Some Initial Thoughts
- Thread starter Steve williams
- Start date
this was the system i enjoyed the most and the one id take home if given the choice. it was was seemless, fluid, transparent and simply got out of the way of the music. other attendees clapped after a cut was played off doug mcleods new LP. certainly the best ive heard class-d amps sound and from my understanding these were no ordinary amps. when i asked the Mola designer about how he got them to sound the way they did he replied "a lot of math!"
credit no doubt has to go to the brinkmann bardo front end and of course the speakers themselves. i'm totally smitten by the seemlessness - a major feat being a four-way design. the oval series vivids with luxman paled by comparison and was near the bottom of my list at last years show.
As I was leaving I had a talk with Philip about the Giya and he told me that the company is working on the grand daddy of the speaker which IIRC he said would be called the G0 and of the same size as uber speakers as we know them now
That is interesting!...did he happen to mention target timing (ie, next year or simply a work in progress)?
It was great to meet Steve and the rest of the WBF guys at THE Show, these show rooms are chaotic and the room we had was even more so because we had 6 demo systems in the room!
Yes audio fans, I said 6 systems in one big square room and only two Phase11 tape decks, some systems were pointed this way and some pointed that way, nothing optimal. Not even a proper audio rack in the room everything sat on tables.
It is always difficult to get good sound under show conditions with one system in a room, with 6 systems (sitting on tables) in each others way it can be unusually challenging. Just the power delivery issues from maybe one 15A or 20A circuit to power everything becomes... limiting. To play all these systems it was musical chairs in the room as show goers moved their chairs to listen to each system, it was chaos at times but we worked it out.
You never know what you are getting into when you agree to show.
However I did enjoy hearing my decks with the Ayon system and also with the Gauder Akustik speakers and AVM electronics it is always great to meet new audio friends. Dr. Roland Gauder and Udo Besser of AVM have "strongly" requested that I show my UHA decks with them at the Munich Show next year and since they have graciously offered for me to show for free why not??? They liked the sound we were getting with the UHA decks and their equipment. Charlie Harrison has also asked for me to show with him at RMAF, he plans to have the new large Ayon speakers along with probably another 8 or 10 systems in the room, ha!
For me the highlights of this show from my perspective were as follows.
1.) Lots of people coming just to hear tape in the room. I am talking people who said they have never heard it before but had read about it and thought they should check it out, new converts??
2.) The "after hours" listening events in the MBL room were great, turn out all the lights and just let the energy of the music light up the room. A nice glass of wine and sit back and enjoy.
3.) Lots of people asking lots of questions about getting tape in their systems, questions about decks and music and the future of tape, great stuff!
4.) Lots of impressed listeners and converted to tape heads, which seems to be happening at all the shows I am doing. Roland Gauder and Udo Besser said that they thought this tape thing was crazy and had determined before the show that they did not want to play a tape deck in their system, that changed after they listened.
5.) The new Groove Note tapes supplied by Ying Tan were quite nice and even come on Quantegy GP9 tape, believe it or not.
6.) I also liked the Cuddle Magic tape supplied by Jonathan Horwich, very different music but I like it.
7.) Also like the fact that I sold two decks at the show.
If a person wanted to attend an audio show and also enjoy a few days after the show in a place I highly recommend a trip to the Newport show, the Orange County area, Laguna Beach and Newport are awesome!
The next show for UHA will be The Capital Audiofest, then RMAF, hope to see lots of WBF guys there.
Yes audio fans, I said 6 systems in one big square room and only two Phase11 tape decks, some systems were pointed this way and some pointed that way, nothing optimal. Not even a proper audio rack in the room everything sat on tables.
It is always difficult to get good sound under show conditions with one system in a room, with 6 systems (sitting on tables) in each others way it can be unusually challenging. Just the power delivery issues from maybe one 15A or 20A circuit to power everything becomes... limiting. To play all these systems it was musical chairs in the room as show goers moved their chairs to listen to each system, it was chaos at times but we worked it out.
You never know what you are getting into when you agree to show.
However I did enjoy hearing my decks with the Ayon system and also with the Gauder Akustik speakers and AVM electronics it is always great to meet new audio friends. Dr. Roland Gauder and Udo Besser of AVM have "strongly" requested that I show my UHA decks with them at the Munich Show next year and since they have graciously offered for me to show for free why not??? They liked the sound we were getting with the UHA decks and their equipment. Charlie Harrison has also asked for me to show with him at RMAF, he plans to have the new large Ayon speakers along with probably another 8 or 10 systems in the room, ha!
For me the highlights of this show from my perspective were as follows.
1.) Lots of people coming just to hear tape in the room. I am talking people who said they have never heard it before but had read about it and thought they should check it out, new converts??
2.) The "after hours" listening events in the MBL room were great, turn out all the lights and just let the energy of the music light up the room. A nice glass of wine and sit back and enjoy.
3.) Lots of people asking lots of questions about getting tape in their systems, questions about decks and music and the future of tape, great stuff!
4.) Lots of impressed listeners and converted to tape heads, which seems to be happening at all the shows I am doing. Roland Gauder and Udo Besser said that they thought this tape thing was crazy and had determined before the show that they did not want to play a tape deck in their system, that changed after they listened.
5.) The new Groove Note tapes supplied by Ying Tan were quite nice and even come on Quantegy GP9 tape, believe it or not.
6.) I also liked the Cuddle Magic tape supplied by Jonathan Horwich, very different music but I like it.
