Kegger and Cosmos, Festivities!

Kegger

R.I.P. 1/12/1966 - 6/1/2017
First, thanks goes out to everyone who worked so hard to make this Fest and all past Fests such a killer event!
Grumpy an Ernie don't get a break the whole Fest, without them the awesome days at the fest would not be possible.
Then the rest of of their families always on the go to do anything and everything that is needed, also for Nancy doing
what she does every year to make us all feel welcome and generally happy to see us.
(did miss the "girls" from the past fests though) ;)

It was good to see old friends, also surprising how many people knew me when then they'd stopped in at our room.
Sorry I am bad with names an faces, anyone who came into our room and had a good time we appreciated it to, if
you'd like to chime in here an remind me that we had a good time I'd appreciate that, might jog a few brain cells. :)

This year was the first I've shared hosting a listening room with someone, I wouldn't have it any other way now, it
was a pleasure and a blessing going in with Dan (cosmos) and those incredible speakers, made my electronics sing
to there fullest extent, best my setup has sounded at a fest, IMHO.. :smoke: Thanks to Dan and his friendly company.
(I had help packing and hauling this year from a local friend Chris, (ccerovina), thank you Chris)

As Dan Said, the fest, "it creates a definite deadline to projects. You have no choice, It has to be done by the Fest!"
No doubt I usually try an have a couple new pieces done for every fest, this year it was refine my 2 main amps and
get those large mono block allen amps done, well the first 2 got done, the allens were done but a mishap during the
setup process left one of them just a heavy piece of metal (it's fixed now).

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For the gear heads I'll list the electronics, if Dan wants to go over his killer speakers I'll let him give there rundown.
(I brought 6 sets of amps, but I'll just list what he had in play)

Preamp: Slightly modded Anthem PRE-2L (6DJ8 based)
Turntable: Denon DP - 62L, signet cartridge, modded EAR 834P phono stage.
CD-Player: Denon 2200 multi disk player, and the beefy vintage Phillips player.
Tweeter amp: Parallel Single Ended Ultra Linear 6LR8 (taken to the extreme version compactron amp) (10wpc)
Woofer amp: Push Pull Triode wired 6AV5, high power tv triode voltage gain 6FJ7, ltp phase splitter 6bq7 (12wpc)

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I got to see a bit more of the show this year, many manufacturers rooms were to my liking, Jim Salks stuff always
to die for, both looks and sound, those big CAR speakers are defiantly something I liked as usual, Local HI FI guy's
Audio Dimensions always present and always impresses, quite a few others I can't remember at the moment here.
(David Michael Audio and there Harbeth line are just plain sweet) (The tubes in Grant audio sure were eye candy)

Being an AK member though it is Members rooms that amaze me with the creations and system synergy, from Ray
with his speaker building skills, to Newman who finds the most killer stuff to invest his time and energy, to my bud
Squidward who just says heck I can build that, and he does it better, to Army and Glen who bring top notch tuned
gear, to RetroStereo and his systems over the years(this year though, WOW) to Dgwojo and his killer Altec speaks
(I think he owns them all) and Punker showing off his expertise, and local guy's like Mark (Justrideit) bringing there
best home setups, then you have our local audio group (SMAC) lugging in all kinds of great gear with Jeff, Mathers
keeping it all together, the swap room was a well oiled machine as well, quite full in there.

Anyone who knows me, the Fest is one giant bashing party that I gear up for all year long then go full boar, all out,
all night/morning hoping the room can provide a place people want to be, either during the day or well into night. :D

I try an keep the room open late night so anyone wandering about looking for a tune and a drink can stop by there.
(we kept the light on for yu)

3 sessions stood out for me, hangin with Billfort we had some good tunes, Newman brought over a record that I'd
not heard on LP and it sounded just right to me, saturday night/sunday morning a whole host of good people/time.

Stole a few pics from others postings...

ROCK ON! (FEST 2010 was the BEST) :guitar:
 

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saturday night/sunday morning a whole host of good people/time.

