PNWAS Meeting at Mikes House.

[Hi-FiGuy]

Last night was the PNWAS meeting held this month at Mikes House. This event was hosted by Mike and Gary Koh of Genesis Advanced Technology.
I will start out by saying this was a top shelf evening and holds the world's record for the longest listening session I have ever participated in where when people wanted to talk they left the room, mad respect.

Going to Mikes to listen is alays a two edged sword because on one hand the system sounds fantastic and has you immediately toe tapping with your eyes closed.
But the part that is frustrating is all of his fantastic source material is mostly one off or gotten through a friend of a friend who knew a guy. NOTHING pedestrian about Mikes music collection at all. Nothing us mere mortals could ever hope to own, but that's ok, just have to go back and have another session.

For Mike this is not a hobby or an obsession, to me it is now sport!

Gary Koh brought with him some 1/2 tape of some yet to be released music that was simply sublime, can't wait for the official release. It was gorgeous to th senses!

A conversation was had about room treatments and Gary made the statement that "Everything Matters" and told us about one little tweak that one of his clients does....
I think he was just pushing the tweak off on some fictional character. So my recommendation would be to not stop by Genesis uninvited! Don't worry Gary your secret is safe with me.

All kidding aside it was a fantastic evening on all counts.

I didn't think Mikes system could sound any better and honestly questioned some of his latest additions and adjustments but Holy Cow did it sound so much fuller and richer than last fall, well done. Now I have to question my line of thinking.
The 11 on the volume twist is what really did it I think.

The group had a conversation remembering Winston Ma. I have never heard of him until his passing and it was very clear to me that everyone that had met him, he was a special kind of person.
So instead of moment of silence Mike chose a very fitting piece to celebrate a amazing presence in this universe.

This to me is how audio society meetings are done and what a fantastic group of humans.

Can't wait for July.

P.S. I am hacking this out on my phone I will make adjustments latter tonight

 

[Bruce B]

I concur fully. It is always a treat to visit Mike to see just how far the envelope can be pressed!! Thanks to Mike and his lovely wife Pam for a wonderful evening and putting up with some old geezers!!

 

[garylkoh]

Absolutely! It was an evening to remember.

Hi-Fi Guy, I wasn't one of the hosts. It was hosted by the Pacific Northwest Audio Society. I merely brought tapes in the hope that Mike would play them.

 

[Hi-FiGuy]

Absolutely! It was an evening to remember.

Hi-Fi Guy, I wasn't one of the hosts. It was hosted by the Pacific Northwest Audio Society. I merely brought tapes in the hope that Mike would play them.

I wished we could have played more tape but I think that was by design eh!

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Last night was the PNWAS meeting held this month at Mikes House. This event was hosted by Mike and Gary Koh of Genesis Advanced Technology.
I will start out by saying this was a top shelf evening and holds the world's record for the longest listening session I have ever participated in where when people wanted to talk they left the room, mad respect.

Going to Mikes to listen is alays a two edged sword because on one hand the system sounds fantastic and has you immediately toe tapping with your eyes closed.
But the part that is frustrating is all of his fantastic source material is mostly one off or gotten through a friend of a friend who knew a guy. NOTHING pedestrian about Mikes music collection at all. Nothing us mere mortals could ever hope to own, but that's ok, just have to go back and have another session.

For Mike this is not a hobby or an obsession, to me it is now sport!

Gary Koh brought with him some 1/2 tape of some yet to be released music that was simply sublime, can't wait for the official release. It was gorgeous to th senses!

A conversation was had about room treatments and Gary made the statement that "Everything Matters" and told us about one little tweak that one of his clients does....
I think he was just pushing the tweak off on some fictional character. So my recommendation would be to not stop by Genesis uninvited! Don't worry Gary your secret is safe with me.

All kidding aside it was a fantastic evening on all counts.

I didn't think Mikes system could sound any better and honestly questioned some of his latest additions and adjustments but Holy Cow did it sound so much fuller and richer than last fall, well done. Now I have to question my line of thinking.
The 11 on the volume twist is what really did it I think.

The group had a conversation remembering Winston Ma. I have never heard of him until his passing and it was very clear to me that everyone that had met him, he was a special kind of person.
So instead of moment of silence Mike chose a very fitting piece to celebrate a amazing presence in this universe.

This to me is how audio society meetings are done and what a fantastic group of humans.

Can't wait for July.

P.S. I am hacking this out on my phone I will make adjustments latter tonight

Mike,

thank you for all the kind words. it was a fun night for me too. having 30+ listeners in room did bring a strong vibe that was inspiring. and you are correct that the respect for the listeners was exceptional last night. from 6pm to almost 10:30pm not once did I observe any noise conflict.

