NY Times visits Ojas

[mhardy6647]

Later of course, I fell in with even worse kinds of pushers, pushing even harder drugs...

Make it yer own Tungar Supply

Went to the "Secret Land of Walter" last weekend to have some fun with some friends. On the agenda for the weekend were some Tungar Supplie...

hifiheroin.blogspot.com

(Hmm... I was there, too... perhaps I am hifi's Zelig...)

PS Jeepers... it's hard to believe that was in 2016!
Well, it is as Kermit the Frog says...

 

[MakeMineVinyl]

I wasn't paying too much attention, either -- but I acquired that infamous pair of Cornies in 1996 (with an Mac MC-2100 and a C-28) and started nosing around the 1996-era internet for ways to make them sound better ... and discovered the whole SET thing that was... a thing... in those days.

I fell in with a bad crowd shortly thereafter.

Boston Audio Bash '99

View attachment 221783
(I was there -- even though there's no record in the literature attesting to my presence)

EDIT: Come to think of it, Kevin Kennedy & Clark Johnsen were there, too... but not in the photo (nor do I think they were mentioned).
That's a very young looking Gary Kaufman in the back right, looking very engineer-like (which he is not... although he's got mad skilz).
The fellow on the far left ran an NMR (ahem, MRI ) center at MGH, if memory serves.

Which one is you?

The Altec factory in Anaheim (right foreground next to the freeway) - that's Disneyland in the background. My office was somewhat behind the truck loading dock. Disney bought the site of the factory a few years ago and tore it down to make a parking lot. Bastard mouse.

 

[mhardy6647]

m

Which one is you?

View attachment 221784

The Altec factory in Anaheim (right foreground next to the freeway) - that's Disneyland in the background. My office was somewhat behind the truck loading dock. Disney bought the site of the factory a few years ago and tore it down to make a parking lot. Bastard mouse.

I adroitly dodged the paparazzi at the Tungar-raising party, too. That's Dave Slagle and Carroll Conklin slingin' the solder.

 

[Dialectic]

Hipsters can't afford these speakers. The target market is technical illiterates working in finance/consulting/internet/media/law.

Yah, I figured I could clear the cookies. It's amazing how many pile up.

I have no desire to subscribe to the NYT; not my cup of Scotch, and barely have time to read the local paper (I usually stick to the comics, which could be any section lately ).

I only look at the paper for Marmaduke. Hearing of the content of this NYT article has only lowered my opinion if that once-great institution .

 

[MattHooper]

So, the greatest measure of High Fidelity is to be able to say "wow, that sounds exactly like I'm listening to a recording right here in my room!"

Ha! Combining the two goals! You've done the audio equivalent of reconciling General Relativity with Quantum Mechanics

 

[krabapple]

The original VOTT systems are far too large and unwieldy to measure with a Klippel, and I'm sure far too much effort to make it worthwhile. I am not even aware of anybody posting measurements of any VOTT system larger than the A-7 using REW or similar techniques. I've measured my A7-500s many times, just yesterday actually to test a variation on the voicing filter.

Clearly what's needed are bigger Klippels.

 

[krabapple]

Hipsters can't afford these speakers. The target market is technical illiterates working in finance/consulting/internet/media/law.

ahhh..the art market!

I only look at the paper for Marmaduke. Hearing of the content of this NYT article has only lowered my opinion if that once-great institution .

Lighten up, NYT has always run 'lifestyle articles. And indeed this one was in the Style section.

It can't all be Pulitzer entries.

 

[mhardy6647]

So -- and my intent here is actually not to stir the pot ; I am just reporting an observation from the field! -- there's an interesting post from someone who attended the exhibit in NYC this week (or last) which was reported in an OJAS thread at hifihaven:
There is some "update" work invested in these -- how "informed" it is would be anyone's guess, but it's not just old components bolted into moderne brutalist boxes.

are we hip now? here's a youth into WE/sound practices/fashion/DJing

I'm tellin' ya. Maybe I should start a gofundme or somethin' Help Marky get some multicellular horns, and keep his kidneys! I mean, even a pair of 1005s, you know? No respect... ;) Are you hunting for 288s too?

hifihaven.org

 

[MakeMineVinyl]

So -- and my intent here is actually not to stir the pot ; I am just reporting an observation from the field! -- there's an interesting post from someone who attended the exhibit in NYC this week (or last) which was reported in an OJAS thread at hifihaven:
There is some "update" work invested in these -- how "informed" it is would be anyone's guess, but it's not just old components bolted into moderne brutalist boxes.

are we hip now? here's a youth into WE/sound practices/fashion/DJing

I'm tellin' ya. Maybe I should start a gofundme or somethin' Help Marky get some multicellular horns, and keep his kidneys! I mean, even a pair of 1005s, you know? No respect... ;) Are you hunting for 288s too?

hifihaven.org

Modifying the throats of the horns. That's serious stuff I shouldn't try at home.

