What was your AKFest 2006 audio moment??

[Andyman]

Every year it seems to me that there is one moment when you walk into a room and hear something that stands out. You know, really sort of wallops you with a "Whoa!!!!!!!!!"

Last year for me it was hearing "Stormy Monday" from the Allman Brothers Band "Live at the Fillmore East" on vinyl being played in the Classic Audio Reproduction Hartsfield system.

This year it was hearing "Cry Me a River" from Linda Ronstadt's "Humming to Myself" CD on the Maggie/Audio Research system from Audio Dimensions. I'd listened to it already on about half a dozen systems and it sounded great on all of them, but none imaged it like the Magnepan 1.6s (I'm told that's what the model was). That system not only sounded great, it was the only one that put Linda right smack dab front and center and really set all the instruments in specific places.

Up to that point, the SA speakers that BrianB had hooked up to the Manley Stingray integrated amp really were an eye opener. It was absolutely astonishing at the overall sound and bass output from the 4 4" drivers in those speakers.

Hat's off again to all the vendors and members from their efforts and systems, and to Dave, Nancy, Stephanie and Tim for all their work in making this happen for us :thmbsp:

 

[Mopic5]

Haven't a clue whether it was the recording or the equipment, or both, but Paul Simon's Graceland with back-up singers in the MacIntosh room was just such a moment.
Then again Andy, the sound of your Ice Cream Maker/Vinyl cleaner was a lightbulb moment. Nice job on that DIY. Betcha it cleans 'em as well as the VPI.
- Mario

 

[dnewma04]

I had a few, to be honest. The Almarro 3 ways really impressed me for having excellent frequency response and being very non-fatiguing to listen to. I thought they were the most composed speakers I've heard recently and do a good job to dispell some myths regarding cone materials.

I was looking forward to hearing the Zu speakers after a discussion regarding them a couple of months ago. I didn't like them as much as I feared I might, but they did sound pretty good. Not the type of speaker I could live with long term.

The Mc rooms were great just in that they were filled with such amazing gear. Not a huge fan of the attitude from the rep in the room with the XRTs, but the other rep was particularly nice. Both the little monitors with the Bessel Arrays and and XRTs sounded very good to my ears. I think the XRTs could ahve used more space to really shine.

All this being said, the high water mark for me, pardon the pun, was Markus' set up because it's right up my alley. I like to play around with equipment, tweaking, rebuilding, starting from scratch with DIY designs and being generally cheap with my audio purchases. I loved to see such a high quality tube amp based on inexpensive, relatively unknown tubes. That with the JBL/Klipsch hybrids speakers really made my day. Excellent job Markus, i look forward to talking with you more about that tube amp.

One other item of note was Keggers Frankenutah speakers. EPI 200 cabs, utah 8" full range, some random 12" drivers in the 12" whole used as PRs and EPI tweets to plug a hole, and yet, they somehow defied all odds and sounded remarkably good. By far not the best of the day, but they sounded entirely too good for belief. Again, this is the type of project I love to see.

I was happy to meet EW and thank him for the work he did on my G-9700. A heck of a good guy in person as well as online.

Last but not least was the Monster tube amp from Pak Protector, most impressive design gets me excited to start my first tube amp. Visually it was one of the more impressive amps I have seen and I enjoyed meeting/talking with He and Ed.

If I have to pick one, I pic Markus' system as my fav.

 

[PakProtector]

Hey-Hey!!!,
The *MOMENT*? Plugging in my PP amp and discovering that wall voltage was only 103V. The tungsten filaments were only dull orange, and that's not good...

I expect to see really cool gear, and meet interesting and diverse folks who are also nutsy about audio. I expect to hear some really fine music. All these got met in spades, and I get to do it again next weekend in New Tripoli PA, at Oswald's Mill....

Fortunately, for the line voltage fiasco, I'm close by, and my wife knows where I keep my variac.

