(with apologies to Bob Hunter)
Well Kids, I'll try this again.
I had some whoppers for you, reviewing the RMAF experience, but computer seized up and it was but scattered electrons...
I'll try and remember, but these things fade fast for me...
I don't have to tell you anymore what a grand time it was to see and hear.
Not enough hours in the day to do it all justice.
Heck, not enough hours in the day to hear what I wanted to hear.
Even now, reviewing other's pictures, I'm wondering where they shot THAT at!
I'm just going to do a 'stream of consciousness' thing on you here, and you might realize a piece of how we each got lost each day.
Next time, bigger/better/ camera. Not enough flash out of my Nikon for the rooms which were not all that big. Had to use wide-angle on most to encompass what I was looking at. Not enough flash to go around. Just glad I brought tripod, but that was a pain in the butt.
I should have taken a shot of me loaded down with camera bag, tripod, camera, notebook, my own ass...bouncing off of folks, waiting for the noise of someone saying 'Hey Asshole!' at my back.
Ah, the joys of hearing disability, when one can just ignore those and smile...;-D
Speaking of that, y'all know that I had fluid on the ears since before the 'great tube intervention'. Had a tube put in one ear a couple of weeks before. Totally weird!
Walked around that day, dazed and confused, not knowing which ear to listen to, while the 'old' ear got better volume, bass, and air. After a little healing and time, the 'tubed' ear was coming around as Mom & me shoved off for the full drive to Denver.
First off, I made it a duty to scout our the Classic Audio Reproductions room, which I had wandered by and heard getting voiced the day before. You saw the pictures. They had a row of chairs with 'best seat' marked on the back of the front one. I avoided that one for many visits, but succumbed on Sunday. That was certainly 'it'!
As far as those speakers were apart, the whole of the end of the room gave voice. Truly great anywhere in the room, until I plopped into that front chair. Then, there were no speakers at all!
You know the deal. As I have gotten used to listening to the Altecs, I'm still understanding the sound of horns. Those Hartsfield speakers were really special.
I came back by and then into that room at least a half dozen times, just listening for a bit.
The Dali MegaLines (I think) were just down around the corner from there, and it was a whole different business. In that room, they were way out there, but often not there at all.
I heard some Louis Armstrong there, and the band was right out there by the speakers, but it didn't seem like they had anything going on at all. Another disappearing act!
These were one of the great sounds as well from these arrays.
They stick out in my mind like the Hartsfield, even though there were NO rooms with bad sounds.
Big or small outfits all 'qualified' just by being there!
More horns! Dr. Bruce Edgar's bigass wooden horns had another turn at me as well. I will have to say that there is a flavor to those things that I find really appealling. Perhaps the best voiced horns to my taste I listened to. (well, I might maybe check at the end of this writing to see if I contradict myself!) I drooled, talked to Dr. E. and gave him my wife's regards, as she is still telling folks what she learned about horns from him at the first MAF.
The big horns in the Cogent room were so over the top, I didn't know what to think. Look at somebody else's pix (as I nevr got mine up) of that place, and there is this thing that looks like a fireplace on the front wall. Subwoofer! No kidding, about to the ceiling!
The horns, humonguous! As an exercise in excess, they get one of my strongest votes.
Fabulous sound though, when I was in there listening to orchestral strings.
We were told that two weeks before the show, none of the equiptment existed, but if it still had to break in....there might have been people flung thru the rear wall!
MORE horns at the Exemplar room. You can see them in the pix. John Tucker is an excellent fellow I chatted up, smoking outside friday nite. Very personable. His selection of those speakers to represent, exciting. The short time I was there, some chamber music and then some Kotke/Fahey stuff were just over-the-top excellent, even sitting 4 or so rows back in people!
ANother wish to give more time..
Well, those are the horns that stuck out to me. Seems I missed at least one I saw. I know there were at least 3 or 4 and probably more rooms with some sort of horns that I missed.
Somewhere near the beginning of the first day, I got up and saw Wayne at Bolder for a few minutes before it started getting crowded, which it seemed to remain thru the show. I'd pop my head in on passing and always see at least 6-8 folks. I caught up again there sunday morning, and after a quick listen, my camera battery failed, so that soured my listening.
Well, until I 'got the message' that I was supposed to stop taking pictures and to start listening!
That worked real well for what I had left of that day.
Wayne's room btw sounded really swell with the VMPS and JJAZ (?) amps (canot read scribbles!)
