Tres Amigos Meet Again-A Brief But Wonderful Interlude In New Jersey

[Steve Williams]

It is usually this time of year that I try to visit my friend Marty and his wife Lisa in New Jersey to hear his fabulous sound system as well as a few concerts and Broadway shows in NYC. This year was no exception as I have just returned from a 6 day trip and have nothing but wonderful and amazing memories. Before I discuss Marty's system I would like to touch on some of the highlights of my trip as they were so good. First off most of you know of the Tres Amigos which can be highlighted in the following threads.

http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showt...istening-Bliss&p=313031&viewfull=1#post313031

http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showt...My-Step-Beyond&p=328669&viewfull=1#post328669

I have always considered Marty's system in my top 3 systems heard (Marty, Mike Lavigne and David aka ddk) and this visit back proved no different. I heard a system that was so exceptional that i felt the need to chronicle my thoughts as there have been sweeping changes in Marty's system since I heard it last two years ago.

Marty and Lisa are the consummate hosts and did everything to make our stay with them exceptional

We had to get up at 0400 Thursday to catch an early AM flight to New Jersey where Marty was waiting for us at the airport when we touched down. Weather was a balmy 90 degrees. After a brief drive to Marty's we found ourselves at a local Italian restaurant for dinner. Before we knew it we were back at Marty's house where we all sat in his hot tub watching a beautiful sunset from high atop the hill where he lives. A completely unobstructed 360 degree view. After dinner we found ourselves in his sound room for an extended evening listening session. In fact listening to Marty's system was the top agenda of most late evenings and afternoons but more of that later as I want to separately report on what I heard.

Marty has lived in New Jersey now for 3 1/2 years having built himself the most beautiful home I have ever been in. Nothing has escaped Marty's fine detail and scrutiny. Of note is that the sound room in this house is identical in every dimension right down to the millimeter. His room measures 24' wide X 35' long and 12'-14' high as he has a 2 foot recessed tufted ceiling. Marty lives high in the hills of a rural town that has nothing but nature around He has an unobstructed 360 degree view and we were at home with nature. It was so quiet that no extraneous sound could be heard anywhere. it was as private as they get. Marty designed the house himself with the help of an architect but all of the interior design was of Marty's genius. One has to walk this house to appreciate everything that is in it. What is also so special is that Marty hand selected and picked every bit of tile, wall paper, light fixture, carpet paint, roof etc etc. Marty's other passion is interior design and it is well seen in his house

Here is a view from just behind and to the side of his pool.



Our other amigo, Russ (mobiusman) lives about 90 miles south of Marty right on the Jersey shore so what a great opportunity for a rendezvous of the Tres Amigos

So let me highlight some of our fun experiences before I detail Marty's system.

I will keep the thread closed so that I can post my thoughts first and then open it for comments

 

[Steve Williams]

The community where Marty lives is beautiful and so quiet that truly there are no extraneous sounds. Friday and Saturday mornings were taken up by 4 mile walks through the area to visualize the homes of his neighbors. This is not how I know neighbors in California who live 12 feet away in the house beside you. It seemed that each neighbor was in a different zip code as there is just so much land.In California we could build a suburb on Marty's lot.

Friday afternoon was again a listening session followed by a trip into NYC where we met up with Myles Astor and his wife for Chinese dinner at the Han Dynasty just off Broadway and afterwards we al went to the Beacon Theater for the Jackson Browne concert. We all had great seats. Jackson Browne looks as good as he did 20 years ago and his voice IMO had not aged at all. He could play the guitar and piano with great finesse. Our only gripe was the sound mix. The music was great but where we sat we could only hear every third word of his. He played most of his old songs and it was a walk down memory lane for all of us. After a long drive home we sat through another great night listening session but more of that later

 

[Steve Williams]

Saturday was a quiet day at Marty's house. Myles and his wife joined us in the afternoon for dinner followed by an after dinner hot tub to watch the sunset followed by a listening session where Myles occupied the sweet spot the entire evening. Myles has such great knowledge in music that it was wonderful to listen to the records he brought. One in particular stood out. That was the MoFi remaster of Into The Labyrinth by Dead Can Dance. Marty had the CD (which I also own and is a favorite) and was able to cue it up exactly with the vinyl which made for an instant a/b comparison. The CD which I always thought to be amazing was absent of the bottom octave when compared to the LP.

