Brand new meet thread - Austin (1 Viewer)

[Dave Elliott]

John & Humphrey,

Thanks for joining us guys. We had a very good turnout I think.

I definitely want to check out your Evo and see what you think of mine. Lets hook up soon. The Evo is an incredible car at any price. Very quick and so easily tuneable. It flat out defies the laws of physics. No other car with 4 doors can keep up. Period. I just need a set of coilovers ;-)

I wish I had some open road (i.e. no revenue procurement officers) to open up the Elise. There is so much more potential in that car that I could easily use but haven't, as I'm afraid with my stable of cars I can't afford tickets that might put me into high-risk. It corners like no production car ever. I probably won't mod it much as 0-60 in 4.4 seconds is fast enough. Its a hard decision on which car to drive for those runs.

Fun roads. Lets do it again sometime. If you haven't already, join Jefferson's drive mailing list. He organizes a big drive once a month. Email me and I'll forward you the details.

Take care guys.

-Dave

PS- Sorry I didn't have more time to demo the HT setups. I still need to program my harmony remotes and do some acoustic treatments. But its getting there. I think its a good example of what can be done in a small room.

 

[Humphrey]

My room is very close to the same size as yours with openings on 3 walls: two archways (no doors) and a double window. I can definitely understand the challenges that they can offer. heck as long as you are happy with it that's all that matters. i thought you demo'd it just fine.



PS: I picked up a projector mount on eBay a while back that is likely the best bargain for a quality wall/ceiling mount out there. Mounts by PDR's most recent auction is here. Sure beats the $250-300 I was looking at before. Gotta love a deal. Thought I'd let you folks know in case you are in the hunt. It's solid enough I think I could hang a small kid on it.

 

[Frederick_Falk]

Dave,

Sorry I missed the event. Unfortunately, I had to go out of town to attend a funeral (death in family on my wife's side) on Saturday and I spent all day Monday working for the Fire Department.

Hopefully, I will get the chance to make it over to your place in the near future. I have a couple of DVD's that I would like to watch (Ladder 49, being one of them) that would look really good on a big screen. Maybe we can have a movie night at your place in the near future. I can bring food and drinks as well as an assortment of DVD's!

 

[Hank Frankenberg]

Dave: sorry I missed also, but did my civic duty and played in the ASB at the Bastrop patriotic festival. I want to try out that Elise...or do I...or should I?
Is it pool outdoor movie time yet?

 

[Jay.H]

Colin,
I will be unable to attend a meet on July 23 :frowning:. I will be entertaining out-of-town guests that weekend.

But I am really interested in a PJ shootout. While I am not suggesting it, but if a different PJ shootout date is scheduled for whatever reasons, I would do my best to be there. Otherwise, everybody have fun!

 

[Jay.H]

Dave,
The drive on Saturday was great fun and a tremendous success. I appreciate the hospitality you and yours extended to all. I particularly enjoyed the recorded episodes of 'Top Gear'. Funny stuff!

I like the coziness of your small HT and agree that it is a good example of what can be done in a small room.

 

[Jay.H]

Ken,
I also picked up one of those mounts, and it is really solid.

The ebay listing posted ended the first week of May. Here is the link to the Net Mounts ebay store, the current seller of these universal mounts:
stores.ebay.com/Net-Mounts_Projector-Mounts_W0QQcolZ4QQdirZ1QQftidZ2QQtZkm
There are also listings for specific PJ brands from the same seller under a different store name, Bracketology Mounts, at
stores.ebay.com/BRACKETOLOGY-MOUNTS_projector-mounts_W0QQsspagenameZMEQ3aFQ3aSTQQstorecachemissZ bracketologymountsQQtZkm
(Sorry folks, you'll have to cut and paste as HTF will not allow me to include hyperlinks until I've made more posts).

I don't know if the seller changed names, sold the design, or is now selling through a distributor, but they claim to be the manufacturer. The price is right, though. Looking at the completed items, I think you could still get the universal mount for

 

[Dave Elliott]

Hank,

I'd be up for hosting a Dive In theater night. Probably sometime in early/mid August.

- Who all would be interested?

- What saturday is best?

- If I take down my projector in the HT to use outdoors, thats fine, but then I wouldn't be able to do any HT demos. Does anyone have a projector they could bring for outdoors?

I have speakers outside already. It'd be easy to move my SVS sub outside too, and run a video cable from the DVD player to the projo outside. A sheet of MDF painted white would work fine for a screen.

