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A few impressions from the CES/THE Shows

I went with a friend looking for speakers to replace his Beveridges; they currently operate but he feels one amp is dying (again) and that it’s time. Unfortunately, he STILL hasn’t found a speaker to love. He’s pointed toward high-efficiency designs based on so-called full-range drivers, so we looked at many of them in 2-and-two-half days. We simply didn’t bother listening to MOST speakers as they weren’t interesting.

My friend’s and my taste in speaker voicing is VERY similar and we agreed overall about every system we heard. Both of us need MORE than a ‘neutral’ amount of energy in the orchestra’s power region–those 3 or so octaves from c. 100 to 800Hz–and we both want LESS treble energy than ‘flat’. We both love the spaciousness of dipoles but heard few to listen to.

First--the WORST sound, BY FAR, was the from the Wisdom M-75, priced at $55K/pair. It had so little energy in the power region, it wasn’t ‘thin’, it was clangy. Most disappointing for Dean was the Rethm, which wounded VERY think and bright, even with the horn extenders.

POSSIBLY the combined shows' best sound was produced by a prototype system by Cogent. It’s a 2-way system driven by 2 field-coil-powered compression drivers, horn-loaded of course, plus a monstrous mono-15"-horn-loaded subwoofer, all of which might retail in the $40-thousands. The horns were rectangular and built of birch plywood, painted, and had significant resonances, but both of us felt this system reproduced the sound of the orchestra VERY convincingly. The ‘possibly’ above is because they were in a much-too-small room. WAY over 100dB sensitivity. Maybe next year...

Overall, probably the best sound we heard was from the German-made $6500/pair Audio Physic Scorpio. It’s a rather-conventional-looking back-tilting, 4'-high floorstander that uses one dome tweeter and 2 MRs on the front panel and 4 7" woofers mounted 2 on each side and driven as bipoles. They had plenty of energy in the power region and great bass, extended and well defined. GORGEOUS veneers! Dean felt they were not quite as transparent as he would like; I disagreed, but he’s the GEA, not me.

The Vandersteen Quattros sounded very nice, neutral, spacious, etc., but were too ‘polite’ in the power region and hence uninvolving for both of us. Same for the Gallo Reference 3.1s, which produced probably the biggest and best soundstage of the show in a relatively HUGE room. Those little things were probably 10' from each sidewall.

In substantial contrast to their sound in Denver last September at RMAF, the Zus sounded QUITE good, especially the $2800/pair Druids with the $3K/pair ‘Method’ powered subwoofers. They were too bright for us but sounded VERY fine otherwise. I believe they’re Dean’s current favorites.

One thought both of us had--most of the speaker designers can’t be lovers of classical music--else they wouldn’t be designing speakers that sound, in the treble, little like real orchestras playing in real space. Oh well...
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128x128jeffreybehr
bucaramanga
6 posts
 
IMHO, the best sound was in the Cerious Technologies
suite at the St. Tropez. Bob Grost's Two/Bass combo
was simply outstanding. My best-in-show award.

I also liked the Ars Aures speakers. Nice sound and
gorgeous fit-and-finish. Italian made.

The best-bang-for-your-buck award went to Tonian Labs.
The TL-D1 delivered jaw-dropping sound for $1500/pair.

Totem also had a good room. Love the sound, look and
footprint of Vince's speakers.

Gear-wise, I was impressed with the entire Bel Canto
line (Mike McCormick was very hospitable/knowledgable)
and the new Boulder 850 monoblocks.
rumney510
39 posts
 
I also had a great time at the show. Got to hear wonderful equipment.

My most significant observation was regarding the Von Schweikert VR9..this was my first time hearing them. What struck me was how similar they were to the Wilson MAX. I think they were modelled on the Wilson sound (good idea considering Wilson's success). It would have been nice to be able to do a direct comparison with the same amplifeirs driving both. I found the VR9 to have a softer top end and more bass (if thats possible) than the Wilson. Fantastic rock and pop speaker.

great show !
Rumney
twilo
357 posts
 
Anyone hear the new TAD or Focus Speakers.
Here's pics of them..

http://www.shows.soundstagelive.com/shows/ces2006/showstoppers1.shtml

http://www.shows.soundstagelive.com/shows/ces2006/standout_focus.shtml
tbg
5,263 posts
 
Twilo, I saw the TADs but given the sound and my previous experiences with the Model Ones, I did not bother to go into the room. I wish they had not abandoned high efficiency designs.
brainwater
520 posts
 
Twilo , I spent many listening sessions in both rooms actually as i found the speakers amazing . The TAD room was large and well appointed with plants and soft lighting. Amplification was all top tier Pass , 4 monoblocs if i remember correctly. The sound was beautiful and delicate on soft passages without losing frequeancy response coherency and explosive on dynamic material without any hint of compression . I was blown away. Fit and finish was stellar. The Focus room , I forgot to mention in my above post re the show was another winner in my book. Large enclosures that dissappeared quite easily. They repeated a James Taylor disc that was rich in harmonics and transparent to boot. I came back 3 or 4 times over a 5 day period to hear them . It was a room that never overplayed nor misunderstiood the speakers attributes. Like the TAD , they too disappeared easily and left you falling deep into the music. It was sort of strange to me . I kept catching myself sitting through 3 or 4 songs at a time and losing track of the time I was occupying the center chair. Hope this helps.
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