Thought we should start a new thread for this...

So let's get a count - how many will plan to come?

- Jon

Tony - Santa Clara is maybe 30 mins from Woodside...

MARCH 3rd, Northern California meet could be at Boulevard Bar & Grill at 17285 Skyline Blvd, across from the famous "Alice's Restaurant". This is in beautiful Woodside, CA. http://www.blvdbar-grill.com/

They have a great outdoor deck in the back where we could congregate. They have volleyball and stuff, good food and drink, etc. If we reach consensous here, I'll go down there and make the necessary arrangements (make sure we have ample power, reserve a bunch of space, etc).

What do y'all think?

- Jon

Summer Summer Summer.....

Technoweenie
12 GB Blue / Red MK2

I'll be there! Make the reservations!

My only misgiving is that the location, when viewed on a map, isn't next to any of the "big fat lines". (In other words, it's not right off of a major freeway.)

Now, I personally like that fact. I'm much more interested in going to a nice out-of-the way place, somewhere not in the middle of a metropolis. I think that would be a great location for an Empeg meet. But others might prefer a location closer to a major artery, possibly causing a smaller turnout.

Anyone else want to weigh in on that subject?

___________
Tony Fabris

Yes, I thought about that too... BUT, I feel that this location is perfect in that it's about 15 miles from the highway (280), but we'd be in one of the most beautiful spots in Northern Cal. On the weekend, the place is swarming with motorcyclists, bicyclists, and very expensive/fancy cars. In the "backyard" of this place, people come out of the trails on horses, and the sun just pours in. March might be a LITTLE cold, but it will still be beautiful.

The roads surrounding this area are absolutely brilliant. In fact, after the meet, I could show you guys/gals some incredible routes.

Check out the "Outdoor Activities" section on their web site. We could also always go inside if it's raining or too cold.

If lots of people don't like the location, I'll try and find something in San Francisco...

- Jon

Oh man, that's perfect!! Great location from what i'm told, and i love driving those backroads. They're part of what makes Northern CA so amazing. Yeah yeah. Count me in!


|| loren.cox || 080000446 ||

The roads up there around Skyline Blvd, 84, La Honda, Route 1 along the coast, and down to Bonny Doon are fantastic. Worth driving them before/after the meet. I'm in Menlo Park so it's very close by.

I may come, but know right now I'll have an awful lot of work that w/e, so we'll see

So let's get a count - how many will plan to come?

It looks perfect, I'm definitely in!

Borislav

This sounds like a nice venue, and the date is quite convenient. I'll put a budget together, check some diaries, and see who may be able to come from here.

Rob

I'd be there for this. D

Okay, cool, so we've at least got a few showing up. Hey, Mike Comb, you listening?

What about the BAEUG mailing list? Shouldn't somebody announce it there? I haven't got any BAEUG traffic in my mailbox for months, is it still active?

___________
Tony Fabris

I also think you ought to go to the Empeg registry at the developer site and e-mail everyone registered there from California who's left their e-mail address. We could make this really big.

___________
Tony Fabris

I tried to email both [email protected] and [email protected] email addresses, and both failed. I don't think the mailing list is working properly.

Hey Rob, is it possible to get the email addresses for the CA(?) Empeg people so that I can send an invite? Dunno if this invitiation would be considered intrusive to people or not...

- Jon

I'll do what I did for Rob Schofield - send me the invitation text and I'll email it to an appropriate subset of our client database. I'll also put it on the empeg web site.

Be prepared to receive email enquiries - you may wish to set up a specific email address for this.

Rob

Wow, is this good timing or what? I was already planning to be in the Bay Area starting March 3 for business. My flight lands
at Oakland around noon that day. Traffic permitting, it's probably an hour's drive. Are you sure you wouldn't rather have the meeting somewhere in the East Bay? :)

Yep, and I am in. Gonna be busy in March, but I will find some time.

-Mike

I'm definitely in. It's a really nice location... a little bit out of the way, but well worth it. Rob - I hope one of you guys can make it. Let me be first in line to buy you a pint. - Eric

Sigh, WTF. The configuration (that _WAS_ working forever) on the mailing list, horked itself. I'll send out a notice today to baeug.... D

Fixed, and a notice sent out to BAEUG. Damned sendmail 8.12.x beta... changed the configuration format from 8.11.x, breaking the stuff I'd put in place to allow the baeug aliases to ignore anti-spam rulesets like ORBS.... fixed now. D

Here's the list of confirmed/semi-confirmed attendees. If you don't see your name on the list, but it should be there, speak up!

tfabris
loren
dtrounce maybe
borislav
rob (or someone at empeg) maybe
dredd
dwallach
mcomb
esb
kevin
derek
me

- Jon

dredd derek Are these supposed to be separate? Is there really another Derek showing up, or did you not know/recognize that "Derek Balling"==dredd ? D

Oops, sorry about that D!

Nope, only one Derek so far...

- Jon

Hmm, 1364.4 miles according to Mapquest...

Tempting. Looking at my budget, I may finally be able to do a road trip around this time. Add my name to the list as a possibility.

Also, I am getting my empeg right around that time, the drive would be more plesant then dealing with my laptop again. (It handles the GPS very well though :-)

I'll be there, in my not terribly impressive Pimpmobile.
- Sean

I've got you beat, 1661.2 miles. If I can swing it I may be in for the roadtrip. Hey Rob, if someone from empeg attends are you going to have the longest drive prize?


Brian

-See my empeg here-

I've got you beat, 1661.2 miles

Awww, you're all a buncha weenies.

