My AK Fest Experience; First and Probably My Last.

[sauuuuuce]

Kuddos to the guys hosting the member rooms. These guys come to the fest, despite considerable trouble and cost out of their pocket, to display their systems for the benefit of others. There is no renumeration of their costs. They pay to be there, to the benefit of the fest. Beyond the cost, they also prepare something to show.. such as DNewman and Squidwards phono amp, Pakprotectors marvelous amps and Keggers amps. These guys are to be commended for their commitment and hospitality. Sure it's fun to exhibit, but it's also time consuming and costly. Nearly everyone sees more of the fest than an exhibitor, especially one hosting a room.. despite being there for 3 days. Some travel great distances to get there as well, such as Army and Retro. I enjoy seeing the member rooms more than anything. I look forward to meeting the members and spending time with folks that are there "Just because they love it"! They aren't there because it their job.. in fact most, if not all, had to take off work to be there. They had to pay $175 for the listening room plus the cost of a sleeping room. They exposed their equipment to damage and potential loss. As an example, Kegger trashed a tube amp as it fell while carrying it out. Nobody reimburses him for his loss.

Believe me, I am not saying this because I hosted a room and want to be thanked.. Hell, all I did was throw some stuff together, come and have fun. But many of these guys prepared for months to get ready for the fest. I say this solely because I experienced and witnessed first hand, their commitment and expense. They deserve our sincere thanks. Thank you!

To then hear negative comments, after seeing first hand the commitment to the Fest that these members and AK officials (Grumpy, his family, the moderators etc) have given, frankly grinds my behind.

If you aren't there to have fun, socialize with others in your area of interest and have a great time... please stay home. If you expect to take away more than you give.. you are sucking on the generosity of others. The exhibitors and hosts aren't complaining, but they sure as hell don't deserve to be slapped by someone who gave nothing after they have given so much.

Not everything was perfect at the Fest.. but it wasn't for the lack of trying and if I know these folks at all, next year will be better.

Lord, I hate being negative but sometimes something just needs to be said..

Here Here!

 

[thilaseen]

I can't believe I've just read more than 100 posts on a fest which I doubt that I'll ever be able to attend. I think I can see where the OP is coming from but I also think that his one big mistake was in taking a friend.

He probably/possibly would have lightened up a bit more without that guilt feeling over whether his mate was enjoying things. I think we've all "been there, done that" in some shape or form.

But I think you'll probably see him next year...he seems to have the intestinal fortitude to get through this...a gutsy post for sure. :thmbsp:

 

[jimbofish]

after walking into a few of the rooms ... with this feeling like I was disturbing the occupants.

If either you or your buddy looked anything like these guys, it might explain why you were looked at like aliens

On the other hand, if these are the guys you saw when you opened the door, it's surprising you stayed an hour!

 

[Tapehead47]

Subwolfer

I guess you really wanted a 'Show', rather than a Fest. Those auto shows are fantastic. And I love to attend them, but I can't say the Detroit International Auto Show is lame because I can't afford one of the high-end vehicles! ("Man, that was so lame displaying the Bentley, like we could all buy a f'n Bently").....you know what I mean.....:yes:

Get with it, man. Nobody but nobody is gonna bite you. 1 hour? I can't imagine someone critiqueing the entire weekend event after attending for one hour. You gotta get involved, kiddo.

And I didn't attend. I've been on this forum for 2 years this month. (I think). I lurked for a couple of weeks at first. I finally grew a sack and started posting. And I'm not a technical guy, or even knowledgeable compared to many of the members. And I've made many stupid posts that I wish I could retract (like this one).... But nobody ever tried to make me feel like a jerk.

I think that you should keep posting and by this time next year you'll be more familiar to this forum and won't feel so self-conscious. AK is a monumental forum with wonderful members who will bend over backwards to help you with any idiotic question you could ever imagine. Don't let their physical presence intimidate you. As I said, I've not been to an AK Fest yet, but my job doesn't allow me to at this time of the year. (If they had one in June or July I could be there).

