I spent a Saturday and Sunday at the Chicago audio show. I won't go into detail unless anyone wants to hear more, but here are a few impressions.
Speakers - we heard two that stood head and shoulders above the rest. Unfortunately, both needed watts. The King III electrostatic panels were mind bending, and at $15K a pair were not ultra expensive for this show. Another room, the Holm Audio display in room 1250, had a pair of Sony SS-AR1 speakers that used Scan-Speak transducers and a lot of listening tests to produce a unit worth every penny of their $26K price. Yes, there were 100K plus speakers at this show but they didn't stand out. The Kings and the Sonys did. The Holm room used big tube monoblocks from Rogue, but I could tell that it was the speakers. I bet they would sound even better with MOSFET Passlabs power. An aside, the only dynamic transducers larger than the Sony woofers - twin eight inch aluninum cones - were the 10.5 inch speakers in the Mark V Zu Druids. There was an Eminence Definimax woofer in the new First Watt Lowther open baffle two way - in the excellent Lowther America room - but I don't know if it was a twelve inch, or larger.
The Audiophile Marketplace, where music was sold, was wonderful. But a small room downstairs was my main stop for buying music. MA Recordings was represented by the man himself, Todd Garfinkle. He had servers and really good headphones to listen to his cataloge and product to sell right there. I will second the rumour that his recordings are the highest quality in the World. The music he records make the purchase worth while. He records acoustic music all over the planet, always in halls and churches and even a monument in Macedonia. He has developed a pair of stereo line level mikes that run off four nine volt batteries each and boy, does he know how to use them. He lived in Japan for twenty-five years and his wife is Japanese. His discs are essentially Japanese discs but they cost less than such product typically does over here. By the way, he is a musician himself. A terrific pianist. Of all the talent and fame I rubbed elbows with at the show, Todd was the only person I had myself photographed with. http://www.marecordings.com/ About his recording: http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazin...ecordings.html
Another highlight was the Ear Gear Expo, the headphone and portable area. The Sony MDR-1R, by the way, was just there to demo Sony servers, recorders and players, but was the best $300 unit I ever heard. David Teng of oBravo had two designs that sounded unbeliveably sweet. They used air motion and Heil driver units. In all areas using music servers, the $1000 Sony unit was everywhere. There was also a Sony at twice the price, but the basic unit was aces.
The last event was a concert by the Neal Alger Trio. That would be the Neal Alger Trio that used to back up Patricia Barber. Nobody came. Only four people stayed for the second set, so they took risks and created an experience for the ages. Almost the best thing I have ever heard. The bass player, Larry Kohut, was as good as Neal; the drummer Eric Montzka had no trouble keeping up. Neal plays the fingerboard with a finer technique than most. In two hours there was not a single string/finger squeak, and he was hanging it all out for the last hour. They do a "version" of Magic Man (yes, by Heart) that is as good as any Jazz tune I have ever heard. These guys can make a silk purse out of a sow's ear any time they feel like it.
Well, I've probably gone on too long already. We had a great time.
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Originally Posted by DRCope
