It is interesting, which speakers will sound best in the new hall. In the previous one, Masonic Center, dipoles were preferable.
I know it's been a tradition to host BAF at Fort Mason (and Presidio Yacht Club). But in the interest of room acoustics have the organizers looked at using hotel conference rooms? They are not perfect but would be way better than what we had.
Head-Fi had been doing meets at various hotels, and it seems to be economically feasible too. For example the Doubletree hotel at SFO has been hosting head-fi multiple times, and is at a convenient location.
Just throwing an idea out there. I enjoy BAF wherever it is.
Head-Fi had been doing meets at various hotels, and it seems to be economically feasible too. For example the Doubletree hotel at SFO has been hosting head-fi multiple times, and is at a convenient location.
Just throwing an idea out there. I enjoy BAF wherever it is.
In the prior couple of years when I was a red shirt volunteer, the participants did exactly that, while one end of the room was playing, the other end was being swapped out. The informal goal was each setup plays 3 tracks. Worked very well once everyone was on-board.
I think a swap meet area would be great. I imagine that we all have stuff that we would like to sell or trade, and probably pick up a few things.
Although the acoustics of the yacht club and Fort Mason are sub-optimal, I like the funkiness of the venues, compared to your typical hotel property.
I'd like to second this idea. The venue may be convenient, but all the rooms at Fort Mason have horrible acoustics that a few moving blankets just can not improve to any degree. You really need some broad band adsorption...
The idea of holding the event at a hotel dovetails nicely with the recently floated idea of a multi-day event with tech talks on day one. The event could get a discounted room rate, people could hang around and socialize overnight and this might lead to more synergy and interaction that what is possible in the current format at Fort Mason.
-Charlie
Whatever we do, I would like to see it stay a DIY focused event. Moving it to a hotel, for some reason, sounds like it is heading down the path becoming a consumer event.
I like the imperfect rooms of Fort Mason. I've always felt very comfortable there. Besides, when was the focus ever on serious listening? I go there to meet friends, win something in the raffle
, and just to have a good time.
I like the imperfect rooms of Fort Mason. I've always felt very comfortable there. Besides, when was the focus ever on serious listening? I go there to meet friends, win something in the raffle
, and just to have a good time.
I think there is a matter of cost also. Higher entrance ticket means less visitors.
Sub optimal acoustics is preferable because we get to see a lot of designs and meet many people and chat. You probably do get to understand what the system might be capable of. Apart from acoustics , Fort Mason was cool and certainly didn't feel like a commercial show.......like a hotel might feel !
Sub optimal acoustics is preferable because we get to see a lot of designs and meet many people and chat. You probably do get to understand what the system might be capable of. Apart from acoustics , Fort Mason was cool and certainly didn't feel like a commercial show.......like a hotel might feel !
Keeping this a DIY event is a must but I think that BA has gained enough interested from participants, vendors and the media that it's time to up the ante! Going "pro" is not necessarily a bad thing if how it's executed it done carefully.
Frankly my first experience with BA was a little disappointing. It was a very chaotic atmosphere. I expected more hands on and building going on. I struggled to be able to hear during the presentations(sounds like this had been remedied) and I felt really bad for Tom Holman who sat in a corner and few people talked to him!
I still had a great time, meet a lot of great people. but don't know that I would spend the money or travel the 2000 miles to the show again asis which is a bummer! But I do live really far away (Zen Mod and one other person may have beat me for distance.).
a 2-day event at a hotel sounds very appealing to me! I would love to see presentations in the morning and hands on in the afternoon day 1 and a structured exhibitor event day 2.
maybe the hands on could be an advanced sign up with a cost sort of thing. you pick a camp you would be interested in. something like choose from gain clone amp camp, a zen type amp camp, a preamp camp, maybe a tube pre camp, DAC camp etc. where the fee covers the cost of a kit that you build with instructor assistance that you can then present the next day!
I would love to see vendors selling wares the first day! Get vendors like Apex jr and Linear systems out there and swap tables going so a guy could buy that special item or bit for there camp project.
I would love to see Day 2 have a exhibitor presentation in the morning where each person can introduce them selves and talk about what they brought and what makes it special? maybe have a slide of there exhibit showing. that way people can make note of who someone is and can find them and talk to them about their item. I saw a lot of really cool stuff at BA but had no idea who built it. Also I had no idea who anyone was in real life and if i had known that "screen name" was there I might have made it a point to talk to that person about a post i had read or project that had built or worked on etc.
I would like to see structured exhibits where a exhibitor can list times they will be showing of their item. so that way a person can say oh at 2 o'clock i want to go see Sigfried's new speakers. then at 2:30 Nelson is showing of his new beast with a million SIT's amp etc.
I think Mark/Variac has done an incredible job with Burning Amp and I am very thankful for all the hard work and effort he has put in! and I hope this will continue to expand and be around for people to enjoy for many years to come! change is inevitable and if BA is going to continue to grow at some point it is going to have to move to a bigger venue. I think there has been a lot of really great ideas put forth to help that be a positive thing!
just my .02....which is worth about .00002 these days.
Zc
Frankly my first experience with BA was a little disappointing. It was a very chaotic atmosphere. I expected more hands on and building going on. I struggled to be able to hear during the presentations(sounds like this had been remedied) and I felt really bad for Tom Holman who sat in a corner and few people talked to him!
