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And it gets better! Pez is not even out of the room and he's telling me (within earshot of the room reps) "Man, can you believe how bad this room sucked!" Jeez, people say I lack tact!
I can't remember the exact history of the Vivid designer, but suffice to say he has a stellar and extensive record of successful, innovative speakers. Apparently the V1.5 is made with an integrated stand to the floor or a flat pedestal allowing the user's own stand or placement on a shelf, table, etc.One acquaintance is familiar with my old French ASA Pro Monitors, and remarked the V1.5 have a rare combination of "timbral accuracy and timbral beauty". He also placed them above such premium pieces as the Wilson Benesch A.C.T. (U.K., not to be confused with Dave Wilson, a mix of exotic materials including W.C.F. enclosures) and a very rare Australian speaker with sealed woofer alignment. For the technology and promised performance they seem to be very moderately priced. Certainly they lack the first octave and head banging SPL, but that might be all they lack. No idea about the load characteristics. I've heard and enjoyed the hugest MBL omnis at CES, but they normally play too loud there; it would be great to hear the smaller models and at more normal levels.
Pics for ltr317, sorry Paul couldn't figure out a better way to do this for you!http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4089/5091612541_d753a9d99c.jpghttp://farm5.static.flickr.com/4144/5091613049_b27cbf8d46.jpghttp://farm5.static.flickr.com/4126/5091613777_6e9814ca97.jpghttp://farm5.static.flickr.com/4087/5091614259_f296e0668c.jpghttp://farm5.static.flickr.com/4145/5092212724_876b6e604c.jpghttp://farm5.static.flickr.com/4145/5091615073_c9192bb586.jpghttp://farm5.static.flickr.com/4110/5091615801_860ec7a744.jpghttp://farm5.static.flickr.com/4103/5091616203_a98003b356.jpghttp://farm5.static.flickr.com/4128/5091616779_ca2b6d25cb.jpghttp://farm5.static.flickr.com/4107/5092216068_e8682899c6.jpghttp://farm5.static.flickr.com/4133/5092216450_5c6f9109a3.jpghttp://farm5.static.flickr.com/4148/5092217234_20f96c95d7.jpghttp://farm5.static.flickr.com/4153/5091619685_df4a69e26d.jpghttp://farm5.static.flickr.com/4131/5091620115_fc50b6bc46.jpgHe will be on later of course to add comments.I will be on later as well, but I have to tell you, I am exhausted. I'll probably be posting tomorrow. Until then I believe Tyson is working something up.
Sometimes people remove their own posts.
OK, Saturday is a game changer for me in the high end audio realm. We'll start with the normal stuff and get to the extraordinary at the end. Actually, as I think about Saturday, HOLY CRAP what a huge day it was. I can't believe the number of good to great rooms we heard. Like I said earlier, RMAF this year ROCKED!!! I'll try to hit the highlights here.GR Research - Went back to see how things had changed since Friday. HOLY CRAP the bass on the V1's was out of this world. By far this was the best bass of any room of the entire show. In fact, it's the best bass production of anything I've heard anywhere in my entire life!! The mids were also excellent. But the tweeters were too hot for my tastes, and I thought the room was a bit too bright overall. I think there is an easy fix for this (reticulated foam in the tweeter horn throat), but I don't think Danny had a chance to try it at the show. Fritz Speakers - The thing I love about this room (besides the super-cool proprietor), is that they don't try to be something they are not. Very good sound, even, balanced, and incredibly musical. If someone asked me to recommend a bookshelf speaker that was great quality, this would be it.Marantz Room - Marantz, meh.Linkwitz Orion - One of the great white hopes. Based on the buzz (and my own logical reasoning), I expected to love this room. I do have to say that meeting Linkwitz was a true honor. But if I am honest I must note that I do not like the metal midrange SEAS driver. The bass was too strong. However, them imaging was incredible, as only open baffle speakers can do. Overall it's really close to the best ever sound, but the signifigant gaps really need to be addressed before that can happen.Jones Amps - A room with speakers that have metal drivers? And SS amplification? Oh no, I am covering my ears already! But, surprisingly they sounded very, very mellow and quite involving/relaxed. Clearly they truncated dynamics, but I am perfeclty OK with that trade off for the smooth sound they produced.YG Acoustics - Sounded terrible last year, and sounded "meh" this year. From bad to mediocre is still an improvement.AudioKenesis - Finally! A room to write home about. Meeting Duke was a pleasure, and his speakers