My distance is 3,149.5 miles, about a third of it on unpaved roads. I don't think I'll be there. What I could do though is host a meeting for all of the Alaskan empegs. Tom Meyers could meet me at the campground south of Cantwell (Pop. 300) which is just about exactly halfway between Anchorage and Fairbanks, and we would then have every single empeg in Alaska in attendance.

:-)

tanstaafl.

"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"

Well not exactly every Empeg in Alaska. Since I have an uninstalled mark I sitting on my shelf. Unless I brought that along as well.

Tom

Reg #2845: Mark 1 #00173, Mark 2 #119

Edited by Liufeng on 05/02/01 09:41 PM.

I'll try to be there as well. :-)

Calvin

I don't think I'll be there.



___________
Tony Fabris

Add me to the count of attendees, but as tentative. Thanks for organizing this!

Mike

I think it highly unlikely we will drive from England - the plane is a far more attractive proposition, even if it means not being able to listen to an empeg

We did drive to Amersfoort, but were still beaten to the prize by some guys from Bedford (about 25 miles from Cambridge!). Small world, huh?

Rob

Try this on for size! 4416.3 miles, one way. Not counting the six or seven hour ferry ride. Total driving time of about 82 hours each way!

MapQuest

Don't think I'll be able to make it though. As for having a meet with all the empegs in Newfoundland, I do that every day that I see my empeg. :)

Good luck with it guys!


#170... I got SN: 080000101 12 gig Blue!

Jon, I'll be there. Is there a Doc Wong drive that weekend, by any chance? Hugo- Just a reminder that the keys to the M coupe are waiting for you.

-Zandr
Mk.I #150
Mk.II #39

Wooooo!

(grins)

...in that case, I might bring my gf and make a little holiday of it...

Thanks for the offer!

Hugo

Just spoke with the management at Boulevard, and I'm about to go down there to work out the details of our meeting on the 3rd.

I'm going to ask him to ensure that we have power outside for our toys, which he seems open to, and he is suggesting that he have sandwich-ey and salad-y kinds of stuff available for us. Of course, this means that there will be a small charge for such foods. I'm going to assume that everyone is ok with that. I'll make sure its a fair deal for us. If anyone is vehemently opposed to this, please send me an email...

We discussed our action plans in the case of good or foul weather, and he says that if it's raining, he'll have the fireplaces cranked up for us inside...

I'm excited that this thing is coming together. I was afraid that our large group (22 so far) would put them off since they get pretty busy on the weekends, but they are cool with it.

For those of you that might attend that haven't spoke up, please do so quickly so that I can give them a more accurate estimate of our numbers.

I'm headed down there now. I'll give you an update when I get back.

- Jon

Ok, just got back. Thanks for waiting... ;-)

So we're all set. If the weather is nice, we're outside on the deck, if bad - the dining room. He will have a fixed price menu for us - 11 or 12 bucks a piece. We'll be eating burgers, sandwiches, etc. with salad and your choice of carbonated beverage. Alchohol is of course available at additional cost. The 11 or 12 will include the tip...

Power will be plentiful.

The owner wanted to make a deal for a free empeg. He was impressed after I gave him a thorough demo. I told him what they cost, and he realized that his dream was over... He may be a customer though... ;-)

So that's it! Now get off yer butt and plan a fun trip to Northern Cal!

- Jon

So, that's the accommodation and food sorted, now what about the competitions?

One of the few remaining Mk1 owners... #00015

Makes me wish I had moved to Castro Valley instead of Northern Virginia like I did after I graduated... ;)

Hope your meet comes together well and you have a great time! Make sure to take lots of pictures!

(O|||||O)

I'll write another empeg general knowledge quiz - maybe a little easier than the Amersfoort one!

Rob

I'll write another empeg general knowledge quiz - maybe a little easier than the Amersfoort one!

So... that means you'll be there to administer the quiz?

___________
Tony Fabris

meaybe ill come so i can see what this is all about.

Rex

Someone from empeg will definitely be there - hopefully Hugo and myself. This could be subject to last minute change though.

In addition several people from the mothership are interested in coming, including the CTO of SONICblue and the President of Rio, so you'll be able to complain about tuners to some really influential people!

Rob

Holy crap! That's some amazing news... I hope it works out that you will all be able to make it. I'll be there for sure, with or without my new/repaired car. Wow, i'm really looking forward to this even more now! Once again, empeg amazes =].


|| loren.cox || 080000446 ||

Oh, I dunno, Rob - the Amersfoort one was just about right.

The benefit of the second meet is that you can re-use the old quiz and no-one will be any wiser! (promise I won't tell the answers)

One of the few remaining Mk1 owners... #00015

Can we somehow exclude Tony from this so that the rest of us have a shot ;-)

I'll be there... I've already spent thousands and thousands of dollars on my system and no empeg in it yet. I'm so busy making my system "perfect" for when the empeg comes. ;)

Calvin

Dang it! I live in Mountain View, CA yet will be in colorado that weekend:(
-mark

...proud to have owned an Empeg since 00287

I just thought I would throw this out and see if there are any takers. I really want to come and have found a decent air travel price but the hotel stay will hurt if I stay a few days. Would anyone want to put me up or possibly share a hotel there? Now that I heard Hugo and Rob may be there I really want to go. You can reply here or to my email [email protected]

Brian

-See my empeg here-

Damn, Di, I am very disappointed to hear that.

___________
Tony Fabris

Geez, that's what I get for not checking the board for a few weeks. Definately count me in for this one, it's less than two hours for me. :) Hopefully i'll actually HAVE the empeg installed by then, the shop has been running me in circles with part orders and such, big headache. Either way, i'll be there.



________
Donato
MkII/Blue/40GB/080000565

Looks like I will be able to make it also.. I'll be bringing a friend so count me in for 2 people. It's only about a 30 min drive for me.

