performance through measurement, and the effect on what we subsequently hear, and how this is perceived, is a complex one. So much so that many audiophiles and even designers claim that you can’t measure what you hear, and implore us to simply trust our ears. At OneAudio, we unequivocally reject this. There is no doubt that such measurement is difficult, requiring new levels of accuracy, novel approaches, and new insights in interpreting the data. But it is absolutely essential if we are to consistently design equipment capable of delivering the high levels of performance and musical enjoyment demanded by us at OneAudio.”
Morris plans to demonstrate both active and passive µ2 speaker systems, however, the emphasis will definitely be on the active version. He’ll take direction from the audience, but he is also prepared to present on DSP technology and the issues with "digital", as well as the challenges of critical listening/evaluation and "A-B" testing.
Morris will do most of his presenting at the beginning of our second half session (i.e. after our half time break). He wishes that you listen to the system first without being told what you should expect to hear. Morris would like you to first listen without influence or bias.
The featured system will be as follows:
Speakers (Active): OneAudio µ2 Active speakers utilizing ScanSpeak Revelator drivers - a 5" woofer and a 1" ring tweeter. These drivers are from the ScanSpeak premium product range and can be found in other speakers priced up to $50,000 and beyond.
Main digital Source: PC/Laptop supplied by OneAudio.
CD Transport: An Oppo BDP-105D Universal player will be used as a transport (for our BYO session only).
Our popular BYO session will be split – it’ll be in part of the first half session, and also the latter part of our second half session. Members and guests are welcome to offer music to share with us all. So bring along your favourite music on CD or USB flash drives (sorry no vinyl). NOTE that USB flash drives are preferable. All we ask is that the music and recordings be interesting. We'll ask you to tell us a little about the artist/recording before it is played. Tracks over 6 minutes will be faded out, to give everyone a fair go.
Whether you are a novice or a seasoned veteran, you will have the opportunity to listen, learn and share your experiences with others. Feel free to come and hear the capabilities of the system, or to just share the experience with like-minded music lovers in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere.
Guests are welcome – we are a very friendly club so you don't need to know anyone to join us for an afternoon of fine music and sound.
Venue: Epping Creative Centre, Dence Park
Address: 26 Stanley Road, Epping
When: Sunday 18th June 2017
Doors open 1pm
Meeting starts at 2pm
Best regards,
Tom Waters
President
Sydney Audio Club
www.sydneyaudioclub.org.au
[email protected]
Follow up Report
Our June meeting drew in another good sized audience. Morris Swift did most of the presenting, Brad added value as we went. We strayed from our usual format for this meeting - rather than Morris presenting first up, he instead presented in the second half. The reason is that he wanted the audience to first realize their own perception of the SQ without being influenced by knowledge of the technology.
A common marketing ploy is to tell you in advance what you should hear. Of course you then hear that because your brain is focusing on it – but that doesn’t mean that that wasn’t present before. And of course, whatever you’ve been told you should hear may not matter that much to you anyways – it depends on what you value in what you hear. In audio, pretty much everything influence what/how you hear things – it’s a tricky business. And IMHO, speakers are probably the most tricky!
Morris opened with a poem about audio – about what we hear, why we subject ourselves to our hobby, what we tell ourselves in our journey to nirvana (or not!), and how we’ve become experts at rationalizing pretty much everything audio. Morris also gave a few stories of their adventures in trialing different drivers and technology to finalise their speakers – the path is never easy or clear.
The initial setup wasn’t too difficult. Except that the main laptop that Morris and Brad wished to use wouldn’t boot up properly. It had previously been tortured a bit by a virus, and was still on the mend (so to speak). Fortunately we got it up and running. We used the PC in the first half for Morris and Brad’s music, plus playing discs in the Members Music session (thank you John for all the Bossa nova) and also for our short BYO session in our first half.
For the second half, we used the passive OneAudio speakers thru an excellent PS Audio DAC and a PureAudio Class A amp. The previously mentioned cursed laptop decided to “pack it in”, so we had little choice!
Here are some comments lifted from the June Feedback forms…
"Very good presentation."
"Excellent presentation from Morris."
"Beautiful sound - eye opener of what an active system can offer."
"Good performance from a small speaker system."
"Good explanation of the theory behind design of system."
"Fantastic opening monologue [poem]."
"I particularly enjoyed the discussion."
"A very interesting meeting."
"Well done Morris and Brad!"
"Great sounding active speaker setup. Enjoyed Morris's presentation greatly! "
"Excellent!"
"Many thanks to Morris and Brad for the big effort."
"Loved the music today (I like the old stuff). Morris's comments mostly went over my head but I still found it very interesting."
"Enjoyable for stand mounts, worked well in our hall, like the speakers in May meeting. All system components gelled - synergy, depth, soundstaging, detail and tight bass. Enjoyed Morris's presentation."
"Morris, you are a great communicator."
"Speakers showed ability of bookshelf sized speakers."
"Clear and balanced sound, good bass for a small stand mount."
Our thanks to Morris Swift and Brad Serhan of OneAudio. And also Tony Wong of Magenta Audio for the loan of PS Audio DAC.