First and foremost, I have to thank Mad Dog and his "Master of Mad Dog" for such a great meet. While it was certainly a "schlup" (almost 2 hours) to get there it was most certainly worth it. (every bumper to bumper inch
)
I went to the Friday Night dinner with Mark Shifter and about 20 plus others and it too was a great time. Met a lot of really nice people and of course talked audio along with Margeritas, and Mexican food.
Mark is a one man Dynamo who is constantly moving and working on the future of the industry. It was certainly great to see and talk to him about some of the projects he (and we) will be doing shortly.
After dinner, Sa-Dono, Mad Dog, MD's wife and I went back to MD's house for some pre-set up and listening.
Strangely enough, when we first compared the BPT 3.5 Signature to the Hydra, the Hydra was felt much better. I thought that was strange since they should have been closer.
It was difficult for me to hear the problems MD and SD were describing since it was on a new system, room and with unfamiliar cuts, but I did hear a "thiness" to the sound, which generally is not there.
But we didn't consider that the BPT had been "unplugged" for 24 hours and was an "active" device, compared to the Hydra which is more passive.
Leaving the 3.5 plugged in over night made all the difference.
In the end, I felt that both the Hydra and the 3.5 added "qualities" to the overall sound, although one cannot 'discount" audio qualities of the Office Depot power center they replaced
These will be offerd soon by Mad Dog Audio at a "paltry" $999.99
First "Big Surprise"....
My first big Surprise was the great Selah Audio speakers. I have to say that Rick has created and assembled a quality sounding stand mounted speaker for this price category. As a VMPS dealer, I like ribbons. I also have an entry level of $1598 (for the 626R) , so when someone wants a great ribbon for less than $1000 I don't have product.
Rick's speaker is an excellent candidate for that price range. I beleive MD said it was $850.
As far as sound, I can only compare it to the Ref Ones and of course my Reference 626R, both over $1500...Is it as good? No, but at its price it does many of the same thing very well.
The Selah played a bit lower then the Ref Ones and might even have approached the 626Rs. The deepest bass however was just slightly rubbery. Now this might not have been the speaker totally, since it was being powered by a tube amp (a good one I might add) and it was in a "very tough" almost square, "untreated for bass" room.
Additionally it was only the "very lowest" bass that seemed affected. Funny enough, during one of the cuts, I joked with MD that he and I should stand in the front corners and act as human bass traps. I walked up and stood in the right corner and Dave Clark of Positive Feedback Online immediatly said it made a difference. MD then stood in the other corner, and we then were "stuck" there until the end of the cut.
So if any of you are "stuck" for bass traps, just stick a couple of your friends in the corners
As far as highs, the single ribbon tweeter of the Selah's was very good and not at all like a couple other two way offerings I have heard in the past. It was detailed and clean and passed all my "tests". It only lacked the "very highest" of frequencies but still had enough to allow me to hear most of the music in that area.
I might also mention that I did get a chance to run through a good portion of my reference material before others began to arrive so I have a fairly good idea of the speaker. But I also have to temper this with, the fact that it was in a strange room and a unfamiliar system (which sounded great by the way) so your mileage may be better or worse depending on your parameters.
But in any event, this is in a price range that isn't frequented with this type of performance.
Good Speaker Rick!
Surpise number 2....
Surprise Number 2 was the Rocket 550. To be perfectly frank I have never really (I mean really) heard the Rocket Speakers. Surely I have heard them played, but not where I have been able to A/B them with other speakers and with familiar cuts.
This is one "smokin" speaker and once again in the $1000 price range. While it certainly was not the match of the VR-Jr, and Ref 3, it certainly was biting them in the shorts at the finish line.
Deep Quality Bass, Totally Satisfying Midrange and Adequate Highs and it "did not" sound the least bit strained at high volumes.
Did I mention that it also "sports" the MLS cabinets?
For a $1K floor stander, it can "rock your World".
This is one speaker value.
AMP Champ.....
Well as far as the Champ of the amps, I am not prepared to (nor qualified as a owner/dealer for one of the competitors) to offer a decision.
That said, I can offer some impressions, also compared to what I have heard on my system.
First, in a shoot out like this, with a large room and speakers in the 88/89 db efficiency range, the Father of Ampzilla would have probably offered a more direct Apples to Apples comparison, since the SoA is only around 100 watts, with the other amps in the 250 - 300wpc range.
That said, how did the comparison turn out?
Well as most have said, the JR201's are very special amps, but the presentation is "very" different than the AMPzilla offering.
