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WOW; great stuff at THE Show, Newport this weekend

First time ever audio show for me; got to THE Show Friday morning; stood in a line of over 150 people waiting to get badges; instead of being a lonely audiophile; now I had company; everyone had high energy; and were great to chat with. tons of gear. Brief thoughts on my one day visit
1. The Ayon room was simply magical; such eye candy on their amps and preamps; the recent review in TAS was spot on. The Evolution Acoustics mini's sounded just great; incredible base response; but powered by very expensive front end.
2. TAD room; penthouse: magnificiant speakers; great designer rep; friendly; let you play your cd's; their large, $75k floor standers were among the best of show in my opinion; just a tad boomy in base in that room; the monitors dispeared; and sounded cohesive top to bottom
3. Brooks-Berdan room; never heard the Sasha's sound so good; powered by VTL tubed amp and pre amp; better than I heard them in their show room.
4. Revels sounded a bit disjointed; a bit disappointing; even when powered by the new $50k Mark Levinson mono blocks
5. Magico V3's in the synergistic research room; on groud level; with the $40,000 galieo speaker cell wires; sounded very good; but was amazed with the effect of the acoustic treatments; the little wooden shere hanging above them in the center; and tiny base 'cups' and side wall cups; they played a track with these diffusers in place; then removed them; I didn't believe the big difference in sonic improvement with them in; but it happened in front of me.
6. Venture Audio: I've heard these speakers before sound much better; their room was just horrible, and Didi kept playing a scratched lp of Keith Jarrett; which was not top notch. the speakers are beautiful; and are capable of sounding better than that
7. Great to Zingali's back in the USA; unfortunately; they were not set up when I stopped by.
8. The YG caramel's had a very impressive sound stage; and great dynamics; first time I've heard them
9. the MBL room with the 101'es sounded great as well; but room a bit too small to allow them justice.
too much to see and hear in one day; congrats to Bob Levy; and the LA/Orange county society for bringing this great event to SoCal...I hope it returns next year...
hard to evaluate separate pieces; ie; amps vs preamps, or cables; as all system dependent.
Also loved the sound in the Veloce room; battery powered preamp and amp..
Just some quick and random thoughts by a newbie attending first show; loved hearing all this gear in one place; and meeting great and warm fellow audiophiles;...wow again. curious to learn other's responses to this show and gear...
mribob
magfan
1,583 posts
 
San Diego is the largest small town in America.
I've lived in both OC and SD, and much prefer SD. Just a good example, I was perfectly willing to pay for parking. The website said 5$. No problem. Well, the problem is there was NONE on site. I don't even mind the walk...I walk 3 miles per day anyway. But, tell me in advance so I don't waste 30 minutes++ of valueable show time wandering around with people who don't know the score. I sort of feel sorry for the guy wearing the show poloshirt standing out front telling people to park next door, while the guy 'next door' was sending people away. I started to hear Calliopie music.

How does my dislike of the big Focals tie in to parking? AND I wasn't 'looking' for free parking.......it was simply unavailable on-site and I went down the street.

And right you are. NO demo is perfect or shows the true capabilities of most systems. or maybe any systems. The Focals? Maybe in a large space. I still don't think the variable tipping drivers are anything more than a solution in search of a problem. Do the drivers have reasonable dispersion or not? Just another knob for the techno 'see what I got' weenie to turn.
I'm sure I could find something at that show for a lot less $$$ which would satisfy.

I don't know on which end of the RSL setup I arrived. Sounded at least promising to me and were I shopping in that category, would be a speaker of interest. Setup is, of course, key. Maybe they'd get lost....(probably would) in a large space. Maybe even in my modest living room.
samhar
1,048 posts
 
I had a great time, most people were very friendly and courteous even in such tight quarters and I only got the hard, hard sell once, I was very uncomfortable!!!! Next year(hopefully the show will happen) I'll take two days at least and be more methodical in my approach so more rooms can be visited. I missed the BlueLight Audio and Evolution Acoustic speakers, I think it was packed, I got side tracked and never made it into the room and from the feedback I missed one of the better sounding rooms!!! Thanks to everyone involved in putting the show on I'm looking forward to next year!
keithr
1,306 posts
 
Elviukai- it had nothing to do with the demographic you offended---the Focals just sucked. 300k of cold, lifeless sound.
elviukai's avatar
elviukai
135 posts
 
Keithr- there is few things-
1)our taste and perception of good sound
2)actual sound of system on audition

expierenced listener CAN deduct sound from variables, and more ever- from personal taste. I have heard much better sounding speakers than Focal utopia III but I respect them. and no way that lets say Zu Audio can compete with grande EM on large windband orchestra.

just better to say " focal sounded not to its abilities" its not realted to this thread but more to whole tendencies on forums. or when somebody say speakers xxxx sounded BAD he should disclose what exactly was bad- lateral dispersion, tonal balance, transition from midrange to hights, soundstage depth, slight nasality in voice or slight sibilance in soprano etc, etc. without that its just bold personal assault-"look they are so expensive and big and hey! look- i didnt liked them!)
magfan
1,583 posts
 
The focals didn't particularly sound like music.

Other setups DID float my boat.
Voxitiv, for example, a SDFR in a piano black enclosure made by Schimmel was a terrific intro for me to such drivers.
Sanders? They were playing very nicely with the Magtech amps. Clean, forward sounding with zero grain or stridency. Worth a second listen.
Von Schweikert / Pass. I'd own it.

I didn't get specific about the Focal. It simply didn't engage me at all. And I'll stipulate it may work in rooms starting at 6000 cubic feet. I wasn't there long enough for a better impression. I don't think anyone mentioned the price but YOU, El. but now that you mention it, If I had 65large to burn, I'd build one heck of a room addition with professionally designed accoustics and an all-Magnepan system with Pass amps.
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