AXPONA Impressions

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by avanti1960, Apr 22, 2017.

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  1. Joe Spivey

    Joe Spivey Forum Resident

    They are, I asked :tiphat:
     
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  2. vinylbuff

    vinylbuff Forum Resident

    Location:
    North Port Florida
    It's because the dogs were not mirrored, they're both looking the same way........ (that has to be the reason..:shrug:)
     
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  3. snorker

    snorker Big Daddy

    Those Harbeths appear to be the 40th Anniversary models. I wonder if they sound any different than regular SHL5+.
     
  4. wgb113

    wgb113 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chester County, PA
    Any talks of street pricing on the GR?
     
  5. rischa

    rischa Forum Resident

    Location:
    Mt. Horeb, WI
    Yes--$1699. Not bad.
     
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  6. avanti1960

    avanti1960 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Chicago metro, USA
    Vinnie mentioned that the 40th anniversary upgrades included capacitor parts and binding posts. They sounded a little bassier than usual.
     
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  7. Slippers-on

    Slippers-on Forum Resident

    Location:
    St.Louis Mo.
    Did you get a chance to hear that 9.3
     
  8. Benzion

    Benzion "Cogito, ergo sum" Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brooklyn, NY
    I was told $2K by an authorized retailer. Let's wait and see. Supposed to start shipping in June.
     
  9. rischa

    rischa Forum Resident

    Location:
    Mt. Horeb, WI
    The room was hosted by a Chicago area authorized dealer as well as a long time Panasonic rep. They said 1700 repeatedly-- I was in the room for quite a while. In fact the rep even made a point of saying how proud Technics was that they bettered the initial estimate of $2000.
     
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  10. Benzion

    Benzion "Cogito, ergo sum" Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brooklyn, NY
    Great! What else can I say? Let's just get the tables already, not quotes...
     
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  11. Manimal

    Manimal Forum Resident

    Location:
    Southern US
    I thought the same thing about their looks before reading your post, maybe the would look better behind a thin curtain in a home theater setup:)
     
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  12. -=Rudy=-

    -=Rudy=- ♪♫♪♫♫♪♪♫♪♪ Staff

    Location:
    US
    Quick note: AXPONA will be at the Renaissance Hotel in Schaumburg next year. The show added 40+ new exhibitors this year, and had to turn many others away. It is nice to see this show expanding, what with the CES show drying up, and RMAF apparently falling out of favor due to the expense of exhibiting at that show.

    To respond to an earlier post, this is the "flower power" Volya:

    IMG_20170422_163527.jpg

    I can't say the others that were playing impressed me much, but they sounded like they would be a great "punchy" rock 'n' roll speaker. (Since I rarely do rock anymore, it's a moot point. ;) )

    Overall I had a good two days at the show. A couple of notes...

    First, the new ELAC was slightly disappointing, compared to the UB5s we heard last year. It could also have been the room, or the fact that it was so crowded most of the time that I had to sit off to the side. I hope to hear them under better conditions next year.

    A newcomer I saw was Soltanus Acoustics, a manufacturer of electrostatic panels, out of Serbia no less. They were demonstrating the full-range flat panels, no crossover, extending down to 40Hz. I have to say that in my couple of visits, they did not exhibit as much of the "beaming" that other flat panel stats are known for. I was able to sit in a couple of different seats and still get a nice image.

    The Joseph Audio room mentioned above IMHO had a nice sound, maybe tending a little towards the bright. But, I did find the reels to sound just fine in that room. The deck was a Technics RS-1500, feeding the heads directly into a Doshi tube head-amp (bypassing all of the Technics audio electronics). Many of the rooms with the reel decks were playing the same sampler reel from Analogue Productions.

    The visit to the Music Direct/MoFi room was informative. We heard test pressings from a few upcoming MoFi titles, including the Elvis Costello/Burt Bacharach Painted From Memory, and the forthcoming One-Step pressing of the Bill Evans Sunday at the Village Vanguard. According to MoFi, Waltz for Debby was too damaged to make a good One-Step pressing from. First announced at the show were the next two One-Step titles: Simon & Garfunkel's Bridge over Troubled Water, and Donald Fagen's The Nightfly.

    I also got to see the Shinola/VPI Runwell turntable and the newly reissued Elac Miracord. They were not hooked up, so, no clue on how they sounded.
     
  13. snorker

    snorker Big Daddy

    Thanks for reporting. Pretty good selections. I'd be interested in those.
     
