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Capital Audiofest 2014

Posted by layman (A) on July 28, 2014 at 09:40:32

I attended my first show, the Capital Audiofest 2014, this past weekend. Many vendors and visitors wondered aloud whether or not these kinds of events were worth the time and effort. I enjoyed the show immensely and therefore, I would say shows are very much worth all the time and effort that the organizers, vendors and visitors expend. The weekend turned out to be an enlightening experience.

Please forgive my lack of pictures...no camera.

I noticed some very interesting trends in Hifi at this show that I am noticing more and more in the current business as a whole.

It would seem that everything old is new again. I saw and heard a lot of what can only be described as "vintage" audio and I must say that I was impressed.

If nothing else the wonderful sound of the vintage pieces (some dating from 80, 70, 60 and 50 years ago) prove that audio engineers of the past were true innovators and understood the physics of sound in a way that has become somewhat obscured in the last 30 years.

Another trend that I saw and heard was what I would call "artisanal" audio, that is the handicrafts of a single designer with a vision of what audio should be about. I think these designers, these "gurus" are moving the quality of hifi forward (in a way that large multi-national corporations have not). I salute these "visionaries."

I think hifi neatly divides into two camps, one that attempts to awe and impress with sound and one that attempts to disappear behind music. I belong to the latter camp (I want to get my prejudice out into the open before I describe my impressions of what I heard at the show). After I left the show Sunday afternoon, I went straight to the Kennedy Center for a Youth Orchestra Concert. Live, unamplified music making is my ultimate reference for what hifi should achieve.

With that said, I will admit that I tended to ignore those components/designers that attempted to impress me with "sound" and was drawn instead to components/designers that present music first, equipment second. Often I would discover the best sound simply by wandering the halls. As people went in and out of the rooms, the door(s) would open and sometimes "music" would leak out. It was the music that drew me to these rooms.

I won't spend any time describing in any great detail rooms, components/designers that did not impress me. I will only say that there were many.

In the lobby (lower level), someone opened a door to a room and music flooded out. I went inside and discovered two massive, enormous RCA replica movie speakers in the room’s corners. This room must have been the biggest room of the show, yet I could not help thinking that these speakers (driven by vintage Altec Lansing triode amplifiers) looked as if they had been shoe-horned into the room. I think a cathedral sized room would have been more appropriate.

In any case, music sounded wonderful on these behemoths, by Howard Swayne of Live Sound Designs.

Curiously the speakers did not sound in any way "large" or overbearing but rather created startlingly corporeal music re-creations. It sounded like live musicians had been holographically recreated in the room. It was an astonishing illusion and I also credit the vintage electronics. This experience kind of set the tone for the show. Vintage works.

I then went up to the top floor and worked my way back down.

I had heard Deja Vu's Western Electric 713 speakers in prototype form in the shop but the speakers, driven by vintage Western Electric triode amplifiers sounded even more polished and finished at the show. These giant speakers too would I suspect have benefitted from a larger room. Yet even under cramped "show" conditions, I still heard a palpability and fullness of tone and very rich and saturated tone colors that you don't get on modern speakers.

Next door Deja Vu was demonstrating Harbeth's Monitor 30.1 speakers driven by a giant integrated tube amp called Synthesis NYC 100. This was actually my first time hearing Harbeth speakers and all the models demonstrated that they carry on the BBC tradition very, very well.

The Monitor 30.1's are an update of the BBC LS 5/9 and sounded very neutral and self-effacing. These are speakers that have been designed to disappear behind music. They do so very well. I would call the Harbeths "new" vintage audio.

I eventually wandered down to the floor below. Someone opened a room door and music flooded out. Following the music, I discovered Harbeth Super HL 5 speakers being driven by a Red Wine integrated amp and a Sony HAP Z1 music file player that had been modified by Red Wine with a tube output stage. This room created a very convincing musical illusion and I must especially credit the modified Sony player as I know the stock player does not sound as good as what I was hearing. The Harbeth Super HL5 speakers are updates of the BBC LS 3/6 and despite their large by modern standards proportions, they hide behind (and present) music very effectively.

Next door I discovered Audio Note UK corner speakers being driven by Audio Note UK electronics. These sounded much more musical and effective than they have when I have auditioned them in shops (the sound set-up and room treatment pros at these shows seem to really know their stuff).

Something cute happened in the Audio Note UK room. Music sounded very realistic and natural on the equipment, so much so that the record player suddenly getting stuck on a track proved really jarring, instantly collapsing the musical illusion and reminding us all that we were not hearing live music after all. This effectively demonstrated that "artisanal" audio is capable of suspending disbelief.

