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I'm going to start this off by saying- yep, it's been a month plus, and this is very very late! I've had a lot of time to think about how this went, how I've wanted to say it, and how I want to present the next one. This will likely not be as thorough as an actual walkaround, but here goes...
All photos are linked here:
Thank you to the sponsors, and all whom attended, helped, and lent an ear. A special thank you to Bill for his wonderful photos. This event would not have happened if it wasn't for all of you!
The "Duality" idea made the competition take a lot longer due to the 2 categories, and we had to absolutely cut the head to head out of the day's itinerary. There was just no time to do it. We had 9 entries in the Micro 3-way and 2 in the Wibbunz category. Chuck won the Wibbunz with his 'Pipes', and Tyger his DARPA for the Micro3. Congrats!
Micro3 (Thanks, Paul!):
The other Wibbunz entry, my Nephila:
This was the first time we hosted the event at Hotel Fort Wayne, and the room was much better than that of the Hyatt in terms of acoustics. Once the AC was running enough, it stayed relatively comfortable in the room, better when we closed the doors. Most comments on the room seemed to be positive. I do believe we will be proceeding with 2016 at the same venue.
Door prizes were plentiful:
I counted about 55 people in attendance, though not constant. I count 33 pair present.
Great fun was had by all!
Tyger did a good followup thread here:
Now- the precursory stuff for 2016......
I had a small session of QnA after lunch in terms of what the theme should be for 2016. I proposed an 'Attitude Adjustment' theme derived from something discussed earlier in the forum by KennyK. I really like the idea, but through the query, it seems like the price limit of $500 ('Tudes cost $450 in drivers for retail pricing) really fell on deaf ears. I understand that when the price limit goes up, that the number of entries go down. When we did the Black Box at $150, we had 12 entries. Ludicrosity had 4/$350 limit. Micro3 had 9/$200 limit and Wibbunz had 2/$250 for a total of 11 entries. It really seems to me the theme builds should remain under a threshold dollar amount, due to this past experience, but I will still keep the Attitude Adjustment in the poll for posterity. A few said we should have an open-back/dipole theme, since that has not yet been utilized. I even asked if someone else wanted to host the event due to all of the issues I encountered this year, only to find that the consensus is "You would be a hard act to follow". This reassured me to press forward for the next event. I had several discussions with people that regularly attend every year to see what they felt about what I could plan for the next one.
I heard:
-I like your quirky rules.
-too high a price diminishes entries.
-multiple choices is okay, but more categories use more time.
-The theme builds are for fun, not made to be a reference project.
-A year for a higher price theme is doable, especially before MWAF.
-unlimited price would not be a good idea.
With that in mind, I've selected a few of the themes on my list to peruse and think about. Ultimately, I have ideas about what the final rule list will be for each one, so the minute criteria is pretty much set in my mind. That list of clarifications will come out once the theme is chosen:
- "Alternate reality" Omni/open-back/cardioid/Transmission Line midrange; Basically, use a midrange in an unusual or less common applied design. Of course- this would be a 3-way theme. Likely a $250 limit.
- "Attitude Adjustment"; aspire to my Attitudes design. $500 limit. Stand mount 3-way, 1.5ft^3 or less, 10" or smaller woofer; dome mid and ribbon-esque tweeter preferred, not required. I will bring my Attitudes out for playing before the compy starts (in exhibition) just to set the bar.
- "Flagships"; build a set of 2-way monitors using the cream of the crop of a brand. This would obviously be a higher dollar category.
- "To 11 and beyond" High Sensitivity designs. Dayton DIY did this in 04. I'm referring to refined and detailed with incredible output and dynamic capabilities. Waveguides likely apply, but are not required. Waveguides or horns cost would be an included factor.
- "Tuned In" DCR woofer box, or more chambers.
- "Widebodies" Make a floor standing shallow and wide design.
- "Aesthetic Clones" Pick a commercial design aesthetic, and copy it with either like or different drivers.
- "Nanotech" Make it as small as possible, and as cheap, and have the best overall result. We're talking 2 ltrs or less!!! Granted, in this room, there won't be much help in the los, nor any room boundary reinforcement. We had 2-3 designs there tis year that did this quite well.
