[nicksgem10s]

I had the pleasure of attending AK Fest 2010 both Saturday and Sunday.  I attend AK Fest each year and always look forward to it.  This year AK Fest was held at the Sheraton Novi.  I felt the this hotel was a really nice venue but kind of missed the open environment of the hotel from last year. 

I wore my new AC tshirt and had the pleasure of meeting many more AC people this year.  It was a great time.

The people I met this year were Maxcast, mchuckp, JD3, JLM, and more that I can't think of at the moment.  The Salk/AVA room seemed to be filled with AC people each time I visited.   

The AC people I got to see again this year were Pardales, Jim Salk, Frank Van Alstine, Big Red Machine, Chadh, scervin, bpape, asi tek, fritz, and many others.

I am going to give this disclaimer now that I am (obviously) not a professional reviewer or photographer.  I am not going to give details about each room because it would take too long and some rooms I would not have much to say about.  This is based on my opinion and we all know that we all hear differently and have different preferences.  No offense is intended to the rooms left out or that I did not enjoy.  Nothing personal and show conditions are very challenging.  I do however like sharing my experience and hearing feedback from others that attended the show.  I met up with AC member Pardales and we hit many of the rooms together.  It was a blast.   Here goes.......

Audio Note:  The first room I checked out this year.  I have read nothing but good things about their speakers and electronics.  I listened to a couple of tracks in this room this year.  They had a large expensive tube amplifier connected to their AN-E speakers I believe.  I had very high hopes for this room and was left puzzled.  I did not find the sound engaging or appealing.  I did not have a strong opinion of this room other than I know their equipment has a stellar reputation and big prices.  I did not go back to this room.


AK Member Squidward:  I don't know a great deal of AK members but I always look forward to seeing what Squidward (Ed) has in his AK member room.  This year he had a different version of the system each time I visited.  This room is always more like at a local audio buddy's home than being at a well attended audio show.  Ed is probably the most welcoming person you could ever meet.  He was running a combination of DIY tube amps he built with a Dave Slagle autoformer volume control and some high efficiency speakers that use a 15" Lambda woofer in a bass cabinet with a monitor placed on top of the bass cabinet.  This system was actively crossed with an Ashley pro sound crossover.  Many AK members are very involved in DIY  The sound was big and bold.  Lots of hard rock or whatever you wanted to hear.  It was pretty crowded in his room and unfortunately I didn't get a chance to take any photos this time.  Make sure you check out his room and meet Ed at future shows.

Arte Forma:  I did not recognize the name when I entered this room.  I was pleasantly surprised to see the Ampino integrated amp I had read about here on AC in several posts by Mariusz.



They win the award for smallest speakers at the show.  I was pretty floored with the amount of sound and bass from Ampino integrated combined with their Ampino speakers.  These speakers are extremely small but put out an incredible amount of bass.  I was searching the room for a sub to find it was only these little speakers.  This is our very own Pardales in the photo.  I am trying to make him the midwest version of Lonewolf for showing speaker size/scale.



Bogdan Audio Creations:  I heard some Pink Floyd in this room and it sounded very nice.  I thought the bass was a little light.  I didn't understand the pairing of his $17,000 speakers which are obviously a labor of love with Sansui amp that is the same age I am (32 years old).  According to the owner the amp was running out of steam on the speakers.  They had a lovely Eton midrange and the biggest RAAL ribbons.



Classic Audio Reproductions:  Huge open sound from these extra large horns.  Atma-sphere electronics were drool worthy     I don't know why but each year when I am in the room I hear music that I have never heard and do not recognize.  I went back a couple of times and each time was the same situation.  Very high quality sound from a complex speaker design.





Big George's Audio Video:  Cool chairs in this room but they were playing sound effects both days I stopped in their room.

Jolida:  Jolida electronics paired with MBL monitors.  This was the only room I heard reel to reel tape playing.  Not my cup of tea.  I will not bother mentioning the pricing.

Kyomi Audio:  George is the gentleman behind Kyomi Audio.  Very nice guy with the most expensive system at the fest by far.  Stealth audio was also a participant in this room.  I did not listen long enough to form an opinion other than the music I heard was very natural sounding and the gear was very unique.  It was pretty crowded.




