[krikor]

Not sure if this is the best forum... also thought about putting it in the Single-Driver or Tube-o-Phile forums (if someplace else is more appropriate I'll gladly move it).

Just back from Chicago where I saw an audio installation at the Museum of Contemporary Art that  I could really get into.  Called a "Sonic Arboretum" consisting of a huge installation of horn speakers and tube amps by Specimen Products and original, constantly shifting and reconfigured music by Andrew Bird.  From the website:

The Sonic Arboretum is a collaboration between composer / violinist Andrew Bird and sculptor / inventor Ian Schneller of Specimen Products. It is a sonic installation consisting of a "forest” of plant-shaped audio horn speakers powered by custom-made tube amplifiers. These speakers and amps serve as a compositional garden for Bird who creates new site-specific compositions that play continuously as visitors meander and follow the music's lead.


Recommend it if you are in the neighborhood, but only through the end of this year.

Details and video at MCA website: http://mcachicago.org/exhibitions/now/2011/288
Details at Specimen website: http://www.specimenproducts.com/sonic-arboretum-museum-of-contemporary-art-chicago-2011/

And a few crappy photos from my cellphone:

[Dave G]

Cool!  So what'd you think of the sound?  And look at that amp in the second last picture:




I want one!

Dave

[ratso]

thanx for this, haven't been in a while and the MCA is one of my fave places to go. will have to get there and see this. 

[krikor]

Cool!  So what'd you think of the sound?

Obviously, you are not going to get imaging or soundstage like a traditional stereo given the multiple speakers and different recording feeds to each one. But it did sound like a performance was taking place right there in the museum. Very full and filling in the large space and you couldn't really tell what speakers were playing at any given time. The sound just floated through the museum, even when in the other gallery areas.

Very interesting and enjoyable. Wish I could be there for the live performances through the system that are taking place.