What was your AKFest 2006 audio moment??

[moondog]

HPM-100's...

I was really hoping someone would pipe in on Kam's HPM-100's (especially after all the positive/negative opinions on them here lately).

Myself, I don't have an opinion on them one way or another really, (it's been too long since I've heard a set), but I thought it would be interesting to hear what others thought.

Any takers???

 

[tentoze]

Yeah, so did I........

2 years in a row?

 

[Kamakiri]

We partied in my room for quite some time listening to the HPMs.....Greg (retrostereo) will chime in when he sees this as he expressed his disdain as he felt they were the worst sounding speaker ever

Y'know, a LOT of people came in to hear them, come to think of it......

 

[WhiteSE]

St James Infirmary was incredible...Thats all I can say....

 

[Retro Stereo]

I was really hoping someone would pipe in on Kam's HPM-100's (especially after all the positive/negative opinions on them here lately).

Myself, I don't have an opinion on them one way or another really, (it's been too long since I've heard a set), but I thought it would be interesting to hear what others thought.

Any takers???

They were the worst sounding, white van, kabuki speakers I have ever heard in my whole life! I would put Bose, Soundesign, Yorx, chopped up kabuki speakers, and white van speakers ahead of the Pioneer HPM 100's EVERY TIME! If you are unfortunate enough to own a pair of these, burn em now and save the embarrassment of someone else on AK finding out you still have them!!! Just my $.02


Retro

 

[moondog]

Ah... Come on Retro! Tell us how you really feel about them!!!

 

[Army]

They were the worst sounding, white van, kabuki speakers I have ever heard in my whole life! Those boys up in the northwest had it completely right, no kidding! I would put Bose, Soundesign, Yorx, chopped up kabuki speakers, and white van speakers ahead of the Pioneer HPM 100's EVERY TIME! If you are unfortunate enough to own a pair of these, burn em now and save the embarrassment of someone else on AK finding out you still have them!!! Just my $.02


Retro

You crack me up :lmao:

I heard the HPM 100's for the first time in Tim's room, and if I didn't already own others. I could easily live with a pair :thmbsp:

 

[Jim Eck]

We partied in my room for quite some time listening to the HPMs.....Greg (retrostereo) will chime in when he sees this as he expressed his disdain as he felt they were the worst sounding speaker ever

Y'know, a LOT of people came in to hear them, come to think of it......

Kam, the wife and I were there at length Saturday night, we had a great time with your wife and yourself, as well as Sandy G and Mrs. Reel2Reel, Piece it Pete, (have another Molson) as well as many other, the HPM's sounded great, as you know they do.

Hope to be there again next year and do it all over again. Thank you everyone!


Jim

 

[grumpy]

They were the worst sounding, white van, kabuki speakers I have ever heard in my whole life! Those boys up in the northwest had it completely right, no kidding! I would put Bose, Soundesign, Yorx, chopped up kabuki speakers, and white van speakers ahead of the Pioneer HPM 100's EVERY TIME! If you are unfortunate enough to own a pair of these, burn em now and save the embarrassment of someone else on AK finding out you still have them!!! Just my $.02


Retro

Ya know you are no better then the member your taking pot shots at......

 

[Retro Stereo]

Ya know you are no better then the member your taking pot shots at......

Nope, huge difference, I'm kidding.

OK, if I offended anyone, I apologize.

I am a huge fan of Pioneer HPM 100s and Tim's sounded just beautiful.

So, with that, let's get this thread back on track. I can think of one more "audio moment" that happened with me. I was digging through some swap-meet albums that RichPA brought and found one I hadn't seen or heard in over 30 years. It was some early Procol Harum called Exotic Birds and Fruits that my oldest brother bought me for one of my birthdays. It came out before Procol Harum's biggest hit Whiter Shade of Pale. I took it down to Punkers room and Mike was kind enough to clean and play the album for me. That album brought back some great memories, and Mike and I had a great chat as well.



Retro

 

[CarlV]

Listening to Jimbecky's vintage McIntosh amp with those Ohm speakers and hanging with Carl and David (dmax99) and Jim and Rich (RichPA) was one large, great big fun audio moment.

Cheers fellas

Agreed, it was the best!!!


Carl

 

[dmax99]

Agreed, it was the best!!!


Carl

I , too had a great time meeting up with all you guys.Can't wait to do it again.David

 

[piece-it pete]

(have another Molson)

These were courtesy of the Pennsylvania gentleman, RichPA, to whom I owe a large thank you, as I proly would've gotten lost if I had to indeed go out and buy beer.

