AudioCircle
The Commercial Zone => Audio Shows and Events => Rocky Mountain Audio Fest => Topic started by: Pez on 4 Oct 2011, 03:58 am
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Coming soon.
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Starting out late this morning guys. turns out that I forgot the connector for my camera to my iPad which basically makes coverage impossible. I am heading home to go pick up the connector and we will start coverage when I return.
Tyson - as usual I'm a day late and (more than) a dollar short. We were all just exhausted today. I blame Emmanuel and the awesome tequila he brought up to the Daedalus room last night - fun times, but I'm paying for it today....
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Starting out late this morning guys. turns out that I forgot the connector for my camera to my iPad which basically makes coverage impossible. I am heading home to go pick up the connector and we will start coverage when I return.
Thats it , your fired. :thumb:
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Thats it , your fired. :thumb:
i will be sure you get your yob back, if you promise to report on the nova physics memory player 64, the sam1 speakers, and the german physiks speakers. 8)
doug s.
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Coming soon.
Wanted to drop you a note saying Thanks for taking the time taking the pics and posting them along with comments, makes it interesting.
Your one posting caught my attention in relation to the JH Audio JH13, I'm actually looking for a pair and reading your info. had me loooking them up to gather more info.
When you have time care to share a little more info specifically what else you have heard and the comparisons.
Thanks
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i will be sure you get your yob back, if you promise to report on the nova physics memory player 64, the sam1 speakers, and the german physiks speakers. 8)
doug s.
Those are some very interesting pces, the nova physics memory player has my most interest out of the bunch.
Pez if you happen to go by any rooms whom are using VAC gear were they showing a new phono pre-amp? any pics would be great and if Kevin is available possibly have a chatt and get what ever info. you can first hand and let us know.
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Anybody post on the Sound Smith Cartright? If so, I missed it...
Paul
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Kimber pass labs and emm labs
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This room is amazingly setup, 4 speakers and lot of pretty glowing boxes. As usual Ray is show casing the isomike recordings and some really dynamic recordings. Wow is all I have to say. The scale of the resentation is enormous. There is simply no other manufacturer out there that controls more of what the listener is hearing than Kimber. The recording is done by Kimber, the playback and pretty much everything in between is selected or designed by Kimber. Hes actually even telling us about how he is helping build a pipe organ :o Translation realism like no other, dynamic control like no other, performance like no other.
Wow he's playing. Race track recording and the sound of the bikes going around the track are simply frightening and real scale!!!! Wow this is the best demo by far. You can actually see the woofers on the Sony pulse every time a motorcycle comes by. Incredible!!!!
Now organ recording... Wow interesting setup for it. This is setup using a digital organ that allows similar to the real deal using speakers, software and lots of channels 48 in all speakers.
Tyson - I missed part of this demo because I had to drop the kids off at the pool after some great coffee from Metropolis. But the hirez quad sound was amazing - motorcycles just flying around you in perfectly seamless and at frightening speeds. But it only locks in and works from a very small sweet spot. I have ambivalent feelings about this because audio is already a "single seat" pursuit to a large degree, and this is even further along that path.
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Very nice sound, but for those of you who have been fortunate enough to be in the presence of a real pipe organ the scale doesnt even come close, nor does it shimmer and shine like the real deal. None the less still a very interesting project.
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Sumiko wadia
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Sorry no comments really they sound ok, but I never once got a decent seat.
Tyson - OK sound here but nothing to write home about. Average sounding in every category I can think of.
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Awesome coverage!
I'll put in my request for the Totem room. I'm seriously interested in the new Element series.
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Nordost
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Not a great room. Nuff said.
Tyson - No, not enough said. This room sounded great, once, several years ago. But it has been getting progressively worse every year and it was downright bad this year - Sibilant and harsh, even with the top of the line cables. And the constant cable demos with pre selected music gets tedious almost immediately. Seriously, I understand you are in the business of selling cables, but maybe limit it to once an hour and let people listen to their own stuff the rest of the time.
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Brinkman, vivid audio, luxman
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This room sounds very nice indeed. The imaging and soundstaging is tremendous and the scale is deceptively big! These speakers don't seem like they should be able to be this visceral, yet they can sound as big as the Kimber room with the Sonys.
Mike Garner clearly took some time setting this up. Phenomenal.
Tyson - Jason liked this room more than I did; I thought it was good, but not great. Clean, neutral balance, very clear, very clean, nice dynamics and good bass, but just did not grab me emotionally.
Just for some context, I thought the Luxman Towers sounded terrible last year, so clearly a step up this year.
And a shout out to Mike Garner who took the time to shoot the breeze with us re: audio stuff.
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Focal, Apex
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For scale I out the iPad next to the enormous amps!!
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So this is the first time I've walked into the focal room and didn't instantly hate it. I actually LOVE the sound I'm hearing on vinyl. We are listening to pink Floyd the wall and it is very impressive. Finally I get these speakers. All it took as a phenomenal front end that no one can afford and boom instant greatness. :wink:
I will say for some perspective I still like a lot of rooms way more than this one, but for me to go from hating product to really liking it is a big step.
