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I spent tonight checking out a few other facilities and I wanted to sort out a few things.Looked at a new hotel in Chesterton that is smaller than the Holiday Star and only has four usable listening rooms. They are perfect though and would make four great rooms for setting up systems. The facilities are cozier than the Holiday Star, less expensive (not by much) and the facilities are brand spankin new. I like these facilities if we keep this small (under 50 people) It would provide a better set-up because we would have the run of the place. There is a nice meeting area out front with booze, frig in every room and lots of sitting room, coffee and such out in the common area where we could sit around and talk. Both of the locations under consideration are less than a 1hr drive from downtown Chicago.
I don't really want to make this into an event like VSAC or Lima. The goal is to keep it manageable. I guess we could aim for an attendance of about 50-100 people and if we get in that range that would be better off at the Holiday Star. If other vendors want to come we will need the other rooms. My initial plans were to just have a Chicago Horn/Bottlehead Meeting in a cool place where we would all have an excuse to spend the night and drag our normal 5-6hr meeting into a full day and night. I think the sitting around the hotel drinking beers and BSing about audio is a lot of the fun.
It would be nice if we could get people to bring a variety of equipment. The problem is that the display rooms would be a large expense for an individual and who wants to drag their entire system anyway? I was thinking we could all throw money into a kitty and have a room that would be the general room for anything the group wanted to set-up and listen to.... I would also be very open to people bringing equipment into my room. That way we could encourage people to bring various gear and the entire event will be more attractive for people who want to hear a lot of the DIY speaker, tube amps and other gear that you never get a chance to hear at your local audio store.
I've also taken the liberty of talking with Dan Wiggins of Adire Audio. He has agreed to come out and give some kind of presentation about acoustics, speaker design, or whatever topic I can pressure him into for this event. He also is big on showing off his XBL2 technology that they are using in a lot of their new driver designs and we would likely have a demo showing the subjective vs. measured performance in an A/B comparison with two otherwise identical drivers.
If Bruce shows up we could pressure him into doing another lecture on horn speaker design. I missed the one at Lima and these are the types of things I love about these meetings.
If you have any input about this here and now is the time to give it. If you’re in the audio business and would like to attend and set up a room just email me. I need to get a rough idea of how many would be interested in attending the event so that we can pick the appropriate facility. The goal here though isn’t commercial…mainly this is just a chance for a bunch of audio nuts to get together for the weekend and have some fun.
Follow Ups:
Kevin; I have a CX 3400 also,and I'm a lot closer.(Salt Creek Commons) email me at donbunce@webtv.net
Hey... we are neighbors! I might take you up on that. I have to build some enclosures first and then I'd like to play with some crossover points/slopes and measure.
Don,How do you like your CX 3400 crossover? Im planning to acquire one.
JeLL-O
Can't say for sure,because I've been too busy(lazy) to wire up the XLR to RCA adaptors to use it.My a7s are pulled apart to brace the cabinets anyway,so it might take a while to get it running... Various people here have given it a good rating,hope they're right.
Don,
I know many would prefer rolling their own, and I usually do, but with all the other odds and ends I have lying around awaiting time and inspiration, I bought 3 ft. phone/rca Mogamis from Full Compass and had them the next day (Midwest). At about $22/pr delivered, they sound good, they are made well, and I can do other, more pressing things.
Later, I'll consider soldering up something John Risch-ish, killer good home brew.Tim
good unit for $$ - - make sure you get an adaptor-plug which can lift ground - is prone to loopsfreddy
Very good unit, solid build, well featured. Ideal for the DIYer - you don't have to go and buy a bunch of new power components or a plug in card every time you want to change the X-over frequency. Sound is pretty good too. Would be nice if it had delay on every frequency output and not just the bass but the thing's dirt cheap for what it is.Olly
I'm in, definitely. I'll chip in for a DIY room or something too. Even if I don't have anything to bring yet :)On that note... does anyone have a decent mic? By then I should have some compression drivers for my horns, and I'd like to measure those. I may also have my 100hz horns from Bruce, and I'd like to measure those too.
I can bring a PC with some FFT software, if someone just has a mic, or does anyone have a more comprehensive setup?
