Nice report! I was wondering if the clock makers turntable needs to be wound up?
New York Audio Show 2019
My buddy and I attended Friday for the first time and had a fun time and meet some cool people.
Granted there is some very high end equipment on display but it is fun to check it out...and at least dream alittle about owning it.
Here are some thoughts for the group.
Press got in at 11:00 AM so we had to wait but we decide to go visit John and Eric from Ohm during this time and spent over an hour spinning some SACDs and listening to the Ohm Walsh's, which offer full room stereo. My buddy and I are big fans of Ohm speaker since the Tech Hifi days. I currently own three pairs. L2's, C2's and a pair or Ohm refurbished super H's, which are the anchor of my HT rig.
We put on the Mofi SACD of Jefferson Airplane's final album,Volunteers. One of the writers walked in and smiled and said "someone is playing some real music." The Walsh's sound full and vibrant and handled Jorma's distortion and Jack thundering bass of the rockin' opening track " We Could Be Together" with no problem. There was no sub-woofer added either.
I also found out John was an opera fan, like me, and I offered another SACD I brought to play. Handel's La Maga Abbandonata featuring Simone Kermes and Maria Beaumont with Alan Curtis conducting the ensemble. This is where the Walsh's blew me away, they did have a Carver amp/pre as part of their rig, as the female voice is always a wonderful indicator of the true depth, capability, and beauty of a loud speaker. The Walsh's offered up exquisite spatial separation of the soprano Kemes and contralto Beaumonte and when Kermes unleashed her operatic power it was extremely satisfying hearing the Walsh's deliver the goods of this wonderful recording.
I will offer up some of my personal highlight of the afternoon from here on out not trying to wade into territory outside of my technical wheel house.
The loud speaker that really stole the show for me, no it was not the $430K ESD rig; although I thoroughly enjoyed hearing The Stones " Satisfaction" playing off a stellar reel to reel in that set up, was PureAudioProject" Trio15 Classic. The vendor, sorry I forgot his name but he was very informative and down to earth, played some classical and some French female vocal jazz that was simply sublime sounding. These speakers, at $10K a pair, blew away all the other speakers we heard at dramatically much higher price points. He was playing digital tracks off his lap top that were not going through a DAC either. Myself and others were shocked how good it sounded. He was using a Roland Pro AR-200R I believe as he said it cost only $700. These are 2 way, although I think he used the term 1.5 way the way they are designed and they sound full, vibrant and completely present. They a have an wonderful classic look as well.
Value Electronics also had a great set set up that featured Technics high end reference series which sounded impressive.
Blink High End Audio featured much going on as the rep from the store in Republic of Cambridge was trying to educate as well as sell. He was comparing vinyl and digital in real time along with showcasing the stunning performance of the Borg, yes resistance is futile, and the Julieta from Kroma Audio, which is a Spanish company. The Julieta had alot of natural punch and as did the Borg. Both were very alive and made you take notice and filled the room with chest pounding bass., The white modern look of both speakers was not the most aesthetically pleasing to this reviewer but I will leave that to you to decide.
The Tweak Studio also had a wide array of killer sounding equipment as well.
Room 700 may have been the music lover's room to stop by and sit and listen. With Sound By Singer staging a $90 K system it was quite impressive. The digital hub was an impressive CH Precision up-scaling DAC along with amps and pre that drove a stunning pair of Stenheim Infinite loud speakers that were a workhorse of handling a wide musical variety. Whether it was the classical guitar version of Stairway to Heaven by Rodrigo y Gabriela, what a treat! To the Mofi 45 RPM release of Dylan's Blood on the Tracks these speakers could deliver!
It was also fun to hear the rep from Mofi talk about the laborious and time consuming effort to reach an agreement with record companies to get the rights to remaster and re-release the classic albums we would like to hear. Next step is to to work with the artist to bring the product to market. He cited that it took 4 years to bring the Dire Straight albums to market. It is also difficult to always get the 33 RPM rights as well, as the record companies now see gold in them dem hills and are now choosing to re-issue the vinyl themselves, often with lack luster results. That explains why many Mofi are now 45 RPM, of coarse they sound better too.
The dude did turn us onto a stunning vinyl re-issue from 1974 of the Tsuyoshi Yamamoto Trio playing Misty that was incredible through the Stenheim's I believe it is on a label called Impact but could not find the pressing he had online.
