Lin, do you know what full range speaker and tweeters were used?...DFR 6.5" or 8"?  Thanks,  Mark.

I think Ziggy said the mb is basically the same driver Wilson uses for a mid in the Sasha/Sophia and the tweeter looks like an SB Acoustics ring dome.

I've never been a fan of ribbon tweeter and cone woofer pairings, I like the dome tweeter's integration and sound better. YMMV

Oh well, the best I could do was to catch some of the live feed. The streaming sound of Steve's tape machine was unbelievably good and made me want to be there even more. See you there next year.

Thanks Randy, I just put a ZP3 and a Rachel on order last week. Very excited about these finally coming. I am sure that a lot of good music was listened to at Decfest.

I'm really impressed you guys were getting an impression of how good the sound was over the live feed. I got several txts when I was playing MC with the OTL amp playing, about how good the sound was, and asking me what the tracks I was playing were.

It's a clever setup that can pull that off! Even more so when you see how simple it is!

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I've been thinking about that a lot since I did my MC session on Friday, and you felt the OTL was an overwhelming wall of sound. I have to say that I handled the OTL better now that I've got almost a year of Mystery amp under my belt - the OTL wasn't as overwhelming for me. So I postulate two outcomes (assuming Steve produces an OTL, and I somehow afford it).

Outcome #1 - the OTL becomes my main amp, and my brain evolves to a higher level of listening (only half-joking here - my experiences this past year tell me this is an actual thing). This will pretty much ruin me for any other kind of listening.

Outcome #2 - The Mystery Amp remains my main amp, and the OTL is my "winter amp" because of the heat - LOL just kidding. The OTL would be like listening to Reel to Reel master tapes - not something I do all the time, but something I do for really deep listening sessions.

Since I still have a lot of room issues to deal with, and I'm still (after a friggen *year* working out issues with building my overly complex sound diffusers, I still have a long way to go with the gear I have now. I'm betting I could get the Mystery amp as involving as the OTL if I ever get my room under control with diffusion. But then, imagine the OTL in a room like that!!

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I saw this the next day when people were listening to the mini-torii. It just didn't have the guts for a larger room, with that many people (aka higher noise floor).  It would have been fine for solo-listening late at night, and/or with high efficiency speaker. Late Friday night, it was so quiet, the damn fan was annoying me. LOL

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I agree with this - you know I like the more audiophile sound, and Bob's new speakers really appeal to me. I also felt the room got boomy on that side. Not so much on the other side. But then again, the couch was rolling all over the place, I'm betting with a little work it wouldn't be hard to find the sweetspot in that room. Remember, in your room you've not only added treatments, but you've adjusted both seating and I believe speaker locations to smooth out the bass. With all the work you've put into that room, your home reference kind of kills most other rooms - especially one with a rolling couch, full of speakers and people.  :)

Since I was standing behind the couch to let others take in all that is the OTL, I didn't get a chance to really evaluate the sweetspot. I think anything with a cone is going to be less head-in-vice then the 944 ribbon. But I do enjoy the speed of ribbon drivers.

From my mental memory of the 944, these speakers are quite close. I would hazard to say the 944 might still have faster bass, and the El Camino (sic) I think had better mids. I'd really have to put them side by side to evaluate since they are so much alike. Overall my thoughts are they would make a good replacement if the bass is as fast, mids are more detailed (without being edgy), and the tweets are smoother with a wider sweet spot. It would take all that to best the venerable MG944.

I would be happy with them in my setup.

OTL is a completely different animal from any of those other amps. It does stuff that's really hard to explain. Very detailed like the old 2 watt Zen, but liquid and HUGE like the ZMA, but still, completely different.

I hope Steve does an OTL Super-Zen to hopefully bring an OTL to the masses, and a big OTL like the Mystery amp, or Monoblocks for us extremest listeners.  :)

Mele,

I am glad to have you on these forums! Testosterone can be a dangerous drug

Will

Wow, sounds like you guys had a great time and thanks for all the comparisons and impressions!  It looks like Zygi has another hit with the El Caminos and a nice replacement for the 944's.

I can't see ever running any OTL here in San Diego.  Aside from being way too expensive for me, it is still almost 100 degrees where I live and my a/c bill alone was close to $300 last month, that on top of us having to use a fan even in the winter make it a no go and totally impractical.

Well I was hoping for a SET with some more juice say 10-15 watts in the $2K-$3K range, but not like the OTL that has taken center stage. ... I'm sure it's pretty awesome, but I'll sit this one out and use my Taboo for now and hold off for the time being.

Steve,

My headphones aren't great Sennheiser 280 pros, but here is what I heard. The tape density and smoothness was noticeable on the feed. Density without sounding thick or dull in any way. The 3 digital units I heard all sounded different, but odd by comparison. The only speakers that sounded really noticeably balanced to me were Bob's new ones. Other than the radial effect, this made me wonder about what I was hearing, but it was fun!

Btw stone I got several hours in with the Chord in the big room.  Sounded great.  Most of my observations about the speakers were based on the hooked up to the chord.

I pooped out Friday night at 1:00 so I wasn't able to do the direct stream comparison with mr late night lonely raven.

Very detailed and thought out reviews as usual guys.  

I also tapped into the live stream briefly one night while tapes were being played and was pleasantly surprised how good it sounded with my $100 headphones.  I thought I would see more toe tapping from the people sitting in the room, but maybe they were so floored by the sound that they couldn’t function properly.  There was a classical piece from a Canadian broadcast that stood out in particular to me.  It sounded awesome!

