This is my show wrapup as I will not be there tomorrow, was there bell to bell Fri and Sat and made all but a couple of the rooms compared to the 30-35% I probably got to last year. I hardly took any pics this year because of the Haunted House lighting motif in so many rooms but here are a couple things that caught my eye:
A view camera. I need to get behind the ground glass again.
Open baffle full range speakers, a bit... uhh.... unusual (I don't know why the pic insists on rotating):
Met Frank van Alstine after many years (he has a great new preamp) and Jim Salk (a real straight shooter type who could probably get more for his speakers if he wanted to).
The big surprise for me was how strongly I tended to prefer the simpler systems] most of the ear-grabbers for me were two way systems: Odyssey Lorelei (Great sound and the best value at the show hands down), Joseph Audio (although they should have turned the subsonic filter in their preamp on IMO), Harbeth, Audio Note UK, Salk Veracity ST, Surreal Audio (with the Heil AMT tweeter). There were some standout three ways too: In particular Philharmonic's small towers and Daedalus' impressive Pans. Several multiway systems seemed to have driver blending shortcomings that often made me aware of listening to individual drivers playing several different frequency ranges. As one person showing a two way system put it, "The more drivers, the harder it is to fool the brain into thinking it is hearing a single coherent acoustic event." It
can be done, but was often not always so. There also seems to be a growing trend towards (occasionally very) bright systems. I left most such rooms quickly. I have a hard time giving a pass on issues such as these when the speaker is priced at, or pushing, five figures.
Which brings me to another point.
Back in the iron age, I was a wide eyed 14yo kid who heard his first remotely decent component system and was so blown away that I saved up every dime I got my hands on for a year and bought a Dyna SCA80 kit, a pair of Dyna A25's, a Dual TT and Shure M91E cart. I was a kid in an upper middle class household, not rich, but that $330 system was within reach (I paid for all of it) and gave me around ten years of musical enjoyment. Bought a tuner and tape deck when I had the money for those.
Put that kid in an audio show of today, like CAF, and what would be today's counterpart to that affordable, but musically satisfying system?
IMHO there isn't one.
Today's kid would get the message (sometimes overtly) that his soundstage will collapse unless he spends that much on his
power cord. He would be told, sometimes flat out, that he needs another megabucks cable to get the signal out of his TT (if he even buys one) without losing all his 'rhythm' and 'pacing'. Alternatively, a $1000 DAC might squeak by for digital until he can afford something 'good'.
I have a price list in front of me from a room showing a two way speaker. It cost over $9K a pair, 169 times what my A25's cost. Their TT cost $3500 if one were to forgo the $2400 external power supply. Two grand for the arm and $4100 for the cart and you have a nice vinyl rig for only 96 times what my first TT cost. Better? Sure hope so. But maybe the listener isn't into vinyl; in that case the CD transport and DAC for a combined $22,000 might be a better choice. That would also remove the need for the $20,000 phono preamp and the $6500 step up transformer.
The system referred to (I didn't even add in the power amp) was neither the most nor the least expensive at the show. From least to most expensive, it was probably in about the 65th percentile. Even taking inflation into account, it was
many times more expensive than my first (or second)(or third)(or any) system.One exhibitor told me that since this was a 'high end' show, that is what they brought, none of their moderately priced stuff. Maybe they should reconsider. Despite what some would have you believe, it
is possible to put together a satisfying, reasonably accurate sound system for less than the cost of a college education at a decent school. Are they afraid that if they show reasonably priced gear, some won't be able to tell the difference, and will opt for the lower cost/lower profit margin system?
Despite what you may think if I haven't lost you already, this isn't about price. People are free to spend whatever they want on their audio equipment even though I heard limited correlation between cost and SQ at the show. It's about having an option for that teenage kid who has just gotten the 'bug'. It's about educating the public that they can get better musical enjoyment without spending sums that sometimes seem to be more about conspicuous consumption than about music. For the audio hobby to thrive, it can't be just a rich man's hobby. The love of music is a nearly universal constant. The audience was, is, and always will be there.
If I was running an audio show, I would allocate one solitary room to 'comp' to makers of inexpensive, entry level gear; the Orbit TT for example. Enough component vendors to form a complete system would be chosen. The winners would have to win an essay contest as to why they were most deserving, and would have to make whatever they bring work with whatever everybody else brings. It would be 'pot luck'. (Make your own 'synergy'.) Sink or swim; and if some makers of megabuck systems get 'shown up', and some surely would, then phooey on them.
Despite this mega-rant, I did enjoy the show and hanging out with my fellow audiophools. Looking forward to more reports and photos.
