[audioferret]

Sadly, I was only able to attend one day - but I got to see a lot of wonderful speakers.

The best of show was the Orion - Hands down.  I don't think I have heard anything nearly as satisfying.  Sadly, with a  2-year old in the house, I will have to wait to build one.  This is the speaker to beat and I have not heard better.

I am also very glad I got to meet SL and shake his hand.  It was an honor.

[Vapor Audio]

Wow, I was just shocked to find that I'm now unbanned!     So I'd like to share a few pics from our room.  If anybody visited the room and would like to share thoughts - good or bad - I'd appreciate it.  Personally, I couldn't have been happier with how the room sounded.  We went for a value theme this year, the entire front-end, amps, and speakers would cost around $10K ... and it sure seemed to me that it held it's own with any of the similar sized rooms.  Some of the larger rooms were simply at another level though, I think my favorite from the weekend was the Raidho Ayra in the Nordost room.  Those speakers just imaged perfectly, up and down, back and forth.  And with perfect timbre to my ears, in fact I found nothing less than stellar about them. 

[S Clark]

Welcome back, Ryan!   

[woodsyi]

I only had a day and a half to listen as I had to work Friday.  That just limited me to staying at the Marriott and not even venturing out to Hyatt.  As it was, I didn't get to all the rooms I wanted.  I particularly wanted to get to Odyssey, AVA, Salk Audio and Emerald physics but couldn't.  Next time, I am going to arrange to have Friday off as well. 

Audio Kinesis:  Duke is every bit as nice in person as he is on line.  Planetarium with Swarm was an easy room to like.   It had big relaxed sound that invite you to plop down and listen for a long time.  Duke has the honor of being my very first room at an audio show ever....

Laufer Teknik/Podium Speakers/Teres:  I waked into the best Billie Holiday ever.  The planar speakers did not go very low but the midrange was gorgeous.  The highs were very good too -- not piercing.  I really felt like Billie was singing in the room and that's a great achievement because I usually hear Billie like a she was singing in another room.  The combination of Teres TT and the Podium planars really brought vibrancy to Billy that I had not heard before.  When he switched to CD, the magic disappeared.

Classic Audio/Galibier TT (Triplanar and Dynavector xv1s):  Very Dynamic with T-3 speakers.  Thom was very busy but he was a gracious host.  I like these horns -- very intimate but yet fast and dynamic.  BTW, he recommends The Best Tractor from http://www.mintlp.com/best.htm  I think I am going to order one. 

ACI/Korato/Bolder SB:  I met Mike and he save me a notepad and entered me in the drawing like I asked. What a nice guy!  XL's were pretty impressive speakers that throw a wide sound stage. Dynamics were excellent. 

Divergent Tech (ASL Hurricane 2/Reference 3A Grand Veeder:  What presence!  The room was filled with music in every which way.  It was just about perfect.

Modwright:  What can you say except Dan is a gentleman and a scholar.  The new SS amps were not at all brittle.  Music had a lot of warmth and intimacy.  I really would like to audition the Transporter. 

Maxhorn Lumination:  Surprisingly good music from a single driver horn.  Jennifer Warne's The Well sounded so natural from a "modest" Technics SP10 fitted onto a custom wood plinth/base.  I wanted to stay and listen to the whole album -- I was invited to come back after hours to do that but just couldn't find the time. Nice folks.   

Bolder/VMPS:  I finally met Wayne.  I accidentally locked the door behind and had his attention for a while.  626jr sounded way better than it had the right to at the price Big B. is selling them.  I am sure Wayne's SB rebox and Mike G. modded crossover has a lot to do with it.  I definitely want to audition the tubed rebox in my room. 

