So this was my first time at Axpona. This won't be a short post, I'm going to say a fair amount, including some mini reviews.
Overview:I arrived Thursday night. I road the shuttle to the airport, Lou from Daedalus was on it as well (wasn't sure it was him at the time). Being tired from flying and then running around using Uber taxi (also a first time thing) to hit up a few grocery stores to get some supplies for the days so I wouldn't have to run off to a restaurant every-time I wanted real food, I was pretty tired and went to bed early.
If you're staying at the hotel I highly suggest grabbing some food to have at the hotel. Even if you're there all three days like I was, you're very limited on time to spend paying attention to everything. And that is even walking out on many rooms that are simply just to painful to be in.
My big hopes were to learn about what gear sounds good that I've never heard, which would be the majority of it there. Honestly I thought I'd get exposed to a lot of very impressive sound, and some 'meh' stuff. Well, I was wrong.
Overall nearly all of it sounded bad; mostly real bad. It was such a huge eye opener to find out why people like certain gear, and how the gear is designed to sound. I'll go over more of that in a minute. It seemed like there was a competition between the large expensive setups with who could lay down the hardest drum beats to send people running from the rooms on the lower and main level, as a preview of what the show was like.
I'm going to contact Axpona people to talk a little bit about VIP passes. They are worth it if you get them early. If you don't have a hotel room the VIP room might be useful if there's literally no where else to sit but otherwise it didn't have windows and was sort of small with some simple tables and chairs. The wine and cheese night was about the only excuse to use it. As far as the semi private sessions for listening went they were really useful if they went well; and by that I mean it's important for the manufacturers to take them seriously; which wasn't always the case. But I think that's Axpona's fault, as I didn't get the impression manufacturers really knew the whole deal. Also your semi private events where back to back within 0 minutes so it wasn't exactly possible to make it to both for a good 30 minutes. The reason that's fairly important is because if there's two, maybe three, VIP's you want a chance for everyone to get in two test tracks ideally, while playing with volume etc.
The dichotomy of sound: Macro Expensive & Not:Something became very clear listening to basically all of the big to mega buck systems. They basically have no interest in authenticity to the recording.
That's right, you can't hear anything that indicates a recording process really at all. It doesn't matter what is being played. There's no reason to call them refined at all. My first thought is man... they're terrible. But clearly some people like them. They offer something very different. In general they make about everything you play on them sound somewhat like a live performance instead of a recording. Clearly that's what a lot of people like, or at least the sensation is alluring enough to captivate a lot of people. It's my new term, macro, to describe things that have this intention.
And for these macro setups anything that isn't largely a somewhat hot recording won't sound too good. Classical does ok. But for example in one that will remain nameless I had a file uploaded from my USB drive and people literally left the room and would come in and leave immediately. It sounded awful. It's a pretty good recording that I'm use to sounding beautiful. Guess what it was? Sufjan Stevens - Chicago, from the Illinois album. It's not a friendly song for stereos, that's a reason I use it. But it's delicate and gorgeous on a good stereo. Right about now you should be thinking, what's a good stereo if hundreds of thousands of dollars won't do it justice? Good question... That's why I'm using this macro definition that's more of an insult to what I consider good.
Now I want to make it clear that it's possible that in a different setting I may not have come to this conclusion of the dichotomy because it would be hard to conclude not because I think it would be untrue.
The Good and The Bad: some reviews. I'm leaving many rooms out because they are not that interesting to talk about; and they were probably not good if I left them out. I did miss a couple of rooms (very few).
ATC: I couldn't even stay in the room it was so harsh on the ears. Sad, I've always wanted to hear the speakers. People say they're very linear so that made me want to hear them.
Audio Alchemy & Endeavour : This was one of the best rooms at the show by far. With less money than the price of the speakers in the Thrax room, they were giving very close to performance that might have just been the difference in source for the most part. I think the depth was less but that might have been because the speakers were rather near the wall. Plus the electronics likely were not quiet as nice given some inherent limitations to small and affordable. However congratulations to Peter for such a cohesive budget system that really has the brawn of drive to actually get some solidity to the image. The speakers sound with bass is superb. Lief was there to talk with about them. He explained why they don't sound like your average ported speaker and he sure was right. They may not be super complicated speakers, appearing fairly normal, but their performance cannot be dismissed. It's no wonder why Albert swooped him up before anyone even knew about him!