Thanks
Charlie
Charlie and others,I did mention it in a post below, and last night I got a chance to talk to Tom Danley about it. I think we would be able to bring the TEF 20 and run it off a laptop we have. Tom was interested in going, as am I, so we will see what we can do. TEF is a TDS (time delay spectrometry) measurement system which can be very powerful in the right hands. By the time of this meeting we should also have the newer MLS software for TEF allowing comparison of both measurement types. I will warn that most people wouldn't be to happy to see at higher resolution what is really coming out of many speakers, especially as we start looking at the on vs. off axis. Should be rather enlightening and fun.
Regards,
Mark Seaton
Sound Physics Labs / ServoDrive
It'd be great if I got a chance to measure these. Really I just need to pin down the sensitivities so I can get the compression driver attenuation right. Also I want to get the plot of the two so I can find a decent place to crossover, and get the compensation circuit right for the horn, and see if I need a supertweeter.Thanks
Charlie
July early August looks good! The smaller location is probily more reasonable.
Kevin,
Please let us know ASAP what dates you may have in mind, as I'd like to get the word out. CAS meets on the third Sundays of the month (July 21 and Aug. 18, for example). It might be nice if the bash could be on a different weekend to make it easier for locals to attend both. As you know, we're looking forward to Bruce Edgar visiting for the CAS meeting on Sept. 15 to give a full demo of Ray's new Titan system and talk about his "parlor tricks", etc. And as already mentioned, everyone's welcome to attend.
Brian Walsh
If this would but in July/August I'd be interest.Keep us posted.
Hi Kevin,Thanks for taking the time at trying to get something organized. I'm willing to chip in money for the Chicago room and anything else that may be needed. I can probably get there early to help you or anyone else out. This sounds like a real blast!
Cheers,
Alfredo
I'll be calling you for some help I have a feeling. :)I'd like to steal your active crossover for a weekend also so I can experiment with some crossover points, slopes etc...
Just think Alfredo... you won't have to host for once.
No problem giving you a hand with anything. Let me know about the crossover you can borrow it any weekend. I can bring it on a Friday and pick it up on a Sunday or Monday night or whenever. I have my passive crossover cables that I can use anyway.Funny you should mention hosting. I was gonna announce the next meeting sometime this week. Our next meeting should be sometime in the middle of June. That would make it about 6 weeks since the last. Of course I was gonna ask for a volunteer first but my house is always open if one is not found. I will post something later this week and see what kind of response we get for who wants to attend.
Alfredo
Kevin,Sometime in July-Aug would be great. For Bruce to show up I think we need to pry the Titan System away from the reviewer. I e-mailed Bruce with a suggestion. Regardless on what happens I'm in. If you need help setting all this up let me know. I can supply a video camera to take video of the event. Dan (gonsishin) and I are both working on a system. His Edgar 500hz tractrix with JBL 2441/ Tad 1601 woofer, and possible Fane tweeter. Mine 650hz with Tad2001's and 1601 woofer. If we get them done in time I'll bring mine down.
And I wanted to say congratulations on the new addition to the family. Wish you the very best.
Ray
I can come (depending on date selection) and give a talk on horns which will be more sophisticated than my "parlor tricks" Lima presentation. I also have a slide show on Voigt and Klipsch which may be of interest to people. Since space is a premium, I won't bring the Titan, but concentrate on discussing people's horn questions and problems. Bruce
I would be VERY VERY VERY interested in that!
That type of presentation would be exactly what a lot of people would enjoy I think... I know I would.Space won't be a problem.. we will find room if you want to bring something. If you don't, I understand because all that shipping has to be a headache.
Either way we should be able to get a motley assortment of horns. I have a few questions I might pick your brain on for my Frankenstein horns that I'm assembling.
Hi guys,This does sound like it could be a fun outing. I can't promise anything until dates are set, but I would be interested in bringing some speakers down to hear. A pair of BassTech 7s might be a lot of fun if they don't kick us out for the levels ;-), and I can certainly bring down some Unity speakers. If timing works out, I know Tom Danley would be willing to come down and talk for a few mins if you guys like. Let's try and not make this one on a holiday weekend.
If we can get a date set I will start looking at what I can offer up.