Grant Fidelity:  It was busy when I was in this room.  It looked like they brought more gear to sell than any other company.  Looked like value priced equipment.  I did not get to listen enough to form an opinion but seems the traffic in the room was a good sign for Grant Fidelity.

Superior Sight & Sound:  Local audio dealer showing Bel Canto electronics with Joseph Audio speakers.  I just cannot warm up to the Bel Canto gear in the different systems I have heard them.  There is no doubt they system was highly resolving but I thought the sound was a bit cool for my taste.  Very nice people and they were streaming music from an Apple.  Other people in the room were really enjoying the sound of the system.  It could just be my ears 

Madisound:  Similar to previous years at AK fest.  I heard a tube integrated with their BK 16 horn kit.  Nice intimate sound.  I picked up my new catalog for 2010 

to be continued.....


 

[nicksgem10s]

ASi Tek, Fritz Frequencies, BSP Audio/ GIK Acoustics : 



Now this is where things got really interesting for me.  I have  to say this was one of the best sounding rooms at the show regardless of price. 

I forgot to mention earlier so this was a later edit.  This was my first chance to hear a system that utilized Kaplan Power cables.  I believe the whole system was wired with Kaplan GS top of the line cables.  They must have done an amazing job because this entire system sounded very good.  Nice work Paul!

ASi Tek (Doug) provided the source for the system which is the Oppo BDP 83 SE version with his statement modification including OTM battery power supply.  This was a pretty incredible source and I am pretty sure it will play any audio and video disc you can find.



Fritz provided his Carbon 7 two way monitors which are very refined and offer incredible value.  I don't know how he achieves the amount of dynamics out of such a small and beautiful package.  No sub required 



Bryan Pape provided the impressive Korato amplifier and the Korato valve preamp with separate dedicated power supply.  The Korato electronics offer the first 40 watts in class A.  I am pretty sure Bryan mentioned that it was operating in class A the entire time and did not need to call on its 340 watts per channel with the efficient Carbon 7 monitors.



Bryan also provided the most beautiful room treatments on the planet from GIK.  No question the room treatment contributed very positively to the overall sound.  The room and treatments make a big difference.





Nate's Audio:  Sorry I didn't get a chance to get photos of the equipment in this room.  Nate's Audio was showing their monitor and their larger speakers.  I only heard the monitors paired with AVA equipment.  The monitors sounded excellent and could be real contenders for those looking for a lot of performance in a small attractive speaker.  I was disappointed that there was conversation intruding on the music the entire time I was in the room.  Shame on me for not making it back to get photos and hear some additional music.  Keep an eye on these folks.  Nice sound for a nice price is not always easy to find.  I promise to listen more next year.

Tyler:  I do not have photos for Tyler's room either.  My bad.  I think he makes impressive speakers.  I did not have enough time in the room to give much of a review.  I know he was running a big tube amp by Jolida.  He makes a range of speakers to fit any audio lover's budget.  Check out his website and many listings on Audiogon.  He is a really nice guy that is happy to talk with guests about his designs and audio in general.

Tom Evans Audio Design:  No photos for this one.  I really should have made it back to this room on Sunday but I ran out of time.  I really enjoyed what I heard on Saturday in this room.  They were playing some great music on this all TEAD system.  I understand he just came out with these speakers which incorporate a full range Jordan driver and an unknown woofer.  His tube amps and vibe preamp were an amazing pairing with his speakers.  The admission price is pretty steep but the sound quality was evident.  I was interested in finding out more about the speakers but found out they were around $10k 

Modwright / Bamberg:  This room had two systems and both offered very interesting sound.  I thought the large system sounded excellent.  I never heard the smaller system.  It was only smaller when compared with the first system.  I had a chance to meet Bamberg and get some explanations about his speaker design.  Impressive build quality on his speakers and the Modwright equipment.  I have a few photos to share.










More later today.....

[Don_S]

I hate to interrupt your report flow but I think you should know what a great job you are doing and how much I am enjoying it.   

[pardales]

I hate to interrupt your report flow but I think you should know what a great job you are doing and how much I am enjoying it.   

Absolutely. Awesome job, Nick. 

