DECFEST 2024

As we do every year, we are excited to host our annual DECFEST in October. We are looking forward to seeing many new and old faces in attendance this year.

SIGN UP There will be a sign-up page for the fest, limited to 100 people. It will give you the option of picking which days you want to attend. It will also provide the option to cancel your reservation at any time if your plans change and you can’t make it. By canceling online, it will open up a spot for another attendee on the waitlist.

DATES: Oct. 4-6th HOURS Friday 11:00 A.M. to 9:00 P.M. Saturday 11:00 A.M. to 9:00 P.M. Sunday is normally a wind down morning, with a few folks who show up to cap off their visit before heading home with the day ending by noon.

SOME CHANGES: Normally, we would close down production for a week in order to prepare for the fest. That is not a realistic option this year, considering the increased quantity of orders and length of lead time we have. This means the listening room will remain unchanged from daily use, so you can hear it exactly as we do throughout the year. Prior Decfest attendees enjoyed the freedom to request specific combinations of gear. This year that will be limited to what is already in the room and set up. This means, if you want to hear a specific amp you will want to make a private listening appointment sometime throughout the year. All the Decware speakers are here on display and a few pair are set up in the listening room. The small Caintuck Audio baffles we all love so much will also be here, but we will not have a separate room set up for them due to lack of space. There will be a pair in the Decware listening room at all times for anyone wanting to hear them.

FOOD There will be plenty of drinks including water, pop, teas, and BEER available at no charge. We will also provide snacks only during the day with a late lunch/early dinner each day between 3-4 p.m. This is also free of charge.

FIRE Weather permitting there will be a bonfire both nights. Lodging: There are plenty of nice hotels in the area that a quick google search will pull up. In past years we have had some folks who pitch a tent in our spacious backyard, and of course, you would be welcomed to do so this year. --

LINK TO SIGNUP: https://www.decwareproducts.com/event-list

Cheers, DeVon Deckert

Listening Room for this years fest - East End shown below.



This is pretty much what you can expect this year.  The room is set up for 4 people at a time, and on this end the new omni open baffles are being run by a Sarah 300B that is fed by both my vinyl rig, the Holo Audio May DAC, and if appropriate the Reel to Reel machine will be connected.

Additionally, we have a pair of the larger ZF15L baffles set up directly next to the omni baffles that will be hooked up to a Zen Triode amp. It would be easy on this second system to also listen to the Tube Tots, and the Corner horns.  

Thx for sharing the setup in advance Steve. Pretty excited to listen to the ceiling facing baffle setup— the door is also welcome—it should positively impact the noise floor.

I missed out last year....  But not this year!!!!!!!   I get to go  

I'll be there Fri - Kamran any plans for another campfire Q&A?

I think it is possible yes.   Literally every year I have to figure out from scratch how to stream the listening room because either the software changes or I forget how to use it, or what software I used, usually the later.  So we will try.

Thx for looking in to it Steve—I know this was a popular request last year as well.

The plan is to have the fireside chat Friday night around 6 pm (to be confirmed) and in case it rains, we have Saturday evening as our alternative option.

All set with flights, rental, and hotel at this point.

Reminder to members to send me their questions.  I’ve already started a list on my notes app.

If I was about to test drive a few different tubes (roll), which tube or pair of and position would be the first to check out for most difference in sound? Keeping affordability in mind too. I ask this mostly out of curiosity as our amp was absolutely amazing right out of the box! Just 'rolling' a few and it has been fun.  
Currently using a 1953 RCA top getter 5U4G, the original Decware 6P15P EV's and a 1974 reflektor silver shield 6N23p. Our zen amp still working  like a champ.        

Staying mostly inside today due to forest fire smoke again. It is awful out. This image was the first time the sun shown through the smoke. It has been completely blocked for several days now. Ash floating in it everywhere. Cough.. cough   
thank you~   ~Mike            

Thank you Kamran.
Have a great night~   Mike

image: a smoke free moonrise... a while back~

Booked everything.  Looking forward to seeing you all!
Bob

An outdoor fireside listening room – this I gotta see (and hear)!

Looking forward!

And members – please send me questions!

Sadly I am not going to be able to attend this year.  The fireside interview sounds like a great addition to the fest.  

Steve…is there anyway you would be able to livestream the event?  Or at a minimum have the event recorded so it can be posted on YouTube or at least shared with the members?  

The track sounded a bit strained at first listen. The second time the strain was actually your shoe bottoms rustling the ground clutter. Other than the areas finest showing up, ambient noise will screw with your head often.

This year’s fireside chat is going to be epic! And yes, as Bob says, let’s pray for no rain!

Steve, I’m curious – how long are the interconnects?