Would I own the system personally? No. The speakers yes, but the electronics are a bit of personal taste. While they've got really good drive and less grain than almost every classD item at the show, they don't have timbre and the vibrato-tremelo I was looking for the whole show. It was better than just about every other room however, still. For someone that isn't in a position to make their own stuff, if their focus is on solidity, sound stage, and some authenticity of linearity then the Audio Alchemy is a little system that isn't touchable by much of anything in the low price range. However like I said it's personal taste because you can buy other types of sound for the same money.
Overall I'm so glad I checked it out, and I thought Lief was a great forum member to meet, and great asset to VSA.
Audio By Van Alstine: This was a Salk room as well.
My apologies for not introducing myself, but the music was loud so Frank couldn't really hear me talking, and I didn't know other members were present. Wayner is the only person that has a pic up on the forum, and I didn't see him.
Frank was nice enough to play a test track for me. The Super Songtowers were playing. The sound was near what I'd want, but not quite there. I firmly believe with some power conditioning it would've been good sound. The speakers sounded pretty capable, but overall it was a little thin and fatiguing in the room. The thing was I could hear a fair amount of what I'd want to hear trying to come through, but not quite making it. Frank will tell you power conditioning is BS, but particularly in this setting I believe it would have made the room comparable to some other notable good rooms.
Audio Kinesis: Duke's speakers and lots of Atma-Sphere gear.
I asked Duke to play a track from Karl Jenkin's version of Stabat Mater. (track 9). It filled the room. The swarm bass creates such an amazing immersion into any sort of chamber, organ, orchestral, etc, type music that's pretty damn awesome. On another day I even stopped by to hear something else and Brian described a track as having bass that comes up from the earth, and he was so right! Another wonderful display of the swarms ability to remove the silly notion of being able to describe bass from different speakers, orientation, whatever.. it just... is.
It was rather clear that Duke's design goals with the speakers were met. There was zero room treatment, and even less of a reason to have it in the room due to his intelligent design that eliminates early first reflection and over-dispersal of highs. Despite having a compression driver I didn't find the sound to be overwhelming from the tweeter at all. In fact my biggest critique of the room that I believe was the number one reason why anyone came in and went out pretty quickly was that there wasn't enough treble! Later I asked Duke about the resistors across binding posts on the back and he explained they allow some tuning, and he had tuned down the tweeter because he likes it that way.... I highly suggest not doing that for the next show. Throw it into the advertising pitch as a possibility.
Sadly while they said it would be fun to throw my amp into the system, it didn't materialize because it was the first day and everyone was tired (I was tired, but I'll overcome it to get exposure to another system with my amp). Perhaps another time, I think it could be a blast to hear what his speakers could do with it.
Blue Circle Audio: I've known about them for awhile, and I happen to know some problems they have with products. But at the market place they blew some serious smoke up someone's ass... someone I know, who is super smart with electronics. His only comment was, "I can't believe they can sell any of those things."
Border Patrol/Volti:
I didn't stick around here too long. The bass was some kind of super abnormally awkward plywood sheets slapping on the floor sound. Overall there wasn't really any redeeming point of interest. It wasn't a macro system, and wasn't refined. The only reason I'm mentioning it, is to contrast the other Volti room that was good.
Odyssey:
One of the best rooms. It was somewhat the opposite of the Audio Alchemy/Endeavour room. Klaus's stuff did better on vibrato/tremelo and timbre than nearly all the show. But it didn't have the solidity and drive. It was very low fatigue level. In fact it was one of the easiest rooms to listen to period. Klaus likes to tout how amazing his prices happen to be. Well, I've got to agree that for the price you can get a very enjoyable system to listen to, and without fatigue. You just get to enjoy the music! For a comparison another easy to listen to room was MSB, where even a cord might cost more than Klaus's entire system.
It isn't a linear system but it's not wildly off, it's no macro system. There is a little bit of refinement. I'd of course like it if you could get some drive, body, and solidity into it. However if you do that I can only see the price tag achieving those big numbers that so many people can't deal with. That sad he should probably raise his prices anyway; hint, they'd still be affordable. His whole system was under $10k and it was the most expensive he's ever brought to a show. He kills it for a tight budget.
MSB Technology:
Another top of the show. I guess I'm a fan of their DAC's now. However I think the amps have a little bit to be desire still, given that I think they're slightly weak handed. The thing was this room wasn't fatiguing, offered some decent refinement, imagining, medium solidity, decent vibrato/tremalo, etc... it was rather well rounded and livable. I'd probably change amps, but overall it might be the best room given total performance. What I think is crazy is the assumption it takes the money that was in the room to pull off the sound... it doesn't. But that's a long story and might involve DIY.
