Axpona 2017 Official Pictures & Report Thread
- Thread starter Mike
- Start date
mep
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 4, 2013
- Messages
- 5,176
If you ever drag your speakers to a show, let me know.
AJ Soundfield
Well-known member
mep
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 4, 2013
- Messages
- 5,176
What shows?
AJ Soundfield
Well-known member
Too many to recall.
RMAF couple times, LSAF couple times, CAF couple times http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue62/capital_audiofest.htm
Axpona couple times, starting in Jacksonville and then Chicago. Last one was 2015 http://www.stereophile.com/content/day-1-ends-and-day-2-starts#LFzMJSJsHdMFFJBB.97
I've grown at bit weary of shows in my old age.
They are a PITA.
Plus you are correct is a sense in that hearing stuff (especially speakers) at shows won't tell you exactly what they will sound like in your own room. No question.
So that will be more my focus henceforth.
I take all reviews, good or bad, as that persons opinion. Don't sweat it too much. YMMV.
RMAF couple times, LSAF couple times, CAF couple times http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue62/capital_audiofest.htm
Axpona couple times, starting in Jacksonville and then Chicago. Last one was 2015 http://www.stereophile.com/content/day-1-ends-and-day-2-starts#LFzMJSJsHdMFFJBB.97
I've grown at bit weary of shows in my old age.
They are a PITA.Plus you are correct is a sense in that hearing stuff (especially speakers) at shows won't tell you exactly what they will sound like in your own room. No question.
So that will be more my focus henceforth.
I take all reviews, good or bad, as that persons opinion. Don't sweat it too much. YMMV.
Melbguy1
Guest
- Joined
- Sep 14, 2016
- Messages
- 900
I'm with you. I'd rather get a straight up opinion on the room without being candy coated. I wouldn't expect Manufacturers/Dealers to achieve great sound in all cases with the limited setup time. But there is no excuse for lousy sound when you can invest in easily placeable room treatments like Stillpoints Aperture panels or good value, free-standing GIK acoustic panels & clean power by running anything from a high grade conditioner such as Shunyata, Synergistic or Gigawatt, Regenerator such as Accuphase, to a mega-buck Stromtank. With those boxes ticked & the room measuring ok, even with sub-optimal synergy or poorly coupled speakers, the room should sound atleast listenable over a long session.
mep
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 4, 2013
- Messages
- 5,176
Wow. After all the time and money spent, we might get "at least listenable." There is a huge difference between really good sound and "listenable." Unless you live in a hotel room or your listening space is the size of a hotel room, you are never really going to know what gear at shows will sound like in your house. If gear sounds great at a show, it's probably going to be really special at your house. Just because gear sounds bad at a show doesn't mean it won't sound great in a good listening room.
the professor
Well-known member
+ 1
KeithR
Active member
I disagree - these dealers and manufacturers use the same room every year. They should know the flaws and design a system to sound good. Look at the proliferation of room treatment these days vs. 5 years ago. Many still avoid it. Everybody has the same power issues. I know a dealer who spends a half day on just Rockport speaker placement at Newport - how many go to the same trouble?
Jason's opinion comes from his base Wilson/Pass system at home - which many wouldn't like, so its just one man's perspective. This is a bit more critical than he usually is (and nobody commented on his criticisms the past few years), but tbh confirmed several of my thoughts at other shows.
madfloyd
New member
I heard the tape once (a recording of piano and harmonica) and it sounded great. Others thought so too. What did you hear there that you didn't like?
- Thread Author
- #352
Every time I heard it, it was very soft and boring. Violin with a piano. Just not my thing I guess. But when Peter played vinyl/digital it was awesome.
mep
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 4, 2013
- Messages
- 5,176
What you are really bashing is the hotel room and the setup skills employed in a hotel room. My only point is it doesn't do any good to bash the gear after you walk into a hotel room and don't like the sound. I don't sugarcoat anything I hear at rooms and talk about how great something sounded if it sounded like crap to me. I just don't say anything about bad sounding rooms. Are you really going to steer clear of any gear that some person heard at a show and trashed it without knowing what the real culprit was? I take it all with a grain of salt. And besides, some of the rooms at Axpona that some people were raving about and named "best of show" didn't thrill me.
a.wayne
Well-known member
Which rooms were those MEP ..???
AJ Soundfield
Well-known member
The latter yes, the former, no. The rooms on the upper floors are for the most part identical. You hear good/great sound in one, then go next door and hear poor sound, it isn't "the room". Setup...or maybe just poor speakers/electronics.
Actually, much of what he describes doesn't sound like room issues at all. Maybe he just wasn't feeling it. One room sounded great...then bad.
Hard to say what the heck was going on there, but if that is what he heard, then say it.
mep
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 4, 2013
- Messages
- 5,176
I will tell you after you post pictures of your system.
mep
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 4, 2013
- Messages
- 5,176
In the grand scheme of things, what is the value of that information? Zilch in my opinion. How many speakers on the market that people want to hear when they go to a high-end show were designed for the size of a typical hotel room? Horses for courses as they say, but in the case of high-end shows, people are trying to cram 6F, 7F, 8F, and 1 1/8M horses into the same size "course." You would never do that at home in your own listening room and yet people expect to see that at shows and act amazed when the sound is less than optimum. But what the hell, let's trash all the gear in the room and rule it out because some people didn't like the way it performed in a hotel room.
- Thread Author
- #358
For the record, I've seen AJ at many shows. The best speakers he's ever made that I've heard were the model he demoed for us one year at a local audiophiles (I think he was giving that demo pair to his brother).
What I find interesting is a pattern. I noticed that certain speakers always sound good/great from show to show to show. Some years they are in a big room, other years, they are in a small room. But they always manage to get good to great sound.
Subsequently, I noticed other speakers rarely produce a decent sound at a show whether they are in a big room or a small room.
Show in, show out, you can start to get a basic idea. If a hotel room is a hostile environment and the speakers you are considering sound good to great consistently, well, then chances are they may work well in your room. No guarantees, but you get the point. And the reverse is true.
What I find interesting is a pattern. I noticed that certain speakers always sound good/great from show to show to show. Some years they are in a big room, other years, they are in a small room. But they always manage to get good to great sound.
Subsequently, I noticed other speakers rarely produce a decent sound at a show whether they are in a big room or a small room.
Show in, show out, you can start to get a basic idea. If a hotel room is a hostile environment and the speakers you are considering sound good to great consistently, well, then chances are they may work well in your room. No guarantees, but you get the point. And the reverse is true.
mep
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 4, 2013
- Messages
- 5,176
I only asked because if he likes to see people get wire-brushed in public, I would be happy to oblige him if it was warranted after listening to his speakers. Your last point is what I said earlier, if something sounds great at a show, it should sound better at your house.
