That crossover is interesting. I've seen series xovers with caps but none without. That would be a good listen.
Improved Clarisys Audio Minuet Loudspeakers They just made some upgrades on these speakers making their mids and tweeters ribbons bigger and they should sound much better now and the price will stay the same too ! In rooms 352 and 676
Nice speakers, i bet, but, quite the unfortunate name.... Hires: "Hun, I sold our Von Schweikert speakers (no more Schweikee) and got us some good Von Gaylord speakers... Me like-E like-E...You like-E???" Ms Hires: "Could you please take them pronto to your log cabin on Brokeback mountain and mail the alimony checks on time? Make haste, my dear...make haste"
What a whirlwind! the first of many reports ! ARC and Wilson. Perfect, full range sound without any blemishes. Just fantastic deep, rich but clear and natural sound.
Fritz speakers and the highly anticipated Atma-Sphere class D mono blocks. Decent sound but uninspiring, nothing noteworthy unfortunately. I believe the amps were crippled because of the speaker selection.
Von Gaylord VG 18 speakers and amplification. DO NOT let the size of these speakers fool you ! Top three best sounding rooms of the day. Deep, powerful, colorful, refined and clear. This system did it all and would be end of hunt for most. Spectacular !
Magnepan LRS+ and Rogue Audio world premier of the DragoN mono blocks amplifiers. A pairing that yielded surprising synergy. The powerful DragoN amps drove the Maggies with authority and had a natural yet forceful tone. Slightly veiled but never fatiguing, this system is super smooth and enjoyable. Imaging was a touch strange and wandered occasionally- possibly from room reflections. Narrow sweet spot for sure. Great sound !
MoFi source point 8, HiFi Rose amplification and sir Andrew Jones ! Spoiler alert- these speakers are amazing ! Good God was this system near perfection. Loud and clear, never fatiguing. Dead on neutral and near full range. Very "studio monitor" tonal range but never glaring or offensive. Superb bass and possibly the best value in speakers on the market.
WORLD PERMIER ! KLH Model 7 with Bryston amplification! Another near perfect synergy match. That authoritative Bryston driving these new KLH Model 7 with the authority that they require- yet still managed to sound laid back and smooth. A very pleasing sound that was very easy on the ears. Transparent and natural with a touch of colorful treble and deep, very good quality bass notes. A nice win for KLH !
One more until later- Jadis Amplification with JM Reynaud speakers. The highly anticipated French made speakers may have been let down by the overly dark Jadis system but this system had a dark, dark cast that blurred the midrange and had only a touch of occasional treble tizz. Chalk it up to a poor system match but this room was a total letdown, just awful sound quality.
Stenheim speakers and VTL amplification. Most of the big rooms were sounding great this year and this system was no exception. I doubt any audiophile would have a single complaint about the sound of this system which was detailed and clear beyond measure while providing a firm foundation of near perfect sounding bass notes. A big winner on the day.
Wharfdale Dovedale speakers, the new big brother to the Lintons. Driven by Mastersound Italian amplifiers. Possibly some bad synergy but this was not a good sounding system- at all- sorry to say. The Dovedales had some bass, they had some midrange and they had some treble but they each sounded like they were off on their own doing their own thing. The treble was tizzy, the midrange was bland and the bass was OK. The overall sound was an incoherent mess and the most un-musical system of the day. These bad vibes may be do to the competition but I heard what I heard. Wharfdale fans- you can do much better.
Wolf Von Langa speakers. Despite no visible midrange driver these speakers were fairly clear and somewhat pleasing. However due to the competition this room was in the bottom tier for sound quality. Nothing eventful or noteworthy.
Nice summaries. Aren't those Wharefedales the Dovedale though? Just going by the poster in the background.
Thanks for the reports so far avanti ! Really fun to read! Re JM Reynaud speakers: for a long time they've had a small, rabid fan-base. I've heard plenty of them over the years. I found them nice insofar as combining timbral warmth with openness and detail. But beyond that, far from the giant killer sound many seem to ascribe to the brand.
The new First Watt Sit- 4, a 10 watt solid state amp that sounds like a single ended triode was paired with Cube audio speakers. Unfortunately another case of poor system matching. The bassy, warm First Watt Sit-4 was not shown in a good light by these speakers which played to it's weaknesses. Overwhelming bass that was out of time with the music and a midrange glare that was simply not enjoyable, even with soft program material.
That’s a shame. I always wonder why people insist on doing 10” full range drivers. More often than not they have that mid band bump/shout.
The PS Audio "Maze". Why this room was setup this way is confounding. By now the PS Audio voicing is becoming easy to recognize. Without question a personal touch by whomever voiced these speakers, the sound is smooth and warmer and void of much presence and detail. While I really like the quality look this system presented, the sound was anything but.
Linear Tube Audio amplification and Pure Audio Project speakers. A decently rich, bottom heavy system afforded by the large driver OB Pure Audio Project speakers, the overall sound was a theme of the day for bass richness without much transparency or detail. I have heard the LTA amps sounding much better with other speakers so it was a shame that this system was so disappointing.
Linn and Sonus Faber. A beautiful turntable fronted the system in this very popular room. The sound was high quality as you would expect from the excellent Sonus Faber speakers. Howevee they can be a bit polarizing as they do have their own Sonus Faber house sound. Not bad at all but not a standout either.
Paradigm Founder stand mounts driven by Anthem amplification. Crisp, clean and refreshingly bright, this system had excellent balance due to the foundation of the worthy subwoofer. A nice sounding room.
