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Lots of stuff to do, getting excited!!! Great Plains Audiofest
Everyone has been geting setup, lots of really great systems here! I took longer than I expected because I found myself getting sidetracked with this and that. But my room is finally set up (at 2:00am). A bunch of us went out to eat, that's always nice. I listened to Jim Griffin's system for a minute, sounds great. The Azzolina Audio room looks great - Just love those huge blue horns and the vented LaScala style bass bins. Can't wait to listen to them. An Audio Note preamp gave fits so I loaned my Kit 2 while another system is flown in (hopefully) making it here by tomorrow morning. Two Oklahoma club rooms are setup, one by Akhilesh and the other by Mark Margiotta. The Dallas and Houston rooms are also setup and stocked. Fred mans one and Jim is in the other, as well as all the other usual suspects. BassMaxx and MaxxHorn are here setting up in the room just above me. Every once in a while I hear a loud thump and I don't know if they've dropped an engine block on the floor or I'm hearing a power-on thump from the bashorns, but I suspect the latter. Jef Larson has the abraxasaudio room ready to go with some luscious tube amps. He's running a pair of my tower twos and also a pair of Brines speakers. I know there are others I've forgotten but hey, it's 2:00am and I'm just now finished setting up myself. I'm definitely eager to check all the great gear out tomorrow!
The 300 LB. XLH 1812's aren't quite set up yet. They await the arrival of Mr. Ping Gong, just back from China who's flying in from Boston today. Huge thanks to Ron the Speakerman and Devon the X-Man who uncrated the 4 pallets and wrestled them inside while Bill the Cripple watched.
Amazing thing is I can actually move this morning still!!! One of the "heaviest" speakers I have actually help move! Ron
I'll take a pair. Put my order in to Mr. Ping Pong.
Re: That's a typo on the name, right MB?
Hey Bill, Those are some great looking speakers. Do you have any further information about them that you could share? It would have been great if you, maualblock, and Spkrman57 could have made it to Tulsa this weekend. But, I guess you guy's will stick with the wrong side of the tracks audio fest. Norris Wilson
That's cool Bill. Really cool. I wish you and the rest of the Ohio bunch could have come to Tulsa this weekend. You were missed. Photos from GPAF 2006
Here are some photos from the show this weekend. I'll make time to change names to something more meaningful soon, and do a few write-ups. Others have promised to comment as well. But for now, you can view the photos by clicking on the image files in the directory below: Photos from GPAF 2006
I heard these speakers at CES, and they impressed me hugely. Definitely one of the best rooms I heard, though admittedly I didn't get around a whole lot since I had to man a room of my own over at T.H.E. show. But I sent out my scouts to let me know which rooms were worth going to, and this one got a unanimous thumbs up. This was the room that my hard-to-impress musician son was most excited about and most wanted me to visit. The dynamics were everything you'd expect at first glance and then some. Absolutely stunning. I heard no sense of limitation at all. The bass was very tight and very natural sounding. It sounded like high quality horn bass, but without the horn. As I recall I didn't hear any problems with the tonal balance, but didn't get a chance to really check that out with my own familiar discs. The only thing that bugged me a little was, even with eyes closed, the sound source seemed to be coming from a higher angle. But then the room was small and I was sitting fairly close, so the angle thing was exaggerated. Now I'm not saying these are the most cost-effective speakers in the world, but they were utterly effortless and totally enjoyable. I could have stayed there all day. If that was Mr. Gong in the room at CES, he impressed me as very enthusiastic, passionate, and polite. Tell him "hello" from one of the many who enjoyed a visit (two actually) to his room. As one who dabbles in speaker design myself, I'd say he did a superb job with the crossover. And in my opinion it's crossover design that separates the men from the boys. Duke
Looks like some nice gear. Can you, please, comment on the sound / build quality...... http://www.azzolinaaudio.com/
I thought they sounded real nice. Beautiful too, great build quality. Beyond that, Charlie is a great guy and I really like him. That goes a long way with me. He is building all his own gear, not just speakers but also amps and DACs.
Gee; Bill, thanks for that. I wasn't aware you had such a high opinion of me. I stand corrected.
Thank you for posting the pictures Wayne @ Bill. I can sure appreciate the work that goes into getting ready for a event like this. I'd love to attend a event like that and hear those speakers someday.