7.) Also like the fact that I sold two decks at the show.
If a person wanted to attend an audio show and also enjoy a few days after the show in a place I highly recommend a trip to the Newport show, the Orange County area, Laguna Beach and Newport are awesome!
The next show for UHA will be The Capital Audiofest, then RMAF, hope to see lots of WBF guys there.
Greg, I thought your system with the Gauder speakers and the AVM amps was really outstanding, congratulations.
Your UHA deck is really something else! Superb piece, IMHO.
Your UHA deck is really something else! Superb piece, IMHO.
Bruce B
WBF Founding Member, Pro Audio Production Member
Also Greg's deck got picked for inclusion in the top 100 audio advances in the latest TAS 40th Anniversary Ed.
Thanks guys!
For me these shows are a great way to get more converts to R2R, I believe to hear it is to like it. Yes they are expensive to do but worth it, especially when you sell tape decks and meet great people that share your passion. It's good to get some face time with great folks like the esteemed Dr. Brown (minus the big boss Renee at this show), Myles (absent from this show but caught up with him at the NYC show), Steve, David Robinson, Robert Harley, Jim Hannon, Richard Beers, Dr. Breuninger and his lovely daughter Terry, (just to mention a few). Plus the countless "new" enthusiasts who hear tape and "get it", their face to face responses can really keep the wind in your sails.
As Bruce indicates I have been fortunate enough to get some decks out there for reviewers to listen to and they have responded favorably. I have a number of requests for review decks that I hope to accommodate over this year and next. Jonathan Valin also wrote a fun review of my Phase11 deck and a bit about some of the companies issuing Master Tape copies in the latest The Absolute Sound magazine, their 40th anniversary edition. He also shared some observations regarding tape vs vinyl in the Walker turntable review.
Also look for reviews coming from avshowrooms.com and Positive Feedback Online.
The bottom line is we need more converts to tape and that is my goal, more converts mean more buyers and that fuel's the growth.
So I continue to advertise in magazines and online, send decks all over the USA for review and do the big shows wherever they are, (even did Montreal this year). If any WBF guys are going to be at The Capital Audiofest in Washington DC or at RMAF please stop by and say hi.
For me these shows are a great way to get more converts to R2R, I believe to hear it is to like it. Yes they are expensive to do but worth it, especially when you sell tape decks and meet great people that share your passion. It's good to get some face time with great folks like the esteemed Dr. Brown (minus the big boss Renee at this show), Myles (absent from this show but caught up with him at the NYC show), Steve, David Robinson, Robert Harley, Jim Hannon, Richard Beers, Dr. Breuninger and his lovely daughter Terry, (just to mention a few). Plus the countless "new" enthusiasts who hear tape and "get it", their face to face responses can really keep the wind in your sails.
As Bruce indicates I have been fortunate enough to get some decks out there for reviewers to listen to and they have responded favorably. I have a number of requests for review decks that I hope to accommodate over this year and next. Jonathan Valin also wrote a fun review of my Phase11 deck and a bit about some of the companies issuing Master Tape copies in the latest The Absolute Sound magazine, their 40th anniversary edition. He also shared some observations regarding tape vs vinyl in the Walker turntable review.
Also look for reviews coming from avshowrooms.com and Positive Feedback Online.
The bottom line is we need more converts to tape and that is my goal, more converts mean more buyers and that fuel's the growth.
So I continue to advertise in magazines and online, send decks all over the USA for review and do the big shows wherever they are, (even did Montreal this year). If any WBF guys are going to be at The Capital Audiofest in Washington DC or at RMAF please stop by and say hi.
Good thought Greg and yes a pleasure to have met you but the way I see it, getting people exposed to R2R is the first step but clearly the 2nd and IMO the most important is to get more vendors selling tapes and the price of tape has to come way down. The only one I am seeing doing this is Jonathan Horwich where tapes, although far from inexpensive at $150 per tape, seem to be the best priced
+1. We Stayed in the area till Thursday - took a day trip to San Diego on Monday, visited Steve's place on Tuesday and drove around Costa Mesa, Laguna Beach, Garden Grove, Newport Beach area the rest of our stay. My wife liked the area so much she convinced herself that she can miss the supposed to be important
Friday meeting in her office (that's why booked to return Thursday) and attempted to extend our stay till Sunday. One of the most enjoyable trips we had.some of the pictures I took during our stay:
Fernando
so glad you took my advice and went into Laguna Beach. Did you eat out back of Hotel Laguna on the sand. Did you make it to South Coast Shopping Center when you were in Costa Mesa
so glad you took my advice and went into Laguna Beach. Did you eat out back of Hotel Laguna on the sand. Did you make it to South Coast Shopping Center when you were in Costa Mesa
Thanks for the tip Steve. We really liked Laguna Beach but forgot the actual name of the hotel you suggested. We searched the Magellan/AAA database on the GPS but cannot ascertain which one you recommended. We ended up at the Greeter's Corner, nice view of the beach because we dined outdoor in the back patio and the food was decent.
Yes, we hit the South Coast Shopping Center - even with the limited space left in out luggage, our credit card took a hit
, it was my wife's birthday on May 30th, so the trip was part of my treat for her plus the promised shopping. If we knew that the Resort at Pelican Beach was that nice, so with the Newport Beach area - we would have booked a much longer stay. By the time we decided to extend, we cannot get our room anymore, and the flights left were really not desirable anymore.
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