a lot of aesthetically challenged speakers here- I'm stunned spouses would remotely approve them, but maybe different in EU.
I'm actually being kind here.
I'm actually being kind here.
Did anyone wander into the Taiko/SGM/Audiopax/Acqueo room?
Yes, I was in the Sound Galleries room... just when Srajan Ebaen happened to be there, and I was totally overlooked as a result . They had the Metrum DAC connected at the time and we listened to some nice Brazilian tracks. I can't comment on the Taiko Tana active/passive platforms in isolation (pardon the pun), but I can say that I was very disappointed with the overall sound. Bland, dead and totally boring to my ears. (Massive apologies to Edward and Geoffrey, but I feel I have to say it as I heard it.) But I will say that everyone else in the room at the time seemed to really like the sound, so maybe it was simply down to preferences. I like the sound to 'breath', and only a few systems (mainly tubes/horns) seem to be capable of achieving this.
Mani.
Ed, I'm not sure if you got my email?
Before I make a final decision to go/not go for SGM next yr, I have to sort isoln of my tt
In the next 2-3 months I'm looking at shelling out for passive or active, and have a shortlist of 3, Minus K, Stacore Adv, both passive, and active Kuraka
I'd like to add the Tana to that list
Can you PM me here or email me and we can talk a bit more?
Or is the Tana purely Emile's baby, and comms should only go thru him? He already knows of my interest
The Luxman room was fantastic. I thought it was there valve amp playing but in reality it was the SS m900u. I keep telling people this is a great amp especially for the money, it is way better than these Ypsilon hybrids in direct shootouts, Joel from 6 moons has tried it with Vivid and Maggie 20.7 and he has experience of many amps including owning Ypsilon Aelius. At 10k price GBP it killed Viola Symphony, and was a close second to Gryphon Mephisto which is 50k or more. It is just not as fast and detailed and bassy as the Gryphon. Tone, musicality, is superior. People have migrated to it from valves. Shame at Munich they should have gone with bigger speakers.
So, what were your top 3 horn rooms then?
WE aside?
Well, I love Trios, if I had the space and budget would have bought, but did not spend much time here due to the kind of music they were playing, but it was high octane for sure.
Odeon sounded best of the expensive horns, though I prefer Universum to 32 and 38. Pity they hadn't set up the Universums. I have heard them more since last show and liked them more
I think Blumenhofer sounds alright though it does not have the flow of a good SET horn, it is more like a good cone that you can fit into a space where large horns will struggle. It will sell well to those who have budget but not space and also want the looks. It integrates fine.
Can't fault the giant Viva but nothing special for the money, maybe due to room size
Totaldac horns had potential - they do some tones very well, the integration and some hardness was where I had doubts. It might work in better settings, and if it doesn’t, could possibly be ironed out with the designer. The size is a big plus.
Did you hear the AC room?
Jazzhead and I stepped into it briefly on Saturday. We did not really take to the sound, and I thought it was unfair to judge anything in that room given the small size. It did not help that they were playing Telegraph Road then on digital, which is a 14:15 min song and I was not willing to wait that out. I was pretty interested in that Vyger. My main objective at the show was analog. The only two digital rooms I did IIRC were Odeon and Audio Exklusiv.
Are you sure it was digital? i was there listening on Saturday and we put on Telegraph Road on the Vyger...
Well actually I said can I listen to my vinyl, was told after the track finishes. Did I look to see if the Vyger arm was down on an LP? – can’t recollect. Maybe I assumed, not sure now. I listened a few mins, decided I don’t want 14 mins of this, same with Jazzhead, so we left.
a lot of aesthetically challenged speakers here (...)
Fair enough. I found the only really good seat was the one seat in the back row. The three front seats were kind of in a room anti-node where the bass was kind of sucked out. Made it sound a bit lean. In the back seat it was much better balanced.
As you say - most speakers per se look really horrible. But some manage to look interesting depending on room decoration.
IMHO it is mostly a matter of integrating the room style. And yes, XLF's do not look nice, but sound great!
Steve Williams Site Founder | Site Owner | Administrator | Ron Resnick Site Co-Owner | Administrator | Julian (The Fixer) Website Build | Marketing Managersing |