Sydney Audio Club Meeting and 10 year Anniversary celebration - Sunday 9th July 2017 - Redefy Audio

[TomW]

For our July club meeting … we’re very pleased to have Henry Kristanto of Redefy Audio (http://redefyaudio.com/redefy) present.  Henry last presented to the club in April 2016, when he brought in his superb Redefy Two – this time he’s presenting his impressive Redefy Audio Monitor speakers supported by other top-notch components. 

 

Before the commencement of our meeting at 2:00, we’ll be having a BBQ to celebrate our 10th year.  The inaugural Sydney Audio Club meeting was held on July 1st 2007 – it’s hard to believe that 10 years have gone by so quickly!  So to celebrate our success and good fortune, we’re having an anniversary/birthday party.  Come by at 1:00 to enjoy good food and great company.  It’s free for members, and only $5 per person for guests.  During our regular meeting, there will also be a raffle and some RockWiz style track guessing - just for fun.  Also in attendance will be Marc Rushton, founder and publisher of StereoNET Australia (http://www.stereo.net.au/), and Edgar Kramer who is Editor-in-Chief of the just launched SoundStage Australia (http://www.soundstageaustralia.com/index.php).  (If you wish to attend our meeting as a guest please see our address at the bottom).

 

 

The featured system on the day will be as follows: 

 

Redefy Monitor speakers:  2 way 8” + 1.1” dome tweeter.  Here is what the Redefy Audio website says about the Monitor speaker…

“Our first 2 way stand mount Monitor with our own proprietary paper cone 220mm Mid woofer providing very low distortion bass and midrange, linear frequency response and impedance, coupled with a low inductance powerful motor to provide excellent sound dynamics, midrange purity and lastly a capable bass to fill up any sized domestic and studio room.   We selected one of the best dome tweeter in the industry, with powerful neodymium motor, excellent treated dome and loaded with short waveguide to provide excellent dispersion to match our Mid woofer.” 

Refer to http://redefyaudio.com/monitor/ and http://www.audiohifi.com.au/redefy-audio-monitor.php.

Also refer to a review by Edgar Kramer of the Redefy Two at http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews2/redefy/1.html

 

Vermouth Little Luccas Mk2 Limited speakers:  2 way with 5” and Raal Ribbon tweeter.  Henry is also bringing in some new speakers by Vermouth.  Until recently, Vermouth was known mostly for its high-end cables.  But Hendry Ramli of Vermouth Audio has now turned his hand to speakers as well. 

Refer to http://vermouthaudio.com/new/?wpcproduct=little-luccas-mkii-limited-edition

 

Arte Forma Elyssa Integrated Single End Tube Amplifier with 805, EL34 and 6SN7 tubes:  Refer to http://www.arteformaaudio.com.tw/elyssa.html.

Rick LeFaver in his review at EnjoyTheMusic said … “Sound wise this amplifier ticks all the boxes, great tonality, world class 3D sound stage, a noise floor on par with all but the very best valve based amplifiers, and macro and micro dynamics in spades. The sound quality of the Elyssa is of reference level for a push-pull tube based amplifier, a perfect entry point for someone looking to explore tube amplifiers.”  Refer to Rick's review at http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/equipment/0813/arte_forma_audio_elyssa.htm

 

Esoteric SA60 SACD Player:  This is an older player now, but still an excellent component.  Refer to http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/esoteric9/sa60.html

 

Vermouth Cabling:  Black Pearl RCA interconnect, Black Pearl Speaker Cable, Red Velvet Power Cable

 

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/SACD (sorry, no vinyl or USB flash drives).  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 9th July 2017

 

Doors open 12:30pm
Meeting starts at 2pm

 

Best regards,

Tom Waters

President

Sydney Audio Club

W: www.sydneyaudioclub.org.au

FB: https://www.facebook.com/sydneyaudioclub

E: tomwaters@sydneyaudioclub.org.au

 

Edited July 2, 2017 by TomW

[henry218]

I would like to congratulate Sydney Audio Club for it's 10th anniversary, i sincerely hope for many more years to come.

 

I like to add few photos and some more details especially for the amplifier, the new Elyssa is a single end integrated amplifier with 805, EL34 and 6SN7 tube.

 

looking forward to see you guys there.

