The 2004 Tasting made me understand the value of having taken on the project of restoring a four story, 10,000 square foot stone house mill. You can fit a lot of people and a lot of stuff inside. And with those two foot thick stone walls, what happens inside stays inside.

Having expanded the event to two official days, which just means that people come even earlier and stay even later, I think there was enough time for anyone to show off their equipment in an unhurried way, and people could informally congregate, hook up gear on a floor separate from the main system, or even in another room with smaller dimensions. All in all, a lot of people and a lot of gear. As usual, we try to begin with the lower power amplifiers and head to the behemoths at the end, but some amps, like Jeffrey Jackson's one watt 80 Lb monster, defy the simplicity of that organization.

Because of the number of attendees and equipment brought, the website for 2004 relies on photography done by people attending and descriptions of gear solicited from the owners themselves. If anyone wishes to add or change the description of their entry, please contact me and we will try and do so.

Also, you may be wondering why it took a year and a half to get the site up this time.

Well, it was a busy year. So busy that the official 2005 Tasting was itself postponed to 2006. But as a bonus for the wait, please check out the Quicktime Movie on this site which my ever supportive spouse, Cynthia, has made of Steve Schell's talk on development's at Cogent True to Life Loudspeakers. Although its a bit tardy, it does give great information on both the RCA field coil drivers which inspired Steve and Rich to build their own drivers, and the progress that the venture had taken as of November, 2004.

Bill Wood's gave a truly stellar talk on crossover construction, which was aided by the computer and crossover modeling software he brought.

Till next year,

Jonathan Weiss
Oswalds Mill