[cjr888]

First, I thank everyone who has posted comments and especially those who have posted pictures..  If there are silent folks out there or people holding back on pictures, post em up!  The stationary people as well as the attendees will greatly appreciated it!

Wanted to go, but had prior plans months in advance that kept me from it.  It had the impression of being a much more down to earth type of event, but still larger than a handful of people getting together for a weekend afternoon.  To me that sounded like a great idea.

I do have some questions and requests regarding the show:

1.  I know the MAF website lists exhibitors.  Whether at the show, through the signup process, or someone documenting the event, is there anything out there listing what was showcased in each room, whether it was the primary system or all gear dragged into that room?  Heck, even a general description..

2.  Madisound Speakers/Paul Horning: Can't remember if I actually asked in another thread or not, but does anyone have contact information for him?  Don't know if he works for them, or just built the speakers from Madisound plans, but like the way they looked as well as having a small footprint and curious exactly which cabinet design they came from.

3.  I'd love to hear people's impressions of systems that were much different than their own.  Granted from what I've heard so far, the acoustics and sound levels were awful to work with, so the actual sound may not have been ideal, but......if you come from say the SS or high powered SS camp and typical speakers, and you heard little SETs and big horns, I'd love to hear whether you loved it or hated it and more importantly why.  Same goes for the opposite -- if you've been a die hard hater of SS amplifiers, and never felt they could do music justice, and heard something interesting...  Digital/Analog...  Surprises in good ways, bad ways...  I'd love to hear assumptions thrown out the door, or absolutely confirmed...

Wish I could have attended.  Would have been interesting to check out what was there, but more so, to meet a lot of the folks that frequent here.

Now all we need is to put together a country-wide program with awards to seek out an ultra cheap convention center or hotel with good sized rooms and brilliant acoustics.  Might as well take audiophile OCD to a new level, moving it from the home to hotels.....

[MaxCast]

I'll post a few comments that are my personal tastes.

I don't care for horns unless they are a larger type of speaker.  There were a few good implementations that I thought sounded pretty good.  Others were not for me.

Single driver speakers.  I don't care for these as well.  I feel it limits the type of music you can listen to with just a pair of speakers.  Carefully adding a sub can help this of course.  Listening to accoustic guitar,  simple vocals or a small trio these were the strong points of single driver speakers IMHO.

Line arrays.  I didn't like the pair I heard last year.  There were 4-5 pair there this year.  Only got to hear one for a short period of time.  Sorry I can't comment on this a bit more.

You can summize that  I prefer a dynamic 2 or 3 way type of speaker, as long as the high end doesn't break up or hert your ears.  The VMPS ribbons and Odyssey Lorili's were the top two speakers IMHO.  I would not feel comfortable buying either from the show without listening in my room first.

[Marbles]

2.  Madisound Speakers/Paul Horning: Can't remember if I actually asked in another thread or not, but does anyone have contact information for him?  Don't know if he works for them, or just built the speakers from Madisound plans, but like the way they looked as well as having a small footprint and curious exactly which cabinet design they came from.

www.madisound.com

I asked about the names of their speakers and they told me they were just looking for guys names that had "Horn" in them.

Paul Horning has nothing to do with these speakers.

With regards to #1, not that I'm aware of.

[audiojerry]

Isn't anyone old enough to remember Paul Horning, halfback for the Green Bay Packers, the greatest team ever?

[jackman]

Good ol' #5?  or is it 15?  I think Bart Star was 15...

Either way, he was scouted by my cousin Jack Vianese...who is in the Pack Hall of Fame (or Shame if you are from Chicago...Da Bears!).  

Adios,
Jman

[nathanm]

Although I was not at the show it seems to me that if you're going to plunk down a pair of speakers in a bare, empty hotel room with little or no absorbtive surfaces you shouldn't be too surprised if it doesn't sound the greatest.  I don't quite get why the exhibitors don't bring along foam panels and whatnot.  Sure it's more crap to haul in, but the whole point of the show is supposed to be showing off the sound, right?  I would think more attention would be paid to damping the bare rooms down to better emulate the home environment.  No rectangular room with reflective walls regardless of the size is going to have 'brilliant acoustics' unless it was designed that way to begin with.  I assume most hotel rooms are not.   Although I have seen plenty of people's home systems in big bare rooms, so maybe it is a good model...hmmm.

I know -  instead of removing the beds they could lean them against the wall!

[Pez]

Well there was one room that took the time to bring and set-up accoustic treatment,  OURS!!!!!!!!!   If I do say so myself it paid off in a huge way. I stronly believe we had the best sound in the show.  I was very proud to show case my equipment along with such great pieces.  One thing that you must remember was that this whole thing was a group effort, which is part of the reason we had great sound. I can't imagine trying to do a set-up that complex by myself.  