The pool isn't really big but would hold 8-10 people on rafts. The rest of the patio is huge.

Nils, can you dig up your movie suggestions from last year?

-Dave

 

[Hank Frankenberg]

Dave: I'm in, and probably any Saturday would work. If you need help with the DIY outdoor screen, say the word. I think Nils would help also.

 

[Nils Luehrmann]

If at all possible, let's try and keep this thread on topic.

That said, considering the last dozen or more posts have had nothing to do with the planned meet, are we to assume the meet is dead in the water with no wind in its sails?

 

[Hank Frankenberg]

Yes, Mother.

 

[Nils Luehrmann]

OK Son... you are asking for a whoppin!

It was you after all, that was moaning about not knowing about the June 18th / 25th date for the meet:As it turns out, doing a search of your posts, you actually posted on HTF 28 times between May 6th and June 10th. During that time, Colin posted the proposed dates on several occasions:

May 6th
May 11th
May 20th
May 25th
June 2nd

(and twice more after that)

June 17th
June 28th

Perhaps this is reasonable evidence on why it pays to keep this thread, and the other Austin threads, on topic so for those that may not follow a thread regularly wont have much difficulty finding the pertinent information.

BTW: It may help if you activate HTF's email alert option for this thread so that you do not have to check the forum to see if there are any new developments in the meet thread. Of course, in this case you were participating in the thread when the date was mentioned and thus the issue may come down to trying harder to keep the threads on topic - or at least don't complain that you didn't see the date. )

 

[Nils Luehrmann]

On that note...

I have taken it upon myself to 'clean house' and have copied posts of the following topics to the appropriate threads:


Austin Movie Nights!

• Dave's Road Rally/HT Party (July 2nd)
• Rene's Birthday Party Invite (Aug 13th)
• Dave's Dive-in Movie Night (August)

Austin DIY HT Projects

• DIY Outdoor Theater Designs

Hey Austin Texas Buddies? Can anyone help me out?

• James' Inquiry into DNP SuperNova Black Screen
• Ken & Jay's Experience with Projector Mounts
• Ian's Inquiry about HDMI Cables
• Scott's Recommendation of Arcam's new DiVA AVP700

 

[Nils Luehrmann]

Now where are we at regarding a possible meet?

August is already looking rather crowded:

August 6th: My 'Office Space' themed 40th Birthday Bash
August 13th: Rene's Birthday Party
August ?: Dave's Dive-in Movie Night

If there is enough interest, perhaps we could shoot for a July 30th meet? Otherwise, set a date in late August and stick to it so everyone can plan their schedules in advance.

 

[Colin Dunn]

So we're changing the meet date again, after everyone b!tched me out for changing/cancelling a meet (that no one showed much interest in)?

I guess I'll let someone else plan this one.

 

[Nils Luehrmann]

Geez...

Colin, I'm not sure how you came to the conclusion "everyone" bitched you out as there is no evidence of that in this thread, and I did not realize you had confirmed the proposed July 23rd date. I was only trying to get this meet back on track.

On the other hand, I completely sympathize with your obvious disappointment in the lack of focus and interest in this meet.

At this point, I am not terribly enthusiastic about a meet so I am going to step aside as well – besides I have no desire to continue to play Hall Monitor for this thread.

I did have a conversation with a few folks with dedicated theaters and they have expressed interest in another Austin HT Tour in the Fall. Ken brought up the idea of making those HT Tours a bi-annual event (Spring/Fall), which I also think is a great idea. The previous tours attracted new members, which is always a good thing! (Jacob doesn't count)

Once you all figure out the future of this meet, I’ll post a new thread regarding the next Austin HT Tour such that it wont take away any of the much needed attention that this thread needs right now to get on track.

 

[James Phung]

So it seems the July 23 date is a no go.

To tell you the truth, I was ready for the June 25th meet a few weeks ago. It seemed that there were people willing to go and there was no sign of any cancelation of that meet (looking at the posts in this thread) until it was the week of it, so until then, I thought it was still a go.

I subscribe to most of the Austin threads, I was suprised to find 30 new emails this morning from them.

 

[Jay.H]

I'm with James. I was also good to go with the June 25th meet and was surprised to see it cancelled.

These members indicated they were up for a PJ shootout:
Colin Dunn
Dave Elliot
James Phung
Jonathan DA
Humphrey
RexS
Nils Luehrmann
Hank Frankenberg
Jay.H
Federick_Falk
John Prator (who offered his HT for a meet also)
KevinHunt (although he spoke of a pre/pro shootout)

That's 12 in all, including 2 newbies. I just don't see the lack of interest.

