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Audio Troy Capital Audio Fest the good, the bad and the ugly!

Just came back from the great Capital Audio Fest.

A lot of great rooms, a few surprises, missing brands, and some winners and losers.

The great:

Doug Whites The Voice that is system of Tidal gear, Innous Statement, and Tidal loudspeakers just was stunning sounding.

The big Genesis system in the Vpi room was quite excellent. 

The Old Forge room's Sound Kaos speakers were superb.

The Cat room with the Kef Blades proved the Kef Blades are a true contender with way more expensive loudspeakers.

Dadelius speakers sounded very good, unfortunately the system was $200k!

The Bad:

The $120k Devore's new reference speakers were good but not $120k good at this demo

More to come.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ
128x128audiotroy
jond's avatar
jond
5,880 posts
 
I disagree with the comments on the Luxman/Devore room I thought it was excellent. I also really liked LTA/Spatial, Border Patrol/Volti, MC Audiotech, Acapella/Audio Note and Emia.

I liked the Tidal room but thought it was better last year, also I went into the Classic Audio room twice and both times was driven out by awful music.

Did not like the big ugly Tektons, the Genesis Line arrays with VPI and Merrill, but was pleasantly surprised by the Muons with VPI and Krell.
soix
9,713 posts
 
Thanks guys for all the insightful comments.  Very interesting and helpful for those of us who couldn’t attend.  I’d be particularly interested in hearing more about the JA Perspectives since I haven’t heard the new version yet. Thanks!
pops
2,275 posts
 
Soix the JA perspectives were outstanding.  He had them set up on the long wall of a very small room so it was definitely a nearfield listen.

Not sure about the electronics he used but his speakers sounded great as always, for me at least - I love his speakers but have never owned one.  They were imaging magicians, no sound was coming from the speakers, total transparency.  Sharp transients and deep tuneful bass - without an ounce of aggression.

I could easily live with them if they were a fit for a large room like mine.  According to Joseph himself they would work with the right placement.
dodgealum's avatar
dodgealum
1,406 posts
 
Yes, saw the write up on PT Audiophile--looks like Lou and Mark brought everything but the kitchen sink, including monoblock Ref ZOTL 40s to drive the BOW subs--so $200K is probably close with cables etc. That said, I'm sure in a normal size room you could get 98% of the SQ for under $100K by eliminating the subs, going with less expensive power cords and speaker wire (like Lou's hybrid design with WyWires). 
audiotroy's avatar
audiotroy OP
3,831 posts
 
Jond, guess we are hearing different things, the Muons were way too big for that room, the sound didn't gel for us.

Agree the Voltis were very good, Audiotech very good, the Acapella room was impressive but again way too large a room and the system was mind blowingly expensive.

Now a caveat, the Genesis were I think $180k and no that weren't that good but the sound after hours playing a harp recording vs the real harp player did show the system was quite capable.

We had the reverse with the Tial room more magical this year, good last.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ
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