Ayup, we'll have to listen to those amps again!
While on that floor, I went in the Usher room. More great sound. Just sweet. Have no idea what I was listening to! Just grinnning! By the way Mike, one of the fellas in there remembers you and
said HEY. Strangely enough, the second person on the earth who described the Rogues stuff as 'sexy.' I am just struck by what you guy's women look like!?! heheheh
Also on that floor was Ocean Acoustic. Now, they didnt' have a lot of people coming in or out, or even staying, but I got to hear something special there.
They had some Lowther driven speakers there that were just plain art to look at. Then the Experience amps looking like something out of grandmas attic with exquisite flat finish on the woodwork. These are the folks with the big metal sculpture in there that actually bore speakers, so a weird room.
Hmmmm.. .mostly long-haired guys, it seemed. One asked me if I would like to hear a Dead album, Terrapin Station, and I said sure! I know it by heart, and at first, I couldn't figure out what I was hearing wrong. Lots of upper sounds, not much bass. Harumph. 10k on the amps, huh?
But I kept listening, experimenting with my new ear and old ear. In fact, I failed to mention that with the new tube in my ear (I asked for a 300b, but this is what I got...) it was like having two people's ears, and I could turn side to side and get two totally different representations, except for reflections.
I realized what I was hearing on this system was the 'high' noises of the sticks from the drummers, brought up front and to the right (best ear). Wow! Then concentrating on the bass, well, I'll be damned! All of Phil's notes were there, just a lot quicker and less boomy. Hmmm. Boomy...symptom of still unmodified ear!
My point is, I don't think, ever in my life, had I heard quick, discrete bass before.
What a trip! By the end of the vinyl album, I was jammin'. Smiling, I offered to comeback the next day again when they plugged in the sculpture. Alas, that was not to be, but it was a real Experience in there!
I went into quite a number of rooms that at the time had few if any people in them.
Got to Haggerman Technologies showing off their electronics to the tune of Horn Shoppe horns.
Just excellent! For a small room like mine, I could have lived with this system. For the limited power, just super. While I was there, Dark Side Of The Moon got put in, and it handled it really damned good, with details rarely glimpsed by some of my bigger speakers.
It was with a smile, I would hear DSOTM later in the weekend wafting down the hall from there.
And this is a really low watt system! I sure wished I would have taken more time in there to learn more of the electronics, as strangely enough, although I had been looking for a tube amp before I left for weeks, as an attendance prize, I won the 'half-kit' version of their Clarinet linestage sunday. It comes with PCB and you buy the parts. I'll defintely be getting to that, once my smoke blows over. Many thanks to Jim for his contribution and good spirit when I was in the room.
Ah, I must cover GR Research. MORE excellent sound. I heard the AV1speakers on Dodd amps first, and kept looking for where the sound came from. I had been looking to hear this line of speakers for several years, and almost took a roadtrip to Texas a couple of times.
Gary Dodd's amps were superb as well. I even took the time to listen to his headphone amp, along with two different headphones, and was impressed. I am really sorry I did not have someone snap my picture at this time. They had that amp in the 1/2 bath, and sitting on the 'stool' with phones on my head....I just needed a little reading material and to let things flow...
Their line array room...just overwhelming, and not in a loud way. Real great too.
It was later I came back and heard the AV-3s and it was purely misunderstanding on my part that kept a kit of those from coming home. Stone cold steal, for the sound they put out. Just terrific!
May still try a kit of those, complicated or not.
And then there were the Odyssey rooms.
Something inside me 'clicked' in both rooms. Very good sound. Some of the most 'musical' of the whole experience! All the cash I spent fleshing out my Vandersteens with biamped bryston, and then those Altecs....I could have just cut to the chase and purchased either system from Klaus and been happy for a long while... Just think of how much more time I would have had for listening!
A real mind-changer there. Remembering what the smaller Epiphony's sounded like at Scott's house, I still wanted to hear more from them. Also got to hear the Nightingale speakers on the less expensive system, and they held up real well, especially when some guy brought a torture-cd in.
Strangely enough, if any of you have the soundtrack to My Cousin Vinnie, this thing can really do some damage. I don't remember the soundtrack being like that, but the guy just smiled and said,
'Surprise!'
Long story short is that I actually brought the show pair of those Epiphony's home, and they have been going for...(let me check my watch) 3 days now. No complaints. They do my living room right on the Bryston B-60. Hopefully sometime I can hear them on both Odyssey electronics right next to my Bryston. The speakers sounded as good here as in Denver.
