Presidio Y.C.: I agree. I know many of the members there and I can assure you that their reception will be quite cordial next time around. I heard some very positive member comments about that last 'Fest there.
[FYI: The only cold shoulder may have come from the food and bar management. It turns out that as long as they get to vend the booze, no problem-o will be found ... They didn't have any objection to the BBQ or cold sandwiches, just the lost beer sales = understandable, since they have to push the broom around afterwords ...
]
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There is some confusion in some of the posts.
The most recent show, 2010, was at Fort Mason Center
The previous show, 2009, was at the Presidio Yacht Club
There has never been a show at the Sausalito Yacht Club nor will there likely be.
Yeah, next year the big room will be available all day and be the social spot. The room we used this year was just too small for the food and drink, auctions, manufacturers tables, etc. That will help a lot. And we will have more listening rooms available because of that.
Ground floor- no way. There is nothing like that available-anywhere possibly. And we really need to be close to SF I think. Lots of people come from the San Jose area and Santa Cruz and I think that we would lose a lot of them if we are up around Santa Rosa! In fact even the various alternatives mentioned in previous posts are mostly single big rooms. That works for the social / presentation part, but are out of the question for listening. The access is really better at Ft Mason- a ramp and an elevator. If you had to carry stuff to the second floor of the Presidio YC site you know that it required managing a narrow deck with steps. Downstairs was OK, with a much wider but uneven deck, but quite a distance from where parking was allowed. Certainly beautiful though..
We heard many more complaints about sound at the Presidio venue. It really comes down to whether it is completely a social event or there is some attempt to listen to stuff too. The big room at the PYC was over damped when filled with people, and there is no way that we could seriously pretend that we were auditioning stuff with almost a hundred people in there. Linkwitz has been uninterested in demoing his Orions at the PYC in the past, as he needs time and room to set them up. IMHO, his speakers sounded a lot better at Ft Mason than in the hotel room at Rocky Mountain. That just shows how hard it is to get things to sound right instantly in a strange venue. Certainly the rooms need more damping though.
The beer at the Presidio is actually not a bad deal at no profit. At Ft. Mason they insist on insurance if we have alcohol, so it gets expensive, but is probably self-supporting, ie no-profit. Now that we know we can support the bigger venue we will have beer next year, but in the big room, and we can shut it down when the presentations are in session. The Presidio Y.C. problem is that they insist on serving drinks, clanking glasses , talking , because the yacht club members have to have bar access- during our auditioning and presentations. Actually a lot of our people were also ordering beer during presentations from what I saw.
We are allowed to have a BBQ on the grounds of Ft. Mason, with good access via the rear steps, but the weather was pretty sketchy this year, which made it unappealing. The date isn't fixed yet, but will probably be October first, a month earlier, and that's going to be much better weather, so we can have food outside.
Finally, more medium rooms allow much better auditioning, and more blankets will make much better sound, and the big room will be much better for mixing and talking. I'm pretty optimistic about next year because the big problems are solved, and we can focus on organization, beer, food, sound blankets.etc.. . However more audition rooms will always mean a more divided experience..and they do have problems. Again, lots of talking in the auditioning rooms, but I think that if the equipment is spread out in more rooms and the big room has plenty of tables, it will be a lot more appealing as the social area, and we can keep people a little quieter in the listening rooms. Also, people will know where the presentation room is!
The most recent show, 2010, was at Fort Mason Center
The previous show, 2009, was at the Presidio Yacht Club
There has never been a show at the Sausalito Yacht Club nor will there likely be.
Yeah, next year the big room will be available all day and be the social spot. The room we used this year was just too small for the food and drink, auctions, manufacturers tables, etc. That will help a lot. And we will have more listening rooms available because of that.
Ground floor- no way. There is nothing like that available-anywhere possibly. And we really need to be close to SF I think. Lots of people come from the San Jose area and Santa Cruz and I think that we would lose a lot of them if we are up around Santa Rosa! In fact even the various alternatives mentioned in previous posts are mostly single big rooms. That works for the social / presentation part, but are out of the question for listening. The access is really better at Ft Mason- a ramp and an elevator. If you had to carry stuff to the second floor of the Presidio YC site you know that it required managing a narrow deck with steps. Downstairs was OK, with a much wider but uneven deck, but quite a distance from where parking was allowed. Certainly beautiful though..
