[jackmonster]

I love that kind of stuff. Ingenuity and hardwork.  I thought I covered every room at Axpona on Friday.  I just don't remember #937 Soundfield Audio.  I love value and  small entrepeneurs.  I'm mad I wasn't hip to them.

[jackman]

Hi Guys,

I had a great time at the show.  It was great meeting several AC friends in person and checking out so many great sounding rooms.  There were several stand-out rooms and I'll post some comments later, but I was surprised so many rooms sounded so good! 

I'll post some comments later but did anyone hear the Sonic Hemispheres room and the Mytek/Sony room?  Those big Sonic Hemisphere speakers really sounded great, and they are an amazing bargain.  They sounded so natural and transparent.  Also, IMO, I'm not sure any room sounded better than the Mytek/Sony room.  Those Sony speakers were insanely good sounding and the DSD Mytek system was noteworthy. 

I also enjoyed the big VSA room and the King room.  Not sure if King deserved the award because there were several very good sounding rooms.  The Wisdom/Krell room also sounded very good.  They could have used a larger room, and some treatments but I liked the sound they were getting.  The MBL room also sounded very good and looked very impressive.  When someone asked the lovely lady conducting the demo the price of the system, she looked him in the eye and confidently stated $250,000, plus cables.  Everyone snickered a little, but the room was jam packed.

It was also a pleasure to hear AJ's room.  He's a good guy, and his speakers sounded impressive in a very modest system. I admire AJ's ingenuity and creativity.  The Salk AVA room sounded very impressive as usual, and Jim's cabinetry skills were up to his usual standards. Also, the Modwright Van El room was impressive, as was the Channel D/Joseph Audio room.  Those little Joseph Audio Pulsar speakers were among the best sounding speakers I heard all weekend!  They sounded huge.

I'll recap some specifics but there were very few bad sounding rooms. Some speakers were too large for the rooms they were in, and some speakers (big horns) were not my cup of tea.   I was disappointed there were no Maggies, Wilson, Tannoy, Vandersteen, Zu speakers, Odyssey or GR Research rooms.  I understand shows are expensive and time consuming but It would have been fun to hear their stuff !

[ted_b]

Jackman, It was nice meeting you finally! 

I'm glad you liked the Mytek room.  That is the same 3 DAC stack I am using and writing about (in my thread), and that was my mutlichannel music they were using.     To be honest, I thought the room was a bit too small for the speaker array (CES was same array but 50% larger room) but fun nonetheless.

[jackman]

Hey Ted,
It was great meeting you and hanging out at the Hoffbrauhaus!  That Mytek DAC stack was insane(ly good!) and I was really impressed by the overall system and the sound they were getting in such a little room.  I'm seriously thinking about getting a Mytek soon and will PM you offline to get your advice, if you don't mind.

Thanks!

Jack

[roscoeiii]

Wow, today blew me away. So much good music (!) and systems. I ended my day listening to the TAD floorsatnders in room 705. What a great way to wrap things up. The other stunner rooms for me in the smaller rooms in the upper floors was Acoustic Zen (want to hear a wider range of music on them in the future, but the jazz I heard on them was jaw dropping), and the Volti rooms (whoa, on those speakers I heard a range of music: AC/DC load and not overpowering the room, small scale intimate stuff, and a killer Dvorak symphonic piece). Of the monitors I heard, the Joseph Pulsars won my heart, and I also loved AJs speakers (for far less). The TA standmounts were also excellent, but too big to be properly called monitors in my book. 

In the bigger rooms, I was gobsmacked by the VonSchweikert room (but as a VR-4 owner, I may be biased). I also like the corner horns in Classic Audio Designs' room, and those Kingsounds are killer planars (check the recent Dagogo review).

Also keep an eye on Herron audio for forthcoming speakers, they were still "experimental" but damn did they sound superb.

[enjoythemusic]

Yes Vapor, am feeling better thank goodness. The jackhammer in my head was the worst ever!

Were there many younger 18-30 years olds there, the next generation, so to speak?

Not many younger folks here in Chicago. Interesting as in Italy, Germany, Asia and other countries the age factor does reach more to those below 40 than it does within the USA. In Italy especially it is a family thing so you see more women/children too.

[Art_Chicago]

Hello guys,

It was a joy today at the show. I just want to share my observations.

- Best sound/mind blowing: Classic Audio Hartsfield Speakers/Atma-Sphere/tri-planar turntable (mezzanine level) -- dynamic and simply life-like (32 grand on sale for the speakers)

- Second best: a tie among Salk SoundScape 8, Acoustic Zen Crescendo and Herron prototype

- Best Bass: TAD (room 705)

- disappointing: huge Focals, Von Schweikert

- best value: Salk Silk ( RAAL/Illuminator monitor @$3500), sound almost like SS 8, and they go deep!

Did not hear: AJ monitors, Joseph Audio pulsar
Did  not care about : Vapor sound-- Cirrus Black did not stand to my expectations based on the RMAF reviews

-- KingSound Planar was great except for the bass

 

[a.wayne]

Any pictures on the Von Schweikert setup and yes i also  heard it was disappointing .....

[roscoeiii]

Curious how folks felt the Von Schweikerts were disappointing? In what ways? I thought that they had both a real delicacy to their sound to couple with real grunt, impact and dynamics.

[martyo]

Enjoyed the show. Pretty laid back atmosphere. I attended with my brother and we don't always agree but sure did Saturday. Didn't hit the MBL or Hartsfield/Atma-Sphere room.