PT Cruiser with a Mark 2 12gig

In the reverse competition, my yahoo map puts me at 8.2 miles (and probably less than 4 as the crow flies). I'm not sure if I'm on the RSVP list yet, but count me in.
Let's hope the weather is better than it is this weekend (we got a bit of hail piled up yesterday).

I've just booked my flight (along with my gf, who is coming along on the premise that the weather in California has to be better than the weather here), so I'll be there :)

Hugo

Fantastic! Looking forward to seeing you again, Hugo, and meeting your lady friend. Anyone else up for the jaunt?

___________
Tony Fabris

So, any word yet on what time the event will take place? My flight (planned before I knew about this event) lands in Oakland at 11:44am, meaning I'm probably lucky if I arrive at the meet at 1pm. I can reschedule for an earlier flight if I have to, but I'd like to know soon.

So, any word yet on what time the event will take place?

Oops. Yes, we are going to start at noon... Sorry about that. Should have posted that sooner.

- Jon

Weather here is horrible. There are snow warnings, snow storms above 1500 elevation, constant rain, accidents, highways shut down, and worse. There's a freak winter storm over here... hopefully it'll be gone when march comes around.

Calvin

Hmm, just saw this part:
In the "backyard" of this place, people come out of the trails on horses, and the sun just pours in.

How close do the horses get? Thats one weird thing, I have been alergic to them since I was 9. (Loved them before this happened, but afterwords, it landed me in the hospital once for touching one).

Well, I doubt we'll end up outside, but if we do - the horses stay pretty far away from the patio area where we'd be...

Hope this soggy weather clears up soon... ;-(

It's pissing here (for the benefit of our English friends...)

- Jon

I'll be there. Also expected are Andy Wolfe (SONICblue CTO), Tim Esau (Rio Car product manager) and Jon Agee (Rio marketing communications manager). Jon will be bringing some very nice competition prizes with him

Rob

Hi All,

So here's our current list of attendees...

tfabris
loren
dtrounce maybe
borislav
rob
hugo
hugo's girlfriend
dredd
dwallach
mcomb
esb
kevin
drakino maybe
drguz
hoagy
bmihulka maybe
eternalsun (Calvin)
mike maybe
n6mod (zandr)
Tim Esau (Rio Car product marketing)
Jon Agee (Rio marketing communications manager)
rex_oah (maybe)
Andy Wolfe (CTO SonicBlue)
gbeer (Glenn Beer)
ricin (Donato)
CruzThs
CruzThs friend
bam

28 including the "maybe's". Please let me know if you want to be added or subtracted from this list.

- Thanx!
- Jon

I hope we'll be outside for a while at least - one of the best bits is seeing all the installations, and judging them for the install and SQ competitions. How big is the parking lot for this place?

Rob

The parking lot will work well. Let's all try and park on the LEFT side of Boulevard. The place gets a lot of traffic on the weekends if the weather is nice, but I don't think we'll have any problems getting all of us in there nonetheless.

- Jon

I have only two words to describe this:

WOO HOO!!!!!

Looking forward to meeting everyone there! Dionysus, is there any way you can put off that Colorado trip? This is gonna be big. Hey, Jon, is this little bar and grill going to be able to hold a gathering this large?

And one last thing...

Hugo's girlfriend

Surely this person has a name?

___________
Tony Fabris

Hey, Jon, is this little bar and grill going to be able to hold a gathering this large?

Yes, no problem.

Yeah Hugo, what's your ladies name?

- Jon

Jon will be bringing some very nice competition prizes with him

I'd like to nominate Tony for instant disqualification of entry into the contest.

j/k

P.S.... i'd like to second that WOOOHOOO!


|| loren.cox || 080000446 ||

I'm thinking I can probably modify my travel plans for the week, extend my stay, and make it as well. And folks are right - there are some awesome roads around that that my M3 and I have have torn up. Unfortunately the ride (with empeg) is in Phoenix right now so no empeg install to show off.

Looking forward to meeting folks!

=-Clarke


______________________________________
Queue 351, Now Mk II #60000022 18gb, Blue

I now have a definite commitment to be there. I decided to just bite the bullet and get a hotel. I'll be in San Francisco for four nights so if anyone wants to show me a good time that would be great. Also a big thanks to those who did offer a place to stay, I decided it would be too much of an inconvience for a fellow empeg owner to let me stay with them.

Brian

-See my empeg here-

I drove past the the Boulevard today, because it was the only way for me to get to work this morning. Literally every road from Santa Cruz to Silicon Valley was closed, so I had to go up the coast to 84 and cross over there. Roads were closed in both directions from there. 6" of snow, temps about 3C/38F. This is supposed to be Sunny California, dammit! Hugo, I'm pretty sure Chloe is wrong about the weather.

-Zandr
Mk.I #150
Mk.II #39

Eeek!

Are you really serious about the Z3? If so, can I borrow it from something like wednesday night (otherwise I'd better try and get a hire car too - Rob's getting one so I should be able to get to your place...)

Hugo
ps It's not Chloe, it's Claire. Yes, it was Chloe last time you were over. No jokes about working in alphabetical order, please.

Claire, and she's actually also a Sonicblue employee... ;)

Hugo

It's not Chloe, it's Claire. Yes, it was Chloe last time you were over. No jokes about working in alphabetical order, please.

ROFL!

Hope she doesn't read the BBS.



___________
Tony Fabris

Hey, I thought I was up on current events. After all, I was there in December.

But, since I've been over there twice, and Hugo's S.O. has always been mysteriously absent, anything's possible.

-Zandr
Mk.I #150
Mk.II #39

No, it was Claire in December too. Anyway, I don't go through a lot of gf's! I was with Chloe for 18 months!

