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Can you believe it's already 2018? So it's time to start getting ready for the Lone Star AudioFest! It's always the first weekend in May, so mark your calendar for May 4th, 5th and 6th. The registration link is online, so you can reserve your room now: Reserve your room for Lone Star AudioFest 2018 This year we're having seminars. We've done that several years in past, and it is always informative and popular. But we haven't had seminars for the past couple of years, so I thought I'd mention it. The link below shows the schedule for the show, including a list of seminars and the times for each. Check back periodically for additions and updates: Lone Star AudioFest 2018 Activities Schedule So far, we have three speakers lined up - Scott Shaeffer, Steven Solazzo and me. Steven is giving a talk on digital audio, Scott is giving a talk on system setup and I'm giving a talk on loudspeaker crossovers. My talk is sort of an introduction to electronics, so if you don't fully understand capacitors, inductors, resonance and damping, this will probably be very useful for you. I call it "Crossover Electronics 101" and handouts for the talk are available at the link below: Crossover Electronics 101 I'm not sure what loudspeaker system I'll be bringing yet, but it will either be three π or four π mains with flanking subs: three π mains on stands with flanking subs four π mains on stands with flanking subs
Is there a special room rate for LSAF exhibitors and attendees?
Hi Fred! Great to see you!!! Hope to see you and Linda in May! And yes, the room rate is discounted for LSAF so be sure to mention that you will be attended LSAF when you make your reservation. If you reserve your room online, be sure to use the link on the LSAF website, which will give you the discounted rate.
The registration for visitors takes me to this page, where there is no "Dallas Park Central" option. Help! http://embassysuites3.hilton.com/en_US/es/search/findhotels/index.htm
Try it now, Fred. The URL was boogered up but it's working now. For convenience, I'll put the links here: Hotel registration for exhibitors Hotel registration for attendees You can also give Embassy Suites a call at 972-234-3300 and tell them you'll be attending LSAF to get the group rate.
Looking forward to the show this year and the seminars on Sunday. The schedule shows there might be something going on as early as Thursday this year. Have any of the companies committed to being there on Thursday?
I'm always there Thursday. That's my setup day, so I'm not usually open until late but before I moved to Northwestern Arkansas, I was usually setup my mid-day Thursday with my door open. I'd say about half the exhibitors are there in various states of ready on Thursday.
Thanks, I may wander down a bit earlier than usual. We'll see how things play out when booking the plane and hotel. John Busch has posted that he'll be bringing 3 speakers this year, 2 boxes and 1 open baffle. Skip has said he's going to do 3 rooms this year but he didn't get any sleep last year when he was running 2 rooms. If anyone can pull it off, though, it's him. Saw that Austin Acoutic had posted about bringing their horns back again this year. It's starting to gel.
Man, this looks really amazing, Wayne! I'd love to listen in on those seminars. I wish that I could fit this into my schedule. I'll have to keep an eye out for this next year. When is the schedule usually announced?
The location and dates for the Lone Star Audiofest are fixed each year - First weekend in May at the Embassy Suites at the Junction of I-75 and I-635 in Dallas. Seminars don't happen every year but we do announce them several months in advance when we plan them. Usually by January, we've posted the seminar schedule on the LSAF website.
I wish that I could come as well! After reading all of your thorough explanations that have that great balance of detail and easy comprehension, I'm sure you give some really great seminars! Is there any chance that these will be available online?
The link provided takes you to the hotel site but it won't honor the usual discount for the LSAF. It's about $150 per night. Is there something going on in town that pushed the price of the hotel up? Their standard rate, without the LSAF discount, was usually about $110 or $120.
The discounted rate is $110.00 per night. I tried the links and found that the exhibitor link offers the right rate but the attendee link shows the rate as unavailable. I'll check with the hotel to see why the attendee link they provided isn't giving the correct rate. In the meantime, if you haven't already made your reservation, you might call Embassy Suites and reserve your room by phone. As for the seminars, earlier years were recorded so you can listen to them at the link below. Click on the link that says "Seminar" for the audio recording. Seminar recordings from an earlier show
Update: We had sold out of rooms in the attendee block, so that's why the attendee discount didn't show. Embassy Suites has added some additional rooms to the block so the link now gives the right rate. Hurry now, they won't last long! The show is only about a month away! Can't wait!!!
