Thanks for the message Leafs. It is much appreciated, especially coming from you. I promise that whenever I submit something on Audiogon it will by my honest, heartfelt, personal opinion. With all of us maintaining this philosophy, we are ensured the broadest, deepest, most accurate audio coverage around. People of every background, taste, and experience offering up what we honestly see, feel, and most of all hear. Regarding the show in New York, I had a great time, and certainly will return. I heard good sound, and bad. Personally, if it was my company presenting at the show, I would do my darndest to make sure we presented ourselves in a flattering manner. Going to whatever extent required. Even constructing a mock up of the room we would be in, if necessary. Then, go about making sure everything was as good as could we could make things. Otherwise, why be a part of the whole thing? The downside is way too risky. Take for example Talon. A pretty new company, with probably not a lot of show experience. A product which has caused a lot of debate throughout the audiophile community. Polarizing people into those that love it, and those that hate it. From the surface, there seems to be a lot to admire about the speaker. The design is beautiful, the fit and finish excellent, the marketing strategy smart. All that remains in a potential customer's mind is the sound. The premier goal of a company like that should be to turn as many people on at the show as they possibly can. To put their best sonic foot forward. From what I had heard through the crowd and read in this thread, they instead turned as many people off as they possibly could. The ramifications of which could be enormous. I went there most wanting to check out the combination of horn speakers with SET amplification. Next, I wanted to hear a few other brands. Including Talon. To form my own opinion. I spent a good amount of time in the room. Sadly, I came away with extremely negative feelings about the product. I am not completely sure about the drivers, but my impression was that they did not seem to be of the type normally encountered in an audiophile speaker. I have dabbled in the speakerbuilding hobby long enough to recognize many of the drivers(and brands) used in the industry. These, particularly the woofers, were not recognizable. No matter, sound is far more important to me. And, it was that that I was most disappointed with. Sean's detailed report of the speaker's measurements were a perfect mirror of what I heard(maybe all those years in the speaker building hobby did teach me something). I concede that the speaker may not have been broken-in(shame on the company if that is the case), or that the room was poor. My biggest concern is that the problems I encountered with the speaker were exactly the same as that type of setting would ameliorate. I will however, give the speakers another chance. I am planning to give them another audition. An opportunity for them to change my opinion. As for next year, I plan on submitting another show report. My feeling is that we should all offer up what our impressions were.