ENIGMAcoustics:
Clearly they're rather good speakers, maybe very good. The bass might have been a touch more than real (I think Srajan had the same thought). Do those things on top do much? Couldn't tell you. The enormous flat speaker wires made the monitors look like they grew dreadlocks. There was (another, oh god...) a drum track playing and it was too loud to stay for long. I don't even know what electronics were in the room. Fatigue factor despite volume wasn't high, however.
Meniscus:
Worst of entire show? Probably. GOOD LORD it hurt my ears in there. And it wasn't even loud. It's really too bad because I wanted to hear a Jeff Bagby design they had. Guys, really, get some not total shit electronics for the next show if you want to sell speakers.
MadiSound:
Very nice guys to talk to. They even had a little after hours type thing. Sadly they brought Linkwtiz speakers I don't give two nickles about. Sure they're good for little things that cost nothing but you have to bi-amp, and the miniDSP just isn't that great. In order to really make them good you'll dump too much money in and then hit the limitations of the super inefficient low power handling smaller driver. I'm sure they're someone's cup of tea because they do a list of impressive things for very little if you're miniDSP willing and buy rather cheap amps from china, in technical manners, but they don't have what I need to keep me listening.
Spatial/Anti-Cables/Red Dragon:
Another budget performance. They aren't as easy going as Klaus's setup, or as refined, but they were a surprise. The speakers are fairly revealing, fairly linear, and fairly friendly. Priced very low. The Red Dragon, with a bad name and image, uses the Pascal module. It's pretty cheap compared to other classD using a big dog module. And it's a bit smoother than other classD around at the show. I can see why it's a favorite of a number of people, over say ICE and Hypex; whom both didn't sound as smooth in any of the systems. Way tighter budget than even Klaus can do you? Consider this combo if you have the requirement of some easy listening and want to start out with a decently rounded setup.
Triode/Volti/LIO:
I already gave a larger review over in Pete's thread. Overall one of the top performance at the show. No fatigue, transparent volume device, nice imaging, etc. And Pete was a real nice guy who saw my CD and asked if I wanted to hear it.
Daedalus:
Lou was down in the market place with his new isolation feet, the DiD's. He gave me a demo by taking them out from underneath a DAC and headphone amp, and putting them back in. It was abundantly clear they changed the sound. Lou isn't blowing smoke when he says it. I'm so glad he gave me the demonstration. It's funny because I actually noticed DiD's all over the show. The systems with them did lean towards a bit more refinement.
Sadly I'm not a headphones guy. They increased clarity so much on the higher registers that I could hear so much more information that was useless while wearing headphones... all that information is ques for imaging and such on a normal stereo but there is no such thing with headphones! The voices and other parts of the demo songs he played were however improved an obvious noticeable amount. The Modwright gear I was not a fan of however. It might have been a refreshing amount linearity, but it wasn't easy to listen to. Very dry, low body, tone was thin. Maybe it was just the headphone amp, I don't know. The real performers were the DiDs. Thanks to Lou for that, he's making the right choice to try and get the word out about them.
Shunyata/Exemplar :
Shunyata had their new mid-budget power conditioner along with some large single driver speaker in a room. It was medium quality overall sound. For the show it was a better room than most, but not in the top. Still we're talking better than a majority. Frankly the conditioner just wasn't enough. The speakers however seemed like they had some potential. They're the size of a fridge from the 60's however. It was refreshing just to hear something a bit different that wasn't too fatiguing to chase people out.
Tidal:
Almost a macro system. People were really into it. Personally I thought it sounded like it was on the verge of being a macro system, but some sort of weird gimmick gave it enough refinement that it almost sounded authentic. I didn't want to spend the time to dissect what the hell was giving it the bizarre sound that made it so different. Gimmicky really is the word I'd use. It sure seemed like perhaps the speakers had some potential because there was depth to the sound stage. The room was too small. It seemed to have a faked timbre, but vibrato/tremalo wasn't a wash like the full blood macro setups. It was fairly smooth. Overall I wouldn't ever pay the prices for something so... bizarre.
