Hey Toto, we're back in Kansas...

[greg_slo]

not fair

i really hope this get-together happens next year...and i hope even more i can go. its good to hear everyone is having a great time thus far!:rocker:

~greg

 

[JonFo]

Yesterday evening was great fun.

The meet and greet let us chat for a good bit, but I still have people I've yet to have an extended talk with so looking forward to today.

The shwagg was nice, thank's to Tim, Dave and Tom for arranging that. The SPF 1000 bald-head sunscreen device (McIntosh baseball cap) will come in handy today

Looking forward to this evening and tommorow.

 

[Joey_V]

Quick Recap:

Rich... the guy with the SLK.... I had a good conversation with Rich and we ended up talking only about cars, we didn't even get into audio yet! Look forward to schmoozing with Rich a bit more today and tomorrow!

Jon's SPF1000 cap..... you guys at home missed it when he went to pick up his prize from the table. He was so happy he got his McIntosh baseball cap he dubbed it his "SPF-1000"! He told me that he was going to mod his cap and put in some LEDs along the front. And probably apply some EQ to he brim of it.

Oh man... and Dave gave me a good ribbing (and nearly attacked me) for being the last to sign up for the Meet. Dave's a hilarious guy! He told me more about vinyl than I wanted to know. Apparently we're having Vinyl Conversation part 2 today, because 1 night of it wasn't enough. I'm not sure what kind of doctorate in vinyl this guy has... but he's a blast to converse with. And let it be known that Dave is not only into audio or trains... but he has a mean fix for cars! Apparently he's got a summer Honda S2000 that he likes to pamper!

Tom... it's always a pleasure to be the Prez's limo driver. A little pressure when driving the Prez... can't stall too many times. And he DOES have the Force, he wasn't kidding!! I was completely lost trying to find our way back home from the restaurant.... but there is apparently no need for a navigation system when you got Tom at the passenger side!

Ray (raygunn) is a mountain of vinyl knowledge. The more I talked to him, the more I realized that vinyl is this blackhole that not only sucks money dry from your wallet, but also is this devoid mysterious and pseudo-religious sect.

Craig's my go-to-guy for when I want to have my Sonus Faber fix, secretly... behind Tom's back. I think Craig and I are going to form a Sonus Faber chapter within the Martin Logan ranks... we're going to start our own sub-forum and be sole members/moderators. If Tom, Dave, Tim start encroaching.... we start bringing down the ban hammer! Oh and talking to Craig's better-half is freaky. The lady knows more about audio than most anyone I've met!

Burke... my fellow Chicagoan. My one memory of him from last night was when he boisterously proclaimed our half of the dinner table the "Summit/Vantage table"! Crazy Burke...

Alan (Sleepysurf) is hilarious! Stories, experience, and insight.... all rolled into one person.

Tim (MiTT).... is one very nice fella. At the CD Exchange, I picked his CD and I got Eva Cassidy. I looked into my Schwagg Bag and he apparently slipped in a CD. I'm speechless...

.... I seriously should've brought a Britney Spears CD for Tim... apparently he was serious about this stuff!! And to think he played innocent all last night!!!

Tony warned me about Dave and Ray trying to suck me into the vinyl realm.

Wayne... we bow to your Oddysey prowess! Word definitely traveled fast... even Tom was praising his system! Oh.... and yes... Wayne BARELY fit in the rather short hallway at the Holiday Inn... BARELY! Cherian and I were measuring the ceiling clearance and we predict that Wayne BARELY clears the ceiling, especially by the fire-alarms.

And.. last but not least... Cherian. Cherian, I learned, is one who plays hard and sleeps hard. He's still here... sleeping. I think he downed one-too-many last night.... :guiness:.

I hope I didn't leave out anybody...

Joey

PS
Yes.... you guys ARE missing out at home!!!!

PSS
I will take the liberty to offer my comrades a word of CAUTION: No one partake in the Holodome pool... that thing is murky! I can't even see 3 inches underneath the surface!! Thing's probably got chlorine (among other... er.... fluids) up the wazoo!

