Any requests for CES 2016? (Now Answers from Show)
- Thread starter amirm
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I heard them in the VTL room. I am unfortunately compromised there as I have good relationship with VTL guys so can't comment on anything negative
.That said, I had an enjoyable time in the VTL room. They are always kind and play a lot of stuff for me and everything sounded very good. They dynamic range was excellent. They played an album I am familiar with in LP (I have it in High-res):
The shimmering highs were beautifully rendered.
The amplification was by S-400 VTL ($33,500). I will post more details of the room later.
Quickly walked through Panasonic booth yesterday and there is no sign of Televisions. It was all home appliances and camcorders.
Spent quite a bit of time there. No time to document here. They had $500/pair bookshelves with in-house driver development. The woofer+mid-range is coaxial design. Played it loud and it handled it. That said, you don't forget they are bookshelf loudspeakers.
There was. No foul smells from visitors. Room heat and humidity made it uncomfortable at times but no where near the conditions of RMAF.
Saw them today and for a change, I received very warm and personal attention. My badge says "buyer" so maybe that has something to do with it.
Here is the picture:
Please pardon the blue-hue. It is an aluminum frame and it has that color. The meter is now much larger and overall package, far less radical. I think it is a very good move for them to make it less quirky.
The heatsink is made out of aluminum rather than copper so that is a lot of cost saving. I asked them how hot it runs and he says not that hot.
I said this one must be a prototype since it is not powered. Yes, tricky of me
. And he said that was true and they were waiting for the official batch of boards to show up. So naturally no feedback on sound quality. He said the design is almost the same so the sound should be as good. Price is $15,000 lower.
They had this in their super noisy booth in the main convention center but no way to properly audition it. But they told me they are also in Venetian so I should be able to see it if it is there.
Great. I will be going to the main hall this morning most likely but if I finish before closing, will go back to high-end suites and hit that.
I was hoping they would go a little further upmarket, but I look forward to your detailed notes later.
For a reference point, I was intending on purchasing the Revel M105, and was hoping Elac might add another contender in that relative price range. My gut feeling is that a $500 bookshelf, even sold direct, just wouldn't be enough speaker to reasonably compare.
I am of course very biased with respect to Revel line but no, they are not in the same class nor intended to be.
Saw them today and for a change, I received very warm and personal attention. My badge says "buyer" so maybe that has something to do with it.
Here is the picture:
Please pardon the blue-hue. It is an aluminum frame and it has that color. The meter is now much larger and overall package, far less radical. I think it is a very good move for them to make it less quirky.
The heatsink is made out of aluminum rather than copper so that is a lot of cost saving. I asked them how hot it runs and he says not that hot.
I said this one must be a prototype since it is not powered. Yes, tricky of me
Thanks, Amir. Photo looks good. I agree that the idea of less 'bling' and a lower price point is a good one. Interesting that the rep said they don't give off that much heat...that would not have been my expectation.
Well, your bias is well-founded, imo. When I first auditioned them, the dealer left me alone for a good 2 hours. When he came back, my comment was that they didn't excite me (by which I mean nothing in the sound jumped out at me), but likewise I couldn't find a single complaint about them. They were just incredibly neutral speakers. Nothing I auditioned in the price range ($1,000 - $2,000 bookshelves) came close, including the much-beloved KEF LS50. The more I listened, the more I got drawn into them.
I was hoping Andrew Jones would design something that matched closely to that, but given their bottom-up approach (which I think is the right way to do it), what I'm looking for is at least a year away. Which means my purchase decision has been simplified.
Quick feedback here. Listened for quite a bit of time there. It was in a very dead room with panels everywhere. As a result it had a very focused image that was quite stable. That image however was too high for my liking as the tweeters were well above my ear level. They played a track from Albita Yo Quisiera:
The reproduction was incredibly detailed. Bass performance was excellent and not boomy. Amplification was 60 watt Class A amplifiers.
Overall above average sound for what was playing at the show. Pictures and details coming later.
They said they were done with loudspeakers and the focus from here on is electronics.
I also wonder whether some of the good sound we hear from Elac is the genius of Andrew Jones in using demo music that very much matches the speakers.
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