30 feet

No shed this year.  Randy will have his baffles here for sale and a pair in the listening room.

Hi Frank,

Yes, the design is finalized and will be available on the web site this fall.

Steve

And speaking of rooms, things are shaping up on the West end of the listening room...  I have relocated the house speakers to a wider spread and driving them with the KT88 based Zen TORII Monos and the ZTPRE.  You wouldn't believe how hard this slams and the clarity.  Anyone thinking solid state can hit harder than tubes will be shocked.   It is stunning to listen to when you give it a little gas.

So on this end of the room you will have your choice of the Zen Torii Monos fed by the ZTPRE or a top secret experimental 30 watt solid state amp that I did as an experiment to see what a solid state (mosfet) amplifier would sound like if it were built without circuit boards and without any global negative feedback.

The speaker choices will be the house speakers, the HR2's, the HDTv2, the DNA2's and probably others.

This is a spectacular spread.  I had almost forgotten how good the TORII Monos sounded when you set them free with a ZTPRE.  I had been running them for a long time with just the Cambridge Network Preamp Streamer.  When I added the ZTPRE it was like hearing new amps and new speakers all at once. The hit is just sick.

As far as the Forbidden solid state amp, it's my hope that I'm not the only one whose mind is blown by what happens to the sound when you delete the circuit boards and point to point wire a simple mosfet package without any global feedback and put a bitch'ing linear power supply behind it.  I have spend several evenings listening to this so far without any tubes in the signal path... I know a guy with a shit pile of little black boxes and tube preamps that would easily take this to another level but just as it is I find it compelling and so far haven't had the overwhelming urge to see how much better it could get by adding a tube stage because it would be like crossing the neutral zone when the possibility hits you that it may be more about the circuit boards and feedback killing the sound than it is the transistors.  At least up until clipping and well-- let's just say make sure you don't clip it.  

It is easy to compare the solid state against the tube amps because both are being driven by the same streamer at the same time.  You just turn the volume down on the one you don't want to listen to.  Should be fun.  

The East end will be predominately open baffles, digital or vinyl or reel to reel tape, and all driven by the Sarah 300B amp.  I could and would use the SE84UFO25 but sadly even on 100dB speakers 2 watts is not enough to cover the dynamic range on master tapes and I don't want to continuously switch amplifiers during the fest.  The mind bender on this end of the room is really the new semi-omni open baffle speakers I'm introducing and the London Reference cartridge and tonearm.  Vinyl has never sounded so good.  It's just mesmerizing.

Soon I will tackle getting the live listening room cam to work and get it streaming again.

Quote:


When it rained I use to cover the speaker stacks with large plastic bags. The playing could continue and sound good thru the plastic considering the noise created from rainfall - even between storms the sound was acceptable.

The fire shot brings back some fond memories playing at my cousin's place in Ohio. Bonfires and good music with good brew and friends can not be beat!

Steve,

The Audio Gods must be working overtime this year. Hope you and the gang have good weather, exceptional camaraderie and a most enjoyable gathering this year. Unfortunately I won't be able to make it due to a scheduling conflict. Best to the Deckert family, you folks make this annual get together very special.

HK

Wow—lot’s to unpack here.  Can’t wait to hear all these combinations!

I have received some excellent questions from two members and will most likely finalize all the questions by next Weekend.  If you’re not attending and have a burning question—this is your last chance.

I’ll also speak to the Deckerts and finalize the time for the chat this week— hopefully, there will be signs like last year.

Here is the link for the live stream:    https://www.decwareproducts.com/livestream

As a followup I have just come off  a week of still warm evenings where the only ambient sound was crickets in the distance and the sound as I've described is sublime.

This week has been windy with some rain and the background ambient noise floor has been too high to get the same effect due mostly to a lack of power.  The 5 watts is more than enough for last week.  Incredible.  This week, not so much.  So just before the rain started I installed the PT10 drivers since volume would be no issue, and the problem was basically solved, but after 48 hours in the damp climate I had to pull the drivers out because the cones were showing discoloration from moisture.  They are just way too delicate for outdoor use.  One of them had 4 stink bugs wedging themselves into the voice coil for some God forsaken reason.

Anyway, if I count on two still days and nights at the fire pit so we can all hear and enjoy the sound quality I'm going to get it shoved up my ass.  The neighbors will mow their lawns, the dirt bike guy will drive back and forth in the field, the wind will blow and the only way to prevent it is to be ready for it.  (That takes all the fun out of it for Father Frikin Murphy)

So I did what any sane audiophile would do, I drug a Zen Mystery Amp out to the wood shed and hooked it up to the Headwreckers as an insurance policy.  

Nice...