I still had a great time, meet a lot of great people. but don't know that I would spend the money or travel the 2000 miles to the show again asis which is a bummer! But I do live really far away (Zen Mod and one other person may have beat me for distance.).
a 2-day event at a hotel sounds very appealing to me! I would love to see presentations in the morning and hands on in the afternoon day 1 and a structured exhibitor event day 2.
maybe the hands on could be an advanced sign up with a cost sort of thing. you pick a camp you would be interested in. something like choose from gain clone amp camp, a zen type amp camp, a preamp camp, maybe a tube pre camp, DAC camp etc. where the fee covers the cost of a kit that you build with instructor assistance that you can then present the next day!
I would love to see vendors selling wares the first day! Get vendors like Apex jr and Linear systems out there and swap tables going so a guy could buy that special item or bit for there camp project.
I would love to see Day 2 have a exhibitor presentation in the morning where each person can introduce them selves and talk about what they brought and what makes it special? maybe have a slide of there exhibit showing. that way people can make note of who someone is and can find them and talk to them about their item. I saw a lot of really cool stuff at BA but had no idea who built it. Also I had no idea who anyone was in real life and if i had known that "screen name" was there I might have made it a point to talk to that person about a post i had read or project that had built or worked on etc.
I would like to see structured exhibits where a exhibitor can list times they will be showing of their item. so that way a person can say oh at 2 o'clock i want to go see Sigfried's new speakers. then at 2:30 Nelson is showing of his new beast with a million SIT's amp etc.
I think Mark/Variac has done an incredible job with Burning Amp and I am very thankful for all the hard work and effort he has put in! and I hope this will continue to expand and be around for people to enjoy for many years to come! change is inevitable and if BA is going to continue to grow at some point it is going to have to move to a bigger venue. I think there has been a lot of really great ideas put forth to help that be a positive thing!
just my .02....which is worth about .00002 these days.
Zc
BAF is at the crossroads. I realized that a few years back. Funky, free, sort of hippy, liberal and progressive nature of the event is something I really like and wanted it to be. But in order to continue its existence and to evolve I realized it would need to be commercialized, for what I had no interest professionally or personally. For that it needs professional support all year around. It needs selling stuff, promoters, marketing budget... Year over year BAF's performance was steady. With given amount of visitors collected funds allowed just about to pay the bills and to put down payment for the next year. So those are two limiting factors - time and money. That pretty much limits our choices of the venue, duration and program if continued to be organized as is.
As for the venue we always wanted it to be on or close to the ocean, so that people could step outside and enjoy the beauty. I will never forget the first year when we had an awesome weather, and when we had party going on inside and outside. I have a hard time imagining BBQ going in a hotel? I still hope that BAF could continue to be like what it is named after. Name Burning Amp, came to my mind, after Burning Man, hoping it will strive and build on creativity and individuality just like that older and better known event.
Since Mark took solely on him running the show, he needs to think what is that he wants to do. Commercialize or not? Maybe good idea would be to join forces with someone else already running the commercial show and just add DIY to its offering?
If not, if show continue to be a real DIY event, than I would just say that my preference for the event is place where we have one main room where is the main happening and than few smaller ones. I like commune style more than many smaller rooms, because it have a feel of collective event, something we all enjoy together at the same time. Fort Mason provides for that with large room we used for presentations. I still think it will be hard to find a better place than Fort Mason with all benefits it has. And do not forget, by now Mark most likely had to put deposit in order to secure space for the next year event.
As for the venue we always wanted it to be on or close to the ocean, so that people could step outside and enjoy the beauty. I will never forget the first year when we had an awesome weather, and when we had party going on inside and outside. I have a hard time imagining BBQ going in a hotel? I still hope that BAF could continue to be like what it is named after. Name Burning Amp, came to my mind, after Burning Man, hoping it will strive and build on creativity and individuality just like that older and better known event.
Since Mark took solely on him running the show, he needs to think what is that he wants to do. Commercialize or not? Maybe good idea would be to join forces with someone else already running the commercial show and just add DIY to its offering?
If not, if show continue to be a real DIY event, than I would just say that my preference for the event is place where we have one main room where is the main happening and than few smaller ones. I like commune style more than many smaller rooms, because it have a feel of collective event, something we all enjoy together at the same time. Fort Mason provides for that with large room we used for presentations. I still think it will be hard to find a better place than Fort Mason with all benefits it has. And do not forget, by now Mark most likely had to put deposit in order to secure space for the next year event.
few lines from Mighty Moi :
-meeting people is most important thing
-then goes lectures
-then goes seeing funky gadgets and speaking of them (considering that forum activity is already all the time about that , exactly)
-then goes actual listening ; gimme few evenings with some apparatus , then I'll tell you what I think ; not in shorter time
BBQ is waaaaay above listening , on importance list
-meeting people is most important thing
-then goes lectures
-then goes seeing funky gadgets and speaking of them (considering that forum activity is already all the time about that , exactly)
-then goes actual listening ; gimme few evenings with some apparatus , then I'll tell you what I think ; not in shorter time
BBQ is waaaaay above listening , on importance list
BBQ is waaaaay above listening , on importance list
I guess that explains why you were hanging around the BBQ for most of the day at the one BAF that you attended.........
I guess that explains why you were hanging around the BBQ for most of the day at the one BAF that you attended.........
Ya had to be outside to smoke anyway - so two birds with one stone...
Ya had to be outside to smoke anyway - so two birds with one stone...
I can testify that ZM's Drina cigarettes taste exactly like the stone incinerated sausage I had at the BAF.
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