[Brian Cheney]

This will be a brief blog about the 2007 CES VMPS exhibit at the St Tropez rm 1805.  Those not interested in such can safely skip it, but some may want to find out just what it takes to make a good show demo. So....

Setup on Sunday, Jan 7:

There is enough gear in here to fill the 14x19' space entirely with no room for visitors, and it takes four hours to unpack and install much of it.  I have decided on a central position for the equipment rack since the V60 has considerable rear output and the extra reflection  probably won't hurt.  This will also keep speaker wires short, since we are using the 18gauge Audience Au24 wire, not the 6 gauge Kimber Select I have employed the past 7 years.

There are two VSS subs to place and I opt for the short wall with the cabinets touching the foam (3" Sonex, two 4x8' floor-to-ceiling).  I also have 16" and 12" bass traps in the corners and 4x8' Sonex panels on the side walls, so the small room is well treated.

At 2:30 I dismiss my crew of loyal helpers and start the real work of tuning and playing music, but discover immediately this is not happening anytime soon.  Both subs are silent, one of the Atmasphere power amps, while glowing and looking fine, also stands mute, and the second monoblock is playing at a low, distorted level.  Six hours later we still have no sound, and my wife and I are ready to cry.  We install the backups (Son of Ampzillas working as monoblocks), replace the IC's with other IC's, and get sound.  At 10pm, 12 hours after starting, I am able to tune the system.
I set the sub xover at 71 Hz (8 ft wavelength) and adjust sub level carefully to match the V60 columns.  I use the sub parametric EQ to notch out the 71Hz floor-to-ceiling room mode which helps the bass clarity tremendously.  Since I must set EQ cut level, bandwidth, and frequency very precisely, this takes a full hour to get right.  The small room does not tolerate the least deviation from optimum settings.  We also have to tune one of the sub's passive radiator (the dreaded putty adjustment) while making simultaneous changes to the electronic settings.  I must fall back on all my 30 years experience to get it right in the available time frame.

Too exhausted to continue, I stop when "Frank Sinatra live at the Sands" sounds natural and clear.  I will continue in the AM, first day of the show.

Next: Monday surprise

[Brian Cheney]

Monday Jan 8, first day

Arriving early at 9am, an hour ahead of the Show opening in order to do further work on the system, I encounter a waiting John Casler in the hallway who is anxious to see and hear the V60.  Hardly are we through the door and visitors follow us in , and we must demo immediately.

This is embarrassing.  I have a nonfunctioning pair of $34,000 monoblocks on the floor, silent and dead.  The night before I had managed to break one of the output tubes when I tripped and fell on an amp, which lacked a stand (thanks to the stand guys who never came through).  I didn't know yet that the Atmasphere could work well with tubes or pairs of tubes missing from the output, but the other amp doesn't work either.  Fortunately The Son of Ampzillas are splendid backups and we are getting good sound. 

Except, I note some lack of transparency and John Casler hears a treble imbalance.  I correct both while the music is playing and things are fine.  Marty DeWulf comes in and is entranced by the look of the speaker.  He listens for an hour and I burn a copy of his demo CD, which I continue to do with good cuts from visitors throughout the show. 

I have set the rearwave foam damper at close to the edge of the wing backs for about 50% dipole operation.  This gives a goodly amount of air and ambience without too much rear radiation, and the wedge-shaped foam absorbs the horn throat reflections that the reverse-horn cabinet would otherwise impose on the back wave.  Focus is remarkable and the imaging is both deep and well-defined, quite detached from the speakers as apparent sound sources.  Visitors remark positively on the cosmetic and the sound quality, over and over.

I am quite tired from setup night drama and retire about 1pm to my room for a  nap.
Returning at 4:30 I find dramatic changes.  Ralph Karsten has been by, replaced the broken tube (thankfully with no comment), and reattached a line plug which had popped out rendering the left channel inoperable (the MA2 has two line cords per chassis!).  So the Atmaspheres are now operating but the sound is strange.  As it turns out its input sensitivity is 4dB higher than that of the Sons and the subs are barely audible.  A party is scheduled for audioasylum inmates at 6pm and there is no time for rebalancing, which will wait until the AM. 

