Heathrow SOUND & VISION SHOW

[Paul Barker]

I was away on another course last week, when a customer rang me last night she said "you're always off on a course, you have plenty of courses except intercourse".

She's one of those that mentions it every time you meet her. The main builder, when she propositions him (every day) just says, "I'll ask our lass if she'd mind".

[Darren D]

Well it makes me look and feel old Dr John, just ask Paul

Great to meet you at last, it was a pleasure. Same goes for Dave the bass, Little Mick and Neal Gibbons for all his help and loan of a cart which I trashed rather quickly. A simple slip and it was gone...oops. So embarrassing

I was rather hoping to meet some of the others, but there you go.

Personally I had a fantastic time even though it was very tiring, I've just got home and I'm completely exhausted !!!

[Dave the bass]

I thought all you 'sliver haired gentlemen' looked...errrr.....errrr...um... <considers correct word useage>...distinguished...yes..thats the word

I'll grow some more long brown hair for y'all and bring it up to Eggfest to sell. A mates mum used to call me a hair-farmer

Thanks for the advice on the plinths too Darren.

DTB

[John Caswell]

Hi all,
My hair is not silver is is black, I just dye it silver/grey to "look distinguished". If you believe that..........................

Darren you should have a pm

John aka Dr John

[Greg.]

A bit more detail please? What version of Slatedeck was used? What arm and cartridge? Just for personal intrigue, what speaker cables were used?

Best wishes,

Greg

[Paul Barker]

30mm single slate with 401 250 arm Michel (spelling?) weight mod Peter described as "done properly" as compared to the other people who by implication donm't do it as well. Darren's 103 some of the time whenb I was there.

Cable was some thick round white stuff.

Speakers Peter's floor standers, amp new KT88 amp.

There was a good sounding cd spinner aswell, which sounded great on Dave the Bass's music. Must get him to give us a shopping list, he is a great contribution to our number.

[NealG]

Greg, you'll find this intriguing: We used my OL modded 250 with Technoweight, same as I used for the 103 review, you could probably understand my concerns with this combo after your experience and mine tallied so well.

On the slate plinth it was totally different, all the failings we identified where not there, it was as if the arm was completely different. I can only put this down to the slate deck it must be doing something different, a mass damping thing perhaps. Just goes to show that there are no absolutes in this game!

[Darren D]

Greg,

We used the single layer 30mm round armboard plinth, standard RB250 initially, with a Denon DL103 cart on Thursday.

Friday Neal brought his Modded RB250 with the Michel Tecnoweight with some arm wire upgrade I believe.

Turntable was a Garrard 401 which I received earlier last week from an Ebay seller. I had only an hour to set it up at home to test. No modifications and no re-lube. It was used as I received it bar the fact I fitted a new mains lead and plug for safety reasons. The old one had no earth and was a bit iffy to say the least. It was pat tested and got the all clear.

This combination was chosen for demonstration to show what a typical budget set-up was capable of producing.

Sadly it was just not convenient to compare with the 301 twin that was on display. We were just too busy with the sheer number of enquiries.

Interestingly I noticed some ladies attending the show with their partners were insisting that the twin was purchased rather than the single. This was based purely on aesthetics, but did demonstrate an excellent WAF.

A lot of interest was also displayed from the press and the trade, in particular the Germans. Slate I understand is Sheefa and you always knew when they were there as they exclaimed the word with such enthusiasm !!!

Regards
Darren

[Dave the bass]

Originally Posted by Paul Barker

There was a good sounding cd spinner aswell, which sounded great on Dave the Bass's music. Must get him to give us a shopping list, he is a great contribution to our number.

Aw...shucks Thanks for the compliments Paul

1st CD was 'Below the Bassline' by Ernest Ranglin. A sort of Jazz/Ska hybrid, it was an all-star Acoustic line up on that recording, Monty Alexander/Ira Coleman/Idris Muhamed + Ernie of course whoose biggest claim to fame is that he wrote Millies big 1960's hit 'My Boy Lollipop'...but we won't hold that against him

2nd CD was 'Whatever happened to the Blues' by Phil Upchurch. Another unknown gem (IMHO), recorded at Paisley Park (Princes Studio in MN, USA). Track 2 features the Staple Singers backing Phil on sooperbly recorded slap-foot percusssion and Geetar. On the same CD is a version of James Browns 'I don't want nobody...' with original Funky Drummer Clyde Stubelfield (sp?) and Princes drummer Micheal Bland on he same track. It switches from Clydes acoustic set-up to Micheals electronic 'Princy-pop' sounds. I loved Paul Petersons palm-muted Plectrum bass playing on it, I think it's a detuned 5 string (!) bass, really propels the groove along. He throws in the occasion high parts that make the hair on the back of yer neck stand up (courtesy of WD88VA + WD25T's ) then gets chugging away on the low's again.

I bought others but thats the 2 that were played at length.

Others I recommened are the original 70 Vynil versions of the ZZ Top back-catalogue one of which I picked up at the Show for tenner.

I thought you were all very brave letting me have a few 'requests'!

I've got loads of CD and Vynil, most of it not what you'd normally hear at Hi Fi shows I'd guess. Maybe I could bring some up to Eggfest?

Originally Posted by Darren D

Greg,

Interestingly I noticed some ladies attending the show with their partners were insisting that the twin was purchased rather than the single. This was based purely on aesthetics, but did demonstrate an excellent WAF.

Regards
Darren

Yep Darren, My GF of many years loves the slate aesthetic and understands the Technical view of the Hi mass plinth approach after I gave her the out-line.

On so many level's I think you're onto a winner.

DTB

[Darren D]

Thanks Dave,

The interest in the WD room was absolutely staggering as you may have noticed. So many kept coming back for another listen and many stayed for quite a while listening to quite a few records in their entirety.
That WD88VA amp is a marvel and I don't like PP apparently.
Regards
Darren