#1 was the Vandersteen 5a room. These 22k speakers embarrassed types costing 10 times as much!
#2 was the Perfect 8 Technology Glass speakers (275k/pair)
#3 was Coincident Technology room
#4 was the top of the line Kharma room
#5 were the JAS speakers I heard right at the end with a familiar cut from Dead Can Dance. Those things cranked!
And all the manufacturers smart enough to bring small speakers/floorstanders that actually integrated into the room sounded good as well. How these manufacturers can justify cramming behemoths into small rooms deserved the poor sound they got! For heavens sake, spring the extra $100 on a larger room at the Venetian. VMPS room comes to mind--boom, boom, boom, had to leave the room....And don't get me started on the Burmeister room, yuck!
YG (remember, best speakers on earth, period) got "OK" sound from a tonal balance perspective, but somebody needs to teach them how to set up a system. Speakers were placed some 16 feet apart and we were 8 feet back. No center filled image to speak of! Soundstage was poor. But, the free cd they gave away made up for all that!
I did not care for the 340k demo from Sound Labs either. Wait till you guys see some pics from that room. And they had 4 speakers crammed in there for a surround demo!
Did not care for the Sanders speakers, but I'm in the minority there as my friends loved them. Vocalists sound like they are singing through sheets to me. Everything is veiled. Not open enough or lively enough for me. I heard the same thing with the Quads and the Chinese King Sound electrostats, so my ears must just not like that whole topology.
NFS room was awesome!! Need to get one of those projectors stat!
Overall I was dissapointed with the sound at the Venitian, I think the guys at Alexis and Tropez were getting a more cohesive sound. Also, people were playing things waaaay too loud most of the time which did not help the sound of their setups. If your getting bad sound--turn it down or off and run a static display!
Rant over....