[jamesgarvin]

My impressions: The new venue was good news/bad news. Good news: The rooms were bigger, more conducive to setting up audio systems, which would explain the near uniformity in decent sound compared with past years. The bad news, and I heard the same from many exhibitor, is that because there were rooms with systems across the hall, there was more bleed from room to room. They also liked the openess and layout of the Embassy Suites.

They also reported to me that they thought the foot traffic was about the same as last year. The number of attendees were easier to determine at the Embassy Suites because you saw everyone walking on all the floors wherever you were. At the Sheraton, you had no idea who was walking on a different floor, or even on the same floor because of the corridor. I took a lot of photos which I will eventually post on my facebook page, but I am behind there.


I liked, as I do very year, the Audio Note exhibit. Excellent music with excellent equipment. This year saw the North American debut of the CD4.1x disc player. I thougt the Joseph Audio RM25XL sounded great driven by Bel Canto playing Duke Ellington was very good. Excellent balance, and no hint of brightness. I still love the Dynaudio C1 monitors, driven by Octave Audio monoblocs, which look as good as they sound. The Dynaudio X-12 is every bit as agood as Robert Reina wrote in Stereophile. It sounded 75% of the C1 for about 25% of the price.

We also had an unsual cable experience. Zentana cables were in the Audiospace room, using Usher speakers. They did a comparison of three of their speaker cables. I assumed the owner switched the cables in ascending price order. After hearing all three, he asked what we thought. There were about seven people in the room. Both my wife and I liked the second set the best, though, being something of a contrarian, I told him I liked the first cable best. The other folks in the room either did not hear a difference, or were afraid to speak up for fear of embarassing themselves. We were then informed that the third set was the best sounding. So much for subjectivity.

[nicksgem10s]

Parker Audio:  The surprise of the show for me was the Parker Audio room.  I had heard of them online but knew nothing about the sound of their speakers.

I really enjoyed what I heard in their room.  I asked a bunch of questions and made several trips back to their room throughout the show.

The first photo shows their entire system which was mostly tube equipment.  They were using a handmade 7 watt 300b tube amplifier to power both of their speakers.





The larger model called Excalibur uses a 10" driver paired with the AMT tweeter and retails for $3,500.  This is the model that I spent the most time listening to.  I heard a great variety of music including some recordings that I brought with me on Sunday.  This was one of the most musical, non-fatiguing, open, incredibly natural sounding systems I have heard in a long time.  I personally thought it was one of the best sounds at all of AK fest.  I did take the time to hear hard rock as well as girl with a guitar type tunes and everything in between.  I think I was in their room for close to two hours total on Sunday. 

The smaller monitor called the Troll uses a 5 inch driver paired with a custom ribbon tweeter and retails for $600.  This was a complete surprise when I heard it at the end of the show on Sunday afternoon.  They use one sub that has an 8" driver for augmenting the lowest frequencies.  I would have guessed I was listening to an expensive much larger speaker design.  They were also extremely musical and revealing.  It was amazing to me that they can sell these speakers for $600.  I have never heard any speakers close to that price sound the way they did on Sunday afternoon.  They get my budget speaker award.  I would quickly recommend them to someone looking for monitors under $1,000.  The two gentleman from Parker Audio were some of the nicest I met at the show.  I hope they come back to AK Fest in future years.

McIntosh:  They have some of the coolest looking equipment in audio history.  I know they have a following but I have never been moved by what I have heard in their room at AKfest.  I was present for the raffle drawing late Sunday afternoon and the guy that won the McIntosh monitors was jumping for joy.  It was cool to see somebody so excited to win some new gear.  He looked like he bought a lot of tickets so I am glad he was able to reap the reward 

Audio Dimensions:  Harry (owner) was not present when I visited their room.  I only stayed for a couple of minutes as I was in a hurry right then.  Jay was running the room at that time.  They are both very knowledgeable and friendly people.  If you like big panels than this was the room for you.  They also had a big stack of Audio Research gear as usual.

One more writeup (for all the patient Salk and AVA fans) hopefully later tonight.........thanks for the comments.

