LA Show Report

Beautiful weather , relaxed atmosphere and friendly attendees made this show one I will remember fondly.This was an audio show primarily but the presence of Blu `ray was IMO , nice . I really want this format to survive. The Blu- Ray demonstration was promising and seemed poised for an agressive advertising attack .I was ambigously told that the start time up from disc insertion to play was far faster than the Hd Dvd which is a relief. The 120 inch projection demo looked pretty terrific overall.The Wilson 7 surround system was very good too.
Speaking of them , in another room ,Wilson showed the new Watt Puppy 8 which employs the tweeter found in the Maxx 2. What seems clear to me is that the company is progressively and steadily creating more natural sounding loudspeakers. The demonstration , presented by Dave Wilsons son and employing top tier Audio Research tube monoblocs and the Ref 3 was engaging and informative.The speakers are simply more of what the 7 brought to the table and it appears to me that this company is under intelligent design teams and moving in a tightly controlled direction. Dave Wilsons wife was there meeting and greeting and the woman is simply beautiful and graceful. All in all , Wilson is a class act.

Once again , for me , the best value was the Hyperion speaker. The flagship HPS-938 with 94 db effeciency , 6 ohm nominal ohm load and first order crossover struck me as pretty seamless as well as dynamic and open yet never strained or harsh . It was effortlessly being driven by a 17 wpc SET. For 6 k , this is the one to beat IMO.
Studio Electric was showing the Type One loudspeaker . It looked like a Mangar driver, head finished in chrome but wasnt. It also looked like a chrome B&W but wasnt. So what was it ? Clear and controlled in the midrange for sure . Female volals just jumped out at you . I liked it alot.

Like CES this year , the VR 4 Jr setup was excellent offering a sound that belied its size and stature. It was nearly butted against the model 5 but didnt seem to be smothered sonically . They offered a wide deep rich soundfield and palpable , natural midrange . Nice , once again for me.
I spent some time talking to Richard Bird of Rives Audio . He is so much younger than I would have imagined.We talked of his involvement in Mike lavignes incredible project and his enthusiasm for how it turned out was all over his boyish face. Make no mistake however, this is a focused intelligent designer and his contribution to our industry has no peers.
Dynaudio was showing in many rooms and the sound was always detailed , lightning quick and dynamic as hell. This speaker company has it together.They were showing the C4 with the Moon gear in one room which is simply gorgeous . The chrome exterior and large blue LED read out was worthy of being in an Art gallery. I think the Andromeda was the source in here and sounded excellent.
My friend Darren Censullo of Avatar Acoustics was at the show again .I can not say enough about him on a personal level. IMO , he is a consumate professional with a good eye for outstanding products. His honesty and enthusiasm , his intelligence and proactive nature make him someone I really look up to. I really feel he represents our industry with class and respect. We need all the Darren Censullos we can get to keep our industry alive and vital. Also , his ability to set up and tune a room is inspiring to me personally. Showcasing the new DynaStation 2 cd player, the sound was a breath of digital fresh air. . The new model now uses NOS Telefunken tubes and the sound was very natural and analog sounding. His Karan amps were also standouts offering a sound for the Ascendos that were image precise and unrestrained . His music collection is reason enough to search his rooms out year after year and I found myself scrambling to find a pen to write down many of his selections which were often exotic and obscure to me. As usual , he tunes the room with Frank Changs Resonators.
Everyone who is anybody at least respects Mcintosh. Anyone who forgot the Mac room this year needs Hospice. Simply Drop... Dead ... Gorgeous. The MC2KW 2000 watt Monoblocs were sexy sexy sexy. Stacked in colums between their XRT2K loudspeakers , I was struck at the complete freedom from the room boundaries and lack of glare at bone crushing levels. This new gear and this room , I will never forget.
It was an honor to meet Rick Schultz of Virtual Dynamics this year. Everywhere his cables were present , you remembered the sound as non fatiguing and uncompressed. Also the Tara Omega cables sounded beautiful in my all time favorite room year after year : the MBL room . I met Wolfgang this year and am struck by his genuine concern for the expression of " musicality " within the performance of a system . He never mentioned soundstaging .I got the impression that this is a brilliant man that cares about his product. His rooms are always contenders for best sound of the show year after year.
Speaking of excellent sounding rooms , The ESP Concert Grand room was arguably the best sound at the show this year . It could have been the most artistically tasteful as well. The sound was huge but with lazer focus . The soundstage was 10 feet behind the speakers and offered a glimpse into Seans design genius.The man himself was here this year and his enthusiasm was infectious. The new Concert Grand is indeed a colossal leap in performance over his earlier designs.

Other notable sounds for me were the Nola , Vandy 5 - ARC rooms as well as Ray Kimbers B&W demonstration room .

Vinyl was everywhere and played side by side in all but a few rooms.The 4th floor Rockport room was the best for me but Clearaudio,Kuzma , and Basis tables were in many rooms.

In conclusion , the show highlight was the lecture by Steve Hoffman . The faces of the attendees were like watching a room full of lottery winners.

Great show to all that bypassed it . You missed a ton of audio fun.