[abernardi]

Last day of the show...

Maybe it was me, but today I didn't find much that I really liked.

The Audio High room with Chord electronics and Spendor speakers was bright, but fatiguing.  I found a lot of rooms I visited today had a bright, fast, exciting presentation that would drive me mad in about 20 min.

A number of rooms had Wilson speakers in them and again they were kind of perfect, but unnatural to my ear, except in the Brooks Berdan room.  I don't know what made the difference but that room sounded really good.

In one of the ballrooms was Mcintosh from top to bottom.  I'm a Mcintosh fan, but I didn't like what I was hearing in there.  I can only guess that the problem is in the speakers because I know their electronics are generally wonderful.  And I didn't get a look at their DAC, maybe something was amiss there.

In a sitting area off the Lobby there was the new Martin Logan single speaker solution for movies and TV.  It sounded really good, rich, clean.  It was as good or better than the Yamaha's.

I wish I could have heard more in the Empirical Audio room, there were too many people in there talking too loud.

The Kubotek room sounded detailed but not quite natural.

The HiFi Company gets the top couch potato award for the "HiFi Chair", really seductive!  Imagine a Laz-E-Boy recliner with two speakers rising up from in front of the armrest, all the controls at your fingertips, ipod dock, Aux in, and WIRELESS reception.  3 amps, one for speakers, one for subwoofer (in the back of the chair) and one for the SHAKER transducer (under the chair)!  And all three are easily adjusted to suit your taste, but you probably won't use them because you'll be in a beer and potato chip induced coma.
How did they sound?  Well how could it not sound great with the speakers right in your face?  It was a VERY near field monitor experience, sort of like headphones but in front of you instead of the middle of your head.  The image was impossibly good.  These are class D amps with Kimber cable wiring.  It was really quite good.  Back to my "natural" bias, these were a little glitzy, not very fast, but pleasant and clean. In the next room they had it set up for movies and I thought it wouldn't work because the soundfield would be too close to my face and not blend well with the video.  I was wrong.  It worked very well.  It was engaging, but again a little slow, dull.
Putting aside that I'd be truly embarrassed to let anyone into my house with one of these things in the living room, it just radiates indulgence and decadence, I want one to modify! Put a tube preamp in the chain and upgrade the speakers to, say, those little Silverline Minuet speakers, have some subs to engage the room and I'd probably be dead in a week because I wouldn't leave the chair.

Trinnov Audio makes a Linux based room corrector.  I think the guy's name was Curt.  He had 7 or 8 speakers spread around the room, all different brands, shapes, sizes and a seat in the middle.  When you sat in the seat he'd swivel you around to one point and then make the stereo image perfect, then swivel you around to another point, push a button and now the stereo image lined up there.  A very complex, but well laid out interface that probably wouldn't take much to get a hang of.  The sound quality itself was not very good, but I think he was demonstrating how he can manipulate the room acoustics, not how great the rest of his system was.  He has set up all kinds of rooms including Blu-ray mastering rooms at - I forgot, a major studio.  He set it up so the mastering engineer at the mixing console AND the producer sitting 8 or 10 feet behind him both get accurate sound.  That's pretty impressive.

The Audio Artistry room had those long, tall and curved Line arrays with umpteen little mids and 3x that many tiny little tweeters stacked on on top of the other.  And you can get them in kit forms from Parts Express.  They sounded great!  They were easy to listen to, effortless reproduction.  Nothing stood out, it just was right.

I went back to my favorite rooms with a thumb drive with my own test music to see how they sounded, but nobody was able to get my music off it for all sorts of different reasons.  Oh well.  Some of the shine had worn off on some of my favorites.  The Von Gaylords after some further listening were a little too vibrant, kind of like the way big screen TV's are displayed at the store, really bright and vibrant, but wrong. 

Anyway, my favorite room was the Silverline room, the Grand Bolero mated with the BEL amp was my favorite sound, and their other speakers were excellent too.  The Cessaro Horn speakers were a close second and I kind of suspect I'd be able to live with them longer than the Silverlines. 