 

[egellings]

I 'spoze.

 

[mhardy6647]

Not for the faint of heart. The throats are important.

The Tale of Three Horns... Variations of the Western Electric 32A Horn

audio, tube, horn loudspeaker, high efficiency, loudspeaker, turntables, vinyl, field coil,

electravolt.blogspot.com

 

[Vuki]

Nice report from my friend Danko. Ojas

 

[Jimster480]

I'd like to congratulate all the haters here for alienating anybody who has an interest in music and sound reproduction because they could never be as cool as the Audiofools here in this forum.

Let's be totally clear here. The type of speakers that are being talked about in this overall thread are not speakers of top quality audio. They are not speakers for people who have serious interest in Audio and Sound reproduction. They are speakers for people who want a specific style in their house, to be "unique" while being anything but.
Likely they don't even listen to music. That is the style today. Just like all the genZ who wear glasses without prescriptions because it's "what's in".

 

[Dialectic]

I'd like to congratulate all the haters here for alienating anybody who has an interest in music and sound reproduction because they could never be as cool as the Audiofools here in this forum.

I return the congratulations to you, sir, for joining ASR to hate on the haters!

 

[Vuki]

Let's be totally clear here. The type of speakers that are being talked about in this overall thread are not speakers of top quality audio. They are not speakers for people who have serious interest in Audio and Sound reproduction. They are speakers for people who want a specific style in their house, to be "unique" while being anything but.
Likely they don't even listen to music.

And that statement is based on what?

 

[DonR]

Nice report from my friend Danko. Ojas

A particular part of his review that I mentioned earlier and totally agree with

the soundstage is of somewhat modest dimensions (perhaps the room is too small for these big speakers, regardless of the very extensive acoustic treatment present)

Unfortunately, his claim that the speakers have good PRaT immediately discounts any other of his subjective observations.

 

[MattHooper]

Let's be totally clear here. The type of speakers that are being talked about in this overall thread are not speakers of top quality audio. They are not speakers for people who have serious interest in Audio and Sound reproduction. They are speakers for people who want a specific style in their house, to be "unique" while being anything but.
Likely they don't even listen to music. That is the style today. Just like all the genZ who wear glasses without prescriptions because it's "what's in".

This seems to be an example of some narrow-thinking cynicism; a "my way or the highway" approach to the hobby, which I don't think is terribly helpful.

Would those speakers meet your definition of "top quality audio?" Maybe not. Might they nonetheless have some qualities that thrill others with their sound? There are plenty of reports that was indeed the case. And numerous audiophiles, who care about sound quality, have been thrilled by similar systems.

The jab about "likely they don't even listen to music" - not backed up by any evidence - comes off as gratuitous "feels good to say that about other people" snark. The designer of the system, Devon Turnbull, was a DJ with a self professed passion for music. In the very article referenced in this thread, it describes a client - a Grammy Award winning musician and record producer, Mark Ronson. You could hardly make the case Ronson "likely doesn't even listen to music." Or doesn't have a serious interest in the quality of the sound when playing back music. The article described Ronson's encounter with Devon Turnbull's system:

"The guitar strings were rendered with such clarity and dimension that it hit Mr. Ronson like a sensory epiphany — the eardrum equivalent of splashing your face in ice water.

“I was fully blown away,” Mr. Ronson said. “I genuinely had a spiritual experience listening to music that day.”

So clearly, someone familiar with recording studio-level sound was nonetheless blown away.

Would YOU care for the sound? Likely not. Does that entail the system might not blow away other people, and that if they like it they don't care about audio quality? No, that's just taking one's own goals as somehow definitive for everyone else.

I'm sure many of the people who (by various accounts) sat in bliss listening to the ojas system would be glad they weren't warned away by critics of that system.

 

[Dialectic]

Interesting that DG paid the Ojas guy money to play their records on this ridiculous system.

I attended an event many years ago at Berghain (yes, Berghain) where DG paid to have their records played on the big system there. That was also silly.

Deutsche Grammophon, the New York Times.... What is happening to our cultural institutions?

 

[fpitas]

The Altec consumer model 19 is basically what you cite:

View attachment 221675

511s certainly do better with a third-order electrical crossover, like the 19s had. I'm not terribly impressed by the old Altec crossovers for 511s, either.

 

[mhardy6647]

511s certainly do better with a third-order electrical crossover, like the 19s had. I'm not terribly impressed by the old Altec crossovers for 511s, either.

Altec... oddly enough... tended not to know how to implement the best possible crossovers for their drivers.

Jeff Markwart’s Corner – Great Plains Audio

... and of course the Mastering Labs (Doug Sax) XOs for Duplexes.