Genesis at CES 2017: with VPI, Transfiguration, SMc Audio and Viva Audio

garylkoh

WBF Technical Expert (Speakers & Audio Equipment)
Sep 6, 2010
5,599
225
1,190
Seattle, WA
www.genesisloudspeakers.com
Genesis will be at its 25th CES this Winter - CES2017. And to celebrate, we are having a party - with VPI and Transfiguration, SMc Audio and Viva Audio. I'll post details of the gear later, but I'll start with music first. The system has been picked months ago, but I was telling one of my friends that this time of the year, I spend most of my time listening to music and picking albums to bring for CES. He thought how lucky I was to be able to spend all day listening to music, but didn't realize that this is actually WORK!

Evaluating music for demo purposes is totally different from listening for pleasure. While listening, I've gotta assess the sound quality, whether it is tonally and harmonically accurate, if it is arresting and interesting enough to attract a busy and impatient audience to come into the room, engaging enough to keep their attention, whether it will highlight the qualities of the demo system, and most important of all - not drive me up the wall and out the room if I have to play it 10 times a day 4 days in a row.

So, here are some of the albums I'll be bringing to the show:

Since I posted this one on Facebook, I've been surprised how many of my friends who are music lovers haven't even heard of it:

I'm a great fan of rock and some of my favourite bands include Pink Floyd, Yes, Gentle Giant, ELP, King Crimson, Jethro Tull, The Doors, etc. I'm not a great fan of tribute albums as some of them can be cheesy.

But an album with Billy Sherwood, Rick Wakeman and Steve Howe, AND Keith Emerson AND Adrian Belew AND Ian Anderson AND Robby Krieger AND Gary Green AND Dweezil Zappa came up - I couldn't resist. Come on, these guys aren't the kind of musicians who are waiting on tables until they get their next paid gig. They are the stars of rock (and the son of a supernova). Even if the album didn't sound good, I had to have it.

And if it's good enough to bring it with me to CES, it's not just good. It's fantastic!!!

Back against the Wall.jpg
 

garylkoh

WBF Technical Expert (Speakers & Audio Equipment)
Sep 6, 2010
5,599
225
1,190
Seattle, WA
www.genesisloudspeakers.com
This LP I don't even know how to classify. So, in my shelves, I just leave it in my currently-being-played shelf all the time. As a consequence, it gets played a lot, but I never get tired of it. It's not really Jazz, not really country, not really rock. It doesn't even have a title and you can't have a "self-titled" album just with the name of seven guys..... can you?

No matter what it is..... buy it. On vinyl if you can. Come to CES and ask for a listen - the Venetian Suite #29-233.

Blake.jpg
 

garylkoh

WBF Technical Expert (Speakers & Audio Equipment)
Sep 6, 2010
5,599
225
1,190
Seattle, WA
www.genesisloudspeakers.com
So, the story on this album is that The Rolling Stones were in a studio in West London. They hadn't done a studio album in well over a decade and weren't sure that they would be making an album. Their good friend Eric Clapton just happened to be in another room in the studio a couple of doors down the corridor.

Musicians being musicians, suggested a jam..... and the result - a wonderful double album of Blues, recorded "live" spontaneously, with no overdubs. With guest Eric Clapton on slide guitar. Mick Jagger on blues harp. Can't find anything to fault on this album.

Blue & Lonesome.jpg
 

garylkoh

WBF Technical Expert (Speakers & Audio Equipment)
Sep 6, 2010
5,599
225
1,190
Seattle, WA
www.genesisloudspeakers.com
After a Rolling Stones blues album, you need some Rhythm & Blues. In 1971, King Curtis did a gig at the Fillmore West togerther with Aretha Franklin. That gig resulted in 2 albums - the much better known Aretha Live at Fillmore West, and this one.

The sound and recording is patchy - good in parts and not so good in others, but it shows off the musicality of the system and how the music and performance transcends the sound. The first track - Memphis Soul Stew is particularly telling as some of the instruments could have benefitted from better mic-ing.

Nevertheless, some albums just need to be recommended for the performance and the music..... and with a great system, the music transcends the recording.

King Curtis Live.jpg
 

garylkoh

WBF Technical Expert (Speakers & Audio Equipment)
Sep 6, 2010
5,599
225
1,190
Seattle, WA
www.genesisloudspeakers.com
Inevitably, someone will ask for "female vocals" and this year, I'll be pulling out this audiophile favorite. Well, and audiophile favorite in Asia...... Yesterday I played this for one of the audiophiles in the PNWAS, and he didn't know that the album existed.

Fairytales.jpg
 

MadFloyd

Member Sponsor
May 30, 2010
3,076
774
1,700
Mass
Genesis will be at its 25th CES this Winter - CES2017. And to celebrate, we are having a party - with VPI and Transfiguration, SMc Audio and Viva Audio. I'll post details of the gear later, but I'll start with music first. The system has been picked months ago, but I was telling one of my friends that this time of the year, I spend most of my time listening to music and picking albums to bring for CES. He thought how lucky I was to be able to spend all day listening to music, but didn't realize that this is actually WORK!

