Burning Amp 2023!

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Ay. Have you ever been to Vegas? Seriously.

Besides, Bakersfield is the gateway to Yosemite. Flagstaff to the Grand Canyon. Palmdale/Baker to Death Valley. Seriously again... I've been to all of those places. Vegas is way out of the way. If you fly in from anywhere, you don't fly into Vegas, you fly into LAX or Phoenix or Salt Lake and drive up.

The tour in Hoover Dam is actually cold.

The desert is beautiful.

Anyhow, I think you proved my point... most people are very prejudiced towards things they might not know much about... Vegas seems to be one such lighting rod for prejudices.

I've been to those places.. .and Santa Rosa, and Auburn, and SF, and Oakland, and Saint Josey, etc, etc...

Oh well, back to the BA 2023 and the plasmatronics

Vegas might be too dry for the plasma tweeters?

Maybe BA 2023 should be in the Russian River. I believe NP likes wine... so do I. Awesome whites in that place. I've been drinking Sonoma-Cutrer since the mid 80s ( as I understand it, their Pinot grapes come from the Valley over). It's close enough to Santa Rosa, but I think I'll stay at the Rancho Caymus Inn in Rutherford and I'll need to make reservations for dinner somewhere... it's a pity that Étoile is closed. We'll need to find a place to dine... I need to find a four star place, Yountville?

So make up your mind... if it's outside of SF and up the Coast, I need to make my reservations. BTW, Rancho Caymus Inn is highly recommended.
 
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Ay. Have you ever been to Vegas? Seriously.
Yes I have. Twice. I've also driven SF -> Yosemite -> Las Vegas -> Zion -> Grand Canyon when I lived in the US. I later visited Bryce on a cross-country trip from Roanoke, VA to Seattle, WA. If I recall correctly, I've visited 35 US states + DC.

How many Canadian provinces have you visited?

Tom
 
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"I've been to Vegas several times (for the CES decades ago). I find it wholly unappealing. SF is a more interesting place imo."

I've been to old CES shows too.

It's pretty much a self contained view of The Strip. A world unto itself ( the Show ) within world unto itself ( The Strip ). You are not really seeing Vegas, you are seeing the Bling! Bling! commercial side of the Strip. The "Whatever happens in Vegas, you leave your money in Vegas" part of the equation.

Do the plasma tweeters have issues with arcing in dry weather? In our electronic labs we work very hard at maintaining at least 50%. Anything below and we run into static electricity and discharge trouble.

Oh well, whatever, you all answered my question. About Vegas, that is.
 
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Yes I have. Twice. I've also driven SF -> Yosemite -> Las Vegas -> Zion -> Grand Canyon when I lived in the US. I later visited Bryce on a cross-country trip from Roanoke, VA to Seattle, WA. If I recall correctly, I've visited 35 US states + DC.

How many Canadian provinces have you visited?

Tom

One... BC. I've spent quite a few weeks over the years spending time in Vancouver, BC.

But I have travelled throughout the South West, West and some Mountain States -and Hawai'i. Which is what we're discussing, not Chicago or Ohio or Virginia or New Jersey.

And I've spent time in those places. I have flown over half the country too, but that doesn't count, huh? And driving through is not the same as going in to a place and at least spending a few days in there, huh? I mean, if you go from Yosemite down to Palmdale and then up the 15 to Vegas and then out to Utah... turning around then and going South to the Grand Canyon - via NE Arizona and past Flagstaff... it's not like you really spent time in Vegas. Huh?

I don't pass judgement on Calgary or Montreal or Winsconsin -because I've never been there. But I can tell you I've seen significant changes in Vancouver BC -not for the better - since 1980.

Let me turn the tables... have you been to Auburn, Santa Rosa, Yountville? Much better places than SF. MUCH....
 
I saw the video of the Axpona 2023.

Unfortunately, the audio simply doesn't do it justice.

Aaah, I found it. Seems like you're having a good time. ;-)

Is that a CJ ET3 preamp?
The short video with James McMurtry being played was made last year when we were testing the sound of the LFT8-b/plasma lash up. This is what we showed at AXPONA and, yes, that is a CJ preamp.
 
The one good thing about Vegas is the hotels - great food and service if you can afford it. The Bellagio is just gorgeous, but their Casino is straight out of Bally entertainment - lots of slot machines and zombie-like players. The other good thing about Vegas is it is 75 miles east of Pahrump, NV home of Spring Mountain Sports Car Resort. 10 miles of track and some of he best High Performance Driver Education (HPDE) in the world. I’ve had the Corvette Owner’s class and am going back for the Open Tracking class. These guys can teach you how to safely drive faster than you can imagine. Highly recommended.

All that said, I still vote for Santa Rosa and the nearby wineries of Sonoma. Just up the road is Francis Ford Coppola’s winery, which is like Disney World for wino’s !!
 
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Santa Rosa:

La Gare restaurant... we celebrated our anniversary there once during one of our road trip vacations. Old fashioned so that uppity San Franciscans might not like it, we like the way it's old fashion and the food and wine is good. Relaxed.

15 minutes to Sonoma Cutrer vineyards.
50 minutes (29 miles but you gotta take some narrow roads) to Rancho Caymus Inn in Rutherford.
Not quite 3 hours to Humboldt Redwoods State Park... then there's Eureka and yet more Redwoods.

A bit longer travel than most other places.... Vegas, OC, Auburn... but at least the place is very nice and you don't have to deal with SF and the Bay Area.

You will need a car. It is California after all.... if you visit California you must drive! Otherwise, go to NYC.

We've stayed in Crescent City and Eureka.

There's a Costco in Santa Rosa... Pizza for lunch!

In my own situation... I think we'd take the 101 all the way up and down. Nice places to stay also in Santa Ynez Valley... good food, beer and wine the WHOLE WAY... California is gorgeous when you get away from the big cities.
 
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