"It would have been great if you, maualblock, and Spkrman57 could have made it to Tulsa this weekend. But, I guess you guy's will stick with the wrong side of the tracks audio fest." Norris, We can't help ourselves. If we did not buy all this audio gear all the time, we might have some money left for roudtrips to our bretheren down south! Ron
Hi Ron, Speaking from someone with audio neurosis, I can feel your pain. As long as you guy's are having a good time, I am happy for you. Maybe there will be an Ohio Horn festival that some of us down here can come to visit. Any more information about the speakers that you helped to haul for Bill Epstein, T/S parameters, ect? Norris
Re: Can I just cut and paste that to my Dagogo column?
These guys weigh 500 lbs and stand 7' tall. The horn is nearly a yard wide. You have an 18" JBL 2241 crossed at 250Hz to 2- 6" 20xx JBL's with their own enclosure and ports. Then at 1200 you have the 2446 horns and at 10,000 the 2405 slot tweeter comes in. Freq resp is 35 to 21,500 Hz. What little I can see of The crossover appears to feature quart can oil capacitors. I'll have the woofer out for a tour of the inside before I write the review. The Original Audio Leonardo CDP, KR Audio VA340 and these speakers. I'm in Heaven!
That's definitely top-shelf!
Definitely. Maybe Baker could be persuaded to have another MAF in Lima?
...you let me come over for a listen next time I'm in your neighborhood! Which is where, by the way?? Cheers, Duke LeJeune
What did you find the most interesting? For me it was the little box that Skip Pack brought to the Dallas Audio Club room and hooked up to the system. The Squeezebox from Slim Devices was hard wired to his laptop, whose external hard drive held more than 100 CD's in lossless FLAC file format. We played it thorugh the Lite Audio DAC-60, and it sounded very good to me. This device certainly gets an A+ for convenence. I'm still undecided about whether it sounds as good as a CD in a good quality player because none of the CD's available in our room duplicated the CD's Skip had recorded on his external drive, so we couldn't do a direct comparison. We both live in Houston, and sometime after the meet Skip and I plan to get together to do some CD player / Squeezebox comparisons. We'll post our finding on the ART digital forum. In the meantime, if somebody has done some A/B comparisons between a Squeezebox and a CD player please post your findings on the Digital forum. Picture of the Squeezebox sitting on my CD player here: http://greatplainsaudiofest.com/2006/Photos/DSCN0236.JPG Squeezebox
Hi Wayne, From what I hear, the show was terrific! Thanks for helping Mario out, and thanks to Mark Margiotta for helping with the shipping logistics! I'm sure the photos are great, but even with a hispeed connection, these are way big for online viewing. Suck 'em through iPhoto or somesuch and shrink those babies down to about a 1/13 the size! Dave
Wayne, I'm sure you'll write some commentary when you have the time, but in the meanwhile, tell me something about the speaker in photos 237 and 238. Are they 6 inchers?
That's an Alpha 8 in a 1.5ft3 cabinet. Fred Thompson wanted to make something similar to a Tower two π but smaller, using one π parts. Sounds very good, by the way.
Must be the perspective, but in pic 238, it looks tiny.
I think Fred said they were around 36" tall, about 11.5" deep and about 10" or so inches wide. He also said they were about $200 or so a pair to build. There is a shelf right below the port to make the cabinet volume right for the Alpha 8. He said you could fill the bottom section with sand or whatnot if you wanted to. They sounded pretty good with the Heathkit rebuild amps puching them.
I don't doubt that they sound very good. The Pi-Ones I built are one of my favorites. Probably one of the best value in DIY.
