Capital Audio Fest 2018--show report


DAY 1

I came primarily to audition loudspeakers, so this report will focus on them. I omit associated equipment, as there was just too much to keep track of, and few rooms had handouts with the detailed list of components.

The first day of the show, I managed to visit 2/3 to 3/4 of the rooms that were of interest to me. The remaining rooms I’ll visit tomorrow morning, and then start going back for a second listen in the afternoon.

In what follows, I’m more or less transcribing my jotted notes that I took while in the room in question.

Note: the regular-sized hotel rooms being used by most exhibitors tended to emphasize strongly a particular bass range. For too many of the rooms I noted “bass boomy”. Only a few rose above this…

 

Some highlights, not necessarily in order of preference.

DAEDALUS ZEUS. Very large speaker in a large room. Very good generally, beautiful on classical. A big sound, but not overdone (like some others). Very natural. Wonderful dynamics. True majesty on large-scale classical.

DAEDALUS APOLLO. I still don’t know exactly how I feel about this speaker. It’s good certainly, verdict is out on whether it’s great. Decent imaging and soundstaging (I would have had them a bit further out into what is admittedly a small room). A good clean presentation, could be a little overwhelming on some tracks (volume of playback?, room?). Promising to be sure, and a real contender.

SALK SONG 3 BEAT. Easily my nomination for “best bang for the buck” speaker auditioned so far. Extraordinary for the price.  I repeat, really extraordinary.  A nice presentation overall, good depth of soundstaging, for the size of the woofer the bass is definitely there—and then some. Bass could be a bit boomy depending on the recording (see above). Beryllium tweeter (the BE in BE-AT), one of the best I’ve heard. On one recording it got a wee bit steely on massed violins being played back at high volume. Very impressed.  Of course the wood veneer is also fantastic.

IMC Audio. One of the true sleepers—well, perhaps not even a sleeper, as it doesn’t go on sale till this coming January. Extraordinarily fine. Look for a photo on the web—it’s unconventional, to be sure. A large slightly curved array (curved both horizontally and vertically) using bending wave drivers.  Sitting on top of massive woofers in a large cube. Very very natural sound. Good imaging, good soundstage. Good dynamic range, but not overdone. A true full-range speaker, that doesn’t overwhelm. Projected price around 20K. Dedicated crossovers with lots of adjustment, needs two power amps. I repeat: if ever a new company and a new product deserved to succeed, this is it!

HARBETH 40.2. OK, I admit it, still my favorite. One of the few in the small rooms that didn’t boom, but still produced strong, deep bass. Pure, natural, clear. Excellent timbre. Good imaging and soundstaging. Brought a smile to my face and tapping to my toe.

VIMBERG MINO. 29K. I believe this new speaker, or its bigger brother, has been commented on very positively from other previous shows, and I understand why. Big, full range, but not overblown sound, very natural, impressive presentation, sense of effortlessless.

DESTINATION AUDIO NIKA. Large speaker with horns and a massive cone woofer. The size overwhelmed the small room…..but the sound didn’t. It managed that trick of being delicate *and* full when required. Dynamic for sure. Ultimately I thought that the image projected was perhaps bigger than natural.

SONNER LEGATO UNUM. These tiny speakers with small, small, small mid-woofers seem to defy the laws of physics.  Using a 5.5” driver (it looks about 4”), every single visitor to the room was asking: where’s the sub-woofer?  *And* they could play loud, very loud. Ultimately I thought them slightly bright, slightly “hyped” overall and a little “larger than life”, though part of this could have been the volume they were being played at. Amazing engineering, to be sure.

 

Middle of the pack (for me).

What these speakers shared, was that they all struck me as highly competent speakers, doing everything right, but somehow they didn’t separate themselves from the pack. It’s as if there were a good, clean, modern sound that a number of manufacturers are converging on.

DYNAUDIO CONFIDENCE 20.

VIENNA ACOUSTICS BEETHOVEN CONCERT GRAND.

QUAD Z4. Nice presentation, but little except a keen price to differentiate it from many others.

DEVORE GIBBON SUPER 9. Their new model. Thunderous bass for the size. Good dynamics and full sound. But everything a bit homogenized, blended/mushed together, I think this affects timbre most of all, as well as individual instrument lines. Perhaps a by-product of being demonstrated as excessive volume (compression?).

TAD E1 [not sure of model name, floorstander]. Big sound, but overlarge images. What I call a “technicolor” speaker.

LEGACY SIGNATURE SE. After that less-than-rave review in Stereophile, I wasn’t expecting that much, so I was pleasantly surprised. Rich sound, good bass. Dynamic. Believable size of image. The more I listened, the more I became aware of a less-than-totally-natural timbre, and they also got a shade steely on classical violin at high volume. Definite bang for the buck, but probably not for me.

