RMAF: My favorites, so-so's, and disappointments


Important caveat: These are my impressions from show condition setups. Some of the best sounding systems can sound like crap under show conditions with their tiny rooms, terrible AC, etc.
I chose these speakers because they moved me emotionally - my most important criteria. My favorates, starting from the best and going down the list.
1. Acapella Triolon Excaliber: The best sound at the show. Dynamics, nuance, imaging, staging, transparency, timbre, coherence, bass extension etc. were all there in spades. Coherence was first rate which is surprising given all the different types of drivers involved - ion tweeters, horns, and conventional cone subwoofer towers. They played a recording of a duet on Steinways that was just amazing - the weight of the pianos were very convincing. Big band music was alive and there with ripping brass section. Only $170k ;-). Oh, BTW they were fed by all Einstein tube electronics costing $100k plus. In most shows, these megabuck systems just sound like crap, but this was the exception.
2. MBL 101E: Have to admit, in the past these guys sounded steely to me. But this was greatly tamed this time. Bass was a bit bloated, but the rest was excellent. Not as good as the Acapella but still enjoyable overal.
3. Usher Be-718: These dimunitive monitors impressed me greatly. Dynamics, imagin/staging, clean highs, nice clear warmish midrange, and a kickass bass (but not much below 40Hz) were surprising. I might get a pair.
4. Pioneer S-1EX: Surprise, surprise. Pioneer has come a long way with injection of TAD expertise. Very enjoyable because it was alive and dynamic. Imaging, staging, bass, and midrange was great as was the coherence except for a little zippy high end.
5. YG Acoustics Kipod and accompanying subwoofer: Very clean, pinpoint imaging within a large stage, excellent dynamics, and clean bass. Doesn't do subterranean bass. Given it's $40k+ pricetag, should go lower. But I liked it better than the bigger Anat Reference.

The so-so's, in no particular order.
1. Rebuilt Duetta's with Graz's ribbons: I'm an Apogee fan, having owned the Stages and Centaurs in the past. Although very pleasant with nice tuneful extended bass, smooth midrange and highs, it just wasn't dyanmically alive. The drumb solo was nice, but it didn't get me emotionally. I've heard Duetta's do better at shows. May be it was the Audio Research electronics that mellowed the sound to the point of Valium induced laisse faire. Or may be it needed vinyl or a bigger room. I hope better luck with the new Graz's Duetta.
2. Analysis Audio 4 panel system: Did not fair any better than the Duetta above, although 4x the cost. This is strike 4 for the Analysis Audio speakers - I have never heard them sound good, albeit all at shows.
3. Advanced Ribbon Technologies Metro: Again smooth and nonirritating, but no dynamics at all. My least favorite of the the ribbon bunch.

The disappointments:
1. Beveridge G3 electrostat hybrid: I was really looking forward to hearing these. Was this worth the $50k asking price? NO! At least not what I heard in that coffin rooom. It was claimed to be reach 115dB. Heard a recording with lots of percussion, it started to compress when multiple drums with all the instruments congealing when played at volumes approaching 100dB. The timbre of the intruments were bland, homogeneous. Everything sounded a bit foggy, not the transparency I'm used to from the best electrostats. Low bass was absent. The subwoofer is a TL that goes flat to 30 Hz, but I swear they must have turned it off. Organ music has low bass as a foundation that all other notes builds upon, but I didn't get that from the Beveridge.
2. Scena RLA speakers: Murky, bloated, and dead. Don't remember the amps but the source was the Nova Physics Memory Player. I couldn't wait to get out of the room after 30 seconds.

Some may agree and some may disagree with me like I was your mother-in-law. But hey these are JUST my opinion.
dracule1
My favorite moment was meeting the famous Guidocorona at Garcias Restaurant on Friday evening.
Jig,

Thank you for the kind words on the room. Hotel rooms are fun to get realistic, tight bass in, even with the room EQ that the Sonciweld system allows.

To my ears as well, the Pulserod "system" is amazingly transparent, musically involving and just "right". I, too, have been emotionally moved many times by listening to music through the system. And, to an old audio dog like me, that really says something.

The system is $99k.

Duke,

Thank you for the plug as well.

Your new speaker is pretty incredible. Although I only was able to listen for a minute or so, I was impressed with the ease of presentation and overall "rightness" to the sound.

Your line, top to bottom, has "got it going on".

Johngp,

The subs (Subpulse) weigh in at about 250lbs, or so, and the towers (Pulserod) come in around 65lbs. I've lifted those subs now more times than I care to count...they don't get any lighter with time.

The system is quite an amazing build and all of the machining is done in house by the designer, Josh Heiner. Check out his website if you are so inclined.

While I am not Josh from Sonicweld, we always exhibit together and I custom design all of the cables and power devices for the system. He is also my dearest and closest friend, so feel free to take my enthusiasm for his product with a grain of salt.

Peace,

Lee
Anyone get a chance to listen to the Linn demo on the mezanine floor? They did a demo 16 and 24bit demo that was i thought was jaw dropping on their flag ship system. I just wanted to know if anyone had a chance to hear it and how you thought it compared to other outstanding systems at the show.
Excellent show this year. Many rooms dealt well with making their gear sound good in a hotel room.

While there was very good to excellent sound coming out of Mbl, Gershman, Usher, Dali, and others, I am really surprised that no one has commented on the brand new Acoustic Zen speaker, Crescendo.

I visited this room several times both on Friday and Saturday in the process of comparing my favorite rooms. The sound of the Crescendo was good on Friday, but absolutely stunning the next day. It turns out that the speaker was brand new, essentially never haven been played before.

By Saturday afternoon it was, to me, the best sound at the show, especially considering that it was in the smallest of rooms. I would enjoy hearing the impressions of others that visited this room.

My impressions: musical, fast, dynamic, accurate, and full range (20-30,000 Hz). Compared with another really great and much larger room, I thought the Mbl 101E sounded a little bright and harsh on the top end relative to the Crescendo.
Kmellette
I have to agree. There were several very good sounding speakers/systems in not the best of of room conditions there. I didnt have the time to visit all rooms but my favorite rooms were Linn, AV123 and AV123 home theater, ACI, Moscode/Quad,MBL, Ayre,Bat/Wilson,Dali,Kharma, Jaton/Greenmountain. But for the money, other than Jaton and ACI were the Accoustic Zen room. Wow! They had them set up with the not so cheap Halcro gear and it was mind blowing amazing. There was another room a japanese manufacture of tube amps that had very good sound too. I can't remember the name but they are starting to make an impact for themselves as they have won numerous awards at recent shows for best sound. They had tiny stand mount speakers that were mind blowing good for their size.