Too busy catching up at work for a full report. Quick impressions...
A huge thank you from Paul and me to Larry and Steve for the A'gon receptions at "Garcia's". Friday night was great, Saturday night was better! I got to meet many A'goners for the first time. I didn’t know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve!
BEST COMPONENTS
Win's (Mosin's) Saskia turntable. WOW! I expected a lot and it's much better. We brought an LP specifically chosen to reveal certain shortcomings which we'd predicted. The Saskia proved us wrong by playing it beautifully. Macrodynamic pace and microdynamic timbre were both rock-steady through transients of every description, the best speed performance of any table I've heard. Win's beauty deserves a better arm and cartridge than it had, nothing but the best in fact. My vote for Best Component in Show. I'd only want to hear it in a quiet environment with top class companions before saying it's completely worth the rather impressive asking price.
Reinhardt Thoress' 300B mono amps (in the Highwater Sound room). New to me, but they made extraordinary music.
Odeon Speakers (being driven by the above amps), a completely involving musical performance from very small floorstanders. Proof again, if it were needed, that efficient, easy to drive speakers and a great low powered amp are the key to clarity and musical honesty.
Audio Kharma speakers (here and there). If only they did bass, they do everything else so well.
BEST ROOMS
Highwater Sound (room 1116), with the Thoress amps, Odeon speakers plus Thomas's TW-Acustic Raven and four tonearm/cartridge combos. Fully integrated sound, slightly softer than a Kharma or a screen but not so much that we objected, and fully engaging on each of our three visits. A room worth coming back to. Paul's vote for Best Room in Show.
Oswaldsmille Audio (room 464), with Win's table, Schroeder Model 2 + Soundsmith Voice (this table deserves much better), a little Tectron amp and the only large horn speakers Paul and I have ever been able to tolerate. Not only did we tolerate, we stayed for nearly two hours, more time than we spent in any other room.
INTERESTING STUFF
Nordost Quantum QX2 and QX4 power circuit treatments/conditioners/thingies. We're still puzzling out how they work, but work they do.
MISSING STUFF
Wish Coincident speakers had been there. Something I haven't heard but want to.
OTHER STUFF
Room after room that sounded boring, wretched or downright painful. Paul's long time fantasy of buying a certain speaker was shattered: we heard it in three rooms, ran screaming from all three. Somebody must enjoy them.
BIGGEST/SADDEST MYSTERY
I know show conditions are tough, but why would a premier speaker manufacturer whose products I know are good, plus a premier electronics manufacturer whose products have impressed me in both my system and others, showcase their elite models using a mid-market CD player. I suppose some other arrangement must have fallen through, but they should have begged, borrowed, bought or stolen one of the umpteen top shelf digital players floating around the hotel. As it was, they spent a fortune on the largest ballroom in the show to demonstrate the ability of superb electronics and speakers to reveal the inadequacies of a third rate CDP. High hopes going in, very sad going out (about 30 seconds later).
MOST FRIGHTENING
Frighteningly expensive speakers that looked like robots on LSD, and sang like them too.
MOST FUN
Meeting so many of my friends, dinner with Tim (Piedpiper), watching Paul get schnockered at Tri Mai's free single malt reception (now that's a class act), seeing Chris Brady's new tonearm and hearing his enthusiastic explanation of some of its features, watching Thom and DocSavage not panic on Thursday night when he realized the phono stage they'd just delivered was in fact a line stage and he couldn't play anything but a 60hz hum, learning that Vacman, Dave Slagle and another guy we met are near neighbors so we can trade visits, discovering there was a Starbucks in the lobby so I didn't have to drink the so-called coffee in the restaurant at breakfast, sleeping in on a weekday, chatting with other audio geeks while waiting for the ever stalled elevators, etc........
Great time! Thanks to all who make it possible.
