[KJ]

My vote for "Most Ridiculous Thing I've Seen Yet at a Audio Show" ^TM goes to Cabasse who was demoing some weird minature eyeball-looking satellites paired with the largest subwoofer I've ever seen.

At least they remembered to cross their T's and dot their I's.    Well, I's anyway...

-KJ

[Jose Garcia]

Phil, you are right, it's difficult top that ??????...  

Unless.... ...someone with a few drinks wanted to meet her!!!  

Jose.

[Hantra]

Thanks for the report Phil. . .

I am curious. . .  The Rockport room was your favorite?  How did you like those Rowland amps?  They must pair well with those Rockports, and those Rockports must be something to behold.  Everyone seems to go crazy over them!  

So how is the Audience Adept Response?

Thanks again,

B

[PhilNYC]

Hantra,

The Rockport room was indeed my favorite, which was suprising because I've always been somewhat luke-warm on the Rowland 501's (am a huge fan of the old Model 10's from Rowland)...not that I don't like the 501's, but that they've never "wow'd" me like they did with the Rockport Antares.  And I spent about an hour in there listening to all sorts of music...for my tastes, I couldn't find a single thing wrong with them...tonally balanced, speed, soundstaging...the most realistic imaging I've heard to date. And they just sounded "right" to me.  I was with someone who felt they could have been a little bit more aggressive, but I thought these Antares speakers were just right.  I can't imagine what the Hyperions sound like...

I've actually had the adeptResponse production prototype at my place since the summer, and recently had a chance to A/B it against the Shunyata Hydra.  I think the aR is definitely competitive with the Hydra, but whether it works for you will be very dependent on your tastes.  To my ears, the Hydra is a bit smoother overall, but the aR delivers a fuller sense of body.  Also, the aR sounds even better if you plug your amps into it (the Hydra robs you of some dynamics if you do that)...it is not current-limiting, and with this 12-outlet plus video coax conditioner, you can basically plug everything in your system into it.  The unfortunate thing for a lot of people is that it costs $3800.  But they will be releasing a 6-outlet version in a couple of months that will be more reasonable.  Btw - the faceplate on the aR is gorgeous...the "ripples" you see on the faceplate are layers of anodization that give it almost a hologram-looking front...and the power switch has a very cool industrial look/feel to it.  Can you tell that I like it...?

[Hantra]

Yikes!  Last year they said that thing would retail for $2,000.  They must have made some changes.

[TheChairGuy]

Phil, did Steve do an A/B between his computer as source and his modded S7700 as source?  If so, what were your thoughts on the differences?

Marbles,

I heard an A vs. B on a few things there in Steve / Empirical Audio room.  On at least the track(s) I heard, the ripped tracks via PC were the same as the CD in the full mod (Turbo, Jensens, SuperTurbo Clock)  S7700.  I didn't hear a difference, either.

I got to hear the EA modded Ack and Perp Tech units with the Offramp PC interface.  I've not heard cymbols ever as well presented as the PC & P3 did...there not supposed to sound that good on CD.  

That's one of the reasons why SACD was invented...

[PhilNYC]

Yikes!  Last year they said that thing would retail for $2,000.  They must have made some changes.

Yep, they had been targeting $2000, but over the last 5-6 months they kept making improvement after improvement on it, and when they got to the performance they were hoping for, they realized they had upped the cost significantly....

[jgubman]

I completely forgot about the biggest surprise for me at THE Show:

ESS is back!

There was a pretty big room devoted to the new ESS models. They were featuring a large floor stander (5') and a medium sized (4'?) floor stander. Each had beautiful cabinets and Seas drivers and the famous HEIL "Air Motion Transformer" in a MTM design (the larger might've been MMTMM, can't remember). They both had largish (8"?) rear-firing passive radiators. I didn't get a very good listen to them, but I'm looking forward to seeing them in stores again soon. Apparently some large German firm bought ESS.

