I went to THE show and didn't make any friends ...


Hi Everyone!

I know absolutely noone is waiting on my show report, but to help others hear where I am coming from, I thought I would post my notes and drama anyway. I was only able to spend half a day and here are my thoughts:

The last show I went to was in Oakland and it was sponsored by Pass and ASC. For my ears, a bad combination. I’m just not a Pass fan, and the ASC traps made every room sound like they played exactly the same bass note and one treble note all the time. This show was much smaller, and no such sponsorhip, so the sound in each room had a lot more variety.


Best value of the show goes to Fritz and Wyred4Sound. They also took the most care with the room acoustics. For the total system cost, around $15k, I thought it was really good, but the treble balance was hot for me, as were most of the displays I heard.


Best sound: Audio Concepts room playing Vandersteen Quattro’s’ with Vandersteen amps and a tube pre I forgot the name of. Of course, this was a $45k system. $15k speakers, $15k amps and goodness only knows the turntable and amp.


Unlike previous shows, the ESL’s acquitted themselves well. The Martin Logan and Sander’s ESL’s had some of the best balanced responses to my ears, with the Sander’s having among the best imaging (in exactly 1 chair). I like Roger and his speakers, but man, his taste in electronics is basically the same as Julian Hersch’s. Technically OK without being emotionally involving, or relaxing. The opposite, it put my ears on edge. Perhaps the digital crossover and room EQ they were using?


Other rooms with great imaging included the Brooks Berdan room with the Magicos, the large Legacy conference room, and the Thrax Spartacus demo room. The later had really good mid to treble balance, but was a bit chesty on vocals.

The award for most pretentious goes to the room demoing monitors and the short bald guy who tried to aggressively stare me down for politely asking if he could step six inches to the side so he wasn’t blocking his own demo. Hilarious.


erik_squires
Btw I serve Davis Family Vineyards Pinot and cheese from Tip Top meets, both local California products.... just like the alarm clock....
@erik_squires   Funny how, like Keith R stated, ears are different! IMO, the Vandy room was a total loser. No definition in the highs, wooly and out of control bass that sounded like nothing that I recognize as accurate bass reproduction- and imaging that was somewhat diffuse. 
Unfortunately, I probably made few friends at this show also, as I thought almost all of the rooms had very marginal sound at best! The possible exceptions were the room with the Magico M2's and the VAC gear ( the tube gear and the MSB front end) did sound quite nice...very smooth and non-fatiguing highs and no sign of the dreaded 'digititis'. 
I also felt that Philip O'Hanlon's room, also using Magico's, was a highlight. Philip always seems to get a good sound at these events, and this time was no exception. The Wilson Tune Tot room...sure--if you like NO reproduction or accuracy below about 75Hz, LOL. 
Otherwise, a fairly miserable show...IMHO.
Erik,

Thanks for the Show report. Sounds a bit like you may have enjoyed a
day at Brooks Berdan just as well.
At Axpona I too found the Sanders and the ML Rennys  provided the best sound. By a long way!!
Roger was not at the LA Show to fine tune the sound, right?

ML Renny at $26k vs Sanders at $17k. Sanders includes room correction and a 1,000 watt a/b amp as I recall. 

If I may take a moment to shamelessly promote an event
on Saturday June 29th, "SpeakerFest" in Scottsdale, AZ
10-4pm. Venue8600.com
It will feature 9 brands not available to listen to in Arizona,
New Mexico, Utah or Nevada. Are we Chopped liver?

Sanders Model 10         $17,000 ESL + Transmission Bass !

Joseph Audio Pulsars     $8,500 Best Bookshelf out there?

Salk Sound beAt3's        $5,000  Hard to find. Well Reviewed.

Spatial Labs  M3's          $4,000  -New Protos not yet heard anywhere!

Tekton Double Impacts   $2,500 Hot Commodity. 

MarkAudio-SOTA  Cesti  $1,600   TAS Spring 2019 Recommended List

LSA Signature 10's         $1.500  Sonus Faberesque  Bookshelf 

ATC 40's Passive            $8,000  Need that British sound too

ZU Audio                         TBD     Anxious to see what they provide      

For Power the local Family of Dan D"Agostino is generously provided
his new Progression Integrated Amp at 300 wpc.              


www.AZAVCLUB.com

I may disagree with others about what rooms were better, but the god’s honest truth is that for the entire show I was picking among bad sounding rooms.

I heard more or less bright systems. More or less bass, pain inducing or not. I didn’t really hear sublime, natural, transparent, believable. I also heard very loud or not very loud. I also never heard magical, liquid midrange.

It was like going from a room to room of hell, where you could choose to be burned, or punched, or lightly tapped on the head with a hammer.

I’m going to go to Can Jam and that may very well be the last time I go to one of these shows.

Best,
E
I enjoyed your show report erik.

Did you hear the small 120 MBL speakers?

If so, what did you think, and do you have an opinion on MBL speakers generally speaking?