The JR201 is spectacular in its presentation. It has the precise quality of sound as that of HDTV. As such it has "extreme detail" PLUS. Now this seems to come at the expense of a balanced spectrum. Although I cannot say that it was in any way "lacking" in bass extension or HF extension, it seemed to not have the "fluid color" of sound.
Now this is not a bad quality, expecially on the right speakers. For example on the VR-Jr's it might not sound as good as it will on the Ref 3's, since the Jr's are more dry and analytical than the Refs. This might have made them "overly" etched and dry.
In contrast the Pass and the AMPzilla's would be better suited for the VR4 Jrs and speakers of more detail. (I know how good they sound on VMPS)
I would probably mate the 201 with Vandersteens and speakers of that type.
I do think they mated well with the Ref 3s, but there is another quality that serious listening will also bring out. That quality is depth (of field)
The SoA and depth.
With a few serious listening sessions, I have found that the SoA sounds "richer", more colorful, and what some might call "tube like" or warm. Now this can be a problem if mated with a "warm" or Dark speaker.
But with the right speaker, this quality will present you with the quality of "depth" (of field) which means that you don't have a "sharp edged but flat" digital picture in 2D, but a detailed 3D image with "clear and defined, but rounded" images more similar to reality.
This of course, is a "perception" and subject to many outside factors such as room, set up, treatment and associated equipment.
The illusion of this property can also be acheived in an "untreated" room by allowing the "reflected sound" to soften the edges and fill in the backside of the "3-D" effect. I don't like this method since it depends on room manufactured sonics and can give false images.
Now some present might have heard "softening of detail" when we switched to the AMPzilla, but having had experience with the amp in a more intimate setting that is acoustically damped, I can ssure you that the perception was due to room, and the contrast of going directly from the razor sharp detail of the JR's.
This again points out that the equipment, speaker, room inter-relationship should be well considered when selecting an amp.
If I had to sum the amps up in a few words, I would say:
JR201:
X-tremely Detailed, dynamic, tight bass, crystal highs, clean, and clear
Son of AMPzilla :
3D soundstage and depth, Full Frequency Spectrum, Tubelike, excellent Timbre and Tonally accurate, Smooth/Listenable and non-fatiguing
Now obviously you can see I am "pro-ampzilla" which is why I selected the amp for my system, and is in no way to be construed with negative thoughts about the JR's. I felt the JR's were very impressive and strangely enough had a "VERY" different presentation. My preferences, ran with the SoA, but the JR's could be equally satisfying with the right combinations.
Shokunin and I will be performing further comparisons with his 201's and my 626R's in my room and system. When we do, we'll report those results also.
And finally the VR4 Jr's (lot's of Sons and Jr's at this meet) and the Ref 3s
Plain and simple, I personally found the Ref 3s a slightly better speaker (to my preferences) and more engaging in most every area. The Jr's were much like the JR's (201) in that they were detailed, and highly contrasted (read dynamic)
The Ref threes, were more natural, warm, 3-D and had a more controlled bass with greater depth, in this room and system.
I have to temper these remarks by stating that both of these speakers are "wonderful" in both of their strengths and display few weaknesses overall.
That said, I did hear some bass distortion in the Jr's (which was surprising in light of their "punchy" (read high impact) nature)
The richness and full body of the Ref 3 was apparent in cut after cut, even at rather high SPL's
I am not a fan of "rear firing" ambience tweeters (like those found on the Jr's, which are defeatable by the way) and actually find them anti-audiophile, but some of the best speakers and desingers in the world have used (or still do) them at some time or other. They would be useless in my system or any LEDE room for obvious reasons.
In all fairness, it should be mentioned that neither speaker was fully "weighted" or spiked, which could have had the potential to contribute a better performance overall and particulalry to the bass detail and depth.
But at the end of the day, I would have like to have "bi-amped" the Ref 3's with the AMPzilla on top and the Aragons on the bottom and been totally blown away!!!!!
Mad Dog, are you hearing what JAC is cookin'???
(no not "smokin"...cookin')
Hey Everyone, thanks for making this the best meet ever, and a special thanks to Mark Schifter for taking time out of his busy schedule to meet with everyone, and provide such great door prizes.
It is always such a pleasure for me to engage people like Mark, James Bongiorno, and Brian of course, who dedicate themselves to creating, and developing such great products, then adding their own particular magic to the mix. It is truly something special
Also thanks to Noel (SKYLAN) and Mike (Cryotweaks) for also conributing the Rack (for the upstairs system), the Magic Mushrooms and Interconnects!!!!!!
SHHHHHHWWWWEEEET
