got to hear some high end gear

rjj45

I am now a member of the Santa Fe High Desert Audio Club.
Went to my first meeting last night and met some nice guys.
The star of the "show" was a pair of Stenhiem Alumine Three speakers. $42 k a pair.

Careful eyes will notice custom cable lifters, which were of course noted to have a beneficial effect....

Sounded really pretty good, with a few reservations here and there while listening.
https://stereophile.com/content/stenheim-alumine-three-loudspeaker-measurements

Sometimes I wonder about having a big access panel on my speakers, but the Stenheims were not shy with the screws on the back.

Integrated amp was this tube thingy with 50w/ch:

Turntable was pretty good, but WAY too sensitive walking around and stuff.
My take was that the suspension was underdamped, and would swing up and down for a long time!

I was fascinated by these in another room. Looked like SB Satori drivers:

PWRRYD

The only time I've ever been able to hear some high end speakers and gear is at Axpona. And there the rooms are either 10 times larger than my room or a 1/4 to a 1/2 of my room size. Good for you Don

rjj45

My impressions of the Stenheims - The bass was wonderful - sort of equivalent to CSS 7" woofers - much better than an RS180, and (I think) a bit better than the Rival R176. The mid was very good, and handled my torture tracks of Linda Rondstat on "High Sierra" as well as competently handling the massed voices of Hogwood "Reguiem". The tweeter was good, and reportedly a Scan-Speak.
But I never thought "Wow, I've never heard that level of detail before" and (very) occasionally I thought I heard just a bit of harshness in the midrange. On the whole, I prefer the mids and highs in my FTRS, with a MTM of Tangband bamboo mids and a Fountek ribbon.
I promised the guy that I'd be back with my measuring rig, to test that speaker as well as the RT60 in his room.
And I've got a pair of Jeff Bagby's Revolutions with SB Satori drivers that I want to hear side by side with the Stenheims.

Overall though, a real treat, great bunch of guys (no snobs) and it looks like the guys host this kind of thing once a month.
I will have to have them over to hear my FTRS with my vintage Kenwood amp.

PWRRYD

Awesomeness!!!!!!!!!!!

tajanes

@rjj45
On the whole, I prefer the mids and highs in my FTRS, with a MTM of Tangband bamboo mids and a Fountek ribbon.

? Bringing your bamboo mids and ribbons to Iowa by any chance ? I’d like to here that combo.

rjj45

@tajanes said:

@rjj45
On the whole, I prefer the mids and highs in my FTRS, with a MTM of Tangband bamboo mids and a Fountek ribbon.

? Bringing your bamboo mids and ribbons to Iowa by any chance ? I’d like to here that combo.

Sorry, I'm about 1800 miles from Iowa!