DC Hi-Fi Group January 2023 Meeting
The beginning of a new year brought a return to DCHFG member Gerry’s house by the Potomac. This time we hosted Lukas Lipinski for a demonstration of the Lipinski Sound L-707A Signature speakers.
Lukas has the audio industry in his blood as he carries on the work of his Father.
Andrew Lipinski’s perfect hearing abilities were recognized by the US National Bureau of Standards, where he was the only individual to achieve a perfect score on the listening evaluation of phonographic recordings (NBSIR 88-3725).
http://lipinskisound.com/company/
Famous for state-of-the-art high-fidelity recordings, Andrew Lipinski was driven to buid his own reference speakers to better monitor the quality of his recordings. Based in Washington, DC, Lukas has now taken his father’s work and amplfied it to exceptional levels.
Gerry’s listening room was an excellent venue to audition the L-707A Signature. Approaching seven feet (6.62′) in height, they dwarfed the already significant footprint of Gerry’s Wilson Alexx V speakers.
DCHFG members were treated to a variety of demo songs including rare recordings of The Firebird recorded by Keith Johnson as well as more modern tracks by Steely Dan and Thomas Dolby. This gave the listeners a good undestanding of what the Lipinski L-707A Signature could accomplish.
At the other extreme of speaker size, the Lipinski L-50 Powered Monitor were set up in the upstairs family room. These diminutive boxes produced sounds that belied their small size. Paired with a sub woofer, they would be perfect in many installations where an emphasis on being heard but not seen was preferred.
As usual, there were raffles for several audiophile recordings and there were many happy winners.
Once again, we are grateful to DCHFG member Gerry for hosting our meeting in his lovely home to audition another great audio system.
The DC Hi-Fi Group 2022 Holiday Party
Once again, we met in Alexandria. Va for holiday fun, listening and enjoying tasty food and drink.
We had a nice size crowd with a lot of fresh faces.
We were treated to a great mix of Greek style food, which I will remember as some of the best we have ever had. The mood was jolly with everyone deep in conversations and catching up with old friends.
John set up a system to show off the Denafrips Pontus II DAC that one of our members just purchased and wanted the club to listen to. This is an attractively priced full featured unit that sounded fine.
The club raffled off a brand-new sealed Mercury Living Presence Mono LP reissue of the Rafael Kubelik/Chicago Symphony Orchestra. This LP features Pictures at an Exhibition Half-Speed Mastered at Abbey Road Studios In 2021.
This party concludes six years of The Hi-Fi Group’s existence. It has been a busy last couple of months which bodes well for activities in 2023.
The DC Hi-Fi Group October 2022 Meeting
It was a picture-perfect Fall Day that brought the group together for the October 2022 Meeting at DCHFG member Gerry’s beautiful home by the Potomac.
It almost would be an understatement to say Gerry is an Audiophile. Based on the audio system Gerry has assembled, I would declare him to be an Apex Audiophile.
As the pictures will attest, it is obvious Gerry has built his listening system with the greatest of care. This is the most comprehensive and impressive home stereo system I have ever encountered.
Component details include:
- 600wpc VTL Siegfried Series II Reference (12 KT88s per channel tetrode)
- VTL TL 7.5 Series III preamplifier
- VTL TP-6.5 Series II phono preamp
- VPI Avenger Reference TT (Gimbal tonearm, Lyra Atlas Lambda Cartridge)
- Wilson Alexx V speakers (five drivers, five hundred pounds each)
- Pair of Wilson Subsonic subwoofers
- EMM Labs DA2 DAC
- PS Audio SACD transport
- Innuos Statement Streamer.
- Cables by Transparent and Shunyata.
Gerry very kindly played one of my favorite demo tracks – Jazz Variants by The O-Zone Percussion Group. This exciting and dynamic percussion piece really excercises the bottom and top extremes of a Hi-Fi system. Gerry’s system was more than up to the task.
If your Audiophile ears are tingling and you wonder how you, too, could hear such a system in person, then I would encourage you to join The DC Hi-Fi Group so you can gain access to such amazing home audio systems.