Really fun first show.  Oh, and I did a dangerous thing late last night, I fired up my current system to see how it measured up and I was pleasantly surprised, it sounded damn good!

At around 4:30 I hit the wall.  I couldn't listen to another thing.

[sarge_in]

My first show ever and I had a great time. Being 5 miles from home meant I could make it all 3 days, and visited most of the rooms. Many rooms sounded quite good. A few of my favorites:

1. Vandersteen Model 7, driven by Audio Research electronics - By far my favorite. The only room that actually gave me goosebumps. Sound was very natural, as compared to several rooms that seemed quite bass heavy (perhaps due to their smaller rooms?). Imaging, balance, everything was spot on. They played "The Coal Train" a couple times, and it totally showed off their system. This was one room that I could easily have spent the whole day in.

2. Audience ClairAudient 16+16 - Another speaker that really disappeared. Pinpoint imaging, superb separation of instruments and very natural overall. "Only" $72,000. Their small brother, the 1+1, was quite good too @$1,800. They also had a $2,200 "powerChord" power cord.

3. Coincident - Their room sounded very good on Sat. The shape and finish were not much to my liking, but they sounded great. Did seem a bit bass heavy, and could have been little clearer. Still enjoyed them - a lot.

4. Nola - Sounded quite balanced and impressive.

5. Joseph Audio + Bel Canto - Driven by a 75W/ch integrated from Bel Canto, this was another excellent system.

6. Clearwave + Wyred4Sound - Really enjoyed this room too. Another sensibly priced system that doesn't require me to take a 2nd, or 3rd, mortgage to enjoy good sound.

7. Dynaudio + Peachtree - The big system was very enjoyable. The guy who was presenting was definitely the best presenter of the show - played quite nice cuts, involved the audience and showed off the system very nicely.

8. Totem - Also enjoyed this one much. Can't remember a whole lot after 3 days of info overload.

[Jon L]

T.H.E. Show 2012, Newport Beach, CA

This was a massive show, larger than last year and spread out over two adjacent hotels.  I simply could not get to some rooms, and I did not get a chance listen to every room photographed.  Of note, the lighting conditions for photographing was rather horrendous 
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Concert Fidelity Room.  White Estelon Diamond XA speakers made from a marble composite were sounding quite integrated and detailed, with no signs of resonance or breakup modes.  As implied by name, it uses a 1.2’’ Accuton Diamond inverted dome tweeter, which is something else. 


DZ3C3529 by drjlo3, on Flickr

Audio Revelation Room

DZ3C3530 by drjlo3, on Flickr

Lovely Ayon Room

DZ3C3534 by drjlo3, on Flickr


DZ3C3536 by drjlo3, on Flickr

Legacy Helix Speakers.  These did not seem to be breaking a sweat delivering sheer mass of sound.  Those who like to really crank their movies or music would appreciate the dynamic headroom. 


DZ3C3537A by drjlo3, on Flickr

The less costly Legacy Whispers.  While smaller and cheaper, the Whispers seemed to deliver more detail and resolution in the midrange, possibly due to the different tweeter technology involved. CDP's and preamp/amps were by AVM. 

DZ3C3538 by drjlo3, on Flickr

Venture speakers with stunning, I mean really stunning, cabinetry.

DZ3C3541 by drjlo3, on Flickr

Venture Grand Ultimate Speakers.  Weiss Jason transport and Medea+ DAC were serving duty at the source.  Another effortness wall of sound, easily able to fill the room.

DZ3C3542 by drjlo3, on Flickr


DZ3C3543 by drjlo3, on Flickr

Focal Speakers.  Note the square object on the wall, which are the interesting Devialet units with built-in DAC/pre/amp using a hybrid amplification technology called ADH (Analog Digital Hydrid).