Harmon/Levinson:
The dealer was nice enough to play the big Harmon speakers with a test track. Unlike so many critics around here I thought the sound was decent. My biggest complaint is it sounded way too smoothed out. On another forum I'm being called a nut because I'm blaming it largely on the capacitors that I know smooth out sound in speakers, that each Harmon speaker has a few dozen of inside of them. They rob a live edge to sound, it's not that hard to hear. It's like a micro mute of super small information. I think Harmon might actually be pretty damn smart with their design but the crossovers need better parts. The electronics might need some power conditioning or something, however, because I expected a slightly better drive and more solid imaging. For the price? Well, no, I wouldn't. But I think there's more potential there that might be possible.
Egglestonworks/ModWright:
No one was in this room, for a good reason. How much money does it cost to sound that terrible?
Wilson/dCs/Doshi/Transparent:
Macro setup. Bad sound. Very 2D, very hallowed out sound. Not many people were in the room, nor stayed around. When I went up to the XLF speakers I put my hand against the lower bass cabinet and they certainly are very deadened. However the music coming from the upper drivers sounded as if the inside of cabinet was an echo chamber. This was a massive disappointment. A lot of people thought that. The only reason I'd want any of it would be so I could sell it. I have to imagine some of it could possibly be redeemed in another setup someway somehow.
D'Agostino/WilsonMacro setup. Even with the Strombank I found it fatiguing. Less refinement than any other macro setup (which they don't go for anyways). Also more drums but this time they were showing off what 800wpc feels like to hear in a small room. That sucked. One person literally ran out of the room. Then they talked about how they could hurt people and that those in the front were bold to sit there. It was stupid. The sound was so macro, it was tone rich, but that was it.
However out of the room a D'Agostino something another was on display. The ring around the green meter moves as a volume control. Despite all the talk surrounding too-expensive of enclosures, I thought it was pretty damn sweet.
Woo Audio:
If you like headphones I thought the little AC powered cube, WA7, with the see-through top was a really good all in one for a price that isn't crazy.
Salk/WellsThe Exotica and active monitors both sounded good. This room was easy to listen to, had some refinement. I don't know about bass performance, but overall it was pleasant to be in at all times. I'm not a fan of DSD, so when the vinyl was playing it was best. The electronics did not provide enough solidity for my tastes, even while the vinyl was playing, but for someone into very easy listening they'd be a pretty happy customer as the setup was able to hang a nice lady singers voice mid air pretty well, while being rather seductive.
The active monitors do much lower and louder bass than you'd expect. However it was just middle of the road quality lower bass, but the fact they do it all raises their entertainment factor an awful lot. Their performance should make other active speaker people go back to the drawing board. They sounded better than the vast majority of rooms at the show.
Jim was very friendly, great guy.
Atma-Sphere/Classic Audio Loudspeakers:Well, I was there early, and excited to hear what field coils sound like in those big ass boxes. Unfortunately in this case the setup was a macro setup that was heavily tilted to vocals. The sound was horrifying. It was like a god was trying to burst your ears by singing to you. They didn't do anything right. And the fellow, whom was nice, that was running it couldn't hear very well so I have to wonder if these types of speakers old guys like, because they can't hear well...
MBL:
I heard numerous people say it was the best the setup has ever sounded... What???? It was awful. It was really loud. It was a macro setup to the fullest. At night they played a Reel-to-Reel party and I'm not sure why given the fact the RTR didn't help what sounded like oodles of noise in the system, annoying loud volume, and lots of fatigue. The whole system has some sort of weird breathiness to it that prevents the images from being very solid like. The tone was meh, despite being a macro setup. The only thing it really did was making a partially large sound stage (where did the rest of it go?). But that was larger than life anyways so it was weird.
VSA/VAC:
I had a VIP session there. The speakers sound very capable. They had more depth to a sound stage than maybe everything at the show. However the VAC amps basically put the whole system into a macro category. It was as if the DAC and speakers wanted to show some refinement but there wasn't any. The drive and solidity of what the amps could do was not good. They were all tone, and it faded as the volume decreased. It wasn't what you'd call linear. This was a disappointment. It was so obvious to myself and others that the speakers wanted to shine, but the dumpy VAC gear wasn't going to let it happen. Not a good pairing... It would be nice to have go the Pass amps from upstairs down to the room and have a real audition.
