Second year at the same location, the Hotel Irvine, room 441, and with us arriving late Wednesday afternoon after a full day of teaching. Tired, exhausted... and bittersweet as this was the next to last week before we retired as educators. Daunting task. Set up a room—a hospitality room with an audio system hitting well over a $100K—make the room a place to sit and chill. Adult beverages, 8 different bourbons and scotches, best coffee around (burr ground on demand, filtered water, special blend of beans courtesy of Ristretto Roasters in Portland... all brewed via the Moccamaster), soft lighting, comfy chairs... yeah, we pulled it off... of course to really pull it off, we also have to visit the exhibitor rooms. Meaning we need to report on the show, get around to people we know and people we are glad to get to know, all the while hosting the PF Hospitality suite.
What this really means is that spending any serious time in any room, other than our own, becomes hopeless. The best we can do is drop in, take a few images, grab some literature, give a cursory listen where if it sounds okay, it is probably way better than okay... and then onto the next. For sure it gets old, and we are old, and so each day becomes a seemingly longer and steeper hill to climb. Stop for lunch, say hello to friends new and old in the hallway... by Sunday we are physically and emotionally gone. But on Monday we were back at school for our last five days...ever...with kids.
So what you got here is a hundred plus images, a list of what was shown in the rooms, some people we ran into... and a few comments about this and that. Enjoy. Part one of five...
Partner David Robinson and dear friend Tim Di Paravicini of E.A.R. share a moment in the PF Hospitality Suite.
Our setup for the Positive Feedback Hospitality Suite. Evolution MicroOne loudspeakers, darTZeel LHC-208 integrated amp, Skogrand Cables Beethoven cables, Stillpoints rack, Kubala Sosna power distribution unit, and the Lampizator Golden Gate. Heard from many that it was the real deal musically—one of the better sounding rooms at the show—of course the bourbon helped a lot with that decision. And to think we sort of tossed it in the corner...
Roger Gordon, Wes Bender, and David Robinson in the PF Hospitality Suite. The room was sort of packed throughout the show...
PearlEvolution. Great stuff here and really a wonderful person as well.
Silvano Cremonesi of PearlEvolution.
Burwell & Sons loudspeakers with Raven Audio, Mytek Digital, High Fidelity Cables. Good people. Solid sound.
Burwell & Sons loudspeakers.
Burwell & Sons loudspeakers with Raven Audio, Mytek Digital, High Fidelity Cables.
Steve Norber of PranaFidelity. Such a beautiful human being.
PranaFidelity loudspeakers. Great sound as always. Right across the hall so we shared coffee for water.
Daedalus Audio, Modwright Instruments, WyWires, and GIK Acoustics.
Daedalus Audio, Modwright Instruments, WyWires, and GIK Acoustics. Carol got to hear her perfect song, "Play for Today" by the Cure, and it was magical again!
Lou Hinkley of Daedalus. A real soul.
GIK Acoustics room treatment. Talk about affordable and real.
GIK Acoustics room treatment.
Tryst headphone amplifier from ModWright.
E.A.R. USA, Helius, Marten, Jorma Design. Dan always has really good sound, and music, in his room.
The Source A/V with Astell&Kern.
The Source A/V with Astell&Kern.
The Source A/V with Astell&Kern.
Dynamic Design AV, Tidal, Lampizator USA, TVTI.
Tidal loudspeakers. Great sound here.
Dynamic Design AV, Tidal, Lampizator USA, TVTI.
Bill Artope from Dynamic Designs AV. Sweet friend he is...
Electra-Fidelity, Resolution Audio.
Audioengine. Solid company offering solid products at affordable prices.
Audioengine.
U-turn turntable.
Gavin Fish.
