Topic: T.H.E SHOW News and Updates (Read 4582 times)

Marvey · « **Reply #10 on:** June 04, 2012, 05:07:43 PM »

This show was disappointing. The last time I went to one of these was 10 years ago. Nothing has changed. I fact, things may have gotten worse because there's more emphasis on marketing and fewer of those slightly autistic engineers making the stuff. Suffice to say, no speaker I heard, with the exception of one, had the resolution and clarity of my custom active near-field monitors. Many TOTL speakers had some FR issues - that is FR issues NOT related to the room or speaker placement. (I know how room sizes and walls affect the sound - we can actually accurately model these factors.)

First up, the Stella Utopia EM $90,000

These had a really nice ability to get really soft sounding, like a whisper, and then explode (it sounds like they are highly sensitive, which is good.) The room they were place in was huge. At least 20 feet from the back wall and 15 feet from the side walls. But for some reason, there was a lot of upper bass and lower midrange cloudiness. The tone was dark, which is fine, but I felt there was a slight veil and slowness with the system. I asked about the crossovers, and the reps replied that they were passive. Robert Harley's TAS called it the cost-no-object loudspeaker of the year in 2011. This very well may be true, but that would be a sad sad fact. If anyone has a link to measurements, please post it.

GRADE: B-
It's good, but can be better.

As yes, we did get to hear a Talking Heads track on it.

Marvey · « **Reply #11 on:** June 04, 2012, 05:15:11 PM »

Magico S5 $28,600

Supposedly these speakers are "heroically" (official audiophile term) constructed to eliminate cabinet resonances. When I walked into the room, we noted the typical audiophile bullshit music playing. Sparse guitar or other string work, etc. So I'm like WTF. I want to hear if these speakers can actually do what they advertise. Little guitar music isn't going to test the cabinets.

So Anax walks up to the rep and asks to see if they can play some of our test tracks. They politely refuse and ask us to come back later when the show is almost over. Hmmm, makes me wonder what they are afraid of. Fuck you Magico.

GRADE: Unknown

Marvey · « **Reply #12 on:** June 04, 2012, 05:26:24 PM »

Sony SS-AR1 $29,000

I didn't even want to visit this room because it was Sony. But surprisingly Sony pulled a good one off here. They are using Scan-Speak drivers (available from Madisound.com), probably according to Sony's "specifications" (ya, right...) Nevertheless, these sounded pretty good. Very clean and detailed sounding. A little bit tipped up (Japanese flavor) but not horribly so that Americans would wince. FR was smooth and no odd driver resonances or colorations. One of the better speakers at the show. No shit.

GRADE: B+
Surprisingly good.

Marvey · « **Reply #13 on:** June 04, 2012, 05:36:28 PM »

Thiel CS3.7 $7000

Good attack, good clarity, good directness. Dark at times, but also aggressive. The big downside with this speaker is that it seems to have a persistent coloration which sounds like aluminum pans banging against each other. I've read all about Thiel's philosophy regarding phase coherence, thus the use of first order acoustic crossovers. But I wonder if first order is a good idea with metal drivers? I think their older stuff may have been better.

GRADE: C+
It's OK, almost good.

maverickronin · « **Reply #14 on:** June 04, 2012, 05:46:14 PM »

Quote from: purrin on June 04, 2012, 05:15:11 PM

So Anax walks up to the rep and asks to see if they can play some of our test tracks. They politely refuse and ask us to come back later when the show is almost over. Hmmm, makes me wonder what they are afraid of. Fuck you Magico.

This kind of stuff deserves deserves a dramatic reading by Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw from Zero Punctuation.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation

Marvey · « **Reply #15 on:** June 04, 2012, 05:49:57 PM »

Coincident Pure Reference Extreme $26,800

When I walked into the room, they had audiophile music playing. I felt this system had some potential. I liked the satellites on top of the side firing woofer box, but I wanted to see what this system could do overall. So I asked the guy to pop in my Talking Heads CD. LOL, the thing just fell apart. BOOM BOOM BOOM sluggish BOOM BOOM THUD THUD. Hahaha! I love this track, it exposes problems anywhere!

Granted it was a small room, but I wonder about how well the bass boxes integrate with the satellites; or if they were even properly setup in the first place. Or maybe those Coincident 300B amps made everything all syrupy as most 300B tubes do. Or maybe dual side mounted woofers shouldn't be firing straight into the wall one foot away. Ya think?

Unfortunately, I have to give this one a bad grade. If Coincident doesn't know how to set up their room properly or get a good room, that's their fault. This was an "Editors Choice" in TAS.

GRADE: D+
Needs improvement (with non-audiophile music)

Marvey · « **Reply #16 on:** June 04, 2012, 06:08:30 PM »

Voxactiv Ampeggio $30k?

To me, these were one of the best of the show (with certain caveats.) LFF hated them. They seem to have a slightly rising FR with some energy in the midrange followed by a sudden drop in the last octave (limited air.) They are not bass lite, but they did not extend low either.

These back loaded horns had an immediacy that other speakers did not capture. Their detail retrieval was better than anything at the show. It was the only speaker there that bested my DIY active crossover / actively powered desktop speakers in terms of resolution. I'm sure a huge reason why is because of the single driver's extreme efficiency at 98db and lack of a crossover circuit in the way.

Definitely sounded very "fast" and harmonically rich. It drew me into the music despite the FR irregularities from the back loaded horn and limited bandwidth. It did survive the non-audiophile music test - which the rep was quite proud of.

BTW, Stereophile did review this (with measurements)

GRADE: A-

Anaxilus. · « **Reply #17 on:** June 04, 2012, 06:25:26 PM »

^ x2

It had some rather glaring issues, but what it did it did so well. OMG. There was no music, just musicians and instruments. In various places.

melomaniac · « **Reply #18 on:** June 04, 2012, 06:44:11 PM »

yeah - when I went (Friday) they were playing the smaller ones, AR2, and they really surprised me.

did you get to hear the Sonorus room? big electrostats with a reel to reel tape as the source, amazingly good.

Quote from: purrin on June 04, 2012, 05:26:24 PM

Sony SS-AR1 $29,000

I didn't even want to visit this room because it was Sony. But surprisingly Sony pulled a good one off here. They are using Scan-Speak drivers (available from Madisound.com), probably according to Sony's "specifications" (ya, right...) Nevertheless, these sounded pretty good. Very clean and detailed sounding. A little bit tipped up (Japanese flavor) but not horribly so that Americans would wince. FR was smooth and no odd driver resonances or colorations. One of the better speakers at the show. No shit.

GRADE: B+
Surprisingly good.

Marvey · « **Reply #19 on:** June 04, 2012, 07:43:15 PM »

Darn. I missed that one. I heard the bad electrostatic. Impressions of Martin Logans coming soon.
Ahh. Why bother. Let's just say I ran away from the CLXs.

Author Topic: T.H.E SHOW News and Updates (Read 4582 times)

Marvey

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Marvey

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Marvey

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Marvey

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maverickronin

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Marvey

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Marvey

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Anaxilus.

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melomaniac

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Marvey

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Author Topic: T.H.E SHOW News and Updates (Read 4582 times)

melomaniac