Specifically wanted to hear the Legacy, Von Schweikert, Tyler, Daedalus, and of course AVA/SALKrooms, and a few, Vapor, HAL, and Mytec just because of the chatter on AC. The Legacy room was our favorite. Von Schweikerts sounded excellent, totally agree with roscoeiii. Would have liked to hear the Tyler's with a good digital source. The atmosphere of the Daedalus/Purity room was very warm and relaxing. Beautiful speakers, we both thought we could hear low end cabinet resonances. The Acoustic Zen had wonderful depth but not much image in that setup. The Vapor Cirrus were nice looking but didn't do it for us, especially the lean low end. The Mytec folks were very nice and informative (actually, pretty much every room was). They explained that the files we were going to listen to were attainable to anyone. It sounded to us like a poor recording (and I wasn't impressed with their Sony speaks) but he seemed pleased with what we were hearing. The second cut didn't sound right either, we were finished in there. The Seaton Sound room is were the HAL music server was and again extremely nice folks. Still not sure what they were trying to demonstrate to us. And the Salk/AVA. Franks switching box made A/B ing a snap. What a difference a faceplate and new light make. Prettiest SS8's I have seen, and the Silks, the "full-range" bookshelf's were amazing. They definitely had the low end that some other 2-ways, even towers, were lacking.

It was a nice show.

[dminches]

I am not a huge Von Schweikert fan but I thought their room sounded very good.  In addition to what others have said, I though the corner speakers on the Mezz sounded great.  I can't remember the brand.  So musical. 

I did go to the Mytek room on one of the top floors.  I think there were Janzsen speakers in there.  I did not like the speakers and, thus, did not get a good feel for the DSD DAC.

I completely agree on the best value room - Salk / AVA.  For $15k you can get a great sounding system.  I think the power cable in the Focal room was more than $15k.  I just don't get it.  The speakers and amps were $260k.  I would rather pay $15k and buy every recording ever made.

I do hope they do this again in Chicago next year.  Sign me up.

[Alleye]

I guess I'm going to start making a habit of agreeing with dminches... I have a pair of older Von Schweikert speakers (full disclosure) and I continue to like to see what they are doing. I also liked the sound in their room, but I haven't exactly put my finger on what was missing. It's the same feeling I got from the Focal/Pass and sadly the Sonus Faber room. They all sounded great, but after a while I started to wonder if it was the room size, or if this is the way the "mega" systems sound.

Outside of a dedicated listening space there are a lot of factors that go into the sound... They were showing in hotel rooms/ball rooms after all and I'm sure I could go to a local shop and be amazed by them... I guess it left me scratching my head a bit. Then to go upstairs and listen to the Salk, Daedalus, Van L, etc rooms and be amazed at the level of enjoyment... Left me scratching my head more.

I guess this is the "hunt" we enjoy? 

All in all, great show, very friendly people, and I too really hope they make this an annual event!

[dminches]

Alleye, I knew there was something special about you. 

The guys I hung with on Saturday all agreed that some rooms sounded musical and other did not.  That was the dividing line for us.  As you said, Salk and Daedalus sounded like music.

[seadogs1]

Hey Guys, could not make it to the show but have a question. Where is there info on the Salk Silk? I didn't see it on their website? Did I miss it? Thanks!

[martyo]

Hey Guys, could not make it to the show but have a question. Where is there info on the Salk Silk? I didn't see it on their website? Did I miss it? Thanks!

It's not there yet. Get in touch with Jim. There is a thread in the Salk Circle about the speaker because it resulted out of a customer request but it isn't named the Silk and I'm sorry but I don't remember which one.

[ted_b]

I did go to the Mytek room on one of the top floors.  I think there were Janzsen speakers in there.  I did not like the speakers and, thus, did not get a good feel for the DSD DAC.

The Mytek room had a 5.1 Pass Labs/Sony AR2 setup, not Janzsens.  The Janzsens were driven by the E20 DAC from Exasound (agree that the Janzsens seemed a bit off to me, and I know the Exasound sound very well).

[martyo]

Hey Guys, could not make it to the show but have a question. Where is there info on the Salk Silk? I didn't see it on their website? Did I miss it? Thanks!

Here is the thread: http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=111118.0.

They are $3500

[Art_Chicago]

Curious how folks felt the Von Schweikerts were disappointing? In what ways? I thought that they had both a real delicacy to their sound to couple with real grunt, impact and dynamics.

well, maybe "disappointing" is too strong, but to me the speakers shown yesterday (not sure what model and price) did not have that ultimate transparency and resolution as some planar speakers do, or Soundscape 8, for example.

[ted_b]

Well, we clearly have an example here of why there are soo many speakers out there in the marketplace.  I mean, this is a subset of folks who are audio hobbyists, know a thing or two about what music sounds like, and yet can be soooo far apart on feedback.  Personally, I found the Legacy and Von Schweikert rooms to be on the bottom of my list...go figure. 

[jriggy]

The atmosphere of the Daedalus/Purity room was very warm and relaxing. Beautiful speakers, we both thought we could hear low end cabinet resonances.

  Those cabinets were not resonating. There may of been a room resonants --I heard it on a selection as well-- but it was NOT the extensively braced solid hardwood speakers resonating.

It was a smaller room with some treatments but the set up was done very well. I just love when a system can simultaneously be a lil warm and relaxed, yet dynamic and punchy and lively at the same time...

Another note on this room... The new Purity 300b amps were not broken-in at all before the show. They were a new 'constructed-just-in-time' pair. The sound changed rather drastically from my first long listen sunday to my last listen a few hours later.  Odd that Purity would elect to bring a breaking-in and constantly changing piece of gear to a show, but I guess if you have the opportunity NOW to show a new offering you're going to do it... I think at its most 'relaxed' sounding, it was those amps taking swinging changes through out.

 The room was no doubt one of my favorites!