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Re: Attendees; 30 Year Anniversary Celebration
kordeo #323236 09/19/10 08:55 AM
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Nah, 91333 is much more impressive. wink


Fred

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Re: Attendees; 30 Year Anniversary Celebration
fredk #323240 09/19/10 12:33 PM
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Heck, 5000 is really impressive.......when you get there grin .


The only reasonable argument for owning a gun is to protect yourself from the police.
Re: 30 Yr Anniversary Celebration: The AfterMath
chesseroo #323266 09/19/10 05:15 PM
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Aww crap, he’s writing again.
Too bad.
Suck it up princesses.

Chp 3 and the final chapter up today.


"Those who preach the myths of audio are ignorant of truth."
Re: 30 Yr Anniversary Celebration: The AfterMath
chesseroo #323267 09/19/10 05:35 PM
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Chapter 3: Saturday WAS truly gay
(Oxford dictionary definition: carefree, bright and showy).

The end.






Ya right.
If Saturday ended that quickly, there wouldn’t have been 148 emails in my inbox on Monday morning all with the title…”Axiom 30th Anniversary…”. Quite ironically, so many people from the forums were at the event talking instead of posting, that the forum posting rate dropped by 97%!! (with the remaining 3% taken up by Ken apparently).
I’m kidding though. wink
That’s a number I just pulled out of the air, kind of like the number 10% [wink wink to all those who attended the first morning session and recall what in St. Murph’s name I’m talking about].

My morning started off with a breakfast at the table of no other than Mr. Doug Schneider (www.soundstage.com) and the ever so reckless Murph (www.crazymurph.ca). Breakfast was hearty and apparently free (thanks Ian and co.!) but not without its abundance of flies. I’m pretty sure it had nothing to do with Murph’s hair gel.
No really,
Murph doesn’t wear hair gel.

The conversation with Doug was interesting, although I’ve heard something similar before. My brother in law has argued something similar in the past, and he too is a computer guru. You know, the kind of guy that designs and builds his own printed circuit boards custom ordered from Japan, builds a custom van from a used ambulance and outfits it with the cutting edge computer equipment, onboard server, wifi accessibility and satellite system, aside from a part engine rebuild and complete formulation of new epoxy molded interior all because dropping out of university was the best thing for a person who was simply bored with the mundane content?
That kind of guy.
You tend to listen to THOSE kinds of guys.
But I don’t know Doug; you have an interesting point, yet from a science method perspective (proof must be proven with significant numbers), I’m not sure I’m convinced with your take on ‘digital is different’ (show me more proof).



I will agree that comparing different digital formats is difficult as each format may involve something different in the mixing that is unique to each sound engineer.
Why is it that engineer’s have to get in the way all the time?
Can’t we remove them as a variable?
Ian, let’s get to work on applying the scientific method for removing the engineer as a variable!
Dammit, these speakers should just build themselves!

But I digress.

Breakfast ended on a fun note. As I busily swatted about with the flies, I caught wind of a verbal content in the air that Alan and BBIBH were trying to figure out my name (real or otherwise). I think one of them (likely Alan), came up with the idea of a double blind ‘calling’ (the reverse of a double blind listening) which produced results, and they had their answer.
I had to chuckle.
Barely twenty four hours in, they had no alcohol related blackouts to my knowledge, and already they didn’t remember my name.
Hilarious (or I’m just that unimportant I guess).

From the Blue Spruce restaurant, the flock of seagulls meandered down to the factory and eventually we all conglomerated in the Axiom parking lot. The last time I was in the lot was in spring of 2004 and it was mud coated. This time, nothing but sun and dry weather, but I was greeted by a disturbing human blood clot of blue.
Sonic and CJ, having decided to be double fashionably late and showing up the fashionably late Axiom owner the night prior (see Chapter 2), opted for a ridiculously early morning and brought along Sonic’s idea of the weekend: blue, Axiom engraved (hmm, perhaps that should read embroidered) polo shirts. These shirts were perfect for writing all over, just like a kid with a marker and that funny looking drawing paper pulled from daddy’s wallet.