Pete

 

[tentoze]

...

These were courtesy of the Pennsylvania gentleman, RichPA, to whom I owe a large thank you, as I proly would've gotten incarcerated if I had to indeed go out and buy beer.

Pete

 

[piece-it pete]

lol Thanks for the quick (and perhaps a bit accurate) editing! I really did NOT want to meet Detroits' finest.

Pete

 

[tentoze]

lol Thanks for the quick (and perhaps a bit accurate) editing! I really did NOT want to meet Detroits' finest.

Pete

A wise man speaks here...glad y'all had fun.

 

[BrianB]

The Almarro 3 ways really impressed me for having excellent frequency response and being very non-fatiguing to listen to. I thought they were the most composed speakers I've heard recently and do a good job to dispell some myths regarding cone materials.

I was looking forward to hearing the Zu speakers after a discussion regarding them a couple of months ago. I didn't like them as much as I feared I might, but they did sound pretty good. Not the type of speaker I could live with long term.

This brings up a point that I often make to my customers - namely, the fact that I prefer to carry components that have definite "personalities" over components that have a reputation for "neutrality" (which usually translates into "boring" in my opinion). The upshot of this, of course, is that many of the products I sell are of the "love it or hate it" variety. And the Zu speakers we had at the show are a perfect example of this. Several folks approached me towards the end of the show to say that they didn't care for the Zu Druids at all. But just as many folks told me that the Druids were among their very favorites at AK-Fest 2006 (and one individual who I know to be a high-end audio show junkie informed me that the Druids were the best-sounding speakers he's ever heard).

Which, of course, brings up a related point. In the long run, it doesn't matter one bit what other folks think of your system. All that really matters is that your system sounds the way YOU want it to sound. And because all of us have somewhat different sonic priorities and "listening histories" (what you grew up with has a tremendous impact on your preferences), it is VERY unlikely than any two of us will ever agree 100% on what sound the best.

Happy listening!

 

[BrianB]

Thanks to Brian at Venus for his various pieces, and to listen in on a discussion about power cords and interconnects.

Actually, this reminds me of some of MY most memorable AK-Fest 2006 moments. On three occasions, a skeptic in the Venus Hi-Fi room noticed the Soundstring AC cords we were using with the amps and the CD player, and wondered out loud how power cables could make any kind of sonic difference. Each time, we offered a little demonstration, where we (a) replaced the Soundstring power cable running into the Manley Stingray with the stock AC cord, and then (b) went back to the Soundstring. And each time, we heard pretty much the same question by the former skeptic: "How can a power cable make so MUCH of a difference?" This was SERIOUS fun in my book...

 

[BrianB]

AK's motto may be "All Audio, No Attitude" I would suggest that it should be "Great Audio with Incredible Attitudes"

Next year, I think that an "All Attitude, No Audio" room should be opened up on Friday night, so that all the drunkards (myself included) can argue politics and religion and whatever else to our hearts' content into the wee hours...

 

[Billfort]

Actually, this reminds me of some of MY most memorable AK-Fest 2006 moments. On three occasions, a skeptic in the Venus Hi-Fi room noticed the Soundstring AC cords we were using with the amps and the CD player, and wondered out loud how power cables could make any kind of sonic difference. Each time, we offered a little demonstration, where we (a) replaced the Soundstring power cable running into the Manley Stingray with the stock AC cord, and then (b) went back to the Soundstring. And each time, we heard pretty much the same question by the former skeptic: "How can a power cable make so MUCH of a difference?" This was SERIOUS fun in my book...

And that would have been my audio moment as I believe I was one of the skeptics you mention here.

Ok, I already believed in this power stuff to a point - I have dedicated audio circuits in my listening room, keep the digital junk on it's own circuit and certainly believe in receptacles and plugs that have solid mechanical grip but big dollar power cords?

I have messed with them a little in my system and believe I heard a positive affect using the Coincident PC on my SACD player but the effect was certainly subtle and my skepticism remained intact for these expensive jobs.

Late Saturday night however, Brian did this switcheroo thing in front of Ernie and myself and DAMN if the difference wasn't very noticeable. I don't get it from a technical standpoint but then my relying on my own damn ears to decide on audio has served me very well till now so I'll go with 'hearing is believing'.

Thanks Brian, fun parlor trick and a real eye opener.