[Mary]

AVA and Salk are in room 1248 with not only fantastic sound but check out Jim's new Exotica III.

[Austin08]

Awesome!!!!!

[Vulcan00]

Yep very nice.

[Q3Di]

Is that a new StreamPlayer with Teddy Pardo PSU on the rack?

[SCompRacer]

Mary, missed you in the Salk room! You scooped me too...

[Tone Depth]

Another "wow" on the Exotica III!

[Sonix]

Does anybody have a side shot yet of the Exotica III?

Which one of Frank's amps is powering this undiscovered beauty?

Thanks!

[Big Red Machine]

600r

[Vulcan00]

I would like to see the back of the Exotica III.

I must say the silver plates and knobs of Franks equipment is really attractive.

[Austin08]

Silver AVA equipment and painted Salk look great together.

[Bob2]

Jim said I was the first person to hear the new Exotic III. They are Soooooo nice!

[audiotom]

Was it a big enough room to have ss8s on the rear wall like at rmaf?

[Kwebb]

Big Red Machine,

Did you have the chance to hear the Exotica III's?  If so how do they compare to SS8????????

Any inputs are 1000% better than none.

Kyle

[mresseguie]

If I may toss in some thoughts....

Prior to Friday, I had never heard any Salk speaker, so I lack the depth of experience that others have. Nonetheless, I was blown away by the Exotica lll speakers........I didn't listen to the SS8s until Saturday afternoon (and still have not heard the Song Towers!). If I hadn't heard the Exotica llls yesterday, I would have said the SS8s  were fantastic speakers.

Now I know something I did not know a few days ago. If I decide to buy Salk speakers for my next speakers, they will be Exoticas, not Silks or SS8s. I speak of the bookshelf version BTW. Given my room constraints now and in the likely future, full sized speakers won't work so well. I would buy one (or 2) Rythmik 12s to support them. I spoke with Jim about this idea and he said it would work quite well [although not so well as the new Exotica llls, of course..].

I'll continue to make comparisons on Sunday, but I'm fairly certain I prefer silk dome tweeters over ribbon tweeters. I understand not everyone shares that viewpoint, but I listen with my ears....and I trust them.

More later....

Michael

[Bob2]

The Exoticas sounded very good. I think they were setup as well as can be expected in a hotel room. Signal was running through a Van Alstein tube pre. Going to take a closer look at that.

[jackmonster]

The Exotica III's- simply the best speaker Jim has created.  The bass is super tight driven by the built-in servo-subs.  Better bass than the 47K Wilson Alexandria's down the hall.  I agree about the soft dome tweeter.  The vocals sound much more natural with it and you still have all the detail associated with the Salks.  Jim knocked it out of the ballpark!  Interestingly, he still used Van Alstine 660R amp(300watts a side) to power the mid range woofer and tweeter.  Sort of overkill- but what outstanding resolution.

[Big Red Machine]

Big Red Machine,

Did you have the chance to hear the Exotica III's?  If so how do they compare to SS8????????

Any inputs are 1000% better than none.

Kyle

They are completely different animals.  I have my 8's rocking about as well as anyone can expect right now.  I have tweaked everything I can except redoing the crossover with expensive parts. (Not gonna happen now)

The Exoticas seem to play much deeper, and quickly get there.  The 8's are very tight in the bass but don't linger there.  The Exoticas dig deep if you drive them hard and would break the plaster from the walls if you tried.  They can really pack a wallop.

I would venture the largest quantity of comments on the Exoticas are the clarity and depth of sound.  Once I heard Melody Gardot open and close her lips while singing I was smitten.  The reality of the reproduction is scary. 

Using the 600R was out of convenience mostly.  The little tube amp would be enough power except for transients in some cases.  But the ease of driving a 90+ db efficient speaker was evident.  Frank's switchable gain selector made volume control worry free.  It would be very easy to jump the volume up and totally blast you out or damage the drivers otherwise.

I'll probably comment how these stacked up to other speakers at the show in the show thread.  Many of us kept coming back to the Salk speakers to recalibrate our ears.

[Big Red Machine]

Here's a photo of Dean and Mary.  Dean is a longtime AVA employee as many of you know.  Mary was mentioned as instrumental in getting all things Van Alstine in and out of the shop.  Mary and her husband have 12 kids and several grand-kids, so managing Frank is a breeze for her.  Mary is a real hoot and fun to be around.  She drove a ton of people into the room from the hallway because no one would dare say no to her!

[Kwebb]

Big Red Machine,

Thank you for you brief but very discriptive comments on the Exotica 3's.  Awesome is all I can say.

Kyle

[Stercom]

Ok, I gotta ask. Did Jim give you a price for the Exotica IIIs or is that yet to be determined?