CES News Flash

[DEV]

Actually the list is now $80K for Ken's amps.

WOW! thanks. That sure was a quick increase, I know someone who attended the show and spoke to Ken and was told that. The joys of the hobby! I suppose after Ken found out about all the other manufactures with such crazy prices decided what the heck I mise well follow suit and and raise mine, it's like rolling the dice. Really is comical in away, those Vac's are at $78k. It's really nice to see some one pairing up tube amps with these speakers but I was told by the person whom also actually owns the same speakers listening thought is was okay but on specific music sounded bright. That comment seemed od to me leaving me to only think possible break-in issues, source or something else because when I had the CAT's paired up with mine even brand new there was no such brightness what so ever.

 

[DEV]

Did anyone hear the latest "The Memory Player" and what were your thoughts. Not just sound wise but are they now better freindly usuable, any quirks, looks, build quality. They have come down dramatically in cost but still far from not being pocket change. They were suppose to have a few there but don't see any mention of such from anyone and forgot to ask my the person whom I knew was there to check them out.

 

[JackD201]

Hi DEV,

WBF member dimfer owns the latest iteration. IIRC he switched from an MBL dac. HTH.

Jack

 

[DEV]

Hi Jack,
thx

Seems od that there is no chatter from the CES what so ever so I'm curious. Oh and I need to correct myself from above, the Vac's are $80K.

 

[MylesBAstor]

Did anyone hear the latest "The Memory Player" and what were your thoughts. Not just sound wise but are they now better freindly usuable, any quirks, looks, build quality. They have come down dramatically in cost but still far from not being pocket change. They were suppose to have a few there but don't see any mention of such from anyone and forgot to ask my the person whom I knew was there to check them out.

I don't remember seeing the Memory Player there. Might have been in the Scaena room but doesn't ring a bell.

 

[Steve Williams]

They weren't there

 

[MylesBAstor]

They weren't there

Thanks Steve, I was thinking I missed them

 

[Mark (Basspig) Weiss]

Hasn't been released yet and the 3D was underwhelming. IMO the bar has been raised Mao much that the LG ILED will be the one by which all others are judged.

LG uses simple Polaroid glasses

Looks to be evolutionary in the 3D technology. Glasses are a handicap to the proliferation of TVs, but cheap polarizing glasses lower the barrier to entry.

What about that LG in other respects? What makes it so great? Contrast? Color gamut? Brightness?

 

[JackD201]

Hi Jack,
thx

Seems od that there is no chatter from the CES what so ever so I'm curious. Oh and I need to correct myself from above, the Vac's are $80K.

Looks like it will be a few days until the bulk of show reports come up. Good thing we've got Steve and Myles doing the audio beat for WBF. Reminds me of the job Pez did at RMAF for AC.

 

[Dimfer]

Mark Porzilli mentioned in his email to me today (we were discussing about something else) that they (Nova Physics guys) are not in CES this year but their product is in 3 rooms.

 

[Peter Breuninger]

Great report Steve. Myles, sorry I missed you, every time I tried calling "call failed". I thought the sound was over all "good". The Venetian has a way of imparting its own sonic signature on everything. The biggest surprise of the show for me was the Avantgarde room. They are now manufacturing amplifiers to mate with the speakers. I walked in the (packed) room and the words jumped from my mouth "wow, no hand cup horn coloration". I said it a little too loud and every one turned, I though the rep was going to kick my butt but he ran over and smiled and said thank you for speaking out and saying it! He said we made the amps so you can't screw up the wound with oddball (did he mean SETs?) combos. Hmmmm.

 

[microstrip]

Great report Steve. Myles, sorry I missed you, every time I tried calling "call failed". I thought the sound was over all "good". The Venetian has a way of imparting its own sonic signature on everything. The biggest surprise of the show for me was the Avantgarde room. They are now manufacturing amplifiers to mate with the speakers. I walked in the (packed) room and the words jumped from my mouth "wow, no hand cup horn coloration". I said it a little too loud and every one turned, I though the rep was going to kick my butt but he ran over and smiled and said thank you for speaking out and saying it! He said we made the amps so you can't screw up the wound with oddball (did he mean SETs?) combos. Hmmmm.

Peter,
I fully agree with you. I quote myself writing in this forum six month ago about Avantgarde :

But I have just looked and they really look gorgeous. I did not care for the sound of Avantgarde for a long time, until I heard them with their own Avantgarde Model 3 amplifier, the small slim one. It was the first time I heard a horn that did not sound like a "terrible horn". It was really terribly good!

 

[LL21]

Peter,
I fully agree with you. I quote myself writing in this forum six month ago about Avantgarde :

But I have just looked and they really look gorgeous. I did not care for the sound of Avantgarde for a long time, until I heard them with their own Avantgarde Model 3 amplifier, the small slim one. It was the first time I heard a horn that did not sound like a "terrible horn". It was really terribly good!

Interesting. i have heard Cessaro's reference speakers with the subs set up...Tron Syren and Zanden electronics. I was not blown away in any regard though i respected what they were doing.

What kind of amplification do the horn manufacturers produce to drive their own speakers? That would be interesting to know, as most horn aficionados i know use SETs. 300b, etc.

 

[DEV]

Mark Porzilli mentioned in his email to me today (we were discussing about something else) that they (Nova Physics guys) are not in CES this year but their product is in 3 rooms.

