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
I would have loved to transplant the 10k Ohm 5015 speakers from the big two level atrium outside the library room that they were tasked with and put them in a shootout in the fairly large but more conventional channel D room against the wonderful 30k+ Vandersteen 5s playing in there, especially off the same source gear.
@mapman 

More on the spatial room would be GREAT.

I love a huge soundstage (probably why I'm looking at an new pair of ohms, but also looking at spatial)

Would love your thoughts?  How was the bass (I dig a bit of bass)
Not a big room but the overall tonality top to bottom off not too many quality tube watts was IMHO spot on, in the same league as most anything I heard yesterday.  

Soundstage was very good as well.

A difference between these and similar Ohms would likely be the ability to present a coherent image from most any listening location in most any room.

So few affordable good quality speakers these days that use larger drivers. The open baffle design helps keep the bulk factor down. Chayton Shaw was also saying the open baffle design facilitates placememt either close to or further away from walls and indicated 3’ from rear wall is a common practice and that bass levels would still be good as was the case at CAF with the Spatial setup.

I asked Clayton Shaw about the efficiency which he stated as being in the mid nineties a good bit more efficient than many speakers doing similar things.
Spent most of the day there on Saturday and felt I could have used another to really see/hear everything of interest. VPI did a great job rolling out the 40th Anniversary Direct Drive table--they nailed the aesthetics on this one and the ergonomics as well. Very nicely done! I won't comment on the sound as the room was always very crowded and noisy so no real critical listening was possible during my visits. I also enjoyed the Charney Audio room--the new single driver speaker with the top of the line AER driver was very quick and nimble with good presence and surprising extension on top. I wish I had time to go back for more to hear it on different types of music, as the presentation may be a bit forward for my tastes but perhaps some more listening would have proven this untrue. I left all of the megabuck rooms feeling as though the sound was either not worth the coin or just plain mediocre. I agree with those above that the Daedalus Zeus offered an incredibly warm, spacious, detailed and highly musical sound. Certainly the best I heard over the course of the day (but I didn't hear all of the top tier) and that without spinning any vinyl (which would have really added to the presentation). I also spent considerable time in the room with the smaller Daedalus Apollo--disclaimer--I ordered a pair sight unheard and this was my first opportunity to hear them. Though the room was a bit cramped and there were clearly significant issues with the setup--a noticeable buzzing sound that appears to have been caused by the amp or preamp that masked detail and compromised other performance parameters--I heard great potential. So coherent, present, tonally immaculate, engaging. Can't wait to get them set up here with the LTA amplification that was driving the Zeus downstairs. Overall, great to see some good friends and listen to some different equipment.
I enjoyed the show.  It appeared to have approximately doubled in size since last year.  CAF is centered on American manufacturers and designers. Exhibitors are more relaxed and accessible than at larger venues. Interesting that the Canjam aspect receded this year. Keep it going!