And thanks for initiating this interesting thread. I wanted to get to sleep earlier tonite but all the responses I've read have kept me up.

Let me say: Wigwam Jones you are a blast. The Flickr pix are great, as is your style. Andyman, Cosmos, Arkay, Negotiableterms, Bauhausler, MrGee, etc....Even if you weren't there you are the sort that keep me hanging on. I can never get enough of this forum.

Rick
Warning: I'll try to attend the next fest as I may retire next year.....:yes:

 

[RayW]

and hell man, I'll dance for you, but you'll probably claw your own eyeballs out to get the memory out of your brain.

True dat!

Seriously, it was a pleasure to meet you Wiggy.

I haven't slogged through this whole thread but wanted to offer up my experience. This was my first AK Fest. I had a little headstart as I've been to a small, DIY oriented fest before (Midwest Audio Fest in Lima, Oh). This was similar with smaller listening rooms spread out between vendors/manufacturers and regular joes. Anyway, I've never had a problem with jumping into threads on AK so I figured why be different in person? I showed up and just started talking to folks. I didn't wait for someone to come to me. I never had a problem being rejected or left out. Everyone I approached brought me into whatever conversation was at hand. I asked a lot of questions and gave a few answers and never felt alienated.

I made the mistake once of asking Luvvinvinyl if there was anything I could do to help but other than that I had a great time.

I think if you had hung out in the member rooms and asked a few questions you'd have found that not everything was priced in teh stratosphere. Heck, Kegger was running Polk 10B's off a home made tube amp. And it sounded FANTASTIC! Granted, Kegger is quite accomplished at tube amp design but he still didn't spend a fortune to outfit his room. Squidward and dnewman also had a cost effective room (other than the Denon table, perhaps). With home brew tube amp, preamp, and phono pre and some hotrodded Cornwalls they also had an outstanding sounding setup.

And not all the vendor rooms were uber expensive. The Madisound room had a ton (tonne for you Canadians) of reasonably priced speaker offerings and they all sounded quite good.

As near as I could tell there was a bit of everything. Vintage (Kegger's Polks, Army's Spec system which was uber cool), home brew, hi zoot (the Quads in the Pure Audio room were amazing and the Mac 300W tube monsters were awe inspiring). And everyone was very nice and accomodating.

My take is that you get (got) out of it what you put into it. I just jumped in and enjoyed the heck out of the entire weekend.

RAy

 

[RayW]

For Dread, here's a shot of Kegger's amp I ref'd above. I know there are or will be tons but felt this one was appropriate to this thread.

Ray

 

[himu]

Great show!

Want to thank Dave and company for a job well done.

Went around to most rooms and heard very good DIY and commercial sound, some of the best in resent memory.

Hotel was great much better feel than last year. Looks like 2 people
didn't care for the show not bad if ask me.....

As to several comments about affording high end gear, my advice start saving like the rest of us. Work some OT whatever it takes.
High end gear can look and sound good too, they are not always opposing forces.

Whatever way you go, its the music that matters.

 

[Cosmos]

For Dread, here's a shot of Kegger's amp I ref'd above. I know there are or will be tons but felt this one was appropriate to this thread.

Ray

Unfortunately, I think that might be the amp that got trashed in a fall while carrying out of the hotel... :tears:

 

[Mystic]

...Kegger was running Polk 10B's off a home made tube amp. And it sounded FANTASTIC!

:thmbsp: :thmbsp:

I made the mistake once of asking Luvvinvinyl if there was anything I could do to help but other than that I had a great time.

Lol.

 

[Ballylongford]

?

Unfortunately, I think that might be the amp that got trashed in a fall while carrying out of the hotel... :tears:

Say it ain't so!!

 

[Urizen]

Say it ain't so!!

I suddenly feel nauseous. I hope it didn't sustain too much damage. That was a fine sounding and totally unique amp.

 

[piece-it pete]

I was in the swap room SubW and I think I know who you are - your friend was a skinny guy with long black hair?

