The Almost Official 2004 Austin GTG Announcement & Invitation (1 Viewer)

[CurtisSC]

Thanks Victor.

I won't be able to do much coordinating from here.

I do know we will have a pair of CMT-340m's, CBM-170's, and a STF-2.

Yes...I will need a hotel room.

 

[Chris Quinn]

Any ideas how many people this will be?

Or we trying to use the same source equipment for everything? Will that even be possible if we need two or more rooms?

Victor- I suggest you give AV123 a call ask them what advise they can give since they have set these GTGs up before. I don't think we can ask them to do it since this isn't just their products but I'm sure they'd steer us right.

 

[Victor.Y]

I know we will have at least two independent listening areas... and naturally there'll be >1 set of electronics per listening area. I might have that covered if my friend Jerry brings in his Harmon Kardon AVR630. Regardless, if anyone else can bring equipment, let me know -- you can never have enough!

This is what I'm thinking right now:

In the living room I have my 5.1 Rocket setup. We can have plenty of space to place one or two sets next to each other that we can swap wires as needed.

In my master bedroom, there's some space to place another few sets of smaller speakers or floorstanders - for the second listening area.

We can do speaker rotations as the crowd desires. Or I can open up another one or two areas depending on demand.

It might be difficult to get matching amps/electronics for both rooms, so I'm going to suggest we put speakers we might want to A/B together in the same area. I.e.. floorstanders in one area, bookshelves in another.

Jimmy, perhaps you can give AV123 a call and see if they have any ideas/suggestions?

 

[CurtisSC]

I know the Ascends would work well with the AVR630.

Maybe we can get Mark to send the Emotiva twins?

 

[Mark LS]

Hi Gang...

I'm in all the way and I would be happy to spring for any suites / meeting rooms etc. we may need for the demo...

I'm also coming to have fun... meet new friends... and listen to some music etc. --- and of course... TO LEARN.

Jimmy... just let me know what you feel you may need, and I'll spring for the event...

I'm currently stuck in LA as my back gave out and I could not get on the plane for Hong Kong today... :frowning:

Had a wonderful time at the dinner a few nights back in Brea, CA and the GTG at Mad Dogs new house...

Sleep is in order now... but count me in... and I'll personally take care of the "bill" for any venue as mentioned...

Cool...

O.K.

All the best...

mls

 

[Victor.Y]

Mark,

WOW.... you never cease to amaze me! Your offer is so gracious... it's above and beyond anything I expected.

I promise, it is going to be fun time!

I'm going to catch some Z's now... but I'll get right on setting up a "homebase" hotel where all the action is. I'll continue posting as we make progress.

Thanks again, and I do hope you feel better.

--Victor
"beaktor"

 

[Jimmy Harmon]

Yeah, I've been a little out of pocket myself the last few days. No worries though. We've got over a month until the GTG. For someone that's used to doing things at the last minute, that's an eternity.

Excellent job, Victor. Thanks for taking the initiative on organizing this thing. I like your itenirary. I would also add that RSVP's need to say whether the person wants to attend a Friday and/or Saturday night dinner. We'll need a pretty good idea of numbers so that we can make dinner reservations.

I think once we have a better idea of the equipment being brought, we can develop a game plan for setups. Simple as it may be, one of the keys to the A/B listening will be using speaker wire with banana plugs. Victor, do you use banana plugs? If not, I can bring some. Also, will you need speaker stands?

I would suggest for the A/B comaparisons we primarily limit it to 2 or 2.1 channel setups. Moving around surround sound setups would probably be more trouble that it's worth. If people want to check out HT abilities we might consider seting up a Rocket 5.1 setup in one room and an Ascend 5.1 setup in another room.

 

[Jimmy Harmon]

Mark,

Just saw your post. Very excited that you'll be joining us in Austin. I know you have a lot going on, but I was starting to worry a little . . . just a little. Thanks for your offer. Very generous of you. Suzanne doesn't read HTF, does she?

Let me discuss with Curtis and Victor as to what, if anything, we might need. We're a pretty low maintance bunch of guys, but we have had a couple of requests for the Emo twins. Any chance of being able to bring those?

 

[Mark LS]

No worries there...

EMO for sure if you desire this...

All the best...

mls

 

[James Phung]

If there's enough interest, I could probably bring my infinity alpha 50s unless I get real lazy. If I get my receiver by then, I wouldn't mind bringing it. I'm trying to decide on a hk but I'm also considering waiting for the newer models that are coming out.

 

[CurtisSC]

Wait a second, I thought you guys were catering to my needs when I am there.

Jimmy and Victor, I can host a conference call so we can talk in realtime about everything.

 

[Nhan_H]

Ideally, we'd probably want to get a speaker selector to facilitate speaker switching, if possible. Otherwise, it'll be the good ol' manual switching with the banana plugs

Count me in.

And thank you, Mark, for the very generous offer!!!

 

[Nhan_H]

I believe Craig volunteered for that job

 

[Craig Chase]

Curtis, I will be your tour guide... after the listening session, You get to down a bottle of REAL Tequila, then take a bus trip to Mexico City... We should see you back on the forums around.... 2012....

 

[CurtisSC]

Remember...I am keeping someone between you and me at all times.

And I am bringing my own tour guide.

 

[Craig Chase]

Curtis, good for you... I never knew Escort services would fly out of state... ... This must be costing you a FORTUNE !

 

[Victor.Y]

I want to thank everyone for their e-mails... so far everyone's responses have been posted in Post #2. If I've missed you... please let me know!

Today, I gave 4 downtown Austin hotels a ring, but so far only been able to get one quote - $75/room/night. The Holiday Inn Town Lake is right by the water, but a 5 minute cab ride to downtown. The downtown hotels such as the Hilton or Omni will probably be at least $100/night, but I'll know for sure this week.

The main advantage of a hotel downtown is that it's pretty central to many walk-able activities -- such as visiting the capital, Town Lake (jogging, canoeing), downtown (drinks, bars, music venues). The University of Texas campus is a short ride away, as is Zilker Park. Also, for Curtis, it's a stumble away after you're drunk

Curtis, Jimmy, and I agree that a "homebase" hotel is a good idea, to provide a meeting place to greet folks when they arrive. Austin's nice in that you can almost anywhere in about 20 minutes... my house is about 20 minutes away. As it stands, the listening session is still a nice fit at my place.

I'll keep everyone informed! Keep those RSVP's coming! As it gets closer, we're going to need to get an accurate headcount for the listening session at my place and dinner reservations.

Thanks,

Victor

 

[CurtisSC]

I will let her read that, and then introduce you to her.

 

[Craig Chase]

I would be careful... if she finds out she should have gotten $4000 for the weekend, you might be in trouble...

 

[CurtisSC]

She's a rocket scientist, she doesn't need it.