Someone opened a door to another room and music flooded out. I went inside and found a pair of restored Apogee ribbon speakers being driven by an enormous Conrad Johnson amp. Bill Thallman of Music Technology restores and refurbishes the speakers and electronics. He's done a mighty fine job and music sounded absolutely terrific in this room. I could have spent the whole day listening. It was hard to accept that the Apogees (the original flat screen) were behind all this sonic magic.

Another door opened and once again music flooded out...this time it sounded like an opera diva left the room and was singing as she walked the hall. Astonished, I went in to discover more artisanal audio, this time in the form of Odyssey Audio loudspeakers being driven by Odyssey Audio Solid state electronics.

This was the room that really had me scratching my head. Some things about it did not seem real. It was one of those sonic experiences where you check behind the curtain for singers hiding behind them. It was difficult at first to accept that the equipment in the room was creating this sonic illusion. My brain wanted to believe it was a trick.

The Odyssey people talked a lot about the monetary value of their equipment but in my opinion what they have done musically is of far, far greater value. They have taken quality ingredients and sensibly engineered them to produce a result far greater than the sum of parts. This is a very rare gift. All designers aim for this goal but few have achieved it as well as Klaus Bunge has with his audio designs. The magic in his rooms (the sonic trickery that my brain/ear detected) testifies to his genius.

I pulled out my own discs and started putting his system through the paces and time after time it pulled off the same sonic trick of disappearing behind the music and creating a staggeringly convincing illusion of performers in the room.

As far as I could discern, Klaus uses really high quality Scan-speak drivers in his speakers (I recognized the sound, or rather the lack of sound of the Scan-speak tweeter right away because my current speakers use the same tweeter and I know the sound or lack of sound of the driver very well...these Scan speak drivers disappear behind music, perhaps more than those of other manufacturers, the drivers never stand out...you can never detect their "sound" separate from the music...which they present and hide behind).

Klaus said that he does not like to use more than two drivers (woofer/tweeter) to create the greatest musical coherence. Klaus said, "I don't like the sound of the crossovers...I don't want to hear the crossover."

I did not. I heard coherence. I heard music. Goal achieved.

Moreover, what Klaus has achieved with his electronics also borders on the unreal. Simply put, I have never heard solid state sound this natural and realistic...this lacking in what I call a "transistory" sound...this close to really, really good tube electronics. I actually wanted to pull his amps apart to discover the triode tube amps hidden inside.

It was hard to believe and accept but the more time I spent in Klaus rooms, listening to Klaus equipment and my music, the more I realized it’s not a magic trick but a remarkable (engineering) achievement.

On another floor I discovered Zu Audio Definition speakers being driven by a passive pre-amp. This room also created a really convincing illusion of real music. I could have sat there for hours and hours listening to the holograms perform.

The last major discovery of the show happened like all the rest. Someone opened a door and music flooded out.

I followed the music to discover a restored set of Quad 57s. I sat down and heard yet another wonderfully convincing illusion of live performers.

Robin Wyatt of Robyatt Audio restores vintage quads. This was my first time hearing a Quad electrostatic speaker. One of the Quad-veterans (and a quad owner) assured me that I was in for a treat. He said that the Quad 57 (which have been referred to as legends in the audio press for as long as I can remember) are "the first speakers that got the voice right."

Driven by DNM Electronics of the UK, I heard this in spades...really exceptional coherence and neutrality. The English do the human voice proud once again. A terrific treat indeed.

I have noticed debates on this site about which (English) speaker is best, which get's the voice right, are the Spendor/Harbeths (and other BBC-derived designs) just as good as the Quad Electrostatics in this regard, do they even sound the same?

I can now at least answer the last question. They do not sound the same but rather represent what I call "convergent" audio evolution. That is both projects (the BBC loudspeaker project and Quad Electrostatic loudspeaker project) had the same goal in mind. They both achieved this goal but took different paths in doing so. Because neutrality was both project's goal and destination, both have arrived at this place but the speakers don't sound the same. The one thing they truly share is the ability to hide behind the music very, very convincingly.

Electronics hiding behind music, singers recreated, bands and orchestras brought back to life, vintage audio, artisanal audio...these seemed to be themes emerging from this audio show.

So without further ado, I would like to award Best Value and Best Sound of Capital Audiofest 2014 to Klaus Bunge's Odyssey Loudspeaker/Electronics room...the room from which an opera diva escaped and sung the halls.

With the emphasis on Vintage Audio and Artisanal Audio this show proved that Hifi is headed back in the right direction. When I left Capital Audiofest 2014 yesterday afternoon, to hear the Orchestra at the Kennedy Center it crystallized in my mind that many of the sound engineers/designers that I met at the show have achieved the goal of presenting music first.

Edits: 07/28/14 07/28/14 07/29/14

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