Austin TX. Meet? (1 Viewer)

[Hank Frankenberg]

Frederick: THANKS to you and your understanding wife for graciously hosting us Saturday! I enjoyed the discussions at lunch and the store visits where we drooled over some new goodies. You have a great set-up at home and I encourage you to take photos of your new HT room remodel project so you can post them. And, thanks for showing me your awesome Nitrox SCUBA rig. That Sherwood regulator is really a nicely designed, compact setup. Oh no, tell me I'm not getting SCUBA upgrade-itis!

 

[Michael Hudson]

Just wanted to say thanks for hosting as well. I had to take the detour as well, 1431 is a nasty road. See you guys next time.
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Michael
Sega.Net bigdaddymh
Wow look at all those DVD's
And those are cool CD's
Do not click me.

 

[Mark Austin]

Any reports on the SVS, or anything else you guys tested? Sounds like y'all had a great time.

 

[Erik Pontius]

Sorry I missed this one. I wasn't feeling too well that day (taking meds for an abcessed tooth...ouch) so I settled for working on a flexi project I've been doing for a friend.
Sounds like everyone had a fun time. We're going to have to do these things more frequently.
Can someone post a synopsis of events that happened? Give those of us that missed it a little report?
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"It's cheaper than a movie and there's free coffee."

 

[Frederick_Falk]

Well, since I hosted this thing, I will try to give you a report based on my memory (anyone that was there, please feel to jump in with there own feedback).
At noon, we all met at Waterloos and ended up with 12 people for lunch. We introduced ourselves and talk shop for better part of an hour and a half (Thanks again for buying me my lunch). Then most of us went to A&B TV where we perused the wares. I will say that I was extremely disappointed by how two of their sales reps treated us. Jereomy had several paying customers and was not able to spend a lot of time with us but was very kind and helpful when he was able to spend a few minutes with us. I will not mention the names of the other two individuals, but I will never buy anything from either of them. Jereomy will get any and all of my business if I purchase anything from A&B in the future.
We then loaded up again and went to I believe Audio Design (I may have the name wrong as I have never been there before) and we looked at their Martin Logans and other high end equipment. This shop is mostly a 2 channel shop but they had some awesome equipment. By now we were down to 8 people.
Then we decided to split and meet back up at the Exxon station in Lago Vista at 4:30 PM. I took Frank over to his place so we could get his SVS subwoofer and the two of us then drove out to Lago to meet up with the others. By now we were 7 people.
After arriving at my house, I gave everyone the nickel tour and was able to show off my house and some of the projects that we have recently completed (like putting tile down for the counter tops in the kitchen which were completed the day before) and discussed some of my plans for the future (whole house audio and converting a back bedroom to a dedicated theater room). We then enjoyed some refreshments that my wife had so graciously provided.
We then took a group photo as one of the participants had to leave. We then settled in and did a comparison of the SVS sub and the Polk sub. I was able to hear a very small difference but others said that the SVS sounded tighter. The SVS and Polk both did well on the Avia test signals. I will certainly consider getting an SVS sub for my dedicated home theater room when the time comes. I don't think the wife will let me put one of these monsters in the main L/R.
We then watched a demo disk that was provided as the door prize and I was astonished with the "Saving Private Ryan" scenes on my set. It was so detailed and crisp and clear. And the SVS sub made you think you were on the front lines with these guys fighting for your lives. Everyone was equally impressed with both video and sound.
My daughter then held a drawing for the demo disk (Thanks again to Hank for providing the door prize) and Jeff won the door prize. Jeff also wowed us with his Pronto remote.
It turns out that one of the participant's wife was a school teacher for 6th grade in the AISD and my wife is a 6th grade teacher for Lago Vista. So they hit it off right away and had a great time together. I also found a fellow diver in Hank and we talked about diving at lunch and I was able to show him all of my latest gear that I had purchased this past summer. I think he was more impressed with my dive gear than my A/V gear. Ha.
Next we dropped in a couple of different movies and sat back and just enjoyed the Sony 36XBR400. Finally, it was getting late and the party finally broke up around 9:30 PM. I took Frank back home with his sub and we had a little detour because of a traffic fatality on 1431. I was really glad to hear that it didn't involve any of my guests.
I had fun and would be happy to host another one in the future (preferably after the dedicated home theater has been installed) and I look forward to coming over to other people's houses and seeing what they have.
I will be posting our group picture and pictures of my setup just as soon as I figure out where on the web that I can put them as I do not have a personal web page. Any help that others might be able to give me in this regard would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Jeff Blair]

