Reports from AKFEST?

oneinthepipe · « **on:** 5 May 2009, 04:08 am »

Any reports (about AVA gear) from AKFEST?

boycephoto · « **Reply #1 on:** 5 May 2009, 12:11 pm »

I wrote a long report yesterday morning only to get timed out by the system so... this is short.

AVA had a large room (half a ballroom) he shared with Salk speakers. There were three systems set up, the most attention went to the system with two double Ultra 550's with a pair of Salk HT 4's ( I think that is the model number). The system could fill the room with ease and sounded amazing, on a life size scale.

Frank had the new chassis Ultimate 70 up and running, I didn't listen to it but I assume it is the same and always. He also had his "rope" speaker cable in demonstration.

.

All in all a great show. I won a door price, a 6' set of SoundString speaker cables. I think the street price value is over $400+. A nice way to end the day on Sunday.

There were good sounds at Nate Audio (using AVA electronics of course).

The little Spendor 5SE (it think that was the number) and Audio Research integrated and CD player also sounded good. Make sure you raise you credit card limit to handle the costs here.

Franks, thanks for being at the show. I hope it was good for you!

Dave

mchuckp · « **Reply #2 on:** 5 May 2009, 12:49 pm »

I was at the show as a first timer so most everything was pretty impressive to me. As the post above referenced, Frank's gear on Salk's new HT4 was amazing. Best sound I have heard come out of a speaker. All the AVA/Salk set ups in the room sounded wonderful. There was some chatter about loss of low end due to the room being way too big for most the speakers but either way very impressive. Frank and his crew was around a lot for questions and very helpful. I bought an Insight+ preamp just before the show from Frank and anxiously awaiting it!

Again, as a show first timer I was VERY impressed on the whole. I'd say other rooms I was impressed with was Nate's Audio, Fritz Speakers, Bamberg, and a start up company called Acoustic Technologies that had a 3" single driver in a tower (not right for every application but excellent sound for the right environment).

A door prize or raffle would have been cool.

Great show though.

turkey · « **Reply #3 on:** 5 May 2009, 01:52 pm »

But what about the Bella Extreme wires? Didn't anybody notice those?

Mariusz · « **Reply #4 on:** 5 May 2009, 02:54 pm »

Quote from: turkey on 5 May 2009, 01:52 pm

But what about the Bella Extreme wires? Didn't anybody notice those?

What happened ??? I wonder the same thing. Was the synergy off or ....

I have Bill's entry Bella series cables home burning-in and waiting for evaluation. (I do not listen to gear, tweaks,cables etc before giving them some time to settle down)
Speaker cables are connected to Omega monitors [which are breaking-in as well - two different set of drivers ( ferrite and alnico versions) and interconnects are inserted between phono-stage and integrated amp.

Mariusz

bluemike · « **Reply #5 on:** 5 May 2009, 03:01 pm »

Mariusz

Did you by chance hear the Lenco with the PTP Plate at the AK fest

Pat

fritzspeakers · « **Reply #6 on:** 5 May 2009, 03:07 pm »

Just a short note on the system timing out. I'm from the old school of typing, (hunt & peck method) & that happens to me all the time. I've found that you can hit the back button on your browser & right click your mouse & then copy which you can then paste into a new session.

BTW- I Hope you were able to check out my Fritzspeakers in room 533 which were powered with Doug Jesse's ASi-tek modded Wadia dock / I-pod & Panasonic amp.

Thanks & happy listening... Fritz Heiler
FRITZSPEAKERS.COM

Mariusz · « **Reply #7 on:** 5 May 2009, 03:14 pm »

Quote from: bluemike on 5 May 2009, 03:01 pm

Mariusz

Did you by chance hear the Lenco with the PTP Plate at the AK fest

Pat

Pat,
I did not attend AK this year. I wonder what were the impressions?
I did however get new 12" cherry arm for my Lenco and will have at least two carts re-tip by SS for it.

But let's keep this for another topic.
Sorry guys for my irrelevant post.

Mariusz

oneinthepipe · « **Reply #8 on:** 5 May 2009, 03:41 pm »

After I started this thread, I began to think that "No news is great news" because AVA gear shouldn't add anything to the music. There are a lot of posts on the Salk circle about the terrific performance of Jim's speakers, and Jim and Dennis comment about the AVA gear that was driving these speakers. Jim has always stated that the AVA gear does not impart any additional sound through the speakers, and Frank has stated that the Salk speakers don't have a sound and are his windows into evaluating the success of his designs (to paraphrase).