They're almost a Studio One Pi "tower" except for this pair I combined the Alpha 8 woofer with the GR Research T6 tweeter. It's a 6 ohm driver with an advertised sensitivity of 96dB. Like the Vifa DX25 I used in a previous incarnation of this speaker, the GRT6 has a low resonant frequency and good power handling capacity. The 96dB sensitivity makes the sound a bit brighter than it would with the Vifa tweeter. The enclosure is 9.75" wide, 12.75" deep, and 36" tall. The 9.75" width is about the narrowest I could go with the 8" woofer. The 12.75" depth is determined by the 11.25" standard width of 12" mdf boards plus the 1.5" thickness of the combined front and back panels. The 36" height is what's needed to get the tweeter to ear level. These dimeinsions yield a 1.8 cu ft volume, which is a bit too much for the Alpha 8, so I implemented a separate 6" high chamber in the bottom which could house the crossover or, as I implemented here, it can be filled with sand or shot. The volume is 1.5 cu ft, and it's tuned to 54hz with a 4" port. The crossover is 1st order using a 0.47mH Jantzen 15 ga air core inductor in series with the woofer and a 6.0uF Northcreek Zen cap in series with the tweeter. There's also a 2 ohm resistor in the tweeter signal path that's bypassed by a switch on the speaker terminals, and a 16 ohm resistor across the tweeter terminals. The objective of this design was to build a speaker that's inexpensive (about $100 per plus enclosure materials cost), efficient (95dB), has an acceptable WAF, and of course, sounds good too. The WAF drove the decision to use a narrow enclosure. Asking the builder whether his speaker sounds good is like asking a mom whether her baby is pretty, or a cable maker whether cables make a big difference, but I'm more than pleased with the sound. I told Wayne he should offer a narrow tower enclosure as an option with the Studio One Pi. The Two Pi tower is a better speaker, but not everyone has a wife who would permit such a large speaker in her house. The One Pi tower, as I said, has a much higher WAF. The "FredAudio" F8 Tower
I forgot to mention this enclosure is very easy to build because you are starting with pre cut 11.25" wide mdf boards. You cut all the panels exactly 36", then you trim four of them down to 9.75" for the front and back panels. The other four you use in their full 11.25" width for the sides. The top and bottom panels are already the correct 11.25" depth, so all you have to do is to cut them to the required 8.25" width. My yard charges 70 cents/ft for the precut mdf boards, so the total for the 32' needed to build two enclosures is just south of $25.
Re: Here at the 330 Abbeyfeale Room. How about this On?
Re: The Most Interesting Product at GPAF?
I liked Skip's setup too. There were lots of things I liked. Your "one π tower" is really cool. Jef Larson's amps were great. Akhilesh did a good job with his single drivers and subs. Jim Griffin's speakers were nice. I think the Profet amps are smoooooth. Probably the single most amazing thing to me is the fact that Charlie went from concept to production on not one, not two, not even four but five new products in less than a year. In fact, I think it was closer to six months. I'm going to call Azzolina Audio the Kricket company. (To understand, read the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series.)
Great Plains Audiofest 2006 Writeup, Page 1
This year's Great Plains Audiofest was even better than last year. We learned a few things at the 2005 event that we took advantage of for this year's show. And the things we learned this year, we'll take advantage of next year. One of them is to have banners for every exhibitor. Might seem obvious, but none of us thought of it this year or last. The whole show grew out of a grass-roots, love of music, group of enthusiasts and dedicated niche market manufacturers. So most of us kept things informal and just showed up and setup. But the prominent BassMaxx banner made me realize all at once that next year we all should have banners like that and the whole hotel will be decorated. Imagine each exhibitor hanging an attractive banner from the railing in front of their rooms: This year, we all stayed through Sunday and that gave us time to do seminars on Saturday. That turned out to be an excellent idea. The seminars were very popular and I think everyone enjoyed them. First one was a tube amp seminar by Jef Larson, followed by the Crossover Electronics 101 seminar that I do, then Jim Griffin's line array seminar and finally Akhilesh Bajaj did a talk on single driver speaker implementations. Tube Amp Seminar by Jef Larson: "Crossover Electronics 101" by Wayne Parham: Line Array Seminar by Jim Griffin: Single Driver Seminar by Akhilesh Bajaj: Comments on GPAF 2006: "GPAF 2006", by Deborah Larson "Great Plains AudioFest 2006 Thank you!", by Bob Spence "GPAF 2006", by Bill Agee "GPAF 2006 Review", by Akhilesh Bajaj "GPAF Update and Comments", by Jim Griffin "Thanks Wayne", by Shane Moore "More Great Plains photos", by Jim Rivers "Does Wayne Parham know?", by Jim Rivers
Great Plains Audiofest 2006 Writeup, Page 2
Audio Note Audio Note was represented by Mario Binner, who flew overseas to attend the show. He is a very gracious fellow, and quite knowledgable in his product line and audio in general. I was very impressed with Mr. Binner. Mario Binner standing beside an Audio Note Sound System Audio Note sent a very good mid-level system. I say "mid-level" because to Audio Note, that's what it was. They have various price points from around a thousand dollars to several hundred thousand dollars, so this system was towards the lower end of their price scale. In fact, the preamplifier sent was damaged so I loaned them my Audio Note Kit 2, an entry-level amplifier. It sounded very nice to my ears, and many others commented how well the Audio Note room sounded. The rest of the system consisted of AN-E/Spe Speakers, a CDT2 MkII CD transport, DAC2.1x Signature DAC and TT2 Turntable with an ARM2 tonearm and an IQ3 cartridge. Audio Note Click photo for larger view
Great Plains Audiofest 2006 Writeup, Page 3
abraxasaudio Abraxas Audio is the brain child of Jef Larson, who came and brought his lovely wife Deborah. They're really special at GPAF every year; Jef did a wonderful seminar on tube amp construction and Deborah always fills the halls with her warm smile. She even brought around some goodies to eat - Thanks Deborah! Jef and Deborah Larson Jef Larson makes each amplifier by hand, so each is an individual work of art. You would think that would mean each amplifier must cost several thousand dollars, but that's not the case. They are actually very inexpensive. In fact, on Sunday, Jef offered a special deal - An abraxasaudio amp and Brines speakers for $999. Amazing! The abraxasaudio room sounded great, as always. It was one of the most popular rooms of the show! abraxasaudio tube amplifiers Click photo for larger view
Those are taller than the ceilings in my house!
