ST ´s mini meeting in Lisbon

We had our mini ST meeting in Lisbon. :banana:

Three points before we move on to descriptions and pics:

1 - Max, that no good, mad raving lunatic, ungrateful specimen of a dog, didn´t show up after all. I guess he must have taken the money for the plane ticket Ross gave him, and he must de drinking it away. :angry:

2- I was enthralled to have met Alvaro - Aka Clint E. - his wife, and his 13 year old son. If the man is a racist, then I´m Joseph Goebbels. :lol:

3- I was greatly disappointed by the Audioshow. I had never before attended such a poor show, either here or abroad, and I´ve attended a few.

Having said that, here are a few highlights. Hopefully Alvaro will add the others, later on, for we shared the picture taking activity.

Alvaro and myself at the exhibition entrance a few minutes after we met. Notice the "Sound Thinking" sign Alvaro made.

(IMG:http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c334/hifi_nut/Imagem006.jpg)

Inside most gear was on static display only, in open spaces, shared with another exhibition, would you imagine, of kitchen furniture and hardware. :blink:
The next pic shows a rear view of the very interesting looking Jamo R 909 TOTL, which was one of the few actually playing music. These were driven by the very up-market looking new NAD Master Series electronics. These speakers have received some rave reviews in Europe, but we were not impressed, more than probably due to the very bad acoustic conditions, particularly for an open baffle design. Poor choice by the importer, indeed. :confused:

(IMG:http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c334/hifi_nut/Imagem007.jpg)

Next a pic of Alvaro in the above mentioned system´s area. Notive the shelves full of Tivoli Audio´s table-top radios. Great gimmicks. :)

(IMG:http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c334/hifi_nut/Imagem008.jpg)

More in a short while.

Jorge

This post has been edited by hifi_nut on October 21, 2006 01:29 pm

I thought Alvaro had a more hair than that! We could be brothers if I was skinnier! :D :D :D :D :D

Keep it coming..............................

keep'em comin Jorge and Alvaro :hello:

Hiya guys :)

First of all, i had cut my hair ! :P

Second it was a really pleasent afternoon with the company of my good friend Jorge - he gave more than 20 LP's :o - he's that kind of guy... :)

...and i'll make mine Jorge words, concerning the quality and the quantity of the Lisbon Audio Show.

So...here's a few shots. ;)

(IMG:http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g185/truetones/AudioLisbon.jpg)

(IMG:http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g185/truetones/AudioLisbon2.jpg)

(IMG:http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g185/truetones/JorgeHorns.jpg)

Later i'll put some more. :)

Pitty those Avantgardes were only on display... :(

Anyway, Alvaro forgot to mention he offered me 7 CD´s with great music.

So, here go a few more pics. We moved on to the heavy weights. Here is my Spanish friend drooling over some Audio research Reference Series tube gear...

(IMG:http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c334/hifi_nut/Imagem010.jpg)

Not content with that, he decides to rest his skeleton on some shiny TOTL Krell amplification:

(IMG:http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c334/hifi_nut/Imagem012.jpg)

Then we reached the Jadis area. Jadis may not be that well known in the US, but they are one of the best loved tube gear manufacturers in Europe ( they are french ), who, I believe, served as an inspiration to Sonic Frontiers, when they first started out:

(IMG:http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c334/hifi_nut/Imagem017.jpg)

On this next pic, please note the magnum Dynalab tuner. I almost missed that one myself.

(IMG:http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c334/hifi_nut/Imagem016.jpg)

Phew, gotta take a break now. let´s see if Alvaro chimes in here again. I need help. :D

Jorge

All that heavy metal meant we had to take a break. ;)
We went for a cup of coffee, Alvaro grabed the chance to puff away at one of his black tobacco Ducados spanish cigarrettes, and then we carried on with our task, being carefull to lighten our burden for the next half an hour.

