Thanks Jim and Ann for a cracking day. Really enjoyed it, loved the Gotos and great to see everyone again after so long.
5 Likes
Huge thanks to Jim and Ann for their hospitality.
Amazing food as always, we were totally spoiled.
It was great to catch up with everyone. Due to covid it’s been too long.
The Goto horns are even bigger in the flesh than I imagined. The system sounded excellent throughout. I did have a preference for the First Watt and 300B power amps though.
Jim’s a very lucky man. That is a real endgame speaker system and I can imagine next time we visit it will be sounding even better!
5 Likes
All the above.
Set the bar proper high for food, hospitality, environment, and music.
I agree that everything sounded great and you could hear all the tinkering.
Those things are fast and faultless.
The company wasn’t bad, either.
5 Likes
Really great bake off, thanks to Jim and Ann for their hospitality.
System was sounding really good.
2 Likes
What a day! Huge thanks to Edd for the wafty Lexus lift, and even bigger thanks to Ann and Jim for a stunner of bakeoff: very nice to get back in the saddle - hope it’s the first of many more this year!
The Gotos are amazing things - I could do with a day just to get my head round the many clever bits of design and craftmanship involved in their making, never mind their sound.
The sound is interesting - vast scale, and lots of insight, but actually way less forensic than I was expecting - there’s a balance and generosity to them that helps most kit shine. The scale and (capital-P) Presence gives a pleasing sense of being at a live venue rather than listening to recorded music - it’s not fake-y or contrived, just rather agreeable, and you quickly get used to it.
As already commented, they’re a great tool for revealing the differences between kit - I start to see where some hyperbole-laden hifi press reviews come from: speakers like this make that job relatively easy.
Of the sources, Edd’s streamer and the Kronos appealed most to my ears, and amplification, I bucked the trend and liked the Preda + Firstwatt J2 best - they never sounded like they were anything other than true to the music and its source. The M7 pre + CocoSan 300b monos were also deeply impressive, musical, and forgiving of second-rate recordings - for extended and varied listening it’s probably the better choice.
The Border Patrol 300b amp didn’t quite have the grunt to fully grip the Gotos, and as for the Pink Triangle - euphonic but frankly something doesn’t sound right with it to me: made Tom Waits sound like a tribute act! Think it’s running overspeed too (a few people commented). The Kronos is vastly better.
Anyway, bloody enjoyable day, fab to see everyone and catch-up on what’s been going-on 
17 Likes
@coco are Kevins amps parallel pp 300B?
PP, But not parallel.
Looked like a great day, gutted to have missed it. The descriptions of the sound are
3 Likes
Just such a lovely bakeoff, from the loveliest hosts Ann and Jim. So pleased you’ve got those speakers @Jim. Shit-eating grins from here to eternity!
11 Likes
Dammit, shoulda crashed-over 
So, now @rmsshipbroker has had his meal-of-the-year, does he go into hibernation and shed his skin?
5 Likes
Watch your sausages lads. 
9 Likes
Looked like a great day.
Good to see bake offs back on the menu
1 Like
Damn! Missed it. 
Home now and had a lovely time - so nice to see everyone!
Love the horns Jim, those drivers are awesome. Looking forwards to seeing/hearing how the system develops from here.
Thanks Jim and Ann, the hospitality and food were ace as usual. 
3 Likes
Big thanks to Jim and Ann for their kind hospitality!!
Don’t think I’ll turn my stereo on for a few days so as not to cause disappointment.
3 Likes
I was just counting all the filament supplies… but is it 1J6, 46, 46 , pp300B?
1 Like
Yeah
1 Like
Showed Hel pics of Jim’s fabulous Gotos on this thread, to try to make her feel better about the Duos, and was met with an immediate and dismissive ‘no’.
Enquiry into precisely what she meant by no, was rapidly confirmed as meaning that my life expectancy would be cut vanishingly short as to get almost not a single moment of enjoyment from them.
An hour later she decided to stick the boot right in with ‘must be disappointing for you, as I bet they sound much better than the things you’re lumbered with…’. Ooof!
24 Likes
Actually, correction - the 46’s aren’t cascaded, 1J6 is a differential pair into a pair of 46 transformer coupled to the 300B. It was original designed to be fed a balanced input, but later modified to SE input, so the 1J6 acts as a phase splitter.
2 Likes
Many thanks to Jim and Ann for a memorable bake off. Great listening and great food. I think that we’re all showing photos of those speakers, with largely predictable responses… 
(one to me was “Which marching band did they steal the suzaphones (sic) from?”
4 Likes