Thread: Pacific Audio Fest Postponed until 2022

The Pacific Audiofest for 2022 is on. The dates are July 29 - 31, 2022 in Seattle

I just booked a room and I will bring Alsyvox Botticelli “X”, Pilium Alexander pre-amp, Achilles power amp, probably Esoteric Digital (unless I’m able to get a new Pilium Venus DAC by then). Of course, I'll bring the Taiko Extreme as well.

So those folks here on the left side of the continent wanting hear Alsyvox and Pilium… see you there. All the cool people are going

Originally Posted by a.wayne

Hello Bob ,
Can you give us an idea what sizes are the rooms , just curious ..!
Regards

Typical “Standard” room is 15’2” x 20’3”, with 94” ceiling.

A decent size for sure!

Just a few more weeks...

The "2 Bobs" (myself, Bobvin, aka Bob.west) and my friend Bob from NYC (Bob.east) look forward to greeting the Pacific Audio Fest visitors and sharing a few tunes on this set up (below) that we are bringing to the show. We will be using the Taiko Extreme server, (Netherlands) an Esoteric DAC/CDP (Japan) feeding a Plium Alexander pre-amp & Pilium Achilles stereo amp (Greece). Speakers will be Alsyvox Botticelli with the 'X'ternal crossover (Spain), all connected with VYDA cabling (Italy). We'll be setup in room 2203.

Originally Posted by mep

Are the equipment racks and amp stands made in Albania?

USA, mep — like the 2 Bobs hosting the room, made in the USA. Unlike the gear, the 2 Bobs are classics from the 1950s.

A hotel room is a challenging place to drop an audio system and have high hopes, but I think, at this early stage, I’ve managed to get the Alsyvox / Pilium rig sounding pretty good. Be sure to swing by room 2203 and say hi!

Lots of great coverage of the show on this YouTube channel, here’s his post on the Alsyvox / Pilium room…

Alysvox - Maggie's on steroids - Pilium and Esoteric - YouTube

A few more comments re: the Alsyvox start around 6:35 on this Day2 wrap-up:

Day 2 Wrap-up - What did I see and hear good - Pacific Audio Fest 2022 - YouTube

Yes those Vids are very good and comprehensive -kudos to him

I always wonder though how much the scenic view accorded to the listening audience is proving detrimental to the Sonic presentation

Those rear wall to wall windows in full glory surely "Must"? be having some adverse affect--I can detect certain hard/brittleness at times on those said rooms in the Vids.

Just my opinion --has anyone looked at something like this maybe --occupier hangs temporary for show? to be used again.

acoustic sheers block sound, not sightlines

Or TubeTrap centre Image with two out rigger either side --the smaller diameter versions -pickup and take home --Place listen and backup

YVMV

Bruce

The sonic effect of a reflective surface behind the speakers can be very speaker dependent — dipoles, omni’s, and open baffle designs ‘generally’ are less sensitive as their designs account for the reflected back wave. At shows, particularly a new venue, you don’t know what you’ll get for a room, or how it will sound. The Alsyvox set up very easily and we had very good sound, much better than I expected in a 300 sq ft hotel room. We had no bass issues. The curtains in the room actually allowed for a wee bit of tuning, I pushed the heavy drapes into the corners, and pulled the sheers partially across the window. That seemed to create a good balance.

The guy across the hall from us, was a bit of a jerk in that he left the door to his room wide open and played music very loudly. I can only surmise he was doing that to drain some base energy because, imho, he didn’t have very good sound.

For the most part, exhibitors do their best with what they get. Its expensive to exhibit and anticipate every scenario — tube traps are marginally effective and can bring their own problems, and their size makes them expensive to ship around only for some freight company jerk to put a fork blade through them. If an exhibitor knows his speakers require a lot for set up, then yes they should bring what might be needed.

