[DaveC113]

Interested to hear what other people think...

I'm thinking of speakers under $5k, then up to $15k, then the sky's the limit.

My List:

Under $5k
- Odyssey
- PranaFidelity
- Vapor Cirrus (top part of Joule, not at show but close enough)

Up to $15k
- Sanders
- Vapor Joule White
- Daedalus
- Vaughn
- Audiokenisis
- Volti
- Zu

Unlimited
- TAD

I'm squarely in the under $5k category and would have a really hard time choosing, all three are incredibly good speakers and not just for the money.

In the up to $15k it would be hard to ignore the Sanders electrostats. I'm not usually a huge fan of 'stats but the Sanders system seems really nice, wish I could have played my test track. A friend of mine is interested in buying Sanders' system and he want to visit his shop since he's local, if so I'd like to go with him so I can play more music on them and get a better feel for them with music I am very familiar with.

There are rumors of a lower priced TAD, maybe a bookshelf version of the $30k floorstander that's currently the cheapest model in the line.     

Oh yeah, were there absolutely no single drivers at RMAF this year?

[dminches]

I would add the Vandersteen Trios and/or Quatros to the list as well as the Salks (but not their top of the line; I prefer the model below).

[worldcat]

Anyone hear the Salk with the seas exotics i heard they where incredible?

[Don_S]

Was it possible to play a CD or USB stick in the Sanders room?  I have never heard them with my own music because every time I heard them I had to choose from music stored on their computer.

[SoCalWJS]

I thought the big Wilson room at the second hotel was spectacular.

The cost? 
SMH. Scary!

[a.wayne]

Interested to hear what other people think...

I'm thinking of speakers under $5k, then up to $15k, then the sky's the limit.

My List:

Under $5k
- Odyssey
- PranaFidelity
- Vapor Cirrus (top part of Joule, not at show but close enough)

Up to $15k
- Sanders
- Vapor Joule White
- Daedalus
- Vaughn
- Audiokenisis
- Volti
- Zu

Unlimited
- TAD

I'm squarely in the under $5k category and would have a really hard time choosing, all three are incredibly good speakers and not just for the money.

In the up to $15k it would be hard to ignore the Sanders electrostats. I'm not usually a huge fan of 'stats but the Sanders system seems really nice, wish I could have played my test track. A friend of mine is interested in buying Sanders' system and he want to visit his shop since he's local, if so I'd like to go with him so I can play more music on them and get a better feel for them with music I am very familiar with.

There are rumors of a lower priced TAD, maybe a bookshelf version of the $30k floorstander that's currently the cheapest model in the line.     

Oh yeah, were there absolutely no single drivers at RMAF this year?

When evaluating take along new music or music you are not familiar with along with ur usual suspects , this will allow you to balance what you hear with your familiarity bias's. later you can play them back on your reference ....

Regards

[wwh]

I did see one single driver system in rather typical ported boxes. I don't remember which exhibitor it was, though -- must not have made an impression.

Under $5k:
- Phase Technology. Their stand mounted monitors did an excellent "disappearing act" and the towers were similar with a more extended low end.
- Emerald Physics (the smaller room - CS3?)
- +1 for Odyssey as well. We were in the room for Klaus's "10 minutes of fun" -- involving a disco ball, a Martin light effects projector, and In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida on LP. 

Up to $15k:
I heartily agree about the Sanders, and I'd also add King Sound. I don't know if they had the same panels at RMAF 2012 (Prince III?) but I thought their room was very good this year.

I enjoyed the Audiokinesis room, but I preferred that system without the effects speaker. With it turned on, the image was certainly wider and fuller, but to me it seemed like the artificial ambience typical of a certain well-known company's direct/reflecting "technology." It worked well with a couple of my test tracks, but one track that already contained significant reverb sounded too echoey.

I really liked both of the Vapor systems at the Hyatt. I'd like to hear these (especially the Nimbus) in a more modest-sized room, though.

Unlimited:
- Tidal Piano Diacera (the room with the dCS stack -- 9017).

[mrlittlejeans]

$5k - $15k
Vaughn
King Speakers Electrostats
Salk Exoticas
Sanders

<$5k
Salk ST's
Soundfield Audio towers
Emerald Physics

>$15k
PMC Fact 12's - I thought these were incredible
TAD Evolution 1's

[barrows]

MSB room with their transport-DAC-amp sounded amazing through big Soundlab Electrostats.

In the more affordable realm, PS Audio sounded really good with some affordable VSA speakers (VR-35 or 33?).

Many, many, many rooms of super expensive gear sounded terrible, with no soundstage, and awful tonality.  I will not name names because I undestand how hard it is to get good sound in the small rooms at the Marriott-but clearly, the PS Audio room demonstrated that careful set up in these rooms usually trumps gears used.

[DaveC113]

I thought the big Wilson room at the second hotel was spectacular.

The cost? 
SMH. Scary!

It was... if TAD wasn't there this system would be #1 for me.

[DaveC113]

$5k - $15k
Vaughn
King Speakers Electrostats
Salk Exoticas
Sanders

<$5k
Salk ST's
Soundfield Audio towers
Emerald Physics

>$15k
PMC Fact 12's - I thought these were incredible
TAD Evolution 1's

I  need to check out the Soundfield and Emerald Physics speakers, I heard the Soundfields were really good and it's been a long time since I heard EP.

