Met with MLS of av123 and his take on Matt Polk

[Joey_V]

I wrote a review about his Strata Mini speakers and referenced them to the Martin Logan Summits a while back. Apparently, he invited me out to dinner last night at a posh place in Chicago (Keefer is the name of the steakhouse, you can google it) with a few other audiophiles.

This man knows everyone, from Gayle Sanders of ML, David Wilson of Wilson Audio, Albert VS of Von Schweikert, Franco Serbin of Sonus Faber, Matt Polk of Polk Audio, Dennis Had of Cary Audio, Peter Thomson of Plinius, Ed Villchur and Henry Kloss of ARC electronics, JMlabs, Velodyne, Infinity, Marantz, Yamaha, Genesis project, BW, Thiel, I lost count... etc... etc...

This guy made the Genesis loudspeakers of yesteryore, those $150,000 behemoths. This guy worked for Infinity Audio back when it was a $50,000,000 company since he was 15yo. He headed Audio Alchemy a few years back, he designs speakers for a number of manufacturers (I cant mention). He has met with Matt Polk and are very good buddies... ever wonder why the Polk LSi has a similar Vifa Tweeter to his Rockets/Refs?

This guy forgets more about audio than I will ever know! :(

This guy was amazing in every way! What an awe inspiring man to meet! To watch him in action doing his thing and working it with people was just awesome. If I could be 1/1000 as successful as this guy at life, I would be more than set.

Things of note during the night:
1. He has VERY VERY good things to say about the Polk LSi series, he is very close to Matt Polk and had very good things to say about him. Apparently he has Polk LSi speakers in his testing rig when comparing (and like 15 other pairs at any given time - from ML to Polk to Wilson).
2. He has VERY high regards for Martin Logan speakers. He is a dear friend of Gayle and he has been over at his house and listened to the Statement e2s several times. MLS owns several pairs of ML speakers, I think even the Summits.
3. I asked him what the best speaker on the planet was; he said most probably the VR11 beats out the Alexandria X2. He LOVES VS VR4Sr!
4. I asked him what was the best tube preamp that was affordable to me.... he said, "ARC LS26 bar none." but he also said, "The Cary 98 is a close second."
5. When asked what are the best deals in amplification under $10K, he said "bar none, Plinius for SS Class A. I've talked to Peter of Plinius and what they do is amazing with their SA103/Ref amps."
6. When asked about my system, what's next? (He knows my system inside and out... apparently MLS follows all my posts) He told me that a PowerPlant should be next, and then a CDP/DAC.
7. He taught me about crossovers, speaker design, driver matching, materials used, tubes vs ss, subwoofers, we talked about the ML subs, the Velodyne DD subs, the new JL Audio Gotham subwoofer.
8. I asked him what his favorite combo was... he answered, "I like tubes in the preamp and SS Class A in the amp section. My favorite combo for almost all speakers. Although some speakers benefit from a full tube system."

The guy is amazing and I had an amazing night. He treated us to an awesome dinner that I wouldnt have normally afforded. I think the bill per person had to be about $300-$400 PER person. There was a total of 6 of us. We had 3 bottles of wine (probably $300-400/bottle), we had Lobster bisque soup with real lobster... drool, we had crab cakes with REAL crab (never had that before), we had Ahi Tuna/Filet Mignon x2 for appetizers... drooool, we had a $70 Delmonico Ribeye bone-in...... best steak ever in my life!

Geez... amazing amazing night. I wish you all were with me that night. You guys would've had fun with this particular audiophile!

Picture:
Mark Seaton (bass expert, google him) - Danny (my audiophile friend) - Me - Mark Schifter - Eric (audiophile) and wife


Truly humbled,
Joey

[Early B.]

That's fantastic!

I'm sure there's so much to learn from the handful of audio gurus like MLS.

[Zero]

Fun stuff - good gear, attaining greater knowledge, and most importantly ; new friends!

[Joey_V]

Fun stuff - good gear, attaining greater knowledge, and most importantly ; new friends!

He will call you, Sean my friend. :)

[Midnite Mick]

What an awesome evening that must have been. Probably could have tooken years off the education curve.

Mike

[pearsall001]

Great stuff. Sounds like a superb evening along with some new found friends & a wealth of new audio knowledge. Priceless!!!!!

[Early B.]

Joey -- can you elaborate on item #7?

[BlueMDPicker]

Looks like a great time, as evidenced by the smiles all around!

One of the things I read by Mark awhile back (discussing his UFC-12 sub) has proven itself in my Revel-based, 2-CH setup: "We focused on a strong and linear response above 30-35 Hz, where nearly all popular music lives. There is no music without the proper support of the bass and mid-bass transition to the speakers – this is sacrosanct..."

The italicised portion of the quote sounds like a fairly bold statement--until you've experienced what he's talking about.

[cfrizz]

WOW!!!! Nice going Joey! It's a night you will never forget. Congrats!

[Dennis Gardner]

I think what I like about Mark the most is his confidence to take a chance on doing/creating something out of the norm. His current venture of providing "world class value" in his products is his way of giving Joe Sixpack a glimpse of hi-end gear at real world $$$. He didn't have to take this route, but is really having a blast doing it "his way".

Glad you had an evening to remember........

[zombie boy 2000]

Steak, booze, audio, and good company...
what more could you want?

Awesome deal Joey!

[Joey_V]

Mark's a good guy, most definitely. Meeting the guy was an experience and the way he treated me that night (like a rockstar) was amazing.

Joey

[disneyjoe7]

Sounds like a fantastic evening something you'll not forget for awhile.

[RuSsMaN]

Kick ass.

[Joey_V]

Kick ass.

You summed it up Russ. ;)

[Early B.]

Hey -- somebody should do this:

Interview all of the old pioneers of audio before they get too old and senile, record their thoughts and ideas, then publish it. Layman's language, common sense, no bull****. Something like that could certainly go a long way towards "advancing the art."

[Joey_V]

Lol!

[Holydoc]

I did wonder about the connection of the "vifa" tweeters. Matter of fact at one time, I thinking very hard about the AV123 system but did not want to wrestle where to place the "Bigfoot" center. If the respect is there as much as you elude to, then I bet the LSiC would be a very good match with the AV123 system.

[markmarc]

Early B.
You will find in the archives section of Affordable$$Audio several interviews, one of them being MLS. I am working on getting one with MP. Others I'm shooting for in 2007 include Dr. Sidney Harman.

i totally agree, the audio community does need to connect with these pioneers before their time on this planet has passed.

[Joey_V]

Markmarc,

I agree 100%.

[Holydoc]

Don't know how this failed to get into my earlier post but...

Joey, thanks for sharing this awesome experience with us. Absolutely unbelieveable evening!

[Early B.]

Early B.
You will find in the archives section of Affordable$$Audio several interviews, one of them being MLS. I am working on getting one with MP. Others I'm shooting for in 2007 include Dr. Sidney Harman.

i totally agree, the audio community does need to connect with these pioneers before their time on this planet has passed.

Sweet.

Your e-zine is on the verge of exploding. Prepare yourself to quit your day job.:D

[markmarc]

Early:
I wish!!!!! I'd just be happy to make a small profit so I could pay the writers a little something. Just getting to play with fresh equipment all the time is a real treat.