Myles shared some super jazz records with us.

I have to say that Myles is as buff as ever and puts us old guys to shame with muscles his muscles. It was a great day and wonderful to reconnect with Myles on a more personal basis.

 

[Steve Williams]

Sunday was Father's Day and our Broadway Show. The four of us once again drove into NYC where we spent some leisure time cruising through Times Square





Before we knew it we were at The Stephen Sondheim Theater off Broadway where we saw Beautiful, the Carole King musical. Once again we had amazing seats dead center in row J of the Orchestra. Again another trip down memory lane in this terrific production. What a prolific song writer she and her then husband were



After dinner the 4 of us met Marty and Lisa's daughter, son-in-law and grand daughter for a superb fish dinner at Milo's just off Broadway. What a wonderful family. Marty and Lisa are truly blessed.

Another long drive home capped with another listening session.

 

[Steve Williams]

Monday was our rendezvous with Russ as we drove to the Jersey Shore where Russ lives right on the water with his hot rodded boat docked outside his patio. What a bachelor pad Russ has. Russ grilled an amazing dinner for us but prior to that he took us for a one hour ride on his boat across the bay, into the Intercoastal up to the Zero Mile marker and then into the Atlantic ocean. His boat is very, very fast.


Sadly I didn't get to hear Russ system for as long as I had hoped because by the time dinner was done we had to take the long drive home. What I did hear however was extremely good. Russ also has an almost totally new system with new Vivid Giya G3 speakers, the new Spectral preamp and a new Spectral amp on the way. CD transport is via an OPPO into a Meitner DAC. The system was filled with top of the line MIT cables as well as Shunyata gear. It was very good. I had hoped to hear his vinyl rig but we ran out of time.

A huge thank you to Russ for taking the time to open his lovely home to us and to have shopped and cooked for us. The boat ride was also special. Sunset over his home was dazzling

 

[Steve Williams]

Well having discussed the fun stuff, let me cut to the chase and discuss Marty's system because as I said earlier I was not prepared for what I heard. Marty as well has done an almost complete redo on his system since I visited 2 years ago. The only things remaining were his top of the line PipeDreams speakers, and his VTL 7.5 preamp. Gone are his pair of JL Audio Gotham V1 subs replaced now by a pair of the new JL Audio Gotham V2 subs which are far and away better than the others. The bottom end of Marty's system which previously was excellent now rose to another level as did his top end. My attention was drawn to nothing but music. Nothing stood out. Everything was perfect.

Gone is hisTacT equalizer replaced by the new JL Audio crossover which Marty now uses. No longer is he doing minor massages of his system with his Tact. He much prefers the new crossover and does not miss the TacT. Nor did I. He crosses over at 78 Herz and there is absolutely no ability whatsoever to localize the subs due to the high crossover.

Gone as well is Marty's former Meitner CD player/DAC now replaced by the new two piece Meitner DA2 and TX2.

Brought into play on a regular basis is party's Goldmund Studio TT with the tangential arm and a Benz Ruby cartridge (although he has a new Benz LPS ready to be used) on a Vibraplane. He has replaced his motor with a large laboratory grade motor. His phono stage consists of the ASR Emitter ll and its power supply.

He also now has the new TOL Spectral mono blocks which put out 400 watts.

Marty has his front end pugged into a Shunyata Triton V2 with an attached Shunyata Typhon.

Marty has also found what he considers top PC's which provide not only a very rich mid range but also a top and bottom end to die for. I have never heard such air around the top end as I did listening to his system.

His room is so large that listening to orchestral pieces or to small groups, the sound is so real that I truly suspended all disbelief. It was as good as it gets

 

[Steve Williams]

Sound without the Tact (as good as it was before) was now world class. It sounded,well, analog

Te system before was much more forward and very sharp and precise. His system now is not as forward and just so much more "natural" (there I go and use the word that irritates some members) and so much more believable. There was nothing that stood out. No prominent bass or over exaggerated high end. Nothing was analytic. it was music at it's finest. I could have listened to that system forever.