Regards,
Mark Seaton
Sound Physics Labs / ServoDrive
I'm considering July and August. I won't do it on a Holiday Weekend as I have other plans. The limiting factor is which weekends are available at the hotel. I'm trying to arrange something so we don't have to share the facilities with another group. If we are going to need more than 4 rooms for equipment we are going to have to use the Holdiay Star Plaza as it has the size.At this time I need to know from any other interested parties if they would be interested in renting a room for display purposes.
We have:
#1 DIYCable in a room.
#2 Chicago Horn Club general room for any equipment.
and tentative attendees:
#3 Bruce Edgar and the Titan
#4 Sound Physics Labs with the Unity and BassTech 7s.
If you want to be added to the tentative list let me know. Room cost is $200/day for display purposes. We have four rooms that are 34x20x9 which are perfect for set-up. There are many other 40x17s and 40x20s which could be used. If you want to see the facilities:http://www.radisson.com/RAD/Hotel_Directory/hotelMeetings.jsp?hotelID=117&hotelCode=MERRILLV&hotelFeatures2ID=592&packageLevel=3&featureTypeID=4&returnFlag=none&origin=&locUni=
Sleeping rooms I'm told will be $99/night. Depends on which weekend we choose.
I would note that with a room of the size you note, there should be no reason we couldn't fit a pair of systems in a room. I'm thinking of just a fun day, we don't need to get super fancy. 34' deep allows for a lot of gear. I'll see, maybe I can even get Tom to bring the TEF 20 down so we could see what is going on with different systems? Again, I won't commit to anything at this time, but I am certainly interested.Regards,
Mark Seaton
Sound Physics Labs / ServoDrive
Like you said, we can view this event as a super-sized summer-special Chicago Horn/Bottlehead Meeting. Taking audio gear in and out a common room is just like the same thing we do when the meeting is held at a member's house. I don't think anyone will mind chipping in a few bucks for having a fun day.Kurt
You could fill up the entire conference areas with the speakers in your basement Kurt. Are you going to have your new sub creation done in time?
Hi Kevin,Yes, I expect to have the dipole subs done soon. Can hardly wait to hear how four 18" drivers per side on an open baffle sound like. Also, I can bring a satellite-sub speaker set using Fostex FE83's on open baffles. Also, depending on whether I can figure out the right crossover for the 15" Tannoy drivers I got recently, I may even be able to bring the Tannoys. Too many projects, too little time!!!
Kurt
Kevin,
I would be interested in attending, do you have any idea what the kitty would be?
Hi Kevin,
To me, at least, a common room would be a great idea. When you originally floated this idea, I was thinking about trying to borrow my parent's van to haul my horn sub up to this, but then you mentioned that rooms would be about $200 and that put a damper on things for me. I mean, if I had a spare $200, I'd be spending it on midbasses so I could finish my high frequency horns, not paying for other people to hear my system... ;> Anyway, what you posted sounds like fun to me.John
Yes... if anything you can bring it down to my room. I'd love to see what you have cooked up. Maybe you can give me some tips on using that measurement software. I have a new mic but I havn't built anything yet. That is one of the goals for this summer. Getting some kind of measuring equipment up.
Hi Kevin,
I figured you'd have one of the Adire subs in your room... Actually, the issue right now is figuring out how to get the thing up there.If there's anyone coming up from Indy for this that has a truck or van and wants to haul my sub, let me know!
John
Oh... I'm going to have six or seven of them if Dan has his way. He has some kind of crazy idea about four or five 15" Brahmas with 3000-4000W of amplification. One slip while playing with the preamp and you could have permanent hearing loss and exploding windows. Then I'll have to pay the hotel damages.I'm more keen on using a few Maelstroms powered with the Ella or even some of our digital amps but hey, I'm easy.
What horn sub did you build? I know you emailed me about building the LAB horn, but I didn't think the drivers were available yet...Thanks
Charlie
It's my own design.John
John,I really like the confidence and pride projected by those simple words: "It's my own design." :) Can hardly wait to hear your gear.
Kurt
Hi Kurt,
I thought I was just being succinct.
I think if you want to hear my system, you'll have to stop by my place sometime. It's getting too big to take anywhere...John
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