Tyson - Every year we listen to the Focals and every year they suck hard. Not just mediocrity, but actual contenders for worst sound. But not this year. This year they sounded phenomenal. Perfect bass. Awesome scale. See-through transparency. And most shocking - smooth tonal balance, maybe even a bit warm. Focal. Warm?!?! I must have flipped over to Bizarro Universe. My vote for best sound at show. Which bugs me because the people running the room were kind of dickish. Actuall, ALL of the rooms on the mezzanine level were run by slightly dickish people (Mike Garner the exception that proves the rule.
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Musical surround , aesthetix, clearaudio
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This room was unlistenable.
Tyson - I don't even remember going into this room.
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Peachtree
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This system sound surprisingly great through the new Peachtree. I really liked the feist track they played as well s the Peter Gabriel. Overall pretty darn good stuff here. Of course every other room we go to has one or two guys hogging the sweetspot so I never got the full experience. He's right there. --->
Tyson - 16/44 tracks sounded bad on this system. Hirez tracks sounded better, but c'mon, it's using a digital amp and digital amps obviously kneecap even awesome speakers like Sonus Faber.
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Soundstring Nola
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We are able to put on our own music here.
The Sibelius starts out sounding very sweet indeed. Incredibly seductive. Well balanced and very nice presentation overall. Very good scaling to larger parts of the piece.
Difranco the soundstage is deep and full. Very good for this little system. I like the overall sound very much!!!
The Mahler and the tool track pass the dynamics acid test no problem. Very very nice. Great setup!!!
Tyson - Last year I thought the Sound String room was a pleasant surprise - I'd never headed of them and it was really a sweet sounding room, even with modest speakers. This year they wee even better, IMO. Sweet, clear, dynamic, good bass, good soundstage. Reminds me a lot of the type of sound we heard in the Fritz Speakers room.
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Merlin
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From my terrible seat this room sounded pretty good, but I can't really comment beyond that.
Tyson - Every year the mMerlin room is a great, highly musical room. Except this year. Not sure how they managed to make these speakers sound bright and thin, but they certainly did.
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Vansersteen
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Boring and lifeless.
Tyson - gotta agree with pez here on the Treos. To me, the mids were so muffled, it actually sounded like they had inverted the phase on the midrange driver.
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Magico
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Sibilieus sounds great technically speaking. Same with difranco. I find that I have yet to emotionally connect to the sound I'm hearing. It's doing everything well, but hmmm.
Mahler a bit of compression dynamically. But not too much after all they are bookshelf speakers.
Ya bass is a touch reticent on these, the just not very enthusiastic on dynamic passages. The guy running the room actually turned down the sound during the tool track.
Tyson - yes they actually turned the music down on us. And Tool wasn't even that loud. But I liked the room overall. Maybe I just had low expectations after their piss poor showing last year with their tower speakers....
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Nola
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The Nola's are a very lively sounding speaker especially with the open design. I don't care for this kind of sound typically and this experience is no exception. Yet another open box speaker company that failed to treat the room and no I don't count ferns as room treatment. The sound is big and bold and that I like, but there is no soundstage or imaging to speak of. They just smear all that information by splattering it agains the glass windows. Sorry, but big fail IMO.
Tyson - terrible room, maybe worst at show. They were terrible last year and maybe even worse this year. If you are running OB speakers, TREAT THE ROOM!!!
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German physiks
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Love the soundfield on these. A little thin sounding and of course they didn't treat the room. Yet they out the stupid little things on the wall that I'm sure are supposed to focus the sound field and get rid of negative energy blah blah blah. You know... bullshit. The engineer for the speakers is here I asked them what they are he said 'I have no idea' and shook his head. The only honest answer anyone can give for silliness like that.
The the great thing about these speakers OS consistently dwelt wide soundstage. And good focus to the midrange. Always a great performer overall with german physiks.
Tyson - awesome soundstage in this room, as always with German Physics. But the tonal balance was too bright. REAL room treatments rather than voodoo bs would help this room immensely.
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Allnic the beat turntables Wilson
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This is the first time the Wilson audio stuff has ever sounded good IMO. There is a certain warmth to the sound that is almost alien to this speaker in my experience that this setup has. Good stuff moving on.
Tyson - agreed completely with Jason, it's the first time I've heard a Wilson product I really liked. Not sure if it was this specific model, or the front end gear, or what, but this was a great sounding room.
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I thought the NOLAs were among the top 3 sounding speakers at the show along with the Vandy 7s and the large Focals.
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Orpheus, bogdan audio, densen
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The little ones are playing I am in the corner again. Wait for Tyson's coverage for this one sorry dudes.
Tyson - nice tonal balance on these little dual concentric speakers. But no way to get a decent soundstage with them so close to the side walls. Also, way too short. Would liked to have heard the other speakers, but was just past caring at this point in RMAF.
