[SoCalWJS]

Best Vendor Demonstration
The salesman in the room went above and beyond to give us a demo on what most of us consider to be snakeoil.  Synergistic Research Bass Station.  We have all seen the small room tuning cups.  I don't remember the name of the room sponsor we were in.  One of our group, who will remain nameless, asked if you can drink sigle malted scotch out of the room tuning cups.  A discussion began about thier effectiveness. 



A discussion ensued.



Right in the middle of a busy event our hero posted a person outside the door to stop traffic, and clear defined for us how well this product worked.  He played a cut of music for us and asked us to pay attention to the sound in the rear of the room.   He paused the music and removed the tuning cups from all three of the positions in the back of the room.   He resumed the music.   Much of the ambient goodness in the rear of the room went away.   He stopped the music again.  When he replaced the cups the goodness returned.   Was it a mass hypnotic trick?   We all agreed on what we heard.  The room clearly had more depth and musical spaciousness with the cups employed.  Without the cups it sounded like we were all sitting too close to the back wall, which were were.and were putting up with that reflective nastiness.  The unknown salesman changed the music to some bass heavy Stevie Ray Vaugn.  We listened and got comfortable with the piece.  He paused and removed the tuning cups directly in front of the woofers of the Wilson speakers we were listening to.  When the music started the bass was as woolly as gradmas sweater.    When the music started a third time with the cups in place the bass tightenup and was articulate and firm again. 

Congradulations this vendor was taking a demonstration to the next level.

PFM

Any time I run across something that works, but I flat out can't figure out why - it's PFM.

Pure F'n Magic (an expression a friend taught me).
Space ship (base station). Magic dots. Different brand cables that measure the same but sound different.

I came to believe in system synergy a few years back, and it creates a never ending search  ....... and the only way to find out if you like it or not is to take it home and try it in your system. There's no way to tell in advance if it's going to make a positive change for you. 

[abernardi]

EOSD3209 by drjlo2, on Flickr

Teresonic speakers.  Fabulous cabinetry and finish with sound quality that kind of mimics the look, warm and inviting.  I would, however, probably hide the funky subwoofer (?) under something if they were in my home.

Hey Jon, great pix!  Actually, the little speaker there isn't a sub, it's a bookshelf speaker.  I loved this room.  What was fascinating about this speaker was that it's a single driver speaker, but it's using the entire cabinet to produce the sound.  I realized this when I was sitting in the sweet spot and some guy was loitering right in front of the left speaker, completely blocking the driver.  Yet the soundstage remained rock solid and I didn't hear any difference in the sound! = woops, gotta go, fire drill.  more later

OK, back, just sweeping up the ashes...   

Anyway,  I told the guy running the room about what I heard and he confirmed that was how they were designed, using the cabinet kind of like an acoustic instrument.  Very pleasing sound, piano especially was absolutely convincing and engaging

[Cheeseboy]

Best Playful Sound

We walked out of the TAD room and down the hall we went to YG.  While The TAD were smooth refined and perfect across the audible frequency the YG seemed to be just alot more playful.  There seemed to be a color of fun in the way they were voiced.  Sure they had everything right.  Yes they had very sharp imaging and perfect tempo and pitch.  It's like Tapatio on a french fry.  It was just a fun sort of kick.  Cliff that reference is for you. 



The speakers called Sunil out.  He had to get up in thier grill and mooned them back.



Once they had danced a little they became fast friends.  I think the YG have a beautiful smile.

[Cheeseboy]

PFM

Any time I run across something that works, but I flat out can't figure out why - it's PFM.

Pure F'n Magic (an expression a friend taught me).
Space ship (base station). Magic dots. Different brand cables that measure the same but sound different.

I came to believe in system synergy a few years back, and it creates a never ending search  ....... and the only way to find out if you like it or not is to take it home and try it in your system. There's no way to tell in advance if it's going to make a positive change for you. 

I agree John! 

PFM 

I'm sure someone can explain why the cup will affect sound and performs a ritual cleansing of wooley bass. 

If we are going to invest in something like that we want to know if you can drink single malt scotch or tequila from them.  That question has still not been answered.   We are into multifunctional PFM. 

[Cheeseboy]

Best Magazine Hospitality Room Wine

Goes to PFo. 

We walked in and there was a reveiwer being interveiwed on video and random people milling about.  Cliff made a beeline to the scotch table while Sunil and I tried to pretend we fit in.  Nice try.  Once the interveiw was over we were engaged in conversation with what we thought were some intellegent reveiws of our day on the audio beat.  Then it happened.



The first taste of wine of the day.  My mouth needed some breakin time.  The first sip was ackward and had a vegetable type of finish.  It was a little chewy too.   Once my breakfast was seared off my tongue with some firm tannins on the second taste the lush overwhelmed me like a young man at a topless lounge.   It was a stunner.  2011 Melbec.  Would not be my first choice for making friends.   Thank You Positive Feedback.   If you can show such great taste in wines I guess you must have a discerning audio pallette.  I'll pay more attention to your reviews.

Is that just me or is the picture upside down.   I need a new computer.  I should go MAC, but I heard at the computer audio seminar that PC is the way to go because Apple sucks.   People seem to be so emotional about this.

[SteveFord]

Isn't that the one from Under The Table Distillieries? 
Sorry, I couldn't resist.

What strikes me most about this coverage is just how beautiful audio equipment has become; so much of it is just artwork.

[FullRangeMan]

EOSD3329 by drjlo2, on Flickr

Fritz Rev 7 Towers in play here with Atmasphere preamp.  I could not make out which monoblocks were playing at the moment, but there was an Atmasphere amp in front as well. 

