Best Speakers at RMAF 2011...?

Transaudio (Brad),
I agree. One of the things that amazed me at RMAF 2011 was that several manufacturers still seemed quite oblivious to the importance of setup. One of the clear audiophile sins seemed to be placing very large speakers in very small rooms, without any form of room treatments. This was even quite common among experienced manufacturers, who've been to dozens of shows over the years.

I heard a few speakers, which normally sound great, but were hampered by very bad rooms or setups. I normally like the Thiel 3.7's. However, they sounded rather "whitish" or slightly harsh in the high frequency range at RMAF.

On the other hand, I'm thankful that finally more of the exhibitor rooms have realized that "louder" is not necessarily better. Perhaps that and the combination of high resolution audio kept my ears from bleeding by the end of the show...!

Pefstratiou,

Just curious, what did you dislike in regards to the Avalon Ideas...? Perhaps too forward or...? I'm always curious about what people listen for, as tastes vary. I thought they sounded very dynamic. On the other hand, I'm not sure if they'd be forgiving of bad recordings.

Anybody hear any killer monitor sub-woofer combinations?

Did anyone hear the Horning speakers? What were your impressions?

((I had heard that the midrange driver on the 2 is now the same as the 5 but this is the first I've heard that the tweeter is also the same. So, does this mean the 2,3, Treo, Quatro, and 5 all share the same tweeter and midrange?))
Yes they are based on the same Midrange and tweeter
with appropriate mods for each model.

The best sounding speakers I heard at RMAF were the Acapella High Violoncello II speakers, which were $83k if I recall correctly. The best reasonably priced speakers were the Emerald Physics CS3 at $80k less. I ended up coming home with a pair of Minuet Supremes and an order for a pair of Clue monitors.

Besides stuff already mentioned, I liked the Vaughns a lot. Emerald Physics, Rethm and Coincidents.