Posted by Wayne Parham [ 65.69.121.77 ] on February 13, 2005 at 00:22:23:
This month we've really spoiled ourselves here in Green Country. We had a wonderful meeting at Bill Wasillak's house last weekend, then Jim Denton invited us all over so we turned right around and had another get together today. Jim spoiled us with some homemade nachos too. Thanks Jim!
In attendance was Akhilesh Bajaj, Mark Margiotta, Bill Wasillak. Jim Denton and me. Jim showed us his great sounding Voigt Pipes along with an assortment of neat tube amps. I brought a Heart Stoetkit and a pair of tower two π speakers. Mark Margiotta brought an Audio Note Kit 2. So there was a lot of really good gear thee today, and everything sounded excellent.
OK, so you probably could guess that I took the first photo of all of us, and then Mark traded places with me and shot the next photo. But I think this second photo must be taxing the patience of Jim and Akhilesh. Jim is a vintage tube amp connoisseur. He always has one or two DIY and/or kit amps, and several vintage tube amps from Scott, Pilot, Dynaco, etc. Jim has a knack of finding obscure vintage equipment and having them updated with newer caps and tubes, sometimes iron too. One of the main things Jim had us over to see and hear was his new Voigt Pipes. He bought these beautiful speakers from Fred Thompson in Houston, Texas. Fred did the woodworking, and man do they look nice. They sound very good too, with much better bass than you might expect from a 6" driver with low Qts. The vocals sound nice, and treble is fairly extended. It gets some help from hidden Radio Shack super-tweeters mounted in back, giving a little ambient sparkle. These are excellent looking speakers that sound great too. I brought a pair of my new model tower two π speakers to show off too. They have a little bit larger midwoofer and a soft dome tweeter with first-order crossover. I wanted everyone to get a chance to experience these with the Stoetkit amplifier. I had just finished assembling a Stoetkit amplifier from Heart Audio, and I wanted people to hear them with the new model tower two π speakers. After hearing the demo Stoetkit last summer, I realized this was an ideal starter system. It's so good, in fact, that you might not ever trade up. The cost of the amplifier kit is under $600.00 and the pair of tower two π kits is under $200.00, so this means you can put together a system with a CD player for under a grand. That's not a lot of dough for something that sounds this good. The Audio Note Kit 2 is a great sounding amplifier, and it looks cool too. I prefer the looks of models finished with transformer covers, which are available painted or chrome plated. It has a little more power than the Stoetkit, and is physically much larger and heavier. I really like this unit a lot, and find it an excellent match for speakers like the Audiophile Series seven π's.
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Akhilesh Bajaj, Mark Margiotta, Bill Wassilak and Jim Denton
Akhilesh Bajaj, me, Bill Wassilak and Jim Denton
Assortment of vintage, DIY and kit tube amps
Voigt Pipe with Fostex 166
two π tower speaker
Stoetkit Jr. MKII amplifier
Stoetkit Magic
This Kirlian photograph shows the true secret of the Stoetkit's magic. It has a sacred thread of fidelity with the heavens. 
Audio Note Kit 2, using 6550 tubes
After listening to the Stoetkit, we connected Mark's Audio Note Kit 2, using single ended 6550 tubes. This is an excellent sounding amplifier too, and the price isn't hideously expensive, about $1200.00. This is an older model, but newer ones are similar. The Audio Note Kit 2 uses a 6550 pentode, wired as a single ended triode. It really sounds nice.
Audio Note Kit 2