General Asylum

General audio topics that don't fit into specific categories.

Return to General Asylum

Message Sort: Post Order or Asylum Reverse Threaded

My brief California Audio Show 2014 Impressions..

66.90.166.129
Posted on August 19, 2014 at 06:34:21
rebbi
Audiophile

Posts: 288
Location: Austin, TX
Joined: September 4, 2008
 I happened to be in the Bay Area the weekend of the 2014 CAS and got to spend about 3 hours at the Show over the weekend. Here are some rough impressions, and I'd be glad to hear from others who also attended.

The crowd: the show on Saturday afternoon felt lively and busy. Lots of people signing in on the first floor and wandering in and out of the exhibits. Congrats to Constantine Soo and the other organizers.

Volume: I was driven out of some rooms by their insistence at playing everything at eardrum liquifying levels. Since when is "louder" equivalent to "better?" The physically gorgeous, single-driver Teresonic speakers, for example, sounded peaky and over-driven to me... so much so that I couldn’t bear to be in the room more than about a minute.

Cans: Lots of action in the headphone rooms on the first floor, sponsored by HeadMasters. Audionerd.com was showing all kinds of interesting bits, including a line of headphone amps and DACS from New Zealand and another line of diminutive little, tube-festooned, orange-tone metallic amps and DACS from Italy that go by the name "Carot." There was vinyl aplenty for sale and a nice booth from the venerable Reference Recordings, who got me to part with some cash in exchange for a couple of anthology CD's. There was also a company called Olive Media, new to me, selling a circular, touch screen digital audio streamer with all kinds of connectivity for only $499 with no hard drive; apparently you can easily install your own 2.5" drive of up to 2 TB. Very interesting looking product.

Favorite rooms: to my ears, a lot of what I heard sounded very "hi fi spectacular" and not particularly emotionally satisfying or musical, but here are a few exceptions.

I thought the Zu Audio room sounded very good, even though I couldn't get a seat to do serious listening.

The big-daddy Acoustic Zen speakers sounded luscious and crazily holographic. One attendee was schlepping around some very middle-eastern-sounding track from Dead Can Dance that really took your breath away on that system.

The MIT cable room was making wonderful music over a pair of Magico floor standers. The bluesy Boz Scaggs track they were playing had an appropriately heart-rending quality and musical purity to it that was great to hear. Very impressive.

Fritz Heiler was all smiles (what a nice guy!) in a very packed room on the third floor. He was showing off his new Carrera and Illuminator 7 BE models, the former with a ScanSpeak Illuminator AirCirc Ring Radiator tweeter (I know all this because I remembered to grab some product literature before I left) and the latter sporting a Beryllium tweeter. I have a soft spot for all the things that stand-mount speakers do best and this room sounded great. I was especially taken with the low-end grunt of these speakers - a recording of a guitar ensemble playing Beethoven's 5th sounded terrific.

Wish I could have stayed longer but there you have it.

 

Hide full thread outline!
    ...
That was a very nice synopsis of the show!, posted on August 19, 2014 at 07:29:00
Dman
Audiophile

Posts: 7211
Location: Kansas
Joined: January 28, 2001
 I have to admit that I have always been jaded about going to shows like that for the same reasons you state- some guys (even in audio stores) insist on mind melting volumes just to "show off" gear.

I'll take musically pleasing over hi-fi sounding any day!

Thanks for posting.

Dman
Analog Junkie

 

RE: My brief California Audio Show 2014 Impressions.., posted on August 19, 2014 at 08:58:41
rebbi
Audiophile

Posts: 288
Location: Austin, TX
Joined: September 4, 2008
 Hey thanks for the nice comments!

 

RE: My brief California Audio Show 2014 Impressions.., posted on August 19, 2014 at 09:23:04
fantja
Audiophile

Posts: 15518
Location: Alabama
Joined: September 11, 2010
 Thanks! for sharing.

We need audio shows, no doubt about it. The 'hotel' room is probably not the most friendly environment for most set-ups, making the task of emotionally satisfying and musically satisfying being accomplished.

