Wisconsin - Anyone interested?

I don't know e-mail addresses for the people from Green Bay who are interested. I would certainly let them know if something were in the works though. One of them works Saturday in an AV shop here so availability might be limited.

Audiojerry and others,

I don't think this needs to be or probably should be all that formal. In fact, I think informality should be a desired trait. I got started in this hobby almost in the cradle (actually in grade school) in mid-1960's. My next door neighbor was a high school english teacher (female no less)that had an 20-ft tower above her house strickly dedicated to FM. She had all tube Marantz and Mac equipment, Thorens tables, SME etc. In the 1970s she bought a ReVox A700 (~$3k in 1975 dollars), ReVox B77 II, among other major outlays. She still has the A700 to this day. 3 doors down from her was a electrical engineer who built his son a radio station equiped with Logan Turntables with a variety of tone arms. The dad had all Mac tube gear. What I remember from those days was that all these people just enjoyed the music. No one knew what the heck they had but they sure did enjoy the music over wine, cheese and conversation.

It makes sick to see people think this hobby is about my views are more valid than your views. Music is a sensory connection to the soul. How that is defined is unique to every person. What elements of the musical presentation makes that happen is no less person specific than their individual tastes in what makes the right about of ground pepper on their salad. You would no more say "You are crazy if you like that salad. I say it does not taste good. There believe me because I said it forceably or repeated with others I intimidated into agreeing with me?".

There are plenty of minor hurdles in getting an audio club together including privacy concerns, dealing with egos, etc. So maybe we could start this as an embryo project. A few people meeting with each other over a beer or coffee in a convenient place nearby their homes. This way we can judge if we want the other person roaming around in our houses and if we have a person with an agenda.

This could be a very rewarding thing to get started in more ways than one. People that like music appreciate the creative side of the mind and likely have other diverse and interesting perspectives. This could build life long friendships as well as being able to hear a variety of components in a variety of contexts.

Anyway that is my 2 cents.

I've been following this thread off and on for a while. No body seem to know how a club would function. Do we meet in small groups in peoples houses to listen to guys set ups and talk about them. I don't know how long that would last. It's hard dealing with egos and all. Although I'm open to people coming to my house and listening and discusing audio.I've been to a Chicago Audio Society meeting. They rent space in a building a once a month get together. They get alot of people in the audio industry to come and demo their goods. That is alot of work for someone. I don't see that any thing will ever happen in WI untill someone or two say there is a meeting at such and such location. Anyone interested should come and lets figure out what we want. I don't what to put the time and effort into such an under taking but I would sure like to attend meetings set up by someone.

I think the ego thing is the single biggest reason NOT to have a audio club. That said, as my thread above points out, it does not have to be. I think you can tell if a person is begging for approval if you have lived long enough. I think, at least, one way to get to this off on a good footing is to meet at a nuetral place. I am in Madison and those that live here know the large number of places we could meet over a beer or coffee. We could all meet and see if there is the right chemistry. I think the equipment should at first take on secondary value until we weed out the children (in mind).

Most of the people I have met on Audiogon are a great bunch of mature people with their feet on the ground and a strong love of music. I am sure this thing will work if we start as friends and not as competitors. Life is too short to deal with idiots or to miss out on hearing great music with fun people in a variety of contexts. I am as much interested in meeting interesting people with a diverse set of interests as I am in hearing interesting equipment. Anyone near Madison feel free to drop me an e-mail. I am usually busy as heck but can make some time for getting this experiment started!

Nanderson,I agree with everything you say. Lets come up with a place to meet and put it out there and see who shows up. I personaly think Madison is a good location for the whole state as it is fairly centraly located. I live in Milw. and would be glad to drive to Madison.
We just need to set a time and place to get together instead of just posting here.
I hope others interested are following this and get involved. Lets get this off the ground.