Hi all. First off I think it was a good time all around. Second, Frank, thanks for having us over(and your wife for putting up with us crazy's ) Hank, thanks for the door prize, woohoo

I just wanted to mention that I checked my Eagles:HFO and it looks like it is the same one Frank has. When I bring it up, it asks me if I want dts, or PCM. humm, you could always "lend" me your DVD player.

Hey, a guy can dream. If any of y'all decide to get the Pronto, just drop me a line, and I will try to help you set it up. Looking forward to the next one.
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Jeff Blair
It's not just a hobby, it's an obsession!
My DVD's

 

[Frederick_Falk]

Hi Jeff,
Actually it was me and not Frank that hosted the party. I know it is easy to get names mixed up.
The Eagles DVD that I had at the party was borrowed from a friend at work. After doing much research I have discovered that there are two versions of this DVD. The DVD that has all of the songs in DTS has a special DTS border across the top of the box. The DVD that I have does not have this. The only song on this DVD that is in DTS is a bonus track with no video and it requires that the DVD player to have a built-in DTS decoder before it will play. Since the Sony 9000ES only passes the signal, my player will not play this song. I have many other DVD's that have DTS tracks and I was able to play all of them with no difficulty on my player. I am planning on purchasing my own copy of the Eagle's Hell Freezes Over DVD and I will make sure I get the DTS version.

 

[Michael Hudson]

You are correct about the two Eagles discs. I drove all the way to Lakeline Mall to get the DTS version on Sunday. The Suncoast in Lakeline was the only store in Austin that had it. I picked up the non DTS version on the way home on Saturday at Target, luckily before I opened it I checked the web and found out about the two versions. The DTS version sounds amazing.
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Michael
Sega.Net bigdaddymh
Wow look at all those DVD's
And those are cool CD's
Do not click me.

 

[Henry Gale]

I wasn't able to join in this time, but I hope to be there at a future gathering.
It was fun reading about the day y'all had and just seeing Nameless Road mentioned gave me a smile. Jonestown was home for a year back in '75 so I've had some adventures out there. You should have seen 1431 when it was 2 lanes.

 

[Colin Dunn]

Jim -
Not being too familiar with Texas outside of Dallas and Austin, where exactly is Acona? I'd imagine from your post that the closest major city to Acona is Austin - but that Acona is still at least an hour away. Am I correct???
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- - -- - -
Colin Dunn

 

[Henry Gale]

Colin,

Acona has not existed for the last hundred years, but it was certainly a going concern, with a post office, when my house was built. We're near the Guadalupe, a little closer to the Alamo than we are to the French Legation.

Isn't history fun?

 

[Wayne Murphy]

Greg Risley:
Could you email me?
I happened to be clicking through the theatre pictures and I noticed your Zenith Pro 880. I have one in a box and would like to talk.
PS Please forgive this off topic post. I didn't know how else to contact Greg.
Wayne Murphy
[email protected]

 

[Graham Perks]

Darn, sorry I missed the meet. A very busy thread!
Glad you all had a good time.
Dave, sad to hear about your many flights. I'm from the UK too (Southampton) and I wish we could fly faster than we could 30 years ago! Sheesh. What IS that Boeing R&D lab for, anyway?
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