We heard many more complaints about sound at the Presidio venue. It really comes down to whether it is completely a social event or there is some attempt to listen to stuff too. The big room at the PYC was over damped when filled with people, and there is no way that we could seriously pretend that we were auditioning stuff with almost a hundred people in there. Linkwitz has been uninterested in demoing his Orions at the PYC in the past, as he needs time and room to set them up. IMHO, his speakers sounded a lot better at Ft Mason than in the hotel room at Rocky Mountain. That just shows how hard it is to get things to sound right instantly in a strange venue. Certainly the rooms need more damping though.
The beer at the Presidio is actually not a bad deal at no profit. At Ft. Mason they insist on insurance if we have alcohol, so it gets expensive, but is probably self-supporting, ie no-profit. Now that we know we can support the bigger venue we will have beer next year, but in the big room, and we can shut it down when the presentations are in session. The Presidio Y.C. problem is that they insist on serving drinks, clanking glasses , talking , because the yacht club members have to have bar access- during our auditioning and presentations. Actually a lot of our people were also ordering beer during presentations from what I saw.
We are allowed to have a BBQ on the grounds of Ft. Mason, with good access via the rear steps, but the weather was pretty sketchy this year, which made it unappealing. The date isn't fixed yet, but will probably be October first, a month earlier, and that's going to be much better weather, so we can have food outside.
Finally, more medium rooms allow much better auditioning, and more blankets will make much better sound, and the big room will be much better for mixing and talking. I'm pretty optimistic about next year because the big problems are solved, and we can focus on organization, beer, food, sound blankets.etc.. . However more audition rooms will always mean a more divided experience..and they do have problems. Again, lots of talking in the auditioning rooms, but I think that if the equipment is spread out in more rooms and the big room has plenty of tables, it will be a lot more appealing as the social area, and we can keep people a little quieter in the listening rooms. Also, people will know where the presentation room is!
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This is my biggest disappointment. We really need better organization and always have!
The Pass and Linkwitz rooms were supposed to have visitor systems on the opposite walls but it was very hard to get people to move their equipment to these rooms. I tried to drag people's stuff into the those rooms, but it was like pulling teeth. Possibly they felt intimidated.
Next year we will in effect have two more listening rooms and we will steer people to the various rooms at the beginning and not let them pile up in one room.
Also, even after our constant mentioning that people should bring power strips, and speaker cables, etc, we didn't have enough for even the spaces we had going.. Possibly that is another thing that we need to buy I guess... at least the power strips and extension cords..
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Mark,
I agree that we could have used the space better. One idea would be to use the Burning Amp website to organize things ahead of the festival. For example, you could say we need 2 DIY systems in the Pass room and 2 DIY systems in the Orion room, etc. and get people to sign up to present their equipment in these rooms ahead of time. You could then use the bully pulpit of diyaudio to encourage people to bring equipment. I think that you did this pretty effectively the 1st year.
I've been at every Burning Amp Festival but I didn't bother to bring anything this year since I haven't built much new in the last year. But if I knew that we needed equipment I could have recycled some of stuff my previous years (diy 417a preamp, reworked NYAL Super It phono stage, clone of Pass ONO phone stage) or brought along some vintage stuff that I've reworked this year such as a Threshold SL-10 preamp.
By the way, are we definitely going back to Ft Mason next year or are things still fluid? For those of us in the South Bay, it would fun to have something a bit closer. Perhaps the folks at Stanford have some space for rent? It would give the folks from out of town a chance to see Silicon Valley.
Thanks again for all your work organizing things. Glad to lend a hand if you need some help.
---Gary
Appreciate the comments. One problem with trying to be too specific with lists is people don't show up, or show up much later, and we still have problems. But I think you are right,. The sign up lists haven't seemed to work, but without them is worse!
I really meant it when I asked people who had brought stuff in the past to bring it again! I agree, that a minimum would be to have lists next year to just make sure that we have the right mix of components.. In my case I brought a line stage, but remembered too late that it only had balanced outputs and I didn't bring adaptors!
So I guess you don't want to go to Sonoma State?
Well SF is a bit closer than Sausalito. I am always open to suggestions, but I really think that we need the listening rooms, and most places for events are about having big spaces, not rooms that are at all similar to a home. I want to try and make the rooms work next year. I think that we can do a lot better.