John Curl has arrived to hook up his new Vendetta phono stage and discovers my brand new Technics 1200 TT has a huge wow and can't play.  We are unable to round up a replacement and will have no vinyl sound the entire show, despite months of preparation to get the new Vendetta up and working.  I am devastated that my friend cannot show his latest and greatest achievement.

Next: more drama Tuesday

[WOR Radio]

We had woes too. Damaged and crushed equipment. Had to borrow a pre (Thanks to smoothplate John Tucker). On outboard crossover smashed. Had a non broken in backup. backup drive units (just in case) got smashed. Crate delivered by GES... UPSIDE DOWN. Holes from fork lift forks poked inside, and into the cartons containing 15K in cables.

Brian, Guitar center usually carries those 1200's for the 4 bill range. I am a tad surprised someone did not go out and nab one...considering vinyl playback was at stake. We did not ship our Raven turntable THANK GOODNESS.

Looks like it may be our last CES. We were at the Venetian and RMAF simply looks like a better overall situation.

Venetian show was up there...dollar wise.

[John Casler]

VMPS ROOM 1805 THE Show

In order for some to visualize what system we had, the components were as follows:

SOURCES:
Brian's Trusty KRELL Transport

Wadia DAC


Audience Modded Denon 3910


PreAMP:

Spread Spectrum Technologies - AMBROSIA


AMPS:

Atma-Sphere MA-2 Mk II.3 Monobloc Pr



Spread Spectrum Technologies - Son of AMPZILLA (pr)



Mains:

VMPS RM v60 "Music Wing"


SUBS:

VMPS VSS (Very Solid Sub) with new 15" MegaWoofer (Pair)
with 1000w Sub amp on each

All wiring:

Interconnects = Audience
Speaker Cable = Audience
Power Cords = Audience

Power Conditioner = Audience Adept Response

[Brian Cheney]

Tuesday Jan 9, Day Two

Arriving very early we find John Casler already in the booth and raring to go.  I lock the door and spend an hour integrating subs with the now operational Atmaspheres.  Curiously I end up changing the crossover frequency on one side only from 71Hz to 72Hz while increasing sub level 3.5 dB on both sides.  I go back and forth several times with the hinge point but it is quite clear the aggregate xover point must move from 71 Hz to 71.5Hz.  This is likely due to the difference between FR of a SS direct coupled amp into 4 Ohms and the FR of an OTL tube amp into a 4 Ohm load, but it is still puzzling and instructive that this is the case.

The first group of visitors arrive and I notice the sound changing as the tubes warm up.  There are 20 KT88's per chassis so I expect some stabilization and adjustment of operating points.  The room heats and we open the sliding glass door at the rear of the room fully and pull the drapes to cover it.  I hear substantial clean bass output from the pair of VSS subs, particularly when a visitor requests classical orchestra and I play a CDR of the 1968 Boult/Philharmonia Holst "Planets" movement "Mars, Bringer of War".  The bass drum thwacks literally buckle the rear wall of the hotel room I am leaning against, a phenomenon I have never experienced before.  Standing 19ft back I can see each instrument in the orchestra as individuals in the soundstage, as well as grasp the ensemble as a coherent group.  This is absolutely remarkable.

At the end of the day a visitor identifing himself as a fellow exhibitor wants me to evaluate the sound of his show speakers, about which I have heard good things from the RMAF show.  I warn the man I am no diplomat, quite blunt in fact, and he may not like my opinion of his sound.  (Indeed at the last such incident, when I told the exhibitor his $25,000 speakers sounded "pleasant, but kind of low-rez", the man chased me screaming down the Alexis Park hallway--I'm not making this up).  So, John Casler and I head over to St Tropez Bldg 14 and sit down to hear their open-baffle $7,000pr system.  I note the room is bare and full of echo.  The only "room treatment" consists of two Shakti diffusors which resemble wavy hatracks.  The Shakti guy demonstrates their effect and they do improve the sound, however.  This exhibitor is using DEQX crossovers and room correction but the sound leaves a lot to be desired.  I point out rolled-off trebles and bass, extreme bass compression, a 2-dimensional soundstage, and some nice, natural midranges to the increasingly crestfallen and upset designer.