Tweekgeek/SP Tech/Spectron:  I had met these guys the night before.  By the time I got there, the Mini's were gone and the Revelation was just put in.  BIG SOUND!  Unfortunately, it was going through set up pains and I left before things were sorted out.  I met the SP Tech crew in the elevator later and I was told that new speaker cables were brought in and the whole set up was much improved.  Bob was in the room next to me.    I went back and they certainly lived up to all the praises from AC crowd.  I heard just a little hint of brittleness on top that I would like to try my big tubed Response Audio Bella Extreme/Hurricanes on them.  I say this because I have tried Response Audio modded AV1s on my amps and they really sounded clean without any hint of metallic tinge.  It may also have had something to do with the Exemplar (SA)CD player that they used. 

Analysis Audio:  I met Mike Galusha.  It was nice to finally meet him.  AC folks are just the nicest people.  These panels put out a lot of bass.  I just like planars and these were no exception. 

Balanced Power:  I met the infamous Turbo.  He is actually cool dude who dresses well.  He had an interesting monitor design that sounded very good.  Nothing extraordinary but well balance sound throughout. 

Focal/Aesthetix/Clearaudio:  Very impressive looking set up.  The speakers reminded me of a T-Rex fossil wired together in a natural history museum.  The Grand Master TT with magnetically coupled belt drive is quite a sight.  The room was big and I couldn't really get engaged in the music.  I would love to try the Aesthetix IO Eclipse though....

McIntosh:  Blue.  Nice sound too. 

Acapella:  WOW.  BIG.  Giantic images smack you in the face and you feel the music with your whole body.  I would like them if I had a cavernous audio room. 

Avantgarde:  I never heard these with SS amp before.  The in-house amp actually worked quite well.  They let me listen to the whole second side of Bax 6th Symphony.  Big goose bumps.  They have a lot of variations at each level now.  The Uno I heard did really well with micro-dynamics.  They conveyed every nuances of Bax' orchestral music to really get you emotional with the music. 

Time out:  I have to run now -- I will get more later.

[bpape]

Thanks to all who stopped by.  Didn't get to spend as much time meeting and chatting with all the AC'ers as I'd have liked to but such is the game.  I can't really add a lot as I really didn't get to listen to much other than 4-5 rooms.

The Bolder room was the best I've heard it.  The 626 Jr's with the heavily modified Behringer was a very nice fit for the room.  Very easy to listen to, very balanced, more and better bottom end than a single driver of that size should put out.  I'll second the desire to hear the all in one SB piece in my system in familiar circumstances. 

SP Tech - only got to listen about 10 minutes and they were still playing with setup so it was hard to say.  Based on what I heard, they have a lot of potential with the Spectron amps.  It was just a lot for that room.  I'd absolutely love to hear them with a little more room to breathe.  I'm sure they're quite impressive.

Analysis Audio (Apogee clones) in Mike Garner's room staffed by Mike Galusha - again, not much of a listen but from what I heard, they sounded MUCH better than they had the last 2 years.  Didn't really get to listen to anything familiar or sit in the sweet spot to make much of a judgement but my opinion of them now is much better than what it had been in the past.  Certainly a testament to Mike Galusha's engineering.

SoundSmith - Absolutely magical.  This is the only room besides our own that I actually got to listen for 20 minutes or so.  We were waiting for Jon Pousette-Dart to perform live.  We had treated his studio last year in upstate New York and wanted to meet him in person - great guy.  He is the first release on the DirectGrace Recordings project from which all funds to go help kids in bad situations in many countries for a variety of reasons.  Great cause.

Listening to recordings in there with the strain gage cartidges and not sure what speakers was one of those systems that just didn't do much of anything wrong and did so so much right.  Very natural, engaging, easy to listen to, etc.  

Bryan

[MarkR7]

I will have to 4th the Grand Veenas!  I couldn't make the show this year, but I still remember them from last year's Fest, and they still stick in my mind as extremely musical, natural, very easy to listen to, with wonderful imaging.... they were driven by Antique Sound Labs gear at the time.  It was refreshing change of pace to enter that room and to just listen to the music and relax.  My ears craved that break!