When I first read your post I thought hey, don't let the door hit your --- on the way out , but after thinking about it, you did try to talk to us and we were in the middle of an important conversation. What it was about I haven't the faintest clue now!

So, sorry man, didn't mean to seem rude. Come back next year, we'll give you the proper indoctrination - zapping you with a messed up tube amp while forcing you to listen to Boy George on Bose!

Pete

 

[Boiler_81]

I went to this years fest for the first time. I am local and it was just a 30 minute drive. I have to say it was not at all what I expected. The fest was not my cup of tea and I do not expect to attend in the future.

My expectation was for more vintage gear to be on display and expected a bigger gear swap. All of the newer high end stuff is of no interest to me. So a vast number of the rooms had nothing of interest. I guess what I was expecting was something similar to a vintage car show and swap meet.

However, I did not expect women and I am what the O.P. would call an "old guy" (49 next month).

By the way I did talk to a few people who I have met though the forum and enjoyed the conversation. However it was not enough to offset the negatives for me.

Just another opinion,

Boiler_81

 

[Kegger]

Unfortunately, I think that might be the amp that got trashed in a fall while carrying out of the hotel... :tears:

No Fortunately it was not that one, (Woulda been a cheaper tube and 1 I have spares of though)
It was the modded ST-70 with the new JJ KT-77's an 1 of those Popped plus a minor trannie ding.

All in all not as bad as could have been, tubes were new and not to expensive, trannie straightened.
So yah I was/am a little bummed, but it coulda been worse, like an NOS Rectifier tube or the like.:tears:

So no it wasn't to bad guy's. I'll probably pick up another matched quad later. (Was all my fault)

 

[Kegger]

My expectation was for more vintage gear to be on display and expected a bigger gear swap. All of the newer high end stuff is of no interest to me. So a vast number of the rooms had nothing of interest. I guess what I was expecting was something similar to a vintage car show and swap meet.
Boiler_81

I don't disagree with this, I too would like to see more/larger swap and more members rooms with DIY/Vintage.

But it's upto the members to step up and signup for swap and or a display room, not much AK can do on that.

 

[Army]

To the OP...
Sorry you missed us, Retro and I setup a vintage room and did our best to make people feel at home. We posted in three forums before hand to hopefully steer those that wanted to hear a vintage setup at the fest. Like Craig (Nosvalves) and others we invited everyone in with a hardy "Come on in" and asked people what they wanted to hear and let them choose the volume. I do hope you give AKfest another chance and get to know the fine folks that make AKfest a great experience.

 

[MarkAnderson]

Quite franky, I'm content to just accept that AKFest is not the OP's cup o' tea.

I suspect that 98% of the AKers in attendance had one hell of a good time - myself included. The other 2% can go to an auto show, I reckon.

 

[pustelniakr]

Quite franky, I'm content to just accept that AKFest is not the OP's cup o' tea.

Amen. That is all.

Enjoy,
Rich P

 

[JWMichMan]

I went alone to AKFest and had a great time. I initiated conversations with many intersting people as someone has to start the conversation. People were friendly. I felt the rooms had systems of all price ranges and if vintage equipment is what you prefer to hear, get a room next year and show what you brought. I look forward to the next AKFest. Thank you to those who put it all together.

 

[Snade]

I'd like to thank the OP for being brave enough to open up this discussion.

I've learned a lot from reading this thread.

I did not attend the Fest, but I have attended two local AK get-togethers here in the Chicago area. The local parties are very informal and the conversation and the gear has been well over 75 percent vintage.

Also, the posting activity on all AK audio forums is probably over 75 percent vintage, so it's a reasonable expectation to a Fest newbie that there would be a lot of vintage discussion and gear to kick around.

I think I would still enjoy the AKFest and hope to make it some time and meet many of the great members of this group, but this a good discussion to educate the members that the majority of the activity at the Fest is about more modern gear.

I never really knew that until I read this thread.

Cheers, Snade