Best Sounding Room at the HE 2006 Show?


Greetings:

Just spent the past two days at the HE 2006 Show in LA. I know there is an official voting for the best sounding room and it will eventually come out. So this thread will serve as the unofficial voting for the best of show. Let us know what you think if you attended the show.

Personally I like the sound at Harminix/Reimyo room with a pair of Bravo book-end speakers driven by their 300b amp. The front end was their CDP77 & DAP777. The sound was rich in harmonics as the presenter put it. The set up was great for a small room. The only problem is with just tuning feet for the speaker stand costs more than $750, I am going to need a lot of funds. Maybe I should put up my kids for adoption???
yollyhnet0com

Showing 1 response by darkmoebius

I didn't make it into the Lamm or Wilson rooms due to industry crowds, but for me, Acoustic Image's room had some of the most original and best sound. Elliot was using $40k ESP Concert Grand SI line array speakers(15 drivers per speaker, 90dB) that sound exactly like large planars, but seriously deep and powerful bass. Amplification was $35k Wavestream monoblock monsters and front end was a ~$25k Brinkman LaGrange TT, Brinkamn tonearm, Brinkman phono, into a $16k Messenger preamp. Of course, at price it better knock your socks off.

I'd also put Brooks Berdan's room in a best sounding room for live jazz and classical. Also, it was the most balanced sound overall. Of course, that's what Brooks is famous for (besides TT setup). I walked in as a live jazz track ended with crowd applause and the room sounded like a jazz club five times the size.

Best rooms for rock, alternative, and anything not classical, jazz, or smooth jazz female vocals were both surprisingly high efficiency - Zu's Definitions(101dB) and Global Acoustics' Austrian WLM Lyra speakers(98dB) w/ Duo 16" subwoofer. Most high-eff wideband single-driver systems fall apart slamming rock, but of these stayed rich and meaty in big way. We sent the Diana Krall/Norah Jones "audiophiles" running for their lives several times.

Zu was using Audiopax 88 monoblocks and Global had impessive 40 watt Audio Aero 813 SET amps and a Brinkman TT.