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

@mikeel... Yes, another plus with Salk is that he's open to customizing individual speakers for customers.  Sometimes these turn out so well, he adds them to his line-up, leading to the proliferation of models.

Ironic too that I was asking him pretty much the reverse, about the possibility of putting the BEAT Audio Technology midrange and a soft dome tweeter into the Song3 Encore cabinet.  That 9" woofer is very tempting...

This is Steve from Sound Insight
I just wanted to personally thank everybody who visited our room at CAF to audition the GT Audioworks speakers With associated gear from Pass labs, VuJade dac, Triode Wire Labs and Sempersonus turntable.
 Myles Astor from Audionirvana  selected our room as one of the best sounds at the show.
I haven't heard the Legacy Focus SE, but know the problem I had for years with the original Focus speakers.  There was insufficient damping material (dacron stuffing) behind the twin mid-ranges.  Once I stuffed them nearly full, leaving a space for air/resonance, the shrill violins and horns became as beautiful as a Harbeth.  Voices lost their edge and became mellifluous.  Just wonderful.  Which is one reason i dislike so many speakers/rooms at shows.  Bad music, played too loud in bad acoustic rooms.  I hope someone tries the cheap fix for a Focus SE if that's all it needs.  It would be a bargain great speaker then.
 Reading through the posts its funny how we all hear speakers differently. One thing I believe everyone has agreed on was the Charney speakers. Wow they were just so good. Going to be doing some major home remodeling next year and they will look incredible in my living room. I do a lot of work in the Somerset area and going to stop by for some more listening time. 
 As for the Legacy’s I’ve been listening to them for quite some time at two different dealers and at CAF as well. I didnt notice any shrillness when listening to the Signatures and actually just brought home a pair today. I sold my Kef Ref 3’s which killed my ears and so far I’ve played everything that was unplayable on the Kefs and the Legacy’s are handling them beautifully. First time in 10 months(thats how long I had the Kefs) I’ve been able to crank up Ted Nugents Cat Scratch Fever without looking for cover...Lol. 

 
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.