Now someone from VSA might come in this thread and argue about the air conditioning. Well, sure, it was annoying. But I'm sorry, a really good amp that's linear and has good drive and solidity will shine straight through that noise. The music comes to you at any volume, and sound the same at all volumes. Maybe if it was some really cheap little system barely able to do anything would I think a little AC noise was a reason to excuse the sound, but not at this price level. I'm a snob, for anyone that doesn't know, and as much as I understand people must like the macro since they keep spending money on it, I don't; I think it's ridiculous. To me there's way too much fun in hearing all the details, having the linearity to really be intimate with the singer, appreciate the styles of mastering, on and on... There's so much more to music.
Magico:
Another one of my VIP sessions. Unfortunately the amps, CAT, where a macro nature. They had qualities that solid state could offer, and where on average a little smoother than other macro setups using solid state. But I could literally hear the speakers trying to convey more refinement than even the VSA speakers. It may or may not be excessive, I don't know. The system wasn't nearly linear enough to be fair to the Magico speaker's abilities. It sounded slightly better on Vinyl for some reason, over RTR, mostly because fatigue was lower. My suspicion is that the RTR would have sounded better if something in the chain it went through, or it, had some power conditioning.
It was another room where I wanted to go grab the Pass amps and bring down to try them with the speakers. Overall it was still somewhat nice to listen to. Fatigue however was too high for extended listening, and the tension between speakers clearly not meant for what the CAT's wanted to do, got old.
Thrax:
Hidden, you may have missed it... Very good room. Sadly fatigue was a little more than I think is acceptable, with a little hair of grain, which masked some tone. But the linearity of the room was awesome. Drive, solidity, imaging, was very good even from far away and off axis. It may have had the most potential of any room. I believe the amps far out classed MSB. The source was a TT, so I can't compare digital with MSB. I believe the speakers were better than MSB as well. They were so talented for being what appeared to be almost a simple old MTM with known SEAS drivers, and an unknown tweeter buried deep within the box with an interesting wave guide to let out the sound.
The room sounded like it could do macro if the recording was one that sounded that way, or a very refined album. It didn't seem to have an end to talent.
Vapor/Lampizator:
I think I spent the most time in here. There's a number of Lampizator guys! But Lampizator probably had the most DAC's at the show. Even the head-honcho Lukasz showed up.
The sound at first was a little bright, and yet still pretty good. Later in the evening a few of us played along with Ryan's scheme for trying to make a judgement call on a tweak that goes between the speaker and the speaker cable. We wrote down on cards if we thought we heard them a few times, and then talked about it (I assure you it was much more fun than I make it sound, laughing, jokes). Ryan thought they were probably foo-foo but ended up noticing the difference and preferring them. These devices seem to move the fatigue level back a notch and improve a lot of the overall refinement. You could simply pick out information better, that otherwise might be masked by a little bit of punch from a little bit of a piercing sound edge to the music. Just to say I suspect the hotel's power had something to do with the little bit of edge that was too much. The fellow who brought the amp said it's been considered easy going compared to a lot of other amps, and that very well could be the case in another setting.
We listened with my amplifier that I brought along. All fatigue/edge/brightness vanished; it's got serious filtration in it that's not hampering of capability. My amp took awhile to settle in, once it did I got a lot of what I was use to but not all of it. The imaging was "spot on" as someone mentioned. It did some nice depth work, tone, etc. But as the volume increased all of the attributes bloomed. That was different for me, because it's not the case in several other systems. The source, the Golden Gate Lampi, seems to change a bit as volume increases. I won't go into details but unfortunately I only got a few second of one of my test songs, PCM, not DSD, and it sounded better to me but really is too hard of call to make with only a few seconds. With the music from the server it was a little more clear how different recordings could be; the other amplifier added a bit of thrill to everything so even some of the lower quality tracks on the server were a bit funner with it.
My personal feelings about the Lampizator DAC is that DSD is much too soft for me, and I prefer a much more linear DAC in general. It seems that Lampizator DAC's are a great choice for easy listening because they're able to steer an entire system towards a pleasant sound; but it's too easy for me in combination with low fatigue gear. The sound of the Lampi also seemed to improve some as volume climbed, which is why I prefer a more linear DAC/volume control since low level sometimes is the right level for me. Perhaps the non-volume controlled version would change my mind. I don't know what the Lampi uses for volume, that might clue me in. And I'm not sure what the output impedance was but it could have been slightly high for my amp.