Company's that were in the Bolder room:

Bolder Cables
Terre's Turntables
Radii tube gear
VMPS Speakers
Eighth Nerve accoustic treatment

and of course the companies that were their in the room that we didn't really "represent"
Sony SACDP
Loush (SP?) Tubed Pre
Art Dio (other than mods Wayne does of course)

[Marbles]

You missed a company...

OB Brewery...India Pale Ale  

[MaxCast]

.....and Mike's tube amps, which I heard drew a few questions and blew a couple fuses.

[Pez]

Actually I blew the fuse on the Radii tube amp Mike's tube amps were the "back up" they sounded mighty fine, but had some problems of their own.

[MaxCast]

I agree that Bolder had the best room as far as acoustics go.  I sure would have liked to listen before and after the 8 nerve stuff was placed in the room.  I'm sure the couch helped too.

The VMPS 626's were very impressive.  They were a bit larger than I was expecting....Oh and the sub is big too.  I wish I could have heard that system cranked.  I got the sweet spot early when Wayne was testing his tube-a-lator.  We played DSOTM through Jason's x777.  The sound was fantastic and effortless.  Wayne always had a full house of people checking out some fine gear and cables.  

The DAM crew is a terrific group of guys.  Mike is a very nice guy that will do anything for you, Jason is well, just jason who's bark is worse than his bite    Actually, I think he can tell the frequency of a bat fart three miles away AND tell you if it is in phase.  He definitely has an ear for sound.  Wayne makes some very nice cables and knows how to make beer   Hopefully we'll see Tyson next year, as well as, a few other ACers.  Actually, AC was well represented and the manufacturers here had the best rooms by far.

[Marbles]

Wayne makes some very nice cables and knows how to make beer   Hopefully we'll see Tyson next year, as well as, a few other ACers.  Actually, AC was well represented and the manufacturers here had the best rooms by far.

  Whose beer?????

AC had some great rooms, but many liked Edgarhorns, and many liked the CAR room as well.  There were many great rooms at MAF.

I kind of liked the Pi room or was that the Pie room for the visual.............

Some rooms I found disapointing, for example the Griffen Line Arrays did not disapear this year like they did last year, even though they were "improved".  I'm pretty sure it was the room.
The Madisound room sounded god awful the first day, but on Saturday the same system with different speakers sounded pretty good.

Thom Mackris of Redpoint would get within about 6 inch's of you to talk, which was a bit disturbing.  I kept backing up and he kept approaching into my "personal space".  The Welborn Oris 150/Onken speakers were VERY much bigger than anticipated and the Redpoint TT was not as industrial looking in person as in pictures.  Thom did say he was going to try to get a laminated base to warm it up some visually.

Getting back to the Bolder Teres room, we tried to do a compo of a tube board and a non tubalator board Saturday AM.  Wayne fried the non treated board on the second switch, which was merciful because I was very hung over.

Later we did some Teres platter changes to see the difference.  The biggest difference was going from the lead filled vinyl platter to the wood platter.  It sounded like he turned up the volume more on the wood platter, but he did not.  Too bad it's so damned expensive

Mike Baker did an awesome job with the MAF, but he may not have it next year according to a post he made on AA.  He seems a little burnt out right now, and deservedly so.

[Pez]

Jason is well, just jason who's bark is worse than his bite

I knew I should have knee'd you in the face as hard as I could the second I met you MaxCast. Next time you won't be so lucky

Any way it was nice meeting you too I enjoyed getting yours and everyone elses insight on the stuff we did.  

[Jim Griffin]

Some rooms I found disapointing, for example the Griffen Line Arrays did not disapear this year like they did last year, even though they were "improved".  I'm pretty sure it was the room.


Yes, it is difficult to make any speaker disappear when each one is just 6 inches away from the side walls.  Our original larger suite was water damaged a week before the meeting ans not available.

The arrays (and any speaker) sound better when located farther away from the sidewalls.

[Jim Griffin]

Some rooms I found disapointing, for example the Griffen Line Arrays did not disapear this year like they did last year, even though they were "improved".  I'm pretty sure it was the room.


Yes, it is difficult to make any speaker disappear when each one is just 6 inches away from the side walls.  Our original larger suite was water damaged a week before the meeting ans not available.

The arrays (and any speaker) sound better when located farther away from the sidewalls.

[Marbles]

Yes, it is difficult to make any speaker disappear when each one is just 6 inches away from the side walls.  Our original larger suite was water damaged a week before the meeting ans not available.

