3RD ANNUAL GREAT NORTHWEST GTG
It's that time again!!
Aerial photo courtesy of the Lincoln City Visitors and Convention Bureau.
The 3rd Annual Great Northwest GTG is being held on September 18 at its usual venue in Lincoln City, Oregon. Those who attended last year's event or followed any of the threads know what a great time was had by all. Good audio. Good people. Good food. Great fun.
In order to keep it fresh, we change up our presentation every year. In 2008 we ran a budget monitor shootout on 9 pairs of inexpensive speakers. (The review, by Joe Pierre, is available here ...
http://www.audioholics.com/reviews/speakers/bookshelf/budget-bookshelf-shootout-2009.) Last year we had more of a mini-convention with over a dozen sponsors and nearly 60 attendees (
http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=53440&highlight=oregon+gtg). While we'll still have lots of audio hobbyists, freebies, and good equipment again this year, the 2010 event will be much smaller, more focused, and have an overriding goal.
I've noted that there are literally thousands of requests on the internet forums about internet-direct (ID) speakers.
Who has experience with them? How do they sound? How do they compare to Brand-X? Reviews are hungrily sought by potential buyers and just plain old interested hobbyists. ID speakers can involve a healthy dose of shipping investment just to audition them. I sunk a bit of cash into this well, myself. And while some manufacturers have owners who are willing to provide auditions, that prospect can be quite limited. So it is with a focus of doing a bit of a public service that the 2010 GNW GTG will be auditioning and reporting on ID (or in one case, difficult to audition) speakers. The loudspeakers are all going to be in the stand-mounted class and costing $2,000 or less (shipping not included).
Since the testing, auditioning, and reporting will have to be fairly intense to fit into a one-day event, we'll only be using one room this year. Attendance had to necessarily be limited due to space and time constraints. We'll have ~9 reporters, and all positions have now been accounted for. Others are welcome to attend (and others will be attending), but if you are interested, please PM me for details, space availability and other restrictions.
Details of the event protocols, measurements, and audition format will be posted in threads over the next couple of weeks. We might even take a stab at measuring listener bias as well as loudspeaker performance. But the procedures we will be using will be unique and, hopefully, enlightening. Our focus will be on speaker performance and not on choosing 'winners' or 'losers'. Dennis Murphy, crossover designer for Salk Sound loudspeakers will be on hand with his measuring and switching gear. Maybe we can talk him into a brief design lesson. We'll see.
As usual, parking on the site will not be a problem with a couple of acres to choose from. Vistas of the Oregon coast and mountain ranges are worth the trip.
Let's start off this thread with a huge
Thank You to our sponsors this year. It is through their gracious generosity that we are able to put on this event and bring some interesting audio information to you.
SPEAKERS
Aperion Audio -
http://www.aperionaudio.com/home.aspx
Ascend Acoustics -
http://www.ascendacoustics.com/
Lauren Acoustics -
http://www.laurenacoustics.com/Lauren_Acoustics/Intro.html
Nate's Audio -
http://www.natesaudio.com/nahome.html
Salk Sound -
http://www.salksound.com/
Selah Audio -
http://www.selahaudio.com/
Tyler Acoustics -
http://www.tyleracoustics.com/
Usher Audio -
http://www.usheraudio.com/
From the sponsors above, we are honored to present the premier public unveiling of at least one brand new loudspeaker model, and perhaps as many as THREE!! All are very interesting models that I think will generate a lot of interest. More on these later as prototypes round into auditioning shape and availability. (You might be able to guess one or two, but surprises are definitely promised.)
DRIVE GEAR
AVAHifi -
http://www.avahifi.com/
Frank Van Alstine will be supplying us with his Vision DAC/preamp and Insight+ Double 240 power amp.
LUNCH
Audioholics E-store -
http://store.audioholics.com/
Once again lunch will be sponsored by Audioholics E-store. There will also be a "scratch and dent" sale of E-store items after the event.
FREEBIES
The City of Lincoln City will again be donating a variety of door gifts AND we believe we'll have some really wonderful (not to mention expensive) free audio raffle prizes.
It looks like another great Fall on the Oregon coast. Hope to see you there!