  14. -=Rudy=-

    -=Rudy=- ♪♫♪♫♫♪♪♫♪♪ Staff

    Location:
    US
    One of the most innovative new products of the show had to be the optical cartridge from DS Audio. First thing I should say is that it tracks effortlessly, due to very low moving mass. It was one of the cleanest sounding vinyl systems I heard at the entire show (although in my opinion, the other equipment kind of came across as being a bit too bright for my taste).

    IMG_20170421_142230.jpg

    Yes, that is a purple light on the cartridge. The cartridge has a stylus and cantilever as any other cartridge does, but it does not use moving magnets, coils or iron. Instead it uses an LED light source, a photosensor, and a "shutter" of sorts that is attached to the cantilever which varies the light exposed to the photosensor. This creates the music signal. The cart requires it own outboard phono stage, which also powers the LED and provides a custom RIAA equalization. I don't quite recall the cost, but the entry level setup in another room sold for $5,000. The turntable here is a Clearaudio.

    Another favorite room of mine featured Conrad-Johnson electronics, Vandersteen Treo speakers and 2WQ subs, and the new Oppo Sonica DAC which sounded quite good. (The Sonica DAC made an appearance in other rooms, but modified by Modwright--cost is $2,495 for that version.) C-J was introducing their new Classic Sixty Two SE power amp here, this example being one of the first ones built. The preamp was the ET5.

    There were other nice rooms, but another favorite I went back to was the room featuring the Constellation electronics and the Martin Logan Renaissance ESL 15a. This combination sounded fantastic, especially since the source was the newer Continuum Obsidian turntable with the Viper tonearm.
    IMG_20170422_104425-01.jpeg

    A bit of an unfortunate back story on the Martin Logans, however. Last year, they introduced the Renaissance, and a dealer at AXPONA (who shall not be named) demonstrated them with the large McIntosh monoblocks and source electronics. They sounded good...but... Anyway, this same dealer had the Martin Logan flagship, the Neolith (yes, I was drooling...briefly). I found that the Neoliths had the same sonic flaws that I remember hearing in the Renaissance last year. The highs were not really that expansive (rather dulled, in fact), and the overall presentation was harsh.

    Still following along?

    So after hearing the Neolith, I later found the room with the Renaissance, but powered by the Constellation electronics I mentioned earlier. This is how I remember ML's other speakers sounding. So much better balanced. No glare whatsoever. Highs that actually sounded like music, and not a recording. Beautiful soundstage. Plenty of dynamics, without hitting us over the head with them (more on this point).

    My conclusion is that this obscenely expensive McIntosh system just fails to deliver the goods. I am not, and never was, much of a McIntosh fan, and this pretty much confirmed my feelings. (Although I have yet to hear a fully tubed McIntosh system...but nobody could pay me to listen to one of their solid state products.) What also made this demo worse was the fact that when I walked into the room, the dealer was blaring "The Great Gates of Kiev" at an unrealistically high level. Uncomfortably, painfully loud. OK, we get it. They play loud. Really loud. Like really really loud. :rolleyes: Not only that, aside from maybe one or two tracks, they had some of the worst demo music at the show...and all of it from the same limited selection they played last year.

    I disliked that demo enough that I complained to Martin Logan about it. They have made note of it. ;) But ultimately that demo was a huge disappointment for something I've waited a few years to hear...

    Aside from that and a couple of other minor disappointments, for the most part I found a lot to like in most of the rooms. Still can't afford the systems which cost more than the house. But I guess that's part of the fun of these shows. :)
     
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  15. Benzion

    Benzion "Cogito, ergo sum" Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brooklyn, NY
    I didn't like Martin Logan's room sound this past November in NYC either. It sounded... sterile, for lack of a better word, soul-less.
     
  16. wgb113

    wgb113 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chester County, PA
    Really torn on whether I should return my TT and wait for the Technics 1210GR. My initial contact with a dealer said about 4-6 weeks ago said that street price was going to be $2K putting it out of my price range when adding a decent cart. A street price of $1600-$1700 is perfect though and at that price I think I'd rather have it than the Clearaudio Concept Wood that I just bought.
     
  17. SandAndGlass

    SandAndGlass Twilight Forum Resident

    I can't help thinking that the speakers are right, but, somehow, they failed in their execution.

    These are not huge boxes but small horn loaded bass reflex cabinets, that don't seem to be badly designed. But, I was not there, so I cannot comment on the overall sound of the cabinets. They should sound a certain way, but maybe they screwed it up. I personally do not have this feeling.

