[jinp6301]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aura /img/forum/go_quote.gif Mark me down as a possible attendee. I'll drive 14+ hours from the midwest to hang with you guys anytime . [size=xx-small]Actually I might be buying a Jeep from Enigma so this is just a really nice coincidence but you get the idea[/size]

woot! Hopefully I'll see you at the meet dude!

 

[wavoman]

HOTEL SET-UP QUESTIONS -- Consensus needed
====================================

OK, today was inspection day (the contract is already signed and the money down).

Here's what I learned -- and we need decisions by MONDAY MORNING.

1. We can start set-up at 8 a.m.

2. We are on the first floor, front, extreme left of the lobby (just before the entrance to the sports bar -- a great sports bar, btw), in either the Excelsior room, or Excelsior+Imperial (keep reading).

3. The Excelsior is 48 ft x 20 ft, but actually only 865 sq ft due to some cut-outs. A long and narrow room. AC outlets along the long outside wall and the two short walls. The long inside wall is actually a room divider separating this room from the Imperial.

4. If we take only the Excelsior, we can have it as late as we want.

5. For no additional fee, they will open the divider and annex the Imperial, also 48 x 20 but a full 960 sq ft. The inside wall of the combined room is yet again a room divider (to some other ballroom), so no AC. But there are outlets on the short walls. In other words, we would have 48 x 40 space ... huge. No power on one of the long walls, but I have very long extension cords, plug strips galore, and we could make this work.

6. HOWEVER if we take the Excelsior+Imperial we have to be out at 5 p.m. sharp.

7. We get 15 tables and 45 chairs. That's it. We can probably hondle on the day for more chairs, but tables will be tough (lots of events that day). There are two choices for tables:

1. 6 feet long x 30 inches deep, or
2. 8 feet long x 18 inches deep

So the 2 questions that I need to answer on Monday:

1. Excelsior or Excelsior+Imperial. On my own I would go for the big combined room, but some folks object to the 5 pm hard stop. Post your opinions.

2. Tables -- I say 6 footers; we need the depth. Again, please post.

*** I promised the hotel that we would drift in to the Sports Bar at 5 pm or so for beer and such ... this is where they make the money, since we ordered nothing from catering. It's as good a place as any to eat, so I say go for it ... obviously people can dine wherever they want, but think about it.

 

[clauswitz]

Hi, I'd like to come with my budget components:
MS-1 & KSC-75 headphones
Porta Corda II & Millett Starving Student Amps
Nano 4gb 2nd gen & MacBook with Alien DAC

I'm looking forward to hearing the great equipment, see you all next month

 

[El_Doug]

I wish we had a more solid estimate on the number of people attending

It would be great to have the Excelsior only, so that we could keep listening until at least 5. That being said, last fall's NYC meet was quite cramped...

I definitely vote for the deeper 6-foot tables!

 

[ScottieB]

Where exactly would there be no AC? In late july in a cramped room with lots of equipment running (like tubes) no AC could be quite uncomfortable (what can I say, I'm spoiled

)! This is a tough call - although 8-5 isn't too shabby if we opt for the single room - like El Doug said it depends on how many people will be there I guess. The shorter but wider tables sound like the better bet to me, too - unless there's a way to do a combo? Guess that's hard to say without seeing it - but I doubt my stuff would need the depth.

 

[vpivinylspinner]

AC = Alternating Current not air conditioning

No Plugs

 

[ScottieB]

Ahahaha - oh of course. Oh man.
See where my priorities are?

 

[vpivinylspinner]

No Air Conditioning in July in a cramped room with tubes. What is not to like?

 

[wavoman]

Sorry .. I write AC for power and A/C for air conditioning. That's what I learned from renting offices and such. Is there a right/wrong way here? The pros use "HVAC" for "heating/ventilation/air conditioning" ...

And to my compulsive gambler friends here in Jersey "AC" means something entirely different, as in a trip to Trump.

 

[wavoman]

Did I mention Solid State only? Plus 44.1 limit on res ... hell, iPods only as source. And Bose on every table for comparison. "Great Highs? Great Lows? Must be Bose".

Please note Monster Cable is the official cable of the meet.

