What were the best and worst rooms at RMAF 2009?

Tom92602,

I don't think that it is fair for you to blame the Bel Canto amplifiers for your dislike of the sound you heard in their room with our Pearls. When I saw your posting on the Asylum I was puzzled until I looked at your system description.
http://cgi.audioasylum.com/systems/9260.html

According to that profile, your speakers are the Klipsch RF-82.

Under system goals you write "Trying to make Classic Rock sound warm and rich without loosing refinement and speed."

As you mentioned, the system sounded nice until you played your disc.

I do not share your goal of trying to make Classic Rock recordings sound warm and rich, *unless they were recorded that way in the first place*. I greatly prefer the purity of a natural, even balance that lets me hear what the recording actually sounds like rather than trying to goose up the upper bass to add false warmth. The nice thing about evenly balanced speakers is that you do still have the option of patching in an equalizer to adjust for harsh recordings, as opposed to trying to tame a system that is has errors "locked in" as part of the speaker design.

This hobby is about listening enjoyment, first and foremost. I am not trying to tell you what to enjoy for your personal listening. I just felt that some context and insight into why your perspective would differ from my own and the vast number of visitors like Tvad who were very pleased with how our systems performed at the show would be useful.

And you should not rule out Bel Canto for your system as you cannot predict how that combination might sound based on your audition with my speakers.

Tom,

My intent was not to slander anyone. My point was that you have a different perspective on how a system should sound than I and many of the other posters do, and that is fine. When I saw the components you had listed and the comments you stated there (prior to your most recent edit), it made sense to me that you have the reaction you did. I'm frankly puzzled as to why you changed your system profile.

In any case, given that you don't like my speakers, how can you draw any firm conclusions about the sound of the Bel Canto?

Tom,

Thanks for your explanation.

Best of luck to you in your pursuit of listening pleasure, wherever it takes you.

Jeff

Hi Azaud,

Thanks for your comments and asking about the upgrades. We'll be offering an upgrade to the original Pearl, save for the cosmetic changes (no visible screws on the side panels)

The speakers would need to come back to the factory for the upgrades and we haven't worked out the details just yet.

Jeff