 

RE: My brief California Audio Show 2014 Impressions.., posted on August 19, 2014 at 09:38:33
rebbi
Audiophile

Posts: 288
Location: Austin, TX
Joined: September 4, 2008
 Yes, agreed: shows are great. I didn't mean to sound ungrateful or snarky. I'm sure that it's not easy to get great sound in the small hotel rooms that some of these exhibitors are crammed into. But I will say that I come up personally, was surprised at how unimpressive I found the sonics in a number of those rooms.
Oh, I forgot to mention that Fritz had a really funny sign at the entrance of his room. It said something like, "bring your own CDs, or I will bel forced to play Diana Krall!" :-)

 

Loud but not all the time., posted on August 19, 2014 at 09:44:10
M-dB
Audiophile

Posts: 295
Location: Nor Cal
Joined: June 26, 2014
 Yes, most speaker manufactures need to turn it up but if you spend enough time the volume comes down a great deal of the time.

The gentleman representing Teresonic was making some interesting claims. The small speakers on the floor were playing a very familur Brian Bromberg piece that simply sounded all wrong.

I found the interest in headphones simply amazing. Was it just me or were most rooms using the Berkeley Audio DAC?

I arrived early on Saturday and most exibiters that had a turntable we're playing digital. I made a note and returned to hear the analog source. In many cases I had to wonder what they were thinking. Even in these difficult rooms gear at this level is usuall very revealing of the digital/analog differences.

 

People are talking in the rooms, posted on August 19, 2014 at 09:51:23
Sordidman
Audiophile

Posts: 13665
Location: San Francisco
Joined: May 14, 2001
 Not always, - but......

It is a social occasion. So, - some manufacturers do what is right and walk the kids who are talking out into the hall and give them a serious beat down.... :-)

The Fritz room was GREAT!!

My fav was the Teresonic, - incredibly detailed, musical, with the right timing, and balance. But that's what Lamm brings you, - IMO.

Cheers,


"Asylums with doors open wide,
Where people had paid to see inside,
For entertainment they watch his body twist
Behind his eyes he says, 'I still exist.'"

 

RE: People are talking in the rooms, posted on August 19, 2014 at 10:38:08
rebbi
Audiophile

Posts: 288
Location: Austin, TX
Joined: September 4, 2008
 Glad you liked Teresonic. Maybe I just caught them at a bad moment.

 

From years of attending shows, posted on August 19, 2014 at 11:21:39
M3 lover
Audiophile

Posts: 6599
Location: SW Mich
Joined: May 29, 2005
Contributor
  Since: July 4, 2007
 Without actual counting I'll guess I attended CES Vegas about 15 times, THE Show at either Vegas or Newport about six times, and the Stereophile Show in LA or San Francisco four times. Certain trends are consistent.

Loud demos - It is a well-known dealer trick that one system played slightly louder than another will likely be chosen by the customer. That happens in direct A/B listening. So when you are coming from another room at a show the demo had better be really loud to make sure you'll notice and be impressed.

Popular demos - Not sure how this happens but every year there seems to be a hand full of selections that most demos want to play. This could be helpful if you were only comparing one or two systems, but after hearing one song 8-10 times it can become a bit boring.

"Hogging" the sweet spot - This happens at my local audio club meetings also so it must be a common human trait. Some folks don't realize it is not a personal demo just for them. They may occupy the prime listening seat for number after number, even when another attendee offers up their own music selection to audition.

Loud conversations during demos - This is my biggest gripe. Certainly attendees will have lots of questions so why not ask them of the dealer/manufacturer between selections, at the back of the room, or better yet outside? I couldn't guess how many times I've had someone stand between the listening seats and the speakers while having a conversation during a musical selection. I understand the CES is different, there manufacturers are intent to attract new dealers or answer questions from existing ones. So many will have a suite with two rooms so the second room can accommodate business. But at CES other dealers could be in attendance to judge if they'd like to consider that product so how can they listen carefully?

Now don't assume from these negatives that I'm down on shows. They can be a wonderful resource. I've met old friends and made new ones at shows. I've been able to learn about unknown or unfamiliar products. And just a few times I've heard a system that actually sounded musical and entertaining. ;^)

"The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing, if you can fake that you've got it made." Groucho

 

Yeah - I parted with some cash over at the Reference booth too!, posted on August 19, 2014 at 11:23:43
Chris from Lafayette
Audiophile

Posts: 26432
Location: SF Bay Area
Joined: February 17, 2004
Contributor
  Since: February 6, 2012
 Big discounts on their 176.4 data discs - I couldn't resist!

