[nature boy]

Ok you slacking AC members out in lovely sin city - how about some reports and pictures.

Yeah, I know there are reports at Audio Asylum, Soundstage, etc. , etc.  - I like our ears and eyes better.

NB

[lonewolfny42]

Ok you slacking AC members out in lovely sin city - how about some reports and pictures.

Yeah, I know there are reports at Audio Asylum, Soundstage, etc. , etc.  - I like our ears and eyes better.

NB

Well I know that PhilNYC is out there with Blue Circle. I'm sure he will post some reports about the "Show". Heard they had some snow there....now that's different.

[shokunin]

Well I know that PhilNYC is out there with Blue Circle. I'm sure he will post some reports about the "Show". Heard they had some snow there....now that's different.

Some SNOW?  More like a blizzard, well not that bad, it snowed less than an hour out of los angeles, at around 2000 ft elevation it started snowing     I was driving my way towards vegas down Prim Pass and at one point I realized that the road was turning all white and icey and the moment i barely tapped the brake the abs system kicked in.  The Z-rated tires on my Volvo aren't made for snow.. snow? ice? isn't that what we eat in the summer, snow cones and ice cream??  Well the road was gonna eat my car.  It probably took me about 600-1000 feet to stop from 40.  I held my foot on the brake and the abs was stuttering, but my car just slid, slide, albeit in a nice straight line.  Thank goodness no one was in front of me as the cars behind me all of sudden spun around around and a mercedes sedan got scrunched by an SUV.  An LA idiot in a Audio Quattro thought he was all bad with his AWD until he tried to Stop . Oops, he went over the center embarkment.  I don't think his car was too badly damaged as he eventually was able to drive off safely.    Eventually Caltrans came out with snow plows, but my goodness, this was definitely a bad bad day to drive from LA to vegas.

I was "just" gonna make it a day trip, but knowing how bad the weather was, I got 50 miles to vegas and decided to turn around as I was NOT gonna go through Prim Pass and El Cajon Pass at night in this weather.   I did not have chains with me so I'm actually glad that I turned around when I did...  it was only 9-9:30 am at that point.  

I think I'll pass on CES and THE show this year...

And to think my buddy wanted to go backpacking on Mt San Jacinto this weekend, which is at 10,000 ft.   What was he thinking...

[djbnh]

Link to some early but very thin CES 2005 reporting re: EnjoyTheMusic.com.

[Carlman]

I thought this was an interesting report from CES (although not directly audio-related):
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=581&e=3&u=/nm/20050107/tc_nm/tech_show_dc
This pretty much sums things up:

"The Gates presentation underscored one of the biggest issues confronting gadget makers at the Consumer Electronics Show: The many devices on display from 2,400 vendors work great, except when they have to work together. "

[TheChairGuy]

Yep, came back after a day (Friday) in Vegas. AM was CES; PM was THE Show.

I met so many folks there:

Empirical Audio / Steve - (we met last year and I was impressed enough to part with $2000 in upgrades with him the past year - if anybody knows me, thay know how impressed I musta' been   ).

He played ripped sounds thru a Toshiba Qosmio laptop and his Offramp USB interface/clock into modified Perp Tech.  A winning combo.  I'm not gonna' take all that time to rip my CD's, and I love my remote (and sound) on the Sony DVP-S7700.  Maybe I'll upgrade to SuperClock 2 and be merry this year   (I already have the Jensen and Turbomods)

For you more technically savvy (mostly younger) computer heads, this is a most attractive form of playback.  If you already use your PC / Mac / laptop for much of your entertainment needs, this dovetails nicely.

Hyperion Sound - A most enveloping and full range speaker is the HPS-938. Lots of value here similar to RM40 money.  Another big speaker with lots of clean output...it's all a matter of nuance in what you prefer.  The magnetic footers they have for $99/set 4 is very interesting (and patented) and they are now selling some cool-to-the-touch 30 watt Class A monoblocks that their guts suspended from the top cover inside!  Someone is really innovating there...and sell only consumers.

They also told me they inked a deal to distrbute the belt driven CEC tranports in from Japan (Parasound last did a few years ago).  They have a transport and DAC in one for $2000!  Pretty nifty.

ZCable / CryoTweaks / BPT - A lot of time spent here.  Bone stock $750 Sony digital receiver powering thigs and sounded wonderful.  Key was extreeeeme attention paid to clean power.  Good sond now need not be too bulky, energy inefficient or expensive to purchase with the advent of digital amplification.  I am a real believer after this one.

VMPS - With John Casler as host I tasted the trinaural process or RM40's from Jame B. (of SAE and Ampzilla fame).  It was like a pair of headphones, folks!  It's not my kind of listening, but it sure was a different perspective on things.  James B. was suffering mightily with a cold so I didn't get a taste of his irreverant style he is known for.  Too bad, it was dreary rainy day, I would've loved James strutting his stuff to the max!

