A Capital Audiofest 2012 thread

did any room feature a panel speaker, such as a magnepan, martin logan or sanders sound ?

mapman....the orangatans were simply marvolous. They had the most pleasing and natural tone and were scary transparent. They are the reason I went back on Saturday. If I knew you I would have made you stay! :-) If I was serious I would have played some vinyl rock....my go to.

mr tennis, I did not see any panels....lots of horns though.

Mr T., I heard these GT Audio Works + dual subs for $3000 at CAF and enjoyed them very much.

The only commercial panel speaker I saw at the show was the GT Audio planar magnetic/ribbon speaker. It sounded decent, particularly with price factored in, but, it was not that memorable. The other panel speaker I heard was a DIY full range electrostatic that DID sound quite good, even with somewhat limited bass response, but this was not a commercially available product.

Another interesting thing on display was the QOL processor. I was expecting to hear the kind of "special effects" of other processors that inject phase shifted signals to boost the size of the soundfield, but, what I did get to hear was much more subtle. It added just a touch of additional soundstage width, but mainly, it added a bit more feeling of being immersed in a complete sonic environment (less of the feeling of sound only coming from the speakers and front of the room). It did not significantly alter the tonal balance, not something that can be said about some other processors/ambience recovery devices. I did not hear it long enough to detect any major problems (nor was I really listening for such). In short, it is something I found worth seriously auditioning.

I missed the DIY electrostat but heard a lot of buzz about them when a DIY guy stopped by the Classic Audio room. The $800 in parts DIY full ranges were one of my favorite sounds I heard. I have the sheet at home that was handed out about how to build. I will have to try that someday. No crossover + looked VERY easy for anyone with very basic woodworking ability.

The GT hybrids + 2 dedicated subs were A LOT of speaker for the money. A am not a hybrid fan aka Martin Logan in general but I know these can sound very good in a certain way and the GTs did once the subs were adjusted better for the material playing. At first, the bass levels/mix was a tad off. The sound was definitely more modern and in line with what I remember these types of hybrids to sound like in general. I was impressed though not sure these are exactly my cup of tea, but again, A LOT of speaker for the money and lots of potential. The fullness and impact and overall presentation including detail most resembled the Classic Audio room of the rooms I heard. Not saying they sounded the same, but definite similarities in regards to weight and meat on the bones. That's no small achievement for a $3000 speaker system with entry level high end electronics (smaller less expensive Bryston amp and CD player) running them. The double subs clearly were a part of that once tuned in well.