There is a new issue of Spintricity, with several articles already.

I think people will find the breadth and depth of our magazine a little different than the other mags out there.

We have an article on comparing photographic lenses to personal taste in shopping for music.

We have a review of some new music, Fever Ray, the day after it was released and of Pandora, the most popular internet radio site.

We also have a small report on the Hiend Show last fall in Vietnam.

We are always looking for more photos of more shows. Anybody want to photograph Montreal? Munich and Milan if we don’t make it [we probably won’t]?

We are also always look for more writers who want to write about something they are passionate about. You don’t have to know who to spell, or to be an expert at anything - it is passion that we all are wanting to share with other people in this cold cruel often-boring world.

You still have a few weeks if you want Neli to walk you through the many, many details of having Rix Rax build a unique equipment rack that suits you per-fect-ly,

But after that, they be taking your orders directly at the factory. The goal, as I understand it, is fewer sales, higher margins. I am sure we can all relate.

We still love the racks and are not sure what to do for a platform-neutral furniture grade solution priced somewhere between cinder blocks and an HRS MXR [OK, SXR, but I like to keep my eye on the ultimate solution, … if not us then who? ].

The advantage to RixRax is that it comes at what has become in this market a very reasonable price - and to which we can add HRS M3 platforms one at a time, at our leisure, as we can afford it, to up the performance one component at a time.

Most other racks try and ‘do something’ to artificially improve the performance, most of which fail miserably [i.e. they hurt performance]. The Acoustic Dreams’ racks work well, but are more expensive [when you take into account all the shelf space on on Rix Rax], and if you plan on putting vibration controlling HRS platforms on all the shelves anyway [which not everybody does, of course. And it certainly can take several years to afford one for each shelf. We ourselves ain’t there yet after five years.Then again, we got a LOT of shelves to fill .] , it seems like some amount of the purchase price will be wasted on their built in vibration control. Although, nude, they do sound better than nude Rix Rax.

Mapleshade is the only rack that seems to have the same approach, but at a more modest level and I am not sure about putting 60lb M3 platforms all over one of them. And furniture grade it ain’t. This *is* however a rack that we recommend to people with a very modest budget who want to keep things up off the floor.

But Rix Rax it ain’t.

Anyway, we wish the best of luck to Rick Cox and you will start seeing Rix Rax slowly being removed from the site as we figure out just where are all the places are that we mention it. Ugh.

I took these photos yesterday - and already things have changed quite a bit, with a few pieces going out on audition and Thursday another shootout will mix things up some more

We have had the Audio Note Kegon Balanced amps on the Marten Coltrane Supremes for a few months now. It is very nice and for some reason produces more bass than any amp we have had on these speakers [so we just turn down the bass on the crossover. We also can move the speakers out from the wall a wee bit more if we decide we are missing something. Haven’t felt that way so far though…]

We are running the Brinkmann Balance turntable and EMM Labs CDSD and DCC2 digital through the Audio Note M9 Phono preamplifier.

We are using the little S4 step-up for the Titan cartridge on the M9. Works pretty dang good, considering it wasn’t really made for this kind of thing. Heck, running the Titan direct sounded pretty dang good, although very quiet. The point being that the Phono in this preamp has a qualitative depth that is really fun to explore - it is very open, very harmonically complex, with very good dynamic resolution.

Downstairs…

This is the exact same system that we took to CES: Audio Note everything: Ongaku integrated, SEC Signature speakers, SOOTTO interconnects and SOGON speaker cables, with Nordost ODIN and AcroLink power cords.

Except the placement is kind of … different. A future post will talk about this weird placement that really works very very well … for octagonal rooms anyway.

A couple of turntables share the Lamm LP2 phono.

The Kharma Mini Exquisite speakers are being driven by the big EDGE reference amps. We swap between these and the Lamm ML2.1 amps, which A. underdrives the speakers something awful, but B. sounds very very wonderful in the midrange. About half the people only care about A and half only care about B. I think Neli and I are both B - because B is so gooood - but we understand the A point of view too

The EDGE from above. ODIN speaker cables and interconnects.

The 3rd room. We take new visitors to our store/home/showroom here first. I’d say about 60% convince us it is the best sound they ever heard.

Then we take them to hear the other systems.

This system is good enough that we tend to spend way longer here than we probably should - given that there are 3 systems to go we often spend 30 - 40% of our visitor’s time here.

“It’s Spring… and Denver is warming up like a glowing vacuum tube!

This Sunday, March 22, the Vintage Voltage Expo will be the “centerpiece article” in the Colorado Sunday section of the DENVER POST! Claire Martin has interviewed a few of our vendors and there will be photos and everything!

Maybe you saw the small (yet effective!) blurb and photo in last Sunday’s Denver Post… We got a huge response from that! This bigger feature story will really boost our attendance and should place us well above the 1,200 mark! (We had about 900 last year!)

We’ve already sold over 70 vendor tables, but there are still a few left: $40 each or 3 for $100.
Sign up online at www.vintagevoltageexpo.eventbrite.com

Reminder: Calling All DJs: We’re debuting a new feature - with different DJs each offering up an hour of vintage tunes in our main showroom between 10 - 3. We want variety, and if you think you’ve got the goods, hit REPLY and we’ll work out the details! We’ll supply some of the sound equipment.

See you NEXT WEEKEND!
- Dana and Peter
303-347-8252 (email preferred)

Vintage Voltage Expo
Sunday, March 29
10am - 3pm
Ramada Plaza Convention Center
I-25 at 120th Ave, Denver/Northglenn
http://danacain.com/vintagevoltagexpo.html

[Not sure whether we are going or not. But likely not.]

