Stereomojo took SEVEN of our 15 staffers to Denver for this exciting event .
Left to right:
Steve Ham - California, Headphones Editor
Ryan Scott - Media Editor,
William Schuchard, Massachusetts - Reviewer
Linda Darby - Florida - Finance & Wife Factor Editor
James Darby - Florida - Publisher
Danny Richie, Texas - Technical Editor
Clark Hertz, Saskatchewan, Canada - Canadian Editor
We think RMAF is the best
audiophile show on the planet, featuring hundreds of the best in two-channel audio.
The event was well attended with thousands of music lovers from around the world.
Our coverage will be ongoing and updated over the next several days as each reviewer contributes their pictures and comments, so check back often.
Our coverage begins with
- Part One -
To our readers: Please be aware that any comments about how a speaker sounds is based on what they sounded like in an unfamilair, sometimes bad sounding room with components that may or may not be a good match. In addition, changes are always being made to systems as the show progresses to improve the sound of the room and/or the product. Therefore, if one reviewer hears a room on the first day and another at a later time, the real sound could be much different. In addition, if one reviewer hears a system when the room is crowded and another when it is empty, the sound would definitely be different. So, take any comments with a large grain of salt - they are just brief impressions and observations and not full reviews. That's why we try to get as many interesting products fully reviewed for you as possible - publisher.
This speaker is no new I was told it was the very first out of Germany. They said it only had three hours time on it so its full potential had not nearly been reached. It had barely arrived in time for the show.
This new speaker called the C8 Renaissance ($9,500) is a bit of a departure for the German company Ascendo (pronounced "ah-SKIN-doh") in that all the drivers are within the cabinet. On the past a ribbon has been sticking out somewhere, usually on top. This time it's on the back. Given the utter beauty and expensive furniture grade glossy finish, the look is an improvement and much more wife friendly.
The conception of the speaker utilizes a switch able backfiring ribbon. This unit optimizes spectral inhomogeneous decay times: The system offers two complementary modes of operation: a
hemisphere mode and a dipole mode which are switch able so the unit is either a three way or four way.
Thought technically a stand mount, at about 40" tall it is large enough to be classed a floorstander.
Bass is said to extend down to 29 Hz. It has connectors to facilitate bi-wiring.
JD: Mark Schifter and our own Danny Richie strike again with yet another great sounding speaker at an incredible bargain price from AV123.com. This time they tackle the open baffle concept with great success. The X-Static was smooth with room filling response and a huge sound stage.
The x-statik features a 2" front baffle and a 1” braced, high quality MDF cabinet
designed to minimize enclosure resonances. They are then wrapped in a real wood
veneer or beautifully finished in a silky-smooth satin black. The hand finished x-series
speakers are right at home with fine furniture, and look far more expensive than their
price suggests.
Housed in this beautiful enclosure are a pair custom built Peerless India 6.5" curvilinear
shaped treated paper cones along with an all new Peerless India fabric dome tweeter –
all in an open baffle alignment. Below this combination is another pair of Peerless India
6.5” woofers in a sealed enclosure. These custom made drive units use a polymer
chassis to prevent transmission of resonances to the front baffle. The voice coil of the
driver is vented on the outside through the frame and pole piece for improved reliability
and power handling. The crossover features high quality components including Sonicap
bypass capacitors.
Specifications
• Price: $699 per pair for Satin Black. $799 per pair in real wood finishes. $899 per
pair in real wood finishes with diamond clear coat (high gloss)
• System: Three way, five driver open baffle/sealed hybrid
• Drivers: 1" treated fabric dome and 4x custom 6.5" curvilinear shaped treated
paper cone woofers with polymer chassis
• Crossover: 200Hz and 1800Hz
• Frequency Response: 65 Hz to 20 KHz (± 3 dB)
• Impedance: 8 Ohms nominal
• Efficiency: 90.5dB (@ 1 watt / 1 meter)
• Dimensions: 46.7" H x 8.5" W x 16.5" D
• Weight: 57 lbs each; ship weight = 158 lbs (shipped in pairs)
• 3 Year Warranty
Add the new X-Plosive sub for only $399.
