2011 2nd Annual - Capital Audiofest - July 8-10 - Washington, DC(Rockville, MD)

MillerLiteScott

Look what I read on another forum.

I was fortunate to find the TX distributor for Polk holding late night session after hours on Saturday night. I heard them at noon saturday with my own disc, it was pretty bad, stuffy, no dynamics. I was disappointed considering all the hype. But he told me they were brand new for the show. The crossover looks a bit too economical, but drivers and cab are well built. We listened to his fav CDs, mostly rock, blues, prog, very hip stuff, and they had come alive! After 2 hours of that I was convinced they are the real deal. Even on new Beastie Boys CD compressed to hell, they revealed all the layering and complex production tricks going on, making it pretty fun. But you're right, the AR gear always makes everything sound its best, and then some.

Way to go Russ:biggrin:

dorokusai

Yeah, Russ was holding down the fort while we ate dinner. After the public was excused, he put those LSiM's thru their paces for sure. I think I know who that was and his music was awful, which may account for the bad demo. They did change character when you start to really put the spurs to them.

greybeard

"Fred made the day by bringing the LSiM cut-away, that was what attracted the Stereophile's attention.

Anybody ever been to a Polk factory sales presentation where the sales guy (dressed as a lumberjack) cuts a Polk in half with a chainsaw? Now that's a piece of audio history!"

I have a chainsaw-bring on the speakers! Maybe we could start with some lesser quality speaker first? - Greybeard

Fred D

While we ate dinner......hmmm....yeah, about that.....


I think I know who he is referring to as well, and I would have to agree....His music selection was not up to par! Russ for sure held it down with the Dj'ing afterhours!

RuSsMaN

Was I too hammered to notice Steve Odenhiemer was there? Yeah, I decided to drink my dinner while Mark took the crew out for a well deserved gourmet meal. There were a lot of 'older', or should I say stately demos going on throughout the day on Saturday. Lots of classical, jazz, female vocals, etc. Nothing wrong with that, but we went with what we knew was good, or played what they brought with them.

It was neat to pull out my favs after hours, and experiment a little, in hindsight, we probably could have done that throughout the day with success. It was a bit difficult for Mark and I sometimes, because the speakers were literally fresh out of the box. Mark noticed that about mid-day Saturday, some selections weren't sounding the same (some actually worse) than they did the day before. He pointed out a sibilance on some female vocals that had suddenly appeared, and then disappeared several hours later.

I think part of it was at the time of the after hours demo, the speakers were just crossing over the 18-22 hour mark, and we started to hear some magic. They were starting to break in, and settle down. Bass was tighter, the top end seemed to really open up, mid range was blossoming, etc. I wish I could have heard them Sunday, as they were getting better by the minute.

I remember the guy (and his friend), I just can't remember their names - but they were no-nonsense music lovers, and we had a blast. I kept asking if there was something particular they wanted to hear, and they told me to just keep going and one mentioned I should be a DJ and have my own XM station.

It was nice, because for a few moments, it wasn't about new Polks, or an audio show, it was just a few guys sitting around enjoying MUSIC. That's what it's all about at the end of the day - and the LSiM had no issues whatsoever presenting that experience to us.

Big kudos to Mark for getting the right gear, the right room, and Jesse and everyone who helped dialing everything in. Fred = gold, a SOLID addition to the Polk crew, he's got a bright future in the biz, I just know it. I gave a good demo at LSAF, Mark gave a GREAT demo at CAF. Hat is off to everyone involved. We rocked it, literally. Now if Al would get Mark and I a big van, we'll start the US tour......

Cheers,
Russ

dorokusai

Russman is spot-on. We should have mixed it up more and he was chomping at the bit for that every day but I sleigh belled it in because of the crowd. What sucks about these shows is the fact you almost feel regulated....pigeon holed to play what is happening elsewhere so you have a benchmark across rooms.

What I dislike about that idea is that it confines you to spaces in music and any, ANY loudspeaker excels on many levels. Sure, they might not be awesome at every track but they can slay it on some where others cannot.

I did start to hear some major sibilance at some point on Saturday but then again, the recordings weren't very good. You can't cover up a bad recording with good equipment, if anything you can only mute it a bit. Like he said, it changed again towards the evening so I don't really have an answer as to why, even with experience and with the setup we had going....totally unanswered.

The meter on the REF5 at 80 was when these speakers really bloomed and that was almost at it's maximium. The gain is set on that model unlike the LS27, which we had in the wings. I almost wish we dropped in the cheaper model in hindsight but flash was the order of the day for me as I knew it was important for the show.

Russman really turned it on with those folks after hours and for that alone, it became a real Polkie moment. It IS just about music, not gear, not genre's and most certainly not protocol. My hat is off to my brother in arms Russ, as it's only because he was in attendence that I actually felt comfortable in my own skin. XOXO.

reeseecup01

RuSsMaN wrote: »

Pics on the way. Thanks William for gracing us with your presence. *facepalm*

On another note, I just had a smoke on Mark's back deck and came inside to see him shirtless eating gummy worms. I think I had a fantasy like that a few years back. I didn't act on it.

Polkies need to **** or get off the pot if you are local. No excuses. We're making a list and checking it twice. Don't be naughty, be nice.