I really meant it when I asked people who had brought stuff in the past to bring it again! I agree, that a minimum would be to have lists next year to just make sure that we have the right mix of components.. In my case I brought a line stage, but remembered too late that it only had balanced outputs and I didn't bring adaptors!
So I guess you don't want to go to Sonoma State?
Well SF is a bit closer than Sausalito. I am always open to suggestions, but I really think that we need the listening rooms, and most places for events are about having big spaces, not rooms that are at all similar to a home. I want to try and make the rooms work next year. I think that we can do a lot better.
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Appreciate the comments. ... So I guess you don't want to go to Sonoma State?
SSU is more than 50 miles from The Golden Gate Bridge .... Renting the hall might be complicated, it being a university/institutional thingy (No beer allowed?)
I agree that Fort Mason is ideal! = Great views of the Bay, The City, etc. Parking is not a serious problem if you don't mind a bit of a walk from the Marina green. (Is beer a complication?)
I agree that Presidio Yacht Club is a good space, likewise with great views and plenty of free parking. (Beer service is not complicated, as long as you let them serve it up.)
I absolutely look forward to 2011 'Fest ... Let's do it all again and let the Burning Amp "authorities" pick the best situation ... and bring our own room acoustic fixes as needed.
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OK, BAF is contractually confirmed for Oct 1, 2011 at Ft Mason again. Weather should be great as it will be almost exactly a month earlier.
With the deposit made, we will have some funds to buy a lot more blankets which I think will make all the difference.
And by getting the rooms organized before the show, we will have 4 functioning DIY audition rooms..
Mark
With the deposit made, we will have some funds to buy a lot more blankets which I think will make all the difference.
And by getting the rooms organized before the show, we will have 4 functioning DIY audition rooms..
Mark
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speaker demo space?
Although it was fun to see so many interesting electronic projects at the last BA, I think that it would a nice balance to get more speaker projects in the mix. I understand that in the past there have been more of that kind of thing, but at the last event things were pretty skewed towards amplification, etc.
For speaker demos, there would need to be an open space. Honestly, the room geometry in the Fort Mason Center and the fact that all surfaces are hard and reflecting, make it a poor place for listening. Adding sound adsorption here and there would be a move in the right direction, but who would pay for that? This stuff is not cheap or small...
Being a speaker guy, I am interested in seeing electronics and speakers come towards each other. I think that there are some interesting possibilities, e.g. active speakers. Perhaps there could even be some collaboration between the two camps for the next BA?
-Charlie
Although it was fun to see so many interesting electronic projects at the last BA, I think that it would a nice balance to get more speaker projects in the mix. I understand that in the past there have been more of that kind of thing, but at the last event things were pretty skewed towards amplification, etc.
For speaker demos, there would need to be an open space. Honestly, the room geometry in the Fort Mason Center and the fact that all surfaces are hard and reflecting, make it a poor place for listening. Adding sound adsorption here and there would be a move in the right direction, but who would pay for that? This stuff is not cheap or small...
Being a speaker guy, I am interested in seeing electronics and speakers come towards each other. I think that there are some interesting possibilities, e.g. active speakers. Perhaps there could even be some collaboration between the two camps for the next BA?
-Charlie
What's the best way to sign up for space for speaker demos in one of the "listening rooms"?
Is the plan outlined above still in effect for the upcoming meeting?
-Charlie
EDIT:
Right Here:
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/clubs-events/190560-burning-amp-2011-schedules-info.html
Right Here:
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/clubs-events/190560-burning-amp-2011-schedules-info.html
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I originally had my gear in the Linktwitz room, but it sort of became "The Shrine of Siegfried", and there was no one around to keep things moving (no speakers, either). I moved my stuff next door where there were speakers and sources to swap around, and people actually doing it. Things were apparently more free-floating in Nelson's room, but I had already demoed my equipment and didn't feel like schlepping it around again. In retrospect, though, it would have been interesting to pair my "Half-Nelson" amp with a pair of the open baffle speakers. I may bring the Half-Nelson back this year with a bigger (higher voltage) power supply, which will allow me to squeeze a few more linear watts out of it. It will have a couple of strange siblings, too.
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OK, call me impatient, but it's been a week now... should I be so bold as to ask what you meant by "shortly"???
-Charlie
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