 

[El_Doug]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wavoman /img/forum/go_quote.gif Did I mention Solid State only? Plus 44.1 limit on res ... hell, iPods only as source. And Bose on every table for comparison. "Great Highs? Great Lows? Must be Bose". Please note Monster Cable is the official cable of the meet.

does this mean I cannot rock my skullcandies!?

 

[Listens2tubes]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nikongod /img/forum/go_quote.gif The nikongod gear list: Sources: MCM beresford clone with some DIY mods, and cheap DVD player as transport. Someone mentioned wanting to set up a TT rig in the planning and date picking thread. If you bring the record rotator (turntable), I'l bring my phono-cartidge signal decoder (bottlehead seduction tube phono-stage {if that interests you}).

Hi Ari, The MCM is a re-brand not a clone. Just like RCA tubes re-branded GE

I want to have my travelin' Technics there as it always sounds great with your amp.

Neal

 

[MD1032]

For question #2, the answer is definitely going to be the six foot tables. 15 of those actually gives us some decent real estate. Attendees of last year's meet likely recall that we had probably more like four foot tables, two feet deep, and a U of about 10 of them, with a four-block of larger tables in the middle. The deepness is definitely much more important, plus, the tables will be more structurally sound. The ones we had last year were hardly "lean-proof", which was mildly disturbing with the expensive stuff.

To this end, I'm establishing a table policy right now: Fang and Craig will each get a table for Head-Direct and Whiplash Audio respectively, since they were here last year, and Jack will get one for Woo Audio, since he talked to me ahead of time, but I don't want to promise any more table space to any vendors, or anyone. I'm planning on keeping a fairly minimal rig myself, probably no bigger than a 2' x 2' square, since it's just a laptop/HDD/soundcard/small amp setup. I'm going to go ahead and say that nobody, and I mean nobody but those three guys should have their own table. Say you hogged half a table...a 3 foot by 30 inch space should still be enough for a very, very substantial setup. If you need more space, find a couple people with tiny rigs and sandwich them in. For those who attended last year, think of these tables as probably more like what we had in the center, except this year we'll be able to line them up or even individualize them if necessary, and use both sides of the tables, so we'll have way more room.

If you can bring tables, or know a way we could get more tables, let us know. I mean real tables, not little side tables or microwave carts.

BYOPS: Bring Your Own Power Strip, plus any heavy-duty extension cords and such you have laying around. You can never have enough power stuff at these meets. Larry, that big extension thing is going to come in handy, I can guarantee it.

As for the room thing, well, it's definitely a sacrifice either way. I haven't seen the room for myself, so I don't know exactly how it compares to the room we had last year in size, but my #1 priority this year is to ensure that we don't have to do what I did last year, and that's turn people away because otherwise we would have been overloaded. My random cutoff of 20-25 people last year served us well in the long run, because even five extra people in that room would have really pushed it. We already have 28, so we're already talking bigger than last year. My gut feeling is to take both sections, but I'll talk to Larry.

By the way, we're going to introduce something this year that someone brought up last year and we tried, and that's a half-hour of quiet time. These meets get really noisy, really fast, so we're going to try that out from 1:30-2:00, or perhaps in two separate 15-minute blocks. Pick a rig (especially one with open headphones) or two, and just enjoy the subtleties you won't be able to hear during the rest of the meet because of the noise.

So right now, a guesstimate schedule is looking like:

8:00 - Set up galore (help other people out!!), eating bagels, drinking coffee, attaching name tags, roughly setting up the raffle.
~9:00 - Listening begins (people will still be showing up, likely).
11:00-2:00 - People usually come and go for lunch during this time. Lunch is on your own, and it's actually in our best interest to not eat lunch as a group, that way there's always plenty of people around keeping an eye on our stuff.
1:30-2:00 - Silent half-hour of hardcore listening.
4:00 - Amps and equipment off. Raffle drawing.
4:15 - Frantically put away equipment and convince hotel staff we'll be out by 5, which we somehow will despite having $500k in equipment set up.
5:00 - To dinner!

 

[vcoheda]

more space is always nice. sucks we can't have at least one of the rooms after 5PM. this place doesn't like to do any favors, i see. like they have it booked from 5-8 that night or something.

 

[Listens2tubes]

I vote for the Imperial for the later shut down time as I'll arrived after 1pm. And there's no way an 18" deep table is any good to anyone. I feel sorry for the party that gets the 15 we don't pick.

Neal