Trelja in New York


Well, here it is. My own personal show report. I guess I should be ashamed of myself. Taking up all of this space and all. First, I regret that I did not meet anyone from Audiogon at the show. The show had a MUCH larger attendance than I ever could have anticipated. I mean it was gigantic. And many people there had no idea about high end audio. Second, my lucky day! While I was standing in line to purchase a ticket, a guy announced that the show sucked, and was offering to give his away. Guess who the lucky recipient was? Well, I was able to save the price of admission. I did give my $4 coupon to the guy behind me. Now, for the show... I was disappointed in the sound of most of the rooms. Other than exhibitors displaying on the 2nd and 4th floors, the rooms were just too small. It was a joke. Virtually everyone displaying on the 9th, 10th, and 42nd floors were in bad rooms. Especially, those on the 9th and 10th floors. These manufacturers simply overpowered the rooms they were in. Sound was horrible. One exception to the "too small room" set was Talon speakers. A lousy sounding speaker in my opinion. Thin, weak, and underpowered. Anemic. They definitely get the "all show, no go" award. This is a speaker with a 5 digit price tag? I wonder how someone who owns this speaker feels. They were eclipsed in the "biggest disappointment" category however. By none other than the $85K Dynaudio Evidence. Yes, they play loud, and without strain. That is the best thing I can say about them. But, they need to go visit the Wizard. They have no heart, or soul. These two speakers are proof positive of two things. One, you don't have to spend a lot of money to get good sound. And two, brains and money do not necessarily go hand in hand. Next up for duds was the Creek demo. Nice turntable, but their amp/speakers were terrible. I have heard Creek amps sound a heck of a lot better. Poor job by a good company goes to Rogue. I forget the other companies in their room already, and they should take my lead. Their electronics are a bit pushy, and need to be mated with speakers and cables which are more mellow. It was not the case here, and the sound was bad. Linn was also getting poor sound, despite the fact that they were in a good room. Too much bass and brightness. Are they going for the boom and sizzle crowd? Silverline and Triangle speakers can sound much better than they did at this show. And what is going on with Alon these days? Here was a great speaker company. Their new products seem to be aimed squarely at Donald Trump and Fabio. Expensive would be a supreme understatement. What happened to this company, with its value oriented philosophy? They would dominate just about any room. Nice treble coming from the Raven tweeter. Guess that answers our questions. Seems to be a great, high sensitivity tweeter. Should we think of this tweeter for the SET crowd? Another disappointment, Red Rose Music. They are coming hard, but give them a good listen, and see that if you stop listening to what they tell you you are hearing, the sound is definitely not worth the asking price. Don't believe the hype. Nice treble though, ala the ribbon tweeter(just like Alon). One more. Whoever that horn speaker company is who was in the Atma Sphere room, please GET OUT of the speaker business. Now. And Atma Sphere, you did yourselves a tremendous disservice by teaming up with that company. Fundamentally flawed is all I can say about those horns. Speaking of horns, I was not able to listen to the AvantGardes(ran a demo every 30 minutes), one of the few I could not hear. As I said, most of the sound was bad. I wonder how I would feel if I was showing my products with this kind of sound. Mortified, I think. OK, enough griping, let's get to the winners. First up is Trelja's "Best of Show" award. It goes to the Vandersteen 5s, driven by the new Cary V12 amps. By a landslide. A LOT of companies should take a lesson from what these guys are doing. Impressive. Most impressive. Next up is "Most Stunning" component. This one is also a landslide. The forthcoming Western Electric 300B amps. Yes, you read that right. Art deco. They are not yet operational, but coming in the summer. Just let me put it this way, if they sound 25% as good as they look, they will be the best amps you can buy. And, actually a bargain at $16/pair, complete with WE300B tubes. JMLabs speakers sounded great. These guys are pros. Coincident took the "Best of Show" on one of the tough floors. I know I may seem to lack credibility on this one, but it is true. They did not destroy their sound, and that was enough to earn them the Blue Ribbon. The word smart comes to mind when thinking of the Musical Fidelity room. Unlike Rogue, they mated their products very well. Enough so that the whole system sounded warm and full, despite the new MF line being more neutral and analytical. These guys understand what good sound is. They used Analysis Plus cabling, and it was good(Megasam knows a good combination when he hears it). Merlin speakers struck me as something to try to hear more of, despite not sounding well in their rooms. Cary amps sounded good in most of the places they were playing. Mirage sounded good to me, despite having one of the empiest rooms in the whole show. The Joule Electra room(I forget who they teamed with) fell into the same group as Merlin for me. Not spectacular at the show, but I would like to hear them in a better setting. Dick Sequerra was a prince to me, despite being a God in this industry. Israel Blume was also stellar, though he is not yet a Dick Sequerra. All in all, not a bad time. Just that there were far too many people to be able to give some companies a really good listen. I think less attendance would be a boon to people like us. We would be able to focus more into every room. Hope everyone else who went enjoyed themselves.
trelja
Was that a review or a diatribe? By your own account, the rooms were too small and there were too many people packed in them to give most companies a proper audition. In the case of one company (Creek) you even admit to having heard the gear sound better, presumably in a more favorable setting. Yet none of that stops you from making some pretty derogatory statements about the gear whose sound just didn't meet with your approval. It's one thing to say you didn't like something, it's another thing to trash companies by saying, "Brains and money don't necessarily go hand in hand." At least under the listening circumstances you've described it is. I would have enjoyed your comments more if you'd exercised more prudence in writing your reviews.