Omega- Dmason said I should be there and, boy, was I glad I did.  There is a lot of fine value Louis is offering there.  He's also a real gentlemen that Louis - we yapped for an hour listeing to winning tuneage. It was more appealling then 80% of the stuff I heard at overall component pricing that was near the bottom of what I heard at the shows. $550 4.5" speakers were fast and very coherent and musical (I don't often use that word as I don't think I hear it much or know what it is, but it is apt here).  I now know why there are real happy Omegas customers, and why in general, there are single driver SET groupies out there.

Vinnie Rossi was to have stopped by later with his Clari-T tripath battery powered amps for a demo...but I had to scoot.  THAT would've been a most interesting session.

And, Mr. Chocos is a fellow Greek!  All in all a great stopover.

TTTTTThat's all for now, folks

[Vinnie R.]

Vinnie Rossi was to have stopped by later with his Clari-T tripath battery powered amps for a demo...but I had to scoot. THAT would've been a most interesting session.
..

TCG,

I wish I was able to go to the CES show this year.  Mabye I'll be able to make it to Montreal this year.  I still need to visit Louis soon to listen to his Omegas with the Clari-T-Amp.  We spoke about this last year (I think in November), but we were both very busy.  I'm going to call him again soon to make it happen.  I can't wait to hear his low-cost, high-performance. high-efficiency speakers!    They should be a great match for the Clari-T-Amp.  

Regards,

Vinnie

[Chris_B]

Has anyone seen Dan Wright's linestage yet?

[TheChairGuy]

Has anyone seen Dan Wright's linestage yet?

Yep, I spent significant time in that room.  It looked handsome.  The music was on low and I was doing, and listening to too much talking, to evaluate it any.  It was paired with the new $1600 pair CIA 'digital' monoblocks.

Dan was playing the newly modded Denon 3910 and toldme it showed much promise.  This from a guy that really loves, and got high critical acclaim, on Sony 999 mods the past couple years.  Something to look for news about in the future.

I've gotten to know Brad Vojtech of Revelation Audio Labs over the past year and I was yapping most about him, his philosophy (on many matters), etc.  He shared the (too small for 3 manufacturers & bodies) room with Dan W. and Dusty this year.

Among AC'ers...I also saw Alex of APL.  We chatted in the hallway, but I had no time to hear his offering(s) there.  I wish I had as he's a local guy.

Hell, it's coming back to me now....I napped for an hour this afternoon  

[TheChairGuy]

Hey Vinnie,

I either misunderstood Louis....or he misunderstood you....somebody or another thought you were attending.  Oils Wells.....for the future at least.

[TheChairGuy]

Some more updates as I sleep off the CES / THE Show Experience....

It was 39F there, snow and rain - absolutely miserable conditions to walk around to various buildings to hear audio.  The CES Show was worse as none of the buildings were physically linked...meaning you were in and out of the cold rain all day.  I realize I've becomea bit of a puss living in CA now, but it was still cold as nobody dressed appropriately...I mean, it's the damn desert!  Anyhow....

Quad- I own the great little 11L's from them, so I wanted to meet those folks.  Tho Chinese owned now, they were mostly Brits there representing Quad (poor guys really didn't dress right - they figured they were going for a vacation out of cold, dreary UK and into the desert sun   ).

They didn't play any of the box speakers, but I got to hear the 989's for the first time.  I think these are over $11G's, so they outta' be good...and they were.  The midrange is about as good as I think you can get - I was really impressed.  They didn't play 'em loud, but it just reeked of good, effortless sound.  The reps told me they variously played the 'box' line the day befoer from time to time, but had to keep running back to the 989's to play - the disparity was too great to bear.  I had to agree as I own, and like, the awad winning 11L.

Truly, great stuff - powered by not-too-expensive current dumping solid state stuff from Quad.

They are also bringing back the Audiolab name with a line of $600 (I think I remember right) 60w integrated, and separate preamp and (100w) amp.  Clean, uncluttered look and wattage figures pretty much of the same named, famous 800 series of old.  They are still calling it 8000 series, too.
Seems to me they will have much more competition now than 20 yrs ago for a 60w / $600 integrated (without phono now, too).

thiphi - A young entrepeneur had some speakers that were buried in PVC piping and had some computer speakers and some band pass subs.  All of the little speakers imaged like crazy and integrated well with the strong bandpass subs.

Tyler - One of the most ernest, harworking and honest guys I met at the show - Ty Lashbrook.  He had some 250 lbs each, $10k per pr. beauties playing - for cones, I'm not sure you can ring out any more resolution than on these (SEAS Excel equipped).  Good value....sold only consumer direct.

He was playing them on Jolida Envoy (top-of-the-line) system.  I was impressed with looks, and unusually impressed with the sound, for tube-based amplification.  Jolida pays particular attention to power supplies, I am told, and it makes a nice bridge between the grace and beauty of tubes and punch of solid state.

