2006 CES Show Report....

PhilNYC · « **Reply #40 on:** 10 Jan 2006, 09:58 pm »

Quote from: Horizons

Any good music demos at the show?

Every time I went to CES, I would return with a few MUST HAVE musical selections.

Hopefully every room wasn't playing the same Diana Krall track.

I went thru most of the rooms with my own CDR mixed disc (until one of the manufacturers said it was a "must have", so I gave it to him)...but two rooms used recordings that I really loved:

Ray Brown Trio - Summer Wind (used in the Antique Sound Labs/Analysis room)
Dizzy Gillespie (w/Terry Clark, Freddie Hubbard, and Oscar Peterson) - The Alternate Blues (used in the Acoustic Dreams/Lumen White room)

Both are tremendous acoustic jazz performances...

Red Dragon Audio · « **Reply #41 on:** 10 Jan 2006, 10:05 pm »

Horizons,

I heard tons of great music - a couple that stick out in my mind were "African Odyssey" but I don't remember the label so I have to track that one down - also a friend of mine put on a disc by Lori Anderson (is that spelled correctly?) which had some "Q-sound" processing so the sound literally swirled around the room.

Not an "audiophile" approved disc but I loved it.

That's always the highlight and downfall for me at shows: so much good music and I often forget to ask about what was just playing!!

PhilNYC,

Did we get to meet? Sorry if I missed you...

I really felt we had a great thing going in that 2-channel suite. Talk about a dynamic setup...I was rather proud of our setup to say the least.

tvyankee · « **Reply #42 on:** 10 Jan 2006, 10:07 pm »

hey guys

one room that stood out to me was the jas audio room.also the pearl speaker room.

there was alot of shit there and alot shit sounded like shit too.

the speakers(ear) that hogg was speaking about sounded very good and i went back three times to listen.the only bad thing was they were $9,000.00 dollars, otherwise they were great.

the company blue note is putting out a dvd player in march that is going to kick ass.it plays everything and upsamples to hd via hdmi and it has a tube output and also bal output.it sounded great.

i'll think of other stuff but for now i am home with a cold and its kicking the shit out of me.

PhilNYC · « **Reply #43 on:** 10 Jan 2006, 10:21 pm »

Quote from: heavystarch

PhilNYC,

Did we get to meet? Sorry if I missed you... ...

Nope, we didn't meet. I didn't realize that it was your company sharing the room with Acoustic Zen. As mentioned, I spent most of my time in the second room listening and talking with Robert Lee...I did pop into the first room to take a picture of the speakers in the light maple finish, tho.

Quote

I really felt we had a great thing going in that 2-channel suite. Talk about a dynamic setup...I was rather pround of our setup to say the least.

And well you should be...you were getting excellent sound there...

Fife12 · « **Reply #44 on:** 10 Jan 2006, 10:32 pm »

Heavystarch, did you wear a green checked shirt on the second day? I only saw the asian lady in the HT room.

The sound in both rooms were great. My friend and I left quite impressed with the AZ Adagios driven by the Butler and Red Dragon amps.

Some music I picked up:
The Jazz Chamber Trio by: Paquito D'Rivera (Chesky)
The Fry Street Quartet (IsoMike recording)
and a few FIM discs

Red Dragon Audio · « **Reply #45 on:** 10 Jan 2006, 11:08 pm »

Quote from: Fife12

Heavystarch, did you wear a green checked shirt on the second day? I only saw the asian lady in the HT room....

Some music I picked up:
The Jazz Chamber Trio by: Paquito D'Rivera (Chesky)
The Fry Street Quartet (IsoMike recording)
and a few FIM discs

I was not wearing a green checked shirt but next time I'm going to wear a shirt that will help folks recognize me quickly. I spent the first 1.5days in and out of the rooms while the last two days I was generally in the 2-channel room.

The asian lady is Emily Lee - wife of Robert Lee, owner of Acoustic Zen.

Those are all great discs and very well recorded. I have a few FIM recordings and they are good performances with quality mastering jobs.

John Casler · « **Reply #46 on:** 11 Jan 2006, 03:13 am »

Quote from: PhilNYC

- VMPS: Didn't spend that much time in the room (it was crowded), but I'll say that its the first time I was sitting outside of the usual tiny VMPS sweetspot and had it sound pretty nice. Waveguides seem to do some nice things to help widen that spot.

...

Hey Phil,

Was I there? Would have like to meet you to put a face to the name.

Glad you thought the CDWG did some nice things. As always by Sunday it sounded the best (last day of course).

Sorry we were so crowded all the time but i was surprised with how the room was always packed. The three seats on the couch sounded the best, and had the best bass. As you move to the back wall and the corners it had a little "room boom".

Hope you enjoyed the show.

bhobba · « **Reply #47 on:** 11 Jan 2006, 04:30 am »

Quote from: Response Audio

I love this one. $50k worth of gear driving $200 speakers. I did a post with just the opposite a while back with a <$1k electronics driving $22k speakers. Just goes to show ya......