Thanks. The reservations are done. Ended up traveling on Thursday rather than Wednesday after all. Adding an extra day by including Wednesday, as it turns out, gets very expensive. Adding a few extra hours before flying out on Monday, on the other hand, was cheap. So it looks like Angelo's BBQ in Fort Worth will happen at the end of the trip rather than the beginning. It's lovely when a plan comes together.
Kelly and I are lookin' forward to seeing you! My favorite part of the show is when we go out and eat dinner together!
I'm looking forward to the trip and the great dinners with you guys, too. It's a great deal of fun. A well traveled local chef is the one who mentioned Angelo's in Ft. Worth and he's also mentioned Sonny Bryans in Dallas. He's generally spot on with his recommendations so I'm ready to throw myself into research mode ... to see if he's still got it.
Very cool! Great idea!
From the Polk Audio forum: Jim Hench of Lone Star Audio will be there with the new Magico A3 speakers and the T+A PA 3100 HV integrated amp. This is the first time these will be exhibited in Texas. Joshua Miles of JWM Acoustics will also be an exhibitor at the event.
My name is Denny Brown, and I represent Brown Audio Labs, I'm a small time builder and seller, wanting to get some more exposure, meet some new friends and just plain have a good time! I thought I would give a preview of the equipment I will have setup. The first pic is a Project RPM TT w/ a Sumiko Pearl Cartridge, and my Brown Audio Labs SP-1B preamp, which was reviewed by Dick Olsher in the July/August 2016 issue of the Absolute Sound Mag! The second I will be displaying my custom built loudspeakers I did a few years back, it's an MTM TL enclosure, using 2-51/4" Aurum Cantus Midbass drivers, and 1- Dayton 6" Planar Tweeter. and last but not least my Dynaco ST-70 for the amplification.
Looking forward to meeting you, Denny! It's going to be a blast!
Is it ok to close the exhibit room on Sunday? I may have an early flight to catch.
That's fine, totally understandable.
Coming in on Friday. Looking forward to seeing everyone and listening to some music. Also time to upgrade, picking up a dac/server from Skip.
It'll be great to see you, Luther!
Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends! We're so glad you could attend! Come inside! Come inside! Lone Star Audiofest is open and ready for business! We've got rain today, but tomorrow and Sunday are going to be sunny, warm and beautiful. We're seeing a lot of the regulars, and a few new faces. Seems like the internet buzz has already stirred a lot of excitement too! Come on out! Exhibitors: Lewisville Room Austin Acoustic Mesquite Room AudioThesis 201 Stereo Clarity 202 Audio Crafter's Guild 203 JWM Acoustics 204 Lone Star Audio 205 Sonner Audio 206 AudioThesis 207 AudioThesis 208 BlowTorch Audio 210 Brown Audio Labs 212 Uilleam Audio 214 Advanced Audio Systems 216 Supra HiFi 218 VanZyl Audio 219 Douglas Connection 221 Raven Audio 222 Volti Audio 223 Pureaudx 224 No Cone Zone 225 Swan Song Audio 227 Selah Audio 229 Pi Speakers 232 Black Hole Audio/Video 320 Manzanita Audio Solutions Photos from the show
We're in room 229!
Hey Wayne! Finally got my kids outa HS and the job doesn't interfere so I get to come for the day tomorrow. Be great to see the changes since I helped you organize way back in the day.
Wow! Cool! Can't wait to see you here! Some of the "old gang" are here and we'll all be excited to see you!
Stereo Clarity (Room 201)
Audio Crafters Guild (Room 202)
JWM Acoustics (Room 203)
Lone Star Audio (Room 204)
Sonner Audio (Room 205)
AudioThesis (Room 206)
AudioThesis (Room 207)
BlowTorch Audio (Room 208)
Brown Audio Labs (Room 210)
Uilleam Audio (Room 212)
Supra HiFi (Room 216)
VanZyl Audio (Room 218)
Douglas Connection (Room 219)
Raven Audio (Room 221)
Volti Audio (Room 222)
Pureaudx (Room 223)
No Cone Zone (Room 224)
Swan Song Audio (Room 225)
Selah Audio (Room 227)
Pi Speakers (Room 229)
Black Hole Audio/Video (Room 232)
Manzanita Audio Solutions (Room 320)
Austin Acoustic (Lewisville Room)
AudioThesis (Mesquite Room)
Seminar - 11:00am to 12:00 - Sunday May 6, 2018 "It's all about Relationships (Between your Equipment)", by Barry Thornton
Seminar - 12:00 to 1:00pm - Sunday May 6, 2018 "Tape History Seminar", by Charles King
Seminar - 1:00pm to 2:00pm - Sunday May 6, 2018 "Crossover Electronics 101″, by Wayne Parham
Seminar - 2:00pm to 3:00pm - Sunday May 6, 2018 "Speaker Placement and Room Interactions", by Todd Binnix
Seminar - 3:00pm to 4:00pm - Sunday May 6, 2018 "Digital Audio Demystified", by Steven Solazzo
Wow Wayne, this is an excellent visual for those who could not attend. How do you feel your room sounded with the 3pi's and flanking subs this year? Did you have to experiment (with placement) setting them up? About how far back was the listeners distance from he mains?