That my piddling little 15W amp got referred to as a monster was a gas, but that is what Class A and conservative operation costs I guess.
cheers,
Douglas

 

[Drybasement]

Listening to Jimbecky's vintage McIntosh amp with those Ohm speakers and hanging with Carl and David (dmax99) and Jim and Rich (RichPA) was one large, great big fun audio moment.

Cheers fellas

 

[dnewma04]

A monster amp only in size and cool factor.

 

[bolly]

I must admit I liked the XR27 setup... but I really liked meeting some of the chat-gang in person! :thmbsp:

 

[Sandy G]

The McIntosh room. I do believe, if Lucifer hisself had been sitting outside offering to exchange your Soul for what was inside the Mac room, there'd been a few of us willing to sign up...I just wish I'd brought my "Alvin & the Chipmunks" album & had 'em play "Witch Doctor" on it...Heheheheh...

 

[Markus111]

If I have to pick one, I pic Markus' system as my fav.

Thanks Dave - that's mighty high praise given what was there, and I'm humbled....... I think the "moment" musically for me was listening to a female vocalist on Jim Salk's speakers. I haven't been moved by a pair of speakers like that in a long time. What a designer that guy is!!!!!

But I think the real high point was finally getting to meet some of the people in this forum, and finding out that they are as fine in person as they are on line. Had a blast chatting "in person" finally with Kegger, dnewma04, reel2reel, squidward, andyman, paul, grumpy, wardsweb, piece-it-pete, richpa, kamakiri, and everyone else that I met. What a riot! I think we have to do whatever we can to keep this going year after year.

Mark

 

[RichPA]

My top musical moments (not necessarily in order):

Hearing Jennifer Warnes on the big Salk speakers - wow! Let's see, if I sold ...

Keb 'Mo on Grumpy's Audio Notes in the Blue Circle room

Some Norwegian symphonic metal with Carl on the Ohm/McIntosh setup in Jim's room, with visuals provided by the lightning visible through the window behind the speakers - perfect!

A sampler LP on the Harbeth/Nuforce/?? system in the David Michael Audio room

The beautiful relaxed sound in Markus' room on his very sweet DIY setup

Some blues LP in Punker's room through his nice Infinities

mmm, there's more, but as you see the details are fading ... best was meeting so many of the AK gang in person!

 

[Punker X]

Some blues LP in Punker's room through his nice Infinities

QUOTE]

When did Retro sneek in with his Infinities? Had two sets of speakers hooked up to my system during the fest. My Ohm I's and for a short while Brian B. Let me hook up the Obelisks.

Think I was impressed most with Retro's Spec rack and Infinity's. Normally not a fan of either, but his setup sounded great.

X

 

[RichPA]

Some blues LP in Punker's room through his nice Infinities

QUOTE]

When did Retro sneek in with his Infinities? Had two sets of speakers hooked up to my system during the fest. My Ohm I's and for a short while Brian B. Let me hook up the Obelisks.

Think I was impressed most with Retro's Spec rack and Infinity's. Normally not a fan of either, but his setup sounded great.

X

OOPS! Strike that! Nice OHMS! I told you guys I was starting to forget the details ... :scratch2:

 

[Drybasement]

My top musical moments (not necessarily in order):

Some Norwegian symphonic metal with Carl on the Ohm/McIntosh setup in Jim's room, with visuals provided by the lightning visible through the window behind the speakers - perfect!

That was quite a light show eh Rich. Just wanted to say that I enjoyed your company and it was a pleasure meeting you.

Cheers

 

[RichPA]

That was quite a light show eh Rich. Just wanted to say that I enjoyed your company and it was a pleasure meeting you.

Cheers

Same here - it was a pleasure, and I look forward to the next time!

 

[piece-it pete]

For me, it might have been listening to Ozzy/Randys' "Tribute" at 2 am on the Infinity/Vandy combo after various beverages with great company...

I think a mention of those larger Tetras might be in order on top of the many great systems all over the place.

