Am I an Audioholic?

A

admin

Audioholics Robot
Staff member
Where am I now? It’s Friday night and I am in Clearwater Beach, Florida at the Audioholics party. I got to meet several of the vendors I have purchased from. It’s really great to meet the people who work for the companies you buy stuff from. They are super dedicated to their trade and were very happy to talk with me even though I was clearly bugging them as they set up their gear for tomorrow’s demos. I am super excited for tomorrow and the all the new things to see and hear. I also got to meet Gene, Bertica, Clint and MajorLoser (from the forums) and I have had a great time so far!


Discuss "Am I an Audioholic?" here. Read the article.
 
J

johnnymac36

Audiophyte
hello all

Hello everyone- this is my first post. I used the website when I set up my home theater, and I found the advice to be invaluable. Look forward to participating regularly.
Johnnymac36:)
 
avaserfi

avaserfi

Audioholic Ninja
Just rub it in my face Jim ;)! You live less than 5 minutes away and you get to go to the AH event while I am stuck in Iowa writing a paper on modern sociological theory and the divide caused by paradigms.

As my revenge next year I will be done with school and am planning on making it to the AH event no matter what! I figure the drive from Texas to Florida isn't that bad...

I have learned tons from this place and would love to meet the guys who run it. Hell if I could find my first post here I would, but that would be embarrassing and probably give everyone a good laugh ;).
 
avaserfi

avaserfi

Audioholic Ninja
I took a look to see how far back I could go with your profile...but you've posted 500 times in the past month and a half. Good golly. Andrew, you ARE an audioholic. :)
What can I say, I like it here, and when I first started I got so much help I figured I would try and help some others too :).


Ohh btw this is my first post. I re-read it and wow, have I learned quiet a bit since then from here and reading as much as I could in general. I was one of those typical I need gadgets for good sound, not good speaker people :eek:. I learned my lesson from this place though :cool:!
 
P

palmharbor

Junior Audioholic
Clearwater Beach Audioholics Meeting & Dinner

I went to the Saturday event and it was quite good.
The lectures were the best. Joel et al really know what they are talking about and I learned much.
This was the best part of the meeting. Dolby Labs was introducing a new 7.1 upper and lower and discussed new technology coming called "listen"
Tampa was hot and profoundly humid as it is June through November but the A/C was running fine.
the dinner had excellent food of chicken, ribs and more plus a "belly dancer" for entertainment. There were good door prizes given out and lots of them from DVD players to speakers to projection screens.
Well worth the effort!!!!
Emotiva had their gear running and it was quite
impressive as were the B & W speakers used during the lectures and demonstrations. I would have loved to have heard some Martin Logans but they were not there.
 
Davemcc

Davemcc

Audioholic Spartan
Where am I now? It’s Friday night and I am in Clearwater Beach, Florida at the Audioholics party. I got to meet several of the vendors I have purchased from. It’s really great to meet the people who work for the companies you buy stuff from. They are super dedicated to their trade and were very happy to talk with me even though I was clearly bugging them as they set up their gear for tomorrow’s demos. I am super excited for tomorrow and the all the new things to see and hear. I also got to meet Gene, Bertica, Clint and MajorLoser (from the forums) and I have had a great time so far!
I'm still sitting here in Clearwater. The AH party was a really good event. Personally, I think Emotiva stole the show. I thought that their new speakers were the most natural, realistic of the show and I bought their new dual passive sub/outboard amp with auto parametric eq system, even though I need more subs like I need another whole in the head. Also, look out for their 5x200w amp for $699.

This is the first time I've seen the Axiom speakers and everybody is right. Wow, what a beautiful finish. They had a very powerful display running with a choice of either 4 EP400's or 4 EP600's and a pair of M80's up front in a relatively small room.

I enjoyed the Dolby demo of 9 channel mastered audio using six B&W 803D's and two 801D's for height information and a center.

