The OP is either someone connected with the room or hears with his eyes, hearing what he expected to hear instead of reality. That room was as bad or worse as most of the above posters portray. No bass, no dynamics, no coherence, a very poor sound in general. There were a few similar sized rooms with great sound so this was not the room itself causing the problems. I would love to know which components were not delivering the goods.
VAC amps and Focal Grand Utopias at $195k a pair
Ny audio best of show had to have been the VAC suite driving Focal Grand Utopia speakers. Dynamics were off the chart! Bass was tight and forceful!! The Eagles singing Hotel California from the Hell Freezes Over Tour had to have been the most realistic presentation that I've ever heard on any playback system anywhere in the world at any price! (Granted total room electronics cost topped $600k) It would have cost less to have the Eagles perform live at the show!! Anyone else get a chance to hear it or feel system didn't live up to hype and price??
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Could the variability of assessments be attributed to how the Focals do imaging? I have heard some Focal demos with extremely holographic imaging. I have found that if one is not tuned into that kind of imaging, everything you hear seems out of whack. I had that kind of reaction when I first inserted my Bel Canto ref1000m amps into my system. Holography and imaging changed completely and everything seemed to be gone, including any bass. Then as my ears adjusted, the wow factor struck. FOr sure, a discriminating ear can be trained to focus in on things a certain way and take some time to adjust to changes. |
Maybe they had the speakers connected out of phase with each other part of the time? I'm only partly joking :-) Also, the impedance characteristics of the speakers, assuming they are similar to what was measured in this 2003 Stereophile review (see the graph near the bottom of the page), could conceivably result in poor performance (specifically including weak bass and a messy midrange) if the wrong output tap on the amp had been chosen. Given those impedance characteristics, choosing the 8 ohm tap, rather than the 2 or 4 ohm tap, would change the sound in those directions, although I have no idea to what degree. Regards, -- Al |
Wow! I need to come to the rescue of Kevin Hayes and VAC and assure everyone that it surely wasn't Kevin's Statement tubed electronics. The Statement line is the finest tube equipment I have ever heard, it is effortless in its presentation and has the richest, fullest, well bodied notes ever from tubes; that's why I bought what I could afford; his Signature 2a and his Phi200's. An Audiogon member uses the same electronics with the same Grand Utopia speakers and he's in heaven! If there were any anomalies I'd attribute it to the room, and the AC! |
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