[SteveFord]

It looks like King Sound with Carver, Purity Audio, Oppo and Clarity Cables was rather impressive.

http://enjoythemusic.com/axpona_2013/friday/

[TRADERXFAN]

I really thought this was a standout yesterday too.

JansZen also sounded pretty good to me but didn't have the bass too well in the room.

[jsm71]

I also enjoyed both of these rooms, and as a JansZen owner I agree the bass was not at its best.  I was sitting with David Janszen while listening and we agreed we were hearing some resonance but the overall clarity and soundstage was good.  I also liked that they were not trying to over drive the sound volume to the point of bad sound, which seemed all too present at this show.

Another room I really liked was the Nightingale room with their open baffle speakers and tube gear.  Quite a nice wide and deep soundstage.

Goofy music selections across the board IMO by everybody.  Somebody needs to tell the exhibitors that there is no award for the most obscure song choices.

[a.wayne]

Dats funny about the music .....

Congrats to King Sound , always thought they were great speakers ....!

[Rocket_Ronny]

I find it hard to believe they could be best sound of the show with them backed up to the wall like they are. I guess if imaging is not important then I can see it as the amp speaker combo would be very good. Notice how much power is used. 

Anyway, congrats non the less.

Rocket_Ronny

[ted_b]

I find it hard to believe they could be best sound of the show with them backed up to the wall like they are. I guess if imaging is not important then I can see it as the amp speaker combo would be very good. Notice how much power is used. 

Anyway, congrats non the less.

Rocket_Ronny

RR, I thought the same when I walked in, but for our seated positions and for the room their setup was actually quite good, even for nice imaging (I can't speaker for off axis as iw as sweet spot, one row back, for my demo).  I asked what would happen to the bass response if they were brought out a few more feet (for one person listening of course, not a set of rows) but got a confusing and non-specific answer.  They sounded very good...top 5 rooms for me..but not top.

P.S.  the picture in the link above is somewhat misleading...they weren't THAT close to the front wall in real life.

[Rocket_Ronny]

Thanks Teb for your comments as I rate them high.

Rocket_Ronny

[MaxCast]

I thought they sounded pretty good too in a fairly large but sparse room.  I also liked the big Leonardo's but they are like 60k.

[roscoeiii]

Never been a big planar guy, but I agree that these were exceptional sounding. I also wondered about bringing them out from the wall, as I have always heard 2 things about planars: 1) they need power 2) they need to be out in the room.

On the power front, the Carvers seemed to do a great job of powering these. Though I talked with a Maggie owner who thought the dynamics overall could have been better.

[medium jim]

Never been a big planar guy, but I agree that these were exceptional sounding. I also wondered about bringing them out from the wall, as I have always heard 2 things about planars: 1) they need power 2) they need to be out in the room.

On the power front, the Carvers seemed to do a great job of powering these. Though I talked with a Maggie owner who thought the dynamics overall could have been better.

Maggie's and other planar's need lots of power, but this doesn't necessarily mean watts per se. 

Jim

[SteveFord]

I keep waiting for electrostats to become more of a mainstream speaker so maybe it will be King Sound who pulls it off. 

[Jazzman53]

It looks like King Sound with Carver, Purity Audio, Oppo and Clarity Cables was rather impressive.

http://enjoythemusic.com/axpona_2013/friday/

Getting full range ESL's to play with authority in the low bass region has historically been a hard nut to crack.  I would love to hear some impressions of their bass output.   Also, I'm wondering if the Bobfather also brought his Amazings to the show.       

[jackman]

As Ted stated, they were pulled further out than it appeared.  These speakers were very large and bass was excellent.  They were pulled out far enough for me to easily walk behind them.  Although I'm not a fan of this type of speaker, they were very impressive and I can understand the allure. 

I did not see Carver at the show and these were the only speakers on display in the room at Axpo (there was a small pair of Kingsound but they were not in use).  The Purity preamp was also very impressive looking and sounding in this system.  They also played some good music. 

Cheers,

J

[Art_Chicago]

On a couple of tracks I heard I'd say the bass was pretty good, but not great though. Some impact was missing.

[josh358]

Getting full range ESL's to play with authority in the low bass region has historically been a hard nut to crack.  I would love to hear some impressions of their bass output.   Also, I'm wondering if the Bobfather also brought his Amazings to the show.       

I don't see how it can be done. Between the 6 dB/octave dipole cancellation and the theoretical and practical limitations of electrostatic technology, you either need something huge, or something clever that hasn't been thought of yet. I think some kind of planar magnetic technology would be a better choice, and even that needs to be supplemented by a dynamic sub if you want response all the way down, or a lot of slam in a small package.

[steve f]

No Carver speakers at the show.

I wasn't impressed by the King Sound ESL. They weren't really full range, and just didn't have the 'ease' that ESL's should have. The Orions were my top pick at Axpona.

Steve

[GT Audio Works]

I don't see how it can be done. Between the 6 dB/octave dipole cancellation and the theoretical and practical limitations of electrostatic technology, you either need something huge, or something clever that hasn't been thought of yet. I think some kind of planar magnetic technology would be a better choice, and even that needs to be supplemented by a dynamic sub if you want response all the way down, or a lot of slam in a small package.

Took the words right out of my mouth !!

[TitaniumTroy]

I was the guy Roscoe mentioned that was not impressed with the dynamics of the King Sound at all. Of course my reference at home is
Magnepan 3.6's, at the show my favorite planer by far was the hybrid Martin Logan Montis. In the Peachtree Audio room that speaker had incredible dynamics, and transient response and they played really good music too. Supposedly it is the first electrostatic to use a DSP controlled woofer, i don't have a reference of previous ML's. So I can't tell if that is what made the difference but it seemed very well integrated, powerful and tight.