Any feedback on the NY Audio Show NYH?

If great (expensive)gear can sound bad can cheap(er) gear sound great? I think yes...! This is was I got out of this year's show. But as past shows, expensive stuff was dissapointing and inexpensive stuff was impressive. Just blame it on the rooms at the Hilton. I was great to hear (& see)more vinyl in demos than in past shows!

Too lazy for a thorough rundown, but here goes. Rooms I liked:
- Gamut/Pipedreams (better than the Tenor/Pipe room IMHO)
- Rethm/EAR/Resolution Audio
- Tact MH-1 speakers + Tact electronics (their reference speaker, the LS-1, which resembles the pipes, projected images that were larger than life......not a good thing)
- Classic Audio Reproductions/Atma-Sphere
- Ensemble/Art Audio
- Joseph Audio/Manley

Rooms I didnt care for:
- Kharma/Lamm
- Wilson Watt Puppy 7
- Tenor/Pipedreams room
- Rockport (really wanted to like this room too)

I agree with Dolphin.I did not think the Karma/Lamn room was all that bad.The VSA 6 cahnnel room probably had the largest waiting line throughout the whole show.Great sound,but WAY too loud.The Merlin/Joule room was very good.The Roman/Plinius room also good.Bottom line is most of the rooms are way too small to really make a fair evaluation of most of the gear.The oodest setup was Dunlavy/Yamaha.Don't get that one.The Pipedream,Rockport room was suprisingly bad and considering the cost of the equipment,was a real dissapointment as they had a great room to demo in.

My overall impression of the show is more good sounding rooms that I can ever remember. Few that are great, but many that are worthwhile.

In the super value area, the Kikrsaeter/Blue Circle room is great.

I also like the Totem Forest driven by a new Totem integrated amp.

The Viola system, which is megabucks, is quite good and has the best bass drum reproduction I've ever heard, for what that's worth.

The JM Labs + Lamm + dCS system (Sound by Singer) is wonderful, IMO.

Tons of $3K CD players: Ayre, Gamut, Sim Audio.

-dan

I agree with Dolphin. The GamuT/Pipedream was among the best sounding rooms. I just can't believe the size of this amp, it's looked like a small vehicle. The Merlins/Joule sounded a bit thin for some reason - could be tracks they had on. Overall the show was good. The Shanglin (chinese) CD-Player wasn't as impressive as it looks on the web.

I rushed through show in 3.5 hours. I was with a friend who kept running out every 50-minutes to feed a metered parking at broadway & 53rd. We spent a lot of time coordinating stuff and less time on the show. Next time I'm going alone.

I forgot to mention the new Meadowlark Swift. At $1095 the pair (or is it $995), these could be a hugely successful speaker.

Really liked the Singer demo of the JM Grand Utopias/Lamm setup. best sound IMHO was the Wilson System 7. Largely due to the room and the care and coordination of the material. The integration of the sub with the WATTs was very good (those things still sounded sweet w/o a sub).
Oodest thing I witnessed : typical crowded elevator situation on 2nd floor, Kalman Rubinson of Stereophile elbowing his way past an elderly woman to take her place on an overpacked elevator, separating her from her group. That kind of boorish behavior makes me want to cancel my subscription...