[emac]

Definitely a fun show.  My wife and I both went, and we had a great time.  So much good equipment.  Anyway, I figured that I would write up the thoughts that my wife and I had from the show, which were pretty much congruent.
Caveats to my thoughts:
1)   I didn’t always write down the electronics in the rooms due to time limitations (so much to see).  I’ve included it when I could. 
2)   I didn’t get a chance to listen to the rooms on the 3rd floor as much as the 2nd.  I was getting tired and it was getting late. 
3)   Just because I don’t write anything about a particular room doesn’t mean that it sucked.  My notes are not complete (some of them simply say “nice sound”, which isn’t sufficient to write up).  Also, there were some rooms where I didn’t spend enough time to form an opinion one way or the other. 

Hits:
1.   SoundScape 10’s w/ Van Alstine equipment: Last year when I heard the SoundScapes, I came away feeling that they were impressive, but missing something.  Couldn’t tell what it was, but they just didn’t sound quite right to me.  This year, at least I can say what it was.  When Jim put on Sarah McLachlan it really did sound very, very good.  Her voice had a lovely decay and there was a great sense of depth and separation between the sounds (which is something that is very important to me).  However, on the next track, Bamboo Forest, it started off well and when the bass came in, it was indistinct and not as potent as I’m used to hearing it.  Likely not the fault of the SoundScapes, probably more of the room.  And I’m pretty confident about that because last year the SoundScapes had good bass.  So, overall I wrote “the potential is there”, though I’d need to hear the SS 10’s again in a different setting before I finalize my thoughts.

[emac]

2.   Parker Audio Excalibur’s: To me, these came out of nowhere.  Never heard of Parker Audio, which advertises their speakers as being “High Efficiency Speakers”.  Anyway, I was very pleasantly surprised at how they sucked you into the sound.  Rich and lovely, detailed and a wide soundstage.  They did a terrific job on both classical and jazz.  I would have considered these to be the best of the show except for the bass.  While the SoundScapes suffered somewhat from indistinct bass, for the Excalibur’s it was seemingly non-existent below 70 Hz or so.  Now, the Excalibur’s use a 10” woofer and they list the speaker going down to 35 Hz, which seems more reasonable.  Must have had some really bad room interactions.  So, I can’t finalize my opinions given the lack of bass.  Definitely a speaker to keep my eye on though.
3.   Usher 6371’s: Really liked these.  Good across the board.  Didn’t get a chance to hear that much music as the person running the room was doing a cable swap (and those cables did make a significant difference).  Bass was “just right” from what I wrote.  Also managed to have a full soundstage even though there were tables on one side of the room.  The one thing I didn’t like was the look of the speakers.  The speaker was white and had wood panels on the sides towards the top.  So, great sounding speaker, and perhaps I would like it more in a different finish, but I don’t know.
4.   Jolida electronics and MBL 121 Compact (pretty sure that is the model number): I was very excited about hearing these.  I really like the my GR Research O-3’s, so I figured I would enjoy the MBL’s even more.  They were running off of a reel to reel, which I’d never heard before.  The system had better bass then I’d expected, had excellent dynamics, and could do horns well (wrote “even better then the HT2-TL’s”, which I thought could do horns very well).  Anyway, at times I thought the sound was congested and it just didn’t come alive the way I’d hoped for them to do so (though admittedly, I had very high expectations for these speakers).  Given that this is a smallish hotel room, and I know that my O-3’s need a lot of space, it was probably the room more than anything else.  Another speaker I would love to hear in a different room.
5.   Bel Canto and Joseph Audio speakers: I believe the Josephs were the RM25XL’s.  Could really get into the presentation, which was both detailed, relaxed, and musical (which don’t always go together).  My wife and I both agreed that we weren’t expecting the system to sound as good as it did.  Obviously, at shows you can never know how much the electronics are contributing to the sound, but I think the Bel Canto equipment was helping out a lot.  Good synergy w/ the Josephs.
6.   David Michael Audio and the Harbeth M40.1: Hadn’t heard any Harbeth’s in the past, but really liked what I heard here.  The word I wrote down and underlined here was “lively” and my wife’s comment was that they had a “live sound”.  Big sound and they were able to do drums very well.  Sounded terrific even down the hallway.  Can’t see how these are “monitors” since they were pretty big and limited WAF.  Good showing though.
7.   Audio Dimensions room w/ Audio Research electronics and Magnepan 1.7’s: I’ve read very good things about the new Maggies, and I can see where people are coming from.  Big speakers with a terrific intimate sound.  So much nuance and just easy to get lost in the sound.  Not really my cup of tea since I prefer a different type of sound (most of what I listen to is electronic music), but I could see where people could fall in love with them.
8.   Superior Sight and Sound room with Rega equipment and Dali speakers: This is the room that my wife and I spent the most time in as both speaker systems were terrific in their own ways.  I’ll start w/ the Dali Helicon MKII (I believe that was the model number) system which was being run by high end Rega equipment.  Best drums I heard at the show, period.  A kick drum finally sounded like a kick drum.  Would be great in a larger room, especially since the soundstage was just the way I like it.
And that brings me to my biggest surprise of the show, the Dali Mentor Menuets.  These are relatively new speakers and are amongst the smallest monitors I’ve seen.  But the sound was big (filled up the room with ease) and easy to listen to.  Just brought whatever music we played to life, bringing a big smile to my wife’s and my faces.  Could simply get lost in the music and listen all day, which is a big requirement for me.  Obviously, these are bass shy speakers (4.5” woofers) but they did a surprisingly good job, only dropping the lowest notes on some of the drum and bass I brought.  There were also dynamics a plenty.  I was amazed at how well these diminutive speakers handled the sound.  Now, please keep in mind, I am NOT a monitor person.  I own a pair of GR Research Paradox 1’s that I use along w/ Extended Response Tweeters (ERT’s) at my computer.  They sound pretty good to my ears.  Other than these, the only other monitors I’ve liked are the GR Research Neo 2x’s.  Well, I have another to add to the list w/ the Menuets.  My wife and I liked them so much we ended up buying them after the show.  So far, I’m in awe of what they are doing in my listening room as I’ve never had any of my systems sound so good.  But I’ll write more about the Menuets at some other point once they are fully burnt in. 
 
