Vacuum State Of The Art Conference And Show 2003 (VSAC)

VSAC 2003: Micro-Watt Amps, Music And Microbrews
By Dave Glackin Part 2

  "Calling all horn lovers." Dr. Bruce Edgar explained his philosophy of modern horn design to a standing-room-only crowd during Sunday's first seminar session.

 

The gorgeous looking and sounding deHavilland amplifier. I love 845-based amps, and this was my favorite in the show (this version uses the Soviet GM-70 equivalent tube).

 

A view down the throat of the GM-70 tube. You can almost count the electrons.

 

Dan Schmalle (Doc Bottlehead) holding court in his room, which I judged the Best Sound in the Show. Kudos to Doc B. for founding VSAC and for hosting VSAC 2003.

 

The lineup of products in the Bottlehead room included a Progressive Engineering turntable, electronics from Bottlehead, step-up transformers from Bent Audio [used with the Bottlehead Seduction phono preamp shown here], high-efficiency Climax speakers from Bottlehead, and a modified Sony universal player from Exemplar Audio. Paul Stubblebine of Paul Subblebine Mastering provided some wonderful 30 ips half-track analog tape sound (tape deck is out of frame).

 

Paul Stubblebine kept Stan Ricker up late one night, having a blast listening to 30 ips tapes. Things sound better late at night when all the Seattle-area breweries shut down and stop hogging the power grid...

 

Ron Welborne of Welborne Labs was the Marketing Director for VSAC 2003, and helped greatly to make this show the success that it was. Ron was exhibiting a system built around a pair of stunning Oris horns, reproducing some very nice sound from both LP and CD.

 

Here's another Redpoint turntable sporting two arms in the Bent Audio room. A spectral analysis of the atmosphere in a typical VSAC room was demonstrated, reflecting the fact that the blues were being played, and that show-goers were green with envy over this gorgeous new vinyl spinner. Meanwhile, manufacturers of solid-state electronics were too yellow to show their sorry faces at VSAC.

 

Another eye-popping product in the Bent Audio room was this prototype ultrasonic record cleaning machine. Using sound to clean your sound seems somehow fitting, eh? Put your dogs at the other end of the house when you crank this baby up.

 

Sporting its own interpretation of the "Wood effect" was this symphony in cocobola by Teres. And no, it didn't sound grainy.

 

Hudson Audio Technologies was featuring the Eurolab Premiere turntable with Morch tonearm and Allearts phono cartridge. These are all products that deserve wider recognition within the US.

 

Click here for Part 3.