Steve's CES 2012 Picture Thread

Fabulous job Steve and Amir - thanks for the detailed coverage. Steve, in post #52, are these Tidals?
 
Fabulous job Steve and Amir - thanks for the detailed coverage. Steve, in post #52, are these Tidals?
Yes

Tidal with all Constellation amp preamp etc

They were playing there stereo amp. The huge monos that I heard at RMAF were amazing but $70K per channel. The stereo amp sounded very good with the speakers
 
Tidal Contriva
 
My interest in women is perpetually climbing and directly proportional to my interest in audio. :b

Now to find a woman that is, at least, tolerant of audio LOL
 
Cables at CES 2012

Van den Hul, a well known Dutch cable manufacturer, was supposed to present their new top speaker cable using the 3T technology, The Cumulus, at CES2012. Did any one notice it?

Also I could read Shunyata presented a new line of cables at CES , but can not find any information on their prices.
 
Dave Gordon says the Ref 250 is the best amp they've built

Well I would agree with him. I was blown away when I heard the them . I have not heard the 750 of course and perhaps that is the same or better, only time will tell.
 
Van den Hul, a well known Dutch cable manufacturer, was supposed to present their new top speaker cable using the 3T technology, The Cumulus, at CES2012. Did any one notice it?

Also I could read Shunyata presented a new line of cables at CES , but can not find any information on their prices.

I showed the Sunyata room with Caelin demonstrating their new Z-tron technology which is less money than their most expensive cable. IIRC of their 3 cable types, one starts at $1500, the next at $2500 and the most expensive at $3500

Shunyata is also staring a program that they will send out cable to listeners on consignment for a 30 day trial before buying
 
I showed the Sunyata room with Caelin demonstrating their new Z-tron technology which is less money than their most expensive cable. IIRC of their 3 cable types, one starts at $1500, the next at $2500 and the most expensive at $3500

Shunyata is also staring a program that they will send out cable to listeners on consignment for a 30 day trial before buying

Interesting. I really like Shunyata cables - all my power cables are Anaconda Helix, discontinued a few years ago, going through a Hydra distributor. Their old to signal and speaker cables (the Antares and the Orion) , were really good value for money. Unhappily their next generation was of cables was too expensive and as far as I can see it was not a market success. I hope that their new cables, much more reasonably priced, give us back the goods of Shunyata.
 
That was Caelin's intent. In fact his new ads suggest that their new Shunyata cable costing 6X less than their most expensive older cable, outperforms the older cable
 
Gary

I have wondered that myself as I know the equipment because I own it. Quite possibly either the use of the surge protectors and/or the choice of music. Not bad but not great and Vlad would not honor listeners' requests to play their own music. It was also a large room with no room treatments

As for the Sonus Aida I just found myself involved emotionally with the music. The speakers could handle anything and I believe the ARC electronics was also a contributing factor. It could quite likely also been a result of the silk dome tweeter. Not bright and definitely not fatiguing
 
I wonder if others feel the same way about being "involved emotionally with the music" that makes it their "Best of Show". Did you visit the Eventus/Audia Flight room? I thought that while the sound lacked detail and resolution, I was carried away by a live blues record I brought and sat through almost the entire side. Wondering how to measure "emotion". Eventus is also an Italian design like the Sonus.
 
Gary

I heard many good systems but invariably they were constrained by the room and traffic in and out. Personally the Sonus Aida just lit up my ears and stirred my emotions.
 
The Onedof table didn't get any good reports at RMAF. NeoDio hasn't gotten any credit or representation in the US despite displaying for something like 4 years now. I don't know if they did have in the past but it is reported they don't now and are looking. On the analog end, I was a bit surprised that Vladimir chose the Benz LP S and had it mated to a Graham Arm. The LP S is a very heavy cartridge. Carts of similar high weight like the Goldfinger actually require an add on to the counter weight lest the weight be too far from the pivot point. Also worrisome is that the LP S is a laid back sounding cartridge compared to the CAs and DRTs Vladimir usually shows with even if the DRTs have slightly lower output voltage. The LP2 Deluxe is a quiet, very well balanced phono stage but it is one with moderate gain even with the 1:30 step up option (mid to high sixties). If the LP2 Deluxes brought were equipped with the usual 1:9.6 step ups, I would not be surprised at all if the sound was indeed dynamically wanting. If the NeoDio output voltages are in the 1 to 2mV (or south of 3) range only, the same result might be expected.

As Bruce said, "it's the source baby". Then there are those blue boxed limiters...........

As an interested party, I do hope they do better in succeeding shows.
 
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The cart, arm etc was all chosen by Onedof
 
Ouch.
 

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