The New York Audio Show 2014-1

spl225

Super Member
The Wes Bender Studio NYC system featuring Zesto electronics with Maarten speakers, the Gershman Acoustics system, the Hegel/Gamut system and Audio Note speaker.
 

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Those racks in the first two pictures are to die for. Do you know who makes them? I'm sure they are waaaaay beyond my budget.
 
Nice racks!

The racks in our room at the show are Stillpoints ESS Racks. Not only are they gorgeous, but they incorporate a lot of technology which raises the level of performance of the components mounted upon them. :thmbsp:
 
I like those Maarten speakers.

Many thanks Wasatch. We feel they are representative of a speaker that while not inexpensive, is attainable. $23k is a stretch for most of us, but $200k is most likely an impossible stretch!

As for their performance -- I think they did very well in the room we had at the Marriott. Our experience doing MANY MANY shows is that most hotel rooms are over damped and end up manifesting a very boomy and tubby bass hump. We're careful therefore NOT to put too large of a speaker in a show system we're auditioning, but rather do the math and try as best as possible to attain a synergy between the room and the system. It was therefore truly surprising that the Marriott's rooms are underdamped which lead to much of the bass energy getting through the walls! That said, all things considered, the SINGLE 8" ceramic Accuton woofer in each Getz 2 speaker availed themselves very well. In fact, we had several world class engineers in our suite (one is a legendary 6 time grammy winning producer / engineer) the other two are also highly distinguished in their field. Both of the latter brought recent LPs they'd officiated on. One was Tom Petty's latest "Hypnotic Eye" (which debuted at #1 on the charts) and the other Vanessa Fernandez's "Use Me" (a STUNNING 45RPM double LP from Groove Note records). All three music veterans expressed how delighted they were with the sound and performance we offered up. The grammy winner asserted that our room had the best transient response of the entire show. High praise for us and of course an honor coming from this veteran.

Anyway, all of that said, anyone who's exhibited in an audio show can attest to how difficult it is to get great sound in a hotel room -- and this all has to happen within the several hours preceding the show opening up (load in all of your gear, unbox everything, setup, etc). One can spend days, weeks and even months tweaking ones own system to perfection. Try doing it in a day or less!

Finally, thanks to all who came by and for the wonderful show of support via emails, texts and phone calls. Duly noted and truly appreciated!
 
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Sorry to disappoint you, but these speakers do not represent any value to customer. They just do not sound for the price. For me B&W802Di or Thiel 3.7 (both brands were NOT at the show) represent much better VALUE. Actually there were not many speakers at the show which could be called outstanding - MBL, Focal and much less expensive Sony. There rest just don't sound good enough to justify the asking price. There were few really affordable speakers though, like in Well Rounded Sound and (surprise) HSU rooms. But the rest were like exercises of speaker designers, where price could only be justified by right to own one of a kind unit.
 
Sorry to disappoint you, but these speakers do not represent any value to customer. They just do not sound for the price. For me B&W802Di or Thiel 3.7 (both brands were NOT at the show) represent much better VALUE. Actually there were not many speakers at the show which could be called outstanding - MBL, Focal and much less expensive Sony. There rest just don't sound good enough to justify the asking price. There were few really affordable speakers though, like in Well Rounded Sound and (surprise) HSU rooms. But the rest were like exercises of speaker designers, where price could only be justified by right to own one of a kind unit.

I'm trying to play nice here... You're certainly entitled to your opinion, but given that we all hear differently and have different ideas as to what constitutes good sound or a good value; if the effort we worked so hard to produce for the show attendees didn't float your own personal boat, fine. Move on! It's all relative. We chose to show a speaker that in the world of high-end audio is considered by MANY to be "reasonable". There were speakers shown at the show that cost upwards of 20X what ours did (such as the Focal speakers you mention). Bottom line is that we worked very hard and spent a lot of money to exhibit at the show. We had a wonderful response from many folks who attended the show. We were happy to play LPs or discs from anyone who asked. If it wasn't great, oh well! Next... Many came back multiple times (if what we were playing wasn't to their taste or perhaps was being played too loud or too soft, etc) and I even received several phone calls after the show from complete strangers who wanted to express how much they enjoyed our room. So all of that said, I'm sorry we weren't able to impress YOU. Perhaps next time?!? :scratch2:
 
I'm trying to play nice here... You're certainly entitled to your opinion, but given that we all hear differently and have different ideas as to what constitutes good sound or a good value; if the effort we worked so hard to produce for the show attendees didn't float your own personal boat, fine. Move on! It's all relative. We chose to show a speaker that in the world of high-end audio is considered by MANY to be "reasonable". There were speakers shown at the show that cost upwards of 20X what ours did (such as the Focal speakers you mention). Bottom line is that we worked very hard and spent a lot of money to exhibit at the show. We had a wonderful response from many folks who attended the show. We were happy to play LPs or discs from anyone who asked. If it wasn't great, oh well! Next... Many came back multiple times (if what we were playing wasn't to their taste or perhaps was being played too loud or too soft, etc) and I even received several phone calls after the show from complete strangers who wanted to express how much they enjoyed our room. So all of that said, I'm sorry we weren't able to impress YOU. Perhaps next time?!? :scratch2:
I didn't say your room had poor sound. It actually was better than many. I simply didn't hear better music from your setup than can be achieved with $5-8K speakers and $3K electronics from more mainstream brands.
 
I invite you to put your money where your mouth is and kindly bring your system to the show next year! Easy thing to hurl opinionated criticism from the comfort of ones computer chair -- another thing entirely to bring the goods and please everyone in attendance... As for the speakers and electronics we presented in our exhibitor room at the show -- well we believe they constitute an extraordinary value at their price points. True, $24k is no ones idea of inexpensive or cheap, but compared to others costing many times more, they punch WAY above their weight. Even more so for the electronics!
 
I invite you to put your money where your mouth is and kindly bring your system to the show next year! Easy thing to hurl opinionated criticism from the comfort of ones computer chair -- another thing entirely to bring the goods and please everyone in attendance... As for the speakers and electronics we presented in our exhibitor room at the show -- well we believe they constitute an extraordinary value at their price points. True, $24k is no ones idea of inexpensive or cheap, but compared to others costing many times more, they punch WAY above their weight. Even more so for the electronics!
You didn't understand - I am not a maker or seller of hi-fi gear. I get my bread with butter (and occasionaly caviar) with money made in unrelated business. So my opinion is from buyer's perspective. You and others compete for my money when bring your stuff to the exibition.
 
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