"The Puget Sound!" DIY Speaker Contest for 2014

TerryO

Super Member
I'm pleased to announch that The Pacific Northwest Audio Society ("PNWAS" or "the Club") will once again be sponsoring "The Puget Sound!" DIY Speaker Contest this year.

The Contest is scheduled for Saturday, August 23, 2014 with the doors opening for entries at about 9:00 AM and the general public at approximately 9:30 to 9:45. We will attempt to start the judging at 10:00.

I will be filling in more information in the coming days, weeks and months, so be sure to check back from time to time as additional information is published.
I should have more information up by the end of this next weekend!

Best Regards,
TerryO
 
Speaker Contest: "The Puget Sound!" DIY Speaker Contest

The contest will be held at the Mercer Island Congregational Church, 4545 Island Crest Way, Mercer Island, WA

Doors open at 9:00 a.m., and judging begins between 9:30 and 10:00 a.m.. We may be flexible on start time if a contestant is traveling some distance and may be arriving later than the start time; please let us know in advance so we can schedule accordingly.

Entries
This year there will be two "classes" of entries: original DIY designs and kits. We realize that a lot of effort, experience, skill and sometimes luck are needed to come up with a successful design. Many accomplished designers learned their craft by starting with kits of one sort or another and subsequently progressed toward original designs. For others, the lack of time or experience makes a kit a means towards better, affordable sound.

A Kit is defined as...
...Any pre-designed or published design (publication includes the Internet) that is the product of another person. This may be plans, parts, kit, or both plus cabinets, etc. Any major deviation from the plans may at some point constitute an original design -- however, a club appointed technical committee will have the final determination if this problem presents itself. All kits must have been offered to and available to the general public at some time. We rely on the integrity of the contestant!

The kit class is broken by cost per pair, and excludes the cost of the cabinet and finish. The breakdown for kits is as follows:

$0-$175/pair
$176-$325/pair
$326+/pair

Original Designs:

The breakdown is as follows:

One way ----under $75/over $75
Two way ----under $200/over $200
Three way -- under $300/over $300
Unlimited ---- no limit

NOTE: This is for drivers and crossover parts only; cabinet material and finish are not included. We again rely on the contestants' integrity. Your uncle who owns the HiFi Emporium cannot give you a special deal that isn't or hasn't been available to the general public. Nuff Said!

The speakers will be driven by the system the club supplies. Don't bring your own MegaWatt Hyper Triode Amp -- we're not going to use it. To keep it simple, we are not going to allow biamping or plate amps for a bass module.

The entry fee is $5 if you pre-register (postmarked by August 25th) or $10 if you register at the door. If you have any questions please post on one of the forums with an official thread on the contest, like this one. Also, it would help us a great deal if you'd let us know or think you're coming. A downloadable format entry form and the address to send it and your entry fee will be provided at a later date.

Judging

The judging will be by a panel of judges in a special room set aside for this. We will have three judges, which in turn plays his personal pre-selected musical selections (2-3 minutes max.) while sitting in the "sweet spot." Each contestant is allowed to specify general guidelines to set-up, that is, distance apart, toe-in, although corner loaded speakers will need to provide their own artificial corners. Remember that the judges will be sitting side by side so that should be taken into consideration.

We intend that judging will be totally blind -- this means that a curtain is utilized to ensure that sound, and not appearance, will be the sole criteria. All speakers will have the loudness adjusted to the same level before judging begins. Set-up of speakers will be by a club crew using notes taken at time of entry. Each judge will be issued a standard evaluation form prior to each session, and will rate each entry by assigning points, after which the form is collected by the Technical Committee member assigned to monitoring the judging (and setting SPL levels prior to each evaluation of an entry, etc). The forms are then scored by the Contest Director, or his designee for total points. After the final entry is judged, the points earned are assigned within each category to determine ranking within that class. The total overall points regardless of category or class will determine Best Sound of Show.

Other Stuff:

General admission of the public is free. We hope to have a garage sale/swap meet type offering for those who wish to sell or buy audio gear for free. However, the owners are responsible for their gear, etc. Don't expect to drop off stuff and return at the end of the day to pick up the money. (Please advise in advance if you wish to sell items).

We are going to let the attendees help out by voting for the Best Craftsmanship, Most Unusual, Most Creative Use of Material (Bondo, duct tape, silly putty, etc.).