Hi Dimfer,

I'm replying to your PM separately, what rooms were they in and with what associated gear were they paired up with because there seems to be as can you read above non-existent. I would have thought with the "The Memory Player" lastest designs their presence would have been noticable and provided some chatter from listeners. Curious why there isn't?

Have any of you others had any first hand listening experience with thier latest design, in the past there seemed to be allot of talk by specific individuals but it appears to have just ended there. I do not know first hand of one owner, I'm just curious.

I got rid of my referrence red-book player mainly because of the real estate space it took up along with monies tied up and not using it just did not make sence, prefer my vinyl. I'm not looking at comparing these two formats but looking for a single unit replacement for my past refference play that offers top notch sonics and having a server might just fit the bill.

I heard the original unit prior to this one that Clement Perry promoted and from my personal experience found it to not be all that, along with that it had allot of quirks etc.

 

[flez007]

Lloyd - I had Avantgarde UNOs some years back, interestingly in my room, push-pull worked best. I tried quite a few valve SET amps and while the mids and high were good, the mismatch with the subs was evident. The Acoustic Plan Sitar worked great with them.

 

[LL21]

Hi Dimfer,

I got rid of my referrence red-book player mainly because of the real estate space it took up along with monies tied up and not using it just did not make sence, prefer my vinyl.

Hi Dev,

I am pretty sure i have followed your system in other posts before...what redbook CD player did you have?

 

[LL21]

Lloyd - I had Avantgarde UNOs some years back, interestingly in my room, push-pull worked best. I tried quite a few valve SET amps and while the mids and high were good, the mismatch with the subs was evident. The Acoustic Plan Sitar worked great with them.

Thanks. I have heard Wavac 805s work quite well as they have bit more bass power than most SETs. I was so underwhelmed by the Cessaro set up (for the money anyway), that i am not inspired to investigate further. Probably will revisit one day when i get a chance to hear horns (rare over here).

Still looking for transport...and waiting to audition Kalista Reference.

 

[DEV]

Hi Dev,

I am pretty sure i have followed your system in other posts before...what redbook CD player did you have?

Hi lloydelee21,

I ended with MBL1621a transport paired up with a AA Ref Tube dac with varias tubes changes within the dac and a Stealth Sextet AES cable pairing up the two. I owned and tried endless others "Zanden, Kalistra Ref, Esoteric VU, ARC" just to name a few but this was by far was my preferrence.

 

[DEV]

Still looking for transport...and waiting to audition Kalista Reference.

I just noticed your mention of the Kalista Ref, I had one of these. Now it would be approx going onto three years now. Here are some of my thoughts; I loved the look of the eye candy. $60K LIST my exspectations were high. I was looking for my notes but can't seem to find them but from memory the reason why I did not go that route was; installing numerous disc error would come up not play such. I never had any issues with these discs ever and I had three other trans in position and non had this issue either. So this was very disturbing, also while playing some music there were issues where it would stop or go back. Sonics were top notch as it should be at this price point but I did not prefer the bass foundation compared to others nor the over all PRATT. Sorry for not being specific because it has been some time now and not having my notes to refer to it's hard, in the end I choise the MBL 1621a. This pce is absolutely amazing, the build qaulity it top and never had any issues what so ever. Since my journey "2 years" this was the one, I know of others whom have since also gone this route and continue today to enjoy. What does the rest of your set-up consist of, in the end it really is going to come down to a personal preference. The unit I had, inital thoughts were dirty lens or something got on or possibly miss aligned, non of these were issues were found, it's just finicky. I then looked into if I had issues and it appeared USA dealers were dropping the line and ... so that is another thought to consider.

 

[LL21]

I just noticed your mention of the Kalista Ref, I had one of these. Now it would be approx going onto three years now. Here are some of my thoughts; I loved the look of the eye candy. $60K LIST my exspectations were high. I was looking for my notes but can't seem to find them but from memory the reason why I did not go that route was; installing numerous disc error would come up not play such. I never had any issues with these discs ever and I had three other trans in position and non had this issue either. So this was very disturbing, also while playing some music there were issues where it would stop or go back. Sonics were top notch as it should be at this price point but I did not prefer the bass foundation compared to others nor the over all PRATT. Sorry for not being specific because it has been some time now and not having my notes to refer to it's hard, in the end I choise the MBL 1621a. This pce is absolutely amazing, the build qaulity it top and never had any issues what so ever. Since my journey "2 years" this was the one, I know of others whom have since also gone this route and continue today to enjoy. What does the rest of your set-up consist of, in the end it really is going to come down to a personal preference. The unit I had, inital thoughts were dirty lens or something got on or possibly miss aligned, non of these were issues were found, it's just finicky. I then looked into if I had issues and it appeared USA dealers were dropping the line and ... so that is another thought to consider.

Thanks!!!!!!!!! You just answered my PM...before i even sent it!! This is perfect. I run Oppo 83 thru Valhalla BNC to Zanden DAC to CJ GAT to Gryphon Colosseum to Wilson X1s and Velodyne DD18 in parallel. I use mainly Transp Ref IC/SC and PAD Dom power cables. I also starting to use some Sablon Audio cables in strategic places where i find it superior to TA. Power conditioning is Transparent Ref and Nordost QX4.

So the 'weak link' (i think) is the transport. I am tempted to try the MBL 1621F second-hand. Problem is i would have to 'buy blind'.