"Arny Krueger" wrote in message
...
EddieM wrote:
Arny Krueger wrote

EddieM wrote:

Victor Martell wrote

Could you be so kind as to post a blow by blow of the
proceedings?

Eddie can't get *anything* right, even the simplist thing.

It worked last night.

So you say.

Here's a working link:

http://www.enjoythemusic.com/hifi200...onkrueger.html

The picture of me in question was no doubt taken during Harry
Lavo's
108 minute, more or less, marathon

declaration-of-his-beliefs-about-audio-life-God-and-the-meaning-of-soy
-sauce, which he tried to pass off as a question. Why Atkinson
didn't
stop him I know not. Harry is an even bigger boor and bore in
person
than he is on RAHE. ;-(

On second thought, maybe Atkinson needed the comic relief that Harry's
blather provided. Harry kept me from making a couple of critical
points, and Atkinson needed any help he could get.


Is THAT what happened, Mr. Deer-in-the-Headlights? :-) :-) :-)

In fact Atkinson had you in his crosshairs most of the time but being either
a merciful or timid hunter did not pull the trigger, Mr. Deer.

I read that your powerpoint presentation got bungled up, what
was that all about?

Atkinson promised me a working computer and projector. He was a
standard video interconnect cable short of a working set. I manage a
bunch of video projectors at my church

WOW! I did not know you had a managerial background. Be sure to include it
in your resume.

- that exact cable accompanies
every projector that needs it and I have a spare on hand.


Organizing the Stereophile show is certainly nothing compared to that.
Verrry impressive!

As improvrished as the show was for presentation technology - someone
probably stole the cable.


I wondered what that was in Nousiaine's pants. I thought maybe he was just
happy to be with you. LOL!

Atkinson was a no-show with the promised presentation technology. He
seemed to leave everything to the last minute. He apologized but he
screwed up because he did not have his act together.


I agree. Atkinson should have clearly employed your extensive management
talent to pull off the show.

Stuff happens.

The presentation infrastructure failure was not a major bump in my
road. It was not unexpected. I already had working plan "B" ready to
execute. I executed it and moved on.


Too bad it wasn't apparent to the audience. Unless it was your "scared
ostrich" technique. You still have sand in your ears?

My plan "B" was to install the Powerpoint Viewer on the PC in the
press room and run it off so I still had something to speak from. I
knew I was in the back woods of presentation technology when I saw
that neither Powerpoint nor anything like it was already on that
computer. But, I was prepared, I brought my own copy of Powerpoint on
my USB flash drive. I consider PowerPoint and Word to be part of the
minimal configuration of a business computer.

I don't blame Atkinson - the whole show was a major disappointment to
me, based on exactly what failed him, on the grounds of presentation
technology. So, the gross failure of Atkinson's presentation
technology was just a reflection of the backwards context he was
working in.


You blended in that context exceedingly well, I might add.

Back on the topic of audio, I heard a lot of really bad-sounding crap
masquerading as audio gear. For example the Bosendorfer speakers were
really horrid, but nobody seems to have the guts to say so, right out.

Also, it's really pathetic to see so many people trying to wring
something new out of a 6 1/2 woofer and a dome tweeter and still get
it wrong.

I had never heard a modern SET, so I was unprepared for how horrid
they sound with the more complex music. There's a reason why almost
every SET demo I heard was based on a recording of a solo or a very
small group - when somone screwed up and played something a tiny bit
complex the SETs I heard (and I think I visited *every* room) tended
to load up with grunge on massed instruments and voices.

The fact that so many worship at this phoney altar of Luddite SET
technology is a testimonial to the fact that many high enders
apparently don't really listen to gear like us DBT folks do.

Frankly, faced with a choice between listening to good vinyl and your
typical SET, I'd take the vinyl in a heartbeat, tics, pops, and and
tracking distortion included.

A companion from the BAS said that he thought he saw more SETs than
ever. We agreed that this is an example of the depths that good sound
at the show has sunk to.

I walked into one room (I think it was Manley) and saw the glowing
signs that something was probably going to be sonically awry. Instead
I actually heard pretty fair sound. I looked again and noticed that
the output tubes were in pairs. Huzzah, someone had rediscovered 1933
technology. Push-pull can work! Do you realize how sad this is?

But far worse IMO, I saw a lot of really bad amateurish sales
presentations. Most of the advertising agencies must have sent not
their "A" teams but their "zzzzz" teams. If they had used high school
students to run their sales presentations, there would have at least
been some enthusiasm. IME some of the brighter high school students
actually get AV.


I'm sure AV is a piece of cake compared to managing MULTIPLE projectors at a
church.

How did you prepared in as far as flexing some muscles for this
Debate?

Like I said, I had a plan A and a plan B. Plan B worked and that was
that. My major problem was staying awake while Atkinson, Fremer and
others recounted what should have been forgotten memories of what
should have been their audio childhood.


Maybe they had happy childhoods. At least they seemed like a happy group
with no chronic bitterness in them.

If you look at our listening technology the PCABX and the LTT of today
is not the ABX of 10 years ago. We have been refining our evaluation
technology for over 30 years. High end evaluation is locked in a
broken groove - nothing has changed in decades.


Look in the mirror to find why your listening technology has failed. Even
better, listen to the recording.

What was your opponent's greatest strength?

Atkinson demonstrated no strengths. He obviously had nothing of
substance prepared. He looked harried and tired. His critical examples
were decades old. He misstated the outcome of one of his own
experiments.


In that case it is pretty sad that Atkinson handily outperformed you. You
never even got off the starting blocks, Mr. Projector Executive.

There was a rumor that Stereophile was going to be renamed by
Primedia.

And, Atkinson had that master of charm - the Fremer idiot-child, on
his side. Michael threw a major fit after the end of the debate. He
obviously lives in the past far more than the rest. But anybody who
reads his articles in SP should know that.


You could use some of Fremer's qualities, you know. I know it IS sad.

Well, did you had fun yesterday?

I hate to see so much failure and mediocrity, even when I don't I
agree with the core ideals.


I'm glad it felt like home! BTW, you strongly contributed to the above
climate.

The Hilton is still a great venue and the hotel staff seemed to be
really working hard to support the show. All of the service people I
had contact in Manhattan and Queens were great. Maybe all the
unfriendly New Yorkers died in 9/11, no they were innocents that can't
be it. The people I met were nicer than they were the last time I
stayed in Manhattan. BTW, the well-known hotel I stayed in then is no
longer. I hope this does not bode ill for the Hilton. ;-)

I wanted to give the vendors and their advertising agencies lots of
points for professionalism and performance even though many of the
products were sonic crap.

I'm sure they would have appreciated your church projector executive
experience. :-)

But a few bright spots aside, this was a
very dreary show. Can we say same-old, same-old?

How's the food?

Food is not a big thing in my life. I ate at a few different places
that were far from the top. The food was a reasonable value, it kept
me healthy and that was that.

Did you met any luminaries?

I met a few people I know from other Usenet groups. I met a few people
from Primedia. I never really even met Atkinson.

Which one did you find the most interesting?

I was surprised by all the bad-sounding high-end gear and all the
amateurish sales presentations and news conferences.

I did learn one thing, though. After seeing a number of high end audio
systems with cables the size of gas station pneumatic hoses, I figured
out that they were needed to inflate the prices.


I'm glad you enjoyed your trip so much. Next time don't forget to take the
cross on your back.

Good night, Jesus!

Margaret