DZ3C3546 by drjlo3, on Flickr

Eddie Current Audio's new Electrostat amplifier "Electra."  It was doing right by the Stax SR009 electrostat, which many believe to be the "end-game" transducers.  Electra sells for $2950 and did a great job revealing the SR009's resolution without overly exacerbating recording flaws.  Bass macrodynamics, however, was more devastating via Audeze LCD-2 and LCD-3 orthodynamics sitting next to the 'stat rig powered by the Balancing Act and Super 7 amps. 

DZ3C3548 by drjlo3, on Flickr


DZ3C3549 by drjlo3, on Flickr

Super 7

DZ3C3552 by drjlo3, on Flickr

Balancing Act with PX4 tubes, driving Audeze LCD-2 and LCD-3 headphones.

DZ3C3556 by drjlo3, on Flickr

Audeze also had a separate table, powered by the Auralic ARK DAC/headphone amp.  Audeze headphones seem to sound very different when powered by tubes vs. solid state, and I can see users having different preferences.
I
DZ3C3560 by drjlo3, on Flickr

Martin Logan CLX.  This is a marvel of modern engineering, utilized to minimize the age-old shortcomings of electrostat speakers, especially dispersion and macrodynamics.  The bass quantity and extension was surprisingly present and should serve most music quite well, and the overall dynamic swing was impressive.  This is not your old CLS IIZ!  I did confirm that the subwoofers in the back were not in use.

DZ3C3563 by drjlo3, on Flickr

Some of the tracks did sound somewhat bright, laid bare by the sheer resolution of these monsters, but it was difficult to pinpoint whether it was the source, pre/amp, or something else.

DZ3C3564 by drjlo3, on Flickr

The lovely McIntosh electronics powering the CLX.

DZ3C3567 by drjlo3, on Flickr


DZ3C3568 by drjlo3, on Flickr

Another room with McKintosh gear.

DZ3C3570 by drjlo3, on Flickr

Another Focal room with the larger speakers and monoblock version of Devialet DAC/amp.  It was somewhat difficult to pin down the sound signature of these ADH (Analogue Digital Hybrid) units at first glance.

DZ3C3572 by drjlo3, on Flickr

Spendor SP2 speakers powered by Chord electronics.  I must say that I've noticed many of the great-sounding rooms were sporting Chord gear this year, and the Spendors were sounding fantastic as well.  The "thin-wall" approach and some healthy amount of magic dust were combined to present an an extremely balanced sound with rich resonant body and bubbling air, which I had not expected from such a seemingly aging design.  PRAT and groove were very involving as well.

DZ3C3579 by drjlo3, on Flickr

Kubotec speakers.  Got a brief listen in here, and the sound was promising, with lithe speed and flow.  Need to investigate more.

DZ3C3582 by drjlo3, on Flickr

Audience Room

DZ3C3583 by drjlo3, on Flickr

Motus Room

DZ3C3586 by drjlo3, on Flickr

Angel City Audio and Melody Valve Hifi

DZ3C3588 by drjlo3, on Flickr

Melody amps on the floor

DZ3C3590 by drjlo3, on Flickr

MSB room with YG Acoustic speakers. 

DZ3C3592 by drjlo3, on Flickr

MSB Platinum IV DAC

DZ3C3593 by drjlo3, on Flickr

This room did not really look like an audio room, and that was on purpose.  Magnepan was demo'ing their motorized on-wall speakers, which tuck away flat to the wall when not in use.  There was a center channel speaker as well, as bass panels hidden away.  Contrary to preconceptions of such a system, the system sounded absolutely delightful with the right amount of sparkle, openness, transparency, and dynamics.  I would even venture to say it was more fun and involving than Magnepans's 3.7 setup from last year's T.H.E. show.

DZ3C3595 by drjlo3, on Flickr

Burmester with Genesis speakers.  Another outstanding room.  Cleanly detailed Burmester-style yet with richness, body, and excitement.  I really enjoyed the Burmester room last year, but that was with jewel-like Burmester speakers.  The Genesis speakers were holding up their end quite well!

DZ3C3597A by drjlo3, on Flickr

Love that Burmester look.