I finally got to hear a pair of Harbeth Monitor 40.2's too and they lived up to all that I have heard. Fidelis AV was playing that new Neil Young solo acoustic album and it sounded sooooo good.
In wrapping it up there was a clock maker from the UK, named Paul who was promoting his built from scratch turntable and phono amp. The company is called Onkk and his story is truly amazing, he has been working for over three years to bring this incredible, and unusual looking piece of engineering and clocking making technology to fruition. I have a feeling you will be reading about his story soon in one of the mags or online.
The value of the show was the self powered speakers from Vanatoo. Staring at $349, 45 watts per channel, these little speakers pack alot of wallop and sound very good and can also be hooked up to any subwoofer as well for more full room bass. They can be set up very easily and can connect via USB, bluetooth, coaxial, or optical and the two guys who created them are very passionate about what they are trying to do. Another great story as well.
Look forward to hearing more from others.
Best regards in stereo,
Idigmusic64
Granted there is some very high end equipment on display but it is fun to check it out...and at least dream alittle about owning it.
Here are some thoughts for the group.
Press got in at 11:00 AM so we had to wait but we decide to go visit John and Eric from Ohm during this time and spent over an hour spinning some SACDs and listening to the Ohm Walsh's, which offer full room stereo. My buddy and I are big fans of Ohm speaker since the Tech Hifi days. I currently own three pairs. L2's, C2's and a pair or Ohm refurbished super H's, which are the anchor of my HT rig.
We put on the Mofi SACD of Jefferson Airplane's final album,Volunteers. One of the writers walked in and smiled and said "someone is playing some real music." The Walsh's sound full and vibrant and handled Jorma's distortion and Jack thundering bass of the rockin' opening track " We Could Be Together" with no problem. There was no sub-woofer added either.
I also found out John was an opera fan, like me, and I offered another SACD I brought to play. Handel's La Maga Abbandonata featuring Simone Kermes and Maria Beaumont with Alan Curtis conducting the ensemble. This is where the Walsh's blew me away, they did have a Carver amp/pre as part of their rig, as the female voice is always a wonderful indicator of the true depth, capability, and beauty of a loud speaker. The Walsh's offered up exquisite spatial separation of the soprano Kemes and contralto Beaumonte and when Kermes unleashed her operatic power it was extremely satisfying hearing the Walsh's deliver the goods of this wonderful recording.
I will offer up some of my personal highlight of the afternoon from here on out not trying to wade into territory outside of my technical wheel house.
The loud speaker that really stole the show for me, no it was not the $430K ESD rig; although I thoroughly enjoyed hearing The Stones " Satisfaction" playing off a stellar reel to reel in that set up, was PureAudioProject" Trio15 Classic. The vendor, sorry I forgot his name but he was very informative and down to earth, played some classical and some French female vocal jazz that was simply sublime sounding. These speakers, at $10K a pair, blew away all the other speakers we heard at dramatically much higher price points. He was playing digital tracks off his lap top that were not going through a DAC either. Myself and others were shocked how good it sounded. He was using a Roland Pro AR-200R I believe as he said it cost only $700. These are 2 way, although I think he used the term 1.5 way the way they are designed and they sound full, vibrant and completely present. They a have an wonderful classic look as well.
Value Electronics also had a great set set up that featured Technics high end reference series which sounded impressive.
Blink High End Audio featured much going on as the rep from the store in Republic of Cambridge was trying to educate as well as sell. He was comparing vinyl and digital in real time along with showcasing the stunning performance of the Borg, yes resistance is futile, and the Julieta from Kroma Audio, which is a Spanish company. The Julieta had alot of natural punch and as did the Borg. Both were very alive and made you take notice and filled the room with chest pounding bass., The white modern look of both speakers was not the most aesthetically pleasing to this reviewer but I will leave that to you to decide.
The Tweak Studio also had a wide array of killer sounding equipment as well.
Room 700 may have been the music lover's room to stop by and sit and listen. With Sound By Singer staging a $90 K system it was quite impressive. The digital hub was an impressive CH Precision up-scaling DAC along with amps and pre that drove a stunning pair of Stenheim Infinite loud speakers that were a workhorse of handling a wide musical variety. Whether it was the classical guitar version of Stairway to Heaven by Rodrigo y Gabriela, what a treat! To the Mofi 45 RPM release of Dylan's Blood on the Tracks these speakers could deliver!