Anyway, I thought the Von Schweikert VR 9 room sounded very, very good. Same w/ the huge Gryphon 4-piece Poseidon. VMPS also had a very nice booth w/ some of the best, tightest bass I heard at either show. I've got to figure out how to get my RM-40s sounding like that!

[lonewolfny42]

Thanks for the photo's Phil !! Nice job !!

Question on the Blue Circle amps...202 (125 watts) and 204 (150 watts). Since the difference is only 25 watts between the two, I wonder why they have two (new) amps so close in power ? (and now in different colors.... )[/list:u]
And, any comments about the new BC 501 DAC ?[/list:u]
Thanks !!![/list:u]

[PhilNYC]

Thanks for the photo's Phil !! Nice job !!

Question on the Blue Circle amps...202 (125 watts) and 204 (150 watts). Since the difference is only 25 watts between the two, I wonder why they have two (new) amps so close in power ? (and now in different colors.... )[/list:u]
And, any comments about the new BC 501 DAC ?[/list:u]
Thanks !!![/list:u]

Regarding the BC 200 Series amps, I guess the only answer I have is that wattage is only one aspect to catagorize these amps.  The absolute scale to catagorize them in is sonic performance...as I've found with all Blue Circle products, the 200 Series amps make sense for their price points.  They are all based on the same design topology and concepts, and starting with the BC206, Gilbert tried to adjust the design to achieve the best sonic performance he could reach within the constraint of the price points.  I'll be getting a BC202 in 2-3 weeks (a blue and grey one, not red and yellow!)...give me a week or two to burn it in, then come over and check it out compared to the BC206!

I heard the BC501 DAC, but given my unfamiliarity with the speakers BC was demoing with (Penaudio), I don't have much to compare it to.  But you can go to the Forum on http://www.bluecircle.com where some folks close to BC made some comments after demoing it...

[lonewolfny42]

Thanks Phil !!

[mac]

In no particular order these are some of the rooms I visited at the CES.  

I will say that the DEQX room had some of the best sound I heard at the show.  They used a very mundane set of B&W speakers with crossover networks bypassed along with four B&W subwoofers.  My jaw hit the floor when they switched between their DEQX calibrated setup and standard crossover networks.

(Click on any image for a larger rendition.)

DEQX:


Glacier Audio/Gilmore:



Avantgarde:


Zanden:


Pass Rushmore:


Penaudio:


Blue Circle:


BAT:


Vandersteen Quatro:


NOLA:


Hyperion:


Joseph Audio RM55LE:


TAD:


Calix:


Von Schweikert VR4Jr:


Fostex:


Vandersteen 5/Joule:


Kippel:


ESS:


GMA:



Kimber IsoMike (TAD):





Tyler:


Epiphany:




Von Schweikert VR4:


VMPS:



PMC:


Atmasphere:


ARC/Wilson:

[Rick Craig]

In no particular order these are some of the rooms I visited at the CES.  

I will say that the DEQX room had some of the best sound I heard at the show.  They used a very mundane set of B&W speakers with crossover networks bypassed along with four B&W subwoofers.  My jaw hit the floor when they switched between their DEQX calibrated setup and standard crossover networks.

(Click on any image for a larger rendition.)

DEQX:
[im ...

Now Mike you wouldn't be biased would you?  

Seriously, given the poor quality of the demo rooms at CES I think using DSP correction is a great idea. The question is - how much was the improvement related to room correction vs. changes in the crossover function?

So how did the other speakers sound that you listened to? Did you take your own music?

Rick

[zybar]

Now Mike you wouldn't be biased would you?  

Seriously, given the poor quality of the demo rooms at CES I think using DSP correction is a great idea. The question is - how much was the improvement related to room correction vs. changes in the crossover function?

So how did the other speakers sound that you listened to? Did you take your own music?

Rick

Rick,

You will get to hear how much room correction can do when you come up in February.  I promie you, it isn't subtle....

George

[Davey]

Mac,

Did you see/hear a demonstration of the Klippel setup?

Other than that, all I see are a bunch of box speakers.....boring.  

Davey.

[mac]

Now Mike you wouldn't be biased would you?  

