CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

[El Duderino]

While I realize camera screenshots have many pitfalls, Cliffs' setup has consistently produced some of the best I've seen. RIP Cathode Ray Tube, and kudos to Cliff et al for that setup.

[the big E]

Crt won't be dead till curt is out of tubes

I agree the stack looks awesome even if the pics don't do it justice(which they never do for crt stuff)

[AnalogRocks]

[AnalogRocks]

[DonKellogg]

[Nashou66]

Cliiff, I hope you kept spinning some of my WAX for the boys!!!!

Hope to see the you tube uploads soon!!

Nashou

[kal]

Who's who in the photos? There's a couple of faces I don't recognize!

Kal

[kal]

Who's who in the photos? There's a couple of faces I don't recognize!

Kal

[the big E]

[Nashou66]

Ok Here are some pics I'm snagging from Face book posts.


Jeremy And Curts little Hottie Barb



Justin( JBMeyer)



Me and the Lamb Souvlaki



Eric ( Spanky Ham)



the BBQ Master Don Wallace And his Brisket




It was a great time for me for sure !!!!

Nashou

[Nashou66]

Mark Haflic and William the Blendzilla master

[the big E]

Awesome thanks Nash

Man that brisket looks great I really wish I could have made it

[the big E]

I may have the blendzilla master work his magic when I get mine setup

[bomrat]

well, made it back around 2pm.. storms, wind and rain, but made it, had an awesome time as usual. great to catch up with people and meet new people.
have a great day boys and girls.

[AnalogRocks]

Just got back from downtown Chicago. I went to see where they shot the Batman vs the Joker chase on Lower Waker Ave (Lower 5th in the movie ) from The Dark Knight. That's a cool area.

[AnalogRocks]

Just got back from downtown Chicago. I went to see where they shot the Batman vs the Joker chase on Lower Waker Ave (Lower 5th in the movie ) from The Dark Knight. That's a cool area.

[AnalogRocks]

[AnalogRocks]

[AnalogRocks]

Couple more pictures:

[AnalogRocks]

Couple more pictures:

[Curt Palme]

Great pix.. but not of me. Just walked in the door from dropping Barb off. I really wanna say, thanks again to Cliff for hosting, and for Don for smoking.. meat.

I think overall this was probably the best meet/meat. Lots of people there, was this a record maybe? If not, it came damn close to the first one I was at, back in 2007, and I think that was the second one that Cliff hosted, correct?

My extended weekend went as follows:

Flew out at 11 PM on Weds. Minimal, if any sleep on the plane due to not a single seat being empty, and those seats are damn uncomfortable. Got into Chicago at 6 AM after a layover in Detroit. Caught second wind, rented a POS Nissan Altima (drives like a tank!), and went downtown to check out the Sears/Willis Tower. Stood out on the ledge, 103 floors above the sidewalk. Took awesome pictures. Walked about 3 miles downtown, ended up at Craig's about 4-5 PM. Met up with Spanky Ham, and we went out for dinner.
Watched a movie at Craig's, I was out like a light in 5 minutes. No one took pix, so there's zero proof I actually passed out in yet another HT.
Went out for breakfast on Friday, walked around Craig's neighborhood for a couple of hours. Missed going to Axpona as a result, and it took about 90 minutes to get to Cliff's from Craig's place thanks to early Sat afternoon Chicago traffic. Got to Cliff's about 4. Diagnosed the bad blue tube intermittent problem due to a bad CRT socket assembly. Stack was up and running in 6 minutes flat. Went out to get booze and bitchpops.
Met a whoooole lot of people on Friday night, a great turnout. Let's see if I can recap:

-Cliff
-Myself and Barb, my g/f.
-Don Wallace
-Spanky Ham
-Analog Rocks
-Mark Haflich
-Arli
-JBMeyer
-Casey
-Nashou
-Ken Whitcomb
-ecrabb came late after Axpona

I know I'm missing some, fill in the blanks please guys!

I'd say I'd only met maybe 7 of the above listed, so it was a treat finally meeting those that I'd talked to for hours on the phone (Analog!), and to once again be haunted by the sarcastic dry humor of Spanky <smirk!> Dinner consisted of Alaskan King Crab (kudos to Barb for making those sing, I would have burnt them!), and to Nashou for the ridiculously tasty lamb chops. Both were gone in record time, those that came on Saturday really missed out.

I was still trying to catch up on sleep, so we bailed out about 11:30 PM I think, to a Best Western PLus in Schererville. Note to anyone interested: It's a typical Best Western, but DO NOT waste your money on the 'jacuzzi' room. the Jacuzzi was fine, it was a jetted tub... but all there was between the bedroom side and bathroom side was thin shower curtains on both sides. Needless to say, I don't give a crap how long anyone is married or dating, but having a shower curtain between bedroom and bathroom is a 'sh*tty' idea. To repeat myself unnecessarily, 'no crap was given' in that room.

Back to Cliffy's at about 11:30 on Saturday, having slept in. Sleep caught up on, it was time to party hard! the g/f went exploring around St John, and was gone until 5ish. We watched clips, yakked a whole bunch, checked out a really good demo of the new Oppo with Darbee installed (it was my first time seeing it, and the 'wipe' function (no reference to the last paragraph!), was great to see the difference of the 'with and without Darbee' image. Well worth the money IMHO.

