I went, heard a lot, and best of show for me was the Joseph Audio Pearl (Version 3) in the VPI room. The sound was compelling and had none of the flaws I usually hear:
(mushy upper bass, lack of low end, too much bass, ringing upper mids especially on piano, too smoothed over or mechanical vocals, too sharp/snappy highs that are fatiguing).
Everything was right, imaging was great, and everything fell into place.
It was great balanced sound and I was thinking I could easily live with these speakers permanently, and maybe
I'll buy a pair someday.
Some other speakers excelled in some audiophile "wow" way,
like Wilson imaging/venue creation (Maxx3 and Sashas),
Audio Note SP AN-e ethereal vocals and mids,
Sanders you-are-there uncanny presence.
Very honorable mention to the Venture audio sound (but I think the sub-woofer integration I *think* they had activated was little off, and also the
Sony (SSAR2?) little floorstanders that were very natural,
and the YG 2-piece model that had great bass and a nice live sound.
Strangely, the Wilson Maxx3s in the Classic Album room with a Vinyl Elvis greatest hits sounded too warm and undefined and foggy to me.
I also heard the Raidho speakers and the Vivid speakers with high hopes (I never heard them before) but both seemed too sharp in the upper ranges and fatiguing to me.
I was surprised at my reaction to these, as they seem very popular.
OK, that's my de-briefing from yesterday.
(mushy upper bass, lack of low end, too much bass, ringing upper mids especially on piano, too smoothed over or mechanical vocals, too sharp/snappy highs that are fatiguing).
Everything was right, imaging was great, and everything fell into place.
It was great balanced sound and I was thinking I could easily live with these speakers permanently, and maybe
I'll buy a pair someday.
Some other speakers excelled in some audiophile "wow" way,
like Wilson imaging/venue creation (Maxx3 and Sashas),
Audio Note SP AN-e ethereal vocals and mids,
Sanders you-are-there uncanny presence.
Very honorable mention to the Venture audio sound (but I think the sub-woofer integration I *think* they had activated was little off, and also the
Sony (SSAR2?) little floorstanders that were very natural,
and the YG 2-piece model that had great bass and a nice live sound.
Strangely, the Wilson Maxx3s in the Classic Album room with a Vinyl Elvis greatest hits sounded too warm and undefined and foggy to me.
I also heard the Raidho speakers and the Vivid speakers with high hopes (I never heard them before) but both seemed too sharp in the upper ranges and fatiguing to me.
I was surprised at my reaction to these, as they seem very popular.
OK, that's my de-briefing from yesterday.