The 2008 Lone Star Audio Festival could not have happened on a more beautiful weekend, springtime in Dallas is very pleasant.My wife and I enjoyed this year's event very much.
The atmosphere was very relaxed where the audio equipment designers were easily accessible.
I was able to learn some valuable bits of information, from proper speaker set up, to the use of some quality digital recording software, along with many other things.
There was a variety of different types of equipment displayed this year at LSAF.
There were some great sounding systems at the show that stood out in my opinion.
My favorite system consisted of the AudioKinesis Dream Maker bipole speakers, driven by the Richard Gray Designed NTV 6.2 single ended amplifier that used the VT-25/10Y triode output tube.
Also, the Maxxhorn Lumination that used the 5" Feastrex fullrange driver with a very large Alnico magnet sounded very quick, clean and coherent. These 5" fullrange drivers sounded much bigger than any 5" speaker should be able to sound.
Maxxhorn was driving their speakers with an ART Audio Clarissa SE 845 based integrated amplifier, and the Ayon Spark SE 6C33B based integrated amplifier.
Thank you to John Busch for bringing his Altec 705 coaxial open baffles speakers that were reconed by Great Plains Audio. These vintage coaxial speakers makes one realize that we may have forgotten many more things about quality sound reproduction than we ever should have. John's Altec open baffle speaker played music, with a great midrange.
Let's not forget the sound of speakers that use large woofers, such as the Four Pi two-way design by Pi Speakers. The Four-Pi use the 15" JBL 2226H woofer and horn loaded B&C DE250 compression driver. The Four Pi speakers sounded big and dynamic, simplicity.
Speaking of BIG woofers, the Hawthorne Duet open baffle speaker design that uses the 15" Silver Iris coaxial and 15" Augie bass woofer sounded BIG and easy to listen to.
There is just no substitute for the sound of large woofers, they bring allot of warmth and fullness while recreating the musical event.
I also want to mention some nice sounding fullrange speakers that used Lowther drivers from Brines Acoustics, and the Medallion brought by Skip Pack, great vocal reproduction.
There were a few turntables in use at the show. Audio Note displayed their TT2 turntable with Arm3 and Audio Note IO1 Moving Coil Cartridge , it sounded very warm and inviting, like analog should.
And Maxxhorn had a custom designed Mikro Seiki turntable on display, the model BL-51 with MA-505 MKII tonearm. Unfortunately, I did not get to listen to the Mikro Seiki turntable set up, I certainly would have loved to. Especially since analog is still my favorite source medium after all of these years, regardless of the progress made by the digital and CD medium.
But that is just how I hear it after over 30 years of playing around with audio equipment, maybe it is an age thing.
All in all, this years LSAF was a good show, and I am looking forward to next year.
I want to thank Shane Moore for taking some Great Pictures of the LSAF 2008.
Shane's pictures will follow this report, one exhibitor at a time.
Most of all, I want to say a big Thank You to Everyone who attended and exhibited at this years Lone Star Audio Fest!
Without all of you, I would have not had so much fun.
Looking forward to seeing everyone in 2009
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