Awards:

Each entry will receive a certificate of participation and a print out of his entry's frequency response measured by a qualified expert designated by the Contest Director or head of the Technical Committee. Additional certificates will be awarded to class winners, as well as 2nd place .

Finally a "Best Sound of Show" certificate will be presented to the overall winner. All winners of their respective DIY class are eligible for this. Please note that "kit" speakers aren't eligible for the Best Sound of Show.

Unless overruled by the Technical Committee for violation of the rules, the decision (total points) of the judges is final.

Best Regards,
TerryO
__________________
 
Do prizes include those large pink scallops?

Will there be a Northeast Sound contest, a Mid Atlantic Sound Contest,...
 
Do prizes include those large pink scallops?

Will there be a Northeast Sound contest, a Mid Atlantic Sound Contest,...

Mr. Valveglow,

Book your flight now and beat the last minute scramble to attend the Contest. Winner's are awarded a Certificate (suitable for framing) that will became a source of pride for the entire remainder of their life. Just ask any past winners.
:banana:

Best Regards,
TerryO
 
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Mr. Valveglow,

Book your flight now and beat the last minute scramble to attend the Contest. Winner's are awarded a Certificate (suitable for framing) that will became a source of pride for the entire remainder of their life. Just ask any past winners.
:banana:

Best Regards,
TerryO


Actually, it sounds terrific!
 
We'll be stepping it up a few notches very soon! I hope all of you are working on your entries!
:banana::banana::banana:

Best Regards,
TerryO
 
Checking to see if anyone is thinking of bring something to the meet?
I've got a plan that needs built and do have the parts already in hand, guess I should get off my rear and get cracking, not much time left until Aug!
Only one thing to overcome, the though of all that frick'in MDF sawdust, get the old dust mask out I guess.

Bruce,
 
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I've got something I've been working up over the last few weeks.. maybe by August they'll actually sound right!
 
hmmm....who are the judges? do they have a good ear? I have a good ear, some say I have the golden ear, can I be a judge? a judge could be anyone right? especially blindfolded, come on humans take it back a notch, all this role playing? really?:thumbsdn:
 
hmmm....who are the judges? do they have a good ear? I have a good ear, some say I have the golden ear, can I be a judge? a judge could be anyone right? especially blindfolded, come on humans take it back a notch, all this role playing? really?:thumbsdn:

Interesting stream of conciousness process. I'm very happy for you, as many people don't, or aren't able to, enjoy the simple pleasures of life.
Have a great one!
:thmbsp:

Best Regards,
TerryO
 
Checking to see if anyone is thinking of bring something to the meet?
I've got a plan that needs built and do have the parts already in hand, guess I should get off my rear and get cracking, not much time left until Aug!
Only one thing to overcome, the though of all that frick'in MDF sawdust, get the old dust mask out I guess.

Bruce,

Hi Bruce,
I'm trying to catch up a bit and start answering posts and questions. I'm happy to see that you're planning on attending! I need to find my dust mask if I'm going to enter something.
:banana:

Best Regards,
Terry
 
A bump to see if anyone is building? I've got my MDF (mostly) cut and have one cabinet 95% together, one heavy SOB, trying a design with a lot of interior mdf baffling.

Guess I should do a build thread either in DIY or Speakers, will have to get some pictures in the next few days, hate to start or see a thread started WITHOUT PICS!

Bruce,
 
I've got an entry, and am anxious to bring them in to see what the judges and everyone thinks about them. :headscrat

For anyone else interested, the contest is open to the public, not just club members. (see prior post from TerryO).

It's always fun, so come on down. :D
 
I'll probably have one or two entries myself. However, if there a lot of contestants, I can withdraw them. I've been quite busy until now, but those obligations are finished (as of today) so I will be able to dedicate a lot more time to the Speaker Contest.

This year, our Judges will be people that are quite well known not only in the Northwest, but in North America as well.

Bruce Brown: Bruce is the Owner/Mastering Engineer of Puget Sound Studios (Bruce does the preparation/mastering for many of the downloads at HD Tracks), he's also a long time Audiophile and music lover.

Mike Lavigne: Internationally known Highend Audiophile, reviewer and music lover.

Gary Dahl: Assistant Conductor of the Bremerton Symphony Orchestra, as well as the BSO's Manager. Gary is also well known as a DIY Tube Amp and Speaker Designer/Builder.

Best Regards,
TerryO
 
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