CES 2014 - Day 2 Slideshow by mbovaird1 | Photobucket
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Awesome! Thanks.
Fantastic Mike! Looks like yesterday was a marathon for you - holy cow over 500 pictures!!!
Thanks for keeping us informed Mike! :panic:
Great! Thanks Mike.
That's a lot of pics Mike. Are you enjoying the show between all the picture taking?
simply the best!
For the most part, yes. I can certainly live without all the headphones and portable devices. There seems to be such a presence of headphone, headphone DAC and portable walkman type devices. I listened to several that were supposed to be the best of the best, but I just don't get it.Quote:
Originally Posted by dlb2
The rooms overall sound much better than even some of the best rooms at RMAF. The super large rooms, with high ceilings at the Venetian no doubt help matters.
The Alexia's are by far the most common speaker used for demos and they have sounded great in all of the rooms.
The MBL room was again beautifully set up and sounded superb. As mentioned earlier, the Bryston room - once again - was set up superbly and sounded great. Always love hearing those SST2 28's! :)
The things I liked or was very interested in, I stayed and listened. The people I wanted to meet, I stayed and chatted. But there were a lot of rooms I went into and just had no real interest in headphones or in ceiling speakers and moved on.
....lots more.....but that's the gist of it for now.
How did the Elac 407s and the Focal with the Flax fibre woofers sound. The Focal seems very popular partners with electronic manufacturers!
I have been hearing good things about the Elac.
Good strategy!Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike
Good. But like a lot of rooms, I stayed, listened and moved on. Sounds good, but so did a lot of other rooms. The best room so far is still the FOCAL/VAC room. But the room I never wanted to leave was the LA Audio/AZ room. After going from room to room listening to European/non-North American gear all trying to out do one another with who has the HIGHEST RESOLUTION, it was such a joy (and a relief) to find a room that was so musical in an emotional, romantic and engaging way. Oh, and yeah, the entire system - cables and all - doesn't break the bank!Quote:
Originally Posted by wisnon
Nick and I went into a room (I forget the speaker manufacturer - Swiss I think) and they were asking $48,000 for a pair of speakers that we both swore wouldn't be more than $12,000. There is a lot of new kids on the block that come in and just demand crazy numbers and they have no track record, no reviews, no nothing to draw upon. I don't get it. I won't proclaim to be an expert by any means, but it is my understanding in East Asian culture there is a strong code of honor. That's why so much of the East Asian gear to me sounds wonderful. Yes, there are some VERY VERY expensive products. But both at RMAF and CES, I heard some of the best gear you can imagine that doesn't break the bank. LA Audio, Triode Corp, etc. They have a long history and reputation world wide, yet they still don't charge exorbitant prices.
A funny story: I went into this one particular Russian amp manufacturers room. I walk in and there are three big burly Russian fellows. STRONG accents. Nice guys. So I listen. Their amps sound terrific. I jokingly said to them, "so these amps are hand made in Russian?" "YES!" the fellow proudly responds. I then say, "so, are those Chinese tubes in your Russian amps?" ..........if you could have seen the look of horror on their faces. We all then had a good laugh! :)
Hopefully you'll have a chance to check out the Avatar Acoustics / Rosso Fiorentino / AMR room. Since your tastes seem to align with my own, I'd love to get your feedback on that particular system!
Meanwhile, thanks for taking the time to openly share your experiences via: pics and stories. It's not an easy gig! :)
Thanks for all the hard work Mike! I'm exhausted just looking at the pics...I think I tweaked my neck while watching the slideshow! Haha!
Any awkward moments with Lars and Michael? Boy does the new all black baffle look nice on the Dyns. And, the new Pass amps look sweet! If the D'Ags sounds half as good as they look, I will have to try them.
Peace man.
Shoot mike, most of the headphones are at the convention center. :woot:
I don't know how you do it. You just keep going and going! After about 3 hours I'm worn out. Great job.
Mike is the Energizer Bunny of audio :)Quote:
Originally Posted by the professor
Been there, done that with the pricing. Wouldn't go so far as to assume a code of honor and a link to perceived audio quality, though.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike
They sound SUPERB! I would own them for sure!Quote:
Originally Posted by Zero
Attachment 4373
Attachment 4374
Attachment 4375
Mike. How did you like the Khama room ?
Pathos has some really cool gear. I love the way they use their name done up in extruded aluminum used as the heat sinks.
Thanks for all the great pics.
Mike,
Dayum man.... AMR, Graaf, and the Florentia's... That's just.. MMMMMmmm! :D Glad you liked the system!
2 questions
1- what are the whacky arced speakers in the Emotiva room?
2- How do the wireless Dynaudios sound and perform?
Thanks
Stenheim model 3. Sort of magico Q cabinet looked like watt puppy. a little bright for my taste and very overpriced IMHOQuote:
Originally Posted by Mike
Nick
Stenheim??
Big pedigree there! They are the ones who put on the Montreux show and the original designers are ex-Goldmund (now Devialet), the Management is ex-Nagra and other elite names. They have a big reputation and ally with manufacture-Le-Son. I know the owner…nice guy!
These:Quote:
Originally Posted by Shadowfax
http://i1079.photobucket.com/albums/...s99e0db8b.jpg?http://i1079.photobucket.com/albums/...ce1dde.jpg?868http://i1079.photobucket.com/albums/...2ac1d3.jpg?479
Oops, can't do - sorry.
