Anything exciting at CES?

Albert- Ken is something ain't he? I was fortunate enough to have diner with him-among others- one evening, he is IMO like an artist that designes home audio products. He is very particular about the way things get done on his amps, and very blunt about telling you! A very funny and clever fellow, I one day would really enjoy a pair of his monoblocks in my system!
~Tim

I wish I could have been .... sounds liked lots of new friends and a chance to meet those behind the monikers on A'gon.

Heard those Capellas at a dealer up here in TO last week; I wasn't too impressed, although the speakers were smooth in presentation and startling in their size. Looked like Grande Utopias with Avante Garde Duos grafted on the side.

Wish I was at the show ...maybe in '03. --Lorne

Justacoder: the pair of Capellas I heard (all be it briefly) were at a well-respected dealer here in TO. The speakers were being driven by top of the line Audio Research amps and preamp. Source was vinyl (an Oracle). The system sounded quite good -- smooth with no "holes" but I wasn't blown away. I suspect the turntable was so-so and I'm not sure what cartridge was on the Oracle. Strangely, I felt the bass was a touch weak (could be the amps didn't have the guts to drive these monsters -- not sure of their efficency).

You need to have a long listen before you commit to or dismiss these. They certainly are attention getters. I'm used to SACD and have heavily modified XA777ES that's spoiled me rotten -- especially multi-channel SACD. But when my system sounds better than the dealer's 100K+ show piece -- I start to ask questions about synergy, room, setup and would suggest in this case that it probably wans't the Capellas. ( I could find nothing wrong with them)

I would love to here them with Tenors or another "sweet" tube amp, and a Clearaudio MR table or VPI setup. And if I was seriously auditioning, I would listened tehm with my source and material before passing judgement. Anyway, do not read too much into what I had said in my earlier post -- my observations were but a passing glance and not a full audition (they are too big and too expensive for me -- you need a humongous room for these, otherwise you'll be scraping fine laquer off your ceiling.

Regarding the Pipes -- it's well-known that these must be set up perfectly to sound good. At the Toronto show in the Fall, I listened to the outstanding room of Tenor amps and Pipes -- both before and after they were set up properly. Went from wierd sounding to a "wall of sound" -- the best I have heard. Tenor uses these to sell their amps at the show -- there is a strong synergy with the Pipes. I'm not sure how accurate or flat the response is -- I doubt they have the accuracy of say a Dunlavy -- but to me accuracy and enjoyment are not always a married pair. -- Lorne

First, the sound of the Pipedreams at both the Alexis & the Tuscany rooms was HORRIBLE! One look at these towering monsters in the teeny Alexis room, and I knew why they didn't work. I've heard these properly set-up in a good showroom, and the sound was nothing like at the C.E.S. Can't tell you why they didn't work in the MUCH bigger Tuscany room, although Plinius wouldn't be my first choice of amp for these. They really do sound MUCH BETTER THAN THIS!!! Second, Avant Garde...you've got to be kidding!!! The horns do not blend well with the powered cone sub woofers...more appropriate for PA sound re-enforcement than home audiophile. I thought that the sound of the Moon Dogs was how a horn speaker should sound! Totally blew away the Duo's! And this with puny 3 watt 2A3 mono blocks. Third, the Capellas had excellent mid-range that seem to leave the rest of the frequency spectrum behind! But considering that they probably had to grease the tops of these behemoths to stuff them into a totally inadequate room, I imagine much of the problem would vanish with a proper listening environment!