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Hate to do this with an hour to go but my neck hurts and I can't keep carrying this camera and the iPad. I'm done on coverage guys. Hope to see some other great coverage from others. :thumb:
Tyson - agreed, we are dun. But one last room, Pez insisted we revisit, the AVA/Salk room. This time they had the Songtowers and the Ultravalve hooked up and playing. Muuuuuuuuch better sound from this side of the room. BIG sound, smooth mids & highs, and a great system to connect with the music on an emotional level. Excellent sound! :thumb:
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No worries, Pez. You've busted your ass this weekend for all of us poor saps who couldn't make it, and it's much appreciated. :notworthy:
Have fun, now!!! :thumb:
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Awesome coverage, thanks a bunch. Almost like being there; someday..... :thumb: :thumb:
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Thanks to all who took time to post pictures and impressions of the show, it's almost been like being there in some ways.
Todd
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Pez--awesome stuff you deserve big props and a standing 'o'...both of you...very much like being there.......Thanks!!!! :thumb:
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Great coverage! Thanks for taking all the time and effort for documenting it.
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Slacker...
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Hope to see some other great coverage from others. :thumb:
I just finished editing 48 photos (from over 90), now I have to load them on my server.
Pez and Tyson, you guys are amazing.
Wayne
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Thanks a lot Guys,
You made us happy by sharing your opinion to all of us not able to come to Denver this weekend.
I liked your pictures and you comments too.
Regards from The Netherlands.
Cor Dekker
Musical Reality
www.musicalreality.nl
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Jason and Tyson, thanks for all the hard work. Some of your comments led to visiting rooms that I would have otherwise avoided. :thumb:
mike
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I enjoyed following this. Thanks!
When I heard the Focals 2 years ago I thought they were pathetic. They had a big, kind of pushy sales team.
Glad to see they have something to sell now...
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Brinkman, vivid audio, luxman
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They could be the best sounding speakers in the world, but I would never let something that looks like those in my house. I want my speakers to not only sound good, but also have the looks of a fine piece of wood furniture.
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Anybody post on the Sound Smith Cartright? If so, I missed it...
Paul
posted on the Any Requests thread, http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=99524.msg1003035#msg1003035 and room impressions posted on Day 2 coverage.
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Im the opposite. While I don't necessarily like those, I hate the old furniture look.
Thanks for posting these!
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Hate to do this with an hour to go but my neck hurts and I can't keep carrying this camera and the iPad. I'm done on coverage guys. Hope to see some other great coverage from others. :thumb:
Jason, Tyson, Awesome job guys :thumb:
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Jason, Tyson, Awesome job guys :thumb:
+1
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+1
+2 many thanks Jason and Tyson. You guys are super!
NB
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Did you ever get to the Positive Feedback mag "hospitality suite"? They had the Sonicweld system there; unbelievable, even playing 16/44.1 files from a Macbook. Even in a small room, within a minute of listening the speakers had disappeared. Probably best in show.
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This year I decided to do something a little different. Pez and Tyson are doing a terrific job documenting the show, so I am just photographing the rooms with the best sound. I have a couple of requirements: a nice low end and clear non-pearcing highs. You won't find many monitors in my list or single driver speakers no matter how well they image, just not my thing.
I was at RMAF for only 2 days so if your favorite speaker was at the show and not on my list then maybe I didn't make it to the room or the sound sucked one way or another. I won't be making too many comments since I didn't take any notes, I'll have a new rating system next year.
So on with the show...
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GamuT M7 speakers with GamuT electronics
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Evolution Acoustics MMMicroOne $2000/pr
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The Beat turntable room, I believe the Wilson speakers are the exhibitor's personal pair.
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Fritz Speakers always has a fine sounding room and he throws a mean happy hour party on Friday night.
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The Roland room sounded good with Thiel CS3.7 speakers.
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The Clue monitors had a huge soundstage with room filling bass.
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There were quite a few reel-to-reel machines around this year.
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Vandersteen Model 7, consistently one of the rooms with the best sound of the show.
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The Magico Q1, this is the first time a Magico speaker actually sounded good at a show.
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Acoustic Zen Crescendo
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The new Vandersteen Treo
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Theil SCS4T
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The brand new Odyddey Kismet speakers have a big bold sound, these use the best drivers available.
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New Odyssey Kismet electronics.
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Prana Fidelity
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Friday night out on the town.
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The new Von Schweikert VR44 was sounding excellent on Saturday.
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Chapman and Cary shared a room, the speakers have a very refined sound but at $8995 they have a lot of competition. Search them out for a listen if you can.
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April Music
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Linkwitz Orion had a nice spacious sound with a deep base foundation.
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I surprised myself by liking the sound of the Dali Fazon
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Hanson Knight
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Part of the excellent sound was due to a $9000 cartridge in this table. lonewolf might remember the room and cartridge info.
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Nice sound from the very efficient Coincident Pure Reference Extreme (T).