That is always my favourte paring. I think it was with the Usher D2 that is 98db sensitive. Great match for a Charlize at about $100.00
http://diyparadise.com/charlize.html.
Don't laugh - it is a highly refined Sonic Impact and many listening tests have been done that shows the SI holds its own against some pretty expensive gear:
http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/sonicimpact/t.html
'If I blindfolded you and had you listen to the amps in my collection right now -- the Almarro EL84 SEP stereo integrated with its punchy pace & rhythm and slightly dark & warm but naturally detailed soundstage; the emotive and musical Fi 2A3 SET monoblocks with their open, relaxed, dynamic and detailed sound; and the Yamamoto 45 SET stereo amplifier with its clean, clear, spacious, über-detailed and artfully musical sound -- and if after that, I slipped the T-amp into the mix and asked you to comment on its sound... what do you think you'd say? I guess it'd be close to what Bill said: "Its sonic signature reminds me most of the Yamamoto 45. It is clean-sounding with lots of detail and decent rhythm and pace.'

For those guys saving their pennies to get something like an Usher D2 their dream could be a lot closer than they think. The thing that makes it possible is its high sensitivty - the one thing that stops the Charlize being used on say my SP Timpeices.

Thanks
Bill

PhilNYC · « **Reply #48 on:** 11 Jan 2006, 04:54 am »

Quote from: John Casler

Hey Phil,
Was I there? Would have like to meet you to put a face to the name..

Well, as you know, in addition to being crowded, it was also quite dark in the VMPS room...

So you might have been there, but since I don't know your face either, I didn't think to make the connection...

Anyways, nice job with the room!

BobM · « **Reply #49 on:** 11 Jan 2006, 01:37 pm »

Quote from: PhilNYC

IDizzy Gillespie (w/Terry Clark, Freddie Hubbard, and Oscar Peterson) - The Alternate Blues (used in the Acoustic Dreams/Lumen White room)..

I've got this on CD Phil. Yes, it is quite a nice sounding CD with very good music to boot. A hard to find combo sometimes. But ... you have to hear this on vinyl. I think there's even a 45 RPM version.

Enjoy,
Bob

PhilNYC · « **Reply #50 on:** 11 Jan 2006, 03:35 pm »

Quote from: BobM

I've got this on CD Phil. Yes, it is quite a nice sounding CD with very good music to boot. A hard to find combo sometimes. But ... you have to hear this on vinyl. I think there's even a 45 RPM version.

The Acoustic Dreams guys were playing this on vinyl at the show...

Gordy · « **Reply #51 on:** 11 Jan 2006, 04:06 pm »

Quote from: heavystarch

Horizons,

I heard tons of great music - a couple that stick out in my mind were "African Odyssey" but I don't remember the label so...

Is this it Ryan? http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00005NVK0/102-0857172-9742544?v=glance&n=5174

Putumaya is a good label! They've a large selection of world music samples...

Red Dragon Audio · « **Reply #52 on:** 11 Jan 2006, 05:41 pm »

Quote from: Gordy

Quote from: heavystarch
Horizons,

I heard tons of great music - a couple that stick out in my mind were "African Odyssey" but I don't remember the label so...

Is this it Ryan? http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00005NVK0/102-0857172-9742544?v=glance&n=5174

Putumaya is a good label! They've a large selection of world music samples...

That's it!!

Thanks Gordy!!

ricmon · « **Reply #53 on:** 11 Jan 2006, 06:59 pm »

It's nice to see folks digging the Afobeat music. I have a nice collection of this type of music. I'll post a few reccomendations tommorow (i have to go home and look through my collection). For you guys digging on Dizzy check out James Caters's JC On The Set and Roy Hargrove's Parker's Mood (considered on of the most dynamic cd's ever recorded) bot will set your systems on fire with exciteing dynamics.

PhilNYC · « **Reply #54 on:** 12 Jan 2006, 07:03 pm »

Quote from: Hogg

Phil, thank you for the great pictures. Do you remember the Art Loudspeaker room? There are a few people in the UK on the Naim forum raving about these speakers.
Jim

Jim...I finally remembered this room. The Art speakers were being used in the Audio Note Japan (Kondo) room. I usually have low expectations going into the ANJ room, because in past shows, they usually set the room up with dozens of products on display with not much attention paid to setting the room up for good sound (ie. usually shown more for the photo opportunity rather than the sonic demo...not a bad idea, since generally these shows are hard to set up for great sound). In this particular case, I felt that ANJ was getting better-than-expected sound in their room...but nothing that jumped out to make it a memorable listen.

Karsten · « **Reply #55 on:** 14 Jan 2006, 04:50 am »

Quote from: Response Audio

Thanks for the comments Phil. It did look by the picture that the room was not exactly ideal for any of Bob's speakers. That's one of the problem with these shows. Sometimes you're better off with a static display rather than having poor sound in a bad room.

We were actually pretty satisfied with the sound in the SP Tech room. Only spot with bass problems was too close to the back wall, which is normal. In sweet spot and directly behind the sofa it sounded rather good.

Brg,
Karsten