Steve Ham: Next up was Benchmark Media and Studio Electric sharing a room, with Studio Electric's entry-level Type 3 speakers ($7.9K) being driven by their Electrodyne Type EA2 dual-mono hybrid amp ($5.9K) and sourced by the Benchmark DAC1 ($999) with a Sony CD player as transport. The speakers certainly looked cool with a steel mid-sphere on top containing the mid-range driver. The bass of these speakers was their most impressive aspect, it went down deep yet wasn't sluggish and remained controlled at all times. The bassy music running through them made it easy to hear that they went down to at least 30 Hz if not lower. A very good clear sound overall, though the mid-range did seem a bit recessed and it seemed there was some unnatural chamber-type resonance occurring within the speakers.
Bill Schuchard: Studio Electric was playing their T3 ($7,900) through one of their hybrid amplifiers delivering rich yet airy sound. Part of the front end was the Benchmark DAC1 USB for which I have submitted my review. We're just waiting for JD to get off his duff and publish it!
JD: Bill, my duff has been preparing, editing and writing this show report. It takes time to plough through hundreds of pictures and pages of notes from all you guys.
I've talked to Jim McPherson several times at various shows and on the phone and via email. He's a very interesting guy - a guy who masters recordings for one. He makes very interesting speakers and amps, too.They always sound good, though I have the sneaking suspicion they would sound much better in a real listening room (like mine) than in a hotel. Hopefully I'll get the chance to see one day.
Now here's something that made no sense to me or anyone else I talked to. B&W had a very large suite at the show. The biggest part of it was taken up by a system featuring these speakers. They price out at $18,000 a pair. As you can see, they are not particularly large or sophisticated looking. Nice enclosures, to be sure, but $18,000? But here's the real kicker; they only made 500 pairs of these and according to the B&W rep they are all already sold. Now why take up all that expensive space to show a speaker that no one can buy? Besides that, even driven by the classy Classe' monos, the sound was not all that great.
B&W has done just fine without our advice, so who are we to talk. Someone 'splain this to us.
Bill Schuchard: Proclaim brought a pair of their $26,000 speakers in black. They looked like the folks who build the "magic 8 ball" were having a little fun but sounded absolutely stunning delivering a full orchestral sound with ease.
JD: Dan Herrington PROCLAIM-ING the gospel of his very unique speakers. I have had the privilege of hearing these a few times and for long periods of time. As you can see, the speakers are not all that big and don't take up a lot of space, but their sound is HUGE. The soundstage they throw is ginormous. Instruments and voices are easily discerned with no strain on the listener's part at all. Dan is one of the coolest guys in audio. Especially considering he has NINE children. I know several dealers had told him that these speakers blow away the megabuck big names they have in their stores, but politics plays a big part in what your local dealers display. It's not always the best for the money. For instance, they absolutely SMOKED the $18,000 B&W's above.
These have been featured in such magazines as Wired, Home Entertainment and several European mags, and for good reason; they are very high tech. The top two globes are mounted on fully articulating arms than can be raised or lowered and moved side to side to tune each pair for your individual room. Each globe also swivels for the same reason. But the tech doesn't stop there. Dan has designed an external crossover that allows each driver to be voiced perfectly, too. I don't know of ANY other speaker that has the versatility such as this. Perhaps that's why everyone who's heard them on their home has bought them. And every dealer who has had the fortitude to brave the pressure from the big mega companies and put these in their stores have bought a pair for their own use. There has to be a place for these. They are to good not to be heard - and bought.
High times in the Mile High. Plus 500 feet or so.
JD: Roy Johnston is one of our favorite industry people and the genius behind the very popular Green Mountain speakers. Not new, but consistently excellent are his Calypso models which feature cast synthetic marble enclosures. They look a bit futuristic, but their sound is down to earth.