Magnepan - Played in a waaay too small room, were the Maggie 3.6's and center and surrounds in 5.0 configuration.  No subwoofer - absolutely none needed.  The room was way to small, despite all the absorption materials in there, myself and the other two in the demo area left slack jawed.

Merlin Music - Owner Bobby P was a good host.  He really loves music and has built a good following.  This was one fine two way....but the price was dear on the one I was hearing at $6K+ (I think I remember right)

I planned, and saw, a lot of speaker manufacturers as I've been pretty happy with my source and amplification parts to my system.

Having now lived with Maggies for a few months, I (pretty much the first time) noticed 'box' sounds in most systems.  There is much to like in music without the box.  I like the planar/electrostatic dipole radiation pattern a lot - I know it's not everybodies cup-o-tea.  

I saw and heard mostly tube amplification - which didn't thrill my senses as most SS does.  And, despite all the talk of 'digital' amplification, I saw little evidence of it at the shows. I'm not sure what I hear and others do not in digital amplification, but to each their own I guess.

So, I'm pretty happy right now with things.  All in all, it was nice to have seen and met some new folks, reacquainted with old and I got to see an old High School buddy for dinner.

Ta-ta   ...anybody else gonna' chime in that was there?

[lonewolfny42]

Link for Stereophile Show coverage (News Desk)...... http://www.stereophile.com/

[PhilNYC]

Hey folks...just uploaded some pics from the show.  Note that I was only there for 2 days and was super busy with meetings, so I didn't get nearly as many shots as I did last year.

http://www.audiocircle.com/circles/modules.php?set_albumName=albur49&op=modload&name=gallery&file=index&include=view_album.php

Some notes:

- My "Best of Show" room was the Rockport Technologies/Jeff Rowland Design Group room, where they were demoing the Rockport Antares along with the Rowland 501 monoblocks.  Having heard the 501's many times, I would have to put the "special" in this room on the Rockports.  It has been a while since I've been "wow'd" like this at a show.

- Yes, it SNOWED.  Lots of traffic because no one in Las Vegas knows how to drive on wet or icy roads.  The weather seemed to have a big effect on the foot-traffic at Alexis Park (a semi-outdoor venue), because there did seem to be much fewer people here (as opposed to the main convention hall, which was packed silly).

-Met up with Mad Dog and his lovely wife...she appears to be into this stuff too!  Lucky man...and very friendly guy!  Nice meetin' ya, MD!

- Steve at Empirical had a great show...was very impressed with his PC-based setup!  His work is only matched by his enthusiasm.  Steve...what was the drum track that you used?  I need to try it on my system now.

Anyways, I'm still wiped out from the weekend...enjoy the pics!

[mcgsxr]

Phil, nice shots, some really nice looking gear there.  Love those Focus speakers, especially those cute little ones, I have heard those near where they are made (Markham, ON) and am in love!

Umm, what planet is that Basis turntable from...?

[PhilNYC]

Mark,

Actually, the little Focus speakers in the picture (the FS68SE) is an updated version of the original FS68 (not to be confused with the signature FS688), and CES was their debut.  Both the 68SE and 78SE now feature all the same internal wiring and design of the 688 and 788 (updated from the original design), with the primary difference being the use of slightly less sophisticated drivers.  And the best part...they are about 35% less expensive than the 688 (~$2000) and 788 (~$3300)...all part of a 10th Anniversary celebration by Focus...

(And coincidentally, the Basis room was right next to the Focus room where the big FM3's were playing...Focus received a number of "can you turn the volume down" requests... )

[Marbles]

Phil, did Steve do an A/B between his computer as source and his modded S7700 as source?  If so, what were your thoughts on the differences?

[Jose Garcia]

Hi guys!!

Nice pictures, thanks Phil.

Did you have an opportunity to check Dan Wright's system? Any impressions on his pre and modified players?

Jose.

PS. Our PR Rave never came up. It is hard to gather people around in PR at Christmas time...to many parties!!!

[jgubman]

My vote for "Most Ridiculous Thing I've Seen Yet at a Audio Show" ^TM goes to Cabasse who was demoing some weird minature eyeball-looking satellites paired with the largest subwoofer I've ever seen. They were playing gangster rap with the Sub's gain turned up about 20dbs higher than the satellites.

This photo doesn't do it justice:

[PhilNYC]

Marbles...I only heard an A/B between the EA S7700 and the PC on a percussion track.  Will say that I could not discern any difference!  But as you know, listening conditions at these shows is often not really great for critical listening, and Steve's room was very small, so it is hard to conclude whether it would keep pace in a more ideal setting.  

Jose...I did not hear the Dan Wright stuff.  Sorry!  

jgubman...more ridiculous than this?

[Marbles]

Thanks Phil......and those speakers are the tits!!!!