May 2017 SAC Meeting
For our May club meeting … David Allen, Brad Serhan and Morris Swift of Brigadiers Audio (www.brigadiers.audio) will present an exceptional system featuring their new Brigadiers Audio BA-2 speakers. More great Australian expertise..!
The system will be as follows:
Speakers: Brigadiers Audio "BA-2" (refer to http://www.brigadiers.audio/ba-2 ). Supplied by Brigadiers Audio. From their website … “Innovative 'box within box' constrained layer dampened, birch-ply enclosures, the selection of the finest drivers, the critical crossover design process for driver integration, baffle diffraction and phase coherence.”
Speaker Cables: Tara Labs "The One" speaker cables (now superseded). Refer to http://www.taralabs.com/speaker-cables/item/29-pr-the-one-cx . Supplied by Brigadiers Audio.
Amp: PureAudio ONE integrated amplifier. Refer to http://www.pureaudio.co.nz/?page_id=485 .Supplied by Brigadiers Audio. A description of this amp can be found at http://www.pureaudio.co.nz/content/literature/Pureaudio_ONE_Integrated_web.pdf
CD Player / Transport: PS Audio DMP DirectStream Memory Player (CD Transport). Refer to http://www.psaudio.com/product-category/disc-player/ Supplied by Magenta Audio. See review at http://www.tonepublications.com/review/ps-audio’s-directstream-memory-player-and-dac/.
DAC: PS Audio DirectStream DAC. Refer to http://www.psaudio.com/directstream-dac/. Supplied by Magenta Audio.
Interconnects: QED Reference Audio 40. Refer to https://avrevolution.com.au/brands/qed/reference.html. Supplied by Audio Visual Revolution.
HDMI Cable: PS Audio PerfectWave HDMI 10. Refer to http://www.psaudio.com/products/ac10-hdmi-cable/. Supplied by Magenta Audio.
USB Cable: Curious Cable USB. Refer to http://www.curiouscables.com . Supplied by Magenta Audio.
Power Filtration: PS Audio Power Base ( http://www.psaudio.com/products/perfectwave-powerbase/) and PS Audio P3 Power Plant (http://www.psaudio.com/products/p3-power-plant/ ). Supplied by Magenta Audio.
Digital Source: MAC Air running Audirvana Plus 3 ( https://audirvana.com/?p=4153 ). Supplied by Brigadiers Audio.
Vibration control: Les Davis Audio 3D-2 Damping Discs. Refer to http://www.lenwallisaudio.com/products/accessories/tweaks/3d-2-constrained-layer-damping-discs . Supplied by Les Davis Audio.
The second half of the music sessions will be our popular BYO. Members and guests are welcome to offer music to share with us all. So bring along your favourite music on CD (sorry no vinyl). 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 21st May 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 May meeting drew in a good sized audience. It’s great to see that Aussie talent can draw such a good crowd. We had 42 people in the first half, and a still healthy number of 40 souls in the second half. David Allen, a principal at Brigadier Audio, did most of the introductory talk. He described all the gear and the pricing. Brad Serhan, the chief speaker designer at Brigadier Audio, injected a few thoughts along the way, and answered a few questions about the speaker design. Pretty much every audiophile in Australia (and beyond) will have heard of Brad - his 30+ years of experience really shows. Morris Swift, also of Brigadier Audio, was on hand. We also had Les Davies of Les Davies Audio in attendance – he spoke briefly of his constrained layer damping discs that he’d put under virtually all the components (available thru Les and Len Wallis Audio locally). Tony Wong of Magenta Audio was also on hand – he brought in the PS Audio gear.
The Brigadier guys expended quite a bit of time upfront to get the speakers sounding just right. As any regular attendee would know, our room can be tricky. But Brad very successfully managed to get the Brigadier BA-2 speakers sounding as good as possible in our room. Although they are stand-mounts, they had no issue filling our room with good sound. They were very open and transparent sounding, with very good tonality. They possessed all the things that we as audiophiles expect in a high-end small speaker.
Near the end of the first half, Les Davies impressed all by simply putting some of his constrained layer damping discs under the laptop. (Earlier we'd put them under most of the other gear, just not the laptop.) We switched them in and out a few times so people could hear the difference. With them in, we could hear an improvement in bass articulation and overall timing.
Due to the length of the presentations and discussions, we didn’t have our usual Members Music session. But we do have a fellow lined up for June – he loves Antonio Carlos Jobim, so you can expect a bit of that next month.
As you may know, we always ask attendees to fill out a Feedback form. We review the content each month, and adjust our proceedings accordingly. Here are some comments lifted from the May Feedback forms…
Greatly enjoyed it.
Very enjoyable.
Spotify [Premium] segment was lacking fidelity.
Great meeting. Nice speakers filling up the room.
Excellent system and speakers.
Very impressive sound. One of the best bookshelves I've heard. CD sounded better than laptop.
Enjoyable afternoon. Good sound.
Impressive speakers.
Well balanced high performing system.
Class A [amp] at it's best. Bit ugly looking though.
Great session.
Excellent speakers. World class.
One of the best meetings we've had.