Bill Schuchard: Dali loudspeakers were showing off their Helicon 400 loudspeakers ($6,300 pr) with a beautiful finish and sound. One of our reviewers noticed that his local dealer is sold out of the entire Helicon line upon returning home from the show.
JD: As you can see, Dali speakers come with very fine, highly polished
curved cabinets. Bi-amped by twin Cary120's (review coming), the Helicons sounded dynamic and refined.
Bill Schuchard: The Emerald Physics C2 ($2,995) is a dipole speaker with controlled directivity on the top end. The sound in their room was quite good even with no treatments.
JD: Open baffle time at Emerald Physics. They look at bit stark, but there's some high tech here, too. There is actually a computer built into each speaker that uses DSP to control amplitude, active crossover and time alignment. They may look like single drivers, but there are actually 4 drivers in each speaker, including a 1" compression, a 12" acoustic waveguide and TWO 15" bass pulp-cone woofers hiding in back! They claim to be 100 db sensitive as well. They also say the DSP correction allows them to reproduce 22-22,000 Hz. They also say that the technology makes them very room independent.
Clark Hertz: The Swedes sure know how to Rock. After serving up herring and lefse SJOFN HIFI started dishing out infected mushroom, not on plates but on the CD player. This California based group's music filled the room with Club style percussive room filling bass from their small stand mounted GURU QM10 speakers($2000). What these speakers do to bottom end betters half of the floor mounted speakers at the show. They mentioned a fun teaser contest they were running at the New York show, the person that finds the subwoofer wins a set of QM10's. Of course there wasn't a subwoofer in the room but everyone thought there was. The big brother QM40 ($10,000) was ready to party all night long with extension to 20hz and sounding like it. The method of using a helmholtz resonator chamber and a slotted port helps the bottom end out. Friday night the Swedes invited showgoers to their store where the designer of the GURU speakers gave a one hour talk on acoustics and speaker design.
JD: These are the Gurus from the Swedish company Sjofn Hifi. We saw and heard them at the New York show. We weren't that impressed and we said so in our show report. That did not sit well with the Guru folks. They wrote to me that what I said was not accurate. Here's what we said then:
Andrew: Guru speakers from Sweden. Approx 1 cubic foot, with 5 inch mid bass and small tweeter. Slot loaded. $1850 per pair. Played lots of low bass, didn’t sound too bad. Used Sjofen electronics at $400 per box.
Still, this money buys Maggie 1.6s or Paradigm Studio 80s. No contest.
James: These speakers were the talk of the show – if you are a Stereophile writer. At the end of the writers roundtable, almost all of them pointed to this room as the place to go. I had been there. The room was packed, not because of the great sound, but more because of the free food and booze. Ok. There was a lot of low bass and a large soundstage, but these speakers are designed to place in corners and against the wall to get that bass. Pretty limited application, but the speakers were also butt ugly. Little black boxes with no grills that looked more like a DIY prototype. At $1,850 the pair, there are several speakers here that are better sounding, better looking and can actually be used in a real room.
What was more interesting to me was the Continuo turntable sitting on a side table. Impossible to photograph because it was blocked by people inhaling Swedish Vodka and pastries, it sells for $1,200.
Okay. Here's a pic of the "old" Guru in NY. Flat black and uninspiring, particularly for a speaker near $2,000 a pair.
The new Guru here is a nice, shiny piano black. Better looking. In fact, pretty nice looking.
I had a long talk with Lars Erikson at this show. He's the US importer and a very cool guy. He confirmed that the Guru's only work against a wall. I asked what would happen if they were brought out into the room. He said, "They would sound awful".
In addition, I was told that the Gurus absolutely do NOT work with tube amps. They were designed from the ground up to be driven by SS. So actually, that makes their application even more limited than we originally though.
