VSAC 2003

Status
This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.
tell us more about VSAC....

Well sure! The Vacuum State of the Art Conference is sponsered by Hoover :D (that's the usual thing people think it is) NOT!
Actually there are many sponsers. Included are Bottlehead, Cain & Cain, Welborne Labs, Slant-6 Design, Diversity Records, and many more. Cain & Cain sponsered the Craftsman Room where some very talented amateur builders were able to show off their designs. Friendly competition between the speaker builders and also the push-push and parafeed builders. Some amazing eye-candy and impressive speaker designs there. Everything from simple and inexpensive to complex and WOW! There was a Digital ModsDemo Room for modified CD, SACD and DAC's. Bottlehead sponsered seminars by Bruce Edgar (Edgarhorn), Allen Wright (Vacuum State Electronics), and Charles King who flew in all the way from Connecticut to give a very informative talk on audio equipment testing and measurement. Friday night featured free beer courtesy of Lowther America. This was my first time attending even though it was the 4th VSAC and it's held practically in my back yard. I guarantee it won't be my last. It has really stoked the fire though. Tons of ideas for speakers and I'm now going to build a tube amp (I never thought I'd say that).
 
Ok, Somebody Has To Say It.............

These look like fine 'Rock' speakers. :rolleyes:

Eric.
 

Attachments

  • heimdallstrumpets2.jpeg
    heimdallstrumpets2.jpeg
    21.7 KB · Views: 471
frugal-phile™
Joined 2001
Paid Member
Timn8ter said:
Allen Wright (Vacuum State Electronics), and Charles King who flew in all the way from Connecticut

And Allen flew all the way from Munich :)

This was my first time attending even though it was the 4th VSAC and it's held practically in my back yard. I guarantee it won't be my last. It has really stoked the fire though. Tons of ideas for speakers and I'm now going to build a tube amp (I never thought I'd say that).

I know what you mean -- some buddies of mine where there, but i have trouble with the border, so much as i'd like too go....

I was hoping for more of a hi-lites reel... what did you find interesting?

dave
 
You mean besides eavesdropping on Lynn Olson's rants about the deplorable state of modern audio components coming from the major manufacturers? See Nutshell Hi Fi for more Lynn Olson stuff. I enjoyed the selection of vinyl (blues, jazz, Jefferson Airplane, Led Zeppelin). The new differential amp from Vacuum State is a thing of beauty. I was fascinated by the simplicity and effectiveness of the magnetically levitated turntable platform. My favorite hangout though was the Craftsman Room. I enjoyed seeing and listening to all the different speakers, lots of folded pipes, little tiny arrays, James K's "rock" speakers. I very much enjoyed listening to a pair of folded Voigt's by John W. Very easy on the ears, great imaging. I was interested in hearing Terry Cain's Abbey Voigt pipe, which I did, but they weren't quite broken in and a little shrill, but the bass extension was very impressive. Tony Ho had an amp there that was just NUTS. One of the best things about this type of audio is that there's just as much art as there is technology. Beautiful stuff. I have some pictures so if you could explain to me how to paste one or two in I will.
 
I was there as well. Absolutely awesome show and well worth attending!!! I wish I had remembered to bring my camera!

My highlights were talking with Bruce Edgar (and listening to his horns), meeting Josh Stippich the man behind Electronluv, and talking with Terry Cain of Cain and Cain (and listening to his speakers).

I also would like to mention how beautiful Tony Ho's amps were in person! Very cool!

Bruce Edgar's horns were the first horns that I've heard that sounded sonically "right" to my ears. I've never tended to like the horn sound because they have always sounded honky or had a midrange "bite" in my opinion. Bruce's horns didn't have any the objectionable attributes and instead made beautiful music with tremendous dynamic range. I would highly recommend checking them out if you have a chance...

The Cain and Cain speakers were very interesting. They are based on Lowther drivers and were very nice to listen to. They didn't go particularly low (not like I'm used to) but they were very organic sounding nonetheless. I actually found myself back in that room 3 times just enjoying the music... That says a lot considering what else was there...

By far the coolest amps I've ever seen were Josh's... Excellent design and execution combined with outstanding sonics. Check out his website... Sonically his stuff is some of the best I've heard and well, it was just very cool! I don't have a picture but he brought a pair of amps based on a radio transmitting tube out of Russia. The tubes literally were about 3 feet tall! I walked into the room and cracked up because I thought they were there just for shock value. Imagine my surprise when they told me that we were actually listening to them!!!! Unbelievable! The guy is 25 years old!!!! Check out his website and biography...it's worth reading!

Was a very fun time and I will definitely be attending next year!!!

www.electronluv.com
 

Attachments

  • 75tl_front_large.jpg
    75tl_front_large.jpg
    23.2 KB · Views: 386
These were the Studio Ben's by Cain and Cain that I mentioned... The only term that comes to mind to best describe them is organic... Just very musical and satisfying to listen to...

I listened to them being driven by a custom built pair of Electronluv amps (see above)...
 

Attachments

  • dblbenes.jpg
    dblbenes.jpg
    30.2 KB · Views: 352
One of the only decent pictures that I can find of the Edgarhorns is on the following link from the Robb Report. The mention and pic of the Edgarhorns is on the right... The link also has more info about a different pair of Josh's amps as well as the Cain and Cain speakers...

http://www.electronluv.com/pdf/Robb Report Article.pdf

Bruce brought the "fridge" bass unit combined with a pair of his Titan horns. The bass unit was powered by a small solid state subwoofer plate amp. According to Bruce, the combo was good down to ~20hz. All I know is it was easily able to move the floors in the rooms above and below. This was so much the case that I actually went searching from the floor above to find the source of such low bass at such volume... Very impressive...

These are a must hear if you ever get the chance... They are that good!!!! They have me thinking about experimenting with horns.... :bigeyes:

Here's another pic of Bruce and his Titan horn...
 

Attachments

  • godfather.jpg
    godfather.jpg
    12.5 KB · Views: 345
frugal-phile™
Joined 2001
Paid Member
Timn8ter said:
Here's a shot of the Craftsmen Room.

The cherry finished ones with the Heil on top behind the focused arrays are ones i designed and my friend Chris executed.


Apogee said:
[The Cain and Cain speakers were very interesting. They are based on Lowther drivers

They are based on Fostex drivers. The FE208ES in the picture you posted.

dave
 
The cherry finished ones with the Heil on top behind the focused arrays are ones i designed and my friend Chris executed.
Nice, I was wondering about those. Here's a better shot, right next to those lovable little arrays (they didn't sound that good but better than you might expect). Nice design Dave, and nicely executed.
 

Attachments

  • unkheilspkr.jpg
    unkheilspkr.jpg
    88.5 KB · Views: 313
frugal-phile™
Joined 2001
Paid Member
Timn8ter said:
Nice, I was wondering about those. Here's a better shot, right next to those lovable little arrays (they didn't sound that good but better than you might expect). Nice design Dave, and nicely executed.

Thanx... i'll be sure to point this out to Chris.

or those wondering, yes there is another Fostex 9" on the backside. Passive 1st order XO at 2k. Will be used with a pr of Decware Zen Selects wired as monoblocs.

dave
 
Status
This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.