It was also fun to hear the rep from Mofi talk about the laborious and time consuming effort to reach an agreement with record companies to get the rights to remaster and re-release the classic albums we would like to hear. Next step is to to work with the artist to bring the product to market. He cited that it took 4 years to bring the Dire Straight albums to market. It is also difficult to always get the 33 RPM rights as well, as the record companies now see gold in them dem hills and are now choosing to re-issue the vinyl themselves, often with lack luster results. That explains why many Mofi are now 45 RPM, of coarse they sound better too.
The dude did turn us onto a stunning vinyl re-issue from 1974 of the Tsuyoshi Yamamoto Trio playing Misty that was incredible through the Stenheim's I believe it is on a label called Impact but could not find the pressing he had online.
I finally got to hear a pair of Harbeth Monitor 40.2's too and they lived up to all that I have heard. Fidelis AV was playing that new Neil Young solo acoustic album and it sounded sooooo good.
In wrapping it up there was a clock maker from the UK, named Paul who was promoting his built from scratch turntable and phono amp. The company is called Onkk and his story is truly amazing, he has been working for over three years to bring this incredible, and unusual looking piece of engineering and clocking making technology to fruition. I have a feeling you will be reading about his story soon in one of the mags or online.
The value of the show was the self powered speakers from Vanatoo. Staring at $349, 45 watts per channel, these little speakers pack alot of wallop and sound very good and can also be hooked up to any subwoofer as well for more full room bass. They can be set up very easily and can connect via USB, bluetooth, coaxial, or optical and the two guys who created them are very passionate about what they are trying to do. Another great story as well.
Look forward to hearing more from others.
Best regards in stereo,
Idigmusic64
13 responses Add your response
Gnrbob, Sam’s speakers were very interesting and threw a large image, the speaker is ridiculously overpriced for what you are getting and there are a zillion other $30k speakers we would take over them but this was the best sound from these speakers we have heard to date. The big Harbeth 30.2 sounded really good in this much smaller room then the gigantic room they had showcased them in before. The $80k Martin Logan Neolith/Mark Levinson rig was expensive and mediocre. The T+A room sounded very good, the sound from these small Criterion floorstanders was excellent especially for the compact size of the speakers. The Haniwa system sounded way better than heard at CAP, but still an oddity. The little Voxativ system at $10k for the entire system was very cool, obviously not a lot of real deep bass but lovely. Agreed with you on the Value room the Technics system sounded really good. This show was super small, but fun for one day, hopefully someone will take over the show from the Chester group who doesn’t bother to advertise or promote hence the small amount of companies participating. idigmusic64 spot on the the Onkk In wrapping it up there was a clock maker from the UK, named Paul who was promoting his built from scratch turntable and phono amp. The company is called Onkk and his story is truly amazing, he has been working for over three years to bring this incredible, and unusual looking piece of engineering and clocking making technology to fruition. I have a feeling you will be reading about his story soon in one of the mags or online. Sat down with Paul the clockmaker and owner of Onkk, and got to talk with him extensively, first of all the sound in this room was mesmierizing. A huge three dimensional soundstage, a great sense of timing, (you could hear the concept of PRAT, Pace, Rythem and Timing) on total display in this room, the noise floor was totally non existant. Paul spent 5 years developing the table, the motor is a custom built slot less design, the slotless motor has far less pulsing effects than normal brushless non slot less motors, his speed control use military grade satellite tracking technology, the plinth is a custom cast high density aluminium which is filled with a high density epoxy damping resin, and the 80lb mass is suspended on springs to isolate the mass. The table comes with an outboard power supply, and the torque is variable which affects the musical message and can improve the sound by allowing the owner to customize the sound of the presentation by verying the motor pulses. The speed and torque setting can be saved into memory. 21rst century engineering, improving old style vinly and the table is stunning. We are considering to purchase, the show sample the Onkk was that good even at a $20-25k price point this table looks to eat the really expensive Tech Das for breakfast, according to Paul the table has been compared to a host of really expensive tables in the UK which cost way more and the Onkk is just in another league. Paul will also be bringing to market a simplified version of the table for $8k, you are so right on this table, Paul is a genuine artist, his story is fascinating and his honesty and sincerity is off the charts, this man is so passionate about his creation, ( he started playing with desiging tables since he was 11) the only down side is to hear one is to own own one. The phonostage was the excellent Christine from Merrill Audio who also supplied the amps, the Martin Logan’s also sounded superb. Dave and Troy Audio Doctor NJ |
