The next Austin meet? (1 Viewer)

[Scott Oliver]

John, Hank is very close to the 2222 and 620 intersection, so probably close to a 30 minute ride from your place. I would certainly encourage you to swing by, and I would say hang out and eat some of the grub too. Hank is an excellent grill cook.

Hank, I picked up a Hybrid Mulitchannel SACD, that I am definately bringing Saturday considering the food and drinks of choice - Tito Puente "Goza Mi Timbales." It is quite nice.

 

[Robert_Z]

Long time no see, y'all.

I'd like to come but will be outta town. Hope to make the next meet.

 

[Scott Oliver]

There is nothing quite like rocking out to vinyl in the early morning hours of Friday (well not quite to Friday yet but give me a few more albums) and having few delicious cocktails with the music.

Album's played thus far:
Led Zeppelin, In Through the Out Door
Interpol, Turn On the Bright Lights
White Stripes, White Stripes
Audioslave, Audioslave
will probably get the Led out next again.

Can you tell I am ready for some poker, lively conversation, and music this weekend?

I went to Piranha Records today for the first time, and it is a pretty cool store. The owner seemed to be a very nice man in the conversation I had with him. Of course, I had to buy some music and I think I did quite well even, if you think their prices are too high. Picked up a new copy of the Jayhawks "Rainy Day Music," very good album, and then two Joni Mitchell albums. "The Hissing of Summer Lawns" in mint or near mint condition and it is an original German pressing for $13 which I would think is an extremely good deal. Then an original Japanese pressing of "Don Juan's Reckless Daughter" in mint condition for $15 which is a 2 LP set, which makes it an outrageous deal.

 

[Hank Frankenberg]

Well, I did live music last night. It was the Wurst Band's annual rite of Spring opening at Scholz Garten:

Hark! 'Tis definitely Spring, and as Spring ushers in the glorius beauty of the Texas Hill Country's veritable artist's pallett of georgously colored wildflowers, gentle showers and birdsongs, nature demands a COUNTERBALANCE. So, without further ado, I am compelled to announce that once again, as the Spring flowers appear on the landscape, so does The Wurst Band appear at Scholz Garten, 17th & San Jacinto: http://austin.citysearch.com/profile?id=10202506

The beer garden crowd was enthusiastic as we left no music type unasualted, from German polkas to Wagner to marches to pop. Our traditional quite unbalanced instrumentation (10 trumpets against 4 clarinets - I had to push my dB's!) lent that indescribable Wurst sound to the atmosphere.

Once again I ask: What's up with the meet??? A small HT tour, a lecture in acoustics? A debate on the pros and cons of sealed versus ported? An argument over Dolby versus DTS? A fist fight over tubes versus solid state?
C'mon, somebody SAY something? Is this group a bunch of sheep with no direction of their own? Hmmm...no direction home...like a rolling stone...
It's early, BUT it's FRIDAY!!

BTW, Doc, how'd you and the Mrs. like the ASB concert?

 

[Gomez]

If you're into the Atkins or South Beach Diet (I like SB better) and you want to watch your carbs when it comes to beer, then go w/ any light beer, they are all low in carbs, some more than others. I like Shiner Light the best b/c it doesn't taste like a light beer and it has 9 net carbs I believe. Rolling Rock Lite is the lowest I think w/ 2nc; but IMO it doesn't taste as good as Shiner Light.

As for Pirahna, the prices are high for me b/c I'm not collecting albums, I'm just buying older vintage stuff for sampling purposes thus I tend to go w/ the bargain bin albums and being that he doesn't have a bargain bin jazz section yet but that's b/c he's only been open for about 6 months. The guy is super cool and he can order just about anything; I got a $200+ record for only $20!!!! Yeah!!!!!

Hopefully I can go digging for vinly later today.

Wish I could join you all tomorrow but it looks like I won't be able to make it. good thing i got my poker fix on last night.

 

[Scott Oliver]

Hank I don't think there is anything planned for tomorrow except the stuff at your place, although the fist fight over amplification sounds interesting.

Would my tube preamp be able to be inserted in your system easily? Maybe we could compare it to the Outlaw 950 for some time. It should be able to demonstrate the musical benefits gained from getting away from HTIB's, receivers or processors only, hopefully. It definately did in mine, at least. I could pop the hood on it as well, and show folks the great parts layout inside.

