Time for another Austin meet! (1 Viewer)

[Colin Dunn]

I just accepted a new job in Austin, so it looks like I'll be staying here a while longer. Now that my employment situation is taken care of...
Time for another HTF meet in Austin!!!
So let's start planning:
- Where to have lunch?
- Any stores to visit?
- Who would like to host?
For lunch suggestions, I'm wide open.
There are still A/V stores in town we haven't visited as a group: Whetstone Audio (which really does exist), and I vaguely remember someone mentioning a place on S. Lamar.
Since I hosted the last two Austin meets, it's someone else's turn to host. Greg Risley, Frederick Falk, and Nils Luehrmann have hosted other Austin HTF meets in the past. Who would like to show off their setup this time?

 

[Greg Risley]

Hey Colin, good to hear about your new job. I am up for another meet. I'll do a little brain storming to see if I can come up with any cool stuff to do.

Greg

 

[Colin Dunn]

I just remembered: We haven't yet made the arrangements to visit Brian Kurtz of Sound Mind Audio. He had previously expressed interest in doing a presentation for a meet, but needed plenty of advance notice. We should plan this for a meet about 8-12 weeks out. I'm hoping we do a meet within the next month or so, and and then maybe get Brian to present for the next one...

 

[Chad Anson]

Congrats on the new job, Colin! We recently moved into a new house that has an unfinished 25'x16' room that I'm going to turn into a dedicated theater. Alas, that is several months (probably closer to a year) away.

One thought I had was to try set up a demo of some of the popular mail-order-only HT components (subs, speakers, etc.) - SVS, Adire, Norh, Home Theater Direct, and the like. I have one of the powered SVS subs that I wouldn't mind hauling around. Logistics may prove problematic, but we're all creative folks... we can figure something out.

 

[Jeff Blair]

I have seen signs of a new place. I think it is called the Home Theater Store. I don't know much about it, but it might be a place to look into.

Congrats on finding a new job. I know how the layoffs at Broadwing were. My Dad worked there as well.

 

[Colin Dunn]

Jeff -

Where is the Home Theater Store you're seeing? At one of the previous HTF meets, we went to one on Burnet Rd., not too far from Dyer Electronics. Is the store you're seeing get built in another part of town?

My opinon: Home Theater Store had a lot of nice high-dollar setups in their showroom, which were fun to look at. I'd never buy there, because they have VERY high prices in order to maintain that spiffy showroom. The salespeople were also too aggressive for my taste.

 

[Steve Stogel]

Hey, Colin.
Glad to hear the job situation has improved. I agree with the Home Theater Store. They're very aggressive in their sales (think they work on commission, maybe). It's a good place to check out monintors, but I personally have more fun at Frye's.
As far as a meet, I've yet to ever make it to one, and I'd really like to. As far as where to meet, I just fired off a PM to KevinHunt warning him that I was going to suggest that he host . He just got a pair of 46CS+ subs, and I know I'd love to hear them. I don't know if he's ever attended a meet or even wants to, but what the hay.
I've got a lot of family staying with me right now, so I'm out (plus my HT is very modest :frowning. I did pick up a 31CS sub, so things may be looking up . Anyway, just thought I'd let you know you've got someone else interested in attending and to try to lure Kevin into letting us invade his habitat.
Steve

 

[Colin Dunn]

Steve Stogel:

I just added you to the E-mail distribution list I use for Austin HTF meet announcements.

Kevin Hunt was on the distribution lists, though I don't remember seeing him at one of the previous meets. I, too, would like to hear just how much bass a pair of SVS 16-46CS subwoofers can put out...

 

[Frederick_Falk]

Just wanted to add my voice to this thread (I have already sent email to Colin) and say that I am also up for a meet. I have no prefrences this time around as I have already been to most of the A/V stores here in Austin (many times for most of them).

I am more interested in what others have done with their systems at the moment and would like to see your systems. I know most of us don't have super elaborate systems. I encourage any of you that have thought about hosting in the past and didn't because you think your system doesn't measure up to others to reconsider. I would love to see what others have done on a modest budget as I like most others do not have the funds (or WAF approval) to build my dream system (read: daughter is going to college in 2004) at the moment.

I don't mind the store visits, but I have more fun at the host's home. I really enjoy meeting others and talking about HT and how we have overcome obstacles.

I think if we plan a meet far enough out in advance, we might get a bigger turnout. At least I hope we do. I am looking forward to getting together and seeing what each of you have been up to in the past several months since our last outing. Until then, take care...

 

[Hank Frankenberg]

Colin, congratulations on your new job! Tell us about it at the hopefully upcoming Austin meet. Count me in, and yes, let's try to do the Sound Mind experience.

For those who have not hosted, as Frederick said, don't worry if you don't have "high-dollar" equipment. We are all learning and no one is a know-it-all. We enjoy the areas of specialization, like Mark's foray into the world of speaker/crossover design, or the opinions of those who have seen lots of displays (RPTV's, FPTV,s monitors, etc).

I walked into The Home Theater Store and was outta there in three minutes. Obviously it's target market is upper income people who need to be "advised" on what to buy. High-dollar store installations need large margins to stay in business.

Question for discussion: Given that we should place a time limit on the host home portion of a meet, for spousal relations' sake, should we have "topic-related" meets?

