Wow, Mcrosier liked the same rooms I did. Some other nice ones were the Joseph Audio room and the Gradient room, where the Helsinki speakers made the walls move back a few yards. The Son Idéal/Harbeth room was amazingly close to that, though. Very few rooms had much depth to the sound at all--at least when they were playing anything with depth.
Still, there were very few "toxic" rooms (to pick up UHF Magazine's term for them). I wonder why. Size-wise they seemed no different from the rooms at last year's Sheraton. I couldn't be that almost all the exhibitors lavished fanatical care on their setup... could it? The hotel space itself was much cozier, no need to traipse up and down stairs or wait for elevators. Sound from other rooms never blasted into the room I was listening in. Even in the corridors things were not disagreeable. The place was a little maze-like and I got lost a few times but as long as I kept walking I wound up back at Go. Little garden alcoves all over and live ducks in the water outside--on the fifteenth floor.
This year Coherent Speakers had some nicely worked-up horns and SET amplification. From what I could hear the company is well-named. They played my Chucho Valdés Live disc and the dynamics and attack were impressive too. 15-inch drivers in a 11 x 16 room may have been slight overkill, though.
Still, there were very few "toxic" rooms (to pick up UHF Magazine's term for them). I wonder why. Size-wise they seemed no different from the rooms at last year's Sheraton. I couldn't be that almost all the exhibitors lavished fanatical care on their setup... could it? The hotel space itself was much cozier, no need to traipse up and down stairs or wait for elevators. Sound from other rooms never blasted into the room I was listening in. Even in the corridors things were not disagreeable. The place was a little maze-like and I got lost a few times but as long as I kept walking I wound up back at Go. Little garden alcoves all over and live ducks in the water outside--on the fifteenth floor.
This year Coherent Speakers had some nicely worked-up horns and SET amplification. From what I could hear the company is well-named. They played my Chucho Valdés Live disc and the dynamics and attack were impressive too. 15-inch drivers in a 11 x 16 room may have been slight overkill, though.