It's a good time, but the rooms are too big or too small, and everything is being played with tracks that make any speaker sound good. Despite this fact, there were a few rooms that sounded just awful, not matter of taste wrong, but just plain bad, and some that were very good like the Odyssey room.
I had a blast in my one day visit. I was up for about 22.5 hrs pillow to pillow.
I took some photos of some of the more notables I experienced... in no particular order.... Forgot to others...
I liked the new Seas carbon fiber drivers. See more info in the Seas thread...Regretfully, I did not snap a photo.
Troels Ellipticor 4 ways were also present (shipped in by SS) but I only heard those at low volume.
I did not snap a photo of CSS Typhon ($5.5k), but those really sound great.
PE is soon to release a new speaker line called "Signature", that has been in the works to fill in the gaps left by Tymphany Peerless as they slowly MOQ into OEM only territory. They are close copies of the HDS frames with a different mounting ring. Performance has been Klippeled.
The Estelons were HUGE, like 7.5 footers. I had no idea they were that big. ($200k+) They sounded very good.
The Xylon Yamahas ($15k) were one of the better sounding pair present. I got to see the dome drivers and their tuned chambers, as well as the cabinet cutaway, damping tube, and xovers.
The BAYZ "C-tubes" sounded ($160k) excellent as well. A pair of Satori 9.5 woofers, and a tubular AMT between them really integrated well, and were very dynamic. I spoke with the designer and inventor of the tweeter/speaker to glean how it operated. Very well done!
MoFi 8", the new model ($3k) were present. I did not get to hear the 10 ($4k) Wow. These really are the stuff. Controlled, focused, and clean. If you purchase a commercial pair out there, these are worth the asking price and more. Andrew Jones has delivered the goods here, and I like them more than anything else I have heard from him in the past.
Triangle Art had a speaker called Metis, with an AE 15", a Beyma TPL150, and an unidentified horn loaded wide range for the mid. The clarity in the lower mids was really good, and the speaker as a whole was no slouch. I think they are meant for near wall placement, as they were basically setup that way.
Goble speakers sound very dynamic and clean, but you'll need a forklift to move them. I was surprised how good they sounded.
Clarisys dipolar panels really need to be seen and heard to be believed. I heard the 'little' ones yesterday ($33.5k), and they are so clean and transparent. I heard the Auditorium ($140k) edition a few years back, and the bass those were capable of was astounding and made the large room shudder.
Several ATC models were present and I really like the 3" mids every time I hear them. The powered 100 was quite good, but i felt the driver integration was just shy of where I prefer. The handoff was noticeable mid to tweeter. I think it was the 50 I felt lacked bass warmth, and the 11 was was good. The 11 would likely benefit from a larger cabinet as well as a slightly larger or lower capable reaching tweeter. I'm critically splitting hairs here, as they all sound good.
Of speakers with offset tweeters I see little rhyme or reason (in or out) in set-up? First thought based upon size of room (i.e. to accommodate seating layout width) and hence little to be learned for home set-up. It does appear (to some extent) in the larger rooms where inside (i.e. ATCs) speakers set with less toe-in than rooms with outside placed tweeters??? Maybe something to think about at diy get togethers.
I really liked the Typhon from CSS. The active ATC was very good as well. The rooms are well, the rooms and not a great placement for most of these speakers of any size. The theme of TMWW ala the Typhon was very present throughout many of the rooms.
There was of course much of the "snake oil" as far as cables and risers, etc but seemed to be less than years past. Seeing some of the amps from an engineering and build perspective regardless of the cost was really something. While way, way beyond my own budget, I was really impressed with the quality and thought of engineering in the Gryphon Audio amps. True dual mono with twin 20amp (!) power inputs with speaker connections akin to a battery terminal! And serious heft (445lbs!)
Of note, there were no Purifi drivers present that I saw at the show, but apparently we missed the 11th floor and one huge set of rooms somewhere due to running out of time. I would have thought they would be at least somewhere in some design.
Used to be Endeavor Audio, but Von Schweikert bought them, added a SS Be tweeter and doubled the asking price. Kinda weird; Be SS, HiVi L6, and a pair of RS180s. FWIW, they do sound good.