DZ3C3598 by drjlo3, on Flickr

I was on a roll with Acapella and Einstein room next.  For some reason, I have not been overly impressed with Acapella speakers in past shows, but this year things were different.  Full Einstein electronics driving the plasma tweeters resulted in magic that was addicting.  It seemed as though there was no limit or restriction on the amount of treble detail and attack.  Often a great tweeter sticks out like a sore thumb, but the Acapella Violons also dished out the mids and bass in spades, and more than anything, they sounded extremely coherent and appealing.  Horns especially sounded unbelievably authentic in their power, but pretty much everything sounded extremely resolved, bold, big, and dynamic. 

DZ3C3600 by drjlo3, on Flickr


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Empirical Audio room.  The new Overdrive SE DAC stood center stage in a system with the new TAD E1 speakers ($29,800/pair) which still use beryllium tweeters while the midrange diaphragm is now magnesium, not beryllium as in their Reference series.  Amarra software was being used with Mac Mini (with SSD) as server, and there was a firmness, power, and punch to the bassline that was unheard elsewhere.  Computer audio has come a long way, and the resolution, clarity, and smoothness were all accounted for.

DZ3C3611A by drjlo3, on Flickr

Empirical Audio Overdrive SE DAC in action.

DZ3C3614 by drjlo3, on Flickr

Another Overdrive SE DAC, the new Offramp 5, and Synchro-Mesh

DZ3C3615 by drjlo3, on Flickr

Unusual horn speakers by Cessaro, sporting 97dB sensitivity running off of low-powered tube amps.

DZ3C3617 by drjlo3, on Flickr


DZ3C3619 by drjlo3, on Flickr

Rockport speakers with BAT amplification.  Vinyl was being spun the whole time, and as expected, sound was smooth and analogue, but it was difficult to judge without playing my own demo tracks.

DZ3C3622 by drjlo3, on Flickr



DZ3C3623 by drjlo3, on Flickr

Audio Artistry CBT36K Line Array Speaker Kit.  This is actually a speaker kit one can buy from Parts Express for $1980/pair, which includes the cabinets and all the drivers and parts needed.  One needs to just finish the cabinet, which can take some work. These uniquely curved speakers sounded pretty much the same whether you were sitting or standing due to the curved cabinet.

DZ3C3624 by drjlo3, on Flickr

Oyaide accessories

DZ3C3625 by drjlo3, on Flickr

Lotus Group room with SMc Audio. Lotus G2 speakers are open-baffle, 3-way with outboard dsp crossover ($75,000).  SMc Audio VRE-1C preamplifier fed by Esoteric digital front-end.  This room had that open-baffle freedom from bass nodes with smooth, integrated presentation, perhaps helped by Class-A amplification by Esoteric.

DZ3C3627 by drjlo3, on Flickr

Magico Q3 speakers sounding like Magico in that non-resonant, non-boxy way. 

DZ3C3632 by drjlo3, on Flickr


DZ3C3633 by drjlo3, on Flickr

Avatar Acoustics room

DZ3C3635 by drjlo3, on Flickr

Soundsmith, VPI room. 

DZ3C3636 by drjlo3, on Flickr

Small MBL setup

DZ3C3638 by drjlo3, on Flickr

Big MBL setup.  Those monstrous MBL monoblocks and big MBL's never fail to dish out center-of-earth bass foundation.  MBL's are reported to sound good from any position in the room due to the unique design, which was dificult to verify due to the narrow room and room full of people. 

DZ3C3640 by drjlo3, on Flickr


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Scaena iso-linear array speakers.  This is an incredible speaker system, as can be guessed from the high-quality drivers in unique minimal enclosures, not to mention the huge bass towers.  Dynamic swing and ease were absolute top-notch as expected, but what really surprise me was how coherent and together the soundfield was given the large number of drivers involved.  Resolution was on a very high level, dished out effortlessly, no doubt helped by the VAC and ARC electronics.

DZ3C3648 by drjlo3, on Flickr


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Quintessence Acoustics, PBN room.  The latest Stealth speakers dominated this room, and considering how small the room was relative to the speaker size, the overall sound was well balanced and natural with large bass dynamic potential. 