 

Disappointments. No disrespect to these makes/models, but on the day, in the room, listening to the tracks being played, I was severely underwhelmed. They have good reputations, so likely under different circumstances they would be much better.

SPATIAL AUDIO M3. I’d been really looking forward to hearing these. Very boomy in the room (because of open baffle??), and the sound overall seem very homogenized. Timbres not distinct, and everything kind of mushed together. Opposite of what I’ve been calling pure/clean sound.

WALSH OHM 5000-series. What can I say? As with Spatial, I’d been really curious to hear these, but I didn’t cotton to them at all. Perhaps it was the unconventional set-up (even for them), perhaps it was the room, perhaps it was the source material. Other people there seemed happy. But other than being overly loud, there was no imaging at all, the sound was homogenized, not in the least beguiling, and frankly it reminded me of a quality sound system being piped into a noisy upscale restaurant. As I say, *my ears* *on the day*, as I know there are many fans of this line of speakers.

 

Any requests of speakers for me to seek out?


128x128twoleftears
Thank you very much for your appreciation of our ZEUS speaker system. You clearly get what it is about... no showroom wow, just a very neutral, truly full range transparent speaker.  I was worried about showing such a large speaker and that people may be expecting a big "wow factor" and not appreciate the speaker just doing it's job and presenting as accurately as possible the signal source. So far most people did understand and were actually glad that the ZEUS don't have any exaggerated wow factor. I would have loved to have vinyl in the room but to be honest the Lampizator was way beyond my expectations and to my ears brought digital to a whole new level.
I would say this "transparency" I strive for in my designs was also shown with the other room which featured the Apollos. Yes this model has a very slight bit of "bloom" compared to the ZEUS but we had a different partner with a different take on how a system should sound. Also the Lampizator line is noted for it's ability to be a musical chameleon with a change of tubes and these speakers showed just how effective that can be. At the shop the tonality of the ZEUS, Apollo and Apollo11 are VERY close, but as we heard,  audio systems with their unique voicings can present very different results. I found it fascinating that some people loved the smaller room (Apollo) and did not care as much for the larger room and for others it was the opposite, go figure?
We will be showing the Apollos in the spring at Axpona with pretty much the same gear as we had in the ZEUS room, I hope some of you get to hear that as well.
btw, I always make a point of having "press sheets with all the gear and prices in my rooms and I am happy to give those to any who ask, plus we post a poster size version by the door so people can take a photo of it if they prefer.thanks,
Lou Hinkley
As the guy who ran the Lamm, Arion Aqua room the pot comment is just not right and unfounded.
Unfounded and slanderous comments hurt peoples business. As far as the ribbon speakers. There were no ribbon speakers. They are Hiel HVT drivers at 105db with DSP control.
A first showing as a prototype. We received numerous good sound comments and made sales to boot.
Not nice at all to hear bad rumors.
@pipedream My friend @mcslipp ’s comment about smelling weed was not intended to be slanderous or critical. The increasing legality of weed means you tend to smell it many places, even audio shows. No one is implying your room was some smoke-filled den of iniquity.

Also congratulations on your prototype speakers I hope you get them  sounding the way you want. My friend and I are not audio designers or reviewers. We wandered in because we’d never heard Lamm gear before. We didn’t really care for the speakers but that is just our personal, non-professional opinion. Please don’t take it personally.
 I just have to say that those "Prototype Speakers" mentioned above? They were far and away the most clear, full and real sounding that I heard at the show. The transients were pretty flawless. And I think the "Lamm" gear gave them wings. The room? Tiny and filled with people and still they impressed me. Impressed me about ten times as much as the "Gryphons", sad to say.
The room did have a smell...And what did I smell? Hee hee, about 30 people stuffed in a room meant for two. THAT, is what made it smell!

For prototype speakers, the IMC Audio model, to be introduced in January, took the cake and then ran away with it.  Remarkable.  I really hope they catch on.  Photo here.

https://audio-head.com/imc-audio-pass-labs-and-audience-caf-2018/

Anyone interested in the Apollo's will definitely want to check them out at Axpona with LTA amplification. I had the pleasure of running my Daedalus DA-1.1s with a single LTA Ultralinear and to my ear they were extremely well matched. The LTA equipment is super quiet, very clean yet organic sounding, with great flow, pace and timing. All of these attributes brought out the best qualities of my DA-1.1s, which I recently sold to move to the Apollo's. I should have the Apollo's soon and will post after they have broken in thoroughly, which should occur before Axpona. If you are curious about the Apollo/LTA combination stay tuned--I'll put something up this winter.
Any impressions of the Cube Audio room? I thought they sounded very dynamic and coherent, if not a tad bit forward. A similar presentation to the Charney single driver speakers.