 

regards

Henry

[O.Sydney]

looking forward to this 

[TomW]

Our 10^th anniversary and birthday party was a lot of fun!  It was very evident by all the smiles and chatter that people were really enjoying themselves.  That’s what I truly believe is marvellous about our little club – we know how to have fun, we don’t take ourselves too seriously, we don’t elevate one person over another just because their toys are bigger/better … and we are always respectful of each other.  Excellent you guys!

 

Although the BBQ offerings were available at 1:00, it wasn’t until 1:20-1:30 that people started to arrive in numbers.  Since it was winter we were able to host it on the patio such that we could enjoy the sunshine (rather than hide from it in the summer!). We had a huge 300 litre heavy duty container half full with ice, beer and soft drinks.  It was truly big - we had quite a few drinks left over.  We had beef, chicken and pork sausages, buns, plenty of sautéed onions, different sauces, two large salads, chips, nuts.  We normally start our meeting punctually at 2:00, but people seemed to be having so much fun that I held off a bit trying to get people into the hall.  I didn’t want to spoil the fun.   But I suppose I needn’t have been too concerned, because we had more fun coming up inside…

 

I opened the meeting with a brief speech about the club and the past Presidents and Committee members.  John McEvoy was the founder and first President of the club – it was great that John was present so people could approach him for a chat afterwards.  I also mentioned that Keith Morris (our Treasurer) is the only Committee member that has been on the Committee continuously since day 1.  John Vandyke was our second President - John and family moved to Adelaide 5 years ago, so many current members unfortunately didn’t get to meet him.  I’ve been the President since July 2011 – in fact, it was pretty much 6 years to our anniversary day.  Again, I’d like to say that what is most important isn’t who is on the Committee or who is the President – what matters most is our dedicated and loyal club members.  And we have many members that have been with the club since its inaugural club meeting in July 2007.   Thank you all.  We will continue to try to do our best for you.

 

I then outlined the format of the day.  And I introduced 2 important attendees that are in the audio industry - Marc Rushton and Edgar Kramer.  Marc of course is the founder and publisher of StereoNET and also the man behind the International HiFi Show.  Edgar is the editor-in-chief of the newly launched Soundstage! Australia.  Thanks for attending guys.

 

Finally… it was time for our guest presenter… Henry Kristanto of Redefy Audio.  (He was patiently waiting for me to stop talking – what a guy!)  Henry explained the design of the speakers he brought in.  He also apologised for not bringing in the Arte Forma Elyssa Integrated Single End Tube Amplifier as was planned – it wasn’t functioning properly due to issues with valves.  In its stead, we had a large integrated solid-state amp by AudioGD.  Henry present some varied music for about 35 minutes. 

 

After Henry’s presentation, we had a Rock Wiz style quiz hosted by George Davidson, our vice-president.  This event almost didn’t happen – it seems George and I both thought the other was going to bring in a particular adaptor.  So in the end, neither of us did.  Whilst George went out to buy one, Stephen Chen arrived and just happened to have what we needed.  Thanks Stephen!  The quiz this time was particularly hard – many people didn't know the artist and/or the track.  Nevertheless, we all had fun trying to figure it out.  (Go easier on us next time George!)

 

We had our break at our usual time.  And during it, our Events Coordinator Steven Polley, presented a positively humongous cake he’d made for the occasion, complete with the Sydney Audio Club logo on the top.  Even after we’d had way too much of it, there was still about half of it left over! 

 

After our break we had our raffle.  This time we had 5 prizes!  Long-time member Stephen Chen had donated a Thor power conditioner (including a PS Audio power cord) as well as a DAC (16 bit, 44.1 KHz only).   We also had 3 gift vouchers for JB HiFi.  From memory, Robert Jackson won the Thor and John Way won the DAC.   We then had our usual BYO to close out the afternoon.

 

Here are some comment lifted from the Feedback forms… when you read it all, please keep in mind that people were still in a bit of a party mood, so many tended to emphasis the birthday party rather than the SQ...!!!   It was good too...!!  

 

“Speakers good value for the money.”

 

“Most enjoyable & entertaining being 10yr Birthday of club.  Thanks for BBQ and drinks and cake and quiz!  Larger speakers from Redefy - more boomy bass, midrange and treble held back."

[This was very likely the influence of the room and not speaker related – TomW]

 

“Excellent meeting as always!   Friendly and enjoyable variety of music.  Loved it all!”