The shirts were a brilliant idea, to keep all us school kids together in Ian’s easy sightlines. If you weren’t in a blue shirt, you must’ve been working for Axiom!
Just like Hay…who came to the party in a nice WHITE Axiom polo shirt.
For about the first 5 hours, everyone thought this young strapping fellow was either the bouncer for the day or Ian’s private secret service. It was only when people started asking him really technical questions like “When’s lunch?” or “Where’s the cool bathroom with the gravity fed pull flush unit?” that Hay revealed his true self.
Hay wasn’t the only one in off the wall garb that morning. It apparently was too chilly for most folk (at 19C!), to be wearing shorts….except for Onn (and myself).
Way to go Onn!
Winter doesn’t arrive in this area of Ontario until at least December.
Come on people, it was 19 Celsius and sunny!!! (well later in the afternoon anyway).

Moving on from the people blueberry festival, the parade went indoors.

This is where things get blurry.

No, I haven’t had a drink yet and I imagine the old boys’ cataracts produced the same effect (that would be Ray3 and Ajax), but still, I was giddy as the proverbial school girl and frankly, I admit I did giggle like one at least once!
Perhaps it was Peter’s endless antics that had me rolling in the aisles or the fact that he did almost electrocute his upper lip, I can’t say.



Twice now I’ve been to the factory and twice I’ve become so excited at all the things I want to ask and see that my mind becomes a blank. There were so many people to speak with, so many topics to cover, that I started my babbling at the Cora’s breakfast the day before but abruptly ended a lot of it after entering the factory.
I think at one point I had a verbal diarrhea with Sonic and CJ about how Axiom was applying scientific method but that’s really all I recall about intellectual conversation most of the afternoon.
I just did a lot of listening.

I really don’t recall the first person I met at the factory that morning, but I do know my first drink of the day was apple juice followed by a lovely iced tea (thanks to “The Other Amie”; she tried to serve me coffee, of all the nerve eh?).
She served me other liquids later.
What a nice girl.




A few things that were by far highlights:
  • The double blind test (DBT)
  • Conversation with Alan about the DBT
  • The Debbie Tour
  • Anechoic chamber (more on this)
  • Conversation with Alan about the M60s
  • Ian’s go at explaining distortion with four distorted lines and a very small piece of chalk, to a room full of blue people.
  • Chris and his little boy pushing BBIBH’s vintage Axiom speakers down to the QA centre (the little boy part in this picture is being played by BBIBH).

  • Chat with Ian about my first factory tour and my friend coming up later that day and his ‘wedding gift’ M40s
  • Conversation with Alan about the choice of listening music being selected all morning (I will never listen to the Eagles – Hotel California EVER, AGAIN…Tom had it right; a Big Lebowski moment!), and,
  • The people


Ok so now you’ve got me sobbing.
My thoughts on the DBT, pretty much the same as I read in the other thread posted on the subject; however, I will say a few things:

The listening room needs work.




Axiom knows this and they are presently addressing it by building a new room.





The left and right shifting of the sound during A/B switching was in itself a “difference” and I think this should be removed from the testing. Single speakers in mono, sitting at a distance of 15 feet or more will remove this issue. The concept of mono usage vs. stereo was suggested to me from Alan years back when I first started switching in house during equipment comparisons.
I’ve tested that setup and it works very well.

The A/C unit in the room made whooshing noises which made it hard to listen to quite passages and of course the general background noise of the factory is an issue as well.

Lastly, I actually don’t like the switcher. I found it slow to react and not instantaneous enough to flip back and forth. An actual switch instead of a button and IR system I think would be quicker (and again, I’ve tested this and instantaneous is the word to use).





There are more discussions on the DBT that are endless. Incidentally, I was one of the minority that chose the B&W Nautilus 805s over the M3s. I didn’t like the M3 bass hump and found the vocals more recessed. The M3 sounded edgy at higher SPL.
Both marked similarly close overall which is the key message to take home in the end.

Continued...