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(http://www.wghwoodworking.net/RMAF2011/von_schweikert_vr5_anniversery.jpg)
The Von Schweikert VR5 Anniversary has the potential to make great sound but due to either a poor recording or mis-matched electronics (Jolida) the highs were a little sharp.
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The Nola room always have some of the show's best sound, this year they brought the Baby Grand Reference.
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I spent a lot of time in the GR Research room, great music, fun people, battery power, and bass response that went down to 18 Hz, too much fun.
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The TAD CR1, easily the best sound of the show, even beating out the big Tad's.
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The big TAD Reference One had excellent sound too but you got to have the space, not bass shy at all but in order to get best of show in that big room they would need to add two subs.
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Vivid had amazingly good bass though a little loose in this room.
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The big Focal speakers.
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I'm glad I found the Kimber room, the most amazing clear surround sound I have ever heard.
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Analysis speaker has a narrow sweet spot but the sound is quite interesting in a good way.
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The Acapella was making beautiful music, they use a plasma tweeter and you can see it glowing inside the small horn.
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Legacy always has a big bold dynamic sound, if you like your symphonic music played at life like levels and drums that sound real get these speakers.
(http://www.wghwoodworking.net/RMAF2011/salk_soundscape.jpg)
Salk Soundscapes always sound good with Van Alstine electronics, this year Frank was showing his new Fet Valve series.
(http://www.wghwoodworking.net/RMAF2011/salk_songtower.jpg)
The Salk Songtower is one of the best small tower loudspeaker made anywhere.
That's it, my picks for the best of RMAF 2011.
Wayne
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Those Sonus Faber's in the Peachtree room on page 1 sure are purty. Wouldn't mind a pair around here, assuming I liked their sound.
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Those Sonus Faber's in the Peachtree room on page 1 sure are purty. Wouldn't mind a pair around here, assuming I liked their sound.
Well, I just drove back from Denver a couple of hours ago, and I can tell you for sure that you would have liked them. So, just make out that check for $23,000 .... or was that $32,000. Regardless, the coolest thing in the Peachtree room was a little pair of bookshelf speakers in about a .4 cu ft box that absolutely were amazing. I thought they were far more impressive than the big Sonus Fabers (which, although very good, were so much like the ubiquitous hoard of large expensive speakers at the RMAF). Tomorrow after a day to recoup, I'll post my notes.
Scott
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But without a doubt, my favorite room of this year was the TAD room. I ended up spending most of Sunday in this room just enjoying the music, which to me is what this is all about. When I can "forget" about analyzing the system and just enjoy the experience, that is a "winning" system to me.
I ended up spending about 2 hours in this room on Sunday till the close of the show. He played samples of all types of music and all of them sounded great. For the finale track of the show he played one that I don't know the name, but it had gunshots in it and it was nothing short of stunning. Well done TAD.
http://youtu.be/ZXMP4cKaVtM (http://youtu.be/ZXMP4cKaVtM)
Thanks again Jason and Tyson for letting me hang out with you guys.
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...great work everybody...thank you so very much for an absolutely awesome report....
Cheers
blutto
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1. I need an Ipad to do show coverage, i'm really bad at typing up what I think after I leave the room.
2. Flash drive from now on. It seems like this was the cross over year and most every one has gone to computer only as a source.
*I'm going to do this write up in parts since I never seem to get a big block of free time in my day to day life.
Ok my favorite rooms first (in alphabetical order). (this also maybe biased but they all are AC people and their systems aren't in the realm of "hey my car cost less than these speakers/amp/cables")
1. Odyssey - My favorite whole system at the show, other than restrictions because of room size I could find nothing wrong with this set up. This set up sounded as good as any of the expensive rooms with maybe the exception of the low low end. I'm welling to bet in a blind set up with the Kismet integrated and the Kismet Reference Monitors (Scan-speak beryllium and revelator) vs. say a Plinus integrated and Magico bookshelves, one would be hard press to tell the difference. So just buy this set and tell your audiophile friends you spend 5x what you really did and they will eat it up.
2. Soundfield - Not only great speakers but AJ also has great taste in music. :icon_twisted: I would say these bookshelves had the best bass of any of the small rooms. AJ was able to totally dial it in with the build in subs, something a lot of the bigger speakers couldn't do at the show. Unless you have a huge listening room or a family room open to the second floor, these babies will give you room filling full range sound.
*On a side not I think Klaus and AJ were in a competition to see who can build the largest bookshelves possible, I mean these were big speakers for bookshelves. But then again bass has to follow some physical laws.
3. Vapor Audio - While not an official room, Ryan was able to get into the BPT room after hours. Am I glad I went, these where my favorite speakers of the show. WOW is about all I can say not sure how he got these to sound like they do, I would have guess these where floor standers if I had seen them. Yeah these are awesome, if you have a change to hear them do yourself the favor and do it.
More postings to come later.