I think that about covers everything.  And as I said in the beginning, just because I didn’t cover a room doesn’t mean that it sucked.  I just wrote about what I could write about accurately and appropriately.   

[s_cervin]

Nick,

Was good to see you again this year.  I felt bad being so short, but I was on limited time (had to sneak it in during kids nap time).  I'm so glad you were able to grab pics of the GIK treatments and I can't wait to show the wife.  The pic of the field is great! 

I'm glad to hear the positive response to the TEAD room.  I grew up a couple blocks from Brian and he used to be "the guy" for car audio in HS.  I see him from time to time and at a Gov't Mule show in Nov he mentioned he may have a room after talking with Tom Evans.  The equipment is much to costly for me, but one can always dream!  It sounds wonderful.

Again, fine job and I'm looking forward to reading more!

[Occam]

........
I forgot to mention earlier so this was a later edit.  This was my first chance to hear a system that utilized Kaplan Power cables.  I believe the whole system was wired with Kaplan GS top of the line cables.  They must have done an amazing job because this entire system sounded very good.  Nice work Paul!
....

Nick,

Many, many thank for the Kaplan Cable power delivery mention. The power cords were indeed my current top of the line GS. The dual duplex distribution box was fed from base line HE cord. (I guess I'll have to upgrade it)

Its quite understandable that folks don't really take note of the power cords, as they are, no doubt, the least 'sexy' part of any audio or video system. Hopefully, Brian and Fritz will continue to value their contribution and in the future shows, give the Kaplan Cable power conditioner a whirl.

Thanks again,
Paul

[nicksgem10s]

iRule software: (part of Salk and AVA room)  I had a chance to talk to Etai (very cool guy) the owner of iRule software.  This software looks really impressive and will turn your iPod touch, iPhone, or iPad into the ultimate remote control for your audio, video, security, home automation, and lighting.  I think I will be getting this software in the near future.



Salk Sound and Audio by Van Alstine:  This room is one that I always look forward to because they both just seem to get better and better.  Jim Salk and Frank Van Alstine are two very unique individuals that make an audio match made in heaven.  I feel lucky to be able to listen to their fine equipment each year at AK Fest.

The Salk Sound and AVA room was one of the largest hotel rooms at the AK Fest.  It was large enough to have two separate systems with their own unique large seating areas.

The first time I visited the Salk AVA room on Saturday I had the opportunity to hear the Salk Songtowers and the Audio by Van Alstine Ulimate 70 tube amplifier paired with AVA preamp and dac.  The sound of this combination had some of the best synergy I heard at the show.  The music was flowing in an effortless manner and sounded natural and dynamic.  It was one of the best sounds and certainly one of the best values with both products having real world pricing.






