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  3. 1363060374

Some Axpona thoughts

Went on Friday. Always try to find great sounding speakers that are not TOO expensive. Ones that impressed me- Vapor Cirrus Black(4K),Kef Ls50($1500), Rega RS5($1500),Joseph Pulsar(not cheap at 7K but a special speaker),Sonus Faber Veneer 3.0(bargain at $3500), Legacy Aeris(12k), Acoustic Zen Crescendo(16K) and lots more. Two others intrigued me. 1)Newform Research line array.(10K) 84" Tall with about 12 drivers and about 3 feet of ribbons drivers mounted directly in front of the other drivers. It looks odd and you wouldn't think it would work,but it sounded totally transparent and with 4 subs and a cross-over thrown into the package- it wasn't a bad deal. The star of the show had to be the Tad Reference One. It was worth the price of admission alone. At 70K, totally unaffordable for me, but what a treat to listen to. They played a Master Tape on a reel-to-reel of a jazz recording. It was literally like the sax player was inside the speaker. The most accurate reproduction of an instrument and music I've ever heard. That's what cool about these shows. I would like to hear other people thoughts if they were there-especially on the Newform Research(am I crazy?) and the TAD(I can't be crazy).
jackmonster

Showing 3 responses by raks

raks
468 posts
 
After reading all the reviews on the YG Carmel’s, I expected to be blown away by them at the Chicago show. I wasn’t which really disappoints me because based on the reviews, the Carmel’s were on my short list for new speakers.

The Absolute Sound’s show coverage on the Carmel’s said “wonderful tone color, seemingly unrestricted dynamics (which wasn’t always the case with smaller YGs), super resolution (a house specialty), a thoroughgoing disappearing act, and an impression of deep-going bass that belied their size and form factor”... and Mt10425 (above) says “The best soundstage I heard was in the YG Acoustics (small) room.” Looking at the Enjoy the Music’s show coverage I was surprised to find that their picture of the GTT room showed a silver pair of Carmel’s versus the black pair that were in the room on Friday when I was there.

Is it possible that there was something wrong with the black pair?
raks
468 posts
 
I also thought the King Sound room was pretty impressive with the depth of the sound stage being on one of the runways at O’Hare. I also felt the SoundSmith Dragonfly speakers were pretty amazing for the price.
raks
468 posts
 
I'll second the Quintessence room with the Sonus Faber Adia's... the Magico room IMHO was nothing special... and the TAD room was amazing.
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