I've gotta say, the most fun was for me the great folks there, "no attitude", what a laid back bunch of fellows (and a couple of long suffering ladies ). Can't wait till next year, and alls yous know if you're ever passing through Cleveland drop me a line.

Pete

 

[Andyman]

After reading all these pieces, I'm facing the fact that there is one disadvantage to participating in this event; you can't get around as much as you'd like!!
I counted 27 rooms of music and 2 Swap rooms of gear. Do the math. The Fest is open 16 hours, less an hour or two so for drawings and lunch. That makes about half an hour a room if you're not hosting, and much, much less if you are. While I spent a bit of times in almost all the rooms, I did miss a few and spent less in others than I would have liked.

I guess my plan for next year would be to snag a CD & LP as reference pieces and then start beating the feet from room to room. I just don't know if I can handle hearing the same song 20+ times in one weekend :lmao:

 

[Larry]

There wasn't a moment, but just the totality of it all. I love collecting and playing vintage equiptment. I'm not terribly mechanical, so I post very little. I don't chat much online either. But, I suppose like anything else, it's fun to get together with people from all walks of life with one passion in common. To see and hear such interesting and diverse set up's is what AK fest is all about - and of course meeting the people. As you can see from the pictures posted, there were some awesome systems. Speakers from the common to the esoteric. Each room had it's own character. If you're an audiophile, you owe it to yourself to experience the equiptment and the people that are associated with our hobby. So, to answer your question, the experience was the moment.

Thanks, to Punker who showed me what my Ohm I's could sound like with a few changes.
Thanks to David Michael Audio for exposing some really good sounding speakers.
Thanks to Brian at Venus for his various pieces, and to listen in on a discussion about power cords and interconnects.
Thanks to all the sponsors and AK members who brought in their systems for all us to hear. It's not easy lugging this stuff around - a lot of time was spent wiring and setting things up just right. You all made it a worthwhile day for us rather silent AKers.

and....of course thanks to Grumpy, who with others I'm sure, thought up this crazy idea of an audio gathering. I know a lot of work and worry went into this. So, again, from all of us who think it but may not have said it.....Thanks

Larry

 

[WhiteSE]

Ok, My main audio moment was at Pak's room.. The amp looked impressive and sounded impressive with the lil' Klipsch.....Smooooth...I agree with Dnewm regarding the Almarro 3 way,,,very smooth for a modern and metal tweeter. Markus III speakers were the best looking, and sounded excellent to boot.

The most dynamic sound with enough smoothness was Rick's Tannoy DMT15's with paper cones...some of the tightest bass. Mr Moore's amps in his rooms also seem like great amps.

But I must say that listening to everyone's stuff made me appreciate my stuff...some setups are (to my ears) quite fatiguing, but I am used to vintage paper cones, so I have the hearing of an old fart.

I had a blast hanging with Dnewm, Carl, Craig, and all the others...! Grumpy as usual did a great job.

 

[PakProtector]

Hey-Hey!!!,
another way of looking at the 'moment' thing would be the suprise afterwards of having some of the folks who expressed interest in learning the DIY craft actually contact me.

It's easy to be motivated while something neat is playing in front of you, it is quite another to pick up the parts catalogs and commit to the project.

Squidward presented with quite a selection of good speakers, and the synergy with the amp and pre of mine worked out very well. I came in early on Sunday morning just to listen by myself. Played an old Grateful Dead show from Nov. 1985, and then some Cash...then borrowed some Radio Shack speakers...Mach I's, got to find a pair of those...

It was really neat getting to visit with the folks I have corresponded with on the board, and having them visit with me. Priceless...when is the next one?
cheers,
Douglas

 

[Sandy G]

Yeah, the BEST audio moment was gettin' to ACTUALLY TALK to a bunch of GREAT people I've come to know over the past several years...Hell, that even beat The McIntosh Room....<grin> -Sandy G.