Show coverage day 3

Pez · « **on:** 4 Oct 2011, 03:58 am »

Coming soon.

Pez · « **Reply #1 on:** 16 Oct 2011, 04:17 pm »

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....

Charles Xavier · « **Reply #2 on:** 16 Oct 2011, 04:18 pm »

Quote from: Pez on 16 Oct 2011, 04:17 pm

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.

doug s. · « **Reply #3 on:** 16 Oct 2011, 04:27 pm »

Quote from: Charles Xavier on 16 Oct 2011, 04:18 pm

Thats it , your fired.

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.

doug s.

DEV · « **Reply #4 on:** 16 Oct 2011, 04:31 pm »

Quote from: Pez on 4 Oct 2011, 03:58 am

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

DEV · « **Reply #5 on:** 16 Oct 2011, 04:36 pm »

Quote from: doug s. on 16 Oct 2011, 04:27 pm

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.

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.

orthobiz · « **Reply #6 on:** 16 Oct 2011, 04:44 pm »

Anybody post on the Sound Smith Cartright? If so, I missed it...

Paul

Pez · « **Reply #7 on:** 16 Oct 2011, 05:37 pm »

Kimber pass labs and emm labs

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

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.

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.

Pez · « **Reply #8 on:** 16 Oct 2011, 05:49 pm »

Sumiko wadia

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.

ckimmelshue · « **Reply #9 on:** 16 Oct 2011, 05:52 pm »

Awesome coverage!

I'll put in my request for the Totem room. I'm seriously interested in the new Element series.

Pez · « **Reply #10 on:** 16 Oct 2011, 05:58 pm »

Nordost

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.

Pez · « **Reply #11 on:** 16 Oct 2011, 06:05 pm »

Brinkman, vivid audio, luxman

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.

Pez · « **Reply #12 on:** 16 Oct 2011, 06:16 pm »

Focal, Apex

For scale I out the iPad next to the enormous amps!!

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.

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.

Pez · « **Reply #13 on:** 16 Oct 2011, 06:28 pm »

Musical surround , aesthetix, clearaudio

This room was unlistenable.

Tyson - I don't even remember going into this room.

Pez · « **Reply #14 on:** 16 Oct 2011, 06:40 pm »

Peachtree

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.

Pez · « **Reply #15 on:** 16 Oct 2011, 07:11 pm »

Soundstring Nola

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.

Pez · « **Reply #16 on:** 16 Oct 2011, 07:23 pm »

Merlin

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.

Pez · « **Reply #17 on:** 16 Oct 2011, 07:25 pm »

Vansersteen

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.

Pez · « **Reply #18 on:** 16 Oct 2011, 07:32 pm »

Magico

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....

Pez · « **Reply #19 on:** 16 Oct 2011, 07:49 pm »

Nola

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!!!