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
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!
I cant remember if the NOLA's Micro Grand was powered by the VAC Amp. Very cool, compelling compact speaker that would be out of my fiscal reach, but had mind blowing bass extension for such small(4.5 inch) woofers. Awesome choice for smaller listening spaces. My budget in their range would be the Boxer, or the Contender, outstanding choices in their own right in all but the most crazy expensive systems. Very nice rendition of Easy Jazz and Classical on that rig.