Amir's CES 2012 Picture Thread

[microstrip]

Thanks Amir.
I could appreciate that you are a true Audiophile with capital A - only an audiophile would take photos of the speaker's backside! They are really useful, as most of the time people do not refer to the cables that were used in the systems.

 

[LL21]

Thanks Amir! Curious about the MSB UMT transport...do you have any views on it? I know tough from just a show...but curious as transport is my current focus. Certainly like what its supposed to do...query is whether their execution is as good as their theory. Thanks for any insight. And thanks for posting all the photos and comments!!!

 

[andromedaaudio]

thanks amir nice pics , i like the look of the theta monos , i ll go check out the rest now, maybe nice for next years trip

gr hj

 

[MylesBAstor]

Conrad Johnson. Boy, this looks like the front entrance of a building!

The business end:

I like the use of a small form factor Shuttle PC as a music server:

For cj fans, the amp is the ARTsa, a downsized 150 wpc stereo version of the mighty ART retailing for $18K Same circuitry save that use a pair of 6189s in place of the 8080 to accommodate stereo operation.

 

[MylesBAstor]

Vitus Audio. Are these YG Acoustic speakers?

Yes smaller version. Model escapes me

 

[MylesBAstor]

VTL and Rockport Avior:

Those are new VTL amps/series based upon the Siegfried

 

[MylesBAstor]

Vandersten TREO

Aesthetix electronics driving it:

And the Benz-AMG turntable.

Thought you had asked 'bount the 'table. That's the new tabRomans 12-inch arm from Benz in Switzerland, known for his cartridges (and watches). Brought in Musical Surroundings. Don't remember the price.

 

[MylesBAstor]

Thanks for the pics. You must be like the elusive ghost at CES

 

[andromedaaudio]

Did you mean amir the winner sound wise was the MBL /convergent???
Funny ,i once heard the mbl s set up in holland(show ) and i wasnt at all impressed .
I m curiuos about the new rockports sound , i suspect they sound cleaner .
Funny thing as i never have heard a rockport product , i d have to go to paris to hear them .

greetings from amsterdam

 

[RBFC]

Yes smaller version. Model escapes me

Kipods?

Lee

 

[Steve Williams]

I am now reformatting the photos so hopefully later today

 

[amirm]

Thanks Amir! Curious about the MSB UMT transport...do you have any views on it? I know tough from just a show...but curious as transport is my current focus. Certainly like what its supposed to do...query is whether their execution is as good as their theory. Thanks for any insight. And thanks for posting all the photos and comments!!!

My pleasure. The transport in the picture was what they were playing. The content was CDs and as I said, it sounded extremely good. I could not ask them any questions unfortunately since people from "skywalker ranch" were there and the only person there was consumed giving them a tour for 15+ minutes. If the UMT was what they were playing, it sure sounded good!

 

[amirm]

Yes smaller version. Model escapes me

Oh, so the wires in front of the speaker I usually see in YG speakers is optional? It sure looks better without those spider webs .

 

[amirm]

Did you mean amir the winner sound wise was the MBL /convergent???

No I didn't. I was asking if others thought that, thinking I had read that in Steve's thread. The sound was not remarkable to me when I was there.

greetings from amsterdam

Greetings to you also . The most memorable sounds of the ones I listed were YG, MSB, Wilson and Revels. Some of the others sounded good too although that was more of the exception than the rule.

In general, I find that the demo material was poorly chosen this year more than last.

 

[Johnny Vinyl]

Amir - Great pics and love the narrative that accompanies them.

Good call on the Totem line, as I felt likewise when I heard the Element Fire at the TAVE show in Toronto. Hopefully they'll maintain production on their traditional line, and I have no reason to believe they won't. If they do, my next speaker will not come from Vince.

 

[rbbert]

Do you know anything about the Euphonix / Pacific Microsonics unit in the Magico room? What class of component is it? I thought Pacific Microsonics had stopped manufacturing?

Cool pictures!

 

[LL21]

My pleasure. The transport in the picture was what they were playing. The content was CDs and as I said, it sounded extremely good. I could not ask them any questions unfortunately since people from "skywalker ranch" were there and the only person there was consumed giving them a tour for 15+ minutes. If the UMT was what they were playing, it sure sounded good!

Thanks!

 

[MylesBAstor]

Do you know anything about the Euphonix / Pacific Microsonics unit in the Magico room? What class of component is it? I thought Pacific Microsonics had stopped manufacturing?

Cool pictures!

Alon was using the Pacific Microsonics HDCD player. Feeding it was a prototype music server from one of Alon's friends (retail est. 80K). And yes, Pacific Microsonics stopped production years ago; 200 were supposedly made and Alon owns five of them

http://connect.euphonix.com/documents/HDCD_Model_Two_4p_0102.pdf

http://www.goodwinshighend.com/manufacturers/pacific_microsonics/pacific_microsonics_model_two.htm

 

[ack]

And for good reason... probably still the best DAC/ADC ever made. I NEED one!

 

[amirm]

Alon was using the Pacific Microsonics HDCD player. Feeding it was a prototype music server from one of Alon's friends (retail est. 80K). And yes, Pacific Microsonics stopped production years ago; 200 were supposedly made and Alon owns five of them

Believe it or not, I had something to do with that! My group acquired Pacific Microsonics while I was at Microsoft. So we carried on manufacturing for a few months until we found Euphonix to take over. I had to buy something like $350,000 in parts because they were going to be discontinued and I didn't want the product to stop (Model 2 had recently come out then). We then had to literally pay Euphonix to take over in the form of giving them all of our parts inventory and such.