My SO's always seem to be annoyingly far away (at least 70 miles). I have a complete inability to meet anyone local; even when I used to go out to nightclubs, I'd always end up with the people who were over visiting friends for the weekend...

Hugo

Just a thought... It would be cool to organize a small track/empeg day at a later date as well. I've never done the track thing, but would love to give it a go, and it would rock to have the advice of some fellow empegers at the track. There seems to be a few speedsters here on the West coast.


|| loren.cox || 080000446 ||

You're right, I was there in October, not December. Too many trade shows, not enough sleep.

My SO's always seem to be annoyingly far away (at least 70 miles). I have a complete inability to meet anyone local; even when I used to go out to nightclubs, I'd always end up with the people who were over visiting friends for the weekend...

And you think that 70 miles is a long way for some reason? Heck, my commute is more than half that.

-Zandr
Mk.I #150
Mk.II #39

Hi Everyone!

I'm impressed at our committment for this meet so far! Check out my new and improved list (v1.1)...

Tony Fabris (tfabris)
Loren Cox (loren)
Kelly (Loren Cox's girlfriend)
Scott (Loren Cox's installer friend)
Borislav Deianov (borislav)
Rob Voisey (rob) (empeg operations manager)
Hugo Fiennes (altman) (empeg founder, techie big cheese)
Claire (hugo's girlfriend)
Derek Balling (dredd)
Dan Wallach (dwallach)
Mike Comb (mcomb)
Eric Brown (esb)
Kevin Hester (kevin)
Sean (drguz)
Ryan Hoagland (hoagy)
Brian Mihulka (bmihulka)
Calvin (eternalsun)
Aleksandr Milewski (n6mod)
Tim Esau (Rio Car product marketing)
Jon Agee (Rio marketing communications manager)
Andy Wolfe (CTO SonicBlue)
Glenn Beer (gbeer)
Donato Sinicco (ricin)
Donato's friend
Rob Vreeland (CruzThs)
CruzThs friend
bam
Clarke
Carl Aydelotte (Dallas, TX)
Andy Brenner
Michael Grant
Kevin Hester
Doug (Kevin Hester's friend)
David Black
Geoff White
Tom Cramer (drakino)

Bruce Busby (Sonic Blue m&a dude) maybe
David Trounce (dtrounce) maybe
Rex Oah maybe
Sean (drakino's friend) maybe (50%)
Michael Lohmeyer (drakoz) maybe
Rex Oah (rex_oah) maybe
Mike Higuera (MRHJr) maybe
Chris Lobkowicz (smoker_man)

36 confirmed "yes's"
8 confirmed "maybe's"

I couldn't get some of your names. If you'd like to remain anonymous, cool - but if you want your real name listed, please send it to me.

- Thanx
- Jon

Hey, Loren... Any chance we'll see a demo of Starfighter on the 3rd?

___________
Tony Fabris

LOL... i hadn't even thought of that... but yes, you can count on it. I'll bring the PS2 and the PSOne (just so you can see how damn small that thing is.)

The release party is this Saturday at the Sony store in the Metreon in San Francisco. I'll be there from around 10 to 12 if anyone's interested. Should be fun.


|| loren.cox || 080000446 ||

I don't suppose this Starfighter game is in any way related to "Starfighter 3000" by Fednet on the Acorn and 3DO??

Didn't think so... =)

Jazz
(List 112, Mk2 12 gig #40. Mk1 4 gig #30. Mk3 1.6 16v)

I don't suppose this Starfighter game is in any way related to "Starfighter 3000" by Fednet on the Acorn and 3DO?

Uh, no. It's a LucasArts game based on the Star Wars license.

___________
Tony Fabris

Yeah, what he said.

Damn, now you've got me all excited to hear the PS2 on my system...

Must...have.......my........caaaaaaaaaaaaarr!!!!

=]


|| loren.cox || 080000446 ||

Do we need to tell you if we're bringing friends? I'm not completely sure, but I THINK a few of my friends might ride down with me.

________
Donato
MkII/Blue/40GB/080000565

Yes, it's important for me to give an accurate count to the owner of Boulevard so that he can plan for the right amount of food to prepare for us...

- Thanx
- Jon

Ok, I just got confirmation from one of my friends, so you can count him in. The other is still tentative. I'll try and get a confirmation ASAP.

________
Donato
MkII/Blue/40GB/080000565

> Hugo Fiennes (altman) (empeg founder, techie big cheese)

..more like a Baby Bell

Rob

Screw the work. This is too big to miss. Will be good to get the chance to catch up with some fellow Brits only 10 miles away from home in Menlo Park.

I'll be there with my Amber 18gb install in my Silver Porsche Boxster, BRIT BX... give the S2000 a run for its money :-)

70 miles? I know what you mean. I have been fortunate enough to have had a girlfriend in Brazil for about a year...
And one in Macau.

Yes, but it's taken me 4 hours to get from Reading to Cambridge (~100 miles) - and that's mostly motorway. The traffic is *not* good.

Hugo

Hi All,

I'm SURE that I really don't have to ask, but some of you are going to bring a digital camera to our party, yes? Greg Dem has volunteered to help with "digitization of video for web pages" if we need it...

- Jon

I will definitely be bringing my still digital cam with extra memory cards! I gotta take pics off all the different installs, and fellow empegers. Digital video would be damn nice though! I'm sure someone out there has a digvidcam.


|| loren.cox || 080000446 ||

In reply to:

---

Yes, but it's taken me 4 hours to get from Reading to Cambridge (~100 miles)

---

Pah. That's nothing. Try having a girlfriend in Birmingham when you live in Zürich and you fly over so often that the only affordable way of doing it is to fly SleazyJet into Luton, then hire a car and drive to Brum. Total journey time, door to door is about six hours. More if LazyJet are late (which, in my experience, nine times out of ten they are).