Let me say this: In NY, I visited the room several times and it was a mob scene each time. Impossible to get a good listen. In Denver, I got to hear the Guru's in an empty room. Linda and I were the only ones there. I even got to play the Stereomojo reference CD. We were there for a good hour or so and even ate some of the Swedish food. The verdict?
The Gurus rock! Yeah, they sound pretty darned good for their size or even larger speakers. Big, juicy sound stage and good dynamics. The low end was impressive. But then we never said they sounded bad. They don't. What we pointed out that no one else seemed to notice, is that they have a rather limited and specialized application. We wanted people to know that they are built for a specific location and if someone bought them and stuck them out in free space,they might be disappointed. The price is now $1,999. So. If you need a speaker that must sit right up against a wall, don't mind a speaker that comes in black, black or black and absolutely do not have any tube amps, the Guru may well be your speaker. It's a big sound from a small box. We would definitely like to spend some quality time with the Gurus via a review. So Lars, what do you think?
Urgent news flash! I've just received an email from Lars:
"James, before I had a chance to ship review pairs (much less customer pairs), the GURU boys informed me Sunday night that Version 2 of the QM10 will be shipping in two weeks.
It has an entirely different tweeter. After an hour's listening, I had to agree that it's even better than Version 1. Howzabout I send you a pair of Version 2 as soon as they're available? In the meantime, I'm going to tear out the rest of my hair, begin ululating cacophonously, then commit a bizarre and spectacular murder/suicide.
Psychotically,
Lars"
I told you Lars was cool. Add hilarious to that. I actually had to edit that email to spare the children; after I got through rolling on the floor laughing. I hope you "ululating" is not an obscene word in Swedish.
I guess we can add another...
JD: Here is something new and very intriguing. No, they aren't Magnaplaners. They are not ribbons or electrostats.
They are one solid sheet of honeycombed material with mylar laminate on either side. The sound is produced by a series of small "exciters"strategically placed (tuned) to resonate the panels. Very unique. When I sat down to listen, the speakers were positioned normally, facing front in a stereo pair. The sound was spacious and detailed with a large, deep soundstage. Dr. Shelley Katz, the gentleman you see pictured, then asked me to close my eyes. I heard the sound sound move around a bit, then go back to exactly as it was. When he told me to open my eyes, the speakers were turned as you see them in the picture - pointed in different directions.
Amazingly, they still projected the same perfect soundstage with a strong center image and the other qualities described! Not only are they not plagued by the usual panel speaker super narrow sweet spot, being omni-directional, the whole room is a sweet spot. How accurate were they? Hard to tell in a hotel room, but the sound was impressive to say the least.
Shelley is a graduate of the Julliard School of Music, so he knows what real music sounds like. For me, they were the most impressive new speaker at the show. I can't wait to get my hands and ears on them at home.
SH: The speakers on display in this room were its recent Podium Model .5 (yes, that's "point five"). Flat-panel in design but not electrostatic according to Podium Sound's director & designer Dr. Shelley Katz. These speakers instead use a linear transducer to create sound, which can be shaped into any form - a straight line, or a curve, or even a square. No phase shift either - whether Dr. Katz was standing in front of the speakers or not, or whether the left panel was rotated or not, the speakers maintained identical imaging at all times. And the soundstage was startling - I can easily say that these speakers had the best soundstage at the show. Not only was it wide, it also went thoroughly deep that you could believe you were in a huge auditorium. And the elements of sound were impeccably clean and detailed. I was extremely impressed and did not hear any other speakers at the show with as big a soundstage. The .5 runs for $5955.
JD: What you see here are the mighty LS9's by our own Danny Richie of GR Research. Because of a potential conflict of interest, we really can't say much about them. What I can say is that I have a pair of the smaller LS6's on order, choosing them over the 9's in deference to Linda who I thought might prefer something not quite so imposing as the nine-foot tall monoliths, but when my she heard the big LS9's, she said, "Can we get THESE instead?" Twelve woofers and nine ribbons in a line array with fine cabinetry. Can you guess how much they might cost? Twenty thousand maybe? Try $6,000 per pair, available in several finishes from AV123, or you can by the DIY kit and build them yourself, or, like one of our other reviewers, have the cabinets custom made any way you want. There are even circuit upgrades available.