Gerry was a very gregarious host but was very humble about what he had accomplished.
As the meeting unwound, John Gatski treated us to a raffle of myriad items he has assembled over the month. Many members left with a smile from what they won in the raffle.
In the end, we were all winners for being invited into Gerry’s home and experiencing what he has wrought.
Fourth Annual DCHFG Rummage Sale – November 19, 2022
DC Hi-Fi Group Rummage Sale+Vinyl Event
When: Saturday, Novemeber 19, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Where: Historic Garrett Park Town Hall, 10814 Kenilworth Ave., Garrett Park, MD 20896
The DC Hi-Fi Group is holding the Fourth Annual Member/Dealer Audio Rummage Sales+Vinyl event in Garrett Park, MD on November 19th. Individual and DCHFG dealer members are selling off their used gear, b-stock, scratch and dent, and classic audio pieces, as well as new/used vinyl and turntable gear, home theater and pro audio.
Over twenty tables of gear will be at the event. It is open to the DCHFG membership and the public. Free admission. Cash-only sales unless otherwise noted by the vendors. Drinks and lunch will be available to DCHFG members. Non-members who sign up for annual or bi-annual membership terms are eligible to win prizes.
DCHFG Members who want to sell their used gear (we all have lots of stuff, don’t we) and records at the November 19th event need to reserve their table space by November 12th. We have space for twenty-two tables. Table space fee is $30 per table for individual members and $50 for dealer/manufacturer/service provider members. Non-member space fee is $100. Click here to download the table reservation form that can be mailed back with the check, payable to The DC Hi-Fi Group.
Members are encouraged to bring their own tables. We recommend the Rubber Maid-style, six ft. plastic folding tables. Street parking and nearby school parking lot are available to attendees.
Afternoon Delight with ELO
For our September meeting, we had a Vinyl Night in the afternoon courtesy of Dr. Vinyl’s listening room in Maryland.
Dr. Vinyl is one of our industry members carrying a wide range of audio products. Many of his offerings tilt toward the extreme High-End but he has systems that would satisfy all music lovers. Of course, the emphasis is on vinyl LP reproduction.
John Gatski gave an update on DCHFG affairs.
Mike McGary presented his basic amp design and new products that will be shown at the Capital Audiofest 2022 in Rockville, MD November 11-13, 2022.
Bruce Schuettinger of Mosart Audio Furniture covered his products and design parameters and will also have his fine work at CAF 2022.
Capital Audiofest’s Gary Gill brought us up to date with CAF’s status and surprised us all by announcing that there will be more than ninety listening rooms. This will be the largest CAF yet!
We did get to the reason for this meeting and sat down and listened to this month’s featured LP:
Electric Light Orchestra’s “El Dorado”, The MoFi LP Edition.
1974 PROG-ROCK LANDMARK MASTERED FROM THE ORIGINAL ANALOG MASTER TAPES AND PRESSED ON MOFI SUPERVINYL
Mobile Fidelity website
1/4″ / 15 IPS / Dolby A analog master to DSD 256 to analog console to lathe
Electric Light Orchestra leader Jeff Lynne did more than figuratively reach for the sky on Eldorado. Daring to be bold, and creating imaginative worlds that invite the listener to escape the mundane, the visionary composer-musician achieved a multidisciplinary fantasia and, in the process, a prog-rock landmark. Nearly 50 years later, the concept album’s brilliance can be experienced like never before in cinematic fashion.
The 1974 album includes several outstanding album cuts as well as the radio-friendly hit, Can’t Get It Out Of My Head. The band also holds the record for having the most Billboard Hot 100 Top 40 hits (20) without a number-one single of any band in US chart history.
Playback gear includeed Nola speakers, McGary tube amplifier, Backert Rhumba line-stage preamp, DS Audio W3 cartridge, J.Sikora Reference turntable and Tru-Glider tonearm.
Chris
Paul
The DC Hi-Fi Group 