I knew how good the Salk Songtowers are before the show.  The AVA Ulimate 70 tube amp is amazing.  If you are in the market for a new tube amp anywhere near the price of the AVA Ultimate 70 run don't walk to the phone/computer to order one from Frank.  Check this out.





I also had the chance to hear the Salk Archos open baffle speakers with the AVA Ultimate 70.  This is another winning combination.  I am a big fan of open baffle speakers and the Archos did not dissapoint.  This version with the ribbon tweeter was very musical and provided the enveloping sound that only ob speakers provide.  I do not think it would be possible to go wrong with either the Songtower or Archos with the AVA Ultimate 70 





I am going to ask for help from others to chime in with their impressions of the HT2 TL speakers.  I only heard them for a minute but it was not long enough to provide any useful info other than they sounded good.




drumroll please.........

My favorite combination this year at AK Fest 2010

Salk Soundscape loudspeakers with Audio by Van Alstine Ultra electronics.

The Soundscape are the best of both worlds for me.  These fine speakers combine the open baffle midrange with the RAAL ribbon and perfectly tuned woofer/passive radiator combo.  Air, detail, imaging, finesse, authority, etc.  In a word amazing.  How would they sound in my room?   

I hope these photos will answer many questions that people have about the transition between the upper and lower sections of the Salk Soundscape speakers.

























And last of all my personal favorite the man himself.




Thanks to everyone. 

I will try to make some follow up comments tomorrow to those that have posted on this thread.   

[Mudslide]

Nick,

I thoroughly enjoyed your reports and photos.  Many thanks for taking the time and giving the effort to share with us less-fortunates who had to hold down the fort away from the Fest.  Great job.   

RJ

[martyo]

Thanks Nick.

[bpape]

Thanks Nick. Nice writeup.

We had a lot of interest in the Art Panels as well as the Table Traps which weren't even in the room though they were on our brochure. 

Doug's modded BDP-83 SE was quite an eye-opener for me with the battery supply, new clock, tweaked power internals and output stage.  Lots of detail but not too much, solid bottom end, wonderful imaging, etc.   Worth checking out.

I enjoyed myself quite a bit at the show.

Nick,

Many, many thank for the Kaplan Cable power delivery mention. The power cords were indeed my current top of the line GS. The dual duplex distribution box was fed from base line HE cord. (I guess I'll have to upgrade it)

Its quite understandable that folks don't really take note of the power cords, as they are, no doubt, the least 'sexy' part of any audio or video system. Hopefully, Brian and Fritz will continue to value their contribution and in the future shows, give the Kaplan Cable power conditioner a whirl.

Thanks again,
Paul

The low level cables were a combination of Soundstrings and Doug (ASiTek) sliver interconnects.  Speaker cables were Soundstrings.

The power cables were indeed all TOTL Kaplans.  (Paul - looked like the umbillical was the GS too - wrong?)  In any case, we had other options for the power but I know what the Kaplans will do.  Won't be using anything else any time soon.

Bryan

[krikor]

I'm glad to hear the positive response to the TEAD room.  I grew up a couple blocks from Brian and he used to be "the guy" for car audio in HS.  I see him from time to time and at a Gov't Mule show in Nov he mentioned he may have a room after talking with Tom Evans.  The equipment is much to costly for me, but one can always dream!  It sounds wonderful.

Ahhh... a fellow Mule fan. I knew there was a reason I liked that room beyond just the great sound and equipment.  Was that the Royal Oak show?  They've been getting some great acts at that venue recently.

Anyway, thumbs up for the Tom Evans room.  I've always been curious about Jordan drivers given their reputation and following, so it was a treat to hear them in the TEAD speakers.  Mighty fine sounding.  The Jordan is running full range without a crossover and if my notes are correct the woofer is low-passed with just a high-quality inductor.  I always worry that a full-ranger is going sacrifice a bit on top-end extension, clarity and "sparkle" (experienced this with a Fostex design I've used), but these were great from top to bottom.  Very balanced, coherent and open.



Perhaps more impressive are those unassuming black boxes on the floor.  From what I understand, there's some serious tube technology going on inside.  Gotta say I don't need to show off the tubes with a lot of jewelry when things sound as good as they did in that room.  Not my price range, but who knows... someday maybe. 