Was I mistaken in my understanding that Colin was organizing the PJ shootout event? Was there something I or anyone else could have done to grease the skids? It appears that he cancelled because he thought there was a lack of interest and lack of readiness. I didn't perceive a lack of interest and thought the event was on. I don't think anyone should come down on Colin as, from his point of view, there were issues as the shootout date approached.

Judging from past posts, there are several core members with a sense that there is less interest in these meets. Both Nils and Hank stated that it is important to attract new members to the meets, and as a newbie, I agree. RexS, another newbie, chimed in and started that secret handshake thing. That's at least 2 newbies for this one meet which evaporated. Too much push and pull kinda takes the air right out of the sails. How many times can that happen before newbies monitoring just don't bother? ...not to mention those that have been around awhile. And when the core members drop, the experience level drops and the prospect of a successful meet is even less likely. Whoever hosts needs to attend to the meet details and let the attendees fall in place as they may. While I don't think it's reasonable to expect newbies to initiate a meet, if I had a room big enough, I would host if I thought there was a chance I could pull it off. I don't have the experience with the equipment but, more importantly, I don't have the space needed to host a meet.

Is the challenge with setting up the framework of these events that no individual person takes on the task of organizing the details? Or is it that once the event is set and enough people indicate their intent to show, people just quit posting and, like me, quietly plan to attend? ...leading to an impression by the prospective host that the interest level fell off. I only posted once offering up my PJ and stating I planned to attend. Should I have reiterated my intent by posting a 'Hey, I'm looking forward to the meet next week! I'll bring the dip if I can pry him outta his recliner." message?

It might help if the expectations for any given meet were set early on. Maybe the PJ shootout scenario could go something like this:

Player 1: Anybody up for a PJ shootout? I have an HT_PJ1 and I'll host it at my place.
Player 2: I'm in. I offer up my HT_PJ2.
Player 3: I'm down with that. I have an old HT_PJ3 if you'd like to compare it to the newer PJs that have come out.
Player 1: OK! Looks like we can get this set. How about DATE_1 or DATE_2?
Player 2: DATE_2 is good for me.
Player 3: Either is fine.
Player 1: All right! The PJ shootout is now scheduled for 8:00 PM on DATE_2 at my place. Put it in your calendars. I'll get with you if I need any additional help or equipment. Anyone else interested? Let me know.
Player 4: I'm game. I will bring my HT_PJ4.
Player 5: I can't make it that day.
Player 1: Sorry to hear that. We'll miss you at the meet.
Player 6: I'd like to attend, but I'm new and don't yet have my PJ yet.
etc., etc., etc.

Now the event is set and the only variables will be the added players who join in or unexpected outside indfluences that affect only the host. I think that 3 pieces of the designated shootout equipment are enough to get the ball rolling and set the meet. From there you may or may not gain momentum, but that's just the dynamics of any gathering.

I'm new to this so if I'm out of line here, let me know. I'll try not to take it personally. It is not my intent to ruffle any feathers here. I'm just trying to see if there really is interest or if, as Bones put it, "He's dead, Jim.".

I'm sure I don't fully understand all the nuances of putting on these events as some of the more experienced Austin HT members do, but I am very interested in participating in demonstrations and comparisons of equipment and seeing first hand the potential of HT as realized in the varying HTs in the area. I also look forward to meeting up with Austin HT members, talking shop, getting to know you, and maybe, just maybe, taking in a movie here and there.

 

[Hank Frankenberg]

Jay, good post. Maybe we can still do a meet soon, but I'm not pushing any one date. Don't let Nils' lecturing me bother you - he likes to correct. I did miss the finalizing of that last meet date, despite what Nils wrote. He missed my main point that a phone call to people would be a good thing in order to get to people who may either not be checing the forum as much as normal, or may have missed the finalizing of a date on line.
Anyway, a meet can be involved, as some of ours used to when we built acoustic treatment panels in my garage or Doc and Igor gave room measurement demos. It seems like the core group doesn't have as much spare time as 2-3 years ago. So, it's good that there's new blood joining to kick up the enthusiasm a notch.

 

[Jay.H]

I suspect the ever so faint sound of crickets in this thread recently speaks volumes.

And though I would like to keep the door open for a shootout, I won't promote or otherwise advance it here unless others step forward.

After all, I'm only 1/2 crazy.