Watched 'Oblivion', along with playing a bunch of thick vinyl that Cliff was drooling all over. Dinner was served with the legendary BBQ master Don Wallace, serving up beef and pork brisket. There was no clear winner, both were equally delicious.

Mr Ro Co showed up, who I didn't realize until Saturday was a good customer of mine. Barb and I ended up heading back to the hotel at about 10PM. Again, thanks to Cliff many times over. If this indeed is the last Chicago meet, then I really think some others such as myself need to pick up the ball to run with other meets. I know I'll need at least 18 months to ready the house, and to put in an HT that I can be proud of. While it doesn't really matter whether the meet is at a CRT or digital owner IMHO, I really like these get-togethers, and if nothing else, we can reminisce over CRT of days gone by. I personally am hell bent on putting in a G90 stack (I have more of those in stock than 909s), and have the room to do a 10' wide screen like Cliff. As I said, it will be at least a year before the room (and rest of the house) is presentable enough to do. With the 1/2 acre I have, ideally I'd have a meet in July or August so we can take advantage of the outside deck and yard.

[Curt Palme]

Great pix.. but not of me. Just walked in the door from dropping Barb off. I really wanna say, thanks again to Cliff for hosting, and for Don for smoking.. meat.

I think overall this was probably the best meet/meat. Lots of people there, was this a record maybe? If not, it came damn close to the first one I was at, back in 2007, and I think that was the second one that Cliff hosted, correct?

My extended weekend went as follows:

Flew out at 11 PM on Weds. Minimal, if any sleep on the plane due to not a single seat being empty, and those seats are damn uncomfortable. Got into Chicago at 6 AM after a layover in Detroit. Caught second wind, rented a POS Nissan Altima (drives like a tank!), and went downtown to check out the Sears/Willis Tower. Stood out on the ledge, 103 floors above the sidewalk. Took awesome pictures. Walked about 3 miles downtown, ended up at Craig's about 4-5 PM. Met up with Spanky Ham, and we went out for dinner.
Watched a movie at Craig's, I was out like a light in 5 minutes. No one took pix, so there's zero proof I actually passed out in yet another HT.
Went out for breakfast on Friday, walked around Craig's neighborhood for a couple of hours. Missed going to Axpona as a result, and it took about 90 minutes to get to Cliff's from Craig's place thanks to early Sat afternoon Chicago traffic. Got to Cliff's about 4. Diagnosed the bad blue tube intermittent problem due to a bad CRT socket assembly. Stack was up and running in 6 minutes flat. Went out to get booze and bitchpops.
Met a whoooole lot of people on Friday night, a great turnout. Let's see if I can recap:

-Cliff
-Myself and Barb, my g/f.
-Don Wallace
-Spanky Ham
-Analog Rocks
-Mark Haflich
-Arli
-JBMeyer
-Casey
-Nashou
-Ken Whitcomb
-ecrabb came late after Axpona

I know I'm missing some, fill in the blanks please guys!

I'd say I'd only met maybe 7 of the above listed, so it was a treat finally meeting those that I'd talked to for hours on the phone (Analog!), and to once again be haunted by the sarcastic dry humor of Spanky <smirk!> Dinner consisted of Alaskan King Crab (kudos to Barb for making those sing, I would have burnt them!), and to Nashou for the ridiculously tasty lamb chops. Both were gone in record time, those that came on Saturday really missed out.

I was still trying to catch up on sleep, so we bailed out about 11:30 PM I think, to a Best Western PLus in Schererville. Note to anyone interested: It's a typical Best Western, but DO NOT waste your money on the 'jacuzzi' room. the Jacuzzi was fine, it was a jetted tub... but all there was between the bedroom side and bathroom side was thin shower curtains on both sides. Needless to say, I don't give a crap how long anyone is married or dating, but having a shower curtain between bedroom and bathroom is a 'sh*tty' idea. To repeat myself unnecessarily, 'no crap was given' in that room.

Back to Cliffy's at about 11:30 on Saturday, having slept in. Sleep caught up on, it was time to party hard! the g/f went exploring around St John, and was gone until 5ish. We watched clips, yakked a whole bunch, checked out a really good demo of the new Oppo with Darbee installed (it was my first time seeing it, and the 'wipe' function (no reference to the last paragraph!), was great to see the difference of the 'with and without Darbee' image. Well worth the money IMHO.

Watched 'Oblivion', along with playing a bunch of thick vinyl that Cliff was drooling all over. Dinner was served with the legendary BBQ master Don Wallace, serving up beef and pork brisket. There was no clear winner, both were equally delicious.