"Those who preach the myths of audio are ignorant of truth."
Re: 30 Yr Anniversary Celebration: The AfterMath
chesseroo #323269 09/19/10 05:56 PM
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Chapter 3: Saturday WAS truly gay... Continued...
(Oxford dictionary definition: carefree, bright and showy).


The factory tour was similar to the one from 2004.
The main difference, the ANECHOIC CHAMBER.
It was everything that I thought it would be; quiet
Your ears would start ringing once the (26”?) door was closed.
Smaller than I expected, but similar to the photos, it has a bunch of sound absorbing wedges and that’s about it. A speaker stand and cables for mics.
Simple, yet complex.
And somehow Cam elegantly decided that hotboxing would be a superb secondary function to the room.
I’ll ask Ian about that the next time I’m down there, most likely next summer.
He is after all a dedicated life choice smoker. The multiple book copies on his desk said so. If anyone preaches to him, he’ll likely hand you a copy of the book in his right hand and swat you upside the head with another copy from the left side.
Aren’t cigarettes considered vegan (all plant material)? That’s healthy right?
smile









Lunch was served about noon and unfortunately I was one of the last to get lunch. I had spent time flitting about, chatting and touring, that I forgot about eating. I managed to snarf down half a sandwich and cookie plus another apple juice (kindly supplied by the folks at Axiom…they seem bent on feeding my family for which I’m always grateful) before my attentions were turned to the DBT room.
In all this excitement, I missed seminars #2 and #3, but, I didn’t really miss anything.
I saw so much more and during the tour,
Debbie helped to point it all out.


Did you know she’s been to China more than most China people have been to Canada?
That’s a lot of travelling!
Well, that’s what a little birdy told me anyway.
Perhaps that bird was a lying pigeon who embellished on the truth.
It is known to happen in the audio discussion circles….from time to time.

The afternoon petered out at the factory and all the blueberries gathered once again where we started; in the parking lot. We took the now famous (or infamous?) picture that will probably haunt us for some time. A few folks were missing but no doubt, Mark S. Johnson will have all the spare time in the world to Photoshop them into the picture probably next to Bill Clinton and Bill Mahr.
Please note, if you look closely you will see both JohnK and 2x6spds in the background, both dressed in black, against the black factory walls.
No kidding.

From there, the crowds went confused back to their hotels awaiting Debbie’s superior directional guidance to the dock party.
Once again, Sonic and CJ decided to go AWOL.
Actually this time it was Ray and Jack’s error as their combined mental powers resulted in them knocking on the wrong cabin door and hence, Sonic and CJ didn’t know when to come out and play.
Where’s Waldo started all over again in the Axiom parking lot.
Where’s Sonic?
Hasn’t anyone seen Sonic?
Does anyone have here number?
Mark will wait here for Sonic….
I swear it would have been better if we were all lemmings following one blind mouse to Ian’s place.

The evening started off with a great kick.
Axiomites were “interviewed” by one of the Parker Bros. over the course of dinner and partly into the evening. Many of those interviewers were interrupted by, hmm, how can we best say this, snuggles and kisses and gentle caresses (Tom and Murph know EXACTLY what I’m talking about…well maybe except the kisses part).
An evening of great, thick, 2” steak bbq (and a lovely Caesar salad caked in luscious bacon bits plus fresh corn on the cob and finished with a tasty, no doubt seasonal, cake), out on the Colquhoun’s dock, with a Murph, a Ryan, and a Macdonald plus a band and PEI “legal” moonshine, made for one heckuva Irish party!

The bbq turned into talk and song as the band, Laganza ((http://www.myspace.com/laganzamusic) and special guest singer, Mr. Stephen Stanley from one of my personal favorite bands, Lowest of the Low (http://www.lowestofthelow.com/ and http://www.myspace.com/lowestofthelow ), put on a great show. The great show that by now has been mentioned by many as being powered forth by no less than EIGHT M80s in pairs of 4 bundles under the boathouse.




For the first short while all I heard sound was from the Algonquin M3s? in the boat area, but then the M80s were plugged in and oh joy, the neighbors must love the Colquhouns.
(I guess that is why the cutoff time was somewhere around 11 eh?)

