It's hard to be very impressed at the show. But let me get right to the one of the biggest surprises: Polymer Audio Research Speakers. Imagine a Magico speaker with a soul: a completely inert cabinet, great dynamics, non-annoying tweeter, tremendous resolution, and the sense that gear is not just a mechanical contraption but a way to communicate everything on the recording so well that you only feel the emotions of the performance. Well, this is Polymer Audio Research Speakers. They were driven by some ridiculously pricey FM Acoustics gear, but the sound was sublime. Additionally, as a great marketing ploy, the room had beautiful model wearing a short red dress at the door. All manufacturers and dealers: start copying!
I am partial to Soundlab as I own them. Slap on some Atmasphere MK2's and you have sound that approaches nirvana. No these speakers are not for heavy metal fans, but just about everything else will sound natural, organic, and as good as possible. The Soundlab room was quite large, with several rows of seats and people chatting, which is quite annoying , but the essence of the magical Soundlab was there. I heard this system at Brian Walsh's home in a treated room and under much better conditions, and it was absolutely sublime. Nevertheless, despite the show challenges, Soundlabs are awesome speakers and didn't disappoint me.
I did not know much about Marten speakers before the show. And have had limited experience with CAT. CAT doesn't advertise, and instead invests all of their money into R&D. What you had was a tool not to evaluate sound, but to evaluate the quality musical performance. This room was packed all the time. Superb!
German Physics was the biggest disappointment. A cost no object system was there, but the room partner chose to display the 5 channel system with a video projector. The only problem was the video did not jive with the sound coming of the speakers. It was kind of like those dubbed kung fu movies from the 1970's, where Bruce Lee's mouth moves, but words don't come out at the same time. Soooooo disappoining!!!!
Magico was displaying several pairs of the S class speakers. To me the S class speakers are much more palatable than their Q series, but still sound like hi-fi to my ears.
Likewise for Wilson. The Alexias with D'Agostino and dCS was good, but did not transport me.
Likewise for the Kharma/ Constellation room: very good, but no state of flow for me.
TAD speakers are always great.
Sonus Faber Aida's were good, but at $120K and very expensive Audio Research Electronics just didn't do enough for me. Maybe it's because Audio Research amplification was Class D?
MBL had their smaller speakers at the show. One of the MBL rooms had Greg Beron's UHA deck. While it is always a treat to hear the MBL and to hear analog tape recordings, I really love the bigger MBLs, as there is nothing like it on earth.
I will be going back to re-listen to some of the rooms. I especially want to spend some time with the Scaena's.
I am partial to Soundlab as I own them. Slap on some Atmasphere MK2's and you have sound that approaches nirvana. No these speakers are not for heavy metal fans, but just about everything else will sound natural, organic, and as good as possible. The Soundlab room was quite large, with several rows of seats and people chatting, which is quite annoying , but the essence of the magical Soundlab was there. I heard this system at Brian Walsh's home in a treated room and under much better conditions, and it was absolutely sublime. Nevertheless, despite the show challenges, Soundlabs are awesome speakers and didn't disappoint me.
I did not know much about Marten speakers before the show. And have had limited experience with CAT. CAT doesn't advertise, and instead invests all of their money into R&D. What you had was a tool not to evaluate sound, but to evaluate the quality musical performance. This room was packed all the time. Superb!
German Physics was the biggest disappointment. A cost no object system was there, but the room partner chose to display the 5 channel system with a video projector. The only problem was the video did not jive with the sound coming of the speakers. It was kind of like those dubbed kung fu movies from the 1970's, where Bruce Lee's mouth moves, but words don't come out at the same time. Soooooo disappoining!!!!
Magico was displaying several pairs of the S class speakers. To me the S class speakers are much more palatable than their Q series, but still sound like hi-fi to my ears.
Likewise for Wilson. The Alexias with D'Agostino and dCS was good, but did not transport me.
Likewise for the Kharma/ Constellation room: very good, but no state of flow for me.
TAD speakers are always great.
Sonus Faber Aida's were good, but at $120K and very expensive Audio Research Electronics just didn't do enough for me. Maybe it's because Audio Research amplification was Class D?
MBL had their smaller speakers at the show. One of the MBL rooms had Greg Beron's UHA deck. While it is always a treat to hear the MBL and to hear analog tape recordings, I really love the bigger MBLs, as there is nothing like it on earth.
I will be going back to re-listen to some of the rooms. I especially want to spend some time with the Scaena's.