My accounts of the show are over on the Music forum here (with some pics for days 2 and 3), but I knew I'd forget something, and, sure enough, your post reminded me that I hadn't mentioned the Terasonic/Lamm/Baetis room. The guy running it was knowledgeable and friendly, and he played us a sample of the hot new singer, Julia Lezhneva, who sings soprano and coloratura mezzo repertoire from the Baroque era - fantastic speed and articulation for a voice, with not too much aspirating. I was impressed! (We heard a Vivaldi Alleluia.) I felt the SQ was constrained a bit by the room (in a way, strangely, that I didn't feel with the Spatial/Audion demo in a similar sized room on the same floor).

 

"Luscious and crazily holographic", posted on August 19, 2014 at 13:09:00
Craiger56
Audiophile

Posts: 5571
Location: San Jose CA
Joined: April 3, 2002
Contributor
  Since: December 29, 2003
 I thought so too, and was impressed to see them running a 5G wireless preamp to ICE monoblocks. See link if interested.

We left the Wilson room due to excess volume level, and couldn't even enter the Zu Audio room Saturday afternoon.

We enjoyed the "ask the editors" seminar" Neil Gader and Jack Roberts are cool guys, another guy who's name I didn't get felt the need to tell us his wife is MUCH younger than him, and that he has sold his Ferrari because "it was too slow" and is now getting around in something from McLaren.

Thanks to all who participated.

 

RE: Yeah - I parted with some cash over at the Reference booth too!, posted on August 19, 2014 at 15:00:53
Old SteveA
Audiophile

Posts: 648
Joined: March 27, 2011
 Chris,

Was it you who wrote something about some music that Peter McGrath had played back that
he had recorded. Did Peter resurrect his "Audiofon" label ? If that's not the case is he
still recording things for Harmonia Munde( or was it some Naxos releases ?) ?

Peter ( like Tony Faulkner) is one of those Recording Engineers that "pop" up on different
Labels that I will buy the recording because they recorded it. I miss the "Old Days" when the
recording teams were pretty consistently credited on the recording's "Cover" (that's not to say
that everything these teams produced were "Golden", but a huge proportion were at the
least dependably better sounding than most recordings)

To get back on subject ; are the Referrence Data Discs available in thumb drive format ?
Other than "ripping" I don't do "the Disc thing" anymore !

 

RE: Teresonic room..., posted on August 19, 2014 at 16:20:37
Ivan303
Audiophile

Posts: 48887
Location: Cadiere d'azur FRANCE - Santa Fe, NM
Joined: February 26, 2001
 Sounded pretty good to me as well, what with Lamm amps, Lowther based speakers and Baetis Audio computer.

Having attended the Baetis seminar/workshop moments before visiting the room I guess I was too focused on the computer audio part to sit back and just listen.

Surprisingly, one of my favorite rooms for involved LP spinning and Cones and Domes(horrors). The Music First Audio demoing a ridiculously large TriangleART TT and Audio Note phono pre, Audio Note parallel 2A3 SET amp and Audio Note speakers. Probably the best sound I can recall hearing from AN speakers at an audio show, even compared to rooms set up by Peter Q himself at CES.

Another favorite was the Spatial room with Clayton Shaw's new Open Baffle HOLOGRAM speakers. Dual 15 inch, one with coax compression driver but, unlike his earlier Emerald Physics offering, without bi-amping and/or DSP. One could go directly from a TT through a completely tube analog chain right to his 100 db/1watt sensitive speakers! Without a doubt, the best sounding $4000 speakers at the show.












First they came for the dumb-asses
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a dumb-ass

 

RE: Yeah - I parted with some cash over at the Reference booth too!, posted on August 19, 2014 at 16:22:05
Chris from Lafayette
Audiophile

Posts: 26432
Location: SF Bay Area
Joined: February 17, 2004
Contributor
  Since: February 6, 2012
 Hi, Steve - Like you, I'm doing "the disc thing" less and less these days, however my philosphy at present is that I want get a good recording any way I can, regardless of whatever medium it comes in! ;-)

To answer your question, I'm not aware that Reference Recordings are available on thumb drives. Of course, some Reference albums have been available as hi-rez downloads for quite a while. I've had good luck with the selections I've obtained via downloads on HD Tracks, and the tracks I've checked with spectrograph software are indeed really hi-rez.