Ho hum. Still, a long weekend coming up and a 'proper' flight with a 'proper' airline into Brum - then we've just got to drive up to Durham. Thank God I'm only here for another 167 days.

Aaaaaaanyway, this is getting well off topic.

Nick.

--
18Gb blue (now AR red) - s/n 080000299 (original queue position 8724)

I'll bring my digital camera.

Calvin

I'll be bringing my D1, so we'll have plenty of good shots. D

If someone else wants to work it, (I'll have my hands full with my digi-still), I've got a MiniDV camera I can bring along. Never used it to actually create .MOV's though. :) D

I have Premiere 5.1 and an unused Firewire port on my laptop we can use. Or a RCA in port that I may get working in time. I'll make sure to bring it for the trip, as I already promised Tony a look at WinXP on it.

Cool. I'll make sure to bring it along then. Now I just have to find the box the movers packed it into. D

Nex ttime you are in reading - give us a shout.

The traffic always seems a lot better after a trip to the pub/Oracle......

Cheers,

Paul.

Paul Haigh, Reg. 4120
(mk1) 6GB, Blue, 00254
(mk2) 12GB, Red, 00357

Hi,

I've just booked my flight (along with my gf, who is coming along on the premise that the weather in California has to be better than the weather here), so I'll be there :)

Ticket & hotel booked, see you guys there..





_________________________________________
John, (MK1 #114-20G, MK2 #15-36G).

I'd be interested in looking at your D1 :-)

Calvin

That could be arranged, I'm sure.

D

Our current list:

Jon Bauer (jbauer) (CA)
Tony Fabris (tfabris) (CA)
Loren Cox (loren) (CA)
Kelly (Loren Cox's girlfriend) (CA)
Scott (Loren Cox's installer friend) (CA)
Borislav Deianov (borislav) (CA)
Rob Voisey (rob) (empeg operations manager kahuna) (UK)
Hugo Fiennes (altman) (empeg founder, techie baby bell) (UK)
Claire (hugo's girlfriend) (UK)
Derek Balling (dredd) (CA)
Dan Wallach (dwallach) (TX)
Mike Comb (mcomb) (CA)
Eric Brown (esb) (CA)
Kevin Hester (kevin) (CA)
Doug (Kevin Hester's friend) (CA)
Sean (drguz) (CA)
Ryan Hoagland (hoagy) (CA)
Brian Mihulka (bmihulka) (NE)
Calvin (eternalsun) (CA)
Aleksandr Milewski (n6mod) (CA)
Tim Esau (Rio Car product marketing) (WA)
Jon Agee (Rio marketing communications manager) (WA)
Andy Wolfe (CTO SonicBlue) (WA)
Glenn Beer (gbeer) (CA)
Donato Sinicco (ricin) (CA)
Donato's friend (CA)
Rob Vreeland (CruzThs) (CA)
CruzThs friend (CA)
bam (?)
Clarke Ferber (AZ)
Carl Aydelotte (TX)
Andy Brenner (CA)
Michael Grant (CA)
David Black (CA)
Geoff White (CA)
Tom Cramer (drakino) (CO)
Steve Scherf (CA)
Mimi + Kimiko (Steve Scherf's wife and larva) (CA)
David Trounce (dtrounce) (CA)
John Lambon (UK)

Bruce Busby (Sonic Blue m&a dude) maybe (WA)
David Trounce (dtrounce) maybe (CA)
Sean (drakino's friend) maybe (50%) (CA)
Michael Lohmeyer (drakoz) maybe (?)
Rex Oah (rex_oah) maybe (?)
Mike Higuera (MRHJr) maybe (?)
Chris Lobkowicz (smoker_man) maybe (Canada)
Alex Diaz maybe (CA)
Alan H, maybe (OH)

40 "yes's"
9 "maybe's"

Updates/changes are appreciated.

- Thanx!
- Jon

This is starting to look less like a meet and more like an invasion.

Cool.

___________
Tony Fabris

Hmm... lots of Texans in the list here. Maybe we've got the critical mass to have our own get together some day. It's perhaps best not to do it during the summer... September or October would be pretty good, especially if we can time it for some nifty new Rio/empeg products to be available to demonstrate. Hmm....

Ok... Count me in too.

I will be driving up from L.A. the evening before, if anybody is interested in getting a ride let me know.

-D

---
reg. #10798 - blue 40gig MK2 #764

Here is a wacky idea:

Rob, how about you bring a stack of NDAs to the meet and let us sign our souls away for a preview of the future? I'm sure that'll convince a few more of the "maybe"s to come too.

Borislav

Erm, no, sorry

The idea with alpha testing is to keep the team manageable so we can cope with the bugs reports!

Rob

Erm, no, sorry

Heh, didn't think so either, but it didn't hurt to ask.

Wishes,
Borislav

I'll be joing this party, I'll represent for San Diego,Ca


MkII Serial # 080000457

Add me to the list too.

Hi All!

Well -- we are getting close to the day of our "invasion" in Northern California!

I want to wish everyone a safe and fun journey to The Boulevard. Some of you are coming from lands far, and some have never visited sunny California! Let me be the first to say "welcome". We can't wait to meet you!

Here's my current list. Please send me changes if you have any.

