Steve's CES 2012 Picture Thread

[Steve Williams]

As a brief preface let me just repeat what others have said. Not only is it a great place to meet but so also to rekindle old friendships and to hang for a few days. I must say that over 50 + years in the hobby most of my oldest and dearest friends have come from the hobby as well. There were 4 including me and it was a blast. That's why it has taken me a few days to post these photos. Most of the photos I have noticed have been also covered by Amir as well as other audio web sites so I might not have anything remarkable to report different and therefore will try to limit my comments to what impressed me and bear in mind the word "me" as YMMV.


First off the thing which struck me immediately was how poorly attended the show at the Venetian as well as T.H.E Show at The Flamingo were.

Many displays were static and of the static displays some of the ones you would really want to hear (eg Boulder) are always static.

I have tried to capture my running thoughts from both shows at this thread

http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showth...ll=1#post82806

It was a daunting task for me because I was posting via my iphone and taking pictures with my S95 so I often took several with different shutter speed and/or aperture speed as I went from room to room

I apologize therefore if some of my photos seem redundant or you have seen them elsewhere but I must say it was a challenge getting great photos because of the lighting and room size so kudos to Amir for such wonderful photos.

[Steve Williams]

Lamm/Wilson Audio/Onedof Turntables

I must be up front because everyone who knows me know I am a longtime Wilson and Lamm enthousiast. I own the electronics Vladimir was showing as well as Wilson speakers so I am very familiar with that sound. I was disappointed because what I heard just didn't do the equipment its credit due. Some said it was the surge protectors (perhaps) and possibly the choice of music (perhaps) etc. A photo of me and Vladimir is seen

[Steve Williams]

Biamped Lamm ML 2.2 with Verity Speakers and a very interesting new turntable out of Canada at $28K IIRC

[Steve Williams]

YG Acoustics, Tenor Audio, ATR Reel To Reel

[Steve Williams]

Magico Q7, Nagra-T Turntable, and a yet to be announced amp by Alon and a glimpse at his new Magico S5

[Steve Williams]

Wilson XLF and Wilson X-2 Series ll with a view of the new silk dome tweeter

I had the privilege of being invited to the Wilson launch of the new XLF. Once again it remains eye candy with absolute precision in workmanship. Dave gave a summary of his thoughts and how he came about the XLF design with the new silk dome tweeter. You can see how carefully the tweeter is handled. The XLF is on the left and the X-2 Series ll on the right.Information I received was that the XLF is slightly shorter than the X-2 but much deeper thus allowing for more cabinet volume. The XLF is slightly less efficient (0.5-1 Db) than the X-2 which is 95. The crossovers are obviously proprietary but Dave said they are similar to the X-2

A few photos of me and Dave are included

[Steve Williams]

Bryston