@dweller no clock winding or batteries required. @audiotroy thanks that mean alot coming from you guys. @gdnrbob I did not get to hear these as they were having technical problems getting the system to fired up. It took them like over 30 minutes to get things going and when I went back later the room was too packed. I did forget to mention the set up of the Vinnie Rossi room, That L2 integrated amp was a thing of beauty, aesthetically and sonically. The Qln speakers we also quite impressive. Understated but provided full range and richness and I enjoyed them the more I listened to them. They were being played at a lower volume as well compared to others rooms. |
@OP, I agree the Qln speakers were very nice, but I felt they were being held back either by cabling or equipment. I would like to listen to them in a better room and with different equipment. Funny, but when I looked at the logo, I thought it was 'Ohm'. The Haniwa system was playing an ancient Beatles record, which I felt was not the best music to demonstrate their equipments' capabilities, in my opinion. Both Sound by Singer rooms were pretty unimpressive in performance. B |
I was at the show but somehow missed the Singer rooms. One I tried to go in was locked. I wanted to hear the Stenheim speakers as I’ve heard one their speakers sound good. I think the Vinnie Rossi room sounded great- not necessarily because of the speakers but I feel it was the hybrid electronics and the careful setup of speakers 1/3rd out onto the room. I am a huge fan of Mark Porzilli’s previous speakers, the Sceana. He was behind pipedream as well, and obviously knows his way around a line source speaker. His new ultra thin speakers in the Laufer room did some things incredibly well. They disappeared so well and threw a huge stage. I feel they would do better not being driven quite so full range to 200 hz and with a woofer section rather than just subs. Interestingly they are heated internally. I did feel some resonance in the aluminum (I believe) enclosures as it was playing and there was something a bit steely in the high end, but I think these show incredible promise from a tiny bit tall column of titanium drivers. The 2 speakers in the Blink Audio room was great as well. The class A monoblock amps were a shocking $96k retail. When they replaced the those electronics with class AB/D (which I’ve never heard of) integrated from the same manufacturer, there was a huge loss of quality. I wasn’t impressed by the massive $500k horn system (or its smaller version) playing in the large suites. Yes it could play loudly and was one of the few systems that could really reproduce an orchestra at full scale (actually larger because they were playing them so loudly). They were playing fantastic open reel recordings from Tape Project, but I somehow didn’t connect with presentation. There were 2 different Martin Logan based systems. The larger (mono or Neolith) exhibited the usual compression and break up I hear in every ML show demo I’ve ever heard. The smaller speakers in another room actually sounded good. I’m not sure what to think of the Orinda acoustics room. I have heard Sunny’s previous designs in one unnamed reviewer’s room sound utterly stunning, and an audio experience I will never forget. However I’m afraid the extremely nice Sunny Lo is victim of his own perceptions. Year after year he uses a probably 15 year old CD player as a source (perhaps customized) in his demo room, failing to recognize that digital playback has evolved significantly. If I had to guess the electronics he uses are the reason the speakers he brings in never seem to sound good. I’d love someone else to take over his marketing of speakers and find a combination that do them justice. |
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The surprising thing with the New York Audio show was despite its minisule size 23 rooms the show had good attendence. The exact amount of people is hard to determine because the show was so small so the same number of people spread out on only two floors made the show appear quite packed. The reason why we have been sitting out on this show is that the costs from Chester group are high and they don't promote at all. Compare this to the new Florida show, which was started by retailors so the cost of the room rental was low, and instead of charging for tickets they were given away. Their show was filled with tons of new people that could become customers and hence grow our industry. This is what the industry needs to grow, to find new people to show how amazing music can sound on a great audio system. Also systems