NY Audio Show September 26th to September 28th

Nothing I have ever heard touches MBL for soundstage imaging and large scale when done right/well.

On Friday the vintage Tannoys in the VPI room sounded boomy and uncontrolled. Maybe they settled down later on.

I was pleasantly surprised by the Vandersteen/ARC room. The speakers were placed very wide apart, yet managed to image well across a wide and deep stage.

I'm not sure they were vintage Tannoys. Tannoy still makes a number of those big-cabinet coaxials. Frankly, the sound was a bit muddy and juke-boxy, but still comfortable and better than many of those bright, harsh speakers audiophiles seem so fond of buying and then complaining about later. I agree, the Vandersteen room was good too.

Glad to hear the MBL room sounded good. They I missed them when were down due to speaker damage on Friday - but I've head them before and agree with Mapman!!

I also liked the Vandersteen room - they always sound good to me...

No one has mentioned it so far but I was really impressed by the Soundsmith room. The strain gauge set up really did it for me. But the Basis TT with the new Super arm was great too. I was at the show to particularly listen for turntable possibilities.

I've never been that impressed by Nola, but their smaller Micro Grand "Gold" model they showed was the highlight for me. Extremely clear, dynamic, and engaging...and driven by a nice VAC 160i integrated. It stood apart,sounded real, but at $33,000 it seemed to be an example of the high-end death wish, or targeting those with too much money.

It wasn't smart to schedule the show on a major Jewish holiday. I couldn't even get a couch delivered.

Jetrexpro,
You were quite impressed with the Raven 300b push pull amplifier driving the Volti speakers. Art Dudley (Stereophile) was very impressed with this amplifier driving Devore Orangutan O/96 speakers and wrote a flattering review. Almost predictably(with amps Dudley rates highly via his ears) John Atkinson found that it measured poorly. Once again proving there's no substitute for listing to a component.
Charles,

Correction: The speaker on display was the NOLA Metro Grand Reference Gold, not the micro. They'll certainly make you rethink bass drivers.

Charles, with a sound like that, how the amp measured was the last thing on my mind. So fast and dynamic, effortless. I started to visualize owning this system and the room I would build for listening. I hope to hear them some time with Border Patrol.
Jet

Jet,
I suspect that your current SETamplifier would be a very fine match with the high efficiency Volti. I'd love to hear this speaker myself one day.
Charles,

Charles, I asked the Volti guys why they were running 26 push-pull watts and they said they like the extra power for these speakers.

I heard Volti at a show a few years back. VEry nice looking and sounded OK. Did not get a chance to listen extensively. I did with THese. Different look but a fantastic value at the time for what you got I thought and the sound was one of the best coming from horn designs at the show. Lots of absorbed listeners in the vendors room.

Whoops, wrong url. Try This for Cathedral Speakers.

Mapman, Sounds like you liked the Cathedral Speakers better than Volti. Been a while back but can you recall the differences? Thank you

Jet,

Honestly I have not heard teh Volti enough to say for certain. The one time I heard them at Capital audiofest a couple years back was brief and teh setup far from optimal.

WHereas I spent a good half hour or so listening to the Cathedrals and the setup in the room overall was more optimal.

Based on limited sample, I preferred the tonal balance and overall presentation of the Cathedrals to teh VOlti. THe Cathedral sound was more like what I have heard that I like from various more modern horn designs, very clean, uncolored and dynamic, with perhaps slight touch of warmth. But I suspect either of the two could be setup to please my ears with a little time and effort.

I just thought the Cathedrals I heard to be a very sound value for a pair of large high efficiency horns and heard more from those that I liked.

I do not even recall exactly what gear was used with either, so that makes it even harder to compare. I do recall the Cathedral demo was done with some fairly modest cost vintage gear and a fairly conventional CD source however, so that impressed me as well.

I have heard the Volti Vittoras several times at the Capital Audio Fest and in Denver a couple years ago. To my ears they sounded best with the designer's own 2A3 SE amps which are a DIY design called the Horus Silver. See:

http://www.magnequest.com/diy_lessard.htm

I did not like the Vittoras nearly as much with the Border Patrol amps.

Sal,
Your preference for the 2A3 SET amplifiers makes sense to me. This speaker is high sensitivity (103-105 db range) and I believe an easy load to drive as well. Most often you're using fractions of 1 watt at up to moderately loud levels. So it would seem that a 26 watt amplifier is in overkill territory for a speaker this highly sensitive. The 2A3 amplifier would appear to be enough power and provide excellent sound as you attest to. Well based on your and Jet's reports the Volti was impressive with both amps that were rather different.
Charles,

If I recall the pricing correctly Cathedral pricing comes in at a fraction of the cost of Volti Vitoras. I really liked the Volti's loooks though. I came in really wanting to like the sound similarly but I just recall the results not living up to my expectations. I recall the setup being quite haphazard in the middle of some room off the lobby though, probably not by preference.

After this experience I look forward to hearing more horns in the future. Salectric it would make sense they can be driven with much less than 26 watts and amplifier choice might come down to the type of music one listens to. As you say Greg Roberts of Volti uses a 2A3. I don't know what it was, but the sound was so dynamic and effortless. Large scale orchestral music was breath taking. They may choose to use more powerful amps at shows to impress people like me :)
I would like to hear them in a larger room and after Mapman's report on the Cathedral's won't miss a chance to hear those as well.

Anyone listen my speakers Bacheaudio ?

My 9/28 post left out another great room---the Nola Metro Grand room. Sorry for the omission.

The Lampi room kicked some serious but as well.

...also wanted to mention...
Wes Bender was showing his gear with the Entreq Grounding system and stillpoint rack. He did something I have not seen before. He grounded the rack to the entreq. and it sounded like something different was going on. Wes really spent time on isolation and grounding and it really reflected in its performance.

Were the German Physiks speakers there? If so, what were your impression(s) of them?

I did see them (the Brighton Beach Room) but they were not memorable to me so I can't comment.

Did anyone hear those British MAD Baron loudspeakers using the Maximizer hybrid subwoofers from Scaena. The Subs looked like they were made of steel.
Here's a pic of the system.
Its the 2nd, 3rd and 4th pics from the top. You can see how the sub looks like its made of steel.
http://www.enjoythemusic.com/new_york_audio_show_2014/bonus2/page2.htm

The designer of the subs said the subwoofers was a a midrange enhancer and not a subwoofer. Each sub used a 12 inch woofer.
I'll tell you when he would play the MAD speakers with the subs, it really smoothed out the sound. When he would play the Mad speakers without the 2 subs, the sound was brittle and alittle bright. The Amps being played on the system were those massive looking Allnic tube amps. The Allnic Tube dac was also being played. That Allnic dac was really built.

Correction, the Mad speakers with the Maximizer hybrid subwoofers from Scaena are the 3rd, 4th and 5th pics from the top.
http://www.enjoythemusic.com/new_york_audio_show_2014/bonus2/page2.htm

There were alot of great sounding tube headphone amps.
Woo Audio makes some amazing stuff.
I was listening to the WOO tube headphone amps using Sennheiser 650 and 700 headphones and you could play them loud and they wouldn't break up and you get that nice tube sound.
The 3 WOO Audio headphone amps i heard were the WA2, WA22 and
WA5-LE. The WA5-LE had a separate tube power supply.
There was another nice sounding tube headphone amp on the main floor. It was called ALO Studio 6 amp tube headphone amp using MA 40 headphones.
I'm gonna have to find out the brand name of the MA 40 headphones. They were nice sounding.