were truly musical. Very good dynamics and tonality and great imaging. Loved, LOVED his demo/explanation of multiple ports on his speakers and their "high end" plugs JBL Horn - I forget the name of the model, but I do know that they are FAR better than the much more expensive models we will hear on Sunday.Tri-Audio/Acoustic Zen - My vote for best sound at show, bar none. Imaging to die for, and gets to the soul and heart of the music more effortlessly thann anything else I've heard over the last three days. $6k for a friggin 845 SET with 20 watts on tap? You gotta be kidding me!!! Ah, lest I forget, THE most transparent speakers at the show (too bad they sounded crappy):German Physics - The little brother of the last room. I actually think I liked these better than the bigger GP's. Better mid bass and the same awesome highs and imaging.Lonely Orphans Feeling No Love - No comment necessary:Magico Room - Mediocrite personified.Dynaudio C4 - My vote for biggest improvement year over year. Last year the Dynaudio room was terrible. It was the Consequence Ultimate model and it was absolute sh!t. I mean, WTF were they thinking, this is a seriously flawed and stupid concept. But, this year they bring out the Confidence C4 which is a GREAT speaker. And they hook it up with a tube amp!!! Couple that with dual dac's (YES, DUAL DAC's, you heard that right) from Wadia over a very good music server and you have great, great sound. My vote for 2nd best overall sound at show (caveat - the music sever was awesome but the CD transport was mediocre at best).Salk Speakers - OK, truth time. Last year I simply hated the Salk room - the combo of bright ribbon tweeter and metal midrange simply drove me out of the room. I didn't say anything at the time because I'm a gentleman. I'm very happy to report that the circular crappy ribbon tweeter has been replaced with a RAAL tweeter this year. This is a SUBSTANTIAL improvement!! For me personally, the SALKS are still not quite my preferred flavor, but the sound did not drive me out of the room. In fact, listening to how coherent and detailed they are from top to bottom, combined with the absoletly STUNNING cabinet work and craftmanship on them, I'd give them the "FLOORSTANDING SPEAKER BARGAIN OF THE SHOW" award. IMO, Salk speakers really need to break away from the mid-fi AVA gear and start showing with true high end gear to really show what they are capable of. I know Jim and Frank are probably friends, but business is business.GR Research (again) - OK, the V1's kick the sh!t out of my V2's from a bass standpoint. In fact, I will go further. The V1's with their dual parallel active servo subs kick the sh!t out of EVERY speaker I have ever heard in my entire life. Stunning, awesome, incredible, jaw dropping.... I simply run out of superlatives. Mids on this day are also very, very good. But, the highs are even brighter and more shouty today. It's a single flaw but it really bothers me, particularly since my V2's don't have this balance at all (they are NOT bright). I have a theory about the cause of this, but you have to read my V2 build thread to find out what it is Again, Danny is an absolute pleasre to talk to and work with, and the value he offers is off the scale. Nothing speaks louder than someone voting with their wallet, and of all the possible speakers I could invest in, I went with the V2's and I'm still absolutely, completely happy with them.Von Schweikert Audio - OK, before last year at RMAF I'd never heard or seen a VS speaker in real life. My impressions last year were that they were tiny (hobbit-like) speakers that sounded very bad indeed. I did not post that during my show report, because I do not like to bad mouth manufacturer in general, and particularly not ones that are clearly making an attempt to push the envelope of design for their products. But the fact is, I didn't like the VS room at all. But this year? Complete 180. The VS room was musical, soulful, beautiful and involving. Of course, having 45 watts of Cronzilla SET amp power driving your tower speakers does NOT hurt, IMO B&W 802 Diamond - Better than the stock 802, but the massive sibilance still makes them suck.Grant Fidelity - Very good sound and amazing case work on the equipment for a very modest price. Black Treasures all around (which are the BEST tubes you can get - too bad I blew a quad of KT88's and I did not get the warrantee, so I'm screwed). Nola Audio - yes, open baffle can actually suck!!Avalon and Rowland - Hey, here's a great idea, let's put a bunch of our really expensive sh!t on passive display so that NO ONE can listen to it! Yeah, that's a f'ing brilliant idea!Win Audio / Rockport - One of the rooms that really was amazing last year and took