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WOW; great stuff at THE Show, Newport this weekend

First time ever audio show for me; got to THE Show Friday morning; stood in a line of over 150 people waiting to get badges; instead of being a lonely audiophile; now I had company; everyone had high energy; and were great to chat with. tons of gear. Brief thoughts on my one day visit
1. The Ayon room was simply magical; such eye candy on their amps and preamps; the recent review in TAS was spot on. The Evolution Acoustics mini's sounded just great; incredible base response; but powered by very expensive front end.
2. TAD room; penthouse: magnificiant speakers; great designer rep; friendly; let you play your cd's; their large, $75k floor standers were among the best of show in my opinion; just a tad boomy in base in that room; the monitors dispeared; and sounded cohesive top to bottom
3. Brooks-Berdan room; never heard the Sasha's sound so good; powered by VTL tubed amp and pre amp; better than I heard them in their show room.
4. Revels sounded a bit disjointed; a bit disappointing; even when powered by the new $50k Mark Levinson mono blocks
5. Magico V3's in the synergistic research room; on groud level; with the $40,000 galieo speaker cell wires; sounded very good; but was amazed with the effect of the acoustic treatments; the little wooden shere hanging above them in the center; and tiny base 'cups' and side wall cups; they played a track with these diffusers in place; then removed them; I didn't believe the big difference in sonic improvement with them in; but it happened in front of me.
6. Venture Audio: I've heard these speakers before sound much better; their room was just horrible, and Didi kept playing a scratched lp of Keith Jarrett; which was not top notch. the speakers are beautiful; and are capable of sounding better than that
7. Great to Zingali's back in the USA; unfortunately; they were not set up when I stopped by.
8. The YG caramel's had a very impressive sound stage; and great dynamics; first time I've heard them
9. the MBL room with the 101'es sounded great as well; but room a bit too small to allow them justice.
too much to see and hear in one day; congrats to Bob Levy; and the LA/Orange county society for bringing this great event to SoCal...I hope it returns next year...
hard to evaluate separate pieces; ie; amps vs preamps, or cables; as all system dependent.
Also loved the sound in the Veloce room; battery powered preamp and amp..
Just some quick and random thoughts by a newbie attending first show; loved hearing all this gear in one place; and meeting great and warm fellow audiophiles;...wow again. curious to learn other's responses to this show and gear...
mribob

Showing 4 responses by magfan

magfan
1,583 posts
 
Did you guys airdrop in or take a bus....

I drove up from 60 miles South and parking was awful. None on site or next door, where they caught on pretty quick.
I ended up down at the bank. worked well and no charge, but I wish I had been warned.

I liked EVERYTHING but a few rooms. I didn't like the VMPS ribbons and those gigantic Focals? Small room? (for them, at least) The other system I didn't like had horn drivers. I walked in and out within 30 seconds.

Joe Rogers, a Southern California favorite is back with a new, small stand mount RSL mini monitor. This little slot loaded beauty sounded terrific. I don't know how he did it, but he bought his name back and is now a going concern.

Audience, another SouthernCalifornia operation also showed there huge tall linesource with like 16 identical drivers. The SAME driver, used 2 at a time with a passive radiator made some nice sounds. I was impressed at the clean boom free low end.

And for you SDFR guys, Voxitiv made an appearance. NOT Lothar or Foxtex. A proprietary driver in an enclosure made by Shimmel, the Piano folks. Fit and finish? Befitting a grand piano.

I loved the room with Pass amps and those inexpensive AudioEngine A5s....were a terrific value. If I had a youngster in college, you can bet that'd be part of a dorm system.

I loved the Sanders / Magtech room, too.
Other things that caught my eye were lots of R2R and computer based systems, some showing the PSAudio product.

no way to post a photo?

I think they should move it down to San Diego. Where you can find parking.
magfan
1,583 posts
 
San Diego is the largest small town in America.
I've lived in both OC and SD, and much prefer SD. Just a good example, I was perfectly willing to pay for parking. The website said 5$. No problem. Well, the problem is there was NONE on site. I don't even mind the walk...I walk 3 miles per day anyway. But, tell me in advance so I don't waste 30 minutes++ of valueable show time wandering around with people who don't know the score. I sort of feel sorry for the guy wearing the show poloshirt standing out front telling people to park next door, while the guy 'next door' was sending people away. I started to hear Calliopie music.

How does my dislike of the big Focals tie in to parking? AND I wasn't 'looking' for free parking.......it was simply unavailable on-site and I went down the street.

And right you are. NO demo is perfect or shows the true capabilities of most systems. or maybe any systems. The Focals? Maybe in a large space. I still don't think the variable tipping drivers are anything more than a solution in search of a problem. Do the drivers have reasonable dispersion or not? Just another knob for the techno 'see what I got' weenie to turn.
I'm sure I could find something at that show for a lot less $$$ which would satisfy.

I don't know on which end of the RSL setup I arrived. Sounded at least promising to me and were I shopping in that category, would be a speaker of interest. Setup is, of course, key. Maybe they'd get lost....(probably would) in a large space. Maybe even in my modest living room.
magfan
1,583 posts
 
The focals didn't particularly sound like music.

Other setups DID float my boat.
Voxitiv, for example, a SDFR in a piano black enclosure made by Schimmel was a terrific intro for me to such drivers.
Sanders? They were playing very nicely with the Magtech amps. Clean, forward sounding with zero grain or stridency. Worth a second listen.
Von Schweikert / Pass. I'd own it.

I didn't get specific about the Focal. It simply didn't engage me at all. And I'll stipulate it may work in rooms starting at 6000 cubic feet. I wasn't there long enough for a better impression. I don't think anyone mentioned the price but YOU, El. but now that you mention it, If I had 65large to burn, I'd build one heck of a room addition with professionally designed accoustics and an all-Magnepan system with Pass amps.
magfan
1,583 posts
 
Yes, I will just post my non-binding opinion. My background is limited in the number of systems I've heard. All I know is that I simply didn't like the Focal.
At 180 large! WOW, If I had that kind of loot lying about, I'd be tempted to take a year off and go live in Europe. And eat out every day!
I can only speak for myself, since I don't know what you or most anyone else values in a system.

I'll bet the larger Pass amps would really put a dent in your A/C bill!

Whatever the speakers were with the Pass, i was instantly impressed by the musicalness of the combo. I offered to back my van up and borrow them for a couple months, just to make sure.

If this event comes back, and I hope it does, I'll simply arrange to be dropped off and picked up .....much later.
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