What efficiency will that unit be rated at??? Regards, Ron
Re: Those are taller than the ceilings in my house!
Ron, Have not received it from the guy yet. Some tech details. Ping http://www.sonicflare.com/archives/diy-quick-divorce.php
Great Plains Audiofest 2006 Writeup, Page 4
Great Plains Audio Club Room - Mark Margiotta There were two Great Plains Audio Club rooms this year at GPAF, one run by Mark Margiota and another by Akhilesh Bajaj. Mark's room was virtually a second Audio Note room because his system contains a lot of Audio Note gear. It was a great sounding room, as always! Mark Margiotta, ready to spin another disc Mark has an excellent record collection, literally hundreds and hundreds of pressings, many very rare and most in great shape. So he not only prides himself in having a great system, but also for having lots of good software to use on it. The system consists of Audio Note Conquest 300B monoblocks with WE tubes, AN/e LX loudspeakers, AN LX speaker cables and ANVx interconnects, Audible Illusions Modulus 3A preamp, Meridian 508.24 CD Player and a Sota Comet turntable with Audioquest PT-6 tonearm and Sumiko Blue Point Special cartridge. Click photo for larger view
Great Plains Audiofest 2006 Writeup, Page 5
Skip Pack's DIY Audio Room Skip and Charlie discussing the Squeezebox digital audio server Skip Pack setup a system entirely home made, and some of his gear is pretty sophisticated. The source is a laptop computer acting as a file server, connected through wireless 802.11g router to a Squeezebox. The Squeezebox system provides a user interface and DAC, and requests song files from the computer. Its (digital or) analog audio output is connected to an amplifier, a DIY GainClone in this case. With this setup, Skip sends sound remotely throughout his home without the need for physical connections. The speakers are Studio Series two π Speakers, built from a kit and modded with audiophile crossover components. Click photo for larger view
Great Plains Audiofest 2006 Writeup, Page 6
Rhino AcousticsMaxxHorn and BassMaxx MaxxHorn Immersion Loudspeaker BassMaxx horn sub in background Rhino Acoustics brought their newest creation to GPAF - A home hifi speaker called Immersion. Not only did it sound great, but it looked stunning. Rhino Acoustics is best known for their BassMaxx prosound horn subwoofers, and they brought one of those to GPAF too. The Immersion sounded just fine without a sub, but what's the fun in that? Click photo for larger view
Great Plains Audiofest 2006 Writeup, Page 7
Azzolina Audio Azzolina Audio's Charlie Azzolina-Michlin Azzolina Audio makes some very fine products, a whole line, in fact. The Basso basshorn is based on the Klipsch LaScala design, with the rear chamber ported for greater extension. The Alto mid/high horn is a large format horn using a Lowther driver and Le Cleac'h expansion. But Charlie didn't stop there, in fact, he specializes in triode amps, introducing the Soprano line stage, Baritone triode push-pull main amp and Tenor USB DAC. Now are you ready for this? Azzolina Audio brought these to market in an amazing seven months! But don't take that to mean Charlie is new to this, no sir. Charlie has been building and designing tube amps and audio gear for years so this was a natural extension of his audio passions. Good work, Charlie! Click photo for larger view
Great Plains Audiofest 2006 Writeup, Page 8
Jim Griffin Audio Jim Griffin giving his Line Array seminar at GPAF Jim Griffin is one of the really good guys in audio. He's in good company at GPAF, 'cause the "cream of the crop" gentlemen (and ladies) of audio make the yearly trek to Tulsa for GPAF. Jim is esteemed because of his willingness to educate and assist, his dedication to quality and his consistency. For these reasons, I always applaud Jim Griffin. Jim's room sounded wonderful. He brought Line Arrays with (12) CSS WR125S midwoofers and (9) Aurum Cantus G3i-130 ribbons, crossed over actively with a DEQX crossover. This is a very sophisticated system and the quality of sound it produces is superb. To the surprise of many that consider Jim Griffin "the array man", he also brought A pair of bipolar MLTL full-range cabinets. Each uses a WR125S and a FR125S midwoofer configured as a bipole and driven full range. These were also very nice. Click photo for larger view
Great Plains Audiofest 2006 Writeup, Page 9
