[John Chapman]

Hello!

Been back for a few days now and finally catching up.  I think I have replied to all e-mails now so if you have not recieved a reply please e-mail or call.

Thanks to all who stopped by the room to say hi! It was a really fun show. The real reason I go to a show like this is just to see the people and catch up. I wish I could make this more of a show report and tell you more about the other rooms but since I had little time to roam the show I can only make a few comments outside my own room. For those comments I have to thank "Bill M" from BC here who looked after the room while I made some mad dashes to other rooms! Also thanks to Bill for bringing food back - I felt a bit like a zoo animal in a cage much of the time...........

Highlights of the show included:

- Jeffrey Jackson's big Goto horn system. Every post about VSAC seems to lead of or at least focus on this system - and for good reason. First it is a perfect example of "Just when I thought I was crazy..." insanity.  Second it did some really great things sonically. Acoustic bass via the open reel tapes was the best I have heard.  Third (o.k. maybe personally this would be first for me) is that his system included my new Slagleformers from the TAP pre-amp inside his own pre-amp design. I had shipped them to him a few weeks back and was not sure he'd get them installed in time - I was very happy that he did. It was nice to have them running at the show and even better to have them in such an oustanding system.  Late friday night knocking back a few drinks with Hendrix playing on the horns was a real audio moment for sure. 

- Exemplar's room. Most mention this room as first or second place sonically. John Tucker and the rest of the guys involved are all such first class guys it was an honor to be right next door - especially so since he also uses the TAP system in his reference pre-amp design. Like the Goto horn system mentioned above it was a treat to find that I'd have some TAP stuff live at the show.

- Doc B. and the Bottlehead room. Quite a time since I had seen Dan and Paul Joppa and it was great to see them again. Monday night dinner with Paul and a fellow who'd made the long trek from the UK at Andina (Peruvian food) was really fun. This room took muti-amping to it's most extreme! Hearing the open reel tapes at the show it's easy to see why Dan's Tape Project is off to such a good start.

- Modwright/ Diycable Room. Kevin and Dan both have been so good to work with. Dan was kind enough to recieve all the show boxes I send down and store them for me - Thanks Dan! I had not seen Kevin in a while so it was great to catch up.

- Creative Sound Room. Bob from creative sound is close by me here in Vancouver and it was great to see him there. Lots of fun drivers and good sound.

- Couple great guys in the Serious Stereo room. No too Serious at all and nice gear they are building!

- Lowther Room and Jon ver Halen. Had not listenned to Lowthers for a while - although I use my REPs drivers here all the time now in one room. The amp he had (courtesy of Jeffrey Jackson as I recall) was just plain crazyness on a board. Look for a link and if you deal with liability insurance at all be prepared to faint..........

- Meeting up with the crazy auto guys from Vancouver Island was really fun. I had not seen many of them for a few years and met some new ones - a real treat and I'll have to get over to visit this summer.

- The live music at the show was all wonderful - one of the things that makes VSAC stand out from other shows.

I did not have much time to listen in any of the rooms  (except before the show started late on friday night with Jeffrey Jackson and Josh Stippich) so I won't attempt any sonic descriptions really - all the rooms sounded great to me.

I'll be posting pics of my room and a video tour in the next couple weeks time.

Thansk!

John

[Clio09]

I wanted to go to VSAC for the express purpose of meeting both you and Jeffrey, but couldn't make it this time. I'm curious, did he use your Slagle autoformers in his DHT preamp design. Normally he implements the autoformers after the circuit, not before. Wish I could have heard it.

[JohnR]

Dangnabbit, exactly a year ago I was in Seattle. I'm just off by a year 

Look forward to the pics I went to the first one.

[JoshK]

Had I known about this event before hand, I would have went and made an excuse that I was going to visit my sister (lives in Vancouver, WA) and grandmother (lives 40 mins north of VanWA).

[John Chapman]

Hello!

Would have been great to meet you guys. I am going to really try and make it down to Rocky Mountain this year - Keep meaning to go but every fall seems to be a busy time......

Jeffrey Jackson is using my new Autoformer modules inside his pre-amp. You have it right - he does implement the Autoformer after the buffer/gain stage. I also put it after the (optional via remote) buffer stage in the new TAP. It is the way to go if you don't have too much gain in the active stages.

If the stage has much gain and you plug in a high output voltage source then the resulting voltage levels get very high - too high for the autoformers really. In that case you'd best put it before the stage - like a traditional level control in a pre-amp. 

If the stage gain and source outputs are not that high (maybe +9db or so max with typical sources) then putting it after bumps impedance down and also drops the noise floor as you turn down the levels to typical settings. Both good things.

Thansk!

John

[Kevin Haskins]

Good seeing you John!   I think we should make a point of hitting Jiggles next time around though.

I loved your room, best sound of the show.        Its amazing how diversified your product line has become.    Keep up the good work.