johnnycamp5 wrote on Wed, 09 May 2018 16:50 Wow Wayne, this is an excellent visual for those who could not attend. How do you feel your room sounded with the 3pi's and flanking subs this year? Did you have to experiment (with placement) setting them up? About how far back was the listeners distance from he mains? My room sounded great, especially for a hotel room. To be honest, I've done this show for nearly 20 years now, so I have it down. I know exactly where to put my speakers and how to setup the equipment. I always bring either seven π constant directivity cornerhorns or three π or four π speakers with flanking subs. When I setup the DI-matched mains and flanking subs, I do it just like you see in the pictures in this thread. When I bring constant directivity cornerhorns, I put the mains in the front corners on the same wall as the entry door. And I set the subs back in the opposite corners, configured as distributed multisubs. In either case, the listening position is a couple feet behind the axes-crossing point, which is also a few feet away from the wall behind the listeners. The rooms aren't large enough, but they still sound great when setup this way. All six surfaces (walls, floor and ceiling) are hard solid concrete, which makes room modes strong. But the multisubs/flanking sub setups really smooth the modes. The curtains and furniture help damp reflections in the statistical range. And since the speakers generate a tonally balanced reverberent field, the room doesn't sound nearly as bad as you would expect from having concrete everywhere. It actually sounds very good in our room each year. three π speakers with flanking subs
Hi Wayne, Thanks for the hospitality and the seat time at the show. Your room always sounds great. The photo above is a good one but it makes the 3 Pi's and the subs look more petite than they do in person. They have a real visual presence to them in real life. Got a nice note from Bob Brines. He's enjoying retirement and listening to tunes although it doesn't sound like he's doing any speaker building. His friend Bill moved out of town so he may not be inclined to do road trips alone. He sounded pretty upbeat. On the advice of a local (Jersey) chef, I took a detour to DFW airport to hit a place called Angelo's. It's in a slightly scruffy part of Fort Worth, has a bland exterior and the interior can be summed up by the word dive. Needless to say they had remarkable brisket. Nice detour. Around the corner from Angelo's was Doc's. They sell old stuff but seem to specialize in vinyl. Shame there wasn't time as I could have done some real damage in there. A lot vinyl just sitting their waiting to find their forever home. As always it's too long a schlep to and from Texas and yet it's always a great weekend. Thanks again, Barry
Thanks for the kind words on our room. I just love this show every year! It is a warm vacation for Kelly and I, and our Saturday evening dinner with you and the gang is always so much fun! Sounds like we definitely need to do Angelo's - both for the meal and for the chance to go to Doc's! I was sad that Bob Brines took a break from audio. But I'll bet he gets bored and comes back!
This looks like just the sort of thing I would like to go to, except I am too late for this year! Also, it's a bit far for me to go (I am in London), still, maybe some day. I've always wanted to visit the US again, (I did so years ago), and I might as well have a good reason to do so. Meanwhile, I am looking up various festivals and markets that I might go to in Europe.
Norman Tracy wrote an excellent review of LSAF 2018 on Positive-Feedback Online. Check it out: LSAF 2018 Review on Positive-Feedback.com
I thought another good review ought be included. Found this at the vinyl engine where I hang out like a nose vegetable you can't get rid of. Someone put a link for an audio blog that included his take on the 2018 LSAF show. http://noaudiophile.com/Lone_Star_2018/ He seems to know his audio pretty good and writes quite frankly with occasional expletives thrown in for good conveyance towards the silly and absurd aspect of audiophilea. He puts in a good word for Pi speakers.
I like that website too. It's linked on the "Previous Shows" coverage page for 2018. They were at the 2019 show too, so I expect they'll write-up coverage and we'll include that on the "Previous Shows" page for 2019 whenever they publish it. LSAF - Previous Shows