I was a disappointed by the RBH/Yamaha demo. I think my issue was simply that it was overly bass heavy, like the subs weren't blended with the mains properly. Yes, I know that's very subjective, but I expected more from a demo with speakers in excess of $15,000. However, this was a really good demo of the Epson 1080p projectors.

I'll take a wait and see approach to the announcement of the Audioholics online electronics store. As with any other case of potential conflict of interest, I'll have to wait and see how the vested financial interest of selling products is intermixed with the expectation of impartiality when reviewing products. It seems like a thin line that's easy to cross, but like I said, I'll wait and see.

Silly me brought my camera, but didn't realize till this morning that I left it in the room all day and didn't take a single picture. I've never been a picture takin' kind of guy.
 
N

ned

Full Audioholic
It was a pleasure meeting you Gene, Clint and Jim!

Jim, it was great talking to you Friday night. Good luck on your upgrades.

Was I glad to finish my rounds early Saturday morning at nearby Morton Plant Hospital, perfect location for the event.

I was able to witness Carada's newest Masquerade masking system. Interesting discussion about Yamaha's latest flagship receiver and the new YPAO system.

RBH speakers powered by Yamaha - similar to my setup.

Had a long chat with Axiom as well and his take on speaker/subwoofer placement, digital amplifier and his thoughts on room correction. They were demonstrating 4 sub setup.

Emotiva with their impressive new 7.1 channel amp.

I got to witness impact acoustic's digital rapid run system.

Epson's pre-production UB (ultra-black) version of their 1080p 3LCD with Panamorph's UH380 HE lense on a motorized sled.

It's interesting to note that you will find experts couldn't agree among themselves.

Dolby's with their B&W speakers demonstrating their new 9.1 system with "height" and Dolby TruHD. A dedicated room would have produced a larger impact although the Auralex product have done a good job.
 
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J

Jim Robbins

Audioholic
Ok Jim, who are you or what's your call sign?
Ok, this is me...

I wonder if I can change my user name to just "Jim Robbins" somehow. It would be easier for people to harass me then... *grin* I didn't see the option in the user control panel, however. Maybe I'll have to email one of the head honchos and see what they can do.
 
TICA

TICA

Audioholics Accounts Manager
Great Time

I wanted to take the time and thank all attendees that participated in the event.

We had a great time putting it all together and we're happy you all enjoyed it.

We look forward in planining our next one.

Please feel free to give us some feedback on what things you liked or not.

Hope to see you all again next year.

Until then. :)
 
J

Jim Robbins

Audioholic
Just rub it in my face Jim ;)! You live less than 5 minutes away and you get to go to the AH event while I am stuck in Iowa writing a paper on modern sociological theory and the divide caused by paradigms.
Hey man, you can rub it in my face when you make 3 times as much money as me because you have some super triple degree from ISU. Either that, or you'll be over educated and everyone will be afraid of you. *laugh*

They said they were thinking about doing Disney next year. That would be great! My wife and kids would love it, too. My wife came with this year and I got to drag her around, but I don't think her heart was in it. She humors me with this stuff more than most wives do. I am glad for that. Of course, she always enjoys sitting down at the theater and watching a movie, so I don't get many complaints. Well, except when the credit card bill comes. :-/
 
gene

gene

Audioholics Master Chief
Administrator
I was a disappointed by the RBH/Yamaha demo. I think my issue was simply that it was overly bass heavy, like the subs weren't blended with the mains properly.
I was lucky to finally get some time during the day to actually hear each of the exhibitors demos. The demo Yamaha/RBH was doing was a bit complex since they were continuously changing DSP Modes, Aspect ratios, etc. When I was in it, I too noticed the bass was set too hot particularly during the music demo and commented on it. It turned out the wrong memory setting was used during that session.

That being said, it was amazing what all of the exhibitors pulled off in non ideal rooms at a hotel. Thanks to Auralex for making the RBH/Yamaha and Dolby/AIX rooms listenable!