Babyarm,
Russ

The polkies were as awersome as was expected! Much nicer venue this year too! Only one question... where is my free T shirt this year? ;-) For real though, You guys ROCK out with you clock out!

RuSsMaN

You attended and didn't get one? Speak up next time broham. PM me your addy, we have a few extras.

Cheers,
Russ

reeseecup01

Would Love a Tshirt if you have any left over to go with the one from last year!

dorokusai wrote: »

Who let me borrow the soft Polk sign? No sigs but I'll repay your help in freebies. TY!

Millerlitescott - I have some extra stuff for you since I pretty much stole your demo cd's for our room minutes after your arrival. Thanks very much!

To the first two confirmed LSiM Polkie buyers/owners, I'm putting together a really signed copy of all the people responsible for that series using the "signed" lithograph that comes inside each speaker. This will be as rare as it gets since only yours will exist. Contact me offline when you get settled and have a proof of purchase.

For some others, signed copies of the show literature from everyone involved. I produced these packets using the official press release list and they're hard bound. I have one for an LSiM owner and two for Blackstone owners.




I'm going to charity raffle a one off, Polk Audio sign from the show and HQ for The Githens Center this week. It's big, made of wood and would be a great addition to any hardcore Polkie room. Polk doesn't know I'm doing this so we will have to hurry before they say no.

I also have a pair of VM20 for free Karma that are fully authorized for next week.

And lastly, a handful of Polk Audio swag bags and MIT cables tshirts and bags will be Karma'd for a limited time.

See, I still never forget those that can't come or just didn't. Stay tuned.

Mark

Fred D

AHHH!! Come to think about it, I left my bag there with a shirt in it and my I-phone charger and AV cables!!! Wow....but how I felt Saturday night, that makes sense that I left it... :eek:

dorokusai

I have your stuff Fred.

Fred D

Glad your on top of it Mark! Thanks for picking that up for me

dorokusai

I'm a professional young Jedi.

Fred D

Remember, a Jedi's strength flows from the Force. But beware. Anger, fear, aggression. The dark side are they.

dorokusai

Nerd.

Face

After dinner we prowled a little and found the Texas distributor for Polk in the room playing music. We sauntered in and sat down and enjoyed 2 hours of him spinning his fav rock folk and blues CDs. The Polks were something I wanted to hear since all the ads and hype. They just came out and only heard hear and Lone star audio fest so far. I heard them at 12:30PM when I first arrived, they were tight and constricted, poor dynamics, muffled. 8 hours later they were open and dynamic and alive. So weird!! That was fun. You know how we occasionally discuss high value speakers like GoldenEar or whatever, well the new polks are an incredible value for $4000. They had $25000 of AR electronics, but still, they stepped up to the challenge. Very musical and refined. I'd consider these. The tiny little crossovers were a bit scary though, but thats what you get for $4k. Compared to my Jantzen DIY parts it makes me wonder if I'll ever buy a commercial speaker again.

http://www.audionervosa.com/index.php?topic=2839.msg39841#msg39841

cnh

Kudos to everyone!

And what happened with the 'doggie bag' for Russman! The guy holds down the fort and you abandon him to gourmet-out? And I know how that group can wine and dine! Pretty much their modus operandi! lol

cnh

EndersShadow

cnh wrote: »

Kudos to everyone!

And what happened with the 'doggie bag' for Russman! The guy holds down the fort and you abandon him to gourmet-out? And I know how that group can wine and dine! Pretty much their modus operandi! lol

cnh

I think Russman mentioned his dinner was of the liquid kind lol.... that can be more expensive than gourmet-out depending on the tolerance of the individual lol...

That and it makes for a more "interesting" demo I am sure

Fred D

Here are some randoms from Friday and Saturday's showing! Enjoy

RuSsMaN

Mark brought me a plate. It was great except for the huge bite of what I thought was mashed potatoes turned out to be horseradish. Its really just a blur after that.

Fred D

Blur....a good way to describe things after about 7:30!! haha!!

[Deleted User]

The carpeting in our location was called "Uday's Room" from the Saddam Hussein collection.

RuSsMaN

I think it had its own power source Ken, but I never located it.

dorokusai

It was truly awful.

Fred D

awful is being kind

[Deleted User]

The room **** probably picked it out. We probably should have used Mapleshade's S scale telephone poles to lift up the speaker wires.

W WALDECKER

MillerLiteScott wrote: »

Look what I read on another forum.

I was fortunate to find the TX distributor for Polk holding late night session after hours on Saturday night. I heard them at noon saturday with my own disc, it was pretty bad, stuffy, no dynamics. I was disappointed considering all the hype. But he told me they were brand new for the show. The crossover looks a bit too economical, but drivers and cab are well built. We listened to his fav CDs, mostly rock, blues, prog, very hip stuff, and they had come alive! After 2 hours of that I was convinced they are the real deal. Even on new Beastie Boys CD compressed to hell, they revealed all the layering and complex production tricks going on, making it pretty fun. But you're right, the AR gear always makes everything sound its best, and then some.

Way to go Russ:biggrin:

yeah, thats my buddy Richidoo up from North Carolina