If I had had more time to come back with my cds, and perhaps a big truck, things might have gone differently.
I did make it into the SPTechnology room and got more enlightenment, musically, intellectually, and spiritually. Yeah, I know what you were thinking, but no rave-drugs here; just good old fashioned candle burnt at both ends!
I had promised myself I wanted to give a listen to the Timepiece 2.0 speakers I had read about.
Promised LoneWolfny42 I'd spin in there as well. Their Continuum speakers were playing just fine.
After listening to a little 'Iz' complements of Monolith, I got to hear 'Spritual' from off 'Beyond the Mo. Sky.' Wew! Whole new level to bringing things out! Once again, wished more time...
The doves and crickets at the end of that cut, they just got put right in your lap. I remember how many times I have strained to hear those on different systems and sometimes found wanting. Bob Smith did some first class work on these. He's a great guy and real easy to talk to.
I had mentioned coming in there because Lonewolf had the Timepiece 2.0, and mentioning who I was on here, all of a sudden I was meeting Bob and DoubleUgly and Eliot Rosen (at least, please forgive if I forgot!). Brothers well met! And we got to yacking and I heard no more from the system consciously.
And I had another 'aha' event while listening to the SPTechnology speakers. I must have passed the 400 hour 'burn-in' time on the tube in my ears. Music became coherrent and between my ears, not just the effect of having two ear. Perhaps my 'wetware' between my ears finally figured out how everything was working and made some sense of it. Maybe the teflon tube in my ear took longer than the teflon on my wires...I dunno, but another aural miracle. Woohoo!
As anyone who goes to a show can tell you, there are lots of little events that help make the big one. Jack Elliano was a joy to speak with, as well as listening to his gear. The Electra-Print stuff was just first rate. This will be another place I will go again, next show. Willie suggested I look him up and am I glad I did. A real gentleman, especially when talking about Willie! hehehehe (Hi Willie!).
The Bottlehead room was unusual but incredible. I'm not much of a headphone person, but they had two reel-reel tape machines there with incredible tapes on them. Read the reviews. A real experience not to be missed!
Actually, I was surprised at how many headphone amps I ended up getting shoed into listening to. The one at Audiokits.com was just excellent. Never heard of them before, and I think they are up in Peoria or nearby. Really nice room with speakers as well, but my clock was ticking.
WHY you might ask, was my clock ticking so severely?!
Too damned much at the show, too damned much on my plate, and too many demands from folks I knew in Denver that would insist on dinner.
But I still had enough left of me to go to the soldering seminar sunday afternoon with Doc B and Ron Welborne. Those two gracious men nursed however many of us thru half of a Sweetest Whispers build into a passive volume box. Providing all the tools and parts, and eventually getting us
great deals on the Weller solderstations donated to our use, we were all winners at this event.
Unfortunately, this 2 hour event turned into 4 hours, and the show was over.
No more trips back.
Waaa...
I'm missing a ton of stuff no doubt, but it is already fading with the braincells that fizzle out each day. Kind of getting my 'last visit' here writing before even that fades.
As other posts of mine have shown, I am indebted to all out there, from the all-friendly vendors and manufacturers, to all of my other brothers connected by the wire that feeds our heads here.
Even the bartender was damned friendly! Even had a lot of anecdotes, but perhaps I'll save some for our next meeting.
But here is one:
On my way home, I had a full car and my 87 year old Mom and 2 cassette tapes. I don't listen to
the radio, but mostly silence and the jukebox in my head. (easier to hear with tinitus.)
I played a 1977 Dead concert openning 25 minute jam, and Mom was over there tapping her hand on the door, and her foot was moving. At the end of the cut, I asked if the music was allright, and whether she turned off her hearing aids yet. She has done this on many occassions to others!
No, she said. That was 'my kind of music'!
Omigawd, Mom's a Deadhead! hehehe
And the story doesn't end, as I rattled this all around in my head. About 20 minutes later, I had to laugh out loud as the only music I bought at the show were two pieces of vinyl by Louis Armstrong. Somehow we traded places. As I read in a story once, if God is not an iron, then why is there so much irony?
Well, if I remember anything more, I'll edit.
but this is the version I remember this afternoon, and I'm sticking to it.
If I missed someone, please forgive my one-too-many head injuries, and let it go at that. ;-D
Hope you have been in some small way entertained.
I sure know I was!
Best Regards,
DeadFish
