Capitol Audio Fest Speakers?

I was impressed with two speakers at the extreme ends of the price range. At $500 for a very small bookshelf (or large desktop) speaker, the Vanatoos sounded quite good. For this price, the buy gets a built-in amplifier and DAC; just plug it into your computer. It may not be the last word in bass response and detail retrieval, but, it was fundamentally musical sounding.

At the other extreme, pricewise ($80k was the quoted price), I was impressed with the Surreal Sound system. They were displaying in a very large conference room, with 35 watt Atmasphere amps for power (the woofers are powered by an active amplifier). The midrange/treble (133 hz and upward) was provided by a single driver--a Lowther driver modified by Dave Slagle with a fieldcoil electromagnet instead of conventional magnet structure. I have heard this Lowther driver before and found it, like its regular Lowther brethren, to be too "peaky" and uneven in the uppermidrange and treble. In this particular Surreal Sound implementation (very thick wooden enclosure with a rounded interior chamber) and particular tuning of the system, the peakiness has been substantially tamed. The astonishing speed, liveliness and clarity of this driver was retained while most of its objectionable qualities (to me) were substantially ameliorated. I was equally impressed with the Surreal Sound's bass response. An earlier iteration of this speaker had a BIG and impactful bass response, but, this version is substantially improved in that the bass is better integrated and more naturally "tunefull" rather than just impressing the listener with gross impact. The whole sonic picture from top to bottom is much more complete and natural. While a version of this system without the extra subwoofers used at the show would be quite compact and reasonably nice looking, the price quoted ($60,000 without the extra subwoofers) seems a bit high for a company without a major reputation (to be clear, soundwise, it impressed me much more than other ultra expensive systems in terms of sonics). As I stated above, Surreal Sound has substantially tamed the peaky Lowther driver, but, to my ears, there is still some peaky quality to the sound. I understand that the system has a LOT of tuning capability--changes in subwoofer settings and changes in voltage to the fieldcoil electromagnets--so I plan to hear it in a none show setting where these controls can be manipulated.

I also enjoyed the sound from Deja Vu Audio's "vintage" system. This system employed a big bass reflex box housing an 18" JBL woofers and a small dome tweeter. Sitting on top was a Western Electric 713b midrange driver. This was an extremely musical sounding system--warm, harmonically full, and extremely good at dynamics at lower levels. This is, to me, the kind of system "mature" listeners will fall in love with--by that I mean listeners who have grown tired of "impressive" speakers that deliver wholluping bass and extreme detail--and are looking for something that is musically communicative. My only issue with this, and many other vintage systems, has to do with bass response which is a bit too inarticulate and a bit "phasey" sounding for my taste. Still, a terrific sounding system. (Sort of as a disclaimer, I own a system with a Western Electric 713b midrange bought from Deja Vu and whole lot of other gear bought from them).

I too was impressed with the Surreal Sound speakers and the output in such a large space. Not hard on the eyes either.

The Tron preamps and Ortofon Windfel cartridge was probably my favorite setup. They had some vintage first pressings and some great mono selections also. Being an analog fan I thought they had some of the best sound at the show.

Although, not a huge fan of MBL it was a treat hearing Led Zeppelin on tape at concert levels.

Pops,

At home I listen primarily to digitally sourced material from a music server. I listen to my vinyl rig only where I don't have something on my server (chalk it up to extreme laziness). But, I was struck at this show at how much better vinyl sourced material sounded, particularly where a sort of comparison could be made because the setup included both analogue and digital source components. Good rooms sounded good with both types of sources, but, there was a bit more "life" with records, compared to digital sources. In the Surreal Sound setup, you could easily hear the difference, with vinyl sounding particularly good, some hi-rez digital also sounding very good, and CD or CD resolution material sounding good but "missing" something in direct comparison.

I also liked the Tron gear and vinyl only setup in the Highwater room. The sound was quite musical and engaging. I should have mentioned the Horning speakers in that setup as being among the better speakers. The system had the kind of dynamics and "speed" that I like, although it was a bit more strident and peaky in the upper treble than the Surreal Sound speakers (smaller room with speakers closer to the listener might account for this). Still, this was an enjoyable system.

I have heard the MBL speakers sound very good at times, and they were pretty good at the show. Their strong suit is imaging (very expansive soundstage without sacrificing specificity of placement of instruments), incredible stability of imaging and consistency of tonal balance over a WIDE listeing area (good imaging even sitting outside of the right or left speaker), and ability to play at high volume. Bass in the MBL room was a touch one-note boomy (I have noticed that this speaker is hard to get the bass to sound right, but, I know it is possible because I've heard it sound better). For my particular taste and requirements (particularly the ability to maintain "liveliness" at low volume levels) the Surreal Sound and Deja Vu vintage system is more to my taste but I can easily see someone with different priorities thinking this was the best system at the show.

Wow do opinions vary. I was totally unimpressed by the Tidals. Jimmy Hendrix would sound smooth and mellow through them. I'd rather buy a new house with the money.
On the first floor, I really liked the Daedalus speakers in the Modwright room. Although without the grills they are a bit homely.
I do agree with Larry that that Altec horns were impressive. I might call these the homliest speakers at the show but also tremendous sounding.
Many of the rooms suffered from size issues. An example is using unbelievably restored Apogees for near-field listening. Great sound stuffed into a closet sized room.
For a reality check, there was a room upstairs running Harbeth 30.1's that I could easily picture in my home.

I'm with you Elevick regarding the Tidals, just too smooth and hifi sounding to me. I am starting to wonder if big speakers do it for me. The monitors in several rooms were very impressive.

Larryi agreed, I thought all the vinyl setups sounded great and IMHO outperformed digital. I can spot digital a mile away! I also heard the same thing in the MBL room with regards to bass. He had Led Zepp II cranked! It was so impressive for a song or 2 and then the shortcomings appeared, no range in the bass but Jimmy Page in particular sounded like he was playing live in a jazz club - impressive.

Probably the best learning for me at the show was mono vinyl in the Highwater room. I never listen to mono and do not own a mono cartridge or phono preamp. But it sure sounds different than stereo, more realistic tone and at least with what I heard.

I thought the Soundsmith room was excellent also, he also had monitors that sounded great and put some major tone out! Can't remember the brand????

One thing maybe someone can help me understand. Some of the vinyl for sale was really expensive, like $50 and up.