I get up to leave and notice the room heat exchanger is working.  I tell the man to turn it off as it generates masking noise antiphase to the speaker output, and that it is probably causing cancellations.  Switching off the unit dramatically restores good sound to the room, bass, treble, soundstage and dynamics all reappearing.  The man had sabotaged a good system merely by introducing broadband noise into his small room.  I take back all the mean things I had said to him about the speakers.  Again ready to go, I am asked to listen to an active line conditioner "built by a friend" the effects of which on the sound are absolutely appalling.  In my usual fashion I tell all assembled the conditioner is garbage and should not be used.

No wonder I'm so popular in this business.

Next: more changes

[Brian Cheney]

Wednesday Jan 10, Day Three:

This was the most significant day of the Show as far as sound quality improvement  and I still haven't quite figured out what happened.

We left the AtmaSphere Ma2/II on all nite for breakin purposes and we found the room sounding very good Wednesday morning, albeit quite hot.  We vented it several times and it became tolerable.  Our two useable sources, the Krell/Wadia and the audience-modded Denon 3910, had until that point ranked 1 and 2 for me, as I preferred the dryer but more clearly transparent sound of the Krell/Wadia over the warmer-but-fuzzier Denon.

About 3pm a visitor asked to hear an SACD (till that point, and thereafter, the only such request, which might say something about this format's viability) which was of course the domain of the Denon.  The SACD's owner thought the string sound "too soft" on our system, which of course it was--these are tubes playing here.  Still I have sat in a violin section, recorded symphony orchestras and small string ensembles, and never found live violins "edgy" which is what the customer said he wanted to hear.  In any case the SACD sound was excellent playing the John Williams "Harry Potter" score, with its wide dynamics swings.

At this point a change occurred in our sound which I ascribe to tube warmup achieving tube breakin (after 36 continuous hours).  In any case I cued up a redbook copy of the "Wynton Marsalis Quartet" with female vocalist on the Denon and, all at once, heard the clearest, most impactful and live sounding music reproduction I have come across in 30 years.  The microphone is the privileged listener, as most audiophiles realize, able to be a few inches away from each of the instruments (piano, string bass, trumpet) and voice simultaneously.  Well, we had three live-sounding instruments and a very live sounding voice in our demo room, with quality like never before.  Everyone was startled, yours truly in particular.  This was cut 2 on the "NY Audio Society" demo CD in John Casler's collection, perhaps he can supply more details about it.  The Krell/Wadia were retired for the rest of the day and the following one.

We played the cut for visitors three more times with the same excited and astonished response, e.g. "It sounds so layered", "My spine is tingling", etc.
Goes to show how far redbook CD, amplification chains, and loudspeakers have progressed. 

Next: wrapup and go home

[PhilNYC]

This was cut 2 on the "NY Audio Society" demo CD in John Casler's collection, perhaps he can supply more details about it. 

This was from the Wynton Marsalis CD "The Magic Hour", featuring Dianne Reeves on vocals...

How'd you like Uberjam?? 

[Brian Cheney]

Was that a cut on the NYAS CD?

[PhilNYC]

Was that a cut on the NYAS CD?

Nope...that was the John Scofield cut on the CD I gave to John McDonald when I stopped by...

[Brian Cheney]

The "Sonic Spirit" CD!  Excellent cuts, but not identified on the copy I made at the Show. 

[finsup]

VMPS ROOM 1805 THE Show

In order for some to visualize what system we had, the components were as follows:


PreAMP:

Spread Spectrum Technologies - AMBROSIA

Ambrosia.  Haven't seen too much information on this yet except for your introductory remarks in another thread earlier this month. That's quite a statement look, though.  For an Italian, I wish the designer would consider some Old World coaching on form and aesthetics.  I cannot imagine any guy being able to bring that into his living room - and still hope to keep his marriage intact.  All the same, I am looking forward to reading an in-depth interview about it.
 