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Wow! Nice feedback on speakers that are reasonble for the majority of listeners and our rooms. Thanls :thumb:
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Flash drive from now on. It seems like this was the cross over year and most every one has gone to computer only as a source.
Interesting.................I saw lots of great analog front ends.
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Magico
(http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/dd370/pezacolypse/0e492c2f.jpg)
(http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/dd370/pezacolypse/5d530a95.jpg)
Sibilieus sounds great technically speaking. Same with difranco. I find that I have yet to emotionally connect to the sound I'm hearing. It's doing everything well, but hmmm.
Mahler a bit of compression dynamically. But not too much after all they are bookshelf speakers.
Ya bass is a touch reticent on these, the just not very enthusiastic on dynamic passages. The guy running the room actually turned down the sound during the tool track.
TBH this room was quite boring to me. Lifeless sound. Next.
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Orpheus, bogdan audio, densen
(http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/dd370/pezacolypse/0ffddf40.jpg)
(http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/dd370/pezacolypse/0aa5aeab.jpg)
(http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/dd370/pezacolypse/7e8a1244.jpg)
The little ones are playing I am in the corner again. Wait for Tyson's coverage for this one sorry dudes.
These were interesting. When we came in it was the little guys on the outside (next to the wall) that were playing. It had a very nice full sound which too me, was surprising considering the size and placement. I did ask the gentleman running the system if they were meant to be loaded on the wall like that due to their construction and he said "no they work anywhere in the room". Shrug.
When I did get tot he sweet spot, it was very hard to actually find the sweet spot. The image was lost. In fact due to the shortness of the speaker I felt like I had to duck down to get the best sound. I think these speakers might work, they just need some help in room treatments and placement and the imaging might get ironed out.
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Nola
(http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/dd370/pezacolypse/bdd89626.jpg)
(http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/dd370/pezacolypse/cea2487c.jpg)
(http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/dd370/pezacolypse/fd508f4a.jpg)
The Nola's are a very lively sounding speaker especially with the open design. I don't care for this kind of sound typically and this experience is no exception. Yet another open box speaker company that failed to treat the room and no I don't count ferns as room treatment. The sound is big and bold and that I like, but there is no soundstage or imaging to speak of. They just smear all that information by splattering it agains the glass windows. Sorry, but big fail IMO.
Totally agree with this. I really want to like this room, these have the potential to be amazing, yet just like last year (same exact setup), it failed to deliver. Its almost as if they are saying "well we are Nola so therefore its the best and we dont need to do it better".
Listen up NOLA, change your setup...its selling your speaker short.
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Interesting.................I saw lots of great analog front ends.
Agreed. Lots of turntables and reel to reel! However, not many brought their own vinyl and I doubt anyone brought their own reels.
Next year I will bring both a thumb drive and a CD.
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Again thanks for the photos. I'm very surprised the Analysis room did not get more comments. Same for Soundfield speakers room.
charles
SMA
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Hey, WGH:
Glad to see you liked the ARC room so much. I'm biased being a REF owner, but I enjoyed it tremendously, especially when they were spinning vinyl with the Spiral Groove and Olympos cartridge...
I wish all the rooms at RMAF could have been that size - all the mfrs could have shown off what they do a lot better!
All in all a great show.
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Room 550 ....Kaiser GmbH Kawero! speakers with Concert Fidelity electronics....sounded very good this year. 8)
If it wasn't for their price tag....List $66,000.00 :?..... I'd like a pair of the Kawero's.... :D
(http://www.soundstageglobal.com/images/stories/rmaf2011/articles/bestsound1.jpg)
http://www.soundstageglobal.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=187&catid=75&Itemid=231
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Quote from Standub
2. Flash drive from now on. It seems like this was the cross over year and most every one has gone to computer only as a source.
Interesting.................I saw lots of great analog front ends.
Me too. Lots of analog front ends on every floor in the show. I brought my own vinyl (Neil Young Live at Massey Hall; The Decemberists The King Is Dead; Fleetwood Mac Rumours 45 RPM; The Beatles MoFi Abbey Road; and She and Him Volume II). With a couple of exceptions I focused on rooms with TT and could not get to all the rooms I wanted to hear. If anything, I saw fewer rooms with CD players and some rooms had both a TT and a computer.
Laura
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Computer audio is coming on strong....more and more rooms going in that direction.
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My impressions now posted inline with Pez's pics.
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Me too. Lots of analog front ends on every floor in the show. I brought my own vinyl (Neil Young Live at Massey Hall; The Decemberists The King Is Dead; Fleetwood Mac Rumours 45 RPM; The Beatles MoFi Abbey Road; and She and Him Volume II). With a couple of exceptions I focused on rooms with TT and could not get to all the rooms I wanted to hear. If anything, I saw fewer rooms with CD players and some rooms had both a TT and a computer.
Laura
Yes there were a lot of TT, my comment was more about the few rooms that couldn't play the CD's I brought. I think we're starting to see the death of CD in high end now, and from now on more vinyl or computer front ends.
