I didn't have a room this year so I was able to do lots of listening.
The Chapman room was one of my favorites. Very relaxing while still being involving. Not expensive either, under 6K for nice floor standing transmission line speakers.
The new Wilson Benesch Square 5's were being used in room 9022. Roy Gregory was doing a seminar on cartridge optimization and used the Square 5's. These new speakers sounded and looked really good.
Angel City Audio demo'ed a proto type speaker that sounded very good. Floor standing two and a half way if I recall and under 6K. Lot of speaker for the money.
The Lancshe speakers sounded pretty good but the seating was at least 15 feet back so very hard to tell. They didn't hurt my ears which is a good.
The Harbeth room sounded nice as well.
Brian Zolner had a very, very nice sounding room with his M1 Dac and new M28 mono block amplifiers. Playing through the Tidal Cera. Very high resolution without fatigue.
The Horning speakers sounded pretty good but again the seating was 20 rows back. I would have preferred to sit about 10' back with those speakers.
I don't necessarily blame the rooms or the set ups. My opinion is that too many speaker companies mistake detail for resolution making them bright and forward. I enjoy high resolution but that should reign in the midrange adding richness and depth and not focused in the highs.
The Chapman room was one of my favorites. Very relaxing while still being involving. Not expensive either, under 6K for nice floor standing transmission line speakers.
The new Wilson Benesch Square 5's were being used in room 9022. Roy Gregory was doing a seminar on cartridge optimization and used the Square 5's. These new speakers sounded and looked really good.
Angel City Audio demo'ed a proto type speaker that sounded very good. Floor standing two and a half way if I recall and under 6K. Lot of speaker for the money.
The Lancshe speakers sounded pretty good but the seating was at least 15 feet back so very hard to tell. They didn't hurt my ears which is a good.
The Harbeth room sounded nice as well.
Brian Zolner had a very, very nice sounding room with his M1 Dac and new M28 mono block amplifiers. Playing through the Tidal Cera. Very high resolution without fatigue.
The Horning speakers sounded pretty good but again the seating was 20 rows back. I would have preferred to sit about 10' back with those speakers.
I don't necessarily blame the rooms or the set ups. My opinion is that too many speaker companies mistake detail for resolution making them bright and forward. I enjoy high resolution but that should reign in the midrange adding richness and depth and not focused in the highs.