This time last week I was preparing for Lonestar Audio Fest 2011. I was going to celebrate the revival of some Quad ESL 57s I had restored. The electrostatic speaker rebuild had taken longer than expected. The prior eight months had been a series of tweaks and listening sessions. I was learning their limitations in an effort to achieve better sound. I wanted sound with body whose presentation was delicate. The Quads had a full sound that was airy and somewhat thin. Close but not the sound I imagined.

While happy with their limitations I wanted to fill the remaining spectrum. Playing with additional drivers the Quads would be the vehicle appended with jangles, bangles, and ribbons to address the areas of loss. The quests for additional drivers lead me to try full range drives in infinite baffle and open baffle configuration. Neither configuration matched well with the electrostatics. I queried audio fans for their ears. They too were happy with the sound but felt the same. The system had the makings of a good system yet something was missing.
After quite nights of crossover tweaking I had what I considered better sound. The new sound was fuller with slight bloom for the lower octaves. The following listening sessions would encourage me to exhibit at Lonestar Audiofest a free event open to the public. Exhibiting is simple: hotel reservation equals audio exhibitor.




At the show I was greeted with new challenges. The Quads sounded different in the hotel. They tilted to bass heavy and I lost an upper air from their placement at home. The room was smaller and my output amp was approaching harmonic distortion at louder volumes. Friday was spent behind closed door. I was isolated and frustrated. I needed help. After dinner and a beer, support came in the form of tubes. I normally run an odd couple in the tube sockets what I needed was a matched quad. Scott at Found-Music.com loaned a quad set of output tubes. My smile returned. I was ready for the show.

What I liked the most about the show were the people! Many exhibited a joy for audio with encyclopedic references to products design history. Saturday the room was trampled by audiophiles. We enjoyed great music and exchanged philosophies. We also demoed sonic shoes created by Jim Rivers. He gathered my solid state gear was no match for his vintage creations. He offered signal tubes for the output amplifier and delivered a tube linestage and phonostage. To my chagrin the Yamaha CR620 receiver was bypassed for Jim’s rebuilt Dynaco phonostage. Its hand matched resistors handle music with more open transparency and resolution. His tube linestage creation was hosted for a while but we returned to solid state. The tube unit had a hot left channel and rendered the music with apple bottom bass.

This year Polk Audio showed some fabulous modern speakers and satellite subwoofers. They are leading the way offering commercial appeal for the audio enthusiast. Of the most hand crafted systems I found music at Scott Shaeffer’s room. After the show he hosted a shoot out of sorts showcasing his signature amps with an array of speakers. John Busch and Paul Jeremias presented their speakers for evaluation. Once the crowd faded we wheeled speakers around rooms in typical geek fashion.



Ending an audio weekend I returned to work exhausted. The days were full and I had very little sleep. The Quads are home as well. When energy returns I’ll plug them in for the next round of tweaks. I'm hoping to clear up their upper limits or add tweeters. I extend a debut of gratitude to all who visited InnerUrban at Lonestar Audiofest. I hope to see you around in years to come, listen to your systems, help with its progression, talk music, and create new things.

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The truth remains there is only one way to describe audiophiles. They are passionate beings with a restless inner peace laid to rest in audio. I find they exhibit these qualities in a measured and exacting fashion. They are self-made professionals of symphonic expression. When defining a system their goal often begins with a reference know as the best sound until now and from there the passion extends into audio refinement.

I had the chance to visit, sit, listen and ponder the system of a gentle giant. You have seen his passion for audio reach new realms on DIYaudio.com. His latest project is breathing taking.




I’ve taken cues from professionals behind the camera who are masters of the shutter. Like audiophiles they are controlling the frame —a point of reference with both input and output. The results are often a factor of the subjects in focus and a holographic take on depth with personal perception. The soundstage for the audiophile is an offering of excitement shadowed with details. Image and quality is always factored by diminished inaccuracies. Every reviewer must understand it’s the full system which offered the result.

The question this on-looker must answer is what changes are noticed since my last visit. At first visit the Rullit designed FH12 field coils where mounted on open baffles. At that time they were engaging even without proper loading. I admired their dynamic ability wide range and natural sound.


The result was controlled refined and emotional. The overall sound has the essence of wood instruments. Think of the bassoon as compared to the flute or the viola to a violin. Every speaker system has a signature sound it’s the distinguishing factor when choosing drivers. These field coils offer the widest range I’ve heard.

The entire system filled the loft space with open and transparent sound. I am partial to female vocals and piano. When my track selection arrived a Chopin Nocturne in E-Flat poured out with quickness and speed. I noticed myself stepping back. I wanted to get out of the piano off the stage and into the concert hall. We switched to Blossom Dearie for piano and vocals. I find her sound often compressed to nasal harmonics with no special dynamics.


The front loaded field coils took this opportunity to shine. They presented Blossom Dearie with completeness there was no nasal compression to the sound. This time I was back far enough to capture a live moment with an angelic voice. Before she was singing "The Doodling Song" this visit she offered a "Surrey with a fringe on Top".



surrey: a four-wheel two-seated horse-drawn pleasure carriage
necklace: a microphone
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