Sierra Nevada Audiophile Society is having its next meeting at Jim Bennett’s home at 1pm on April 13, 2013.  MIT’s new Styleline cables and interconnects will be featured, and MIT will want your feedback.  Jim’s address is:  8224 Ardenness Drive, Sacramento, CA 95829 and his cell phone is 916-870-0394.  Hope to see you there.

There is a meeting of the Sierra Nevada Audiophile Society at Keith Mundy’s house this Saturday, March 9, at 1 PM.  We will be discussing some club business, a venue for a performance by a respected guitarist, and most of all, listening to Pass Labs speakers and gear in Keith’s listening room.  His address is 778 Perkins Way, Sacramento, CA and his phone is 916-441-5424.  Hope to see you all there!  Any questions you can also call Dave at 530-320-1576.

After doing some more market research, Marihart Audio will be scaling back its retail operations.  I will be selling off all of my demo gear over the next 6 months and pulling pretty much out of retail.  I can still order gear in for customers, but I will not stock any demo gear anymore except for my main system.  I will continue to offer the Fieckert analysis for my customers on their turntables, and I will continue to do ‘table servicing on all types, esp. Linns.  I am also available for consulting work at your residence should you need it.
I want to thank everyone that has supported us for the last 6.5 years, and I will continue to support you although in a more limited fashion.

We are in the process of closing the Roseville storefront.  Marihart Audio will be moving to Colfax into it’s old digs at 222 Sierra View Dr.  I will carry the remains of the gear here that didn’t sell, and will be carrying the following lines:  Cary Audio, Brodmann, MIT, Exemplar Audio, and limited JoLida , Feickert, and Music Hall.  You can contact me on the cell at 530-320-1576.  I will still tune turntables and work on them, and may get a small space down in Roseville for pick up and drop off.  Thank you for hanging in there with me.

How many of us have a system where we can get lost in the music?  I mean really lost where time goes away and all we want is to listen to recording after recording.  This system doesn’t have to have the finest resolution or the end all in imaging-just so you really enjoy the music.  My point is that our systems should be about our enjoyment of the music, not the detailing, resolution, etc.  Those attributes are nice, but not necessary to getting lost in the music.  Our mind is a wonderful tool in that given the right cues, it fills in the information anyway.  It is just that I have heard $3000 systems blow away $100000 systems in just the pure enjoyment factor of listening.  To me a great system sucks you in to listening to recording after recording, with no fatigue at all, where you just cannot stop.  If you have a system that does this-DO NOT CHANGE IT.  It may take you years to get it back.
Suggestion:  If you are changing it because it doesn’t float you away-look at cables and interconnects first.  This is assuming you already have good sources and speakers.  In my experience, cables and interconnects can give you magic when properly applied without lots of expense.  Tweak items (Isobearings, Enacoms, cones, etc.) can make up for  substandard stands to a point and are inexpensive.  We have a selection of cables and tweaks to try.  Give us a call  if you need help.

We are getting in the new Denon Headphones this week here in Roseville.  We will be carrying the Music Maniac AH-D600 (MSRP $499) and the AH-D7100 (MSRP $1199) using the Cary Audio CAD 300 SEI as the headphone amp to drive them.  They are a sharp contrast to the AKG, both are excellent with very different presentations.  When I heard the AH-D7100 with only 8 hours of breakin time I was astonished to hear a 3 dimensional soundstage with lots of air, wonderful extended bottom end, and a precise layout of all the instruments.  I am not a headphone guy, but I am buying a pair of these to keep.  They were substantially better than any headphone I have heard, including my old Sennheiser 600′s.
A note on Exemplar:  We now have the tube staged Exemplar 95 in the showroom.  It is a two part piece with a separate power supply, Class A tube outputs on the RCA Left and Right outputs, and Class A operation on all of the other outputs.  It has the detailing of the previous version, but much better timbre accuracy and more air with greater depth of stage.  It is very close in performance to the Light Harmonic Da Vinci DAC if memory serves me well.  Its retail is $4499, and has all of the capability video-wise of its parent Oppo, as well as the ability to be used with NAS drives in a network.  It is the closest I have heard digital to an analog source such as a well setup turntable and phonostage to date.  Honestly, digital is getting much better, but I still love my ‘tables.
Come in, spend some time, and enjoy the music!