 

“Very enjoyable and congratulations on the cake!  Both pairs of speakers sounded "bigger" than their size but the black speakers (by Redefy) had the definite edge.”

 

“Nice speakers, would have loved to listen to smaller ones a bit more.  Nice affordable gear”

 

“Great meeting.  10 years, well done!”

 

“A terrific birthday meeting.  Liked the smaller speakers.  Excellent CD/SACD player.  Small speakers very promising.”

 

“Well organized.  Cake was a beaut.  Thanks Tom.  Thanks Steve P - Master Chef!”

 

“Thanks for BBQ and cake.  Very impressed by Redefy speakers.”

 

“Liked the quiz and the BBQ!!  Preferred the black speakers [by Redefy].”

 

“Enjoyable meeting, good fun.”

 

“Great club - Happy 10th B'day”

 

“A lovely 10th anniversary meeting.  On this 10th anniversary, thanks to the Committee for all the hard work.  And many thanks to Steve for the cake and to the catering team for all the food.  Here's to 10 more for SAC.”

[Note – all catering was by the SAC Committee.  Too expensive otherwise!!!  TomW]

 

“Fun with George's quiz.  Fantastic meeting.  Happy Birthday.”

 

“Fantastic.  Thanks for the invitation.”

 

“Great meeting.  So many familiar faces.  Great food.  The black speakers [by Redefy] were very enjoyable.“

 

“Great spirits and company.  Long live SAC!  Speakers were good overall.  Honest sound, good value for the price.”

 

“Great meeting and great sounding speakers from Redefy.”

 

 

A big thank you to Henry for the day…

 

Photos to follow shortly...

 

Edited July 11, 2017 by TomW

[TomW]

My apologies if the photos don't appear right side up... I turned them right side up prior to posting them, but sometimes these things don't seem to work out...

 

 

 

Edited July 11, 2017 by TomW

[Willco]

Tom Sounds a good day!--Re your Photos--Make sure Auto Rotate is ON in your Camera Menu--as example here

 

You mentioned in this case you rotated them( 90 deg Clockwise?) before posting--you need to SAVE AS and REPLACE --then they will post here vertical

 

Good Luck,

Willco

 

 

Edited July 11, 2017 by Willco

[TomW]

Thanks Willco.  Yes, you'd think that rotating, saving with a different name, and then posting that image would fix the issue.  But alas.  I'll take a look at my camera tonight to see if I can find the Nikon equivalent of that Canon setting you've shown above.  That will hopefully fix it for future posts.  Nevertheless, I'll have another go at fixing these already posted images tonight when I have the time.

 

Cheers

Edited July 11, 2017 by TomW

[henry218]

Thanks for SAC for the opportunity to showcase my creation and excellent cables and speakers from Vermouth.

 

The salad by Steven P was to die for...[emoji1], great tasting sausages with Coopers on the side..

 

It was a fun meeting indeed, like minded people get together with few great music (at least for me as i played my tracks...)

 

Tracks that was played on the day :

 

1. Tibetan Dance - Vassilis Tsabropoulos Anja Lechner U.T. Gandhi (Melos)

2. Big Picture - London Grammar (Truth is A Beautiful Thing)

3. The Boy Who Wouldnt Hoe Corn - Alison Krauss + Union Station (LIVE)

4. Tall Trees in Georgia - Eva Cassidy (LIVE at Blues Alley)

5. Arizona - Kings of Leon (Because of The Time)

6. Perfect Places - LORDE (Melodrama)

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Willco]

No Worries--keep up the good work

W

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 12, 2017 by Willco

[TomW]

Thanks Willco... but you didn't have to do that!  I was going to fix it up after I got home from work tonight.  Albeit a bit late I admit... thanks.

 

[Marc]

Congratulations guys, and thanks for the invitation:

http://www.stereo.net.au/news/a-decade-of-success-for-sydney-audio-club

[Guest Arthur]

I think everyone in the S.A.C. president and committee has to be congratulated for a very successful get together, in celebrating 10 years of existence of a very friendly and down to earth club.

 

Also, our gratitude must go to John McEvoy for his vision of a club worthy of it's name, in offering members a comfortable environment to interact and enjoy both, equipment and music. Also, for his great offerings and knowledge in Classical Music that he often shared with us.

 

Finally, we must thank all contributors, past and future, of all the great audio equipment they made available to us, that make all meetings such an interesting Sunday afternoon pastime.

 

Well done guys!