for different price points that are more affordable to the starter guy or gal would be fantastic. Also having an area for the wives and girlfiriends to have fun and look at things they might like like couture, or a tea lounge or something that might make a woman feel like a show like this would be fun for them as well. The nice thing for the first time there was a few press people at this show, Julie Mullens from the Absolute Sound, Steve Guttenberg the Audiophiliac, Stereotimes was there, Mike Trei who writes for Sound and Vision, Ken Metcalf from Stereophile was there but was not sure if Stereophile would allow him to cover such a small show. When we did the show in 2012, 2013, and 2016 the show coverage was nearly non existant. There were a few very good rooms: Vinnie Rossi's new integrated amplifier is expensive but absolutely magical to hear one is to want one, the QLN speakers are also excellent. The Luxman/Triangle room was very musical. The Alexius audio/Bache room was and is always extremely musical. We discovered an amazing new turntable the Onkk from Great Britan that was so magical we bought the display sample and are going to become the US importer, it is a $19k table with arm $25k but even at that price it may be unbeatable even at double the price. Dave and Troy Audio Doctor NJ |
I attended the show for the first time this year with a friend who runs a speaker restoration shop. Between the two of us, we have heard a lot of very good systems. And we heard quite a few here too, but not as many as I expected. We got an exclusive listen to an early Joe Jackson master tape on the giant RTR/horn system late Friday that was exceptional. But aside from that the only room that really did it for me was the QLN and Vinny Rossi setup. Seeing as he lives close by I have a feeling I will be talking to Mr Rossi often. I am already looking forward to next year.... |
Hi idigmusic64 Thanks for the report... Ohm is a favorite of mine as well... There factory is around the block from my office... I agree with what you said below" This is where the Walsh's blew me away, they did have a Carver amp/pre as part of their rig, as the female voice is always a wonderful indicator of the true depth, capability, and beauty of a loud speaker." What John and Evan was presenting at this show was a Retro system that has been upgraded to current standards.... So you saw what looked to be Walsh 2 but they were upgrades to Super 2's .... you can see them at Ohm website .... The Carver rig you noticed has been gone thru by Nelion Audio .... check Greg's site too... This is actually a Carver M-1.0t mkII opt002 Restore and Upgrade by Greg at Nelion Audio with the following specs.. Power into 8 ohms: Clipping into 8 ohms: Dynamic into 8 ohms: and the Carver Pre-Amp had the Carver C-1 Bill D Mod done by Greg at Nelion Audio.. The idea was vintage gear that was brought up to todays standards and people can get this level of sound for a reasonable amount of money.... I happen know this level of detail cause the Carver equipment is from one of my home systems ! and yes I have it hooked up to a pair of Super 2s and a TD-125MkII Good Listening ! Best Bill Sohne |
Hi @idigmusic64 at the show for sources they had a Cal Audio CD ( I think it was a DX-1) player and they also used a Blusound Node 2 . My home office as follows mod and upgraded Carver m1.0t bill mod c-1 Carver TD-125 MkII restored by Dave at Vinyl Nirvana ( thanks Dave ). SMC 3009 tonearm.Node 2 ( its this a great Network appliance with retail user interface , your not cobbling together third party / shareware ... if you want to play in that arena use the Oppo below ) One last thing about the node 2 it allows you to do what you want to do without thinking ... how do i do it .... ) Oppo BD-205 ( digital discs and and mac connected DAC ). Walsh super 2 Room 1,100 cubic feet. no room prep... its a tight space as i have bookcase ( floor to ceiling ) and desks ..sound good to my ears. On the Carver stuff.... What I liked and John agreed with was the value of the M1.0t modded and upgraded from Nelion Audio with almost 500 watts a side.... You have a choice of sending in your m1.0t ( working or not) as he has a set price for the upgrade... or he even has m1.0t that he already restored and upgraded for sale as well.... So I was planning on making the m1.0t as my standard amp in all my configurations... ( you can also run them as mono blocks ). As I did not think I would need more power then that! So I had three m1.0t upgraded .... used one in my home office ... and the other two used on my living room.... where I have a pair of Dq-10s ..... but my system changed... long story... still working on it.. So right now I actually have two spare m1.0t that have been fully upgraded... I have them on loan to John and Evan and they have been using them alot at the factory for the last 9 months... for demos and testing .... But back to what to use for Super 2 or walsh 2000 The Carver M1.0t w the mods and upgrades you got a killer amp under 1000$ . hope that helps.... if you want email me bsohne@gmail.com bestbill |