[jimdgoulding]

A bud and I may drive up.  That's a friend, not the other thing.  Gimme a chance to drive over to my old stompin grounds, fabulous Ft. Worth and dine at Joe T's. 

[DSkip]

Actually all 200 pairs of BE-718's that were sold in North America had the upgraded crossovers. And every pair that was reviewed had the upgraded crossovers.

I might have time to come to the show for one day.

OK now you got my interest.  How did this process work?  Were crossover upgrades done stateside or did you provide the blueprint and they do the work?  I might pop it open just to see what's happening in there.

[marvda1]

Awesome.  Will likely go on Sat depending on the weather might go on Friday. 

Will make sure the cooler is stocked.  I always make a stop at the Czech Stop  for some Kolaches too

don't forget to bring some butter pecan cookies

[Danny Richie]

OK now you got my interest.  How did this process work?  Were crossover upgrades done stateside or did you provide the blueprint and they do the work?  I might pop it open just to see what's happening in there.

Sonicaps and Mills resistors were sent to Erse where the crossovers were built out on high quality Copper circuit boards and wired with the JPS Labs wire. They were then shipped to Usher in China where they were installed in all models that were delivered here to the US.

Go ahead pop it open and have a look. 

[DSkip]

I did what I could to see the crossovers, but I was limited to the tools on hand.  I unscrewed the terminal plate and it appears to be glued on or something - I couldn't get it to budge.  I can't pull out a woofer since they have the 'spikes' on them like the MD1/MD2 have.  I was stuck to pull the tweeter and that only gave me a very limited view.  The only cap I saw was a Rapport cap that appears to be of the same quality as the caps found in my 6311.  It's a little bittersweet for me - I'm sad to see they've pulled back on that area, but with the given upgrades over the Be-718 outside of the crossover, that should mean these have an even greater potential.  I've been enthralled with them so far, so the fact that they can be improved is the sweet part.

Even with this discovery, I still have no doubt this will be a hit at the show.  The best speakers I've heard in the suites have been bookies - the Element Cables Millenium and the Evolution Acoustics MmmicroOne.  I think the X favors well against those two from what I recall.

[Danny Richie]

The only cap I saw was a Rapport cap that appears to be of the same quality as the caps found in my 6311.

They are all like that. I am building out another set of Usher BE-20 crossovers right now. The stock crossovers in them are no different. So the improvement potential is high with upgrades across the whole line.

[marvda1]

danny, have you done any crossover upgrades for the usher 6381 or dancer mini 2?

[Danny Richie]

danny, have you done any crossover upgrades for the usher 6381 or dancer mini 2?

I have had some 6381 owners order crossover parts from me, but I haven't designed any new networks for them. I have not heard from Mini 2 owners yet, but they are still pretty new and there are not many out there.

[bladesmith]

it's getting to be that time of year again.
make plans.
http://lonestaraudiofest.com/

I hope everyone has a good time there...!

PS: Nice web site....

[marvda1]

COUNTDOWN!!!!!!!!!!!

[vinylphobia]

 Nice hanging out with the gang from 5one2 audio room.  I got trapped on the first floor so I didn't get a chance to say goodbye but glad I could connect with you guys.  Went by Audio Concepts before heading back to Austin/  XLF room was very nice

[sebrof]

Nice hanging out with the gang from 5one2 audio room.  I got trapped on the first floor so I didn't get a chance to say goodbye but glad I could connect with you guys.  Went by Audio Concepts before heading back to Austin/  XLF room was very nice

Thanks. I was one of the 4 guys in the 5one2 room. We had a great time hosting, and we got around to the other rooms a lot as well. I thought the "system" (comprised of a hodge podge of our various stuff) certainly sounded good enough to sit and listen to, and of course the free beer didn't hurt. It seemed like we had our share of people in the room all day.

Were you the one who brought us the Kolaches? If so thanks! With all the drinking we were doing they sure came in handy 

[vinylphobia]

Yes that was me Mr Kolache   Glad you liked it. Room was head and shoulders better than 90% of the rooms at the show.  I was actually very disappointed at the turnout...

[gab]

  I was actually very disappointed at the turnout...

Hard to believe but it was worse than last year! No audioFred, Bob Brines, oddwatt, GR Research, etc...

Keeping my fingers crossed for next year!

gab

[wingsounds13]

Agreed, demos and attendance were down the from last year - visitors WAY down.  Very concerning... I too hope that it will happen again next year. 

What's happening??

J.P.

[wingsounds13]

Still, there were some upsides.  No fighting the crowd and rarely much wait to get a seat to listen to a system or hang out and chat.

My favorites:

211 - Audio Thesis.  One of the good sounding rooms.  Many of them suffered badly from a big resonant peak somewhere around 80 Hz, but this was one of the least affected.  Lucky, or good setup?? 

214 - 5one2 Audio.  This might as well have been someone's living room.  Great atmosphere, good chats and a well set up system.  LSA-1s sounded great in there.

215 - Manzanita.  I ws confused... Where were the Open Baffles.  He had some great sounding box speakers this year - who'd a thunk it?

Trying to remember the rest, but these were high on my favorites list.

J.P.