JD: The LS6's are just a bit smaller but have the same sonic qualities for only $3,000 from AV123 or also sold as a kit by GR Research.
You can read our world's first, exclusive review of these highly anticipated (and strongly pre-ordered) speakers here:
Link to our review The DIY kit is available now, but the finished speakers will be available "soon".
Clark Hertz: Dodd Audio were showing off their stunning line of tube electronics (an amazing bargin at $30,00 -$50,000 for rhe 275 pound monsters) with the great sounding AV123 LS6 line array speakers.
JD: Santy Oropel, owner of Twin Audio who distributes Triode tube amps and Micropure speakers among others, had the amazing Micropure Kotaro (smallest speaker in the above picture) playing in front of Triode's new monoblocks. We are used to hearing amazing sound coming from small boxes, but this was still startling. The sound was so clean and pure it was almost besmearing. Vocals were so big, bold and organic it was pure pleasure listening to them. We listened to every speaker in the room, all larger than the Kotaro.We all liked the smallest one best. The fit and finish is outstanding as well, made by craftsmen in Japan who also make expensive musical instruments and music boxes. At $2,600the pair, they aren't cheap, but neither is the sound they exude.
Canadian Editor (from Saskatoon) Clark Hertz gets the lowdown on the tiny wonder.
JD: Reference Audio Mods is a company known mainly for their modifications of existing products such as CD players. They seem to have gone into the battery business as well since their room featured 800 lbs of them, wrapped in some nice wood cabinets. Good current is always a problem at these shows, but RAM licked it by powering their entire system with batteries. Batteries powered their modified Reimyo CD player, too. You can read for yourself what they did to the player which already sells for $14,000. I don't know...if you have to spend $12,000 to modify a $14,000 cd player... They do mods of the popular Oppo players as well. Usually you can choose what level of mods you want - and how much you want to pay. Some of their prices seem like a pretty good bargain. Despite the batteries, the sound in this room was not the best I heard at the show, even through a pair of $37k speakers.
Steve Ham: Reference Audio Mods, the SoCal dealer for Tonian Labs, who had on display the Tonian Acoustics TL-M1 MKII, a $37K pair of speakers. The image it projected seemed more up front than laid back which helped to make it sound warm and engaging, but at the expense of overall clarity, as it didn't sound very detailed.
Steve Ham: Also on the lobby floor but in a different area was McIntosh Labs, showing off its brand-new $35K XRT1K speakers sourced by one of their universal-format players. These speakers were probably the next most impressive for me at the show after the Podium Sound .5. Though there was more soundstage width than depth, the overall sound was tonally very rich and very textured. Acoustic bass had a snap that made it sound like you could reach out and grab it, almost as if you could taste it even. Harmonically warm, there was just an overload of fullness and body, with a lusciously enveloping sound. They sounded like speakers for those who prefer intimate late-night listening.
JD: When I think of McIntosh, I don't think of speakers. I've never cared much for their sound or their prices. Their amps, of course, are a different story. I like their classic looks and their classic sound. These new speakers are the first I've heard from this company that sounded alive. These sounded good. $35k good? Well, my wallet stayed firmly planted to my hip. But if you already have an all McSystem and want to match speakers to it, here's a good way to do it.
Steve Ham: Next to McIntosh was Classic Audio Reproductions with the Project T-1.3 speakers, $16.5K. They use 15" TAD 1601B and 1602 woofers along with an ET 703 super tweeter. The bass was the first thing I noticed - it was deep, powerful, and visceral. A bit too over-the-top in fact, as it seemed to buzz through the floor and gave an outstanding floor-shaking effect. Clearly a pair of speakers for bass-heads. On the other hand, when listened to up-close it seemed to have too little treble quantity in comparison to the bass.