Hi Scotthobby,

I have attended many audio shows in my lifetime and I would have to agree the Reference 3a Grand Veenas are amazing loudspeakers for the price.What I find amazing about them Is in the UK they retail for $16000.00 pounds and here in Canada they only 8000.00 to 9200.00 a pair.Even better value here and there so unrecognized.

I have to second or third the Reference 3a's.  FrankS convinced me to go hear them right before I left and I'm glad I did.  As a long time Merlin owner, these are a real shot directly at their game.  They had great bass, and a very natural, not in your face midrange, with sweet extended highs.  Setup was with Quicksilver pre and mono 70's.  I could listen to these all day very happily.

[Scott F.]

Wow, I was just shocked to find that I'm now unbanned!    

Welcome back Ry 

Hey, those speakers sure are shiney 

[arthurs]

I really thought the Raidho's were exceptional as well....

[opnly bafld]

I will have to 4th the Grand Veenas!  I couldn't make the show this year, but I still remember them from last year's Fest, and they still stick in my mind as extremely musical, natural, very easy to listen to, with wonderful imaging.... they were driven by Antique Sound Labs gear at the time.  It was refreshing change of pace to enter that room and to just listen to the music and relax.  My ears craved that break!

In the Reference 3a room Tash was switching between the Grands and the new Episodes paired with ASL.

I agree Mark, very enjoyable to listen to. 

Lin

[Vapor Audio]

Balanced Power:  I met the infamous Turbo.  He is actually cool dude who dresses well.  He had an interesting monitor design that sounded very good.  Nothing extraordinary but well balance sound throughout. 

Would you admit that you have bias against the amps and front-end we were using?  You did comment on that to me while listening ...

I'm not asking to cast any shadow on comments you might make, but because Chris and I are looking to go a different direction for next year and talked all weekend about what we should use to help project a more accepted first impression.  Neither of us are big tube fans, but we're both thinking we need something glowing up front so that people won't have their mind made up before sitting down.

[AB]

Balanced Power:  I met the infamous Turbo.  He is actually cool dude who dresses well.  He had an interesting monitor design that sounded very good.  Nothing extraordinary but well balance sound throughout. 

Would you admit that you have bias against the amps and front-end we were using?  You did comment on that to me while listening ...

I'm not asking to cast any shadow on comments you might make, but because Chris and I are looking to go a different direction for next year and talked all weekend about what we should use to help project a more accepted first impression.  Neither of us are big tube fans, but we're both thinking we need something glowing up front so that people won't have their mind made up before sitting down.

For me it was just the opposite. I was more impressed with the Cirrus speakers given they were driven by the ICE amps fed by your lap top. I would love to hear them driven by something - shall we say - more refined.  But seeing they sounded as good as they did, I have little doubt they will sound over the top when driven by higher quality amplification and a fancy ass source.

And at their price point I would say they did sound exceptional.

[Vapor Audio]

For me it was just the opposite. I was more impressed with the Cirrus speakers given they were driven by the ICE amps fed by your lap top. I would love to hear them driven by something - shall we say - more refined.  But seeing they sounded as good as they did, I have little doubt they will sound over the top when driven by higher quality amplification and a fancy ass source.

And at their price point I would say they did sound exceptional.

Thanks for saying that ... the idea we had was a "recession system" that still sounds fantastic.  I just don't know if it turned people off.  For example, Chris (BPT founder) is friends with Michael Fremer.  They spoke literally right outside our door, Michael said he'd come in for a listen, but didn't and all I can assume is because we were too 'ghetto' for him.  We did get more requests for formal reviews than I'll have any chance of accomodating, I guess that's good.

Hard to know what to do in order to appeal to a value market, but not be looked down on by the rest.  So honestly any input would be appreciated.  We ran computer audio the Off-Ramp, into a TacT pre, into ICE amps ... does seeing an all 'digital' stack influence your opinion, should we put some tube/analog gear up front to alleviate that?