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Again thanks for the photos. I'm very surprised the Analysis room did not get more comments. Same for Soundfield speakers room.
charles
SMA
Hi Charles,
Well, there's this company called FedEx... :cuss:
Let's see, lost original shipment, "forgot" one speaker on the truck in the backup Fri morning shipment, etc., etc, etc.
It was only by going down to the FedEx hub on Fri 5pm and appearing ready to go postal, that I finally retrieved the 2nd speaker (when the knucklehead driver returned @ 5:45).
Sooo....Friday was a complete bust. I was only able to display Saturday. Bunch of folks passed thru. Packed up and left early Sunday. Ah well. lesson learned. As Danny Ritchie sez, drive, never ship!
You trust Paul Mah's ears? :wink:
cheers,
AJ
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Yes there were a lot of TT, my comment was more about the few rooms that couldn't play the CD's I brought. I think we're starting to see the death of CD in high end now, and from now on more vinyl or computer front ends.
That was part of my point, fewer rooms with CD players. I'm not sure it's the death of CD in high end, but the CD is certainly taking a back seat to computer audio. Last year we did a comparison in Lou Hinkley's Daedalus room between a CD on the AMR 77 CD player (a great CD player) and 24/96 hi rez from his Mac Mini and the computer sounded better.
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Hi Vinyl Lady,
I stashed away a couple of Amstel Lights for you in the fridge....
Eric (Standub) and I didn't consume them all :lol:
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Too bad, Pez and I came by on both Friday and on Sunday since the SA1's were one of the main speakers I wanted to hear this year.
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Too bad, Pez and I came by on both Friday and on Sunday since the SA1's were one of the main speakers I wanted to hear this year.
Go figure :lol:. Such is my luck. No more Fed Ex! :duh:
You'll have to organize one of those Carolina GTG's one weekend, hopefully in South Carolina :green:
cheers,
AJ
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Go figure :lol:. Such is my luck. No more Fed Ex! :duh:
You'll have to organize one of those Carolina GTG's one weekend, hopefully in South Carolina :green:
cheers,
AJ
You want to drive up to NJ. I will organize one.
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Peachtree
(http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/dd370/pezacolypse/2c0fee82.jpg)
(http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/dd370/pezacolypse/f7dfaf02.jpg)
This system sounded great except for the fact the speakers where too far apart for where they put the seats. They where talking about how their jitter is so much lower than that of a CD player, yet they couldn't tell their speakers were too far apart. Come on man.
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These were interesting. When we came in it was the little guys on the outside (next to the wall) that were playing. It had a very nice full sound which too me, was surprising considering the size and placement. I did ask the gentleman running the system if they were meant to be loaded on the wall like that due to their construction and he said "no they work anywhere in the room". Shrug.
When I did get tot he sweet spot, it was very hard to actually find the sweet spot. The image was lost. In fact due to the shortness of the speaker I felt like I had to duck down to get the best sound. I think these speakers might work, they just need some help in room treatments and placement and the imaging might get ironed out.
So what were the little speakers on the outside? Make/model/price?
Scott
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Standub- Those Sonus Faber's LOOK too far apart to me and too close to side walls by a long shot. Shoulda just grouped seating tighter.
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Also, peachtree digital amp? Not really a great match to these incredible speakers. I think they bit off more than they could chew, trying to be like the big boys after coming from making cute little integrated computer audio systems.
Oh wait... Did I just type out loud what I was thinking? :scratch: :duh:
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Pez, next year we are gonna have to work on getting you to actually type out on the forum half the sh!t you say to me in the halls between rooms :P
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I'm pretty sure I would start contradicting myself inside of 5 minutes. :wink:
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Again, fellas, a big thank you for all the great coverage! I can tell it's hard work to hit as many rooms as you guys do and take pics and write commentary. No small feat and we know it. :thumb: :notworthy:
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Standub- Those Sonus Faber's LOOK too far apart to me and too close to side walls by a long shot. Shoulda just grouped seating tighter.
Both times I was in the room, the other system with the B&W's sounded better, IMO. Part of it was probably the SimAudio amp, but I also think the setup was better there. The speakers were closer together, and they were probably fortuitously better placed for the room acoustics. And I'm not a B&W fan (especially not compared to Sonus Faber)
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Again thanks for the photos. I'm very surprised the Analysis room did not get more comments. Same for Soundfield speakers room.
charles
SMA
I was disappointed by the Analysis room. Very small sweet spot, and even there it didn't sound as good as I thought it should. If they were $10k/pr, maybe, but they weren't close sonically to Sanders, for example.
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That was part of my point, fewer rooms with CD players. I'm not sure it's the death of CD in high end, but the CD is certainly taking a back seat to computer audio. Last year we did a comparison in Lou Hinkley's Daedalus room between a CD on the AMR 77 CD player (a great CD player) and 24/96 hi rez from his Mac Mini and the computer sounded better.
A total computer DUMDUM like yours truly has to stay with CD's. Anytime I try to get into computer audio technical stuff I screw things up BAD!!! Oh Well!! That's Life.
