I also liked the Ginko Audio Tubulous speakers with the Modwright preamp, and Modwright modified Denon 3910. CDs sounded great that the speakers seemed like a great value for $2500.
Right near that room was a Boulder amp driving a new $40K+ speaker from RBH Sound with what was it, 6 beryllium midrange drivers and three metal woofers. Im generally not a fan of metal drivers but that room had detail and dynamics, bottom end, imaging, and was definitely one of the best sounding rooms.
I sat through the a Nordost cable presentation, and came away again impressed with the Valhalla, and actually surprised that I could hear differences in their various cables. The speakers there were Eden I think, with a ribbon tweeter, and sounded good in that room and two others I heard them in.
There were some electrostatic speakers from Hong Kong by KingSound. $6K a pair for panels larger than Maggie 3.6s, with base that seemed as low as SoundLabs, but more beamy. Pretty impressive for the price.
Probably the biggest surprise was the ASR Emitter amplifier. In going from room to room at the Show I just happened into it. The speakers there at the time was a smaller pair with cone drivers retailing for about $10K I think. The CD player was the BlueNote Stibbert that Id heard in several other rooms so it wasnt making the difference in the sound. But the detail on cymbals, and woodwinds and strings seemed extremely lifelike and dynamic to me. Im not a fan of Harry Pearson, but maybe Ill have to reconsider my position about that because that room definitely produced sound thats stuck in my head. It sounded so alive.
Another big surprise was in the media sales area at the Alexis Park there was the Stibbert CD player (again, it seemed to be in many locations) driving a $1K AKG 1000 headphones and also the $3K+(?) Stax headphones with the tube stage. There was no contest: the AKG were superior in sound, and far superior in comfort. They just rest about your ears and the panels hang down not touching ears at all. They definitely dont block out any sound, but they sure sounded good top to bottom, and did I mention dynamic? A pleasant surprise for sure.
I listened for a while in the VMPS room to their patented or patent pending wave guide. It certainly seemed to produce a really wide sound stage that was a benefit to ribbons. I wasnt impressed with the tube amps driving them. They seemed slow. The Ampzilla solid states amps have been in the VMPS room in the last several years, and my memory is that they were much faster and better, and provided a better showing for that VMPS speakers. So maybe the amps are to blame for my feeling under whelmed with the room.
The MBL and Merlin rooms always have great sound. I could easily live in either room, even though the sound in each is always very different.
Other disappointments were the Bosendorferner speakers. They looked beautiful, but didnt disappear at all. Some serious further development seems needed there. The Von Schweikert room also seemed to be producing dull and sluggish sound. Maybe it was just me.
Saw and heard the new $90K turntable that graced Stereophiles cover. It was at both the Show and the Alexis Park. It looks so funny with its big tone. Reminds me of old record player tone arms from cheapo box with lid record players from 40 years ago. But it sounded fine. Nothing earth shattering though, except to my wallet.
Those are the highs and lows for me. Definitely a good show. The Platters Drifters and Coasters performance at the Sahara was enjoyable, even if it was a little loud. Maybe that was because I was slightly left of center and nearly on axis to one of the reinforcement speakers. Theres nothing like live music. Except maybe those annoying ASR Emitters . . . and theres no dealer in my area to hear them again.
