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

The 2nd Annual T.H.E. Show Newport Beach was pretty fun. I’ve never been to a hi-end show of any kind and being that the event was being held only five miles from my house, it was an easy decision.

Here are my show favorites. -

The MBL room playing an open reel at 15ips. This was by far the best room for me as well as the friend that accompanied me. Unbelievable resolution, wonderful clean lively sound, top to bottom. We first visited the room in the morning and Hugh Masekela was playing Stimela from the album Hope. This amazingly clean, well-produced and mastered material really demonstrated the wonderfulness of the MBL 101s. I have Martin Logan Vantages and so this sound was right up my alley – I know they don’t compare, this is just for your reference. We specifically went back later that evening to hear The Talking Heads – Stop Making Sense and Pink Floyd – Darkside of the Moon. This second session really reinforced to my friend and I that the MBLs are something special. This room was an all MBL setup with the exception of the open reel. The system could be played quite loud and yet no fatigue at all. The louder it got the better it sounded. Really amazing.

I really felt the McIntosh room sounded excellent. I very much liked the floor standing speakers that were driven by a tube pre and the MC452 SS amp. They were also using the MEN220 and their power distribution component. All of these components really played nicely together. I must note that I am a McIntosh fan, though all this equipment is out of my league. This is also my first time to hear the McIntosh speakers and they were a treat. I don’t know what model they were and couldn’t find them on McIntosh’s website.

The IG room was pretty awesome as well. Really nice smooth but dynamic sound. I forget what electronics were used, but the sound was pretty stunning. It was easy to stay in that room for a bit of a rest and enjoyment.

Finally, I thought that the Empirical Audio room sounded pretty nice. Got to meet Steve and chat for a few minutes. The sign outside the door noted that the whole setup in the room retailed for $32,000. The sound was very clean and what I really focused on was the midrange and upper end because I wanted to know what the Offramp was doing. I’m not sure I heard cymbals sound any better at the show. So clear and precise, no fuzz or timing errors. Just really sounded like cymbals. It would have been nice to hear that setup in a larger room.

Like some others commented, there were many systems that were lack luster at best. Many with six-figure pricing. If the folks setting up these rooms didn’t have the skill set to get it done properly, they shouldn’t have misspent the money. For instance, I really wanted to hear several pieces including the Modwright Oppo 105. The only reason I spent anytime in that room was to look at that piece of gear up close. Also, wanted to hear the AtmaSphere tube pre/amp gear. I left that room rather fast after taking a closer look at the pre and amps as well. Just very bland non-stimulating sound. I’ve no doubt both could have performed better based on all the positive comments here on the Gon.

Overall, I thought the show was great. My friend and I are already planning to go again next year.
I am an old audiophile and it's funny to hear so many people liking reel-to-reel tape! Yes, analog at its finest is the best there is!
@ Mribob, I do not know if you knew this, The Ayon room that you claim was magical uses Taralabs cables!, Ayon U.s.a. uses tham on Ayon equipment at every show!,, Happy listening!