No clue.Quote:
2- How do the wireless Dynaudios sound and perform?
Thanks
That and much more. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by joeinid
Those ones:Quote:
Originally Posted by Shadowfax
_______
And from last year:
_______
They are Don Keele's Circular-Arc line array speakers ==> http://www.stereophile.com/content/d...r-arc-speakers
_______
Is this true?
Someone heard the trinity Dac at CES, was in the same room as the CH precison DAC!
Nick/Mike, can you check it out?
EDIT:
False alarm....its the Trinity preamp. interesting, but not as interesting as the Dac.
Selah Audio has a version of this too. A pal was going to make them from a kit and run with Mini-DSP.Quote:
Originally Posted by NorthStar
Thanks Northstar. Pretty cool looking.
Quote:
Originally Posted by wisnon
http://my-hiend.com/leoyeh2/2013a/IMG_7487ss.jpg
http://my-hiend.com/leoyeh2/2013a/IMG_7488ss.jpg
http://my-hiend.com/leoyeh2/2013a/IMG_7471ss.jpg
No sweat Brian. ... & you can call me Bob.Quote:
Originally Posted by Shadowfax
But you need a sub with them because they seem to sound thin and without life. ...They don't appear to be serious speakers.
The design is seriously different and interesting, but as sound reproducers something doesn't gel right.
I'm only expressing my opinion from their looks, and scientifically looking there's something awkwardly missing from my view angle.
* Some of them speaker designers are certainly fashionably creative. :)
I listened to them and politely disagree that looks or technical papers as opposed to my ears is best to make a critical eval. of any speaker design. I also think BTW there is a downfiring woofer u can"t see. Sound was like a real bass not a HT subwoofer which is too inflated for music listening. Now r they worth the price-I don't know as everyone has a different budget. Can u get more PRAT from other fine speakers YES. But these had a natural wide holographic soundstage.Quote:
Originally Posted by NorthStar
Nick
Nick, I believe that we're talking about different speakers.Quote:
Originally Posted by veindoc
The ones I was referring to are these (CBT36s):
And all that (Nagra) Jazz | Stereophile.comQuote:
Originally Posted by wisnon
Press Release
New impetus
for the Swiss loudspeaker maker Stenheim
HIGH END
trade show, Munich, 9th May 2013 – Founded in 2010, Stenheim
immediately found its
place amongst
the leaders of the Swiss hi-‐fi industry. This came as no surprise
as the company’s
creators, a
team of five young engineers, had worked together for several years
at one of the world’s
most renowned
loudspeaker makers, the famous Goldmund company, before setting out on
their own.
Wishing to
strengthen the commercial capabilities at the head of their company,
they went looking for
someone who
could take it over and give their promising start-‐up a new
impetus.
The five
founders, Jean-‐Loup Afresne, Antoine Petroff, Maxime Perrin, Sebastien
Benz and David Jilli,
would like to
take the opportunity provided by the High End trade show in Munich
to announce the
changes which
have just taken place. From now on it is Jean-‐Pascal Panchard who
will take over the
running of the
company, though they will continue to provide their expertise to it.
Jean-‐Pascal
Panchard is also a fully qualified HES electronic engineer and a
holder of an Executive MBA,
but he has in
addition a solid experience in both marketing and business
development. He has worked in
the electronics
industry for many years and developed all sorts of activities in the
area of high-‐end audio.
He has notably
founded and run a business in this industry for 10 years, looked
after a club for hi-‐fi
enthusiasts for
15 years and worked for 5 years for the prestigious brand NAGRA,
including one year as
director of the
High End department. Jean-‐Pascal will be assisted by Lucas Perrin,
a young EPFL electronic
engineer who
was experience as a sound engineer and who has already worked with
Stenheim in the
past.
Seamless
development
The founding
spirit, which gave birth to Stenheim will be totally preserved and
even strengthened. The
idea is to
keep the original and extremely rigorous approach to developing
products.
Stenheim
loudspeakers are in fact made out of solid aluminium and the care
that goes into their fine
tuning is
worthy of a Swiss watchmaker, such is the remarkable precision
achieved in audio reproduction.
One of their
chief characteristics is the great stability, which is provided by
the case, as aluminium is
mechanically
highly stable, and their total respect for the phase. Put together,
these two qualities allow
them to produce
a highly realistic three-‐dimensional soundstage. The brand has also
become a specialist
in custom
finishes. According to the buyer’s wishes, it is quite capable of
supplying models polished to a
mirror finish,
lacquered like a piano in any colour you like, or even covered in
precious wood or ostrich
leather…
Stenheim will
continue to produce the highly successful Alumine range and the bass
unit, which can be
used with
these compact models. An entirely new product line, called
Reference, is already being
developed and
will be presented in 2014.
Contact:
Jean-‐Pascal Panchard, tel. +41 79 220 02 22, jpp@stenheim.com
STENHEIM, Centre
du Parc, Rue Marconi 19, 1920 Martigny,
Switzerland
info@stenheim.com, www.stenheim.com
Agreed as I thought u were referring to Zellaton Ref. Thnx for clarification.Quote:
Originally Posted by NorthStar
Nick