DZ3C3653 by drjlo3, on Flickr

Z-Infinity electronics and Eficion speakers.

DZ3C3655 by drjlo3, on Flickr


DZ3C3657 by drjlo3, on Flickr

Wilson and ARC together again. 

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DZ3C3663 by drjlo3, on Flickr

Affordable Audio room featuring the gorgeous Sonist speakers

DZ3C3664 by drjlo3, on Flickr

E.A.R. USA room.  Marten Django speakers were absolutely gorgeous with ceramic tweeter and midrange, sounding as clean as ever, but perhaps due to the E.A.R. electronics, there was also voluptuousness to the sound.

DZ3C3666 by drjlo3, on Flickr

New E.A.R. DAC

DZ3C3667 by drjlo3, on Flickr


DZ3C3668 by drjlo3, on Flickr

ModWright room with Daedalus speakers.  Modified Oppo BDP95 as source, into ModWright integrated amp. 

DZ3C3670 by drjlo3, on Flickr


DZ3C3671 by drjlo3, on Flickr

ESS Labs speakers with Heil tweeter.  The middle-sized speakers were delightful with extra smooth and extra revealing upper ranges while managing decent imaging sitting right in fron of the wall.

DZ3C3674 by drjlo3, on Flickr

Large fully open-baffle ESS speakers showed promise, but it was basically rammed into corners of a small room.

DZ3C3675 by drjlo3, on Flickr


DZ3C3677 by drjlo3, on Flickr

Highend-Eletronics Room. Voxativ single-driver speakers powered by KR VA320 300B amp.  Unusually smooth for a single-driver, they presented a large amount of air and detail, which smoothed out nicely at the sweet spot.  Bass was respectable and sufficient for acousic music as well.

DZ3C3678 by drjlo3, on Flickr


DZ3C3680 by drjlo3, on Flickr

The whole Voxativ setup was fed by this tiny DAC from Synergistic Audio, fed by Highend-electronics MusicServer1 via USB.  Judging by the excellent sound in the room, the DAC was doing something right. 

DZ3C3682 by drjlo3, on Flickr


DZ3C3684 by drjlo3, on Flickr

KEF room showing off the "Blade" speaker, which sports a Uni-Q coax driver in front with bass drivers on the side.  This was yet another tremendous speaker system at this show, with oodles of detail resolution yet with requisite sweetness when called for.  Again, Chord electronics were in use, and I'm beginning to think there is something mighty good going on at Chord.

DZ3C3688 by drjlo3, on Flickr

Antelope room with Zodiac Gold DAC with Voltikus PS.

DZ3C3689 by drjlo3, on Flickr

Antelope Rubicon, which is the first DAC to integrate a Rubidium atomic clock.

DZ3C3690 by drjlo3, on Flickr

Antelope was also showing their studio AD/DA unit, in and out of loop of vinyl to spinning to show how transparent their process is. 

DZ3C3693 by drjlo3, on Flickr

Thiel 3.7 speakers with the unique drivers.  PrimaLuna CDP and electronics were showing off gobs of musical texture and detail through the Thiels, which were definitely high-resolution transducers. 

DZ3C3695 by drjlo3, on Flickr


DZ3C3697 by drjlo3, on Flickr

Von Gaylord room

DZ3C3699 by drjlo3, on Flickr

Evolutin Acoustics, Bluelight Audio Room

DZ3C3700 by drjlo3, on Flickr

[Jon L]

Sanders Sound System. 
This was one of my favorite shows at T.H.E. Show last year, and this year did not disappoint.  The model 10 electrostats cost a "mere" $13,000, which INCLUDES the Magnetech amp used for bass and the outboard digital crossover.  Some of the unique technology that set this 'stat/woofer hybrid include the very steep crossover slope due to the digital crossover, enabling the crossover point to be pushed down to a low 172 Hz with 48 dB/octave slopes, essentially preventing the woofer from intruding on the wonderful 'stat midrange.  "Ultrastat" panels are arc-proof and can play very loud, with added benefit of 94dB sensitivity.  Unlike last year, this room allowed show-goers to play their own tracks at the end of the show, and I was able to confirm with my own demo tracks these these offer some of the highest resolving, purest, yet smooth sound around, with the transmission-line bass delivering great, fast bass without intruding on the midrange. 