[Tyson]

I was really impressed with the smaller Emerald Physics, but not the bigger ones.

[audioengr]

I'm still in denver after helping out in the Vapor Audio room.  This year after 15 years of doing this, my wife and I finally had the opportunity to see about half the rooms in both hotels.  We were accomplied by our new friends from Antipodes Audio.  Great server and worked perfectly with my Off-Ramp in the Vapor room.

Here are the stand- outs for me, besides the Vapor Room of course:

Gr Research/Dodd Audio - beautiful, natural sound, great imaging
Peachtree/Zu - big bold and dynamic.  not the best focus, but really fun and unfatigueing
Joseph Brodmann GmbH - best dissappearing act, tonally beautiful and off-axis perfection from a dome tweeter and a great value for a European company - all custom drivers
ADAM Audio/Cary monoblocks - superb imaging speaker with all custom drivers based on the Heil air-motion transformer, but updated with latest technologies

Most interesting new technologies:

Plasmatron AC power regulator (tube) from VHaudio - used this in the Vapor room with superb results
Synergistic HFT and FEQ room tuning devices

Best system all from one company - Bryston - they have their own speaker now.  Like a breath of fresh air, and I don't think it was the air conditioning

PS Audio was pretty good too - Paul McGowan gave me $100 bill from United States of PSAudio, so there is a small conflict of interest....

Both of these guys are my competitors, so that says a lot.


Steve N.

[DS-21]

***There are rumors of a lower priced TAD, maybe a bookshelf version of the $30k floorstander that's currently the cheapest model in the line.      ***

Makes sense. Remember that the TAD Evolution 1 is basically a Pioneer S-1EX Mk. II.

There were also a single-woofer bookshelf and a dual-woofer center speakers in the Pioneer EX line with the magnesium midrange/beryllium tweeter concentric driver. Upgrade the cabinets, maybe play with the crossovers a bit, and there's your "entry level TAD" line.

(There were also Pio EX's with a magnesium midrange/"ceramic graphite" tweeter concentric driver, which were really outstanding speakers. But considering that TAD means beryllium, basically, I'd be surprised to see those reincarnated as TADs.)

[standub]

Well this I'll have to think about but I did want to point out that the upper part of the Joule isn't techincally a Cirrus.  The Cirrus has the 70-20 Raal and the 6" AT woofer, where as the Joule has the 140 Raal and the 5" AT woofer, so slightly different. 

<$5K
Vapor Cirrus
Odyssey Kimist Speaker
Seas/Madisound KingRO4Y http://www.seas.no/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=1&Itemid=172
(Forgot about this in my review thread but it was pretty nice)
The Music Hall setup (I mean the whole thing, it was only $4k)http://www.stereophile.com/content/party-music-hall-room

<$15k
Vapor Nimbus/Joule
Selah Ottavo

Umlimited
TAD
Volti (the bigger ones)

[DaveC113]

Makes sense. Remember that the TAD Evolution 1 is basically a Pioneer S-1EX Mk. II.

There were also a single-woofer bookshelf and a dual-woofer center speakers in the Pioneer EX line with the magnesium midrange/beryllium tweeter concentric driver. Upgrade the cabinets, maybe play with the crossovers a bit, and there's your "entry level TAD" line.

(There were also Pio EX's with a magnesium midrange/"ceramic graphite" tweeter concentric driver, which were really outstanding speakers. But considering that TAD means beryllium, basically, I'd be surprised to see those reincarnated as TADs.)

Thanks for the info, I did not know about the S-1EX... it does seem to share A LOT of features with the TAD including the coaxial driver. It's not exactly cheap at $9k, but if it provides most of the performance and refinement of the TAD speaker than it's worth looking into and should be good competition for any speaker in the $10k range. Stereophile gave it a glowing review as well:

http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/307piosex/index.html

@standub, thanks for the info on the Vapor Joule vs Cirrus!

[DS-21]

Thanks for the info, I did not know about the S-1EX... ***

Seems like a lot of people didn't know about it (despite Prof. Rubinson's Stereophile review), which is a pity because it was a wonderful speaker. I suspect it never got traction because of the badge, and Pioneer's learned that lesson well.

[brj]

Remember that the TAD Evolution 1 is basically a Pioneer S-1EX Mk. II.

I specifically asked Andrew Jones about the differences between the Evolution and Reference lines of TAD speakers.  I'm going from memory here and thus may be off in a few details, but...

The tweeters are the same in both lines, but the Evolution mid-range coaxial drivers use a Magnesium dominated alloy instead of the Beryllium found in the Reference line.  The Evolution woofers use a less expensive overhung motor compared to the underhung motor of the Reference line, and the cone construction is different as well.  The Reference woofer cones use a full honeycomb construction throughout, whereas the Evolution line is more of a laminate and relies on the integrated "dome" across the center to maintain stiffness.  (A cutout with traditional dustcap would not be as stiff.)  Cabinet construction techniques are similar.  The crossover of the Evolution line is located in the aluminum and MDF base of the cabinets for isolation.

How this compares to the Pioneer speakers, I can't say.

[dminches]

Did Vandersteen not do the show this year?  I have not heard 1 mention of their room(s) which are usually among the best sounding.

[jtwrace]

Did Vandersteen not do the show this year?  I have not heard 1 mention of their room(s) which are usually among the best sounding.

They were there.