We just got in our shipment of AKG headphones, and have just set up our demo system.  We are featuring several headphone amps-Cary Audio, Heed, Creek, and Audioengine.  AKG headphones include the 240 Studio, 240 MK 2, Quincy Jones 460 and 701, and the 702.  We can demo on your source, CD, USB from our server, Apple Quicktime, or on a USB stick.  Our main demo amp is the Cary Audio CAD 300 SEI, but can switch to any other source or amp you wish.  For AKG reviews see http://www.headphonereviews.org/headphone/AKG/K701 , http://www.testfreaks.com/headphones-headsets/-/akg/ .
We just received the Zesto Audio Andros PS1 Phonostage that has been receiving a lot of press lately.  It is quite a sweet sounding unit, yet very revealing.  A definite improvement over our previous stage.  It definitely shows off the Transfiguration Phoenix cartridge and Triplanar tonearm on our Feickert Blackbird table.  We would be happy to demo this unit in your own system if you wish. See: http://positive-feedback.com/Issue58/zesto.htm , http://www.dagogo.com/View-Article.asp?hArticle=1008 , http://www.avguide.com/review/zesto-audio-andros-ps1-vacuum-tube-phono-preamplifier-tas-222 , for reviews, and http://www.zestoaudio.com/ for direct info.

The Sierra Nevada Audiophile Society will have their July 14th meeting at 1PM at Dave Sykes house (directions to follow) and the August 11th meeting at 1PM at the Audio Experience Shop in Roseville.  Topics for the July meeting will include updates on the California Audio Show on Aug 3-5, nonprofit status, and a listening session of the new Zu speakers and more.  August 11th meeting will include a short recap of the Ca Audio show, and a presentation by Tim Brisson of MIT regarding Timbre and the importance of preserving it in audio playback.  A set of new MIT Matrix cables will also be raffled off at this event.
Directions to Dave Sykes house:  I-80 to the Foresthill Exit, take Foresthill exit to Foresthill Rd. and follow for 15 mi, right on Todd Valley Rd., go 1 mi, turn Right on Green Ridge Rd., go about 1 mi, turn Right on Birchwood Drive, go 1 mi and Dave’s is the second to the last house at the end on the right (20617 Birchwood).  Walk past the main house to the little house in the back. Phone is 530-367-4716.
Audio Experience is located at 1120 Douglas Blvd., Suite B, Roseville, CA 95678.  I-80 to Douglas Blvd., take the West exit to Harding Blvd., turn left and follow road around to the Burger King parking lot entrance, make a hard right and another right and park.
Hope to see you at both meetings!

Starting late this week and into next week we will be adding Zesto’s superb phonostage and AKG pro headphones to our selection of high end gear.  Zesto’s new phonostage that has recieved so much press lately will be in the main system in the rear room.  AKG Pro Headphones, the 701, 702, Quincy Jones 460′s, and the 240′s will be displayed upfront, and we will have a limited stock on hand.  We also have access to other AKG pro products on a by order only basis.  Our headphone amps will be the Cary Audio CAD 300 SEI, Cary Audio Xciter, Creek OBH 21 SE, to name a few.  Come in and relax and listen to true excellence.

We have a new website for the Audiophile Society that allows for announcements, blogs, forums, and other stuff that this website cannot do.  The new website was set up by Gavin Fish (thank you ) and the site is: http://sierranevada.audiophilesociety.com/ .  Audiophile Stuff will be put here for the next few months then will go to the new website. Please register and use this puppy.  Some of us already have.  You will recieve an email from the site when registration is complete.  We can also load pictures, etc.  Go for It Everyone!!!