    From what you say, and I value your opinion, They screwed the pooch! How and why, I don't know.

    There is no logical reason why these cabinets, cannot produce clean, articulate bass. These little cabinets are not too large for the room. They should be ruling the room with authority. Why they are not, would be a mystery to me.
     
  18. snorker

    snorker Big Daddy

    Perhaps...though I listened to the 1200G and couldn't decide whether there was enough of an improvement to trade-in my Concept Wood for that one. I'm sure it's a great 'table, but there may not be a sonic improvement. May be more of a lateral move.
     
  19. avanti1960

    avanti1960 Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Chicago metro, USA
    Could be any number of reasons I guess and they may well sound awesome in a different room with different supporting hardware.
    I just try to honestly report what I hear without the sugar coating that the mainstream media outlets need to do.
    When your goal is to wow the crowds all you get is one chance and your room / system / demo material all need to be optimized. This one wasn't.
     
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  20. SandAndGlass

    SandAndGlass Twilight Forum Resident

    I totally agree with you and as I indicated, I do respect your honest opinions.

    While I can't tell what these speakers sound like, I have an idea, due to their apparent design, what they should sound like. Or, better said, what I would hope that they would sound like!

    When people like yourself, walk away, shaking their heads, someone in charge is just not getting it!

    Why spend the money to "WOW" customers, only to put out a sub par product?

    Makes no sense to me either.

    I would rather read comments from a neutral party, such as yourself, than from biased reviewer's who receive paid advertising for the products that they review.

    Fresh, honest opinions, as always welcome by me.

    Do you recall the manufacture of these speakers or their pricing?

    Just curious?

    Those Volya speakers from Germany are one of the oddest looking speakers, I have seen. They look like something that I would have, that is, if I win the lottery.

    I did check out their web site. Very impressive!

    Their flower power speakers are unique also. They somewhat remind me of the speaker that looks like a double bass, can't think of the name, off the top of my head.
     
    Last edited: Apr 30, 2017
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  21. -=Rudy=-

    -=Rudy=- ♪♫♪♫♫♪♪♫♪♪ Staff

    Location:
    US
    As much as I like planars, and MLs in particular (refurbing an older model right now, actually), they are sensitive to any upstream equipment. I will admit I'm not a big fan of McIntosh, but I felt their setup in the room with the Neoliths (and the Renaissance) did not do them justice at all. Not soulless, really, but just harsh and kind of dulled. No doubt I've heard better setups from McIntosh as well (and I'm certain a fully tubed system would have helped as well...or maybe a different digital source). Yet the Constellation electronics with the ML Renaissance pair and the Obsidian turntable was everything I expected them to sound like.

    This just demonstrates how important synergy is to a complete system. :)
     
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  22. -=Rudy=-

    -=Rudy=- ♪♫♪♫♫♪♪♫♪♪ Staff

    Location:
    US
    Serious question, as I'm working on something...

    At AXPONA or other shows, could anyone here name maybe one or two songs/artists that were overplayed as demo music? I have commented elsewhere that at times, the demo music would drive me out of the room. In my case, if I never heard that "No respite, no refuge, no sanctuary" song ever again in my life, it would still be too soon. ;)

    I realize at AXPONA this year that the Analogue Productions sampler reel was in heavy rotation in some rooms, so I'm disqualifying that due to it only having a handful of tracks on it. Even there, "Scheherezade" was a little overplayed.
     
  23. bluemooze

    bluemooze Senior Member

    Location:
    Frenchtown NJ USA
    A Stereophile article states "The SU-G700 is an all-digital amplifier." Does this mean it converts all inputs to digital? Probably a dumb question - sorry.
     
  24. Rich C

    Rich C Forum Resident

    Location:
    Northbrook, IL
    Yes. At Axpona two years ago it seemed like everyone was playing Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley and Take Five by Brubeck.
     
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  25. -=Rudy=-

    -=Rudy=- ♪♫♪♫♫♪♪♫♪♪ Staff

    Location:
    US
    :thumbsup:

    Some have said in the past that a few female vocalists like Diana Krall were overplayed, but I only heard her in one room this year...and last year, for that matter.

    There was some version of "Roxanne" (originally by The Police) sung by a female vocalist that seemed to annoy a few friends of mine who attended, but we could not figure out who performs it, as there are a few covers of it.
     
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