I'm "photoblogging" some of my favorites:
http://instagram.com/rekkidcollector
Some highlights for me--the room (can't remember which) with the Martin Logan Renaissance. Here's the deal, though--I listened to the Martin Logan Neolith (finally!), but I did not like the McIntosh monoblocks they were driving them with--I find their amps to be harsh. Was it the speakers? No. I heard the Renaissance last year in essentially the same setup, same monoblocks, and they sounded just as harsh. (Did I say I don't like McIntosh?) The Renaissance in the alternate room this year sounded as smooth and detailed as I remember planar speakers to be, so they are still on my short list. But, back to the Neolith demo. The demo music wasn't so great (and a retread of last year's music), and they were actually
blaring "The Gates of Kiev" from
Pictures at an Exhibition at an absurdly loud level, and I did complain about it. That kind of behavior will not win over any potential customers.
Can't say many of the cone speaker systems are to my liking. The ones I really liked last year were the ProAc Response D48R; this year, ProMusica instead set up the Response D30SR. Maybe it was the room or the speakers, but I did not like them nearly as much. The room last year was on the lower level, longer and a bit narrower. This year's was in a standard hotel room.
Magneplanars? They were OK, but lacking in bass. And part of that was the room, again.
HSU Research was in attendance--I liked the subs (which they are known for).
One of the most innovative items was the optical cartridge from DS Audio. Rather than a moving magnet/coil/iron, the cartridge uses an LED, a photocell and a shutter mounted to the cantilever which varies the amount of light hitting the photocell, creating the electrical signal. The tracking was phenomenal, since the moving mass is very low (no weight of coils, magnets or iron on the cantilever). It comes with a component which acts as the phono stage, RIAA EQ (custom, since the response curve of the optical setup is different than traditional carts), and power source for the LED.
And the Sugar Cube...I was skeptical until I heard it. I've used professional click/pop removal in software for years, and I have to say the abilities of their Sugar Cube are incredible. (For those not familiar, the Sugar Cube cleans up clicks and pops, and also retrieves metadata from their server with the album and artist, track listing and album cover photo. When recording the needle drops, it will separate the files appropriately. The click/pop removal can also clean up existing needle drops after the fact, or work in real time while playing back vinyl.)
We ran out of time and did not get to see ELAC. But, I did see the new ELAC Miracord turntable in the Music Direct room.
One "exclusive" for the day--being the first group in the Mobile Fidelity room, we got to hear a handful of test pressings (the Bill Evans
Village Vanguard being released in the "One Step" series was better than I ever heard it), but also were told that the next two One Step titles will be Simon & Garfunkel's
Bridge Over Troubled Water, and Donald Fagen's
The Nightfly.
There were some disappointments of course but for the most part, I enjoyed a lot of the show today. Tomorrow I have to go back and see what I missed, and pay a second visit to a handful of rooms.
