[Jonathan DA]

Eh, where's the pic?

[Jacob Aaron]

Aren't those girls just a little young Scott?

[Jacob Aaron]

Ok the date for the big event will be around the 15th of November or the last week of November. I'm waiting on one of the companies to tell me when he will be in town. I'm going to base it all off that. I got "caught," mentioning it before confirming it, and he called me. I realized that in my busy rush I hadn't told him the details.

All the people I mentioned offered to be on hand for any "event," and the important people I'm organizing it around. Some companies are still looking over "credit," and due to an on-rush after CEDIA they're busy.

I also need to mention certain companies like VTL, Martin Logan, Meridian, and others don't allow "discounts," off MSRP greater than 5%. Its in the Dealer Agreements, and while I'm still crossing my fingers on a few lines, I WON'T be breaking any contracts.

So some items will be 5% off for the BIG sale, but we can be talked into throwing things in like interconnects, speaker cable, etc. to make it a MUCH better deal.

These companies have these clauses to protect the consumer, the dealers, and the company. If you get in the act of discounting it hurts the value of the product. These companies protect their products, and it means that the consumer is getting a fair price every time.

This is a BIG sale because its something we won't be doing on any kind of regular basis. Most of the product lines we carry have strict rules of sales procedures. It just so happens these rules go with my philosophy of sales. I believe in selling as close to MSRP as possible, and that its worth it because of the service I offer.

I also believe in taking care of your customers, meaning repeat customers will get better, and better deals. These deals will ALL fit under my contractual obligations. There is no deal that says I can't throw in $500 worth of interconnects, etc. I just protect the product's value.

While I've heard positive things from all the lines (except for Meridian, who promises a word by mid-October), I'm still waiting for many to go thru the "process," which takes longer than one might immediately assume.

The reps are all positive about the process, and I've got no worries.

My whole experience has only shown me that these companies not only make great product, but have great people standing behind their product.

[Nils Luehrmann]

The website says that Jacob's store is currently slated to open on Thanksgiving weekend. If our meet is going to happen around that time perhaps we should start planning an itinerary.

Jacob,

I for one would be happy to assist you in getting the shop prepared, and I'm sure others here would as well, but you'll have to speak up and let us know what we can do to help.

[Nils Luehrmann]

Well folks, I think it is time we start discussing alternative plans.

The last time I or anyone I know has last heard from Jacob was just prior to the Texas OU game which was over a month ago. We have tried reaching him at several of the numbers he gave us and left numerous messages. Follow-up calls have sometimes resulted in getting automated messages that say that number is no longer in service.

Checking his website periodically for updates showed a major change about two weeks ago when the very professional multiple page website was oddly replaced with a very basic single page website which is what shows up currently.

It says the company, Audio Ascensions is currently doing custom installations and that the retail store will be opening up Thanksgiving weekend, but someone drove by the the location, 801 Rio Grande, which back in September Jacob had said he had purchased, but they didn't notice any sign of activity and there was still a "For Lease" sign on the property. A call to the realtor revealed that the building had not been sold and is currently available for lease.

This is all very confusing because one of the conversations I had with Jacob prior to him going MIA was that he had already begun renovation on the property and was closed to finishing up the upstairs living quarters, but that the retail area still had a great deal of work left to do. Perhaps the location changed again?

Jacob had mentioned that Luke Manley was going to fly in for the store’s grand opening and offer a demo VTL’s latest amplifiers so I figured if the location changed he would know about it. I called up Luke as we have met before, and asked if he knew what the status was for his trip to Austin and he said that they have not heard from Jacob for several weeks – and apparently other vendors have also not heard back from Jacob over the same period of time.

I certainly hope Jacob and Ashley are OK and that his absence and apparent end to his home theater venture are not due to some dreadful accident. I’m sure I am not alone in my concerns.

Jacob, if you are still around and watching this, please let us know you are OK.

[Hank Frankenberg]

Yes Jacob, we hope you guys are alright. If not, and plans fell through or are delayed, please let us know.
Otherwise, Nils knows my fireman theory.

[Chris Quinn]

Hello all,

I was at the Austin listening group in October and someone told me Houston has a very active audio group. I can't find any info on the Houston group. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Thanks.

[Scott Oliver]

Hi Chris,

A couple of groups that I can point you towards.

Burke Strickland posts on this site about Houston area HT meets although thier planning goes on via some other avenue. You can get in touch with that group via HoustonHTGroup@hotmail.com

There is also or was a Houston Audio Club, I know Julian of Sedona Sky Sound went to them but I haven't seen a post talking of a recent meet to know if they are still active. But you could contact Julian at www.sedonaskysound.com or an Audio Asylum member named Timbre used to post updates on the site after meets and he has an email link off of his name via Audio Asylum. So you could send him an email and get in touch with them that way as well.

Quote:

The HAC held its latest meeting on the first Saturday in November. Most of the meeting was spent listening to interconnects. This was particularly interesting as in many instances several different interconnects from the same manufacturer at different price points were auditioned with the most expensive offering not necessarily sounding best in the system used. Interconnects from MIT, Transparent, Tg Audio, Tara, Audioquest and Garth Audio were auditioned. None of the interconnects retailed for more than $1000 with most selling for less than $500. Areas of primary differences included soundstage (both stability and ability to focus and create a semblance of dimensionality), tonal balance, amount of grain or other unpleasant high frequency artifacts, quality of bass (impact, tightness and control) and low level detail. Listening results favored the TG Audio cables over the others auditioned. Given that the two TG cables on hand differed only in the metallurgy of the wire (all other parameters exactly the same), they sounded very different particularly with respect to low level detail, high frequency extension and tonal balance. The comparisons were much aided by the presence of Dale Fontenot, the North American distributor for Cabasse speakers, who provided a pair of Cabasse Egena speakers for use at the meeting. The speakers which employ two 6" bass drivers were very revealing of associated components.

Then there is a Southwest High End Audio Club. They always post meet announcements on www.AudioKarma.org in the events forum.

Quote:

The monthly meeting of the Southwest High-End Audio Club will be held on November 13, 2004 at LifeStyle Technologies, 12811 Royal Drive, Suite 113, Stafford, Texas 77477, from 10:00 A.M. till noon.
The subject of this meeting will be to listen to different amplifiers that utilize the 6550/KT-88/KT-90 family of tubes.
At the present time we have the Sonic Frontiers Power 2, Cary SLAM-100 mono-blocks and the Conrad Johnson Premier 12 mono-blocks.

Lastly there is the Lonestar Bottleheads groups that rotates around to the general vicinity of the big 4 TX cities. You can keep up with them via http://wardsweb.org/LSB/

[Scott Oliver]

I have a mini-meet announcement!

There will be a new addition to the Oliver family next week probably, actually a pair of additions.

Meet my new little amps.

Wyetech Labs Onyx Monoblocks

I am going to bring them in and keep my Art Audio amp as well, so that I can compare them on my system to see which one fits best. Then after a month or so I will sell off my least favorite. My mini-meet then is that I would like to have some folks come over to hear the two in action, so that your thoughts and opinions can help me pick the eventual winner. Right now I am thinking of the second weekend in December as good time to do this. May not have the amps in time for the first weekend. Any interest?

[Frederick_Falk]

Saturdays will work for me just fine. Weeknights right now are pretty hecktic (sp?). Let me know the date and I would love to join you.

Those amps look really cool! I look forward to hearing these little jewels.

[Hank Frankenberg]

I'm in, probably.