Munich HighEnd 2024

[bonzo75]

Yes, corrected in my previous post. Thank you.

Roy Gregory is a massive fan of AG trios and rated Vox Olympian as the best speaker a few years ago

 

[TooCool4]

I wish I had been there to hear it myself.

Believe me, you missed nothing, well maybe an assault on your ears.

 

[PeterA]

Hi Al,

I'm not comparing the reports of this Aries Cerat set-up to other Aries Cerat's set-ups. I personally have never heard a partial or a complete Aries Cerat set-up I have not liked. I like Aries Cerat in general. For example, the Kassandra DAC was one of my two favorites out of about 10 DAC contenders.

I'm saying I am baffled about the conflicting reports arising from this particular Aries Cerat set-up.

Numerous reports say that this Aries Cerat set-up was excellent, which, obviously, conflict with the numerous reports which say this set-up was unimpressive, disappointing or problematic. I think it is unusual to find such polarization in audio reporting.

I disagree Ron. Just look at how polarizing are certain threads and system videos here on WBF. "Audio reporting" is no different. This is not at all baffling to me. Agendas, conflicts, biases, preferences, they all can play a part. It may even be emblematic of our times.

 

[D.Duttilleux]

This I think is spot on for this system. Too much distance between the various drivers. You need to be a long way away for it to blend. And with a lot of horn setups you seem to lose any sense of precise imaging at longer distances.

It's probably goes some way to explain why my phone recording of it was so bad.

This is basic physics and electroacoustics that actually applies to many multiple (more than 2) way systems and certainly to large, separate horns.

Our Portuguese friend made similar comments about the Audiolabs LM1, which wasn't surprising either:
I see the potential, but my previously posted 2-way concept is much easier to merge into a coherent whole.

Thats not a 2 way system for the deaf

That system should be compared to something like this, despite the price being around 40x higher.



Göbel specifies an efficiency of 98dB/1watt/1m (which should be sensitivity by the way) at 4 Ohm nominal.

The combined sensitivity of the woofer arrays of the big 2 way system is around 110dB/2,83V (2w) in 2Pi condition. The SPL meter showed 110-120db levels (C-weighting, fast setting) with under 2 volts in the speaker wire when listened in stereo.

The Göbel features a waveguide loaded with a customized Mundorf AMT, while there's a TAD Be compression driver attached to the Arai 290 horn of the 2 way.

Pick your poison.

 

[Audiohertz2]

I would choose the Goebel over that misaligned wall of Sound , thank you ..!

Sensitivity be damned

 

[christoph]

I don’t own a dart
Mike does is there a setting for reaction of readout
this comes down to transient peaks
a while back a buddy was at dart makers house
Playing on klipsh excuse my spelling
display showed Hundreds of watts at times

Hervé listens extremely loud

 

[PeterA]

Forgive me, for some reason I thought you were referring to wil as a dealer.

You can consider my reporting to be however you wish. You are free to view my reporting through whatever prejudiced prism you select.

Interesting Resnickian response. "Prejudiced prism you prefer" would have been more poetic.

 

[DasguteOhr]

Hervé listens extremely loud

If you want to listen loudly...really loudly, for example a drum kit at its original volume, then you have to listen to something like this.

Zale Vox Hi-Fi wysokiej klasy kolumny glośnikowe - high end

 

[D.Duttilleux]

I would choose the Goebel over that misaligned wall of Sound , thank you ..!

Sensitivity be damned

'Misaligned'??


The Göbel system undoubtedly sounds good, because the engineering is well thought out, but it's not an easy load compared to the 2 way.
Whether this is relevant depends, among other things, on the preferred amplification.
At least the system is (also) suitable for a house party, which is a plus for me.

 

[christoph]

Be glad that you didn't have to listen to

Was it that bad?

 

[D.Duttilleux]

This video may have been posted before:

 

[D.Duttilleux]

Roy Gregory is a massive fan of AG trios and rated Vox Olympian as the best speaker a few years ago

Although 'massive fan' definitely doesn't apply to me, I have to admit that the new Trio sounds surprisingly homogeneous/uniform for a segmented horn system.

 

[Gregadd]

 

[matthias]

Was it that bad?