a huge drop this year. I don't care how big your tube amp is, it should NOT be driving this speaker full range. Oh, and I disavow knowing any of these losers in the photo.Music and Arts - Amazing room!!!!!!!!!!!!! When audiophiles say "it's all about the music", this room is what they mean!!!!! Too awesome for words, so I won't even try. Buy every recording he makes, you won't be sorry! And his speakers/system was super simple, but incredibly musical and involving. As an alternative to a "lifestyle" system, it simply kick's @ss. Even judged on an absolute scale it is very, very impressive.Aperion Audio - This room, from a sound quality standpoint, gives the Salk room a serios run for the money with regard to value. At least the tower speakers do (at $1700). The bookshelf speakers are pretty meh, but the towers sound very good for very little outlay. Ultimatley I'd go with the Salks becuase of their stunning cabinetry, but the Aperions sound more mellow and would be a good rec for non-audiophiles that just want something that "sounds good".Fritz Speakers - Ah, finally a bookshelf speaker that I can write about! I find I simply dislike small speakers becuase they sound small, or they are bright and irritating, or they simply lack a sense of scale that I love. But not here! Fritz is a MASTER designer and his speakers sound incredibly musical and involving. Always a man to take the less beaten path, he ignores fashion and picks components that simply make beautiful music. I love the fact that these speakers never try to be more than a bookshelf speaker, but rather they simply are the best bookshelf speaker that can be.
Duke's new speakers might be my pick at just over that price point. Easy to drive. Non-bipole version is less but they weren't at the show. A bigger room would probably do them more justice but very nice overall.
No, BS you're both wrong. The Berning Amp performed admirably on the Daedalus speakers with the Ulysses. The freakin Atmaspheres were solely to blame and that is the end of it. You can argue that it was a "bad match" but wow, 4 out of 4 rooms I listened to with Atmaspheres were a "bad match"? Damn what are the odds? And also LOL! Putting OUTPUT TRANSFORMERS into a OUTPUT TRANSFORMER-LESS tube amp? That's like eating a tortilla with a naked burrito.
Dude, seriously, the DESIGNER of the Atma's was in the room working on them. If there was anything needed like the autoformers, don't you think the f'ing designer would have insisted on them?
Empirical Audio - The Salk Soundscapes and the BPT power conditioners also shared this room. What can I say, Steve has GREAT taste in music Several tracks of Mahler and I'm a very happy boy! Now, understand that I am a dyed in the wool tube guy, and this system is completely solid state. To make matters worse, I absolutely hate metal and ceramic midrange drivers. Of course the Soundscapes use a ceramic mid with an all SS system in front of them. Oh, you can hear me groaning to myself already! How did it sound? Suprisingly good!! While I would prefer a richer tonal balance (being a paper driver and tube guy), I thought the soundstage depth and separation was outstanding, and the overall coherence was also very impressive. I might not be an SS/Ceramic guy, but for those people that are, this is the system for you!!! Details out the wazoo and the speakers did not sound "short", even though they are physically short.
I spent a decent amount of time in the Rogue room because a friend was interested in the OMA turntable and the mono cart (forget the brand of cart) and was also high on my list with the Revel Salon speakers. I heard a mono version of Ben Webster's Soulville in this room and it was some of the best music I heard. I never heard Rogue gear before RMAF and I was impressed with the sound. A number of rooms were real peaky and this room was not. I was talking to one of the guys manning the room and he said they spent a lot of time setting up the room and it paid off imo.
The mystery speaker #1 is the Coincident Pure Reference Extreme (T) speaker. It is $26k. It is supposed to be good but for 26 it should be. The sensitivity is 94 db.How did they sound?Bob
WOW! I've been looking for a pair of Atma-Sphere amps...now you got me nervous. Zybar has a pair of MA-1's and loves them. I've never heard someone so negative about them.
A big thank you to all for the outstanding coverage. I have seen a couple of mentions of Revel and Wilson. How did they stack up to the Salks, Vandys and C4s???
Hearing chairguy get drunk off his ass and go on and on about how spectacular the mushrooms are was immensely enjoyable. And hearing woodsyi chew out both the manager and the wine guy to their face was absolutely priceless!!!