DZ3C3702 by drjlo3, on Flickr

I was told Mr. Sanders does not believe in large, expensive digital front-ends, as evidenced by the simple Tascam box seeing duties, with the ordinary Pioneer DVD player (!) dragged out at the end to play show-goer CD's.  Garden variety zip cords everywhere..

DZ3C3703 by drjlo3, on Flickr

Zu Audio room, which always fun and entertaining.  This was the only room where the gear was placed backwards so a "DJ" could spin records facing the crowd, club-style.  Fun, energetic sound from what I could get a listen to.  Zu Definision Mk IV seeing duty here, and I am happy to report the new tweeters seem much more open compared to the original Zu's. 

DZ3C3704 by drjlo3, on Flickr

A new Zu speaker.  I see this one sports a coaxial tweeter.

DZ3C3705 by drjlo3, on Flickr

Emotiva Audio room, with the XDA-2 DAC and impressive-looking XPA-1 monoblocks.  Emotiva has always been known for the quality delivered for the price. 

DZ3C3707 by drjlo3, on Flickr
 

DZ3C3708 by drjlo3, on Flickr

TAD monitors sporting the same beryllium drivers as the Reference series.

DZ3C3709 by drjlo3, on Flickr

Coincident Audio Tech room.  For some reason, I have not run into Coincident Audio gear in person in past, so I was happy to check out the impressively built Coincident Pure Reference Extreme speakers ($26,800).  Exoteric K01 CD/SACD player was driving the Dragon MkII 211 push-pull monobocks, and the room had plenty of resolution and power. 

DZ3C3711 by drjlo3, on Flickr

The Dragon 211 push-pull amps were beautiful, but I hope to listen to the Frankenstein 300B SET amps in the future, as the push-pull power and ceramic drivers sometimes sounded a bit, well "push-pull" with certain music.

DZ3C3712 by drjlo3, on Flickr

Veloce Audio room

DZ3C3714 by drjlo3, on Flickr

YG Acoustics room with Sim Audio gear powering YG Kipod II speakers. YG Acoustics speaker enclosures feature CNC-machined, aircraft-grade aluminum construction, which shows in the ultra-clean, distortion-free sound they create with ease.  The Sim audio power did not hurt, either. 

DZ3C3715 by drjlo3, on Flickr

Gorgeous YG Carmel speakers.

DZ3C3716 by drjlo3, on Flickr

Sim Audio Moon electronics. 

DZ3C3719 by drjlo3, on Flickr


DZ3C3720 by drjlo3, on Flickr


DZ3C3722 by drjlo3, on Flickr

Wyred4Sound and Emerald Physics room. 
W4S is doing some interesting things on the heels of their DAC 1 and 2 success.  On the left is their W4S Mini-integrated amp ($1499), which packs 100 wpc in the tiny 8" size while offering asynch USB input as well as toslink and spdif input.  On the right is their exciting W4S Music Server, their effort at improving on the Mac Mini as a server.  1 TB version offers 1 GB of memory and spdif output while the 2 TB version offers 2 GB of memory with both spdif and I2S output, which can connect directly to the I2S input of W4S DAC's.

DZ3C3723 by drjlo3, on Flickr


DZ3C3724 by drjlo3, on Flickr

Emerald Physics speakers

DZ3C3725 by drjlo3, on Flickr

And a bevy of beautiful Totem speakers in one room.