But shows are just a place to get a taste, and see if a product or brand is palatable for you. Then you can drill down and explore further if those products are good for you and your system. I don’t recommend drawing many conclusions from a show. But, if you hear pretty great sound at a show, with crappy electrical, iffy rooms, etc. that can be a good sign. We had one electrical outlet, and just barely managed to plug everything in. I did remember to bring one long power cord for such an event, but as it turned out the one I grabbed had a C19 terminal and I needed to C15 for the Nordhost power strip. So from the wall to the power strip and the strip to the Taiko Extreme server just managed to connect.

On the other side of the room the socket was mid-room, I used that one to power the LPS for the network switch and router. And the rooms only had Wi-Fi, no ethernet. So exhibiting with the Taiko extreme server, I had to dump Wi-Fi to ethernet, then into a router, then build a small subnet so we could control the server with our iPhones. We used the DAC in an esoteric CD player, so we would at least have cd back up if the streaming didn’t work out.

I do not envy those exhibitors who brought tons and tons of gear. Is no small task to get everything delivered, unpacked, set up, and sounding good — only to tear it all down in a couple days in a hasty retreat.

From EnjoyTheMusic.com (Greg Weaver)

Full report here- The Inaugural Pacific Audio Fest - Seattle 2022 Part One: Off To An AMAZING Start.... Show Report By Greg Weaver

In room 2203 I was greeted by perhaps one of the most overlooked and exceptionally performing loudspeakers available today, Daniele Coen's superb planar dynamic Alsyvox loudspeakers, designed in Italy and handcrafted in Spain.

Here the source was the superb Taiko "Extreme" server ($30,000 as configured), which streamed to the exceptionally analog-sounding Esoteric K-03XD CD/SACD/DAC ($15,000). Electronics were the hand-crafted Greek Pilium "Alexander" preamp ($50,000) and the Pilium "Achilles" amplifier ($50,000). The speakers were the Alsyvox Botticelli X, ($100,000/pr., plus $36,000 for the "X" external crossovers). All cabling was of the "Orion" series of VYDA laboratory Audio Solutions of Italy, including "Orion" speaker cables ($15,000/pr.) and interconnects ($6,000/pr.)

I've repeatedly fallen hard for these speakers when driven just right – as they were here. These are, in my experience, the most spacious and dynamic sounding planer-dynamic loudspeakers you are likely to hear. The presentation here was liquid, with rich tone, and was finely layered, with vivid dimensionality, and an almost scary natural presence. As with every time I hear them, I was so impressed with their remarkable bass extension, blistering transient attack, and dynamic abilities, especially with percussion. Not only could this system recreate a huge and accurately sized soundstage, but it also pulled a complete vanishing act. I SO want a pair of the Botticelli's in my room for review!

Also, from Stereophile (Jason Victor Serinus)
Rhapsody Out West: Alsyvox Botticelli, Pilium, Taiko, Esoteric, and Vyda | Stereophile.com

…As indicative of the New York / West Coast melting pot, internationalism was the bottom line in a system assembled by Bob Vineyard, proprietor of Rhapsody Out West's Portland, Oregon showroom: Pilium from Greece, Taiko from Holland, Alsyvox and Vyda from Italy, and Esoteric from Japan…

In Vineyard's room, showgoers encountered an eye-catching system headlined by Alsyvox Botticelli speakers ($100,000/pair) with "X" external crossovers ($36,000/pair). Amplification was the Pilium Achilles amplifier ($50,000) and the two-piece Alexander preamplifier ($50,000). Add the Taiko Extreme music server ($30,000), Esoteric K-03XD CD/SACD/DAC ($15,000) and the hardly insubstantial Vyda Orion cabling and you have quite a system: The amp alone weighs more than 250lb, and each speaker weighs 333lb excluding the external crossovers. I quite enjoyed the sound of this system on Quadro Nuevo's "Mocca Swing" and a 16/44.1 file of JJ Cale's "Magnolia."