2. speakers
  3. 1339263716

Thoughts from THE Show, is $29k the new $10k?

Had another enjoyabe brief one day visit to THE Show, Newport Beach last weekend. Great to see so many fellow hobbiests, and great gear. Went in search of speakers; here is a brief and disjointed summary of my impressions:
Many vendors were focusing on the $25-32k range; with most for sale around $29k as an entry point to 'quality'.
Rockport showed their new entry, $29k speaker in the Atrium. Had great balance; was warm, detailed, and engaging. First show presence for dealer; nice guy. My first experience with Rockport; was very impressed.
Eficion: at the Hilton; wow; for $16k I think it gives Wilson a run for its money with the Sophia; its AMT ribbon tweeter had great crystal highs, and its large woofer filled the room with satisfying bass, I enjoyed it.
BMC: nice gear; their $32k speakers had dipole arrangement; with both front and rear firing speakers; very engaging, huge sound stage, and great low end response. Paired up nicely with their amp/dac
YG: brought my own CD; so I was familiar with what was possible; initialy liked their sound;but in the end found it a bit 'dry', and brittle; and not totally enjoyable, this was at at least three different rooms showing their speakers.
Wilson Shasha's in the Brooks-Barden room; always a treat; enjoyed their room treatments, and professionalism, nice analog set up. Warm, detailed, lovely, and engaging.
Ventures: wow, very expensive; and very large...but totally engaging; great integration, warm, detailed, expansive sound stage, great bass, huge open subtle nuance on female voices...
Ayon: liked their Lumen White's better last year, than their own speaker line this year, but great amps and dac.
Found the KEF blades a bit disappointing, surprised at how large they are in person.
Enjoyed the TAD speakers again this year, well balanced, integrated very well.
There was a 'curved' line array speaker; I forget its name that also was quite good, interesting design, but filled the room with great sound; no glare.
The Veloce gear, with its battery source was extremely 'quiet' and detailed, and enjoyable.
Surprised how many room utilized the Synergistic Research ART treatments...hard to tell how it improved things; but can't argue with the results.
Too much to see and listen to in one brief day. Curious to hear from other members their take....I know you don't need to spend so much to get quality sound, but so many vendors showing off their $29k speakers made me want to chuckle; and take out a home loan...also thought the digital and computer audio was getting very close now to the analog rigs.
Love having this showcase in our backyard on the west coast; and will contiue to support and attend. Kudos to Bob Levi; and his team at LA/OC audio society; another great job; and Tierney Sutton singing on Friday night was an extra special treat.
mribob
ricred1
1,412 posts
 
Martin Logan Statements with big Krells is one of the best systems I've ever heard.
david12
1,398 posts
 
As far as show sound is concerned, I helped out at a show last year, by lending my speakers for the duration of a show. They were built in the US, the show was in England, so it was much easier and cheaper to use mine. I watched the set up, which was scrupulous and detailed, for hours and the sound next day was pretty good. The room was an insoluble problem though, The ceiling in particular, had loose foam tiles sitting in multiple square metal brackets. You could see them jumping about with low frequency sound, nothing you can do about that.

The basic problem many manufacturers seem to make, is to bring their top of the range, full range speakers, to use in a small hotel room. It just is'nt going to work. Why don't they bring smaller floorstanders or monitors? I am sure that is why cheaper systems often sound better at shows, than the megabucks ones
honeybee2012
106 posts
 
Anyone over 50 years of age can not tell the difference between $10K and $100K of speaker. It is a fact of aging. Sorry. Save your money, buy something you like at a reasonable price. Give the other $90K to the homeless.
jdoris
852 posts
 
Anyone over 50 years of age can not tell the difference between $10K and $100K of speaker. It is a fact of aging.

This is surprising. My impression is that many people over fifty claim to be able to detect differences between speakers much closer in price (say Bose vs. Magnepan). I'd been inclined to believe them, but maybe I shouldn't have. Is the 90k difference undetectable even when it goes to radically different implementation (say horns v. planars)?

John
polk432
1,116 posts
 
Bad hearing? The sky is the limit when it comes to cost, and the speaker companies know that most Americans don't care how much something costs, just how much the monthly payments are. Maybe 90K speakers do sound better than 10K speakers, but they should. There's always the chance they might not. Go ahead, spend 90K, you'll thank me now, and kick yourself later. But I'll still have good sounding speakers and my money.
More to discover