@Wolf said:
Used to be Endeavor Audio, but Von Schweikert bought them, added a SS Be tweeter and doubled the asking price. Kinda weird; Be SS, HiVi L6, and a pair of RS180s. FWIW, they do sound good.
Maybe it’s the ambience tweeter in the back, that make them worth twice the money. Lol.
All the boxed concepts have been done to death. Going to one of these shows is sobering.
The thoughts I have are 1) I ain't missing anything 2) If I AM going to buy something, it may as well be something I can't be bothered building, like a minimum diffraction concept like a Sonus Faber or Vivid, but then 3) What used to cost the price of a small automobile now costs the price of a small house. Can you afford the price of small automobile? Strictly speaking yes. Do I want to? No. I can probably do more good by donating $1K each to 10 gifted DIYers to go wild.
It's enough for you to go back to DIY audio. Or quit the whole thing altogether in protest.
Down under, Dayton RS drivers now cost MORE than (disappeared) Vifa, (disappearing) Peerless and Scan-Speak disco range. SEAS hand gluing their cones by trial and error for 2 years? Why not FEM or BEM or set up a hackathon for Norwegian college students over a weekend?
And that coaxial driver that has been in development by SB... well that thing has been in and out of lab for 5 years.
Comments
Too big for the room, they were bloated in the bass, but the rest of the spectrum was good.
That's a lot of eye candy! Beautiful stuff. Too bad some of those rooms were so small.
It's a good time, but the rooms are too big or too small, and everything is being played with tracks that make any speaker sound good. Despite this fact, there were a few rooms that sounded just awful, not matter of taste wrong, but just plain bad, and some that were very good like the Odyssey room.
I had a blast in my one day visit. I was up for about 22.5 hrs pillow to pillow.
I took some photos of some of the more notables I experienced... in no particular order.... Forgot to others...
I liked the new Seas carbon fiber drivers. See more info in the Seas thread...Regretfully, I did not snap a photo.
Troels Ellipticor 4 ways were also present (shipped in by SS) but I only heard those at low volume.
I did not snap a photo of CSS Typhon ($5.5k), but those really sound great.
PE is soon to release a new speaker line called "Signature", that has been in the works to fill in the gaps left by Tymphany Peerless as they slowly MOQ into OEM only territory. They are close copies of the HDS frames with a different mounting ring. Performance has been Klippeled.
The Estelons were HUGE, like 7.5 footers. I had no idea they were that big. ($200k+) They sounded very good.
The Xylon Yamahas ($15k) were one of the better sounding pair present. I got to see the dome drivers and their tuned chambers, as well as the cabinet cutaway, damping tube, and xovers.
The BAYZ "C-tubes" sounded ($160k) excellent as well. A pair of Satori 9.5 woofers, and a tubular AMT between them really integrated well, and were very dynamic. I spoke with the designer and inventor of the tweeter/speaker to glean how it operated. Very well done!
MoFi 8", the new model ($3k) were present. I did not get to hear the 10 ($4k) Wow. These really are the stuff. Controlled, focused, and clean. If you purchase a commercial pair out there, these are worth the asking price and more. Andrew Jones has delivered the goods here, and I like them more than anything else I have heard from him in the past.
Triangle Art had a speaker called Metis, with an AE 15", a Beyma TPL150, and an unidentified horn loaded wide range for the mid. The clarity in the lower mids was really good, and the speaker as a whole was no slouch. I think they are meant for near wall placement, as they were basically setup that way.
Goble speakers sound very dynamic and clean, but you'll need a forklift to move them. I was surprised how good they sounded.
Clarisys dipolar panels really need to be seen and heard to be believed. I heard the 'little' ones yesterday ($33.5k), and they are so clean and transparent. I heard the Auditorium ($140k) edition a few years back, and the bass those were capable of was astounding and made the large room shudder.
Several ATC models were present and I really like the 3" mids every time I hear them. The powered 100 was quite good, but i felt the driver integration was just shy of where I prefer. The handoff was noticeable mid to tweeter. I think it was the 50 I felt lacked bass warmth, and the 11 was was good. The 11 would likely benefit from a larger cabinet as well as a slightly larger or lower capable reaching tweeter. I'm critically splitting hairs here, as they all sound good.