Evaluating music for demo purposes is totally different from listening for pleasure. While listening, I've gotta assess the sound quality, whether it is tonally and harmonically accurate, if it is arresting and interesting enough to attract a busy and impatient audience to come into the room, engaging enough to keep their attention, whether it will highlight the qualities of the demo system, and most important of all - not drive me up the wall and out the room if I have to play it 10 times a day 4 days in a row.

So, here are some of the albums I'll be bringing to the show:

Since I posted this one on Facebook, I've been surprised how many of my friends who are music lovers haven't even heard of it:

I'm a great fan of rock and some of my favourite bands include Pink Floyd, Yes, Gentle Giant, ELP, King Crimson, Jethro Tull, The Doors, etc. I'm not a great fan of tribute albums as some of them can be cheesy.

But an album with Billy Sherwood, Rick Wakeman and Steve Howe, AND Keith Emerson AND Adrian Belew AND Ian Anderson AND Robby Krieger AND Gary Green AND Dweezil Zappa came up - I couldn't resist. Come on, these guys aren't the kind of musicians who are waiting on tables until they get their next paid gig. They are the stars of rock (and the son of a supernova). Even if the album didn't sound good, I had to have it.

And if it's good enough to bring it with me to CES, it's not just good. It's fantastic!!!

View attachment 30199

Wow, I'm one of those who have never heard of this album - and I have several Pink Floyd 'tribute' albums.

Thanks, Gary, I'll check it out.
 

MadFloyd

Member Sponsor
May 30, 2010
3,076
774
1,700
Mass
So, the story on this album is that The Rolling Stones were in a studio in West London. They hadn't done a studio album in well over a decade and weren't sure that they would be making an album. Their good friend Eric Clapton just happened to be in another room in the studio a couple of doors down the corridor.

Musicians being musicians, suggested a jam..... and the result - a wonderful double album of Blues, recorded "live" spontaneously, with no overdubs. With guest Eric Clapton on slide guitar. Mick Jagger on blues harp. Can't find anything to fault on this album.

View attachment 30201

I find the sonics of this album unlistenable on my system. Over the top compressed... sad, because the music seems great.
 

microstrip

VIP/Donor
May 30, 2010
20,806
4,698
2,790
Portugal
Inevitably, someone will ask for "female vocals" and this year, I'll be pulling out this audiophile favorite. Well, and audiophile favorite in Asia...... Yesterday I played this for one of the audiophiles in the PNWAS, and he didn't know that the album existed. (...)

Audiophiles that are not anti-digital fundamentalists should know her and the first song of Fairytales from the Burmester CD2 ...
 

MadFloyd

Member Sponsor
May 30, 2010
3,076
774
1,700
Mass
Wow, I'm one of those who have never heard of this album - and I have several Pink Floyd 'tribute' albums.

Thanks, Gary, I'll check it out.

I listened to the first half of this today - nice and loud. I'm very impressed. The only thing I didn't like was Young Lust - it made my ears bleed, but while it's aggressive in the highs, it's an impressive recording and good performances. A classic album for sure and just like classical music, it's interesting to hear a different performance.
 

garylkoh

WBF Technical Expert (Speakers & Audio Equipment)
Sep 6, 2010
5,599
225
1,190
Seattle, WA
www.genesisloudspeakers.com
Audiophiles that are not anti-digital fundamentalists should know her and the first song of Fairytales from the Burmester CD2 ...

Yep - that was the comment I got. "Isn't that from the Burmester CD??? I didn't know that it was available on vinyl."

With me, it was the other way around as some of my favourite tracks were on the Burmester CD - which got me into digital. Not the other way around :D
 

garylkoh

WBF Technical Expert (Speakers & Audio Equipment)
Sep 6, 2010
5,599
225
1,190
Seattle, WA
www.genesisloudspeakers.com
Thanks for the comments, folks. I didn't find Back Against the Wall having aggressive highs on Young Lust, or Blue & Lonesome being overly compressed......

Anyway, here are more albums I'm bringing to the show.

This is an album I've had for a while, but haven't appreciated it this much until this current system.

Hans Zimmer is a brilliant composer, In this score, he paints the bleak, imposing landscape of Gotham City in sound. Listen to the music, close your eyes and you feel the weight of the world on your shoulders.

Zimmer is noted for integrating orchestral elements with electronic instruments, samples and synthetizers. Side 2 Track 1 shows off this prowess - the texture, tone, color and contrast in the very low bass needs to be experienced. It'll raise the hair on the back of your neck.