 

[Burke]

Last night was soooo much fun. Sorry I had to leave just when we got to the micro brew, but I barley made it back to KC before falling asleep. Tip: when attending these types of things be sure to stay at the main hotel with everyone else. (even if your brother offers you free room and board only 40 minutes away). I can tell from last night that I am going to miss out on so much good conversatation during the afternoon.

Thanks to all for last night, will see you at dinner.

 

[MiTT]

Tim (MiTT).... is one very nice fella. At the CD Exchange, I picked his CD and I got Eva Cassidy. I looked into my Schwagg Bag and he apparently slipped in a CD. I'm speechless...

.... I seriously should've brought a Britney Spears CD for Tim... apparently he was serious about this stuff!! And to think he played innocent all last night!!!

ROFLMAO!!!!

I couldn't help myself, when I saw it while I was buying "real" music for folks a little devil popped up on my shoulder and told me "DO IT!". I seriously hope that it is the one and only sale in the world of that album. I should have just stole it.

I wish I could have seen your face Joey when you opened that up!

So how is it?
:devil:

 

[raygunn]

..."but also is this devoid mysterious and pseudo-religious sect."...

LOL.
Wait until we start talking about what these are for :devil:

 

[Beat_Dominator]

I'm glad you guys are having fun! It's only 111 today here

 

[Joey_V]

Just great..... just great....

These guys are bad influence!

I just bought my first 2 LPs.... and I dont even have a TT!

Joey

 

[nsgarch]

Ha, ha!!

I just bought my first 2 LPs.... and I dont even have a TT!Joey

. . . . . that way madness lies :devil:

 

[sleepysurf]

No laptop, so reading/posting from my Treo. I can attest we're havin' a great time. A bunch of us hit downtown Lawrence this afternoon... it's a bit sleepier than some of us are used to, but quaint. Joey is walking around with video cam in hand... so maybe we'll have a YouTube documentary down the road. We all scored some decent used CD's/Vinyl finds at the two local music emporiums. I think Joey was hunting for a 180g pressing of the Paris Hilton CD, but apparently they're in short supply. Now he's talkin' about buying a TT, but do we *really* want him going down that road? I think not. He already needs the AA (Audiophiles Anonymous) 12 step program. So my advice to him is to stay 100% in the digital domain. No doubt the vinylophiles here will keep lobbying for him to cross over to the dark side!We pounded the (damn hot) pavement all afternoon, then broke for lunch at the local Thai eatery. Don't know 'bout the others, but I'm ready for a power nap before the festive banquet tonight. More reports from the "front" to follow.

 

[JonFo]

Just great..... just great....

These guys are bad influence!

I just bought my first 2 LPs.... and I dont even have a TT!

Joey

Yes, I was in the record store and witnessed the sordid event, Joey's arm was twisted 33 1/3 times ...

 

[MiTT]

. . . . . that way madness lies :devil:

That's so funny! Ray, Dave and myself were sitting in a little Mexican Cafe enjoying some lunch (Yummy fish taco's in the middle of Kansas - who'd a thunk!), and we see Joey and Cherian walking down the sidewalk outside with a bag obviously containing vinyl in it and we all said "and so it begins!"

We had such a cool time brousing the racks of some local music stores. I dropped yet another "hunny" on vinyl, new and used; and Joey was hangin' with us asking questions and browsing and soaking it all in. He has officially taken the plunge.

I'm so proud right now!

This is where the damage was done - a fun little place called "LoveGarden"...

 

[JonFo]

... Don't know 'bout the others, but I'm ready for a power nap before the festive banquet tonight. More reports from the "front" to follow.

Well, some of us got up early, discovered the sleepy town is snoring on Sunday mornings, so we walked around for about 2 hrs. We then found the Thai restaurant does open at noon, so the wife and I caught an early lunch, pounded the hot pavement some more and found the group digging through the LP and CD bins at the record store. After perusing a bit, the big lunch caught up with us and we headed back to take a really long nap.

All in all Lawrence is a nice little college town and very 'middle america' in feel.

Heading down for 'refreshements' before tonights activities.

 

[amey01]

I -- Wish -- I -- Was -- There (2)

 

[TomDac]

Hey all,

well tonight's dinner with the ML folks was nothing short of amazing. We all had drinks and chatted.. asking questions about anything and everything. unfortunately we will not be seeing or hearing the CLX in the morning.. ML told us that it's their baby - it's how they first started and the CLS is such a huge part of their heritage and they are very very concerned with absolutely making sure the new CLX will be perfect in every way before anyone sees or hears it.

