T.H.E. Show - Newport Beach 2015, high-end stereo show, on right now!

I concur with Steve's comfy shoe recommendation. My Merrill's seem to be holding up quite well, and I've been walking over a mile each morning before the show even starts.

OK, here's some pics. These show Ayon Audio gear with some horn speakers with a pair of subwoofers adding low end support. The drum track I heard was certainly dynamic.

 

The Concert Fidelity room was interesting. Dig the fancy room treatments.

The Diasoul loudspeakers threw one hell of a soundstage, but they became a bit forward sounding when things got loud. I wasn't familiar with the recording, so that may have been a cause. Still, this was a fun room.

 

Here we have Evolution Acoustics loudspeakers paired with darTZeel electronics.



And a close up of that rack.

 

The Triangle Art room. I believe the amps are made by Triode Corporation, and the speakers by Acapella Audio Arts.

 

And speaking of Acapella Audio Arts, here's their room just down the hall from the Triangle room. I believe the electronics are by LaMusika.

 

Here's the Esoteric/Cabasse room. It sounded quite nice until I had them play a Patricia Barber track. Then the large size/acoustic displacement of those big Cabasse spheres overloaded the tiny room in which they were squeezed. I've heard these Cabasse speakers in larger spaces, and I know they are excellent. Still, they (and several other exhibitors) should have been a bit more conservative when choosing which loudspeakers to bring to T.H.E. Show. Sometimes the big guns just aren't needed.

As for the Esoteric gear, wow! Great sound, and they are even more gorgeous in person.

 

OK McIntosh fans, prepare to drool.

Yes, those are four 1.2 kilowatt mono blocks set up in bi-amp mode to power…..




…two of these Martin Logan monsters.



OK, that's all for now. Time for day 2.

 

Anybody stop by ELAC to check out the new budget Debut speakers? Is Andrew Jones there to show them?

 

Ah - the external crossovers. Very nice.

 

I'm in the bar at the Hotel Irvine at T.H.E. Show right now with some amazing talent. I'm the guy with the beard and the bottle of Limoncello sitting near the patio. Please come say hello

 

Yes, he is there. Speakers are remarkable considering the price tag. Believe it was the B5 model for $229/pr.

Great guy with a wonderful passion for the music.

 

OK, day two is over. It ended good for me in that I was invited to the Synergistic Research/Scott Walker Audio room to hear some Yarlung Records http://www.yarlungrecords.com recordings presented by Bob Attiyeh from their master reels, DSD masters and vinyl--including some test pressings. Arian Jansen of SonoruS--maker of the reel-to-reel machine used by Yarlung and sold by Scott Walker--was also present to talk about his tape deck. Ted Denney also did a short presentation regarding the Synergistic Research HFTs.

Anyway, the sound of the Yarlung recordings was stunning--particularly those straight from the analog masters. The music varied between classical quartets, opera, percussion pieces and some jazz to close out the night. The sound was absolutely to die for. Still, nothing beats an analog master tape.

Here's two pics of the gear in the room. (Magico, Soulution, Sony, SonoruS, Synergistic Research, Berkeley Audio Design, and Acoustic Signature)





I've got more pics, but I'll post them tomorrow.

 

For me Andrew demoing the Debut speakers with a simple setup was one of the highlights of the show and quite a contrast to all of the other rooms. ELAC was also showing prototypes of the subsequent speakers up the product line that Andrew was working on as well.

 

Knowing there are several Audio Note fans on this forum I did want to post this tonight. I ventured into the Audio Note room (1010) as I wanted to meet Warren Jarrett (rep f0r Music First Audio) and let him know I was pleased with my Baby Reference passive pre. Warren proved to be a gracious host, and some nice tunes were being played. When the Vanessa Fernandez track came on I was a happy boy. (I heard her stuff in several rooms today, so she must be catching on.)

Anyway, the Audio Note gear did its imaging thing despite being back in the corners. I can see why many audiophiles like their stuff. There's an earthiness to the sound that I don't hear in other gear. It's not my thing, but I still found it quite enjoyable.

As you can see by the pic there was no fancy rack. Just a table. I didn't notice any room treatments either.

 

I saw the Elac budget B5 bookshelves and they are amazing for 229 for the pair ! Andrew played a lot of cool stuff on them and gave them a workout of what they could do.. They played them with a bel canto cl7 dac/amp 100watt and again they sounded great , I almost couldn't believe how good they sound for the $$$$$$!!

 

The Audio Skies room featured the Larsen 8 loudspeakers with GamuT electronics. Though I wasn't able to sit in the sweet spot the sound was quite nice from my seat well off center. Those who don't have the space to position loudspeakers well out into the room should check out these little towers.

 

Here's a picture I took in the Stillpoints Room with electronics/cabling by exemplar Audio. Bruce Jacobs demonstrated the effectiveness of the Stillpoints footers and Aperture panels. The loudspeakers--the brand name of which escapes me--had one full range driver per box. The result was a good sounding little system for not a huge sum of $.

 

Ryan Speakers--a local California manufacturer--made music in their room with Auralic electronics powering their R630 towers.

http://ryanspeakers.com/Products/Products/R630.html

 

Here's a pic for the Pass Labs, Accuphase, Transrotor, Cocktail Audio and Usher fans.

 

Here's a shot of the Constellation Audio room with monitors by Von Schweikert. Funny thing is I don't see these speakers listed on the Von Schweikert site, but the show guide says Von Schweikert. Hmmm. Anyway, the tweeter is located in the middle of the midrange unit ala KEF uniQ style.

 

Way cool pics and descriptions of the rooms.

Thanks for taking the time to post these and share them here!

 

Yes, another "thank you" here.

 

No problem. It's fun to do.

This morning, I'll be making my annual pilgrimage to Amoeba in Hollywood. Every T.H.E. Show I've attended I've done this on day three. No gear gazing (for most of the day anyway). Just music hunting (and maybe a bit of L.A. babe watching). Hopefully, I'll make a find or two. Maybe Amoeba will have the new Aqualung vinyl w/the Steven Wilson remix. None of the show vendors has it with them.

Anyway, in the end all of this audiophilia is driven by our quest to get closer to the music we love. I see my Sunday Amoeba trip as a way of realigning priorities so to speak. Of focusing on what this weekend is really all about.

However, I do hope to get back in time to still check out some rooms before everything shuts down for another year. I got my second wind yesterday--after feeling a bit down in the dumps on Friday. The Yarlung presentation last night was fun. Our host was even mentioned. Seems he still gets requests for autographs from fans of his Yarlung masterings.

 

The transport and DAC are the Audio Note CDT5 transport and DAC Five Signature.

 

Thank you for the correction, sir. I was wondering about a couple of the pieces, but I couldn't place their origin.