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| Re: THELSAF_2025 [message #98520 is a reply to message #98519] |
Sun, 04 May 2025 20:54   |
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Wayne Parham
Messages: 18893
Registered: January 2001
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Illuminati (33rd Degree) |
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There are a few more photos uploaded and available on the LSAF 2025 Photos link. It's just a collection of raw photos, but you can see what fun we've all been having. I'll make time to post three or four photos of each exhibitor in the next few days here in this thread.
Before I comment further on THELSAF 2025, I want to give a big shout-out to Emiko Carlin and her intrepid crew at T.H.E. They have brought some things that LSAF would not have done on its own. In particular is T.H.E. film festival and the IASCA sound quality competition. Other things T.H.E. staff has done include interviewing all exhibitors and tirelessly promoting the show using various flavors of social media platforms.
So downstairs on the first floor, there were some “big show” activities that are unique to T.H.E show events. In addition to their film festival and the high-end quality car exhibits, there were large rooms for high-end exhibitors that wanted the extra show space and there was a large marketplace area with booths.
For those of us upstairs in the suites, the show retained its traditional Lone Star Audiofest vibe. We have a mix of high-end vendors with kit manufacturers and other types of product offerings.
My impression of the 2025 show is very much like all the years before. Traffic was a little higher, I think. Maybe 20% more. But other than that, the “feel” of the show this year was very much the same. To tell the truth, I love that.
Exhibitor rooms were packed all day Saturday. Friday was thinner, as it always is. What was most surprising was Sunday. It was almost as packed as Saturday. That’s not been the case in years past.
And everyone else told me they had a very positive experience too. So much so that we have already committed to doing it again here next year.
Sweet!
I would be remiss if I failed to give a respectful nod to my fellow LSAF exhibitors. Our show may be small and relaxed, but that’s largely because we are a group that appeals to a niche segment. Not only are we audiophiles, but we are passionate technical hobbyists. We are a niche within a niche.
Most Lone Star Audiofest exhibitors are craftsmen and engineers making the best products they can make. We all “geek out” here and gush about our pet projects. Our intensity shows, and you can tell we’re perfectionists. But there’s a camaraderie evident – we’re all kindred spirits.
To use a hot-rod car analogy, exhibitors at LSAF are like guys building eight-second street cars. You can’t just go buy a car that runs an eight-second quarter mile. You have to know what you’re doing, and you have to do it yourself or have an engineering staff to design performance upgrades. The equivalent of that in audio is who exhibits at the Lone Star Audiofest.
You can buy plenty of ten-second cars. You can spend millions buying a Koenigsegg Jesko or a Rimac Nevera. Or you can buy a high-end McLaren, Ferrari, Lamborghini or Porsche. You can spend even more adding custom features, styling or aesthetics. But none of those will get you south of nine seconds in the quarter mile.
Some audio shows cater to the super-expensive high-end audio crowd. There’s really cool drool-worthy stuff at shows like that. If you want a really nice and attractive sound system and are willing to spend several hundred thousand or even millions, you can see some examples of sound systems that might suit you there.
But to go back to the car analogy, those won’t do eight-second quarter mile times.
One could argue that great cars don’t have to be fast enough to do a standing quarter-mile in eight seconds. One could even argue that a good car won’t launch that hard. I would suggest that is true for some, but not for everyone.
Different strokes for different folks.
Anyway, I think my point is I like the Lone Star Audiofest and its exhibitors and participants better than any of the other audio shows. It’s just so cool.
Now I gotta pack up and get ready for the trip home. I'll post pics for each room over the next few days. In the meantime, look over the photos on the LSAF 2025 Photos page.
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