An evening with mwc in Dallas - Axiom Message Boards

I had the great privilege of meeting mwc this last Tuesday while I was in Dallas on business. He invited me to his home for an evening of music.

Upon my arrival -- and immediately after making a "You're taller than I expected" comment -- he showed me into the kitchen (where his younger son was diligently doing homework) and offered me a beer. From there, we hit the HT room.

He has a pair of Magnepan MG12s connected to an Odyssey Stratos amp (the same kind pictured here), which is fed by his new Denon 3805. Sources were a CD megachanger (I forget the brand), and a Sony SACD/DVD changer. A Hsu VTF-3 covers the bottom end of things.

He invited me to take the helm -- a very comfortable La-Z-Boy. Then I proceeded to enter audio heaven. Make no mistake -- Magnepans are amazing speakers and you are really shooting yourself in the foot by not giving them a listen. They may not be much to look at, but boy do they put you IN the music. We listened to Instrumental Jazz (Wynton Marsalis), Vocal Jazz (Joni Mitchell singing Gershwin arr. by Herbie Hancock), Blues (Robert Cray), Bluegrass (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band), Rock (Pink Floyd), more Rock (Dire Straits), and more more more. We had plenty of opportunity to discuss highly important issues between tracks, as well.

About 2 hours in, his wife came home. Now, my immediate instinct when a woman comes home is to reach for the remote and turn down the volume. After he introduced me, he assured me the volume was not a problem and we resumed. You are a very lucky man, Mike, but I think you know this.

Anywho, After the 3rd hour my ears were crying with joy but it was time to wrap things up. Before I could leave, though, Mike insisted I take a bottle -- better make that three bottles -- of wine home with me. And (why the hell not?) a 2-CD Nitty Gritty Dirt Band album as well.

Mike, your hosting was the definition of gracious. I was a pleasure meeting you and your family. I had a blast and I owe you one.

Too cool, Peter and Mike. Wish I could've been there. Sounds like a wonderful evening.

An excellent report Peter but where are all the photos?
Darn it, i really need those visuals.

Almost makes me wish i had another reason to go back to Texas. Also makes me wonder just who would show up at an Axiom Anniversary party and just how many bottles would arrive with them.
Well wine does cool nicely in the lake.

Peter,

I must tell you again what a great joy it was to have you over and you are welcome anytime. I don't have any local friends who really understand my audio hobby/obsession so it is always a delight to have someone over who shares the passion. It was such a laid back relaxing time. You were so easy to talk to it felt like having an old friend over.

Yes, I admit that I was initially awe struck by your physical presence upon first glance. For those of you who haven't met Peter, I'm 6'1" and he towered over me with a very trim and fit statuesque profile worthy of a DiVinci sculpture. Why, if I were a young woman in search of a strapping young man of good breeding stock…uh…never mind

. BTW, that La-z-y Boy is an oversized model but you fit in it quite nicely.

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About 2 hours in, his wife came home. Now, my immediate instinct when a woman comes home is to reach for the remote and turn down the volume. After he introduced me, he assured me the volume was not a problem and we resumed. You are a very lucky man, Mike, but I think you know this.

Thanks for the kind words here Peter. I’m truly a rich man in this respect.

In a way, I’m sorry that we didn’t have time to compare the KEFs & Axioms & Maggies but then hooking up and unhooking all that stuff would have taken away from our listening time. Perhaps the next time we’ll do some component/speaker comparisons if there is time to spare.

I hope you enjoy the Texas wines and the bluegrass cd (you might enjoy the bluegrass more after a half a bottle of that Texas wine). BTW, did you have a chance to visit Sushi’s hideout?

Jack,
I wish you could have been there too. Let me know if you ever plan to pass this way.

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Jack,
I wish you could have been there too. Let me know if you ever plan to pass this way.

Ah! Good ol' Texas hospitality.

Very gracious of you, Mike. If I ever get down Dallas way, I'll let you know. Thank you.

Wow - such a friendly board atmosphere, where people meet and audition audio systems with eachother! Impressive.

Have you guys heard the Nitty Gritty Surround DVD-Audio from AIX records. It sounds really great.

Been thinking about buying it, Andrew. I think you just bumped me off the fence.

Ouch! Hopefully it wasn't chain-link. You can get some nasty snags getting bumped off one of those.

LOL!

Peter, are you following me around this forum just to harass me.

Yep. It is FANTASTIC!!! DVD video has DTS and DD mixed in "stage" and "audience" perspectives. The other side of the disc is DVD-A. This is a phenomenol recording even if you don't like bluegrass. All of the performances by various artists on this disc are incredible but Jennifer Warnes' performances are the bomb .

Very cool!

Once we get moved in, our place is always open for my Axiom family.

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Once we get moved in, our place is always open for my Axiom family.

Well you know craig, i do have this thing for tours....

You're more than welcome here...though it certainly won't take 3 hours to tour our facility.

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though it certainly won't take 3 hours to tour our facility

You obviously have no idea how thorough i like to be on my tours spiff.

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You obviously have no idea how thorough i like to be on my tours spiff.

If I hear the snap of a latex glove, I am SOOO outta here.

Bren R.

Remind me not to offer any tours of my place. I'm a latexophobe.

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If I hear the snap of a latex glove, I am SOOO outta here.

But i bet if you heard the sound a hammer punching through drywall you would be right back in again eh?

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But i bet if you heard the sound a hammer punching through drywall you would be right back in again eh?

True enough... today's job was the back yard... pulled out two long needled pine bush stumps and a spruce stump (by hand with an axe and a pick - DJ Stunna hits the gym, I get my exercise the old fashioned way!) feeling pretty warm and loose at the moment. Just about got the fiancee's garden turned over and devoid of rocks too.

Such is life in the Canadian Prairies... 4 months to grow things so start on the first nice day!

Bren R.

We have pines in Winnipeg?
They must've been planted. The only pines i know of are on the edge of the shield more east and north, say near Pinawa area. Spruce are somewhat more common in the city limits, but again, mostly pre-planted and aerial seeded over time (decades).
That must've been a rather fun filled, brutally windy day.

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We have pines in Winnipeg?

Umm.. I'm in the city - everything in my yard is from a landscaper, not mother nature. Fiancee's aunt and uncle mentioned what they were at one point - I just called them "squatters".

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Spruce are somewhat more common in the city limits, but again, mostly pre-planted and aerial seeded over time (decades).

*blinks blankly* I have to defer to you here - I'm the muscle, not the green thumb in this family, after all, I am the one that said "Hey, who would plant garlic in a flower bed?" and was corrected that I was holding a lily(?) bulb in my hand.

Bren R.

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