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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
 
I didn't attend the show, but because of my recent experience looking for speakers, I agree that the entry level seems to be right below 30K. I sold my Sophia 3s and found a used pair of Sasha's. Unfortunately, as good as I thought Sophia 3s were, I submit Sasha's are the first really high-end speaker that I've ever owned and I've had Sophia 2s, 3s, Audio Physic Virgo 3s, Devore, Artemis, Mirage M1, and several more. I was just telling my wife it's sad that everything cost as much as it does. Sasha's are the first speaker I ever owned that sounds natural to me, especially with good recordings.

Rdavwhitaker

I couldn't disagree with you more! You said,"dumb enough, to buy 29K "entry level" speakers and 40k amplifiers will be left adrift." Some people have the money and 29k speakers and 40K amplifiers are nothing to them. Me I'm not rich, retired after 28 years in the Air Force and work everyday. I've been enjoying this hobby for 30 years. I've never bought new, usually purchased demo's and have slowly traded up over many years. I submit most audiophiles sacrifice other things to enjoy their hobby. I for one appreciate those who are rich enough to afford new expensive gear because it keeps the high-end going and all of us benefit.
213cobra
762 posts
 
I could write a *very* long post on this, but for now I won't. As with last year, once again this year I found a general rule that above about $12k, speakers (and amps) became less musically convincing the more expensive they are. Aside from knowing what my Zu Definition 4 sound like, the most convincing speakers were the single-driver Audience, the Lindemann standmount, Nola, Vivid, and the one 1%-er speaker I heard that passes my gate, the Magico Q3 (which I thought was much better than the S5, to the point of sounding like it came from a different -- and better -- designer). The KEF Blade has potential, but it was insane to mate them to Chord amplification -- a sure way to strip them of tone.

There were many musically acceptable imitative speakers still short of worth buying at all prices. Then, too, many built for ego rather than sound. If I never hear another Focal, Wilson, Scaena, McIntosh or Vandersteen speaker (among other offenders), I'll be better off having been spared.

Phil
smoothjazz
24 posts
 
I liked the Venture speakers very much- probably best of show for me. They were also amongst the largest speakers at the show-in the largest room. Not sure which model they were, but their top of the line speaker, and over 100K.
I was very intrigued to see the Rockports-my first experience with them. I agree that the dealer was very professional, and a nice guy too. He mentioned that the speakers were still very new-only two weeks old, and still breaking in.
Also mentioned that they sounded much better by Saturday, compared to the day before. While they had a beautiful mid-range, they seemed somewhat reserved or held back. Maybe they needed more break-in, along with the associated gear. I will need to hear them again to make any judgement.
ackman00
67 posts
 
I also found the Rockport Avior with top end BAT gear very enjoyable (I spent time there on two seperate days and was very impressed). I also thought the new (smaller) TAD floorstand speakers (called Evolution Ones?) that were set up on Friday to be excellent (they were about $27k). The big TAD speakers I thought were "Best of Show" but a lot of that may have been due to the quality of the music the designer brought with him. I was impressed with everything he played last year and he may have even topped himself this year - extremely well done and he was very approachable and amenable to playing music attendees brought with them. The new small Sony AR-2s I thought also sounded good even in the cavernous room they were set up in. I also spent time listening to the Wilson Sasha, the KEF Blade and the new Magico speaker (Q3?) which was paired with ultra high end Solution electronics and top of the line Synergistic Research cabling. All in all, it was an excellent show.
I don't know if $29k is the new $10k, but there are an awful lot of speakers in that price range (besides some of the above, there are also the Audio Physics Aventera, the Tidal Piano, Aearial 20T V2, Sony AR1, Marten Byrd, and Focal (Scala Utopia?) among others. If you have that type of budget, you could go crazy trying to figure out which is best for you.
mapman's avatar
mapman
15,679 posts
 
"Many vendors were focusing on the $25-32k range"

Can a show targeting consumers in Newport Beach/Orange COunty California possibly be regarded as indicative of the world in general? No doubt this show would be targeting the high concentration of ultra rich in that area accordingly.

Obviously, any viable product in that price range should perform exceptionally. Personal taste becomes the main discriminating factor. Also room size. You need bigger more expensive speakers and amps to listen loud and lifelike in larger rooms, but for most, a smaller less expensive system can do exceptionally well, in many cases as good or better than larger or more expensive gear.

OF course, if one is continually looking to do better, the tendency will be to spend more over time I suspect. But I often wonder if a compare between what one has after years and many more $$$S on the constant upgrade path could be made with what they had a few years back, how much better would the latest and greatest really be?

What I find works for me is to listen to as much live music and the best reference systems as I can. Then do what is needed to my gear to attempt to match. Once I get to the point where what I hear at home does not leave me wanting further, based on the reference sounds I have heard, I mostly stop or certainly slow down and think a lot before changing anything.
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