BTW, yes - I did write about Peter McGrath's own recordings that he played on the Wilson Sashas. (Those comments are in my CAS5 Day 1 post in the Music forum here.) I see now that Peter must have played some of his other non-commercial recordings for Jason Serinus, per Jason's write-up of Day 1 in his Stereophile report which appeared today. I'll bet Peter has tons of treasures similar to the selections he played for us! ;-) I don't know what Peter has been doing on the commercial front recently however.

 

RE: My brief California Audio Show 2014 Impressions.., posted on August 20, 2014 at 07:16:49
rebbi
Audiophile

Posts: 288
Location: Austin, TX
Joined: September 4, 2008
 Oh, and what did you folks think of the room with the big electrostatics (were they Soundlabs)?

 

Audio 50 years ago the best?????, posted on August 20, 2014 at 13:51:03
Tweaker456
 Not to say that there isn't lots of crap put out these days but going back 50 years, no modern high grade caps and resistors, no extreamly pure audio grade wire, no soft recovery diodes, you must be kidding. Well thought out modern equiptment will blow away ancient technology any day of the week. Not to mention some of us hate clicks and pops and tape hiss. And I'm called a luddite cause I have no cell phone and still buy cd's. I'm only 15 years behind the times. Tweaker

 

Not easy to get good sound in small hotel room???, posted on August 20, 2014 at 13:59:41
Tweaker456
 I'd love to be able to have many of these rooms to live or have my stereo in. I'm shocked at the giant flaws in most of these exhibits. Loud expensive equiptment that looks good is no substitute for a well tweaked system from someone who can hear. Someone interested in more than just making money. If more people would spend more time on the tweakers asylum instead of worshipping brands and reviews they would be better off, IMHO. I for one was glad to get back to my modestly priced, well tweaked lovely sounding stereo. Some of the boomyness was not to be believed. My audiogist says I'll be ok, eventually. Tweaker

 

RE: My brief California Audio Show 2014 Impressions.., posted on August 23, 2014 at 08:52:07
TWB2
Dealer

Posts: 316
Location: N. California
Joined: July 10, 2004
 They were Sound Lab Majestic 945PX electrostatic panels, the tallest of the SL line. As the exhibitor, I spent almost the entire show in the room, with a few excursions to sample other rooms.

While there were some who did not care for the sound, many attendees commented they thought it was among, if not the best, room at the show. Jason Victor Sernius posted his very favorable comments on Stereophile:
http://www.stereophile.com/content/cas-2014-day-1-lift

The Majestics are huge, 104" tall, and really were too big for the room, which was almost square (20X21) and had a strong slap-echo. The 15' ceiling height was a plus.

There was much to like about the sound, being rich and full, top to bottom. Bass response was very pleasing, down to 24Hz. The weakness was perhaps the imaging: the holographic quality often achieved in different rooms was compromised, perhaps by the placement of the speakers on the diagonal of the room, necessitated by the room shape.

As a lifelong fan of planars (planar lovers evidently comprise only about 15% of all audiophiles) I loved the sound, but it wasn't everyone's cup of tea. One of Sound Lab's strong points is their ability to provide a full range sound over a very large area; there is not a specific "sweet seat" but rather a large sweet zone. In fact one could walk all over the room and not feel you were giving up anything other than imaging. Even outside in the hall, it sounded like real music was being played inside.

Anyone else?

 

RE: My brief California Audio Show 2014 Impressions.., posted on August 23, 2014 at 11:56:55
fantja
Audiophile

Posts: 15518
Location: Alabama
Joined: September 11, 2010
 Excellent over-view(s) guys. Happy Listening!

 

Page processed in 0.044 seconds.

[ Top Top of Page ] [ Contact Us ] [ Support/Wish List ] [ Copyright © 2024, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]
[ General ] [ Speakers ] [ Tubes ] [ Vinyl ] [ Digital ] [ Hi-Rez ] [ Video Asylum ] [ Cables ] [ Tweaks/DIY ] [ Music ] [ Films ]