Now here is what I consider a huge difference in Marty's system as it was easy to make a quick a/b comparison. Marty makes a very convincing case for the use of Furutech Gold rather than the Furutech Rhodium AC outlets as he contends (and verified by me) that the gold adds so much air to the top end. I have switched from Furutech Rhodium to Furutech Gold AC outlets for my amps but continue to use Furutech rhodium for the rest of the system. Marty has switched to all Furutech gold AC outlets throughout his system BUT in his 4 AC quartets he has gold on one side and rhodium on the other. As good as the Rhodium is there is no doubt in my mind that Marty has shown me an absolute audible difference with respect to going "gold".Because I noticed improvement when I changed my back end outlets to the Furutech gold I do intend on replacing my other 8 Furutech Rhodium with the gold. His demo is too obvious a difference to ignore. Marty played several records with music that clearly demonstrated the changes so that will be my next project.

Marty has 4 of these this making for an easy a/b comparison

 

[Steve Williams]

Marty played every genre of music starting with Tidal (as we warmed the system up), digital PCM, high rez and DSD 128 files, CD and finally vinyl. Marty's sound was so different than what I have heard previously. It no longer sounds digital (sorry guys but yes his sounds very analog now).

Vinyl was my absolute favorite on his system

Some of my favorites he played

 

[Steve Williams]

In summary.....

I was dazzled by the change in party's system. Where it has changed for the absolute best is in the top and bottom ends. Nothing was screaming out for attention. It was perfect in every way. The new Gotham subs were a giant leap forward. The bass IMO was perfect and the air at the top end was as real as they get

As ddk states in his goal of music reproduction, "it must sound natural above everything else". This is something that I learned from David in my visit to his home in Utah last year and IMO Marty has achieved this in spades.

This is a world class system in a part of the world that will make anyone drool. Marty is a wonderful host and this combined with his incessant desire to make his system better has resulted in sound that is so good that I never would have bet that he could have improved on his system so I would encourage anyone in the area or visiting that part of the world to reach out to Marty.

You won't be disappointed

I learn something new every time I visit him and this past week was no exception. For me the icing on the cake was his experiment between the Furutech Rhodium and Gold as it was that convincing

Thank you again Marty and Lisa for such a wonderful and unforgettable 6 days and see you again when the Tres Amigos ride once more

The thread is now open

 

[Steve Williams]

Some quick but only so so pix I took late at night

 

[Steve Williams]

 

[bonzo75]

I find it difficult to believe such a system can be further improved on

For those who are not familiar with this system, this is a great link to learn about the new JL subs, the thinking behind the crossovers, and also provides leads (links) to further insights into Spectrals and VTL Siegfrieds, cable changes, etc

http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showt...-in-New-Jersey&p=385116&viewfull=1#post385116

 

[Ron Resnick]

Thank you, Steve, for that report. You and Kathy must have had an amazing time from the performances to the dinners (Milos is one of my very favorite seafood restaurants in Manhattan) to the boat ride to the listening sessions to the hot tub!

 

[Steve Williams]

Another album Marty played that I liked

 

[Steve Williams]

He also played Mussorgsky RCA Living Stereo Pictures at an Exhibition Side B

Scherezade RCA Living Stereo

 

[bonzo75]

He also played Mussorgsky RCA Living Stereo Pictures at an Exhibition Side B

Scherezade RCA Living Stereo

That's part of my audition list too. Also Argenta Espana and he has Solti's Venice

 

[Steve Williams]

We played Venice as well as Vienna the first night

 

[DaveC]

Thanks for the thoughts and pics!

Good news is the gold plated GTX has been reduced to $145 retail, about half the price of the new NCF, which are now up to $280. It is amazing how much these things can affect the sound!

 

[microstrip]

Great Report Steve. Nice to read that the system became more simple, more natural and more believable - three good thinks!

Do you know if Marty used the automated equalization of the CR1 or if he fine tuned it using an external analyzer?

 

[Steve Williams]

Great Report Steve. Nice to read that the system became more simple, more natural and more believable - three good thinks!

Do you know if Marty used the automated equalization of the CR1 or if he fine tuned it using an external analyzer?

Knowing Marty I would bet he used both. Hopefully he will chime in

Francisco

you would love the system.Yes it has become more simple