That's one little thing we could do. Anyone else got something they could bring over to show, listen to, or explain?

I mean surely we can get this get-together resembling something along the lines of an HT or audio meet.

 

[Scott Oliver]

Oh I am also placing my vote right now that we need to have an official HTF gathering in association with one of these Wurst Band performances at Scholz's.

Is it every Thursday Hank or just the 1st Thursday? If it's just the first I could make June 3rd, but every other 1st thursday I always have a night meeting.

Personally I would like to see us expand into live music a bit.

 

[Hank Frankenberg]

Tubes, bring your preamp and we'll at least lust over its looks. You can compare it to the point-to-point wiring of my H.H. Scott integrated tube amp. I just received a Hammond power transformer for it - a heavy piece of iron it is!

I've dropped enough hints for Doc and Igor to lead a discussion, so I give up. They must be too busy building and selling speakers and room measurments to have much spare time. Maybe they're planning a surprise.

BTW, the Wurst Band plays every Thursday at Scholz Garten (8:00 - 10:00) in May, June and September. An Austin HT eat/drink get-together there would be nice.

 

[Scott Oliver]

Those of you who own HDTV's may want to check the infomercial on TechTV right now.

It is about a new cable company, Voom, that offers more HDTV channels than anyone else.

Their basic package costs 39.95 and has 20 HD only channels plus an over the air HDTV anteena to pick up the local stuff.

The infomercial is about an offer for I guess today that if you sign up today you get the basic package price but marquis level channels which adds the stuff like Bravo HD, Discovery HD, and the NFL Network. So the marquis brings it up to over 30 HD channels plus the local over the air.

Today's deal is also offering $0 upfront charges and free installation, plus everything has a no risk trial period.

Defnately looks like a very tempting offer. They say they have over 3000 hours of HD programming a week.

Many of their channels are commercial free as well. They are showing channels like Rave HD 24 hour live musical performances in HD. Animation HD, Gallery HD, etc.

The package comes with an 18" satellite, HDTV tuner with three component jacks and a DVI jack, HDTV antenna, and a decent looking back lighted learning remote.

www.voom.com/free

 

[Steve Stogel]

Yeah, they look pretty good, Tubes, but there's definitely a rub with them as well. First, though, they did get ESPN and ESPNHD recently, so that's good. They've just about got all the major channels (although they could lose Showtime and, I believe, Starz at any moment...they're getting them from another company right now).

The biggest drawback with Voom right now, IMO, is if you want more than one receiver. All of their receivers, under this plan, are leased for $9.50/month. So their $40 base package is actually $50 when you do the $0 upfront deal. Here's where it gets expensive. For every receiver you add, it's an additional $9.50 plus $5 per outlet (like Dish and DirecTV), so basically $15 per receiver. We use three receivers with Dish, so we'd be looking at $80 for the basic or $120 for the whole 9 yards.

It's not a horrible deal by any means, but it isn't quite as good as it looks in the beginning. For me, though, the dealbreaker is that they don't have RGB out (either through a 15-pin VGA output or DVI-I), so I can't send it to my CRT PJ. So I'll likely jump ship to DirecTV when I go HD.

Still looks like a nice little package, though, especially all the stuff they offer.

Steve

 

[Dave Elliott]

Sounds like there isn't really a "formal" HT meet today. I was going to bring out the BenQ as a bunch of folks asked to see it, but it would really require a room like Colin's or something to properly demo/calibrate it (i.e. full light control). Plus it would probably take up a lot of time if we want to do a comparison or something. I will definitely bring it out if we can get a meet scheduled.

Anyways, I'm not much for poker so I guess I'll wait until the next one.

Have fun guys!

-Dave

 

[Scott Oliver]

Hey Steve, how about bringing a pair of your Norh speakers to Hank's today?

I've never heard any Norh's and with the lack of program planned this seems like a good opportunity to put them through their paces. Please!

 

[Steve Stogel]

I'm leaving right now, and the nOrhs are coming with me.