Another company I had not heard of that was pretty darn impressive was these. Korean source, and used 32dB/Oct elec slopes. The 4ways called Nostalgia Jr really impressed me.
https://m.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=180616597397220&id=100063466419566
InDIYana Event Website
Wolfy's Photobucket
I'll second that the new CSS speaker is excellent. Well done guys.
The DIY project pad room.
I'll also say the Dali had one fizzy zingy planar. Sounded awful.
InDIYana Event Website
Wolfy's Photobucket
Cabinet work was impeccable, though!
Of speakers with offset tweeters I see little rhyme or reason (in or out) in set-up? First thought based upon size of room (i.e. to accommodate seating layout width) and hence little to be learned for home set-up. It does appear (to some extent) in the larger rooms where inside (i.e. ATCs) speakers set with less toe-in than rooms with outside placed tweeters??? Maybe something to think about at diy get togethers.
Thank you guys for your pictures and comments.
Those shows really get the mind moving.
I really liked the Typhon from CSS. The active ATC was very good as well. The rooms are well, the rooms and not a great placement for most of these speakers of any size. The theme of TMWW ala the Typhon was very present throughout many of the rooms.
There was of course much of the "snake oil" as far as cables and risers, etc but seemed to be less than years past. Seeing some of the amps from an engineering and build perspective regardless of the cost was really something. While way, way beyond my own budget, I was really impressed with the quality and thought of engineering in the Gryphon Audio amps. True dual mono with twin 20amp (!) power inputs with speaker connections akin to a battery terminal! And serious heft (445lbs!)
Of note, there were no Purifi drivers present that I saw at the show, but apparently we missed the 11th floor and one huge set of rooms somewhere due to running out of time. I would have thought they would be at least somewhere in some design.
InDIYana Event Website
Wolfy's Photobucket
I seen none either, except for one in the madisound room
Was this from the Madisound room?
Ben,
Did you get a chance to listen to the Vivid Audio?
We did. They sounded great imo. They are just ugly lol. Crazy expensive for the room. Somewhere around 350k before cables.
Dairy Queen curls.
InDIYana Event Website
Wolfy's Photobucket
Lol when I saw those in the photo I thought they were props from the Beetlejuice movie.
I genuinely felt embarrassment for whoever buys those. But hey, if ya got that kind of money and taste I doubt you give a damn what I think.
Only 25k a pair.
Used to be Endeavor Audio, but Von Schweikert bought them, added a SS Be tweeter and doubled the asking price. Kinda weird; Be SS, HiVi L6, and a pair of RS180s. FWIW, they do sound good.
InDIYana Event Website
Wolfy's Photobucket
Maybe it’s the ambience tweeter in the back, that make them worth twice the money. Lol.
And you get a free bowl of soup when you buy a suit like that guy's.
All the boxed concepts have been done to death. Going to one of these shows is sobering.
The thoughts I have are 1) I ain't missing anything 2) If I AM going to buy something, it may as well be something I can't be bothered building, like a minimum diffraction concept like a Sonus Faber or Vivid, but then 3) What used to cost the price of a small automobile now costs the price of a small house. Can you afford the price of small automobile? Strictly speaking yes. Do I want to? No. I can probably do more good by donating $1K each to 10 gifted DIYers to go wild.
It's enough for you to go back to DIY audio. Or quit the whole thing altogether in protest.
Down under, Dayton RS drivers now cost MORE than (disappeared) Vifa, (disappearing) Peerless and Scan-Speak disco range. SEAS hand gluing their cones by trial and error for 2 years? Why not FEM or BEM or set up a hackathon for Norwegian college students over a weekend?
And that coaxial driver that has been in development by SB... well that thing has been in and out of lab for 5 years.
/rant off
He needs a bow tie, and I don't mean a Chevy.
I would love to hear some of the weird looking horn speakers. They just don't seem like they would sound good, but obviously someone is buying them.
The horn loaded mid in the Metis was really resolving.
The Avangarde amplified setup sounded really good.
The others there, meh.
InDIYana Event Website
Wolfy's Photobucket
Thanks for taking the time to share with the community @hifiside and Ben and crew. I really wanted to go but just not in the budget these days.
I think I spy Wolf in the background at 12:25 in this video -