JD: Yet another horn loaded speaker. I told them it reminded me of the old ElectroVoice "Voice of the Theater" which was the PA speaker of choice for many bands in the 70's and 80's. (I've spend many a miserable hour lugging them around the US) Most movie theaters used them hidden behind the screens up until the last few years, too. The 15" TAD bass driver they use is one of the best in the biz, though, and it sounded like it. The big upper horn didn't match the quality of the woofs for me.
Steve Ham: Selah Audio & Moon Audio were sharing a room, with Selah's Galena speakers ($4895) being driven by the Original CD-2008-MKII CDP, Moon Audio Level 3-modded ($1.8K). As for the Galena speakers, they had a sharp crystalline treble with a solid bass foundation, with accurate mids. A laid back sound to it, though there could've been more snap and speed to the mid-bass as it sounded a bit slow.
JD: $4,895 is more like it. Especially since that includes shipping to the lower 48. This is the first time I've heard the Selahs and I came away impressed. Nice cabinetry work and there are several more finishes available we're told. The sound was nicely crafted as well with the ribbons smoothing out the high end. Female vocals were more laid back than forward, but that could be the room. We'll see if we can get a pair for review. Selah makes 9 different speakers at different pricepoints. A line worth exploring.
Specifications:
Design 3-way
Response 32-20K (+/-3db)
Bass Extension F10 (-10db)22hz
Sensitivity(db/2.83v/1M)85db
Impedance(average/minimum)4/3.9 ohms
JD: The Red Phantoms! They really are a bit phantomish because there is as yet no name and no specific price for these. We need to tell you that our own Ryan Scott designed and built these. We have some pretty knowledgeable staffers, huh?
Ryan asked me for an honest evaluation - a non-biased opinion. I can tell you what I told him and you can judge whether I was being biased or not. I told him they were incredibly dynamic and at the levels he was playing them (LOUD) they hung together very well - no signs of distortion or breakup. Very clean. I was surprised at the massive soundstage they threw, particularly in a small hotel room. When he told me they were not even broken in yet, I was more surprised. They look good, but not up to the best commercial grade products at the show. He agreed and pointed out the external crossover which was housed in a wooden cigar box. He still has more work to do on them. Of course, he can do most any color or finish you want. Though no price is set, he's thinking between three and four grand. Not bad. There's a slab of real marble between the upper and lower cabinets. Does he have a viable product here? Well, I certainly heard a lot worse at the show. For more money, too. I mentioned I was concerned at how they might sound over time - maybe a little fatiguing? He said they had been listening to them for many hours in that room and no problems yet. Worth keeping an eye on these (and Ryan) for sure.
Steve Ham: After hanging out at the hotel and having dinner with some fellow StereoMojo staffers, several hours later Balanced Power Technologies' Ryan Scott let a small group of us into its room for a demo of a pair of dipole speakers he'd designed. Not yet named or priced but finished in a very attractive red wood, it was quiet which enabled us to get a serious listen, and the speakers were indeed very impressive. It threw a deep soundstage at center point that made it feel like the music was just outside the window. It also seemed accurate and gave clean sound all the way up and down.
Ryan Scott: Unquestionably THE BEST speakers here. Absolutely smoked everything at the show!
JD: Um....Ryan....These were YOUR speakers.
Ryan Scott: Oh. Right. Well....uh...how do you like the red?
Bill Schuchard: Odyssey Audio brought the Syren ($1,795) speakers which delivered a rather wide soundstage and also superb center focus. They took the time to set up an entire system which cost $3,600 for me to hear. This seems, at the surface, to be quite the value.
JD: The Odyssey Lorelei is a two-way ported design that comes in a variety of finishes sporting a 1" dome and a 6.8 midbass they say goes down to 32Hz. At the price they are ok, though nothing extraordinary - at least in that room. Their amps are something else again. Looks like some extreme values here. The big monoblocks are 180 watts a piece for only $2,395 per pair. We need to get some of these for review.