Maybe I'm a minority opinion here, but I don't think we have time to do in-depth exploration into audio, video, music and movies and the various sub-topics, in someone's home in a reasonable length of time. Whaddya think?

 

[Jonathan DA]

Hi All,
Count me in for the next meet (I sent Colin an email to be added to the distro). I may have met some of you over at Hank's at one of the prior meets, I'm Mark's speaker builder friend.
I like Hank's idea of topic focused meetings. Being primarily interested in the sound side of the equation, one of my big interests right now is acoustical treatments. And since I only have a 20" tv (no, that's not a typo) projectors and RPTV's are objects of interest at the moment too.
If anyone's interested, I have a newly built sub with a 12" Lambda Acoustics PL series driver and 15" PR. It will eventually be part of a BG RD75 setup. I can bring it over to the host place if anyone wants to hear it.
Jonathan

 

[Colin Dunn]

Jonathan -

If you check here before you get your E-mail, I've added you to the mailing list. Most of the updates will take place in this thread, but I'll probably blast out an E-mail once more of the details are worked out.

All -

Now that all the 'regulars' have shown up, let's figure out a time, and a lunch spot. I'm open to the topic-oriented meets, though I'll probably show up at all of them!

Any proposals for the first topic?

Here's a few ideas that come to my mind.

Jeff Blair could host a meet about the Pronto remote-control, including programming/customization.

JonathanDA or Hank Frankenberg (though Hank already has hosted once) could host a meet about DIY speaker-building (subwoofers, mains, or surrounds).

Chad Anson could host a meet about theater room design/finishing (preferably when the room is in-progress or nearly complete).

Other ideas???

 

[Jonathan DA]

I'd be happy to host a topic oriented event at my house about speakers, both DIY and commercial. I can demonstrate LspCAD Pro, JustMLS, etc. as well show off a couple of speakers.
My listening room is rather small though. I use an 11x17x8 loft as my primary listening area. I also have a 10x13x8 room that has surprisingly good sound; good for nearfield setups. Downstairs is primarily occupied by the pool table, but I'm sure we could set something up down their as well, just might look a little funny. I live alone so there are no constraints on time, noise, etc.
If we have one at my place, we would need to wait till at least the first week of March. I'm afraid my schedule doesn't permit much free time between now and then to devote to preparing a demo.
J

 

[Mark Hayenga]

Topic meets would be sweet. I could definitely use a schooling on the video side of things, as I'm something of a complete moron when it comes to that stuff. Specifically, something around the lines of a high-end video monitor meet (RPTV, FPTV, HDTV, etc) would be of tremendous benefit to me. I really enjoyed getting to see the projectors at Colin's last meet.

On the audio side, I'm a total badass (senior in EE with dual specialization in computer engineering and DSP) along with a couple years of DIY audio experience. Jonathan and I both have super computer-based audio measurement and speaker development suites (ever seen the loudspeaker measurement graphs in Stereophile? We can do that stuff), but I'm going to need another few weeks before mine's up and running again. Heck J, we could even run these guys through the complete measurement-crossover development process in an hour or so. You got the Gina fired up yet?

BTW, I got a pair of DIY bookshelf speakers I need to get some feedback on, so if it's cool I'd like to bring them to the next meet.

 

[Chad Anson]

I like the idea of topic meets, also! The rest of February is pretty packed for me, and I'm really interested in Jonathan's speaker showcase idea. My vote is to plan something for early March.

 

[Colin Dunn]

Looks like we have the most stuff for a DIY speaker meet to start things off. Early March is less than three weeks away, so let's nail down a time. I suggest Saturday, March 2, or Saturday, March 9.

Jonathan - if you host, which of those days would you prefer?

 

[Scott_R]

Hi all!

Could you guys make room for one more HT nut? I live in Round Rock where I just bought a new house last year and put together a modest but fairly nice system. I'd love to get together with other enthusiasts to learn and talk about each others systems, my wife gets bored listening to me talk about mine! It sounds like ya'll have a pretty good time and have some pretty good connections to some local shops.

 

[Frederick_Falk]

I already have something planned for March 2nd but the 9th is open for me. Just be aware that spring break is the 11th through the 15th.

I love the idea of topic-related meetings and I would certainly put my name in the hat for another meet at my place later this year (I like others have several projects going on at my place right now that need to be finished before the meet).

Hank, for give me for my ignorance but is Sound Mind experience a store? If so, where is it? If not, then the jokes on me.

I am all for going someplace different but I would really like a better turnout for the host's home. The last couple of meets we have had, the attendance dropped throughout the day until there was very few left to attend at the host's home. I would rather just do half-a-day and do a topic related meet at just the host's home. We could meet after lunch, say around 2PM and stay until we are kicked out. If the host wants to do light refreshments for the evening (drinks, chips, etc) that would be excellant.

I think with this format, we would have stronger attendance throughout the event. We could throw in a store visit from time-to-time but I don't think it is necessary to have one for each meet. There isn't that many stores in the Austin area.

So, what do the rest of you think of this idea?

 

[Frederick_Falk]

Whoo Hoo! Just saw I had posted my 100th post!

 

[Chad Anson]

I agree with Frederick. Lets get to the good stuff right away! We could all pitch in for pizza, mexican food, chinese food, snacks, beer, wine, liquor, etc.