Sorry to hear you had so much trouble at CES:  That must have been one heckuva road trip.

[PLMONROE]

As a sidebar, I understand that 80 % of James's sales go to the far east. As to what extent, if any, that influences his designs I have no idea.

[Brian Cheney]

Unit is available with black faceplate and no Startrek logo, looking quite conventional.

[Brian Cheney]

Day 4, Thursday Jan 11:

The final day of the Show is usually the quietest from the standpoint of visitors and indeed, the St Tropez hotel hallways and quad are virtually empty.  But by the time I arrive at 10am our room is full, as it has been throughout the four days.

Ralph Karsten arrives and expresses satisfaction at the number of people who have come to his own booth and commented on the sound of ours, using the MA2/MKII.  Reviewers and Venetian CES attendees arrive telling us that they had heard "buzz" about our room and came over from curiosity.  Mark Shifter arrives and is pleased with the look and sound of the speakers which started out as drawings emailed to his Sound Art factory in Guangdong  mid-September.  Everyone seems enthused and rightly so, in my opinion.

It appears that the audience-modded Denon 3910, the Ampzilla "Ambrosia" preamp, and the Atmasphere MA2/II are all state-of-the-art pieces.  The V60's have proven themselves comfortable in a small room as well as in my 13x31' LEDE home environment and have consistently supplied sound quality second to none, and this at a show where many exhibitors had good to excellent sound.  I have burned 18 CD's brought in by attendees and have a lot of good new sounds to listen to and demo with.  We had little opportunity to play our own stuff, which is fine with me.  Requests are always honored in our booth, and we found few clinkers in the very wide variety of program material people had us spin (this ranged from solo tuba-and-banjo to orchestra to Great White and Ramstein played at ear-splitting levels).

It takes four people nearly four hours to break down and pack eveything back into our van, restore the hotel room furniture, and pick up broken glass left over from Monday's beer-and-pizza bash.

A good time was had by all.

[Housteau]

Goes to show how far redbook CD, amplification chains, and loudspeakers have progressed. 

I have been reading through all the new info from the show here and elsewhere, and find that statement above to be so true, especially about redbook CD.  It made be go back and review something I ran across fairly recently that may very well take that old standard up to an entirely new level.  I do not have any experience with this myself, but have read and heard some very good things about it.  This is coming from Mark Levinson, Dick Burwen and Daniel Hertz.

http://www.burwenbobcat.com/BB_Home.html

What grabbed my attention is when I read that in many instances this can elevate standard redbook up to and beyond SACD and LP.

[ted_b]

Well, Roger Gordon at PFO really liked the sound Brian (scroll to bottom).  Congrats again on getting great sound at CES!  One of Roger's favorite rooms, and gets the largest write up in this article.

http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue29/ces07rg.htm

[John Casler]

Well, Roger Gordon at PFO really liked the sound Brian (scroll to bottom).  Congrats again on getting great sound at CES!  One of Roger's favorite rooms, and gets the largest write up in this article.

http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue29/ces07rg.htm

Yes, Roger was one of many reviewers who stopped by, and some "stayed" for quite some time.

He also has some good "Reference Material".

Marty DeWulf (Bound for SOUND) also spent more than an hour in the sweet seat, and we listened to his whole CD "ALL THE WAY THROUGH"

I'll have to check the group, but they were Spanish or Italian, and sounded like ELP and or King Crimson re-born.  They were awesome!!

[jtwrace]

Did anyone get a chance to listen to the Final Sound Electrostatics or the King Audo Electrostatics?  I am so curious about how they sounded. 

[Brian Cheney]

Sorry, I never made it to the Venetian.  Perhaps some one who did can chime in.

[djk33]

Hi Brian,

I was lucky enough to hear your system this year at CES.  It was definitely one of top performing systems at the show, bettering many of the ultra-expensive systems from other exhibitors.  I happened to be in your room when you were playing a gospel/acapella cut which I think was from the Monarch label.  It sounded excellent.  Can you tell me what track and album that was from?

Thanks,
Darin