[Steve]

Hi Gents,

I was just discussing it would be advantageous to have a mid west audiofest. We were discussing central locations and St. Louis seems an ideal place for one in the fall. Using St. Louis as a central location,  some fairly close metropolitian areas include ...

West............ Kansas City
North........... Des Moines
Northeast.... Peoria, Chicago
East............ Indianapolis, Decatur, Champaign/Urbana
Southeast... Memphis, Nashville
South......... Little Rock, Oklahoma City, Tulsa

With fuel prices increasing, this would lower travel expenses for those in the midwest etc.

Any thoughts for or against?

Cheers.

[thunderbrick]

'bout time we get a show between the coasts.   

[timind]

Well I'm in Indianapolis and might make that a weekend trip. There does seem to be a large/active audio community in St. Louis.

[jriggy]

I have always thought Indianapolis would be a great place for an audiofest... we are surrounded by close cities.
If one is serious about a midwest Audiofest, drive times may be a consideration...

Louisville KY - 1.5 hr drive
Lexington KY - 2.5 hr
Cincinnati OH - 1.5 hr
Columbus OH - 3 hr
Chicago IL - 3.5 hr
Madison and Milwaukee 4+ hrs
Cleveland - 4.5 hr
Urbana - 2 hr
Knoxville - 5hr

I wonder how those drive times would measure up to St. Louis? But, indeed, there does seem to be a large and active audio community in St. Louis.

Indys downtown area and accompanying facilities are are wonderful though! There is a new incredibly easy airport as well... And Indy beats St.Louis for micro brews and brew pubs by a mile!

[roscoeiii]

St Louis would be fantastic. A great audio community there for sure. I also like that it is a bit further west. The folks who put on AKFest do a great job in Detroit and a location that doesn't siphon off from it too much would be ideal.  St. Louis would be great for folks that feel Detroit is too far a drive.

A feature of AKFest that would be great to include in St. Louis was rooms with willing individuals' systems set up. Got to hear some great vintage gear that way in Detroit, and could offer more appeal to attendees, especially if members of the trade don't flock to it in its first year(s).

[Scott F.]

Hi Guys,

As group, the GAS guys have talked about doing something like this for years. It's never really gone anywhere but I know for sure it's something the guys might be interested in doing.

We've got a nice presence of manufacturers and distributors here in town. We've got Chris Hof of BPT, Mike Pranka with Dynavector and Well Tempered Labs, Keith Herron of Herron Audio, John Hillig of Musical Concepts/Musical Design, Wilson Chen of Clayton Audio, Sam Kinnard of Vibrapod, Phil Jones of AAD speakers, plus Focus Audio is local (I Think). Then we have a couple of upstarts with Ryan of Vapor speakers and Hammer with his Sounds by Design line of speakers.

I've no doubt that if something like this were to happen, a couple of the guys would set up rooms with their systems. I know it would be fun to assemble a vintage system or two just so people could experience classic tube gear and speakers.

Steve, besides you attending with your SAS gear, I'd bet we could talk a couple more guys into attending. Maybe Klaus would make the trip over, I'd bet I could talk Jon VerHalen into coming down with some Lowthers and Pass Labs stuff. Wayne of PI isn't that far away in Oklahoma, We've got Tyler (Acoustics) just down in Kentucky and a whole host of others we could solicit.

Lets get some more of the GAS guys to chime in here and see what they think. I know what it takes to put on a show. This isn't something that one or two people can do by themselves. It would take quite a few to pull something like this off.

Who knows, maybe we could pull this off if we get enough interest from the GAS guys. Obviously I'd cover it for EnjoyTheMusic and Kent would write about it for Positive Feedback.

Lots to chew on...




,,edit.. How could I forget Bryan Pape with GIK Acoustics and the Korato Line 

[OzarkTom]

The Lone Star audio fest is at a John Q. Hammons Embassy Suites hotel amd offers a heck of a deal to the audiophiles and manufacturers.

I googled Hammons Hotels in St. Louis and found this one:

EMBASSY SUITES HOTEL ST. CHARLES in St. Charles MO at Two Convention Center Plaza 63303

It is 15 minutes from St. Louis airport. St. Louis is about as centrally located in US as you can get.

[Hebrew Hammer]

I think this will be great!!

And I would think that all the local mfg's would take advantage of this backyard show.. along with the few hifi shops... I could also get STL Mag and possibly RFT to cover it...

And hopefully if all goes right I'll have atleast a prototype of what I will be designing for a mfg by then   

[Hebrew Hammer]

The Lone Star audio fest is at a John Q. Hammons Embassy Suites hotel amd offers a heck of a deal to the audiophiles and manufacturers.

I googled Hammons Hotels in St. Louis and found this one:

EMBASSY SUITES HOTEL ST. CHARLES in St. Charles MO at Two Convention Center Plaza 63303

It is 15 minutes from St. Louis airport. St. Louis is about as centrally located in US as you can get.

Everything is around here.. great food and 2 casinos   

[Steve]

Hi Scott,

And Legacy Audio in Springfield, Il. I think it would be nice if it were a fall event so it stayed in peoples minds.

Similar to AKfest sounds good to me. They managed to keep prices fairly low, and I believe AKfest had something like 40 manufacturers attend, give or take.

Just a thought.
Steve

[Hebrew Hammer]

Hi Scott,

And Legacy Audio in Springfield, Il. I think it would be nice if it were a fall event so it stayed in peoples minds.

Similar to AKfest sounds good to me. They managed to keep prices fairly low, and I believe AKfest had something like 40 manufacturers attend, give or take.

Just a thought.
Steve

We need to be conscious of other shows as it shouldn't conflict with any other current ones. And it also should be spaced enough apart that way from current shows that way it's not an inconvenience for other mfgs and most importantly attendees..

just my .02

[Bob in St. Louis]

I am from St. Louis and I approve of this message.   

Let me know if there's anything I can do to help.

Bob

[Bob in St. Louis]

Is > THIS < the official "sign up" page?

I like the idea. The dream would be to build something that eventually rivals RMAF. Would be equally distant to both ends of the country.

Bob

[roscoeiii]

Why are there 2 threads on this topic? Other is a good deal longer by now.

[Bob in St. Louis]

I suppose because this is the STL Circle and the other is for general audio show discussion. The later of which is a Circle I'd never patronize if I hadn't have caught the headline about STL on the front page. Likewise, a fella in Chicago may not read the STL Circle because he's hot part of it.

See? 

Bob

[OzarkTom]

Is April too soon? Any other shows in April? But stay away from Easter weekend, shows are always bad then.

[opnly bafld]

Is April too soon? Any other shows in April? But stay away from Easter weekend, shows are always bad then.

Axpona (in Atlanta) is April 14-17 this year.

[roscoeiii]

I forget when AKfest is usually held. May or June? Probably worth keeping it from too close to them.

[Steve]

Is > THIS < the official "sign up" page?

I like the idea. The dream would be to build something that eventually rivals RMAF. Would be equally distant to both ends of the country.

Bob

Great thought Bob. Yes, maybe it could become such.

AKfest is usually the first weekend in May.

Another point, I once heard Peoria has a bureau that helps in planning events in Peoria. I wonder if St. Louis also has such a bureau to help bring in events (to help bring in tax moneys)? If so, they might be able to help out, just a thought.

Cheers.

[Bob in St. Louis]

Not sure about that Steve. Don't even have a clue where I'd find that out. 

I see you're near Peoria. When I hear the name Steve associated with Peoria, I wonder if your last name is Deckert. 

Bob