Jon Bauer (jbauer) (CA)
Tony Fabris (tfabris) (CA)
Loren Cox (loren) (CA)
Kelly (Loren Cox's girlfriend) (CA)
Scott (Loren Cox's installer friend) (CA)
Borislav Deianov (borislav) (CA)
Rob Voisey (rob) (empeg operations manager kahuna) (UK)
Hugo Fiennes (altman) (empeg founder, techie baby bell) (UK)
Claire (hugo's girlfriend) (UK)
Derek Balling (dredd) (CA)
Dan Wallach (dwallach) (TX)
Mike Comb (mcomb) (CA)
Eric Brown (esb) (CA)
Doug (Kevin Hester's friend) (CA) ?
Sean (drguz) (CA)
Ryan Hoagland (hoagy) (CA)
Brian Mihulka (bmihulka) (NE)
Calvin (eternalsun) (CA)
Aleksandr Milewski (n6mod) (CA)
Tim Esau (Rio Car product marketing) (WA)
Jon Agee (Rio marketing communications manager) (WA)
Andy Wolfe (CTO SonicBlue) (WA)
Glenn Beer (gbeer) (CA)
Donato Sinicco (ricin) (CA)
Donato's friend (CA)
Rob Vreeland (CruzThs) (CA)
CruzThs friend (CA)
bam (?)
Clarke Ferber (AZ)
Carl Aydelotte (TX)
Andy Brenner (CA)
Michael Grant (CA)
David Black (CA)
Geoff White (CA)
Tom Cramer (drakino) (CO)
Steve Scherf (CA)
Mimi + Kimiko (Steve Scherf's wife and larva) (CA)
David Trounce (dtrounce) (CA)
John Lambon (UK)
Didier Malenfant (dids) (CA)
Ernest Pressley (ernestp) (CA)
Hussein Kanji (Hussein) (CA)
Malou Carreon (CA)

Bruce Busby (Sonic Blue m&a dude) maybe (WA)
David Trounce (dtrounce) maybe (CA)
Sean (drakino's friend) maybe (50%) (CA)
Michael Lohmeyer (drakoz) maybe (?)
Rex Oah (rex_oah) maybe (?)
Mike Higuera (MRHJr) maybe (?)
Chris Lobkowicz (smoker_man) maybe (Canada)
Alex Diaz maybe (CA)
Alan H. maybe (OH)

43 "yes's"
9 "maybe's"

- Thanx
- Jon

Although it's definitely way to far off to tell with any great amount of certainty.... it's looking like we might have some sunshine for the meet! It's been dismal and rainy for about a week and looks like it'll stay that way for another. If it's sunny on the 3rd, with all these people... this is gonna be one helluva event! Come ooooon March 3rd...get here already.


|| loren.cox || 080000446 ||

Sean (drakino's friend) maybe (50%) (CA)

Hmm, how did he get out to CA already?

The good thing is that I have enough days off around it to explore the area. I've been to S. CA many times, but never N. CA.

I question whether they used virgin goat's blood with the chicken feet to divine that particular week-and-a-half-in-advance forecast.

It's such a joke. They can't tell the weather accurately three days in advance, let alone ten.

___________
Tony Fabris

So true. Funny, cause a friend of mine was in town all weekend, and we wanted to do the whole Alcatraz thing, so i was looking at that page for San Francisco weather every few hours or so to see if we should prepare for a crazy rainstorm, or if it might be reasonably clear. The outlook changed every hour, and was still way wrong. It was 80% chance of severe showers at 9am decreasing during the day up until an hour before we left at 8am, and it ended up actually being partly cloudy and nice until about 5pm, when the sky opened up. I know the Bay Area weather system is incredibly difficult to predict. The location must make a drastic difference on how easy it is to predict weather or something. Back home in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, they were amazingly accurate with that stuff. Hm. Well, off to do some anit-rain dances...


|| loren.cox || 080000446 ||

Have you tried www.weatherplanner.com? It predicts a full year ahead as a long term daily forecast. It's accuracy is in the 90% -- it tracks its own accuracy (for example if it predicts a clear day, and it rains for 2 minutes that counts as a 100% failure for the day). It does not do short term forecasting -- has to be 2 weeks away or more. I've used it for my long term planning and its great stuff, always on the ball and more so than the local 5 day forecast. I had one event I planned that the local meteorologists predicted as "showers" and weatherplanner predicted as "sunny 60 to 70 degrees, some clouds" and the local 5 day forecast was wrong, weatherplanner was right. I'm sold. Try it.

Calvin

For the Empeg crew,

Can someone bring a "Rio" branded empeg? I'm interested in seeing...

Calvin

Is there any one attending, who will be passing thru/past Manteca on the way to the meet. Its beginning to look like I may not be able to go without a generous stranger providing a lift. Will share costs.

Glenn Beer, Manteca Ca

Edited by gbeer on 21/02/01 03:57 AM.

Can someone from Empeg bring some parts like Faceplates,Carry bags,etc to sell at the meet. I'm in the market for some Faceplates (Amber,etc)

MkII Serial # 080000457

There should be several Rio branded players there.

Rob

Sorry, I don't want to get into sales or servicing at the meet. I will, however, bring a bunch of anti-slipping knobs for anyone that hasn't got one yet.

Rob

Greetings!

I have been putting off asking for one of those knobs because a) I am not having any trouble yet, and b) I intend to order new remotes and some other stuff from the store. I have been waiting for the remotes to come out. Would I be able to get the replacement knobs through SonicBlue, or should I ask now?

Paul G.
SN# 090000587 (40GB Green)

We have a huge bag of replacement knobs - it seems the problem was far less widespread than feedback on the BBS suggested. If you want one at any point in the future just email us direct, we won't throw them away.

Rob

Hi All,

Just spoke with the owner of Boulevard and confirmed our party again.

Don't forget, it's 12:00 noon on the 3rd, and we've arranged for $11.00 each for lunch which will include your choice of sandwich, salad, soda, tax, and tip.

