The Iowa GTG was 2 channel oriented with only two channel music listened to until after midnight. David, the host, is primarily two channel and so am I. After midnight we did 5.1 system with 3 JTR Noesis 212HT for mains/center, 2 JTR Noesis 228HT for surrounds, and 2 JTR Captivator S2 subs. The JTR Noesis 212HT uses the BMS 4595ND for the coaxial compression driver. I'm not sure about the two 12" woofers.
The room size is 17' x 35 '. The speakers were positioned with the drivers between 7-8' into the room and 50-60" from the sidewalls. Each speaker owner/mfg could position their own speakers and could have chosen anywhere within about the first 10' of the room. Phil Bamberg positioned his so that the middle 3 seats in the first two rows had excellent sound.
The blind listening at the beginning didn't help one choose a speaker they liked best, but I think it did help break down any bias or preconceived ideas people had. We had 7 single speakers behind acoustically transparent fabric from Seymour AV. Each speaker received the combined L/R channels. All speakers were level matched and all were played "fullrange" with no subs. A song portion was played on each speaker sequentially. We played about 6 song clips altogether. When they couldn't see the speakers the listeners could pick out differences, but for the most part they had no idea to which speakers the differences applied. For example, someone thought the Bamberg's were the LS6's and I think someone thought the Noesis was the Salk. Obviously with one speaker you wouldn't hear any imaging or soundstage.
We ended up using Cherry amps exclusively for the GTG. All speakers were played at the save volume for a 25 minute playlist and then people could pick songs and play them at the level they desired.
In the room used, I thought the Bamberg and JTR Noesis speakers had the best imaging; the LS6's, Catalyst 12C's, and Noesis had the best dynamics and midbass; the LS6 and Catalyst were the best fullrange speakers; the Noesis and Salks had a beautiful upper midrange and highs; and the LS6's and Noesis were the most detailed.
One thing I, and some others noted, is that some songs sounded the worse on the Bamberg and LS6 systems. I think this could be due to their revealing nature as opposed to a flaw, but I'm bias since I own the LS6's.
Overall, I thought the Noesis had the best sound of the day. I've had them in my room and compared directly to the Noesis. Their clarity is incredible, the image like crazy, and the speakers just completely disappear into the room. I would put them up against any of the $100,000+ audiophile speakers I have heard at RMAF. From the lowest volume to the highest volume the Noesis just get out of the way and give you that emotional connection to the music. So far, they are the only ones that have triggered an immediate purchase resulting from the Iowa GTG.
I thought the SVS speakers weren't in the same league as the rest and any of the rest of the speakers would appeal to a wide range of people desiring excellent two channel systems. One listener, Carp, is primarily two channel but he listens to a lot of heavy metal music. He immediately purchased the Noesis after hearing them at the end of last year.
Regarding listening levels, we calibrated all speakers to 83 dB using limited bandwidth pink noise and then listened at 15 dB below this level. The Bamberg's were the first speakers listened to and we used them to set the volume level so more sensitive speakers wouldn't have a volume advantage. With that said, I still think the Bamberg, Salks, and SVS speakers were at a disadvantage with peak output levels. Using a lower listening level demonstrated just how much dynamic capability is need to accurately render some music when played back at comfortable levels.
Since this is the Digital Amp Company forum, I will say the Cherry amps performed wonderful during the spirited 5.1 movie session. We again calibrated at 83 dB, but this time we played up to +15 just for fun. We still had 3.5 dB more headroom with the volume control, but I suspect we were probably close to the amps' limits. I never heard any compression or clipping due to lack of power.
