Ottawa, Ontario

The latest get-together involved listening to folk and blues through my newish Fab Model 1 speakers driven by Wavelength Triton Blue 300B amps and a pair of ACI Titan subs. The sound was very nice - open and clean with a firm, well-integrated foundation.

Music included Martin Simpson, Mary Black, Ruthie Foster, two versions of Western Wall (one by Roseanne Cash, one by Emmylou and Linda Ronstadt), and a "vertical tasting" of Greg Brown - some from his 1983 album "One Night..", and some from his recent release "In the Hills of California" from the Kate Wolf Music Festival.

Refreshment was courtesy of three bottles of cask-strength single malt - a 27 year old Blair Athol, a 24 year old Convalmore and an 18 year old Caol Ila.

All in all, another pleasant, successful night.

Hello Matthew: I live in the Ottawa area and know both Paul Chefurka and Terry Patrick. If the membership is still open, please count me in. Regards Bill Krause

Well, we had a meeting at my place last night and it was a great pleasure to spend a few hours with Matthew and Paul. We listened to a wide range of material: Eva Cassidy, Alison Krauss, John Zorn, Doug MacLeod, Walter Leigh - everything from Blue Grass to Classical. A couple of bottles of fine wine, some excellent companionship and great music - really, what more could a man want? (well, okay, there is that). Greatly looking forward to our next get together.

Hello Bill,

Thanks for the note. If you are in the company of Terry and Paul you are walking on rarified air. Great people, who just happen to know a lot about music as well. We will be planning another listening session soon. Send me an e-mail through the Audiogon system and I will include you on the discussion.

all the best

matthew

Last Friday we met at my place again, to taste the delights of the Audion Silver Night PX25 amp. It acquitted itself very well. I over-programmed the music, though. My bright idea was an evening of chanber music, chosen for the number of instruments in the ensemble - starting with a Bach solo violin sonata and going all the way up to Spohr's Nonette. While there was some good music along the way (including a transcription of de Falla's "Nights in the Gardens of Spain" for guitar trio, and the Beethoven Grosse Fugue) we only made it as far as a Brahms Sextet before the idea wore out its welcome.

As a reward, we listened to some CD copies of working tapes made by a recording engineer from Toronto. He specializes in single-pass recording, done with strict stereo miking. The pieces were a small jazz combo - a female vocalist, a piano and a bass. The recordings were straight from the session, and included a lot of "beginnings" that ended in mistakes. It was like looking at a photographer's contact sheets - fascinating. The recording quality was interesting, in that it gave a very realistic picture of the venue acoustic, sometimes at the expense of the individual instruments - especially the piano which sounded a bit distant compared to the voice.