A 2 minute vid of the dock party band hard at work

I had a friend arriving from Sudbury, about 3 hours to the northwest of the Muskokas. This friend was gifted a pair of M40s during the discontinuation sale a few years back, plus a Pioneer receiver and all the hookup cables, as a wedding present from myself and a few buddies back in the city.



He drove from 5PM for 3 hours in pitch black down to the Muskokas to make the party and I had the distinct honour of introducing him to Ian along with just about every Axiomite I could find in eyesight on the dock.
This of course was before I started dancing.

Yes, the band was excellent.
Yes Stephen Stanley is a personal favorite (http://www.myspace.com/stephenstanleymusic).
But getting into the song “What can you do with a drunken sailor” is a classic for any true blue Irish or east coaster.
For the record, there was no drunk in my alleged Drunken Sailor Dance but rather a side effect of the thousands of years of Irish genetics that kicked in. Hell, we were talking about going into the lake even before dinner started!
What I don’t quite recall as I was busy dancing, was if Murph was out on that dance floor!
I’m going to have to call his mom if he wasn’t.
What Irish descendant (another Canadian band; http://www.irishdescendants.com/) or true blooded east coaster wouldn’t jig to that classic?
Hey, Ian brought the party, I just added to the circus.

Did I really dance with a pole? (medic8r just added 10 pages to my ‘file’).

Somewhere in the mix an idea was formulated to enshrine a piece of the party into something more firm (i.e. proof that people actually attended and Axiom didn't pay Mark S Johnson to Photoshop the whole damn thing!).

I had my buddy from Sudbury snag a Sharpie marker (every scientist’s right hand tool) on his way up and any Axiomite I could find jotted down their John Hancock on the shirt. Cam got a little nasty and started getting a bit low for my liking but he was tickling me darn it.
Weak in the knees, that’s one way of putting it.

Did anyone see where Ian was TRYING to sign!??
(He knows and we’ll keep that one between us).

Here are some pictures of the final product.




Note how the pictures I took the next morning had two extra signatures on it.



I told you they were there Sonic!!
Didn’t you talk to them?

We may have kept our clothes on and no tweeters were shown abroad on Saturday, but I am certain that through the blue flaming shot of Murph’s moonshine that I saw JohnK and 2x6spds hanging out around the dark side of the dock.
They allegedly snuck into our cabin and they signed the shirt! (They must’ve had way more than I did cuz that 2 looks more like a French ‘s’).

Speaking of Sonic, I do apologize for my ironic take on your personal pictures. I realize you wanted to have a pic with all of the great folks you met over the years, but as for the one you requested with me, all I wanted to do was to have an equal level head height shot so I ‘shrunk down’ to your size.
That’s all I was really trying to do.
Honest.
The fact you made me do the splits twice though was just sadism.
All I have is this photo of Tom.
It was the best I could muster.



As the dock party winded up and Debbie frantically tried to corral drunk folk into the van for transport back to the cottages. Do you know what it is like to push a motorized wheelchair with its brakes on?
Well Cam does cuz he was so hammered two of his helpers couldn’t move the thing out of the van once we did get back to Blue Spruce.
I couldn’t help but laugh, but his mother wasn’t quite as pleased.
Cam should’ve had three moving violation tickets and been issued a 24 hour suspension on his wheelchair driving.

Where did the party go from there?
Well, for my Sudburian buddy and I, back to the Blue Spruce and up until 6AM sipping some lovely Wellington Iron Horse Strong ale (hey, they are having an anniversary party soon too...hmm, ideas....).
I know it was 6AM that we crashed because i texted Peter, but the content of what exactly I may have texted is one thought that I can honestly say I don’t recall. I do recall that we put on a fire, and then put it in the fireplace for safe keeping though.


The next day I awoke to a campground owner banging on our door at 12:30 telling us that we passed the checkout time.
Hmm, with a flight at 4:30 at the TO airport, I’m GLAD this fellow was as diligent as he was at getting our sorry rears out of there. I made my flight with about a whopping 5 minutes before boarding.