Mr Ro Co showed up, who I didn't realize until Saturday was a good customer of mine. Barb and I ended up heading back to the hotel at about 10PM. Again, thanks to Cliff many times over. If this indeed is the last Chicago meet, then I really think some others such as myself need to pick up the ball to run with other meets. I know I'll need at least 18 months to ready the house, and to put in an HT that I can be proud of. While it doesn't really matter whether the meet is at a CRT or digital owner IMHO, I really like these get-togethers, and if nothing else, we can reminisce over CRT of days gone by. I personally am hell bent on putting in a G90 stack (I have more of those in stock than 909s), and have the room to do a 10' wide screen like Cliff. As I said, it will be at least a year before the room (and rest of the house) is presentable enough to do. With the 1/2 acre I have, ideally I'd have a meet in July or August so we can take advantage of the outside deck and yard.

[Curt Palme]

Oh yeah, I've got about 100 pix or so that I took, but need to find a way to upload them without having to resize them all...

[Curt Palme]

Oh yeah, I've got about 100 pix or so that I took, but need to find a way to upload them without having to resize them all...

[CasetheCorvetteman]

Curt i wasnt there mate!! Unless i have an alter ego that was present and using my name...

[wkosmann]

Thank you Cliff, for opening up your home, your Home Theater, your friendship and yourself to us for yet another wonderful Meet. As I get older, it becomes more apparent to me the family and friends are some of the most important things in life. I treasure each one of these Meets we have. Cliff, you are one of my best friends. I am there for you, no matter what happens.

It was special to meet up with Arli, Don, Mark, Curt, and Athanasios again. It was just as special to finally meet Jeremy after all these years of posting, and even doing business once, and to meet Barbara, Eric, Justin, and Steve for the first time.

The Lamb came from upper New York state (Athanasios), with an assist from a fellow traveler from New Jersey (Justin). The crab legs came from Vancouver, courtesy of the owner of this Web Site (Curt) and a very lovely young lady (Barbara). The beef brisket and pork BBQ came from Northern Virginia (Don), just 10 miles up the road from me. The starter case of wine came from Northern Virginia and California, with additional bottles contributed from various locations around the globe. Not many social events can match a food/drink lineup like that, much less the video entertainment.

Attendees flew in from Vancouver and San Francisco, that I know of. One young lad was stuck in Dallas, and not able to attend the Meet. Others drove in from Florida, New Jersey, New York, Virginia, Maryland, Tennessee, Indiana, and Toronto. Again, not many social events can boast of an attendance like that. Remarkable.

Its been a few years since I last hosted a Blend Meet (something about surviving a PhD dissertation). I would like to have one this Summer, but will not schedule it until my projector work is completed. Perhaps we could do another crab legs/lamb chops/beef & pork festival, while lighting up the 12 foot wide screen with a sweet blended CRT image, and shaking the whole house using the 4 Submersive HPs!!!

Good times. Great people. Wonderful food. Thank you Cliff. (and everyone else who attended/contributed.)

PS: I dropped Mark Haflich off at the Hagerstown (MD) Regional airport last night about 9:30 PM. He and I were both safely home by 10:30 PM Sunday evening.

[AnalogRocks]

I just rolled in 1/2 an hour ago, and may I say the guards at the border were surprisingly through

Good thing Curt left the midgets in the overhead on the plane or I would likely have had some 'splainn' to do when the guard surfed through my camera

I stayed Sunday too and headed into Downtown Chicago. The most striking thing besides the lack of traffic ( told you William ) was how clean and tidy it is there. It was great fun running through Lower Waker Ave to see where they shot that chase scene from 'Dark Knight' we were doing the screen shots with!

I dropped back by Cliff's on Sunday around noon and got to meet his new friend. Lets say she's blonde and beautiful and very charming. Good for you Cliff!!

Cliff, many thanks for the hospitality!!

On Thursday night, after knowing me in person for around 2 hours, Cliff handed me the remotes for the theater and said "Watch whatever you want. I'm off to do a beer run." Who else but a man with a big heart would do that?
SO I had a geek-gasm being in full control of the theater for 45 minutes!! I told a friend of mine and he said "DON'T BREAK ANYTHING!" the other one said "I didn't know breaking and entering was part of your workout regime"

To paraphrase you "Hang in there Big Dog, things WILL get better."

Thanks Cliff!!

[AnalogRocks]

I just rolled in 1/2 an hour ago, and may I say the guards at the border were surprisingly through

Good thing Curt left the midgets in the overhead on the plane or I would likely have had some 'splainn' to do when the guard surfed through my camera

I stayed Sunday too and headed into Downtown Chicago. The most striking thing besides the lack of traffic ( told you William ) was how clean and tidy it is there. It was great fun running through Lower Waker Ave to see where they shot that chase scene from 'Dark Knight' we were doing the screen shots with!

I dropped back by Cliff's on Sunday around noon and got to meet his new friend. Lets say she's blonde and beautiful and very charming. Good for you Cliff!!

Cliff, many thanks for the hospitality!!

On Thursday night, after knowing me in person for around 2 hours, Cliff handed me the remotes for the theater and said "Watch whatever you want. I'm off to do a beer run." Who else but a man with a big heart would do that?
SO I had a geek-gasm being in full control of the theater for 45 minutes!! I told a friend of mine and he said "DON'T BREAK ANYTHING!" the other one said "I didn't know breaking and entering was part of your workout regime"

To paraphrase you "Hang in there Big Dog, things WILL get better."

Thanks Cliff!!