See y'all there!

- Jon

Save me a lunch; I'll probably be an hour late. Changing my flight to get in earlier would have cost me hundreds of dollars, and, while I'd love to be there on-time...

Speaking of S2000+empeg, does anyone have an e-mail address for Andy Wolfe?

(I would like to ask him if he's found a way to integrate the S2000's fingertip dash controls for the stereo with the empeg)

Anyone?

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --
MK2 #141, green, 12GB

The controls weren't integrated in his car, the logical way to do it would be to get a box that converted them to sony standard controls and use a sony->empeg converter...

http://s2000.byteserve.com.au/audioupgrade/pinky/pinkyspage.html

...is one, but it's made-to-order and a bit expensive.

Hugo

The countdown has begun...

5!!!

- Jon

Inevitably there will be a lot of stereo system install comparisons. So what I suggest is everyone should install several songs in common so that we have a basis for comparison if we want to show off our installations to each other.

If you have the IASCA CD, that's a good candidate to rip and put on your empegs. And YYZ from Moving Pictures, since it's picked up so many mentions on this board. :)

Any other suggestions?
Calvin

I'll keep my car out of this for now, since the empeg is hooked to a cheap 4 channel amp, and then to the factory speakers. It was better then using the tape adaptor for the trip, but right now I don't have the spare money I want to dump into the system.

I have a ten-song "demo" playlist already, which I've been adding/removing songs from for over a year, and I've settled on a list that I think really captures a nice range of sound. I've been thinking for a long time that it would be fun to us to all compare our favorite demo lists.

Interestingly, YYZ is not on the list. It's a fantastic song, but doesn't actually demo the system's range as well as some of the others. Tom Sawyer, on the other hand, is number one on the list.

Here's my current demo list:

1. Rush- Tom Sawyer (from "The Rush Remasters" version of Moving Pictures). This song just explodes all over the spectrum, it has fantastic punch and impact, and is produced very clean and smooth. A great all-around test song. Doug, of course, likes to surprise folks with it at maximum volume...



2. The Crystal Method- Cherry Twist (from Vegas). Some extremely clean low-frequency synth bass happens early in this song. Check to make sure the rear license plate doesn't rattle.



3. Genesis- I Can't Dance (from We Can't Dance). Incredibly clean production, the vocals are extremely dry and have a very in-your-face presence which shows how clearly the mids on your system reproduce voices.



4. The Pretenders- Dragway 42 (from Viva el Amor). The intro to this one just sounds FREAKIN' COOL when you crank it. Actually it has some neat positional information to test your stereo image. The instruments seem to dance around in the stereo field.



5. Steve Morse- Modoc (from High Tension Wires). This is a fantastic solo classical guitar piece. But with a twist. The guitar uses a hexaphonic pickup, allowing Steve to place each string on a separate track. The low strings are produced differently from the high strings, each string has a different EQ/Reverb/etc., and all the strings are panned differently. The stereo image from this piece is insane- each melody line seems to dance around you. And the separation between the various strings is so strong that you could swear it's at least two guitarists. (But it's not- it's just Steve. I've seen him play this piece live.)



6. Tori Amos- Riot Proof (from To Venus and Back). Another great song to crank, if you've got the subwoofers to handle it. An incredible array of sonic textures.



7. Bela Fleck and the Flecktones- Earth Jam (from Outbound). This track is well produced overall, but I include it in the list specifically to demo the sound of a very cleanly-recorded bass guitar. The bass sounds great in this particular mix.



8. Peter Gabriel- Red Rain (from So). A great all-around demo song, staring with a crisp, dry hi-hat line (played by Stewart Copeland, by the way) fading into an explosion of sound. Peter sure knows how to produce a song for maximum impact. Seems like it takes him about ten years to release an album, but each one is worth the wait.



9. The Crystal Method- Trip Like I Do (from Vegas). Okay, it's probably bad to have two demo pieces from the same album in the list. But man, this song's intro sounds so good when you crank it. There's something about the filter-sweep synth at the beginning that just gets me...



10. Trevor Rabin- The Cape (from Can't Look Away). An instrumental piece with some very high, crisp guitar sounds riding over a very deep analog synth bass. The synth bass gets so low in parts that you can almost count the pulses.

Anyone have their votes for their favorite demo songs?

___________
Tony Fabris

...it would be fun to us to all compare our favorite demo lists.

We have two songs in common on our demo lists, and come pretty close on a couple more.

I have "Tom Sawyer" and "Modoc" on my list. In addition I kept "YYZ", for the strong stereo imaging in the opening bars (with the triangle) and that rumbling sustained 'A' note near the end.

I also have a song from Crystal Method's 'Vegas' -- but the one I chose is "Busy Child", with those very heavy bass hits that rattle the whole car.

Did you ever consider that "Borealis" song I sent you, the one from Sheffield Labs? That's a good show piece if your stereo is really good on light, clear bright treble. That one is on my list.

The rest of my list is pretty divergent from yours and probably everybody else's too. :-)

I start out with Chopin's Opus 10 Etude in C-Major, an incredibly rich solo piano piece, followed by the Crystal Method piece and the "Borealis" piece mentioned above.

Next is a selection from Gustav Holst 'The Planets' -- "Mars, the Bringer of War" is good for demonstrating linearity throughout the spectral range. Other selections include three IASCA tracks, Bach's "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor" for pipe organ, a selection from Verdi's opera 'Rigoletto', and a performance of the final movement of Hummel's "Concerto for Trumpet". A few other odds and ends (including "Orinoco Flow" by enya) round out the list.

tanstaafl.



