300b lovers

I wish I had heard the Dutch & Dutch 8C’s. The exact opposite approach of our room, but 100% valid: internally tri-amped with DSP for the side-firing drivers to create a near-perfect cardioid radiation pattern. Digital-in is limited to 48/24 PCM (higher-rez content is accepted but internally downsampled), and the triple internal amps are Class D with 400W each. I was reading Amir’s ASR show report (third section) and the Dutch & Dutch exhibitor was measuring 15 Hz during setup.

This might be anathema for some readers, but I like the massive engineering effort that must have gone into this bookshelf speaker. DSP to shape the polar response with side-firing drivers is not trivial, and from the reviews, they actually tamed the hotel rooms that were driving the rest of us nuts. Of course, with DSP tailored for each driver, the speaker would be flat as a pancake, not a bad thing.

For analog fans, the prospect of converting every precious LP on-the-fly to plain old 48/24 PCM is appalling, and for high-end DAC fans, the standard-issue ESS or AKM converters hidden inside the Dutch & Dutch are probably not acceptable. So you pick the approach that you like.

Surprisingly, Amir, of all people, liked both Spatial rooms. Did not expect that. The real invective on ASR was reserved for the absurd cables in the ballrooms ... to be honest, have to agree there. The Anticables we were using worked just fine, and were unobtrusive, as a cable should be.

@gladmo

The takeaway from your observations (quoted below) is that no system is universal, and we all latch on to different elements of the sonic illusion. Well done!

... Thom

My personal award show notes from PAF, including the room with the amp in this thread:

*Most intensely rich yet detailed tubey midrange: LTA prototype DAC, LTA Pre, LTA Ultralinear+ monoblocks, and Daedalus Argos V3 speakers

*Most delicate and intricately revealing top end with too much mid-bass: VAC components and Von Schweikert Ultra 7 speakers

*Second place for best top end and also clear midrange but garbled bass: Songer + Whammerdyne

*Most gossamer presentation: Don Sachs’ Raven/Blackbird + Spatial Audio Lab X series speakers

*Largest sounding very small, yet full range speakers: Gershman

*Most humongously oversized images and stage and most impressive driver tech: Aavik/Ansus and Borreson M6

*Most resonant enclosures: Black Ocean Audio

*Most disappointing tonality: Joseph Audio Pearl Graphene speakers

*Biggest surprise: Vanatoo’s little office stereo sized powered speakers

*Friendliest exhibitor reps: Tie between Furutech and ASC

*Most advantaged by vibration control: Millercarbon

*Most classic solid state sounding room: Infigo Audio

*Most inoffensive yet not all that unique sounding room: Bella Sound

@gladmo 

I will take gossamer:)   We were trying to produce sound stage in a shoe box room, but the tonality was nice, and we could get depth.

As Thom said, and I noted about a thousand pages up, there are many paths to audio nirvana, and rarely will we all agree!

Wow.

I’m just seeing this thread, and I just want to take just a moment to thank everyone for spending time with us over the weekend, and for sharing these lovely comments. We loved doing the show.

@lynn_olson @donsachs Meeting you and the immense praise you’ve offered for the driver and loudspeakers... it really is indescribable. I won’t even bother attempting it here. I’m so grateful to you both.

And, your room with Team Spatial was absolutely astonishing.  Incredibly clean sound, unbelievably deep and wide soundstage, razor sharp imaging...  Between the two of us, it's hard to say which I felt was subjectively better.  

Hi Ken..

Admittedly biased, but both Lynn and I thought your room and our room were the most musical ones at the show, and we were neighbors too.  Obviously others will have other opinions, but many folks told me that our two rooms were in their top 3 or 4 in the entire show.  Great to meet you!