However, I was curious, in particular, about the bridged Ultra Double 550 amps and the U70.

Tone Depth · « **Reply #9 on:** 5 May 2009, 03:56 pm »

Quote from: boycephoto on 5 May 2009, 12:11 pm

I wrote a long report yesterday morning only to get timed out by the system so... this is short.
Dave

On login, the third box lets you define how long to stay logged in before being timed out. You might try increasing the time in that box and see if that helps. There is also a check box to stay logged in indefinitely, that might be used for manually logging out after you're done.

timjthomas · « **Reply #10 on:** 5 May 2009, 05:39 pm »

Check out the thread: http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=67761.0

Tone Depth · « **Reply #11 on:** 31 May 2009, 12:31 am »

Hi Frank,

I remember you previously mentioning in another thread about demonstrating some new concept pieces at AKFEST. Reading a Positive-Feedback Review today,
http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue43/akfest.htm
I saw a picture and mention of what appears to be an Insight+ DAC/Integrated Control Amp (with full vented case) but it is labeled as a DAC/Preamp. Could this be your differential preamp/DAC?

Can you tell us about this unit, and your impressions about how it performed?

BrianM · « **Reply #12 on:** 31 May 2009, 10:05 pm »

Frank, will you be springing for a pair of the 'HT4's?

avahifi_lj · « **Reply #13 on:** 1 Jun 2009, 01:35 pm »

Hello:

The DAC/Preamp is a prototype design that has an experimental DAC and an Insight preamp in a single chassis.

Thanks,

Larry

Art_Chicago · « **Reply #14 on:** 1 Jun 2009, 03:13 pm »

Quote from: avahifi_lj on 1 Jun 2009, 01:35 pm

Hello:

The DAC/Preamp is a prototype design that has an experimental DAC and an Insight preamp in a single chassis.

Thanks,

Larry

Larry,

Pleazze, a few words about the experimental DAC. Do AVA guys like its sound now or it is a working progress?
Thanks,
Art

avahifi_lj · « **Reply #15 on:** 1 Jun 2009, 07:56 pm »

Hi:

The DAC is one of the several designs we are evaluating (with more yet to evaluate). We had the prototype at the show to get some feedback on the sound, and to see if there is interest in a DAC/preamp. FYI: We had good comments on both fronts.

Thanks

boycephoto · « **Reply #16 on:** 2 Jun 2009, 11:18 am »

I listened to the DAC/Insight preamp at AKFest. It sounded fine but, the room was very big, much different than a home listening situation. There was always someone talking in the background and it was hard to do any serious listening. There was siginificant noise interfearance from adjacent vendor rooms.

avahifi · « **Reply #17 on:** 5 Jun 2009, 02:39 pm »

As Larry reported the Preamp/Dac combined unit we used at AKFEST is a pre-production prototype, a very pre-production unit.

We are currently evaluating several new DAC chip sets and have not finalized on any for future production products yet. The tried and true Philips 16-bit parallel processing DAC circuits remain in production here still providing outstanding musicality. Future changes will be made out of necessity, not primarily for musicality, because the Philips chips we are using are now out of production and our supplies are drying up. We will keep parts available for long term repair service of course but one of these days we will be forced to change designs and our work now is to make sure that what we decide upon will provide at least the equal in musicality as what we can provide now.

One possible advantage of a new DAC circuit is that we can make it on a much smaller circuit board, possibly allowing the combined preamp/DAC function while still achieving low noise both in the preamp and the DAC sections.

Regards,

Frank Van Alstine

Toka · « **Reply #18 on:** 5 Jun 2009, 07:49 pm »

Quote from: avahifi on 5 Jun 2009, 02:39 pm

Future changes will be made out of necessity, not primarily for musicality, because the Philips chips we are using are now out of production and our supplies are drying up. We will keep parts available for long term repair service of course but one of these days we will be forced to change designs and our work now is to make sure that what we decide upon will provide at least the equal in musicality as what we can provide now.

How close are the new chips coming to the current design? And will the newer models possibly offer higher sampling rates (24/96, etc)?

Art_Chicago · « **Reply #19 on:** 5 Jun 2009, 08:21 pm »

Frank,
I second Toka's question, but also:

Would you share your opinion on the HT4's? I could not attend the AKFest.
Thanks,
Art