DZ3C3726 by drjlo3, on Flickr


DZ3C3727 by drjlo3, on Flickr


DZ3C3728 by drjlo3, on Flickr

[Jon L]

After 3 days of grueling audio show, the worst part for exhibitors is the packing 


DZ3C3729 by drjlo3, on Flickr


However, things were made a little easy by the fast cars to be used for getaway 


DZ3C3630 by drjlo3, on Flickr


DZ3C3629 by drjlo3, on Flickr


DZ3C3628 by drjlo3, on Flickr

[Jon L]

Some gratuitous close-up shots for those lonely nights 


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DZ3C3576 by drjlo3, on Flickr


Many thanks to all those involved in this great show this year, and we'll see you all next year 

[Jon L]

more

[Jon L]

Mods please delete this post.

[Jon L]

Mods please delete this post.

[Jon L]

Mods please delete this post.

[Russtafarian]

I spent my time running around setting up PA systems at both hotels and mixing all the live music performances.  A lot of work and a lot of fun but not much time to listen to many rooms.  Now that I can relax at home I'm spinning the Elvis Costello and B-52s MOFI vinyl I picked up at the Music Direct booth.

I did like the little Zu coax floorstander.  Not a polite speaker, but it threw a huge phase coherent point source sound stage.  Sufjan Stevens on vinyl short circuited my emotions and had me tearing up. Really impressive for $1600 pr. 

Disclaimer: I'm a Zu homer.

Russ

[Nick77]

Great photo's, thanks for the coverage. 

[capwkidd]

With Jon doing such a great job with pictures I don't feel I need to post any, but I did go to almost ever room, and listen, and take pictures....

And I am happy to say, I came home and listsed to some of my tracks, and my system still holds up

[SlushPuppy]

Wow, great coverage Jon!

[saisunil]

Super thanks guys for great reports and impressions ... keep it coming

[SoCalWJS]

With Jon doing such a great job with pictures I don't feel I need to post any, but I did go to almost ever room, and listen, and take pictures....And I am happy to say, I came home and listsed to some of my tracks, and my system still holds up

+1
Was going to post more, but here at home (in the sticks) I have satellite Internet, and upload is limited to about 56k (yes, modem speeds), so..................
Spent way to much money on vinyl/SACD's/accessories. One of the best things about these shows is the specialized vendors bringing their wares for sale.
GREAT show with many good/great sounding rooms. Interesting reading the comments and it points out how many diffences of opinion there are out there, We each have a different combination of both hearing and preferences. Rooms that I liked, others have panned. Rooms that others had as the best, were completely indifferent to me.
Viva La Difference!! Makes the world a more interesting place.

[Don_S]

Many thanks to everyone for the great show coverage.  Lots of pictures and different perspectives. I appreciate your efforts.

When I go to a show and read reports from other people I often wonder if I was at the same show.  I consider that a reality check. 

[Jon L]

Many thanks to everyone for the great show coverage.  Lots of pictures and different perspectives. I appreciate your efforts.

When I go to a show and read reports from other people I often wonder if I was at the same show.  I consider that a reality check. 

Yup.  I first try to jot down my impressions while the memory is still fresh, so later when I read others' impressions, it can be surprising how different people can hear things.

The show was over 3 days, and my impressions are from the last day, when most kinks have been worked out.  Many exhibitors commented on how different/better their system sounded on the last day, sometimes in the last hour  

I also can't stress enough the importance of playing your own reference tracks at these shows when allowed, as I've often found myself dumbfounded how the sysems really sounded with music I know well compared to exhibitors' chosen demo tracks.

But I should stress that my brief impressions are from a guy with a heavy camera trying to take photos of a gazillion dimly lit rooms while getting in a listen whenever and however possible.  As always, if something looks interesting to you, go seek them out and give it a proper listen 

[jhm731]

Did anyone take any pictures of the system in room 1022 at the Hilton?

"Million Dollar Sound- when price isn't the shocker and sound is....."

[melomaniac]

great photography, and thanks especially for the pix of the Eddie Current amps - my pix all came out crappy. two omissions: the new SONY speakers were astounding, and the Magnepan "stealth" system was amazingly coherent; I was also impressed with the Schiit headphone amps, and with the large Sonorus electrostats