[mcullinan]

For me it was just the opposite. I was more impressed with the Cirrus speakers given they were driven by the ICE amps fed by your lap top. I would love to hear them driven by something - shall we say - more refined.  But seeing they sounded as good as they did, I have little doubt they will sound over the top when driven by higher quality amplification and a fancy ass source.

And at their price point I would say they did sound exceptional.

Thanks for saying that ... the idea we had was a "recession system" that still sounds fantastic.  I just don't know if it turned people off.  For example, Chris (BPT founder) is friends with Michael Fremer.  They spoke literally right outside our door, Michael said he'd come in for a listen, but didn't and all I can assume is because we were too 'ghetto' for him.  We did get more requests for formal reviews than I'll have any chance of accomodating, I guess that's good.

Hard to know what to do in order to appeal to a value market, but not be looked down on by the rest.  So honestly any input would be appreciated.  We ran computer audio the Off-Ramp, into a TacT pre, into ICE amps ... does seeing an all 'digital' stack influence your opinion, should we put some tube/analog gear up front to alleviate that?

Michael Fremer is a pretty laid back cat. Hes been to a couple of NY Raves and thats about as ghetto as it gets! 
Draw conclusions now.
Mike

[cryoparts]

How much are they?

EDIT--Answered my own question by reading another thread, $2495.  Nice.

Peace,

Lee

And at their price point I would say they did sound exceptional.

[sts9fan]

If you get that defensive at "nothing extraordinary" you are in the wrong business.

[Vapor Audio]

If you get that defensive at "nothing extraordinary" you are in the wrong business.

Woodsyi said they sound good, why would I be defensive?  I'm just asking for input on our room, and things we can do to avoid potential bias ... that's all.

[Mariusz]

Michael Fremer is a pretty laid back cat. Hes been to a couple of NY Raves and thats about as ghetto as it gets! 
Draw conclusions now.
Mike

Cat .....yes but who is the mouse Mike? 

Cheers

...............but away, nice system and love the Steve's digital approach. 
If you are reading it Steve, I am very close to have another conversation with you.
This time - all about finalizing the details and few questions.....or more like advise seeking "Q"s. aa


Mariusz Stark

[mcullinan]

Michael Fremer is a pretty laid back cat. Hes been to a couple of NY Raves and thats about as ghetto as it gets! 
Draw conclusions now.
Mike

Cat .....yes but who is the mouse Mike? 

Cheers

...............but away, nice system and love the Steve's digital approach. 
If you are reading it Steve, I am very close to have another conversation with you.
This time - all about finalizing the details and few questions.....or more like advise seeking "Q"s. aa


Mariusz Stark

The mouse would be a speaker or piece of tubed equipment with a tail of course....
so sinister... perhaps a turntable hell bent on revenge?
idk... this story is just getting started.
Mike 

[Mariusz]

Michael Fremer is a pretty laid back cat. Hes been to a couple of NY Raves and thats about as ghetto as it gets! 
Draw conclusions now.
Mike

Cat .....yes but who is the mouse Mike? 

Cheers

...............but away, nice system and love the Steve's digital approach. 
If you are reading it Steve, I am very close to have another conversation with you.
This time - all about finalizing the details and few questions.....or more like advise seeking "Q"s. aa


Mariusz Stark

The mouse would be a speaker or piece of tubed equipment with a tail of course....
so sinister... perhaps a turntable hell bent on revenge?
idk... this story is just getting started.
Mike 

Or the latest hit on DVD? 

[Vapor Audio]

...............but away, nice system and love the Steve's digital approach. 
If you are reading it Steve, I am very close to have another conversation with you.
This time - all about finalizing the details and few questions.....or more like advise seeking "Q"s. aa

If you're talking about Steve from Emperical and the Off-Ramp 3, I'm going to be buying one myself.  Both Chris and I thought it was significantly better than a full-modded SB3.