Seriously, given the poor quality of the demo rooms at CES I think using DSP correction is a great idea. The question is - how much was the improvement related to room correction vs. changes in the crossover function?

So how did the other speakers sound that you listened to? Did you take your own music?

Rick

Yes, as we all know, the smaller rooms always suck but everyone has to deal with it.  I saw the room correction curve that DEQX was using and it was fairly mild (only affected frequencies below 200Hz).

Of the rooms I visited the DEQX, Avantgarde, Rushmore, Nola, Calix, JA, ESS, Kimber/TAD, Epiphany, Gallo, Genesis, Magico, Atmasphere and Wilson/AR sounded pretty good (some better than others).  The TAD Model-1's sounded excellent in both of the rooms I heard them in.  The Thiel $500,000 "Ultimate Home Theater" experience was impressive.

[mac]

Mac,

Did you see/hear a demonstration of the Klippel setup?

Other than that, all I see are a bunch of box speakers.....boring.  

Davey.

Yeah, they shared a room with Seas and had their setup running.  I got to chat with their engineer for a short time and he gave me some of their demo software, which I haven't checked out yet.  

Seas has some new drivers that will be available shortly.  There will be three new Excel tweeters (one mag/aluminum) and two new paper-coned mid-woofers.  The dipole Nola's sounded pretty good but they did have one of the larger rooms.  One guy was using some smaller Apogee's to demo his wares and was producing some great sound.  I didn't have a chance to get to the Magnepan suite.

[electricbear]

like everyone else , I found the rain and snow to put a bit of a damper on things. the  Rockport / Rowland set up was nice , as was the VTL/ Wilson room. I thought the best sound was in the ARC room and not just because Dave Gordon  is one of the nicest guys in the industry. The soundstage had depth , height and pinpoint imaging. The instruments had the correct scale, the piano was the size of a piano, not some shapeless lump occupying the whole of the soundstage. While the turntable did sound a little thin, probably due to the low mass cartridge that they were using, the cd player just sang.

[smargo]

The 3 standouts for me at the show were

esoteric - dynaudio temptations - The room was filled everytime  i went there and everytime i went I didn't want to leave. I was blown away and humbled by the majesty of this system (albeit at $169,000).

vtl -wilson -dcs - another great sound - incredible imaging and tonal colors (another off the charts expensive system)

grommes - joseph audio - for me a real surprise and incredible clarity and resolution. (not off the charts expensive)

Most dissapointing was gallo reference - although i think that has been said about them at every show. (Why do they even have them at the shows if they dissapoint.)

It's funny how some rooms were a pleasure to go into - the owners or reps were really inviting and showed interest. Others were snotty - like were sort of doing you a favor even allowing you in the room - and im talking about some very popular designers and gear.

I thought the vandersteen room was a little bit of a dissapointment compared to some others.  (again show conditions are not the best barometer)

I heard the chapter digital amps and to me i really wish vinny was there there because i'd swear to vinny's were much better at 1/10th the price.

All in all there were surprisingly many good sounding rooms - much better than in years pass. altough i have to say 2 hours a day was my limit because it tends to get draining as everone knows who has been.

regards,
smargo

[JLM]

Other than Louis/Omega Speakers, was there much for the "average" guy, like from AC?  (Chairguy, glad you had a taste of single driver coherence.)  I suppose that ordinary hifi companies keep showing their Chevys and Fords.

The expensive stuff don't impress me much when affordable stuff does very well indeed (and sometimes better than the big expensive stuff).

I'd rather give the extra money to charity or buy more CD's, or room treatments, etc.

I'm a form should follow function thinker and blocks of custom machined stainless, arrays of drivers, or building out of "ultraexoticium" is a turn off.

I realize that this is a show and that showmanship is a factor.  I know that eye candy draws crowds and that this is THE format for introducing leading edge stuff.  (Kinda like a Paris fashion show, with stuff that almost no one would really wear.)

Besides, how would you sneak most of that stuff into the house past the house manager?