CES 2003: Which products impressed you?

Hi Vik, thanks for the compliment. That was my rookie attempt at a show review, more like personal impressions.

We were having such a fun time I didn't want to press Gilbert on pricing at the time. I was showing Gilbert and Kevin some examples from my digital retouching portfolio which I was shopping around at the AVN Expo and we were having a good laugh about the befores and afters. I told him I'd send an e-mail with some mod options and see what he thought, then we'd discuss pricing. Once I find out I'll drop you an e-mail. Kevin had mentioned that a fellow wanted to have his BC8 monoblocks modded to have the AG hardwood faceplates and that's what gave me the idea. Apparently, on a whim Gilbert told the guy he could do it. Nothing stops Gilbert, and I guess that's where the purse preamp and high heel monoblocks came from. BTW, they sounded quite good.

Sugarbrie, I was at the Blue Circle both Friday and Saturday. It's possible we were there at the same time. It's great Gilbert figured out who you were without you telling him, after all you are one of his biggest boosters.

Being around Gilbert and Kevin made me very happy to be a Blue Circle owner. I know most people involved in high end audio or most hobbies buy only what performs best, but the people behind the products is also very important to me. People like Gilbert and Kevin make this hobby that much more rewarding. Although they may protest, if any of you Blue Circle fans would like to see a funny picture I took of these two crazy guys, drop me an e-mail and I'll send it to you.

Gaudio_eek, only on rare occasions have I had a chance to compare my hearing and tastes with fellow audiophiles, so I was a bit apprehensive about posting my impressions. It gives me great assurance your experience was similar to mine, now I know I can rely more on the reviews I read on Audiogon and that my ears aren't completely different from others'.

Gumbei, I was at Blue Circle with Gilbert early and late on Friday. I have a couple crazy pictures also. He introduced me to Kevin as Sugarbrie, so Kevin knew also. George Stanwick of Stanalog Audio knew me both as me (I've referred him business) and Sugarbrie, but did not know the connection.

I also liked the sound I heard at Wilson Audio, Quad, Mission, Music Hall, Thiel, Van den Hul, Dr. Hsu's subwoofer demonstration, and many others.

It was also fun to get talk to folks like Bill "Conrad" and Lew "Johnson", Michael Chang (lightspeed), Steve McCormick, A.J. Van den Hul, Richard Vandersteen, Roy (Music) Hall, Dr. Hsu, and the son of Y.B. Andre (YBA) about the Passion Integre.

Gunbei, I took a lot of pictures so I can share them whenever they are available. I could not borrow a digital camera (spent too much on audio!) so had to use my normal camera. Will develop the pictures today and ask for the jpeg copies. I'm quite impressed by the synergy between the Talk Electronics and Spendor. Talk Electronics Thunder 3.1 Balanced also uses the Anagram Technologies chip and software. The new Unico CD player is also incredibly musical and was able to reproduce tons of texture. Wood sounds like wood and metal sounds like metal. Must be the tubes doing their job! It also handles crescendo nicely. Excellent PRAT.

Venture Audio room had the most impressived looking and sounding amplifier and speakers.

The Monster Gamut amplifier was impressived,but not the sound. (with pipe dream speakers)

The best sound was Audio Note KONDO from Japan. MAGIC.