“Do not miss the 23rd edition of the Salon Son & Image, held from April 2 – 5 at the Centre Sheraton Montreal.

Thursday April 2nd is a dedicated day to you the Industry members and Press members.

Over 80 exhibitors will be waiting to show you their newest products over 300 brands.

To obtain your free visitor’s badge, you must register immediately on our website following this link:

http://www.salonsonimage.com/en/pros/form_e.html

The badges will be hand given the day of the event at the information booth located in the Centre Sheraton lobby, photo identification is required.

We would really appreciate that you do not wait until the last minute to register; this will help us to provide the best service for everyone.

Thanks
SSI Team

[We will have more about LSAF 2009 as we learn more]

“We are pleased to let you know that the Lone Star Audio Fest is on for 2009.

There has been a need of a common place for fellow audio enthusiast to meet in our region. And Dallas seemed like the logical place that is central to several surrounding states and cities for us to come together. Therefore, LSAF was born with the hope of bringing our closely knit community together. LSAF 2009 is the third annual meeting, with the hope to expand attendance and continue our festival into future years.

Lone Star Audio Fest has grown from a grass roots effort to bring fellow enthusiast together in the pursuit of enjoying our common passion for music through audio playback equipment.

LSAF will be held in Dallas, TX at the Embassy Suites Dallas Park Central on June 19-21, 2009.

This Embassy Suite in the North East region of Dallas has recently gone through a massive renovation which offers a quality setting for LSAF 2009.

Here is a link to the hotel for further details: http://www.esdallasparkcentral.hotel-brochure.com/

There is no registration cost for exhibitors, and no admission price for attendees as usual. We believe that this low cost structure allows many more the opportunity to attend and exhibit at our festival. Your relationship is entirely between you and the hotel. We are all agreeing to meet there as attendees and exhibitors of the LSAF, and by booking as a group we are able to get a better room rate ($99 per night vs. the regular rate of $139). So be sure to let them know you are attending the LSAF event. To make reservations by phone call 972-234-3300 and tell them you are coming to the Lone Star Audio Fest. Or, go to http://embassysuites.hilton.com/en/es/groups/personalized/DALTXES-LSA-20090616/index.jhtml to register online.

Please email Shane Moore at shanemmail-lsaf@yahoo.com or info@lonestaraudiofest if you will be attending and would like to have your name/logo added to the list of exhibitors on the LSAF webpage(http://www.lonestaraudiofest.com/). Also, please email Shane after you book your room as well, so he can keep a head count.

If you have any other questions please don’t hesitate to contact us.

We in the LSAF steering committee have volunteered our time in an effort to make this festival a possibility. But, we know that your participation is what will make LSAF a success. It is the fellow enthusiasts that make this audio festival what it is.

And we are all looking forward to seeing everyone there!!!!

Many thanks from the LSAF steering committee:

Shane Moore, Paul Hileman, Norris Wilson

[We will have a lot more about these shows here and in Spintricity].

After the success of Vietnam HiEnd show 2008 held in September, 2008 (please kindly visit this link to learn more: http://www.hiendshow.com/2008/) we have been preparing for the Vietnam HiEnd show 2009 from 25th to 27th September 2009 at Continental Saigon Hotel, 132 -134 Dong Khoi Street, 1st District, Hochiminh City, Vietnam.

VIETNAM HI-END SHOW 2009 - THE BEST CHANCE TO GET “GOLD OPPORTUNITY” FOR TRADEMARK PROMOTION, “GOOD OCCASION” FOR DIRECT TOUCHING VIETNAMESE POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS, “LARGE FLOOR” FOR SUPPLIERS, DISTRIBUTORS AND SALES

Therefore, we do hope for your and your trademark’s attention and participation at this show. With Vietnam HiEnd show 2009, your brand name will be promoted and you will have direct contact with Vietnamese consumers, widen and increase your presence in the Vietnamese market - a market with very large potential.

If you would like to find exclusive distributors or representatives, feel free to contact us. We will try our best to create an opportunity for you to meet with the Vietnamese leading electronic distributors during this show.

For further information of Vietnam HiEnd show 2009, please be kind to see attachments enclosed or directly contact Gold Mark JSC as follows:

Gold Mark JSC - ORGANIZER OF VIETNAM HI-END SHOW 2009
Address: 2nd Fl., S19, No.16 Rd, 3rd Ward, Binh Thanh Dist, HCMC, Vietnam

Contacted person: Do Nhu Quynh (Ms) - Director of Sales
Tel:+84 (0) 8. 3517 8045/44
Fax: 84.8.35174653
HP: 84.9.032.987.01
Email: nhuquynh@dauanvang.com
Website: www.dauanvang.com, www.hiendshow.com

done.

3700 photos [yep, still need to update the show issue cover. To think, the original expectation was 1500 photos] or so. 2201 pages.

Still needs some spelling fixes and a few pages got left behind during the mass publishing marathon that was this report.

Next issue will have a nice summary of the favorites - but the show report itself will serve as the archive and discussion point for a long time to come.

I hope.

Don’t want to be doing these things all that often… It takes on average 3 minutes to judge, clean up and crop each photo in photoshop.

A few changes to the toolbar, based on feedback from our readers.

One change is that we replaced the life-preserver with a question mark, as many people did not understand that the life-preserver was the thing to click for help. It was Neli’s favorite icon, and one of mine, so we hope people like the question mark… otherwise were going to bring back that life preserver all over again

It should also be easier to find older issues.

etc.

Enjoy!