Wow, the monoblocks use a very GM70 power tube with a single tube input stage, maybe 6SN7/6SL7 or even 12SN7.
A very minimalist amp, very salivating, very 

[Cheeseboy]

If I were to own some of these speakers I may have to start using some hair products everyday. 

But nothing says audiophile like vinyl.   A good vinyl wrap over particle board.   Basic Brown.

[Cheeseboy]

The Hardest Working Factory Representative

Goes to April at KEF for her work in conecting the dots.   Customer - Dealer - KEF 








I came to listen to some LS50.  I wanted to hear what everyone was raving about.   Imma doing some houskeeping at work and they would fit in the office just perfectly.  It's true they sound incredible.  Next year they will be introducing some speaker grill technology to go with them.  HAAAA!  After a quick sit down in the demo i went to the next room expecting to see the Blades from KEF.  I was greeted by a sparkling woman with a fine smile.  I can't think of a better way to start a Sunday.   There were no Blades in the second sound room.  After qualifying me April showed me a powered version of the LS50 for my desk, a better solution for me.  She was ready to facilitate a meet with my closest KEF dealer in Healdsburg, CA to hear the Blades.  I didn't even know Healdsburg had an audio gallery where I could listen to a pair of Blades and LS50.   I know where it is,  the phone number and all about the owners specialty matching customers with products and services.    I haven't set up the meeting yet but I will.   

I'm tipping my hat to someone that worked very hard to connect the dots and give me the opportunity to meet a shop close to my house that might turn out to be a great resource.   

Thanks April.

Note to John:  I am not abandoning my Line Source LS6.   These are for my office at work.   They match the Yamaha classic reciever I found.

[a.wayne]

Jon , others , great pics and thanks for the reports ........

[Jon L]

Hey Jon, great pix!  Actually, the little speaker there isn't a sub, it's a bookshelf speaker. 

Wow, I knew something was odd about that scene.  Thanks for the info; I have corrected my entry.  It turns out to be Teresonic Magus speakers which are supposed to look like this on stands.


Magus by drjlo2, on Flickr

[Hugh]

Jon,

Thank you very much for stopping by our room.

I apologize if I seemed absent-minded.
Between interacting with visitors, taking calls, and other tasks; I was not 100% focus.

It's good to see you again though.

Thanks again.

[fritzspeakers]

FULLRANGEMAN-  The GM70 based amps put out 60 watts each and are built by Jack Elliano of Electra-print audio.  Besides building his own designs, he's built transformers for many other amp companies for decades.  I will update this post with the input tubes later.

Great show & feedback for the amps & loudspeakers.  As always, it is a pleasure doing these shows and getting meet new people and visit with old friends.  Also, getting to hear new music that some people will actually bring along to listen to.

PS- Here's some other walk through the room pictures in the meantime...

 

[Afterimage]

Thanks for the reports guys.  Even though some this stuff is great sounding,  I wouldn't be able to buy, it has low WAF.  Okay so yes my wife wouldn't like most of it, but I too admit I look for stuff that looks good to me first and foremost and that narrows down my search for products.

[EdRo]

Did anyone spend any time in the Empirical room with the Vapor Nimbus speakers? I've only seen one poor quality pic with no thoughts, reflections or opinions.

[Cheeseboy]

We got to see them.  They are stunning.  We heard them however Steve was doing his Emperical thing and we did not want to press him out of character.  The music Steve was playing for a customer was not for us.   Don't get me wrong if the room wasn't packed tight  like it was I'm sure we could have got a much better demo.  Our timing to get a demo was really bad.

If they are at the DaGoGo show in SF we'll get a listen there. 

Jon posted some pictures earlier in this thread. 

[Cheeseboy]

At the show and having fun. I've already spent more $$$ than intended on records and discs. Listened to a bunch of rooms - only took pictures of the ones that were listenable (ran into several that were painful, but it's only Friday)

Gotta say, I liked the Melody/Angel City room a lot. Very enjoyable and listenable. Smooth. Good soundstage.







Sorry about the picture quality - it's just soooooooo much easier to carry around a point and shoot that a DSLR at these things.

Off to dinner

*edit/additional:

Hugh - enjoyed your room!

I even came back shortly before I left for the day in order to double check. This room sounds pretty bleeping good. There were no shortcomings that I could hear. The soundstage was wide and deep with very good focus. Bass was fast and plentiful. No "Glare" and not harsh at all. Great frequency extension on the top end gave plenty of "air" where it was supposed to be.

This system was playing "music" as opposed to so many rooms that had very impressive sound.

The Melody room was the easiest room to listen to at the whole show.  I agree with you John.   Talk about a best buy in speakers!   Good vibe, good music and it seemed like everything came together well in there.  Thanks Angel City and Hugh for the hospitality!

[SoCalWJS]

Thanks for the reports guys.  Even though some this stuff is great sounding,  I wouldn't be able to buy, it has low WAF.  Okay so yes my wife wouldn't like most of it, but I too admit I look for stuff that looks good to me first and foremost and that narrows down my search for products.

Sounds like it's time for.....



da da daaaaa............









A MAN CAVE!!!!!!!!!!

[Hugh]

Thank YOU Steve for your kind words.

It's always a pleasure to meet and talk to you and the rest of the gang.

I hope we can do it again in August at CAS.

Until then, stay safe.

[Afterimage]

Sounds like it's time for.....



da da daaaaa............









A MAN CAVE!!!!!!!!!!

I have one.  My wife never goes down to it, but at the same time she won't let what she percievers as off the wall looking stuff get set up in there.  Overall she is very accepting of my hobby, even though she doesn't understand it.  I can't tell you how many times she has opened up the credit card bill and questined me about the charges.  Or these type of questions, "why did you buy an amp, I thought you already had one?"