[Cheeseboy]

Next year we should have a designated time and place for the Audiocircle people attending THE Show to have a meet and greet.  Perhaps one of the more popular AC vendors could allow us to use their room.  So many of the posters here that I'm seeing I have the utmost regard and respect for their opinions and knowledge. 

We can do this better next year. 

[Hugh]

You bring the wine and we'll donate the room.

Next year we should have a designated time and place for the Audiocircle people attending THE Show to have a meet and greet.  Perhaps one of the more popular AC vendors could allow us to use their room.  So many of the posters here that I'm seeing I have the utmost regard and respect for their opinions and knowledge. 

We can do this better next year.

[mal]

Next year we should have a designated time and place for the Audiocircle people attending THE Show to have a meet and greet.

I'm pretty sure that's called "The Atrium Bar."

[SoCalWJS]

Can we "reserve" a Cabana at the Atrium? Music in the background. Newport Beach Air all around, comfortable couches....

Although the room Michael had Friday night would serve as a good base in conjunction with the nearest Cabana.   

[mal]

Can we "reserve" a Cabana at the Atrium?

No idea. I just stole them when nobody was looking.

[Hugh]

Hopefully, the next location will have something nicer.

Can we "reserve" a Cabana at the Atrium? Music in the background. Newport Beach Air all around, comfortable couches....

Although the room Michael had Friday night would serve as a good base in conjunction with the nearest Cabana.   

[TimF]

abernardi, I am glad that you stumbled upon the Larsen room and found them to be enjoyable. I am glad to see them making a little bit of headway in the US marketplace, and to see them at the last couple of shows(Las Vegas and this Newport) is even better.

I have owned the smaller brother to the Model 8 you heard, the Model 4, for almost two years now. It is quite a fantastic little speaker, easy to site and has a very expansive soundstage, and very good image depth for a wall boundary type speaker. Just a fun, musical speaker.

I think some may get put off by its quirky looks, and also maybe its different approach and sound right off, but once you get acustomed to it, very hard to go back to "normal" box type speakers. I hope more people give the Larsens a chance!

Also, no affiliation with Larsen or US distributor, Audio Skies and Michael Vamos are great to work with. Shameless plug I know...Tim

[Duke]

Other than the Harbeth M40s, what speakers that REG has given a favorable review have been a commercial success?

Just in case you haven't seen it, here's his listening room:

Thanks for the picture.  Evidently Robert believes in aggressive toe-in.  Me too. 

Speaking as a designer, I'd rather have a thumbs-up from Robert E. Greene than Harbeth-class commercial success.   Incidentally I was a Harbeth dealer for a little while, and imo they're truly great speakers.  Harbeth is among the lines I dropped so that I could put resources into my own venture.  Maybe I'd have made more money as a Harbeth dealer, but it wouldn't have been as fulfilling.

[rbbert]

No idea. I just stole them when nobody was looking.

It appeared that most of the time they were "open seating"

[ctsooner]

These?




I don't really like saying this, but they were not my cup of tea.....

They were very much on the lean side, lacking body on vocals for my taste in music. This was very evident when they played Simon & Garfunkel's Canticle. The other two members of my group that listened to them had the same opinion. We all came to the conclusion that we would have liked to play around with the setup a bit and seen if different positioning could have helped, but you have to trust the vendor to get them into the best possible location. We went through fairly late in the day on Sunday, so we'll have to assume that they were as happy as they could be and it was something that just couldn't be overcome in that particular room.

There were no room treatments that I saw (or photographed) and this may have contributed to the issue. (This was a bad trend - last year we noticed an increase in the number of rooms with good treatment - it looked like fewer this year  )

Be careful saying anything other than these are the best speakers you will hear as the owner/designer went bullistic on me on another board when I said I had heard them at a dealer during my travels and found them lacking. I didn't like their high end and yes, they were very lean for me.  He even called me a liar and was very unprofessional. I wonder if he'll get upset with you can claim that they weren't set up properly. 

He can't complain about the room since he claims the room doesn't matter because of how that lens works or something like that. I hate to say it, but I'm glad that I'm not the only one who is willing to put it in electronic print.  These speakers don't stack up with so many great options in their price range.  Thanks for the honesty. 

I'll be getting to hear the Gingko stuff on Monday as I'm stopping by to see them on my way from CT to Philly.  Hopefully they have arrived back from the show in time for me to hear them, lol.  Great coverage and entertaining.  Thanks so much.

[jhm731]

Thanks for the picture.  Evidently Robert believes in aggressive toe-in.  Me too. 

Speaking as a designer, I'd rather have a thumbs-up from Robert E. Greene than Harbeth-class commercial success.   Incidentally I was a Harbeth dealer for a little while, and imo they're truly great speakers.  Harbeth is among the lines I dropped so that I could put resources into my own venture.  Maybe I'd have made more money as a Harbeth dealer, but it wouldn't have been as fulfilling.