ROCK ON! (FEST 2010 was the BEST) :guitar:

That was a good time! I enjoyed the thumbs up or thumbs down voting process for selecting the next tunes!

Thanks for staying open late!
 
Kegger,
You and Cosmos had a quite a room there, it was neat to stop down for a beer after midnite, the Christmas records were a real treat too!! You guys really had that room rocking, it sounded great with your electronics and Cosmos speakers, I can't imagaine hauling those in from Ohio, Dave. :thmbsp:
 
A few of my notes:

The Fest: What a blast. Partymaximus.

Kegger: Tube genius. His hard work and magic had the room sounding fantastic. It was so clean it was hard to tell just how loud it was, it just kept sounding great! What a guy to share a room with. It was a weekend long party.

Rooms: There were so many good ones, where do you start? In NO PARTICULAR ORDER:

The Altec 604 combo in Dgwojo/PunkerX caught me in surprise. Frankly, I never heard these drivers sound anywhere near this good. They were clear, extended and coherent. It wasn't until this fest that I would have ever considered buying a pair. They had them sounding just plain fantastic. Great room. Can you pass my jaw back to me that I dropped on your floor?

RayW: His speaker magic was obvious. I never had a chance to get a great listen, between hosting and the crowd in his room, but what I heard was obviously fantastic.

Tyler Acoustics: Not sure if the factory room or Retro's room had them sounding better, but they nonetheless were both fantastic. I think the small Tylers were the best sounding small speaker I have ever heard. I am not a small speaker guy. However, for the right room/application I could live with these. For me, that is a huge compliment to their ability.

Classic Audio Reproductions: John had this room sounding better than I ever heard his rooms at the Fest sound. It was musical and musically believable. These big guys have the ability to sound real. IMO, you need big to sound real. These sounded real and fantastic. My speakers are the result of this type of inspiration. It was a significant honor for me that my speakers were even remotely compared to John's offering.

Squidward/dnewman04: For a significant part of the show, Dave and Ed were struggling with equipment issues. Somehow, they managed to get through it, present a consistently positive attitude and ultimately get their system sounding fantastic. I have the utmost respect for how Ed and Dave handled the adversity of a bad crossover and resulting issues. It's a bear to have this turmoil. Something similar happened to me one year and all I can say is I hope it never happens to anyone else. There's so much internal pressure to make your room a "good room" I can only empathize with their dilemma. They made it through and for the majority of the show their room sounded fantastic as well. Time to get my Unity horns assembled.. :D
 
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Kegger,
You and Cosmos had a quite a room there, it was neat to stop down for a beer after midnite, the Christmas records were a real treat too!! You guys really had that room rocking, it sounded great with your electronics and Cosmos speakers, I can't imagaine hauling those in from Ohio, Dave. :thmbsp:

Thanks Woj, it was good to get those records to you as well, kept getting in the way..:thmbsp:
 
That was a good time! I enjoyed the thumbs up or thumbs down voting process for selecting the next tunes!

Thanks for staying open late!

Yah that seemed to work pretty well! :D

Shall we try that at the next SMAC meet, I think we might hear a greater assortment of music....

At the very least I now know what to do if~in I don't have a bottle opener!

Seriously I had a blast, and I believe you guys are right about the smoothness and loudness. I have no issues listening to a system loud when it sounded as smooth as yours.
 
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Kegger asked me to list a few details about the speakers in our room.

First of all, this is a new design. Brad from Black Swamp Audio helped by drawing up the cabinet plans in CAD. This helped me begin the project, but it wasn't too long before I was deviating on the fly. The woofer cabinets are very heavily braced. As I neared completion of the woofer cabinets, I employed the help of a friend who operates a custom millwork and cabinet business to help finish the cabinets as I was running close on time before the fest. He helped significantly with the Horn cabinets.