Cheers
Charlie
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(http://www.wghwoodworking.net/RMAF2011/speaker_1.jpg)
I cannot remember this brand of speaker?
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I cannot remember this brand of speaker?
Evolution acoustics, speaker looked great, drivers looked like they cost about $5.
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Pez, next year we are gonna have to work on getting you to actually type out on the forum half the sh!t you say to me in the halls between rooms :P
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
Great job like always...thanks for the coverage. Always nice to see you guys...
Alex
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Evolution acoustics, speaker looked great, drivers looked like they cost about $5.
Thanks.
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Evolution acoustics, speaker looked great, drivers looked like they cost about $5.
I hope that you just left some zeros off after the $5. :lol:
Those aren't cheap drivers. Here is what they are:
Tweeter: 2” Pleated Diaphragm Air Velocity PDAV
Woofers: 4” Ceramic Matrix Mid Bass CMAT
Not sure who makes the drivers for this model. For other models in the Evolution Acoustics lineup, the drivers are made by Acuton.
George
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Thanks, Jorge. That needed a follow-up.
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I hope that you just left some zeros off after the $5. :lol:
Those aren't cheap drivers. Here is what they are:
Tweeter: 2” Pleated Diaphragm Air Velocity PDAV
Woofers: 4” Ceramic Matrix Mid Bass CMAT
Not sure who makes the drivers for this model. For other models in the Evolution Acoustics lineup, the drivers are made by Acuton.
George
The tweet looks a hell of a lot like the tweeter ML uses on the stuff they sell at Best Buy, and the ceramic woofers were moving quite a bit for not playing loud.
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I hope that you just left some zeros off after the $5. :lol:
Those aren't cheap drivers. Here is what they are:
Tweeter: 2” Pleated Diaphragm Air Velocity PDAV
Woofers: 4” Ceramic Matrix Mid Bass CMAT
Not sure who makes the drivers for this model. For other models in the Evolution Acoustics lineup, the drivers are made by Acuton.
George
It's a $50 Air Motion Transformer tweeter, and a woofer that could easily be had for $30. Neither has anything to do with Accuton. Having seen the woofer out of the cabinet, I'm 95% sure I know who makes it ... but not going to say unless 100%.
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Regardless of driver cost, those little Evolutions were the best small speaker that I heard at the show. Amazing clarity.
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Regardless of driver cost, those little Evolutions were the best small speaker that I heard at the show. Amazing clarity.
End result is all that matters ...
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End result is all that matters ...
:thumb:
I've heard some really great loudspeakers that used inexpensive drivers.
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Hi Charles,
Well, there's this company called FedEx... :cuss:
Let's see, lost original shipment, "forgot" one speaker on the truck in the backup Fri morning shipment, etc., etc, etc.
It was only by going down to the FedEx hub on Fri 5pm and appearing ready to go postal, that I finally retrieved the 2nd speaker (when the knucklehead driver returned @ 5:45).
Sooo....Friday was a complete bust. I was only able to display Saturday. Bunch of folks passed thru. Packed up and left early Sunday. Ah well. lesson learned. As Danny Ritchie sez, drive, never ship!
You trust Paul Mah's ears? :wink:
cheers,
AJ
AJ, it was worth it, though. Your room sounded great. Just a notebook source, the amp, the speakers and the music! Ahh, the music. I loved the Arturo Sandoval that you played for me.
The Soundfields are incredibly room friendly. Nice balance and extension even without any room treatment. Very nice sound.
Great to finally meet you, too :thumb:
Dave
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Since so few people were around to see and hear the KR amps in our system, I thought I would post some proof that the event actually took place :thumb:
Sorry about the picture quality, these are cell phone photos
(http://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=52645)
(http://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=52646)
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Obviously Photoshop. :lol:
If a tree falls in the forest..... :scratch:
Since so few people were around to see and hear the KR amps in our system, I thought I would post some proof that the event actually took place :thumb:
Sorry about the picture quality, these are cell phone photos
(http://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=52645)
(http://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=52646)
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Obviously Photoshop.
Do you think if I were to photoshop them I would make them so small :lol: The KR1610 tube is basically two 300B elements in a single envelope. These pictures are straight from my phone.
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Do you think if I were to photoshop them I would make them so small :lol: The KR1610 tube is basically two 300B elements in a single envelope. These pictures are straight from my phone.
(http://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=52649)
Just to imagine the size Don.
Cheers,
Cor
(working with KR tubes and -amplifiers for more than 15 years now)
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I have heard the Krons every year at the show. This was the first year they didn't impress me in the one system I heard them in. The Zu audio system.
I wish I could have heard these on the VSA speakers! :duh:
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I have heard the Krons every year at the show. This was the first year they didn't impress me in the one system I heard them in. The Zu audio system.
I wish I could have heard these on the VSA speakers! :duh:
I can imagine Pez, just wait a few month. They will be in Vegas connected to VSA again.