David Penrod did a powerpoint after dinner and we all were shown photos of the "then and now" photos of the ML employees who were in attendance as well as "then and now" images of OUR site and questions that have been asked repeatedly... ie.. "what kind of cables should I use" or "what kind of amp should I use". It was great fun!!

Afterwards, we sat around and chatted with each other for awhile. It was a great evening, as I'm sure others will report and show pictures.

Thanks to ML for coming and being a part of this.

Can't wait for the tour tomorrow!!

Tom.

 

[Joey_V]

Just about to turn in for the night...

This Meet is about 5x better than I thought it was ever going to be.... maybe even 7x better.... or maybe even 10x better.

Anyway, the bottomline I want to say is this is one heck of a Meet!

And yes.... y'all missing out!!!

I was going to post a long post tonight, but I'll keep it short. Kinda tired from the festivities of today.

I will say that the Martin Logan presentation was hilarious.... you guys at home just had to be there! They compared and contrasted the MLO club as it progressed through the years.. and they gave me a good ribbing alright.... .

And we all got to meet Jim Powers and made sure to give the good guy a good round of applause!!

And yes... they banned my videocam for tomorrow's tour. Sorry guys at home... but no one will get a video peek of the ML factory.

Joey

 

[MiTT]

Oh My Friggin' gosh!

So payback is a friggin' Be-yatch!

Look at what Joey presented me with tonight in response to my little gift yesterday...mind you in front of all the folks from Martin Logan - so I look like the musical poster child for bad taste. Thanks Joey!

Mine at least has a series of "unreleased pictures" on the disc...

 

[amey01]

I -- really -- really -- wish -- I -- was -- there (3) .

Thanks for the updates!

 

[Joey_V]

So payback is a friggin' Be-yatch!

Look at what Joey presented me with tonight in response to my little gift yesterday...mind you in front of all the folks from Martin Logan - so I look like the musical poster child for bad taste. Thanks Joey!

Mine at least has a series of "unreleased pictures" on the disc...

No problem, Tim! It's the least I could do for a friend!

And I think you thanked my accomplice, Burke, for the CD also.... I may have been the mastermind of this whole Britney Spears deal from back last week, but Burke is definitely the EXECUTIONER! That guy is lethal.... out of nowhere.... BAM! Britney Spears CD for Tim!:cheers:

 

[Rich]

So I am at the airport waiting to fly back home and letting the whole weekend kind of sink in. WOW! The first thing that comes to mind is: What a GREAT group of people! And I am talking about the guys on this forum (and their significant others). I had a wonderful time making new friends and having great conversations about all kinds of things.

Lawrence is a cool, quaint little college town, with neat shops and some really good local restaurants. I would have liked to have had another day or two to really explore it.

The tour today was Awesome! The folks at ML are top-notch. It was nice to see their enthusiasm for their work and the knowledge and caring that they bring to it. Not only do they care about the products they put out and the end consumer, but they really know how to run a manufacturing business. I came away even more impressed with them than I expected.

I would like to describe to you all of the wonderful new products we learned about and auditioned, but then I would have to kill you (according to the confidentiality agreement we all signed). So I will just say: continue to expect some cool new products to come out of Lawrence over the next few years.

I have to say, the only dissapointment for me was the auditioning part. I enjoyed demoing the Summits in a really well-treated room, but ultimately I can do that at home. I really would have liked to hear a preliminary version of the CLX or maybe a pair of Statements. Is that asking so much?

Thanks to all of the ML folks who gave so willingly of their time and knowledge to share with us. And also thanks to all of our fellow forum members who took the time and effort to make this get-together happen. And finally, thanks to all the sponsors for sharing some cool schwag with us.

If you might be interested in doing this next year, let Tom know. He is considering doing it again if there is enough interest. I, for one, highly recommend it to anyone who is thinking about it. We all really had a great time. Conversing on the forum is fun. But it is even more fun to meet everyone in person and have more in-depth conversations. Now I'm really looking forward to Jonathan's get-together in September. That's all for now.