[chadh]

Nick,

It was great to see you at AKFest.  And thanks for the write-up.

I don't have nearly as many notes from the show as Nick does but, for what it's worth, here are the things I recall.

First, I should say that I thought many of the rooms sounded pretty sweet.  There were only a couple I wanted to leave quickly.  The McIntosh rooms landed in this category.  I'm sure they have great amplification, and innovative source components, but I suspect their speakers and I just don't get along.  There was one other room that drove me out with wild, boomy, uncontrolled bass.  I presume this was more an issue of acoustics rather than quality of the products, though.  What amazed me was how little of this sort of experience I had.  Like I said before, most of the rooms sounded pretty good.

I think the exhibitors, in general, were pretty smart, especially in their choice of material to play.  There was a lot of cleanly produced, sparsely arranged material that always sounded beautiful, but clearly didn't tax the equipment much.  Hence, most systems were really shown in their best possible light.

Some of the highlights for me were...

ASi/Korato/GIK/Fritz

One of the many systems that sounded really nice.  But what made these guys stand out was how beautifully the system integrated.  I don't think I've ever heard a deeper soundstage than these guys generated.  I have no idea whether this was because of the room treatments, the speakers, the power cords, the battery powered source or what.  But the effect here was just great.


Parker Audio

The Excalibur speakers ran a 10" driver full range, and augmented this with the Heil AMT at the top.  This gave a very relaxed, intimate sound which made me think about hours and hours of quiet, late night listening.  I would have walked away even more impressed with this room if I hadn't visited the Audio Note room immediately afterwards.


Audio Note

This might have been my second favorite room of the show.  Everything the Parker Audio room did, the Audio Note room did better (I felt).  But at the $45k + price tag, you'd better be hoping it could perform.  The AN two-way captured the same sort of immediacy and intimacy I love in my single-driver speakers, but did it with way more delicacy and beautiful high frequencies that my speakers just can't match.

The second time I visited the AN room, I was the only visitor.  So I convinced Mr Audio Note to put on some choral music for me.  He smiled, and confessed that he sang in several choirs, but also knew that choral music was usually the fastest way to clear a room at an audio show.  So we both happily listened to a few cuts - in particular, an excerpt from a Palestrina mass (performed by the Tallis Scholars) just sounded heavenly.  The sound seemed to wrap around me completely: I was enveloped in the whole polyphonic event.


Salk/AVA

It's hard to say just how good the various systems were in this room.  The single word that kept springing to my mind the many times I visited was "effortless."  The Soundscape 10s in particular needed barely to breathe in order to fill the room with sound.  Everything sounded pure, and right, whether it was the impressive SS10s driven by some burly AVA amps, or the more modest systems involving the AVA Ultravalve amp.  I had the impression that these systems could do anything anybody could want them to, and do it well.

At the end of the day, though, I think I reserved my greatest wonder for Frank's Ultravalve amp.  At just 35w/channel, it really produced the goods with the 87dB sensitivity, 4 ohm impedance HT2-TLs.  Leaving for home, the biggest question I posed for myself was whether I should consider embracing a more powerful amp than my 5w 13EM7 SET.


Nate Audio/AVA

Frank's Ultravalve was on display here as well.  I heard it paired with Nate's floorstanders (F-27s or something like that).  This was another lovely sounding room.


Classic Audio Reproductions

I've visited this room every year I've been to AKFest, and every year I leave convinced it was the best sounding room.  This year was no different.  It didn't hint at perfection the way the Salk/AVA room did.  But more than any other room, this one managed to get me totally involved in the music.  I was way beyond worrying about any warts the presentation might have.  I was just having a blast listening to anything and everything that came on.  And all I could do was think:  "This is what I want my system to sound like.  I really want to go home and grab my kids and bring them out to hear just how good things can sound."

Given that the refrigerator-sized speakers retail for $36k or thereabouts, and were paired with $6k worth of Atma-sphere amps, it'll be a long, long time before I'll hear anything like this in my house.  But I can certainly say that if I had a spare $40k or $45k in an audio slush fund, this is what I'd be spending my money on.