Here´s what followed:

JM-Labs, of Focal drivers fame, were very discreet in this show. Apparently our tiny market didn´t justify them bringing their larger models, but I couldn´t resist the urge to show you guys this beautiful rack:

(IMG:http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c334/hifi_nut/Imagem019.jpg)

On to something completely different, and here´s proof of how an adult can behave like a kid in the presence of novelty. :lol:
Alvaro couldn´t resist this B&W new, and apparently revolutuonary, subwoofer. This system, with Final electrostatic speakers, was also playing to an unimpressive levell:

(IMG:http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c334/hifi_nut/Imagem021.jpg)

While Alvaro was wondering how he could integrate the above sub-woofer with his B&W´s mini monitors I spotted this beauty, the Transrotor "ZET 3 ". German engineering at its best, beauty and simplicity where form follows function:

(IMG:http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c334/hifi_nut/Imagem020.jpg)

Before steping up to the first floor, where a few rooms were actually dedicated to some serious music playing, our eyes fell upon these. Talk about equipment support. It might be overkill, but these pieces just look out of this world:

(IMG:http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c334/hifi_nut/Imagem018.jpg)

Another break, before the final stage on this relatively short race.

Jorge

So, we climbed a few stairs up to the first floor, " In Search of the Lost Chord", where we found this taped to the door in one of the rooms:

(IMG:http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c334/hifi_nut/Imagem025.jpg)

Alvaro is a sucker for small speakers, so in we went:

(IMG:http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c334/hifi_nut/Imagem022.jpg)

We listened in awe to this system for some time, having been lucky enough to grab the main two front seats. All of a sudden I realized I knew the fellow running this system. :banana: None other than Rui Borges, one of the world´s biggest experts in TT rebuilding ( You should see his workshop, lathe, rectifiers, etc. ) and in TT building, for that matter. The TT´s he makes are certainly amongst the best in the world ( he´s only sold a handfull of those, though ), and were he not portuguese, but american, english or japanese and he would be a legend.
Besides, this is the man who completely rebuilt - 7/8 years ago my Thorens TD 124 to "like new" condition.

Here he is choosing another CD to demonstrate his system ( Weird he wasn´t playing any of his TT´s, but I thought it better not to ask ):

(IMG:http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c334/hifi_nut/Imagem023.jpg)

On to next door´s room where Wilson Audio were demonstrating their new Sophia 2 speakers mated by some K´s worth of Krell sources and amplification.
Hhhmmm.... Alvaro and I were not impressed again. I was never impressed by Wilson speakers, and funnyly enough I´ve never heard them drivn by good valve gear, like Audio Research. Could that be it? :confused:

(IMG:http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c334/hifi_nut/Imagem026.jpg)
(IMG:http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c334/hifi_nut/Imagem027.jpg)

Time was running short, Alvaro had a trip back to where he had come from, so we decided to call it a day.

I had a really, really pleasant afternoon with this new friend of mine with whom I felt great empathy from day one, when we first contacted each other over at AK.

He comes to Portugal on a regular basis, so we´ll keep in touch personally from now on. I hope some day I can make him enjoy some classical music. :Rockon:

Ok, it´s your turn Alvaro, I gotta see that pic where I´m lusting over that Michell Orbe TT.

Jorge

thanks for such a nice writeup Jorge and it's nice to see you two fellas had a good time, nice pics too!

from my seat the show looks great, excellent pic's and write up guys. i've never been to one of those big show's, i'll have to take one in.

oh yeah, i'm with you guys on the Wilson's.

Wow, awesome. Sure wish I was on that side of the ocean. Great pics.

- JP

Heck, that alvarro is one sharp dresser (esp. the shoes)- and classy as well- black tobacco Ducados spanish cigarrettes- nice touch!

Glad you guys had fun! Sorry the show wasn't up to snuff- but still looks like it was a bit fun.

Best to you guys,

Paul

Tanx for all the coments... :) and especially to Jorge's nice review of this audio show.
A few more shots :

- Here's Jorge with Michell Orbe TT:

(IMG:http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g185/truetones/AudioLisbon3.jpg)

- The extreme beautiful B&W sub :

(IMG:http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g185/truetones/BWSub.jpg)

- A new brand on the market. The swiss made DartZeel amp.

(IMG:http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g185/truetones/DartZeel.jpg)

- Take a good look at this DartZeel Selecter and Volume knobs :

(IMG:http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g185/truetones/DartZeelEnjoymentSource.jpg) (IMG:http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g185/truetones/DartZeelPleasureControl.jpg)

Later i put some more. ;)

Yeah, we had a good laugh over those controls. Who would have thought of that?

I wish some other level of pleasures would be just as easy to increase. :rolleyes:

:lol: :lol: :lol:

The shot of you guys with the ST sign are priceless and VERY funny. Good stuff! Looks like you guys had a good time, very cool.

We should make one of those ST shots the banner for a while.

K