Do the “el caminos” have the same efficiency as the DNA horns (89 dB)?  I think I need additional data to determine if I would want to go lower in efficiency (94 dB) in my room.  In fact, I was hoping Bob would create a slightly more efficient speaker that bests the 944’s in SQ.  Might be an unreasonable request/wish for…  

I didn’t realize the DirectStream made an appearance.  I am curious what folks thought and how it compared versus tape and the other digital rigs.  In theory, DSD is probably the closest digital could get to tape, but you do have the AD/DA conversion, which likely has an impact.  Also, I think it’s true that you can’t push digital past 0db without negative clipping.  I remember making mix tapes as a kid and often pushing the meters into the red for that extra saturation.  

Wish I could have been there.  Keep the observations flowing… Cheers.

I think the el caminos are around 91 db. To me they sounded about that. I also think they are 4 ohm.

The direct stream made an appearance late Friday night.  I'm not sure how many people were around for it.  It was after 1:00 when I called it a night and Eric was just hooking it up.

I hope that Steve puts the videos out there like he did last year. I got a lot of great music ideas off those videos.  I'd also like to switch between videos when the el caminos were on different amps.

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Yeah well, about that...

Long story short, at about 1:30am everyone was heading out, and I said, "hey, I was about to bring the DS in" and everyone did an about face. Palo was...let's call it sleeping. But after about 15-20 minutes of me having issues getting my laptop to connect to my streaming server, everyone said screw this we're out of here. Not long after that I got my system up and running (stupid IP mistake and no time to test before I drove down).

So it was a solo flight - just me, the DS, my music, the OTL amp, and Bob's El Caminos. I played till about 4am.

All I have to say, is that's it's the closest I've ever heard digital come to tape. And yet, the master tapes still sounded better (duh!).

Looks as if the Fest was a success! Were I in the market for a new amp and new speakers I'd be interested in what Steve MAY develop as an OTL amp and the new speakers Bob brought. But I'm deliriously happy wtih my amps and speakers and know when to jump off the merry-go-round! Now if only I can get my DirectStream working again I'd be all set!

If it happens, then it is happening (the OTL SET). After some hours on the wonderful creation....I will take it down to see LR an Palomino.

Kudos to Steve for the Live Feed once again. I really enjoyed hearing the Reel to Reel an the OTL SET with Bob's new Speakers. I enjoyed Steve's Monoliths too.

I was inspired from Decfest to work on my Listening Room. I took down a room divider an spread my Speakers out wider with some toe-in. Improvement was had. Opened up my Soundstage even more.

I love what I have an could not see myself parting with my ZMA. What I could discern of the OTL SET/I want to bring it in though (I do believe it to be that significant like the ZMA). I could also happily live with my Vintage Polk SDA1 speakers in stereo with my ZMA too.
However, between now an Oct 31st, when the price goes up on the Monoliths....I should bring in a higher efficiency Speaker.  

I'm considering:
Monoliths or Tekton Lore S.  Any opinions? I decided against the Seas Pendragons an Bob's new Speaker will be more than I want to spend. The Monoliths and Lore S are at 2k and $1500 delivered, respectively.

Thanks Beowulf, I was afraid of this long Lead time. I'm going to bring in Steve's Monoliths most likely. He has them ready to go.

From Tekton's Product page:

"Ordering: standard finish (satin black) - all models - usually ships within 2 working days

Please allow 2 to 4 weeks for custom paints, theater projects, and veneers"

If these are really interesting to you Stone, might be worth a call to see.

Thanks TubeNube, Lin an will.

I have decided to wait an see if Steve makes the OTL SET. I then plan to arrange a visit to Decware to hear it. At that time, I will hear the Amp with Bob Z's new Speaker, Steve's Monolith an the HR-1's. It allows the direct comparison to the ZMA too (which I own).

It will be interesting to hear if the Redbook standard can maintain its composer through the OTL SET vs. Hi-res. I have my Chord Chordette QuteHD at home if I need to venture into that realm. Certainly, will be fun to make the comparisons at Steve's. The Chord, is nothing short of incredible with Redbook. Detailed and smooth. Chord certainly made a statement with this FPGA DAC! I don't miss the PS Audio DSD I returned....so that is saying something about this QuteHD DAC.

Until Steve puts the word out in due time about the OTL SET an potentially a new Preamplifier too; I will enjoy my SE84CS an CKC at 68 to 78db SPL...and my ZMA via my CSP3 at 68 to 92db SPL  8-).

Probably the best time I had at the fest was listening to Bob's speakers and the Monoliths on pretty much my system.  I was using my DAC, my transport and a Rachael with the same tubes except rectifier (which I liked and later bought one).  Same interconnects and same speaker wires.

I think Marky brought this up earlier, but can folks comment on the Zen Open Baffle speakers?   They looked like they were pushed up against the front wall and were toed in significantly.   I suppose the former is more surprising to me.  I was always under the impression that you want to get the speakers away from the front wall, especially dipoles or open baffle speakers.  Do you guys have any additional perspective on this?

Yes Dave the open baffles were being used with the OTL amp at the time. Even on my laptop I could hear their speed and sense of fidelety ( the monotliths and `el caminos` were a different story  ) I think the directness qualities and speed of the open baffles, coulped to the OTL,  warranted them being placed nearer the wall to see if their speed kept up and what the effect was. Every picture tells a story.  :)

Dave D, wish I could have made it down to see you this Fest an Randy. Remember 2005 when we went to the "Club" late night an the college kid fight broke out!?

Hey, I thought to sell my Parker Crusader's a couple times. However, I am glad I have not. They are still going strong since November of 2005 arrival. 95db @ 1 watt/1 meter. I don't use the plate amp all that much when I rotate them in my System. But, enjoy the acoustic suspension MTM on them an I use the Hovland Music Caps Randy sent me all those years ago.

Cheers, (Stone)  Larry

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The reason I was able to run them that close to the walls was primarily due to the diffusers and absorber panels behind them.