Huge thanks again to David, Brad, Morris (all from Brigadier Audio), Les Davies (Les Davies Audio) and Tony Wong (Magenta Audio)..!!
The system will be as follows:
Speakers: Brigadiers Audio "BA-2" (refer to http://www.brigadiers.audio/ba-2 ). Supplied by Brigadiers Audio. From their website … “Innovative 'box within box' constrained layer dampened, birch-ply enclosures, the selection of the finest drivers, the critical crossover design process for driver integration, baffle diffraction and phase coherence.”
Speaker Cables: Tara Labs "The One" speaker cables (now superseded). Refer to http://www.taralabs.com/speaker-cables/item/29-pr-the-one-cx . Supplied by Brigadiers Audio.
Amp: PureAudio ONE integrated amplifier. Refer to http://www.pureaudio.co.nz/?page_id=485 .Supplied by Brigadiers Audio. A description of this amp can be found at http://www.pureaudio.co.nz/content/literature/Pureaudio_ONE_Integrated_web.pdf
CD Player / Transport: PS Audio DMP DirectStream Memory Player (CD Transport). Refer to http://www.psaudio.com/product-category/disc-player/ Supplied by Magenta Audio. See review at http://www.tonepublications.com/review/ps-audio’s-directstream-memory-player-and-dac/.
DAC: PS Audio DirectStream DAC. Refer to http://www.psaudio.com/directstream-dac/. Supplied by Magenta Audio.
Interconnects: QED Reference Audio 40. Refer to https://avrevolution.com.au/brands/qed/reference.html. Supplied by Audio Visual Revolution.
HDMI Cable: PS Audio PerfectWave HDMI 10. Refer to http://www.psaudio.com/products/ac10-hdmi-cable/. Supplied by Magenta Audio.
USB Cable: Curious Cable USB. Refer to http://www.curiouscables.com . Supplied by Magenta Audio.
Power Filtration: PS Audio Power Base ( http://www.psaudio.com/products/perfectwave-powerbase/) and PS Audio P3 Power Plant (http://www.psaudio.com/products/p3-power-plant/ ). Supplied by Magenta Audio.
Digital Source: MAC Air running Audirvana Plus 3 ( https://audirvana.com/?p=4153 ). Supplied by Brigadiers Audio.
Vibration control: Les Davis Audio 3D-2 Damping Discs. Refer to http://www.lenwallisaudio.com/products/accessories/tweaks/3d-2-constrained-layer-damping-discs . Supplied by Les Davis Audio.
The second half of the music sessions will be our popular BYO. Members and guests are welcome to offer music to share with us all. So bring along your favourite music on CD (sorry no vinyl). 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 21st May 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 May meeting drew in a good sized audience. It’s great to see that Aussie talent can draw such a good crowd. We had 42 people in the first half, and a still healthy number of 40 souls in the second half. David Allen, a principal at Brigadier Audio, did most of the introductory talk. He described all the gear and the pricing. Brad Serhan, the chief speaker designer at Brigadier Audio, injected a few thoughts along the way, and answered a few questions about the speaker design. Pretty much every audiophile in Australia (and beyond) will have heard of Brad - his 30+ years of experience really shows. Morris Swift, also of Brigadier Audio, was on hand. We also had Les Davies of Les Davies Audio in attendance – he spoke briefly of his constrained layer damping discs that he’d put under virtually all the components (available thru Les and Len Wallis Audio locally). Tony Wong of Magenta Audio was also on hand – he brought in the PS Audio gear.
The Brigadier guys expended quite a bit of time upfront to get the speakers sounding just right. As any regular attendee would know, our room can be tricky. But Brad very successfully managed to get the Brigadier BA-2 speakers sounding as good as possible in our room. Although they are stand-mounts, they had no issue filling our room with good sound. They were very open and transparent sounding, with very good tonality. They possessed all the things that we as audiophiles expect in a high-end small speaker.
Near the end of the first half, Les Davies impressed all by simply putting some of his constrained layer damping discs under the laptop. (Earlier we'd put them under most of the other gear, just not the laptop.) We switched them in and out a few times so people could hear the difference. With them in, we could hear an improvement in bass articulation and overall timing.
Due to the length of the presentations and discussions, we didn’t have our usual Members Music session. But we do have a fellow lined up for June – he loves Antonio Carlos Jobim, so you can expect a bit of that next month.
As you may know, we always ask attendees to fill out a Feedback form. We review the content each month, and adjust our proceedings accordingly. Here are some comments lifted from the May Feedback forms…
Greatly enjoyed it.
Very enjoyable.
Spotify [Premium] segment was lacking fidelity.
Great meeting. Nice speakers filling up the room.
Excellent system and speakers.
Very impressive sound. One of the best bookshelves I've heard. CD sounded better than laptop.
Enjoyable afternoon. Good sound.
Impressive speakers.
Well balanced high performing system.
Class A [amp] at it's best. Bit ugly looking though.
Great session.
Excellent speakers. World class.
One of the best meetings we've had.
Huge thanks again to David, Brad, Morris (all from Brigadier Audio), Les Davies (Les Davies Audio) and Tony Wong (Magenta Audio)..!!