The arrays (and any speaker) sound better when located farther away from the sidewalls.

Jim, first let me welcome you to AC.

Second, let me say that last year I thought your Line arrays were the most surprisingly good speaker I heard at the MAF with the exception possibly of the Edgar Titans.

When I heard that the new speakers were improved over the ones I heard last year I was ready to be blown away.  I was disapointed.

Last year you were in what I perceived as a horrid room acoutically using midfi gear, a CDP directly to an amp.

This year you had better electronics, but I guess the smaller room with a lot more speakers in it really did not let your speakers disapear like they did last year.

I guess this just goes to emphasize the value of proper room setup for us all.

I can't wait to see what you (and Rick or Phil maybe) have in store for us next year.

[drphoto]

I thought Mr. Griffin's (and Rick Craig's) line array sounded great. Yes, I thought the 'center fill' was weak. (Marbles and I discussed this) But I assumed it was the room.

I just love the way line arrays 'load the room'.  I think they sound more natural than point source speakers....which no matter how good....always sound like speakers....to me.

As some of you know, I'm a Maggie guy.Which are sort of a line array. But I realize they have a serious limitation. Mainly dynamics. The arrays have the big presentation of Maggies, but great dynamics even at low volumes.(  but singers don't sound 'larger than life')....very cool.

I would also like to say that I thought Jim and Rick were real gentlemen. They let me come up and listen after they were officially closed. (I got there late 'cause of work) They didn't try to sell me...they just let me listen.

As I posted earlier...I will own an array.

I think the one thing MAF proved is that its all about taste.

[Wayne1]

I didn't get much of a chance to check out the other rooms. After getting the BOLDER Cable suite set up and tuned properly, Mike and I wandered around for a short while on Friday morning. When I returned to the suite, I found that Jason had blown the power fuse on the Radii power amp by being too impatient trying to play Radiohead. I stayed in the suite the rest of the show to make sure he wouldn't destroy anything else

I did hear the Edgar horns playing the Sheffield Drum record. It was loud enough to hear in the lobby of the hotel. It sounded just like a live drummer playing through a PA system. I also heard a jazz combo at a lower volume in the demo room. Those horns do project a VERY big sound. I do prefer ribbons, though

I heard a few single driver systems that really didn't do too much for me. In the Horn Shop room, I heard Bela Fleck's Flight of the Cosmic Hippo through a 3" driver that sounded very good for that small a speaker.

Marbles was extremely kind in bringing the beer all the way from his home town. It was very well made, but it was not an IPA  I would say it fits more into the Scotch Ale category. It was very malty, big bodied, and had lots of alcohol. An IPA should use more hops and be drier. Whatever style it is, it WAS very tasty and went down very quickly

The things that made our room sound as good as it did, were the things that drew the least attention. While the Teres is drop dead gorgeous, the cables, room treatment, and digital bass EQ played a very big role in the sound we were able to acheive.  

Jason left out quite a few things, like the QSC power amp used to drive the VMPS Larger sub and the QSC DSP-4 digital signal processor. I used my Behringer ECM-8000 microphome and M-Audio mike preamp and the True RTA program to see what room responce actually was like and then used the QSC EQ program to adjust it to flatten the responce. We were able to acheive an in room low end flat to 10 hz.

The best time I had was meeting all the people I have corresponded with. Ernest and I have very similar tastes in music and someday I hope to turn him away from the dark side of digital and into the light of analog

MaxCast, Marbles, Woodsea, DrPhoto, and the rest of the AC group were very friendly and a joy to meet. The show was very good exposure for a small cable maker from Colorado, but four days of driving for a two day show was a bit much. Especially with Jason for a passenger for most of it

[MaxCast]

Wayne, I feel your pain.  I was wondering who got to drive with Pez.

[Pez]

It's funny how all my little "mistakes" including uhhhh blowing the fuse, on my own amp none the less, gets so much public attention while things like Wayne in his infinite wisdom using the wrong type of speakon connectors for the sub amp conviniantly are forgotten.

Oh by the way driving with Mike and Wayne wasn't exactly a picnic either. Wayne in particular has not only THE WORST TASTE IN MUSIC, but a knack for finding terrible country stations that have nothing but wannabe cowboy middle americans singing about their fucking families.  Cowboys don't have families! They have six-shooters, drinking problems, anti-social disorder, relationship-phobias.  Come on! I like country, but that ain't country. that would be like somebody singing the blues about their butler forgetting to dust their $300,000 ming vase.

woh I went off on a tangent there, sorry.   The point of my post is Wayne, Maxcast you guys suck