It's hard to say why I loved this room so much.  Partly it may be because it seemed different from everything else.  They played vinyl all the time - maybe that made a difference.  They played really dynamic music, and played it to impress - no simple arrangements, or concern about pristine productions.  At one stage I left (after being there for half an hour), and then had to walk back in about three minutes later because they were playing Baba O'Reilly.  Then something old, with a sweet boogie-woogie piano started, and it all sounded great.  Earlier, we had a recording by a band called "War" - again, dynamic and elaborate arrangements.  I could practically reach out and touch the congas when the percussionist started making his presence felt.  There were moments where I'd start to think, "wow, the soundstage is so wide and so real to me," but then I'd just forget it and enjoy the music some more.

Anyway, I really loved the sound in this room.  Even when it was so loud that it made the room fixtures reverberate and buzz annoyingly.


A final note of disappointment about a room I had high hopes for:  the Modwright/Bamberg room.  Everyone around here knows the Modwright reputation.  And last year, in a much tinier room, I was really thrilled to hear the Modwright electronics paired with the Bamberg speakers.  This year they had a bigger room (and great cookies!), and really, really dreadful music.  I visited this room about four times and each time I ended up grabbing a cookie and leaving because I just didn't want to listen to the music.  Actually, I'm kicking myself a little for being so narrow-minded about this.  It's not really the fault of the room organizers that I didn't like their music selection.  If I'd been a totally devoted audiophile, I would have sucked it up and marveled at how wonderful the system sounded.  But it was hard when the Classic Audio Reproductions folk were just down the corridor.

Anyway, it was certainly the most fun I've had at one of these things.  I think a lot of that had to do with the way the Salk/AVA room so effectively drew in the AC folk.  I'd wander in and always find somebody milling about - it felt like a home base.  So, my thanks goes to Jim and Frank and everyone else involved for your hospitality.  It was great to see so many people, and swap notes.  I'm looking forward to doing it again next year.

Chad

[ctviggen]

iRule software: (part of Salk and AVA room)  I had a chance to talk to Etai (very cool guy) the owner of iRule software.  This software looks really impressive and will turn your iPod touch, iPhone, or iPad into the ultimate remote control for your audio, video, security, home automation, and lighting.  I think I will be getting this software in the near future.

Finally, a reason to buy an iPad.  However, does it work wireless (that is, without IR)?  That's the only way to have a remote.

It doesn't appear to be wireless:

The iRule can control any Infra Red (IR), RS232 or Ethernet enabled audio video device.

http://www.iruleathome.com/

That's too bad. 

[krikor]

Finally, a reason to buy an iPad.  However, does it work wireless (that is, without IR)?  That's the only way to have a remote.

It doesn't appear to be wireless:

The iRule can control any Infra Red (IR), RS232 or Ethernet enabled audio video device.

http://www.iruleathome.com/

That's too bad.

I don't think the website does a good job of explaining how this works.  As I understand it after talking to the rep, the cool thing is that it is a wireless remote for controlling IR devices (as well as RS232 or Ethernet devices).  You need a small box located by your components, which connects either wirelessly or via Ethernet to your home network (whatever works for you), and then run wired IR transmitters from this box to each of your components sticking the transmitter over the IR receiver on the component.  The configurable remote software... demoed on an iPad but you could use an iPod Touch... then controls these wirelessly from anywhere in your home via your wireless network.



I think the confusing thing is that iRule seems to only provide the software, you still need the hardware to gain wireless control over your IR devices.

[ArthurDent]

nick, emac, chad, krikor - Thanks for the write-ups and photos. Very much appreciated. 

[taoggniklat]

I don't think the website does a good job of explaining how this works.  As I understand it after talking to the rep, the cool thing is that it is a wireless remote for controlling IR devices (as well as RS232 or Ethernet devices).  You need a small box located by your components, which connects either wirelessly or via Ethernet to your home network (whatever works for you), and then run wired IR transmitters from this box to each of your components sticking the transmitter over the IR receiver on the component.  The configurable remote software... demoed on an iPad but you could use an iPod Touch... then controls these wirelessly from anywhere in your home via your wireless network.



I think the confusing thing is that iRule seems to only provide the software, you still need the hardware to gain wireless control over your IR devices.

Too bad the website does not provide information on where to get such hardware. I would love this as a solution if it works.