You made REG's Top Five:

http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/2014-newport-beach-show-report-speakers-under-15k/

[jtwrace]

I'm really looking forward to hearing Duke's and James' creation. 

[Vapor Audio]

Compared to last year, show coverage this year has been sparse at best ... what's the deal I wonder? 

[jtwrace]

Compared to last year, show coverage this year has been sparse at best ... what's the deal I wonder?

There are too many shows IMO.  It gets old for us (at least me) to see the same crap show after show.  It must get old for the people that have to write about the same thing over and over.   

[Vapor Audio]

There are too many shows IMO.  It gets old for us (at least me) to see the same crap show after show.  It must get old for the people that have to write about the same thing over and over.   

Hard to disagree with that, we're certainly feeling the effect of too many shows.  Without the online coverage afterward however, the value of shows from our perspective drops greatly.  I'm just surprised at the stark difference in Newport coverage from last year to this.

[pconley2]

Newport is suffering from being a week or so after the Munich show, which along with RMAF is starting to emerge as the key shows covered by the Audio Rags.  Stereophile only sent Jason Victor Serinus (who did heroic and exhausting coverage, and Mikey Fremer was there doing his analog thing but overall, stereophile didn't focus on Newport, I haven't seen anything from Dagogo (perhaps understandably since their SF show is in 2 months), nor anything from StereoMojo, nor anything from Pez and Tyson, or anyone in general.  Absolute Sound was there in relative mass, including their publisher, but they don't focus on companies that don't follow the normal sales process of having retail outlets (which are also becoming fewer and fewer) sell their products.  Absolute Sound for the most part has ignored the home grown direct to consumer manufacturers, with the sole exception of Odyssey, which is an issue I raised with their publisher at Newport.
I agree that there are too many shows, but as a consumer of this type of product, I am challenged because I can't hear this equipment any way else.  While the SF Bay area has a number of very fine audio stores, even between them, they do not cover the true gamut of products that are available.
Much like the computer industry, of which I am part, I see enormous changes happening in the world of high end stereo, and I am not sure that an acceptable new sales model will appear before the death of the old, retail based sales model happens, and I don't know anyway to get products in front of consumers without doing this type of show in a variety of different locations, even given the challenges of traveling, equipment set up and dealing with uncooperative rooms.

[ltr317]

Hard to disagree with that, we're certainly feeling the effect of too many shows.  Without the online coverage afterward however, the value of shows from our perspective drops greatly.  I'm just surprised at the stark difference in Newport coverage from last year to this.

Hi Ryan,

I, for one, went to Newport this year as an attendee rather than as a writer.  It's a lot of work covering a show as big as Newport, that's why I only wrote about my favorite rooms last year.  It's a lot more relaxing and pleasurable as an attendee, even if I went to every room at the show.  As with last year, your room was among the best I heard, but you know that. 

Cheers,
Paul Mah

[R_burke]

I see enormous changes happening in the world of high end stereo, and I am not sure that an acceptable new sales model will appear before the death of the old, retail based sales model happens, and I don't know anyway to get products in front of consumers without doing this type of show in a variety of different locations, even given the challenges of traveling, equipment set up and dealing with uncooperative rooms.

Agreed,  the death of Brick and mortar causes real problems for the audio industry.  Very few people want to buy high end equipment without auditioning/listening and not many want to buy on trial basis because it is extremely difficult to compare items since you essentially buy them.  At least I can't afford to buy two sets of anything I want to compare.

[Volti Audio]

Hard to disagree with that, we're certainly feeling the effect of too many shows.  Without the online coverage afterward however, the value of shows from our perspective drops greatly.  I'm just surprised at the stark difference in Newport coverage from last year to this.

Agreed.  So will you continue to do the shows, even as Press coverage diminishes?  This is what I'm struggling with right now.  Steve Davis wants me to sign up for my room at AXPONA now, and pay 1/2 down.  I can't make that decision this early, I need to see how the rest of this year goes.  On the other hand, if I wait, I may not get a good room, and I'll have to pay more for it.  I'm glad I'm not the only one noticing the decrease in Press coverage at the shows. 

Greg

[jtwrace]

Agreed.  So will you continue to do the shows, even as Press coverage diminishes?  This is what I'm struggling with right now.  Steve Davis wants me to sign up for my room at AXPONA now, and pay 1/2 down.  I can't make that decision this early, I need to see how the rest of this year goes.  On the other hand, if I wait, I may not get a good room, and I'll have to pay more for it.  I'm glad I'm not the only one noticing the decrease in Press coverage at the shows. 

Greg

I will say that even with your terrible room at RMAF 2013 it sounded sweet.