Good question Macm -- some of these posts read more like diatribes than objective reviews. Generally, I like to hear what other people think, even if I don't always agree with what they say. But any time someone completely trashes a product after listening to it briefly in a marginal setting, I can't help but believe that person has a hidden agenda or some underlying prejudice that biased their brief listening "session." I always take note of who makes such posts and never pay any attention to any of their advice in the future. Ditto for the posters who offer summary "reviews" that are so contrary to my experience -- and to other people's similar experiences -- they can only be viewed as erroneous or fabricated. Don
Macm and Djjd, I didn't really feel that Trejla was "reviewing" anything but rather offering his opinion on how things sounded at the show. The remarks concerning Talon speakers in particular seems to reflect what has been typically stated about their sound without the proper break-in. It seems to me that a manufacturer that is going to go through the time and expense of doing a show would do all possible to present good sound. I don't think enough of them pay attention to that very important detail. Show conditions notwithstanding, I think all Joe did was state what he heard and what he liked. It should be a wake-up call for manufacturer’s do better. If they can’t or won’t they generally lose out by lost business through lack of interest. A show is a great opportunity for manufacturers and dealers alike to strut their stuff and it shouldn’t be squandered but often is. I ask you this why does Bobby Palkovic always get great reviews of his products at shows? Because he has a better product or is it because he knows how to set up a room to optimize the virtues of his products?
I went to the show and I had a great time....why else would I have stayed for nearly 3 days? It was my first show and I went with an open mind and the sure knowledge that you can't get the best sound in a hotel.
I got to see gear I never see except in a magazine. I got to hear equipment I may never hear anywhere else. I got to talk to writers, engineers, inventors, owners, babes hired as fluff, etc..... Dick Sequerra is certainly a character, but don't mention Day of Day-Sequerra unless you want to hit a brick wall....oops. What does anyone think of his new power conditioner? He says it is great but that is what he is supposed to say. It is being sold under the name of the company with whom he was affiliated at the show. My sieve for a memory is too active dropping all the important stuff...so someone who took notes will have to comment. I really wanted to like Red Rose, but I did not. I saw every room at the show twice, so I got a good feel for the shortfalls of the hotel environment. Red Rose was just too disappointing. I was impressed with the German made Audio Physics speakers. A lot of sound for a small size floor speaker..........the weather could not have been better; the elevators could not have been worse. Ask Jonathan Scull, stuck in an overloaded car for 20 min. or more. We will probably read about his experience in Stereophile next month. Great reports above by all who went. Of course we had a different view on things and we are not all professional reviewers, so objectivity will not be the best. The opinions expressed here are those of the individuals and should not in any way be taken to reflect the opinion of audiophiles as a whole.
If you think this is a diatribe, you are certainly entitled to your opinion. That is exactly what I have been stating here. MY OPINION. I am sorry if you don't like it. But, I am also standing up here big, tall, and proud to tell you that what you complain about is NOT going to change my approach. I will simply give my impressions of what I saw and heard. If you don't like it, fine. Be sure to check out Stereophile's report of the show. It will be rosy all around. My report is aimed at my fellow members on this site. A site where we are not afraid to tell things like they are. It is my HONEST opinion. Good or bad. And, there was a lot of good sprinkled in. If I trash a room, it is because I thought the sound was poor. Simple as that. I have no relationships with any company at the show. I wonder what your reasons are for getting offended at what was written. Just keep in mind that my credibility seems to be OK, as I am not the only person stating certain companies did a lousy job. And, even if I am the only one saying it, that is OK. It is simply my taste. Question to you, would you rather have someone sit here and tell you EVERY room was peaches and cream? If so, I am sorry, but you will be disappointed with anything that you get from me. That just isn't in my personality. I am a big fan of Rogue, and I felt their sound to be bad. Now that I read Snooker14's post, I seem to remember that Rogue was teamed up with Audio Physics speakers. Bad combination, in my OPINION. Snooker disagreed. That's fine. That's why they make vanilla AND chocolate. I have no problems with anyone who disagrees with me. I am no authority in this field. I do expect good sound from people who make their livings in the field, however. Is that too much to ask? And Snooker, I am interested in the Dick Sequerra power conditioner. It is $895, will be marketed through AlphaCore Goertz, and hopefully will help in an issue I experience in my system. They told me if it doesn't, simply return it.