Steve

 

[Hank Frankenberg]

Thanks for coming over guys. Also, it was good to see Linda, Eric and the brand new little lady Anika! Colin showed up, after being chained to his desk at work for a few months. It was obvious where he's been spending his spare time: the gym! I propose a nickname for Colin: Slim.
Good food, good friends, lots of HT and audio talk, then a lively game of poker with a few exciting hands. Tubes, thanks for bringing over that beautiful Granite Audio tube preamp - very nice! Steve, thanks for bringing those nOhr speakers over - wild shape and very solid "cabinets".

Okay, a quick look around unveils this inventory:
1. Another pair of sunglasses - Doc, if these are yours, as well as the pair you left here a couple of weeks ago, I'd suggest one of those sports glasses straps
2. A Tito Puente dual-layer SACD - Tubes, I put it in a spare CD case and am saving it for you.
3. Drink recipe book - has to belong to the custom drink-mixer, Colton.

When/where is the next meet?? Does everyone want to do the HT tour thing? If so, let's schedule around Chad's availability, plus the others that weren't available/completed in time for this weekend. And, I'm always up for grilling, HT talk and poker here at HANK'S CAFE AMERICAIN.

 

[Steve Stogel]

I think we'd be remiss if we didn't discuss the most important thing to come out of the meet/P-game. The birth of a new "sport"....Texas Pick'em!! It's a beautiful game full of cunning stunts and bold gambits. Nils "TMQB" Luehrmann learned the hard way it's hard to keep a "Cosell" down I hope to see y'all at the next gathering.

Steve

 

[John Prator]

Well, I missed it. :frowning: Glad you guys had fun, would have loved to hear those Nohr speakers! I will catch up with you guys sooner or later.

Wife and I put some serious hours into the HT this weekend, we are really trying to get this thing together as the rest of our home also needs attention! We put up most of the trim, looks pretty good for people with zero experience! I was a little worried about the colors(bright red trim, flat black ceiling and front wall, remaining wall's are gray) but it turned out it might look pretty cool. It's a "bold" statement though. I think we are going with a black carpet or a very dark charcoal gray carpet. Hopefully that will help tie the room together. Now we have to figure out the lighting......uggggghhhh. Any electricians here feeling bored????
John

 

[Nils Luehrmann]

You know a game is good when on the first night playing it we already had a half dozen classic moments - like the "TMQB" Vs. "TMKB" and the 3-way bluff ending with Tubes trading for the King. I have a feeling Texas Pick'em could really catch on. In fact I went ahead and applied for several trademarks related to my variation of "Screw Your Neighbor" with the USPTO today. I am also publishing a rule book and applying for a copyright. I spoke with a couple game publishers this afternoon and both appeared interested.


Hank,

Thanks again for your generous hospitality. Linda and I had a great time. Please pass on our gratitude to Jessica for entertaining Erik. When I get the chance I'll send you a copy of the pic with Erik wearing your Indy hat - what a pose.

 

[Hank Frankenberg]

As Charlie Brown would have said: "Oh Good Grief! Must everything revolve around making the almighty dollar?"

You're welcome, Nils. A good time was had by all.

 

[John Prator]

This is kind of off topic but thought you guys might enjoy it. This is a very cool read about a girl that rides her bike(Kawasaki ZX-11) into Chernobyl, she has pics. VERY interesting. Enjoy!
John

http://www.kiddofspeed.com/default.htm

 

[Scott Oliver]

Thanks for hosting Hank, had a great time and the food was excellent. My oversalted Guac matched well too.

I mentioned earlier a desire to go listen to a performance of the Wurst Band. Is their anyone else with an interest?

I don't know when the Wurst Band takes the stage but I am going to assume it is about 7 or 8pm. So with that an approximate start time to make it over to Schulz's. Let me throw out this idea.

Conrad and I both talked about the tasty caiprihinha this weekend. How about before going over to Schulz's we gather as a group for happy hour at Sampaio.

Sampaio is a Braizillian restaurant with a little Tex Mex thrown in located on San Jacinto. At hapy hour they have good drink prices I know they have $2 margarita's and beers for sure. They also make good caiprihinha's although they aren't on sale for happy hour. The food is excellent and the atmosphere is very nice there as well.

So I was thinking we could get a table there, everyone converges for some food and drink at Sampaio, and then when it is time for the Wurst Band to strike up the chorus we head over to Schulz's.

The dates that work for me are May 27th, June 3rd, and June 10th. Let me know what you think and if you would attend?