WOW; great stuff at THE Show, Newport this weekend


First time ever audio show for me; got to THE Show Friday morning; stood in a line of over 150 people waiting to get badges; instead of being a lonely audiophile; now I had company; everyone had high energy; and were great to chat with. tons of gear. Brief thoughts on my one day visit
1. The Ayon room was simply magical; such eye candy on their amps and preamps; the recent review in TAS was spot on. The Evolution Acoustics mini's sounded just great; incredible base response; but powered by very expensive front end.
2. TAD room; penthouse: magnificiant speakers; great designer rep; friendly; let you play your cd's; their large, $75k floor standers were among the best of show in my opinion; just a tad boomy in base in that room; the monitors dispeared; and sounded cohesive top to bottom
3. Brooks-Berdan room; never heard the Sasha's sound so good; powered by VTL tubed amp and pre amp; better than I heard them in their show room.
4. Revels sounded a bit disjointed; a bit disappointing; even when powered by the new $50k Mark Levinson mono blocks
5. Magico V3's in the synergistic research room; on groud level; with the $40,000 galieo speaker cell wires; sounded very good; but was amazed with the effect of the acoustic treatments; the little wooden shere hanging above them in the center; and tiny base 'cups' and side wall cups; they played a track with these diffusers in place; then removed them; I didn't believe the big difference in sonic improvement with them in; but it happened in front of me.
6. Venture Audio: I've heard these speakers before sound much better; their room was just horrible, and Didi kept playing a scratched lp of Keith Jarrett; which was not top notch. the speakers are beautiful; and are capable of sounding better than that
7. Great to Zingali's back in the USA; unfortunately; they were not set up when I stopped by.
8. The YG caramel's had a very impressive sound stage; and great dynamics; first time I've heard them
9. the MBL room with the 101'es sounded great as well; but room a bit too small to allow them justice.
too much to see and hear in one day; congrats to Bob Levy; and the LA/Orange county society for bringing this great event to SoCal...I hope it returns next year...
hard to evaluate separate pieces; ie; amps vs preamps, or cables; as all system dependent.
Also loved the sound in the Veloce room; battery powered preamp and amp..
Just some quick and random thoughts by a newbie attending first show; loved hearing all this gear in one place; and meeting great and warm fellow audiophiles;...wow again. curious to learn other's responses to this show and gear...
mribob
Jafox, is NAPA a dealer or manufacterer? Sorry, I've never heard of them before. If a dealer, what is the brand of the amp and speakers you bought? Thanks!
See Michael Lavorgna's coverage of the Napa room:
http://www.stereophile.com/content/napa-acoustic-0
Napa Acoustic aka Xcellus
US Representative for Mistral Audio tube gear and the US importer for NBIEN loudspeakers and JIB-Germany cables.
Did you guys airdrop in or take a bus....

I drove up from 60 miles South and parking was awful. None on site or next door, where they caught on pretty quick.
I ended up down at the bank. worked well and no charge, but I wish I had been warned.

I liked EVERYTHING but a few rooms. I didn't like the VMPS ribbons and those gigantic Focals? Small room? (for them, at least) The other system I didn't like had horn drivers. I walked in and out within 30 seconds.

Joe Rogers, a Southern California favorite is back with a new, small stand mount RSL mini monitor. This little slot loaded beauty sounded terrific. I don't know how he did it, but he bought his name back and is now a going concern.

Audience, another SouthernCalifornia operation also showed there huge tall linesource with like 16 identical drivers. The SAME driver, used 2 at a time with a passive radiator made some nice sounds. I was impressed at the clean boom free low end.

And for you SDFR guys, Voxitiv made an appearance. NOT Lothar or Foxtex. A proprietary driver in an enclosure made by Shimmel, the Piano folks. Fit and finish? Befitting a grand piano.

I loved the room with Pass amps and those inexpensive AudioEngine A5s....were a terrific value. If I had a youngster in college, you can bet that'd be part of a dorm system.

I loved the Sanders / Magtech room, too.
Other things that caught my eye were lots of R2R and computer based systems, some showing the PSAudio product.

no way to post a photo?

I think they should move it down to San Diego. Where you can find parking.