Take it with a grain of salt, maybe a bit too much sarcasm.
BTW, I think they might look nice in an industrial duplex loft only

 

[Ron Resnick]

I disagree Ron. Just look at how polarizing are certain threads and system videos here on WBF. "Audio reporting" is no different. This is not at all baffling to me. Agendas, conflicts, biases, preferences, they all can play a part. It may even be emblematic of our times.

I understand that view. But I personally don't lump these different topics together.

People can argue, and do argue, endlessly about philosophical differences and design preference differences and videos and enumerable other topics. People can argue endlessly about what in-the-room sound sounds like based on their perception of the sound coming out of a digital YouTube video. (You know I find this ludicrous.)

But in my personal experience when I am with one or more audiophiles together in front of an actual audio system in real life hearing in-the-room music produced by that system almost invariably there is much lower variance in reported sonic impressions.

 

[PeterA]

I respect that view.

I personally don't lump these different topics together.

Here is why: people can argue, and do argue, endlessly about philosophical differences and design preference differences and videos and enumerable other topics.

But in my personal experience when I am with one or more friends in front of an actual audio system in real life hearing in-the-room music produced by the system there tends to be much lower variance in subjective sonic impressions.

When you and I listened to systems together, I thought we were more or less in agreement, but then you confessed later that you were simply being polite and it turns out we actually had quite different opinions. I discovered later you were not completely candid. I’m aware of six systems that we heard together. And sometimes one is polite to the owner, but more candid once he leaves the room.

Besides, these reports from Munich of the Aries Cerat system are not two or three friends going together and listening at the same time and sharing impressions. These are different reports from different people hearing the system at different times. And as I would expect from listeners with different interests, the opinions are quite varied.

 

[D.Duttilleux]

I disagree Ron. Just look at how polarizing are certain threads and system videos here on WBF. "Audio reporting" is no different. This is not at all baffling to me. Agendas, conflicts, biases, preferences, they all can play a part. It may even be emblematic of our times.

Right there.

That sentence can also be substituted with 'part of the process' (whatever floats your ark).

 

[Al M.]

Right there.

That sentence can also be substituted with 'part of the process'

True. "The times", be it ours or those of previous generations, have always been complained about. It's a millennia old pastime.

 

[PeterA]

Forgive me, for some reason I thought you were referring to wil as a dealer.

You can consider my reporting to be however you wish. You are free to view my reporting through whatever prejudiced prism you select.

We have had years of discussions about many topics which has given me insight into how you think and into your mental process. I believe you would be incapable of wearing two separate hats, and of compartmentalizing your views and your reporting on the one hand, and your fully disclosed dealer activity on the other hand. I believe you would be unable to separate these two roles. I believe that because you could not implement honestly and fairly this separation you assume that I cannot implement honestly and fairly this separation.

I believe that you personally would be incapable of bifurcating these two different roles and of preventing a potential conflict of interest from maturing into an actual conflict of interest. I believe that because you know -- explicitly or subconsciously -- that you couldn't do this, you assume that I cannot do this. I stipulate that you have every right to decide for yourself to assume that I cannot do this.

Yes, Clarisys was one of my favorite rooms at AXPONA, along with eight or ten other favorite rooms. Not once did I single out the Clarisys room as being somehow above my other favorite rooms. I routinely complement and praise Sound Lab and Alsyvox and Magnepan and Analysis Audio and Martin Logan and Diptyque, competitors to Clarisys, both privately and publicly. Frequently, and as a matter of policy, I advise any audiophile interested in planar dipole loudspeakers to audition each of these candidates.

I have been discussing privately the possibility of becoming a Clarisys dealer since early 2023. I truly believe that not even Sherlock Holmes himself could have detected any pro-Clarisys bias on my part in any of the loudspeaker designer interviews I conducted with designers last year. I defy you to find in my interviews evidence of such a claim.

Of course my lifelong love of planar dipole loudspeakers in general sometimes informs some of the questions I ask interviewees, but that has nothing to do with Clarisys per se.

I do not know whether I would be capable of bifurcating a conflict like being a reviewer and a dealer at the same time. Were I to be either one of those, I would’ve avoided the conflict in the first place and chosen one over the other as Brad did.

You are not by bifurcating a conflict. You are trifurcating a more complex conflict: reviewer, dealer, and audio forum co owner soliciting advertisers. I appreciate that you recognize that I can have an opinion about that.

 

[fbhifi]

Hi Al,

I'm saying I am baffled about the conflicting reports arising from this particular Aries Cerat set-up.