Compared to other DSD at the show, the Lampizator seemed to make it much smoother by comparison - this was true in other rooms as well. It has a very delicate touch that anyone - even me who's not into DSD - can appreciate. That touch is revealing and gives a soothing attack and decay. It's no mystery why Lampizator has become such a success. While I say DSD is too soft, the reality is that even while that's true so many other DSD DAC setups were soft and fatiguing at the same time. And for my personal tastes, even while the Lampi could do 3D depth, I needed a more solid image that I suspect PCM may do with it.
At some point in the future I really would like to get to evaluate some Vapor speakers with a different DAC, and my amplifier. What I heard was very promising. The speakers seemed very willing to produce very different sounding music and make it clear just how different music can be in recording and mastering. When you are off-axis to them they don't sound like an echo chamber like the XLF's did. I think Ryan's work at shape and special dampening techniques really pay off because the music doesn't get that "out of a box" sound to it as you move to a position to really only hear one channel directly. I'm so curious what the Nimbus and Aurora sound like now, after being convinced that the laminated plywood with his dampening treatment is a win. Perhaps at the same time I'll get a better feel for bass response if it's with a stiffer sounding DAC. As is it sounded very well blended into the music so it wasn't sticking out like a sore note, but I couldn't tell about impact ability from the tracks we played.
To sum it up about the speakers themselves, they seem multi-talented. The drivers integrate very well together, the sound of them all is very cohesive. They weren't giving me the slam-bam session I found all over, but showing me a lot more about the music down to the recording and mastering process. That's always a goal of achievement for any stereo I'd want to hear.
A big Thank You to Ryan and the Lampizator guys for the entertainment and chance to hear a little bit of what Ryan and Wayne heard during the Perfect Storm review with my amp.
*On a funny note, it seems like they all have Uber's from Dave. You guys should bring one to shows, it would be good for the room! (baring SMPS based electronics in the setup)
Salk/Wells Mini:
The 3K speakers were in here. Honestly I think they could be better than Supercharged SongTowers. The veneer is beautiful as always with Jim's stuff. Better yet the drivers sound so integrated among each-other. That's why I think they might be his best budget speaker fairly easily. It's a winner of a speaker.
The room however suffered from some loss of focus with imaging. It was medium quality for the playback. But that doesn't mean I couldn't hear things I liked more than the AVA/Salk room; because I did.
Meeting People:
I met lots of people while I was there. Not one meeting was a sour one. The funniest thing is having a generic idea of what everyone would look like, and how wrong you can be!
Did you know Jeff Rowland is near 7ft tall?
Duke LaJune is a very nice guy to talk to, and better looking than that hermit photo he uses for his avatar.
Ric Schultz has a double, as in literally there's another guy named Ric Schultz with the same spelling. And they've met.
Doug Schroeder is tall, and was a good guy to converse with. He was pretty busy running room to room trying to get notes down about his test tracks.
Lars Kristensen from Raidho is really funny because he hates DSD. He gave a little lecture on it to some guy trying to get a track played from his USB drive. Luckily I got to stop it by holding up a CD and requesting a track. But he's also very informative and talked a lot about his speakers, the stands, manufacturing, markets, etc. (couldn't tell how good the speakers were, maybe wonderful, but the amp was close to tone dead and not too smooth)
Alon Wolf didn't mind answering my question about Magico's unique crossover at all.
I met numerous other AC members, all were friendly and happy to meet other AC'ers. Too bad I didn't get name tags ready. Next show
Back To Sound, of The Show:
Why was it so bad everywhere? The number one thing I can think of is the quality of power. The hotel is likely a noisy environment with lots of Wifi, ice makers, etc, to begin with. Then I have to ask, is that an excuse? Should the quality of the power be the one factor that entirely makes or breaks a stereo? Well, several rooms proved that it doesn't have to be. And some even had conditioning of sorts and it didn't do a lot. So I guess I don't have an answer... is it possible most gear isn't that great? or that the only way to achieve "greatness" is to make a macro style? BTW I thought the macro styles sounded laden with noise (in the electronics, not artifacts).
I actually feel bad for most of the speaker makers. So many of them probably make at least decent speaker, but how would you know if you can't sit in front of it long enough to decide, let alone assess if its good assuming it's matched with the correct electronics. Personally I've never experienced a speaker so horrific that it was painful to listen to when hooked up to a good stereo, so I wonder if that was the case with any at the show? Maybe the field coil setups in Classic's room.
So, am I crazy? I just browsed through Stereophile's different coverage days where they loved so many rooms I thought were flat out awful... That sentiment sums up everything pretty well. Maybe I just don't understand the hobby.
