Reviewer's Bio

Bill Gaw
DIY and Horn Guy

  Borrn: Fall River, Ma. 1947

Youth: typical middle class science geek who happened to fall in love with music while listening to the Ode to Joy at the end of the Bell Telephone Hour and Leonard Bernstein television youth concerts. Played French horn and trumpet from junior high through high school.

First Stereo: Lafayette mono open reel tape deck hot wired to Radio Shack FM radio.

First Deep Debt: To RCA Record Club (for Dynagroove recordings).

Degrees: Doctor of Medicine from Karl Franzens University in Graz, Austria
Day Job: Obstetrician-Gynecologist in Exeter, N.H. since 1980.

Hobby: After spending half my retirement fund on multiple high-end purchases, I've finally settled down to building some of my own horn loudspeakers, interconnects, speaker wire, amp kits, etc. I have also gone to the experts for one of a kind items which I will discuss in my columns.

Hopes: To obtain the elusive Absolute Sound in the home environment on a regular basis.

Most Major Gripe: The quality of electricity in this country.

Source Units
OPPO BD-95 BD, SACD, DVD-A, CD Player
Pioneer CLD-99 CD-LD player
Self-built home theater computer with 4 Terabyte storage server of all of my recordings

Preamplifiers
Classe CT-SSP Surrou7nd Sound Processor with HDMI connection for SACD, DVD-A, Dolby True HD and DTS Master audio playback. S/PDIF Input for 2 channel playback, and 7.1 channel analog input from OPPO BDP-95 Player

Amplifiers 
4 - Allen Wright DPA 300B Amps for main stereo horns
Electraprint DRD 300B stereo amp for center channel horns
2 - EAD DSP- 50 Amps for rear channels
Distech Stereo Amplifiers for overhead speakers 
Sherbourne 5/5200 Amplifier for rear and side subwoofers 
3-Electraprint DRD 300B Tweeter amps for front tweeters

Crossovers 
3 - Behringer Super X-Pro CX 3400 24 dB crossovers
2- Marchand XM44-4 way Balanced Active Crossovers  for front channels

Loudspeakers 
Five Edgar Tractrix Round horns for 800Hz to 9 kHz for front and side speakers
2 Edgar Rectangular Tractrix mid-horns for back speakers
2  five foot long50Hz to 800 Hz bass horns for main channels
5  three foot 80Hz to 400Hz horns for center, back and surround speakers
2  VMPS original subwoofers for side speakers
2 qty. Hsu Research seven foot subs for rear channels
2  self-built subwoofers using four NHT 12" drivers each in sealed 12 cubic foot cabinets for system subwoofers. 
3 RAAL Ribbon Tweeters for front speakers 
5 Fostex T 900A Super Tweeters for side and rear speakers 
2 VMPS Large Bookshelf Speakers for overhead channel 
Sunfire subwoofer for center channel.
2 JL Audio f 113 subwoofers for main stereo speakers

Wires 
TelWire AC Cables
Neotech Speaker Cables
Black Mountain Pinnacle Gold interconnects
MIT Magnum M1 Proline balanced ibnterconnects
Omega Micro AC cables 
Silent Source AC cables

Headphones
Smyth Research Realizer A-8
Stax SR-4040II Headphones with tube amplifier

Other Accessories / Tweaks 
Audience aR1, and aR2T Power Conditioners, Au24 power cable
1 Torus Power Isolation Units
4 Stein Harmonizers with stones
3 Vibraplanes
3 Pure Power PP2000 Regenerators
Walker Audio Velocitors, , High Definition Links, Ultra-Vivid and Prelude disc cleaners
NBS Signature power cord 
Black Ravioli Footers

Video 
Electrohome 9500LC projector 
Vutec Silver Star 10 ft. diagonal projection screen 
Calibre Vantage 1080P Video Processor 
Gefen DVI Extreme Fiberoptic 50 ft. cable
DirecTV HDMI HDTV Receiver-Recorder
Self-Built Home Theater Computer with 4 TB Storage,
WINDVD, PowerDVD, and MediaCenter software for CD, DVD, BD and HD-DVD playback.
Steinberg WaveLab Elements 7 Recording Program

All previous audio software backed up on Hewlett Packard 6 TB Server for playback .