Bill Schuchard: The Merlin room had the VSM MXe at $10,500 delivering very musical sound in a package the wives won't complain about. An added bonus was meeting Bobby Palkovic and being able to ask him questions.
JD: As Bill discovered, talking to Bobby Palkovic is an experience in itself. He is one of the most knowledgeable men in audio and he enjoys sharing his experience; something I have taken advantage of several times. All Bobby does is continue to develop his speakers to the point of near perfection.The VSM's have never sounded anything less than wonderful at any show, regardless of the room or other conditions. He has won many "Best of Show" awards over the years and rightfully so. He has also won numerous awards for his creations from publications all over the world. There is a reason for all of that - his speakers are a joy and first class in every respect - just like Bobby himself. We'll be reviewing his smaller TSM's early next year.
JD: This was my first listen to the JM Reynaud line and I can see why they have a cult following. Their sound is smooth as French silk and as tasty and full-bodied with a long finish as a French Cabernet Sauvignon.
Very easy on the ears. The floorstanders at left are the Cantabile Signatures which feature an unbaffled silk dome tweeter in a wooden head and two 5.2" woofers made of carbon and Kevlar which produce a published frequency response of 40 - 22,000 Hz with 91 db efficiency. A lot of sound for $3,200.
The stand mounteds are the Offrande Signatures at $6,500. Their sound was at once romantic but with a solid foundation and not the over lush sound of a true romantic. Exceedingly musical, refined and elegant with some serious power handling. They will rock you as well as romance you. I left wanting to hear much more of these.
Bill Schuchard: VMPS brought their V60 speakers ($9,000-$10,000) delivering beautiful sound with a bit of that "head in a vice" feeling.
JD: I'm not sure what "head in a vice feeling" means, but my head was definitely in the clouds listening to these. These were one of my favorites at the show. Maybe Bill was referring to their large size in a rather small room, but still, to me, this sound was clean, linear and ultra detailed with no signs of edginess that such detail often includes. The RM V60, the company's first new model in three years, is composed of two sections. The V, which includes the 6 Neopanel Midrange Drivers and single Tweeter, and the Base which houses 3 - 6.5" megawoofers in an acoustic suspension system. At almost seven feet tall, they look a bit imposing, but the sound is anything but.
I was surprised when I looked around back to see that these are an open baffle design, but the spaciousness of their deep, wide and tall image tells the story. They look and sound much more expensive than they are. I can wait to wrap my ears around these at the Mojo headquarters.
JD: New from the Zu factory is the Presence. Sean told us about these several months ago, but we were sworn to secrecy. The details aren't even on Zu's website yet, but the price is $6,000 per pair. For that you get a flawless automotive finish in coats of many colors, a horn loaded tweeter, TWO 10' subs with an integral 120 watt plate amp in each side to push them and the big wide-band cone with whizzer. The new Zu's also use DSP for correction. Zu's are well know for their high efficiency and their new one is no different at 101 db. Very tube or even SET friendly. Yet they will not shy away from big power, either.
This was demonstrated live in the big restaurant/lounge area of the Marriott when the band used Zu speakers as their PA. Would that all lounge acts employ such good speakers. They were rockin' big time with levels reaching well over 110 db. The Zu's ain't fragile.
Jason Flannery, owner of Lovecraft Designs which took over for Terry Cain after his death, continues to build some of the best single horn speakers in the world. He recently even filled a big order of several models to Russia. Pictured left is the small (26" tall) Noogie ($575) which is designed to be a desktop speaker with an optional added sub. Center is Jason with his big "Wall-O-Sound" models ($3,300) that sounded incredible powered by the Triode amps. If you look closely, you can see that one of the tubes from each of the amps has been removed and they still played flawlessly Far right is the famous and popular Abby in a very radical splatter red custom paint. Jason even had a pair with automotive hot rod type flames. If you want to see what the SET tube amp/super efficient speaker fanatic world is all about, this is a great place to start.