I'm going to also include "Duality" in the list with a yes or no, as to whether the masse want 2 categories or not, even though it does take more time.
Let the discussion FLY!
Later,
Wolf
All photos are linked here:
Thank you to the sponsors, and all whom attended, helped, and lent an ear. A special thank you to Bill for his wonderful photos. This event would not have happened if it wasn't for all of you!
The "Duality" idea made the competition take a lot longer due to the 2 categories, and we had to absolutely cut the head to head out of the day's itinerary. There was just no time to do it. We had 9 entries in the Micro 3-way and 2 in the Wibbunz category. Chuck won the Wibbunz with his 'Pipes', and Tyger his DARPA for the Micro3. Congrats!
Micro3 (Thanks, Paul!):
The other Wibbunz entry, my Nephila:
This was the first time we hosted the event at Hotel Fort Wayne, and the room was much better than that of the Hyatt in terms of acoustics. Once the AC was running enough, it stayed relatively comfortable in the room, better when we closed the doors. Most comments on the room seemed to be positive. I do believe we will be proceeding with 2016 at the same venue.
Door prizes were plentiful:
I counted about 55 people in attendance, though not constant. I count 33 pair present.
Great fun was had by all!
Tyger did a good followup thread here:
Now- the precursory stuff for 2016......
I had a small session of QnA after lunch in terms of what the theme should be for 2016. I proposed an 'Attitude Adjustment' theme derived from something discussed earlier in the forum by KennyK. I really like the idea, but through the query, it seems like the price limit of $500 ('Tudes cost $450 in drivers for retail pricing) really fell on deaf ears. I understand that when the price limit goes up, that the number of entries go down. When we did the Black Box at $150, we had 12 entries. Ludicrosity had 4/$350 limit. Micro3 had 9/$200 limit and Wibbunz had 2/$250 for a total of 11 entries. It really seems to me the theme builds should remain under a threshold dollar amount, due to this past experience, but I will still keep the Attitude Adjustment in the poll for posterity. A few said we should have an open-back/dipole theme, since that has not yet been utilized. I even asked if someone else wanted to host the event due to all of the issues I encountered this year, only to find that the consensus is "You would be a hard act to follow". This reassured me to press forward for the next event. I had several discussions with people that regularly attend every year to see what they felt about what I could plan for the next one.
I heard:
-I like your quirky rules.
-too high a price diminishes entries.
-multiple choices is okay, but more categories use more time.
-The theme builds are for fun, not made to be a reference project.
-A year for a higher price theme is doable, especially before MWAF.
-unlimited price would not be a good idea.
With that in mind, I've selected a few of the themes on my list to peruse and think about. Ultimately, I have ideas about what the final rule list will be for each one, so the minute criteria is pretty much set in my mind. That list of clarifications will come out once the theme is chosen:
- "Alternate reality" Omni/open-back/cardioid/Transmission Line midrange; Basically, use a midrange in an unusual or less common applied design. Of course- this would be a 3-way theme. Likely a $250 limit.
- "Attitude Adjustment"; aspire to my Attitudes design. $500 limit. Stand mount 3-way, 1.5ft^3 or less, 10" or smaller woofer; dome mid and ribbon-esque tweeter preferred, not required. I will bring my Attitudes out for playing before the compy starts (in exhibition) just to set the bar.
- "Flagships"; build a set of 2-way monitors using the cream of the crop of a brand. This would obviously be a higher dollar category.
- "To 11 and beyond" High Sensitivity designs. Dayton DIY did this in 04. I'm referring to refined and detailed with incredible output and dynamic capabilities. Waveguides likely apply, but are not required. Waveguides or horns cost would be an included factor.
- "Tuned In" DCR woofer box, or more chambers.
- "Widebodies" Make a floor standing shallow and wide design.
- "Aesthetic Clones" Pick a commercial design aesthetic, and copy it with either like or different drivers.
- "Nanotech" Make it as small as possible, and as cheap, and have the best overall result. We're talking 2 ltrs or less!!! Granted, in this room, there won't be much help in the los, nor any room boundary reinforcement. We had 2-3 designs there tis year that did this quite well.
I'm going to also include "Duality" in the list with a yes or no, as to whether the masse want 2 categories or not, even though it does take more time.
Let the discussion FLY!
Later,
Wolf
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