veindoc
Member
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!
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!![]()
Stenheim model 3. Sort of magico Q cabinet looked like watt puppy. a little bright for my taste and very overpriced IMHO
Nick