THE Show roll call- Newport Beach this coming weekend

[DaveyF]

I just got back from THE SHOW. It was a long day and as usual many rooms that were less than stellar, but there were a few good ones. Had the distinct pleasure of meeting several WBF members.
Seemed well attended, although perhaps not as much as last year.

I'm sure some of the other members will post on their favorite rooms and gear...I'll hold off till
then.

Oh yes, I did hear the new ARC Ref75....

 

[KeithR]

How were the crowds?

Schedule has changed, so will be there tomorrow.

 

[c1ferrari]

Show Goers

How were the crowds?

Schedule has changed, so will be there tomorrow.

Are distributed over two venue hotels this year as opposed to a single venue hotel it's inaugural year. Therefore, attendance may appear to be lighter.

I expect attendance to swell, tomorrow.

 

[DaveyF]

As Sam said above. I won't be there this weekend, BUT I imagine the crowds will grow. All in all a pretty good show and well attended so far.

Had a long and interesting chat with Alon Wolf of Magico fame....I'll post the topic in the Magico section when I return from my trip to NY on Tuesday.

 

[jap]

Oh yes, I did hear the new ARC Ref75....

And what did you think of it?

 

[mep]

And what did you think of it?

I can't wait to hear either.

 

[KeithR]

Great show and going back today to circle some rooms I couldn't stay in long. It was basically impossible to hear everything in one day this year. 10 floors of rooms is a lot!

I will spend some more time with the Ref 75 today...heard it yesterday for two tracks with David Gordon at the helm. With ARC dac, Ref5, and Wilson Sophia 3s fyi.

As a sneak peak of my full show review, the Vivid/Luxman room was outstanding. on the other side, I don't understand the Audio Note following at all.

KeithR

 

[Steve Williams]

Great show and going back today to circle some rooms I couldn't stay in long. It was basically impossible to hear everything in one day this year. 10 floors of rooms is a lot!

I will spend some more time with the Ref 75 today...heard it yesterday for two tracks with David Gordon at the helm. With ARC dac, Ref5, and Wilson Sophia 3s fyi.

As a sneak peak of my full show review, the Vivid/Luxman room was outstanding. on the other side, I don't understand the Audio Note following at all.

KeithR

I'm not surprised re Vivid/Luxman as Phillip O'hanlon always gets it right

 

[MylesBAstor]

Great show and going back today to circle some rooms I couldn't stay in long. It was basically impossible to hear everything in one day this year. 10 floors of rooms is a lot!

I will spend some more time with the Ref 75 today...heard it yesterday for two tracks with David Gordon at the helm. With ARC dac, Ref5, and Wilson Sophia 3s fyi.

As a sneak peak of my full show review, the Vivid/Luxman room was outstanding. on the other side, I don't understand the Audio Note following at all.

KeithR

I think the AN electronics are better than their speakers.

 

[flez007]

I think the AN electronics are better than their speakers.

I think the AN amps and DACs are better than their preamps and transports.

 

[andromedaaudio]

AN speakers are very much my fi in my opinion ,nice place / beach i might go next year

nice one davey, look forward to the story

 

[flez007]

Eagerly waiting for the top-room list of those lucky who attended!

 

[Andre Marc]

Yes.

Great show and going back today to circle some rooms I couldn't stay in long. It was basically impossible to hear everything in one day this year. 10 floors of rooms is a lot!

I will spend some more time with the Ref 75 today...heard it yesterday for two tracks with David Gordon at the helm. With ARC dac, Ref5, and Wilson Sophia 3s fyi.

As a sneak peak of my full show review, the Vivid/Luxman room was outstanding. on the other side, I don't understand the Audio Note following at all.

KeithR

Agree about the Vivid Luxman room. Outstanding. There was real texture.

I also am puzzled by the Audio Note following. It's a borderline cult in my opinion. Some of it is overpriced too.

They have a very odd business plan, to say the least.

The speakers they had there were over 9 grand. I can do better for that money.

The one thing I will say is that corner loading is certainly an interesting concept, and it provides a really good solution for a small room.

 

[Peter Breuninger]

Just back from T.H.E. Show. It was a wonderful duel venue event (side by side hotels) with lots of side shows... live music all the time, exotic cars, beautiful women and gracious hospitality suites with beer, snacks and full bars (f r e e). The sound was to be expected with interesting equipment combos and average hotel rooms and suites. The AV (showrooms) team picked a clear Gold Show sound winner and it was not a mega $$$ system. We used the following methodology: review the rooms on Fri and Sat and narrow down the prospects to a half a dozen, then on Sunday go to each of the finalist rooms room and play the demo disc track on each system. This gives the gear a two day burn in and the cables some time to "form." One of the best sound rooms had a speaker that was brand new... to make it to the finals is quite an achievement. I'll report the winners by week's end so please stay tuned. Oh, and least I forget... the place to stay and eat and hang out is not an Irvine or Newport Beach destination, it's a Laguna Beach "settlement" named Montage... there was a private owned Bugatti in the prestige parking space! Hehehe.

 

[LL21]

Was Stahl-Tek there playing their Vekian Opus digital? Any comments? Thanks.

 

[c1ferrari]

Was Stahl-Tek there playing their Vekian Opus digital? Any comments? Thanks.

Didn't come across any Stahl-Tek gear while we were there, Lloyd.
If there were a Stahl-Tek presence, we missed it :-(

 

[puroagave]

i was there friday and sat. i think i saw 70% of the show. my standouts were optimal enchantment and brooks berdan's rooms the new magicos also impressed me. I heard the big TAD for the first time and liked those too. the little evolution acoustics monitors and joseph audio pulsar made great music at affordable prices. the coolest system there, imo, was cessaro/thoress setup with TW 'table - it was so retro but sounded modern and shows that 'old' can be as good or better than new.

im going to eat my words because I’ve been on a digital kick this past year, but at this show LPs in general still sounded better to me, and if they used tubes better still. there were many impressive SS/digital driven systems but i found my heart strings were tugged harder by those demoing with analog.

 

[LL21]

Didn't come across any Stahl-Tek gear while we were there, Lloyd.
If there were a Stahl-Tek presence, we missed it :-(

Thanks, Sam.

 

[Bjorn]

Would be interesting to hear some feedback how CBT speakers performed.

 

[Peter Breuninger]

I shot a great video of this interesting line source system with audio legend Don Keele talking all about it. He placed a mirror on the floor right up to the front edge of the speaker. The video best explains it. BTW, Bob Carver has a great explanation of line sources on our Bob Carver showcase series. He talks about candles stacked a top each other and a mirror on the floor (too).

One of my all time fav line source type speakers is the IRS V. I'm intrigued by the Scaenas but they are a quasi point source line array. Perhaps I'm mislabeling the IRS's and they, as well, are quasi point source line arrays.