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Thoughts from THE Show, is $29k the new $10k?

Had another enjoyabe brief one day visit to THE Show, Newport Beach last weekend. Great to see so many fellow hobbiests, and great gear. Went in search of speakers; here is a brief and disjointed summary of my impressions:
Many vendors were focusing on the $25-32k range; with most for sale around $29k as an entry point to 'quality'.
Rockport showed their new entry, $29k speaker in the Atrium. Had great balance; was warm, detailed, and engaging. First show presence for dealer; nice guy. My first experience with Rockport; was very impressed.
Eficion: at the Hilton; wow; for $16k I think it gives Wilson a run for its money with the Sophia; its AMT ribbon tweeter had great crystal highs, and its large woofer filled the room with satisfying bass, I enjoyed it.
BMC: nice gear; their $32k speakers had dipole arrangement; with both front and rear firing speakers; very engaging, huge sound stage, and great low end response. Paired up nicely with their amp/dac
YG: brought my own CD; so I was familiar with what was possible; initialy liked their sound;but in the end found it a bit 'dry', and brittle; and not totally enjoyable, this was at at least three different rooms showing their speakers.
Wilson Shasha's in the Brooks-Barden room; always a treat; enjoyed their room treatments, and professionalism, nice analog set up. Warm, detailed, lovely, and engaging.
Ventures: wow, very expensive; and very large...but totally engaging; great integration, warm, detailed, expansive sound stage, great bass, huge open subtle nuance on female voices...
Ayon: liked their Lumen White's better last year, than their own speaker line this year, but great amps and dac.
Found the KEF blades a bit disappointing, surprised at how large they are in person.
Enjoyed the TAD speakers again this year, well balanced, integrated very well.
There was a 'curved' line array speaker; I forget its name that also was quite good, interesting design, but filled the room with great sound; no glare.
The Veloce gear, with its battery source was extremely 'quiet' and detailed, and enjoyable.
Surprised how many room utilized the Synergistic Research ART treatments...hard to tell how it improved things; but can't argue with the results.
Too much to see and listen to in one brief day. Curious to hear from other members their take....I know you don't need to spend so much to get quality sound, but so many vendors showing off their $29k speakers made me want to chuckle; and take out a home loan...also thought the digital and computer audio was getting very close now to the analog rigs.
Love having this showcase in our backyard on the west coast; and will contiue to support and attend. Kudos to Bob Levi; and his team at LA/OC audio society; another great job; and Tierney Sutton singing on Friday night was an extra special treat.
mribob
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,999 posts
 
"Many vendors were focusing on the $25-32k range"

Can a show targeting consumers in Newport Beach/Orange COunty California possibly be regarded as indicative of the world in general? No doubt this show would be targeting the high concentration of ultra rich in that area accordingly.

Obviously, any viable product in that price range should perform exceptionally. Personal taste becomes the main discriminating factor. Also room size. You need bigger more expensive speakers and amps to listen loud and lifelike in larger rooms, but for most, a smaller less expensive system can do exceptionally well, in many cases as good or better than larger or more expensive gear.

OF course, if one is continually looking to do better, the tendency will be to spend more over time I suspect. But I often wonder if a compare between what one has after years and many more $$$S on the constant upgrade path could be made with what they had a few years back, how much better would the latest and greatest really be?

What I find works for me is to listen to as much live music and the best reference systems as I can. Then do what is needed to my gear to attempt to match. Once I get to the point where what I hear at home does not leave me wanting further, based on the reference sounds I have heard, I mostly stop or certainly slow down and think a lot before changing anything.
polk432
1,142 posts
 
I have that kind of money, and will never be foolish to pay that much. Nobody benefits but the sellers of these products. I've met many salesmen that could not afford to buy the exact items they sell, and most of them agree, the prices are not worth what you get. OTOH if you have the money to burn, go ahead.
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,999 posts
 
ALso, when I upgrade, I try to do it one reasonably small step at a time. That provides a better chance of getting it right and retaining value without overspending.

Once you dump megabucks into that one silver bullet upgrade, cost being no object, it is hard to go back, finances permitting.

From fast food, to health care, colleges, movies, to "Real Housewives" to high end audio, I suppose bigger, better, more is often the American way. Its a big reason why we are where we are these days. Too much of the wrong kinds of progress that often benefits few and might actually harm many. Hopefully we have learned something and are largely past this at this point with the homes we live in. Why not audio as well?

Is this heresy to express on a high end audio site? I hope not. "High End" can be a relative and not absolute thing I hope.
audiofreak32's avatar
audiofreak32
281 posts
 
Agree with Polk432...

Too many speakers (and other gear), that is hidiously over-priced. Magico is one that comes to mind... unecessarily over-built and over-priced as a result. All the "guts" of that speaker IS NOT NEEDED to create good sound.

If you like them and are happy to pay $25k for a pair of "entry level" monitors, great. But for us "normal" people that have household incomes of $75-$125k, spending that much on a single component is just plain foolish.

There are excellent monitor speakers out there for $3k to $6k new and even less on Audiogon. If you think that Magico monitors sound $20k better, you may want to check you priorites - no matter how much money you have to piss away. I have heard Magico and was not impressed nearly enough to warrant those kind of prices.
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,999 posts
 
"If you like them and are happy to pay $25k for a pair of "entry level" monitors, great"

Well, they are no doubt expensive and well built, but not sure I'd consider them "entry level" just because they are relatively small, if not light. They do what they do (not everything) pretty well and monitors including these are a good size for many urban dwellers with limited space.

I wonder, at the Newport show, were there any vendors with lower cost gear running any demos comparing their stuff to the bigger boys? That would make things a lot more interesting to me.
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