Dallas Audio Club The Dallas Audio Club was manned by Fred Thompson and his lovely and charming wife Linda. As most of you know, Fred is one of the true DIY afficionados of audio. He's a little like Nick Nolte in Lorenzo's Oil, always polite and gracious while upstaging all the scientists and engineers with his talent. Fred and Linda Thompson Fred has made literally dozens of loudspeakers over the years, all sounding as good as the top of the line models, and all looking like premium upscale furniture. And it doesn't stop there, he also has tried just about every audio equipment peripheral or device out there, keeping those that are best, but trading them in every so often for the next thing to try. Fred probably has more hands-on experience in audio equipment than any other enthusiast I know. Click photo for larger view The system in the Dallas Audio Club room included an Onix XCD-88 CD player, Lite Audio DAC 60, Audio Experience Linestage, Heathkit 5881 amp modded by Jim Rivers and a pair of speakers designed and built by Fred Thompson. FMTunerInfo.com's "3moons" Jim Rivers
Great Plains Audiofest 2006 Writeup, Page 10
Great Plains Audio Club Room - Akhilesh Bajaj Akhilesh has been one of the most active and consistent members of the Tulsa Audio Club since it started. He is always building something, and he has a great ear, so his systems always sound good. He has been very helpful in getting GPAF going and keeping it going. This year, he and I even spent an afternoon putting up signs together, thanks Akhilesh! Akhilesh Bajaj talking with Leo McIntire about his ideas for single driver speaker systems Akhilesh gave a seminar on single driver systems this year at GPAF. He uses a subwoofer to augment the lowest octaves, taking the strain off the main driver and reducing IMD. He then uses an active filter for compensation, much like a passive BSC. An interesting concept that really sounds good! Click photo for larger view
Great Plains Audiofest 2006 Writeup, Page 11
π Speakers Seven π Cornerhorn Loudspeakers This photo was taken after setup but before opening for the public. I was extremely pleased with how everything sounded this year. I was running the Professional Series seven π speakers, which are the best I've ever heard. I like to bring something different to each of the shows, sort of change things up. But as many who have been around me or read the forum for any length of time know, I am most fond of this loudspeaker. I like the Audiophile Series a lot too, and the Theaters and Studios are nice. In fact, they each sound very good. But nothing does what Profesional Series seven π cornerhorn speakers do. Nothing. I've always been most fond of these. For amplification, I alternated between using the Stoetkit and the Profet amps. I've really become fond of these little amps. They're modest and affordable, but they just sound great. I think the Stoetkit is the best value in tube amp kits out there, and the Profet must be the cleanest amp I've ever heard. I ran the Profet preamp with the Profet main amp a lot throughout the weekend, and I must say, the sound was exquisite. Click photo for larger view
Great Plains Audiofest 2006 Writeup, Page 12
I enjoyed myself immensely at the Great Plains Audiofest this year. What makes this show so special, and what sets it apart from other shows, is the uncompromised passion of its participants and attendees. There are some commercial interests there, but it doesn't show. Exhibitors that come to GPAF come out of a genuine love for fine audio. We all come out feeling like we've made some new friends too. A few people that I should mention are Akhilesh Bajaj, Melissa McCollum, Derk Pinkerton and my son Michael Parham. They helped a lot getting things ready and setting up signs. Melissa spent a whole (hot) afternoon with me setting up signs one day, as did Derk and Akhilesh, each on separate days. Michael went around after the show and gathered them all up. I also want to thank the staff at the Embassy Suites. When we first approached them about having audio shows, they really didn't know what to make of all this. Now they're getting to know us audiophiles, and getting better with each show. They've asked us for feedback and sent me a questionnaire. So if those of you that were there would like to comment, send me an E-Mail and I'll pass it on. That way they can continue to improve with each show. I can hardly wait until next year! Click photo for larger view