I did try to mostly avoid playing audiophile war-horses......but I did play a few of them. they just don't always sound like that.

Winston Ma was a special friend to many of us here in the Northwest and particularly the Seattle guys, and his spirit of musical enjoyment lives on. I could feel it last night.

when you are in the mood for more tape let me know and we will find a good time for another session.

cheers!

 

[Mike Lavigne]

I concur fully. It is always a treat to visit Mike to see just how far the envelope can be pressed!! Thanks to Mike and his lovely wife Pam for a wonderful evening and putting up with some old geezers!!

thanks Bruce. I appreciate you and Rene taking the time to attend.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

audio club member Jeremy made this on-line album from the meeting. it does include a video for those with high tolerance for me talking. the subject matter is remembering Winston Ma and a brief description of my system.......

I was on the fence as to whether to post this. and might delete it after further consideration. it was a fun night.

https://onedrive.live.com/?authkey=...d=C484D43F51FF73DD!77200&cid=C484D43F51FF73DD

 

[jeromelang]

Why is it not routine to ban handphones during such meetings - the sonic problem they pose?

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Why is it not routine to ban handphones during such meetings - the sonic problem they pose?

I guess I should have deleted the post....holy mother of god.

Jerome; you have a meeting in your home you set your rules. I set mine. I trust my visitors to act like adults. which they always do. people need to talk on their phones they go outside. besides; most cell service does not reach my house.....I had 35 people, no mention of cell phones, not one cell phone ring......in 4+ hours.

 

[DaveyF]

audio club member Jeremy made this on-line album from the meeting. it does include a video for those with high tolerance for me talking. the subject matter is remembering Winston Ma and a brief description of my system.......

I was on the fence as to whether to post this. and might delete it after further consideration. it was a fun night.

https://onedrive.live.com/?authkey=...d=C484D43F51FF73DD!77200&cid=C484D43F51FF73DD

Thanks for posting the pics and the video. IMHO, it's always a great intro to not just see photos, but also video of an occasion such as that! Even on the headphones connected to the computer, one can hear that the system sounds good.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Thanks for posting the pics and the video. IMHO, it's always a great intro to not just see photos, but also video of an occasion such as that! Even on the headphones connected to the computer, one can hear that the system sounds good.

thanks Davey.

due to my interaction with fas42 I'm going to refrain from any comment on cell phone music recording fidelity.

 

[NorthStar]

You'd better not remove that great link Mike. It was une experience solennelle to see the pictures and to watch the video with a first class audience and the nice music @ the beginning. Very sacred time thank you for sharing, and never ever remove the link because others will greatly appreciate too.

 

[andromedaaudio]

Great room /system and pics .
I only had some problems playing the vid /downloading it it took a while .
Probably my comp , the first pressing /piece was quite a " audiophile" piece of music but it sounds nice
Would have loved to hear the 1/2 inch playing as well ??

 

[BruceD]

Ah Indeed Mike!--great to see the setup and to hear it in Action--superb superb!

No please leave all as is for us to savour--Kudos and agreed evening

And Winston's ode to

Pachelbel's- Canon in D

BruceD

 

[fas42]

And no complaints from me ... .

 

[audioguy]

Never been to Mike's room but if I could build a dedicate two channel room and not only wanted to make it sound great but look very "audiophile", I would copy's Mike's. He wins. Can't imagine myself ever getting close to that part of the country, but if I did, I would invite myself to his home. Very cool.

 

[stereotype]

Very intresting and great pictures + video, this has to stay, a rare insight into the real high-end world. Thanks for this opportunity

 

[jeremya]

Very intresting and great pictures + video, this has to stay, a rare insight into the real high-end world. Thanks for this opportunity

We had an excellent time, and I fully concur: The experience was rare, beautiful, even transcendent.

Many, many thanks to Mike and Pam for being such a gracious and inviting hosts, and especially to Pam for tolerating (and/or encouraging?) Mike's pursuit of his passions, without which I doubt there'd be much more in that barn than horse paddocks! ;-)

(Extra thanks for allowing a little casual photography at the event, without which this would all be Rumours and Hearsay. )

 

[Mike Lavigne]

We had an excellent time, and I fully concur: The experience was rare, beautiful, even transcendent.

Many, many thanks to Mike and Pam for being such a gracious and inviting hosts, and especially to Pam for tolerating (and/or encouraging?) Mike's pursuit of his passions, without which I doubt there'd be much more in that barn than horse paddocks! ;-)

(Extra thanks for allowing a little casual photography at the event, without which this would all be Rumours and Hearsay. )

Jeremy,

many thanks from Pam and I for the video and pictures.

 

[Nevillekapadia]

Wonderful to see the Voodoo album in the photo Mike. Did you'll get a chance to play it?

Hopefully next time the Momo Juju too!