The woofer cabinets are about 6.5 Cu Ft and hold Lambda TD-15X woofers. The Horns are a custom design and were cut on a CNC mill. The compression drivers are JBL 2445 bodies with TrueXtent Beryllium diaphragms. About 7 db of CD compensation above 10KHzwas employed in the Behringer DCX-2496 crossover. Crossover point was between 420 Hz and 800 Hz during the fest (we changed based upon conversation for demo purposes)

As mentioned before, the project just barely made it to Fest. The first time the drivers played together was Friday night at the Fest.. Shakedown was on the fly. I have yet to run Woofer tester to confirm tuning and uncover any problems.

Attached are pictures showing construction and at the fest. Please disregard the ugly mug in the middle of one of them...
 

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Those are some of the nicest speakers I've ever seen photo's of. Simply gorgeous!!

Thank you very much!

I am planning on making another pair. This next pair will likely be birdseye or curly maple and walnut. I think they'll look good too. I am thinking of doing a completely curved cabinet from baffle to baffle. They sound better than they look.. :yes: I might even really stretch out of my comfort zone and do some inlay or marquetry. (Fingers and toes are already crossed.)
 
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I've got pics of the 4 setups I though were better than what I've got going in my main rig, and this room was surely one of them. Kegger's juice made those speakers sing and they look killer too! Thanks for sharing and your hospitality
 
Thank you very much!

I am planning on making another pair. This next pair will likely be birdseye or curly maple and walnut. I think they'll look good too. I am thinking of doing a completely curved cabinet from baffle to baffle. They sound better than they look.. :yes: I might even really stretch out of my comfort zone and do some inlay or marquetry. (Fingers and toes are already crossed.)

Lemme know if the prototypes are going to hit the market!
 
I hit all the major rooms at the fest and always came back to Dan and Keg's room. It is hard to place a finger on what sounds so good with those speakers, but there is something there that is greater than the sum of it's parts. From top to bottom, they just sound great. Even when they were played at ear splitting levels, my ears did not hurt. The music was loud and clear. The amount of detail from both the woofs and horns was astounding. I heard a lot of music that I have and know well and heard detail that I've never heard before. (and my systems are no slouches). The Lambda is a kick ass woofer. I don't think I've ever heard such tight, accurate, and detailed bass before. I am very sensative to high range distortion and normally like to turn down my tweets because of that. These were the first speakers I've heard in years that I could listen to the highs at the same level as the rest of the speakers. The vocals were very smooth and extremely rich. The sound stage was wider than the speakers but still had solid imaging. And of course the craftsmanship with top notch. For prototypes, they rock!!!

Now if I could only talk Dan into bringing them over to my place for a Friday night listening session. Maybe have an improptu SMAC gathering. I'd like to hear them in a larger room with some better accoustics.

I can't leave Kegger out: The amps he builds always sound sweet, with great detail with lots of punch. I am not sure he had T.E.D. fired up, but that is my favorite amp of all the ones he had there.

Great job guys. Your's was my favorite room.
 
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As far as I could tell you guys had the most popular room at the fest and for good reason. I never did get to do a good sitdown listening session as there was never room to sit down, but every time I got my head in the door it sounded great.

My opinion changed dramatically at about 3am, but lack of sleep didn't kill me so I guess I'm stronger for it. :D

Great job, fellas!
 
I listened to Cosmos and Kegs gear for about 4 hours. The first hour was Friday night hangin at their room.

The other 3 hours occurred Sunday morning, 3:30 am to 6:30am. As I was trying to sleep! My room was right above theirs.

I wouldn't have had it any other way. Fest's ain't for sleeping!!
 
Mark and Ray,

My sincerest apologies to you both and anyone else we may have disturbed late at night with loud music. Frankly, I thought we were fairly safe with the lobby below us and listening rooms all around us. I wasn't aware there were sleeping rooms close by. Further, security came by several times and never mentioned any complaints...
 
Now if I could only talk Dan into bringing them over to my place for a Friday night listening session. Maybe have an improptu SMAC gathering. I'd like to hear them in a larger room with some better accoustics.

Now that is a great idea Dennis, I would love to hear those speakers in a larger listening environment with better acoustics.
 
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