"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"

Did you ever consider that "Borealis" song I sent you, the one from Sheffield Labs? That's a good show piece if your stereo is really good on light, clear bright treble. That one is on my list.

I agree that it's a good piece for testing treble response. However, the piece itself doesn't (to me) have a lot of visceral impact from a musical standpoint. I was looking for pieces which impressed me musically as well as sonically.

___________
Tony Fabris

4 days!!!

- Jon

Bach's "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor" for pipe organ

A friend of mine blew up the Wharfedales in his home system trying to play a rendition of that on Lincoln Cathedral's organ.

"Ah yes," said Wharfedale when he rang them up, "we'll get the cone replaced. We don't usually get people with this problem at this time of year though."

"This time of year?"

"Yes, people usually blow them up on the last night of the Proms."

Peter

Reminds me of my standard (now) for testing systems... Telarc's rendition of the 1812 Overture. The one with the warning due to the bandwidth on the Canons.

The one that I ignored the warning the first time, on a pair of Bose (I was young) speakers.

That was an expensive mistake, with the speakers busting and the amp losing it's 'magic smoke' during the process.

But it's still a great track for listening to the dynamic range of a system. If you can play it accurately throughout, your system should be able to handle just about anything you throw at it....

I don't own an empeg, but if you don't mind burning a CD with your demo selection, then you'd be able to audition my system with your baseline. I've burned a couple of CDs, one with a range of instruments and the other one is a wide range of A capella (all voice) songs.

Calvin

3 days!!!

Here's the last posting of our current list. As always, please send additions/deletions to me quickly!

Beautiful day here in Northern Cal. Hope it lasts!

Jon Bauer (jbauer) (CA)
Tony Fabris (tfabris) (CA)
Loren Cox (loren) (CA)
Kelly (Loren Cox's girlfriend) (CA)
Scott (Loren Cox's installer friend) (CA)
Borislav Deianov (borislav) (CA)
Rob Voisey (rob) (empeg operations manager kahuna) (UK)
Hugo Fiennes (altman) (empeg founder, techie baby bell) (UK)
Claire (hugo's girlfriend) (UK)
Derek Balling (dredd) (CA)
Dan Wallach (dwallach) (TX)
Mike Comb (mcomb) (CA)
Eric Brown (esb) (CA)
Doug (Kevin Hester's friend) (CA)
Sean (drguz) (CA)
Ryan Hoagland (hoagy) (CA)
Brian Mihulka (bmihulka) (NE)
Calvin (eternalsun) (CA)
Aleksandr Milewski (n6mod) (CA)
Tim Esau (Rio Car product marketing) (WA)
Jon Agee (Rio marketing communications manager) (WA)
Andy Wolfe (CTO SonicBlue) (WA)
Glenn Beer (gbeer) (CA)
Donato Sinicco (ricin) (CA)
Donato's friend (CA)
Rob Vreeland (CruzThs) (CA)
CruzThs friend (CA)
bam (?)
Clarke Ferber (AZ)
Carl Aydelotte (TX)
Andy Brenner (CA)
Michael Grant (CA)
David Black (CA)
Geoff White (CA)
Steve Scherf (CA)
Mimi + Kimiko (Steve Scherf's wife and larva) (CA)
David Trounce (dtrounce) (CA)
John Lambon (UK)
Didier Malenfant (dids) (CA)
Ernest Pressley (ernestp) (CA)
Hussein Kanji (Hussein) (CA)
Malou Carreon (CA)
Tom Cramer (Drakino) (CO)
Josh (drakino's friend) (CA)
Ben Miller (CA)
Ben Miller's friend (CA)

Bruce Busby (Sonic Blue m&a dude) maybe (WA)
David Trounce (dtrounce) maybe (CA)
Michael Lohmeyer (drakoz) maybe (?)
Rex Oah (rex_oah) maybe (?)
Mike Higuera (MRHJr) maybe (?)
Alex Diaz maybe (CA)
Alan H. maybe (OH)

46 "yes's"
7 "maybe's"

- Jon

Telarc's rendition of the 1812 Overture.

Can you post an album ID # or ?? where I could try and find a copy of this CD?

tanstaafl.

"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"

Telarc's rendition of the 1812 Overture.

Can you post an album ID # or ?? where I could try and find a copy of this CD?


It's CD-80041. Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra conducted by Erich Kunzel.

It's got a little yellow cannon in the top left hand corner with CAUTION! DIGITAL CANNONS on it.

It's a good warning. I don't know if it's still in print or not, as my copy was pressed in 1979 (I didn't even remember CD's back then... )

AAAAAAAAAHHH!

Now I can't find MY copy of it. I've got the case in front of me, but it's empty!!!!

Damn. Now if there was only someway to archive all of these CD's onto a shared medium, with easy indexing and backup capabilities.........

(and if there was only some way to do it AFTER you've misplaced the #@$*(&@#(*$&(*&#$@(*&@# disk. )

I may have missed it, but I don't recall seeing details of Friday's pre-meet night out in SF. When and where, Jon?

Rob

PS Just got back from a pre-pre-meet with Zander - great filet mignon at Van's!

Hm. Well, due to the number of responses received, I decided not to have one and I have made other plans for Friday night...

Sorry, I didn't know that people were actually interested... Y'all can plan one without me... Sorry! :-(

- Jon

Hi All,

...in case anyone needs to reach me for any reason (got lost, need info, etc.)...

My cell phone is 415-846-9419.

I'll be at Boulevard early on Saturday morning. Maybe I'll get to meet some of you early...

By the way, we are gonna have a heck of a turn out! Just got a bunch of additions! We are probably over 50 people at this point!

- Thanx
- Jon

great filet mignon at Van's!

Hm. Where's "Van's"?

- Jon