Yeah, I know. A couple of pretty hot women, huh. One is my wife and the other has a last name "Gershman". Not coincidentally,the speakers below also have the name Gershman.
They are the new Gershman Sonograms. We heard them at the New York show and liked them a lot. Ofra promised us the first review of her new babies while in NY, and they were sitting in my home when I got back from Denver. A full review will be up in a couple of months.
FOCAL
The big gun on the left is the Nova Utopia Be. At $40,000 per pair, we are talking serious money. That's a years salary for some school teachers.
But, what you get for your $40K is state-of-the-art sound. It just doesn't get much better than this. And this is the penultimate speaker in the line. The Grand Utopia Be is bigger and goes a few cycles lower, but I can't say the sound quality is much better. Bigger, yes. Better, not really in real world terms. If you live in the Taj Mahal, you'd probably want the Grands, and you could probably afford them. However, if you have a regular large room and not a cavern, the Nova would give you all you can handle, especially if driven by Boulder amps as they were here. I've heard them driven by other high end amps, but the Boulders just sound better. More on that in the Amplifier Report.
If a paltry forty grand is out of reach, Focal now makes a smaller version, pictured on the right, dubbed the Electra 1037 Be at $10,995. Like the rest of the series, the "Be" stands for Beryllium. It is ultra light and 7 times more rigid than titanium. What that means is that you can play them loud with no distortion of the cones, thus no distortion period. It also translates to speed. And speed is becoming more and more important in this world of better recording technology. When combined with Focal's exclusive "W" sandwich type cone construction, the technology is top shelf. You get them all in this model. Very impressive.
The 1037 is a three-way, bottom-ported design which features Focal's exclusive 1" inverted beryllium-dome tweeter with Infinite Acoustic Loading (IAL) enclosure and 6½" W midrange cone. The 1037 features three 7" W drivers, which should result in improved bass extension, dynamic capabilities, and sensitivity (93db).
Even with that high sensitivity, 400 watts is child's play for these.
Type:3-way bass-reflex floorstanding loudspeaker
Drivers: 1’’ pure Beryllium IAL inverted dome tweeter, 6-1/2’’ (165mm) W cone midrange
Three 7 ’’ (180mm) W cone woofer
Frequency Response
33Hz to 40kHz
Sensitivity
93dB
Nominal Impedance
8 ohms
Minimum Impedance
3.3 ohms @ 200Hz
Maximum power handling
400W
Crossover frequency
230Hz / 2 000Hz
Dimensions
49 3/16" x 11 15/16" x 15 3/4"
Net weight
112.21lbs (51kg)
For me, the Nova Utopia/Boulder was right at the top of "Best Sound at Show". I must have spent 40 minutes listening to them and had to tear myself away. That is a very rare occurrence.
Here's another of my personal show favorites. I heard them in NY and was looking forward to spending more time with them here. These speakers have custom amplifiers built in - a trait long and oft used in the commercial world of recording studios. It just makes sense. Amplifier that are custom made and tuned to the drivers they are powering. No amp cables to filter, distort or color the sound. No amp cable runs to pick up RF or resonate. What is little known is that the cabinet or casing of an amplifier is a large percentage of the cost of producing it. Here there's no need for a pretty case or a rack to hold it. No time needed to worry about whether your amp is compatible. If you only use a disk player, you don't even need a preamp.
The Salagars look as spectacular as they sound. Linda even likes them, so the WAF is high. Since each speaker is custom made, they can colorize or finish them any
way you can imagine.Want all wood? No problem. Two different wood combinations? Sure. How 'bout a high-gloss automotive finish? Just pick your color or colors.
A wood and paint combo like you see here? Just let them know.
Like many new speakers and like virtually all speakers in recording studios, the Salagars use digital processing to further tailor the sound. I know you purists are shaking your head, but DSP has come eons in the last few years.
At $7,500 with some appearance options and stands extra, the sound here was among the best at the show. Not the biggest, but the best. There is a difference.