Dark Knight Rises.jpg
 

garylkoh

WBF Technical Expert (Speakers & Audio Equipment)
Sep 6, 2010
5,599
225
1,190
Seattle, WA
www.genesisloudspeakers.com
************** Commercial break **********************

One of my guilty pleasures are movie soundtracks - when well done, they have some of the widest range and most dynamic sounds ever recorded. This year's CES system had me pulling out LP after LP as I seem to have more resolution, dynamics and detail in the low bass than ever before. I attribute this to the turntable helping me dig more out of the grooves. This year, I'm bringing the VPI Vanquish to CES.

Don't go to the VPI website to look for it because it's not in their catalog. I visited Harry Weisfeld in October, and we took the opportunity to have a bit of fun comparing his reference designs. I have to admit not being a fan of the VPI sound, but when I heard the Vanquish, I knew that I had to get one......

VPI Vanquish.jpg
 

garylkoh

WBF Technical Expert (Speakers & Audio Equipment)
Sep 6, 2010
5,599
225
1,190
Seattle, WA
www.genesisloudspeakers.com
The other part of the system that I thought was a breakthrough in sound was the cartridge. I've been using a Transfiguration Proteus for a while now. Over the past 30 years, I've stayed with various configurations of the Denon 103 - including the $6000 version, the Magic Diamond. I have several of these (and the Virus as well) but they have all been heavily modded with ruby cantilevers and line-contact profile stylus (including one with the Gyger!)

However, since the end of last year, I've been using a Proteus - it's musicality and detail retrieval attracted me the most. But it gave up bass resolution and dynamics to the Magic Diamond/ruby/Gyger....... until the Proteus Diamond. I got it a couple of weeks ago, and have already put at least 200 hours on it (that's hard work!!) to get it broken-in in time for CES.

It's the first cartridge with a diamond cantilever I've had since the Kiseki Lapis Lazuli. It is even better than the Proteus in musicality and detail/resolution. And yet it beats the Magic Diamond in dynamics and bass resolution. The Proteus D together with the VPI Vanquish, IMHO is groundbreaking!

Proteus D on VPI.jpg

stylus 1 s.jpg
 

microstrip

VIP/Donor
May 30, 2010
20,806
4,698
2,790
Portugal
(...) Don't go to the VPI website to look for it because it's not in their catalog. I visited Harry Weisfeld in October, and we took the opportunity to have a bit of fun comparing his reference designs. I have to admit not being a fan of the VPI sound, but when I heard the Vanquish, I knew that I had to get one......
View attachment 30223

You are jumping to the direct drive side? ;)
 

garylkoh

WBF Technical Expert (Speakers & Audio Equipment)
Sep 6, 2010
5,599
225
1,190
Seattle, WA
www.genesisloudspeakers.com
I probably have every one of Holly Cole's albums - in digital form or on vinyl. Sometimes both. I love her smoky voice and quirky interpretations..... and the fact that she loves bass and does it so well.

This is the one I'm bringing with me this year.

Holly Cole Night.jpg
 

garylkoh

WBF Technical Expert (Speakers & Audio Equipment)
Sep 6, 2010
5,599
225
1,190
Seattle, WA
www.genesisloudspeakers.com
If you go to his website, he says "Mojo Juju sings songs that sound just like that night you can't quite remember, in that bar you swear you weren't at, with that girl you promise you've never met." I don't know anything about that other girl, but I'm pretty sure that the music sounds a bit like that girl from the bar I married ;)

Smooth, shiny and loaded with sin.

Grab the album - you won't regret it. You'll listen to this one a lot.

Mojo Juju.jpg
 

garylkoh

WBF Technical Expert (Speakers & Audio Equipment)
Sep 6, 2010
5,599
225
1,190
Seattle, WA
www.genesisloudspeakers.com
Over the past few CES's I've been going to bigger, and bigger amps. First, the Burmester 909, then the Viola Bravos, and then the Genesis GR1440 monoblocks. Despite show conditions, we've had the ability to get deep bass and huge dynamics. With the line-source G2Jr, Air Force One turntable, and the Vertere Reference tonearm at CES2013, we created quite a stir. At that time, the Vertere was the most expensive tonearm in the world by far and the Air Force One was a brand new, 6-figure turntable with prodigious dynamics and bass. That resulted in quite a number of controversial posts here on WBF.

The album that we used to show off the bass of the system was Touch: Yello by the brilliant duo of Boris Blank and Deiter Meir. We might or might not have been the first manufacturer to use that particular album for demo, but that album is now hugely difficult to find.

This year, we are using Yello's follow-up album to again show off the prodigious bass of the Genesis Maestro and the VPI Vanquish. However, this year is going to be a complete turn-around where power is concerned. I'm demo-ing with a single-ended direct-heated triode amplifier with all of 36W: the Viva Audio Auroras with 211 (driver tube) and a 845 (power). With this combination, the bass has an exceptional finesse that I am liking a LOT.

If you are already a fan of Yello, you will hear elements of all their classics in Toy. If you are not yet a fan of Yello, come to Toy for a fresh mix of ambient textures and Europop with a mix of funky latin rhythms thrown in.

Toy.jpg
 

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