Cor
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Nothing against Zu but many mentioned the same thing saying they really didn't put much effort into the room. Zu makes a great speaker as I have heard from a few of our customers.
I can imagine Pez, just wait a few month. They will be in Vegas connected to VSA again.
Hey Pez, if you are going to CES, you will be able to hear what we did late Saturday night at RMAF as it will be Purity Audio Design - KR Audio - Von Schweikert - Onda Cables showing at CES this year.
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Regardless of driver cost, those little Evolutions were the best small speaker that I heard at the show. Amazing clarity.
Don't get me wrong about the cheap driver shot, they did sound good. However I would be very worried about trying to play them any louder. For a small room they would be fine.
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Don't get me wrong about the cheap driver shot, they did sound good. However I would be very worried about trying to play them any louder. For a small room they would be fine.
why would you worry about playing them loud in anything other than a small room? they are rated at 35hz-30khz +/-3db (in-room), 87db/1w, 6 ohms +/-2 ohms, 250wrms power handling capability... seems they will do >100db w/o breaking a sweat...
doug s.
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why would you worry about playing them loud in anything other than a small room? they are rated at 35hz-30khz +/-3db (in-room), 87db/1w, 6 ohms +/-2 ohms, 250wrms power handling capability... seems they will do >100db w/o breaking a sweat...
doug s.
Since distortion increases with exertion of a driver. I was in there listening at what couldn't have been more than 90db at peak and the drivers where MOVING. The 250 maybe a thermal limit but I would guess that a Le(x) would not be kind to these.
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Ceedee,
Thanks for the perspective. OMG, I would need to get my muscle-bound, heavy-equipment mechanic neighbor to help me install those. :weights: I just thought Bill got a little carried away with the low angle shot. You know, they are kind of phallic. :jester:
Definitely added to my CES "must hear" list which is getting way too long for the three days I have alloted myself. Thanks to everyone for the great show coverage. That has made my CES "to do" list grow considerably.
(http://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=52649)
Just to imagine the size Don.
Cheers,
Cor
(working with KR tubes and -amplifiers for more than 15 years now)
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AJ, it was worth it, though. Your room sounded great. Just a notebook source, the amp, the speakers and the music! Ahh, the music. I loved the Arturo Sandoval that you played for me.
The Soundfields are incredibly room friendly. Nice balance and extension even without any room treatment. Very nice sound.
Great to finally meet you, too :thumb:
Dave
Thanks Dave, that's my philosophy, keep it simple...and enjoy the music.
It would have been fun to hear Arturo in your room (which I still thought sounded perfectly balanced even without the "wall"). Make sure Danny adds some to the HD.
Hope you and Danny had a smoother ride back! :wink:
cheers,
AJ
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Thanks Dave, that's my philosophy, keep it simple...and enjoy the music.
It would have been fun to hear Arturo in your room (which I still thought sounded perfectly balanced even without the "wall"). Make sure Danny adds some to the HD.
Hope you and Danny had a smoother ride back! :wink:
cheers,
AJ
AJ, after all of these years, I finally get it. It is all about the music. Where we differ is I want to get "ALL" of the music. That is the OCD audio guy in me. All of the time we were arguing a different side of the same issue. It was good to finally meet you and begin to understand our differences. We have very few, my friend.
Yep, we cruised home on Monday and I took a whole day off yesterday. I feel like a new, still tired, man :lol:
Check your PM.
My best,
Dave
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Brinkman, vivid audio, luxman
(http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/dd370/pezacolypse/75d298c5.jpg)
(http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/dd370/pezacolypse/30b95a0b.jpg)
(http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/dd370/pezacolypse/f015a80a.jpg)
This room sounds very nice indeed. The imaging and soundstaging is tremendous and the scale is deceptively big! These speakers don't seem like they should be able to be this visceral, yet they can sound as big as the Kimber room with the Sonys.
Mike Garner clearly took some time setting this up. Phenomenal.
Tyson - Jason liked this room more than I did; I thought it was good, but not great. Clean, neutral balance, very clear, very clean, nice dynamics and good bass, but just did not grab me emotionally.
Just for some context, I thought the Luxman Towers sounded terrible last year, so clearly a step up this year.
And a shout out to Mike Garner who took the time to shoot the breeze with us re: audio stuff.
and in the interest of informational completeness (and self promotion), the electronics were fed through a Bybee Wire power conditioner and all cabling and cordage were Kaplan Cable.
FWIW,
Paul
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:duh: :duh: :duh: :duh:
It's too easy to forget things like that at these shows. Sorry Paul. Hey, at least I shared some hot wings with you. :thumb:
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and in the interest of informational completeness (and self promotion), the electronics were fed through a Bybee Wire power conditioner and all cabling and cordage were Kaplan Cable.
FWIW,
Paul
Paul you did great. This system was easily in my top 5. I went back every day though hoping the system would fall flat. As good as the sound was, I just cannot get past the looks of those speakers.