Stay tuned for our full report for those who missed the event...
 
A

autoboy

Audioholic
I started out pretty much the same as Jim. I began with a pretty good Denon mini system in 1994. It sounded really good for $400 and had nice clean, tight bass out of its bookshelf speakers. I had this system through my freshman year in college. Sophomore year I lived in a huge house in Berkeley and we converted the dining room into a HT. I got a cheap Fisher receiver and some $200 Infinity speakers on clearance at Costco. They weighed close to 100 lbs, had a 15" woofer, two 4" woofers, and a foam dome tweeter. They were huge, and in my house, they made every party rock out better than any other party I had been to. We had a 27" TV that seemed fine. Later I moved to a smaller place and sold the Infinitys for $200 (same as I bought them for) and replaced them with some B&W 601 bookshelfs that my parents had discared when they bought a house that came with the stereo intact. They got new speakers, and I repaired the busted dustcap on the B&Ws. I got a new Sony receiver for $500 that I still use in my main system today, and found a Bose center channel that sounded good to me at the time. All I knew to listen for was bass, and this center channel seemed to have that covered. For rears I had inherited some JBL bookshelves that my brother discarded when he upgraded to JBL towers. For a sub, I had a pair of 12" B&W AS6's from the house that my parents had gotten. At this time I also upgraded to a 36" Sony tube and I thought I had the best system I had heard. The B&Ws had such a great name, sounded much better than anything I had heard myself, and kept me satitisfied for several years. However, it's shortcomings began to make themselves known to me, an audio newbie, and I started to long for a matched system. I had read articles about a seamless soundstage, and my messed up system was far from seamless. When I finally bought a house, I decided it was time to finally get that matched system I longed for. I shopped for several months, discovered audioholics, and decided on an Axiom m60, vp100 (to fit in my HT cabinet), and QS8s to match my new 56" 720p Samsung DLP. OMG. I had no idea a system could sound as good as this system, and I was in audio bliss. I soon discovered the severe crappyness of those B&W subs, and replaced them with a single SVS PB12-NSD that simply blows me away. Now, I find myself logging on everyday to check out what is new. I always have that lingering feeling that I want even more, and I am constantly researching new receivers to replace my trusty Sony, that just keeps going and I can't find anything to justify its replacement. Am an audioholic? Probably not yet, but I'm pretty damn close. If I give in one more time and actually upgrade one of my new purchases (like some new speakers that look better than my Axioms because I love the sound, but could use a more interesting look) then I will have become an audioholic. Pray for me.
 
Tomorrow

Tomorrow

Audioholic Ninja
Personally, I think Emotiva stole the show. I thought that their new speakers were the most natural, realistic of the show.
Dave....

Emotiva speakers??? I have not heard that they sell them. I just checked their website to see what I've been missing....still no speakers listed. Would you elaborate, por favor?
 
Davemcc

Davemcc

Audioholic Spartan
Dave....

Emotiva speakers??? I have not heard that they sell them. I just checked their website to see what I've been missing....still no speakers listed. Would you elaborate, por favor?
Per GaryCo above, they are a new product, as is the dual sub system and the 5x200w amp. None are on the website yet.

When I first walked into the Emotiva room, my initial reaction was that the sound of the demo was thin and light compared to the other demos. As I sat and listened for a while, I realized that it was actually a very natural, realistic sound. An acoustic guitar really sounded like an acoustic guitar was in the room with you. Watching an action movie sequence demonstrated that they certainly can deliver the power and punch for quality, loud home theater as well.

As for construction, they are built from 3/4" MDF, internally braced with a 1-1/2" baffle and a metal plate that mounts the speakers, I think it was 3/8" aluminum. They are finished in a black plastic coating. They are bi-ampable and have switches to cut the tweeter a bit and another switch to compensate for boundary effect.
 
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