All in all the Axiom Anniversary party was a blast to etch into my memory for ages.
Many folk here have already professed many eloquent thoughts on the graciousness of our hosts, the camaraderie of the Axiomites and the willingness to do it all over again. My words pale in comparison to the sense of all emotions that existed that weekend and hopefully the small elements that I could have added to the experience for anyone who attended.
I hope to see everyone AGAIN, sometime.

Ian, Amie and Axiom folk demonstrated the true essence of Canadian living and generosity and they still manage to maintain one of the rare Canadian business success stories (i.e., a privately Canadian owned company yet to be consumed by a huge international conglomerate).
My passion is for your science and sound but my humble sense of Canadian pride extends to your business accomplishments!

I’m honestly not sure if Ian and Amie will ask me back (again may I say that NO ONE got naked and jumped in the lake or swam to Shania’s place), but if they do want me back, I promise not to leave my dinner in the back of their car.
I’m pretty sure that as of Tuesday morning, I recalled I left a piece of steak in the back of Ray3s car while I moved my backpack to another vehicle. I couldn’t recall for the life of me where I put that dinner plate down, until 48 hours later.
Ray, I REALLY hope you’ve noticed the blow flies by now! (I just hope I didn’t leave my red wine glass in your backseat as well).

This final chapter in my overly extensive blog on the weekend really opens the book on many more.
Very profound, I know.
Tacky cliché is more my style.

Take care Axiomites.
Let’s do this again in another ten years.


"Those who preach the myths of audio are ignorant of truth."
Re: 30 Yr Anniversary Celebration: The AfterMath
chesseroo #323272 09/19/10 06:38 PM
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Originally Posted By: chesseroo
As the dock party winded up and Debbie frantically tried to corral drunk folk into the van for transport back to the cottages. Do you know what it is like to push a motorized wheelchair with its brakes on?
Well Cam does cuz he was so hammered two of his helpers couldn’t move the thing out of the van once we did get back to Blue Spruce.
I couldn’t help but laugh, but his mother wasn’t quite as pleased.
Cam should’ve had three moving violation tickets and been issued a 24 hour suspension on his wheelchair driving.


BAHAHAHA! You came back with us? So who left the open beer bottle in the back seat (we found Sunday morning).........?

Hammered, yep. I don't remember anything after dancing on the dock, let alone you trying to move my wheel chair. Dang it, I wish someone took a video so I could see your struggle grin !


The only reasonable argument for owning a gun is to protect yourself from the police.
Re: 30 Yr Anniversary Celebration: The AfterMath
chesseroo #323273 09/19/10 06:54 PM
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Originally Posted By: chesseroo


Take care Axiomites.
Let’s do this again in another ten years.


Or sooner!

If I can get away to travel, I'm staying in Canada and I'll be heading to the east coast, and slightly west smile .

I do think it would be great if the Ontario boys could get together once in a while. There's four or five of us, I believe, that don't live too far from each other.


The only reasonable argument for owning a gun is to protect yourself from the police.
Re: 30 Yr Anniversary Celebration: The AfterMath
chesseroo #323274 09/19/10 07:32 PM
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onn Offline
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Chess
You do have a way with words. grin

Re: 30 Yr Anniversary Celebration: The AfterMath
Ya_basta #323275 09/19/10 07:43 PM
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I forgot about the rock 'n roll version of Drunken Sailor. That was great!

I agree about getting together Cam. Actually, I like the idea of heading slightly south of the border next summer for another get together with the 'crew'. Lots of people came a long way for this. It would be nice to shorten the trip for them next time.


Fred

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Blujays1: Spending Fred's money one bottle at a time, no two... Oh crap!
Re: 30 Yr Anniversary Celebration: The AfterMath
chesseroo #323278 09/19/10 07:54 PM
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Originally Posted By: chesseroo
It apparently was too chilly for most folk (at 19C!), to be wearing shorts….except for Onn (and myself) Way to go Onn!


Ahhh...Hemmm....



Signed,
Your friendly neighborhood Fact-Bot


::::::: No disrespect to Axiom, but my favorite woofer is my yellow lab :::::::
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