JBL not at AXPONA 2015?

[LowPhreak]

I don't normally follow this stuff much, but I noticed JBL is not on this year's exhibitor list: http://www.axpona.com/exhibitors.asp but Harman is showing up with ML, Revel.

Apparently not worth the cost vs. potential sales or new dealers?

[audiomagnate]

I don't normally follow this stuff much, but I noticed JBL is not on this year's exhibitor list: http://www.axpona.com/exhibitors.asp but Harman is showing up with ML, Revel.

Apparently not worth the cost vs. potential sales or new dealers?

Not surprising. I go to a fair number of shows and they usually don't bother to show up. The current line of JBLs that would appeal to the people that go to those shows gets almost no support from Harman.

[LowPhreak]

Nothing new then I guess. What a shame.

[Dave_72]

Not surprising. I go to a fair number of shows and they usually don't bother to show up. The current line of JBLs that would appeal to the people that go to those shows gets almost no support from Harman.

Well, that's not really true. JBL was on display at the last Rocky Mountain Audio Fest, as well as CES, although CES is strictly a trade show, quite a few audiophiles manage to wiggle their way in there.

[Ducatista47]

The attendance there has been 4000 plus the last couple of years and 5000 are expected this year. I was at the last two and did not see any Array on up. I wouldn't have spotted anything smaller but I don't think they were here at all. I suppose that's not enough people. I'll probably be there for Saturday this year. There's a headphone meet in the Ear Gear room and Todd (MA Recordings) will be there again, so I would like to attend. I am not always eager to go to shows anymore because almost every expensive offering doesn't even sound good. Not even good. What a racket high end can be.

Most years, many brands are solely represented by dealers who have a room. That will probably be the listings for JBL.

[bean_counter]

I attended today (Saturday) with my daughter. A dealer – from St Louis I think – brought a pair of DD 6700 Everests. The small room and weak program material didn’t do them justice, but they sounded very, very nice. I was just surprised that I was able to listen to a pair. Seemed like a lot of interest and traffic in that room, so we didn’t stick around.

As usual the Classic Audio room was my favorite. He brought T-1’s this year, simply marvelous, Hartsfields excellent as usual.

Two rooms with Tannoy’s were very good, one with DC10a’s, one with DC10Ti’s. A third room with Tannoy “Revolution” speakers fell far short.
The Stacatto big red horns that stole the show last year were there again, but something didn’t sound right this time out; upper bass resonance/ bloom on two consecutive tracks. May have just been those two recordings, but I don’t think so.


Throughout the show, there seemed to be a migration to more power. A lot more big sand amps, lots of KT88 amps. Used to be you tripped over SE 300b amps nearly every other room; not this year.
All in all, no “wow” moments this year. But a nice show.

[LowPhreak]

Thanks for the update!

[Ducatista47]

I was also in attendance Saturday. Here's my take. I visited few rooms as compared to previous years. With one day and an agenda already planned I didn't revisit known offerings.

Speaker wise, I did visit the room with the JBLs. The tiny hotel room left little more space than was necessary to separate the Everests a little and it was not all that far to the back wall. To them it was a closet and they sounded pretty bad. They wouldn't impress anyone. It was a crying shame because it was a first impression for most of the visitors. I hadn't heard them before either, but I knew there were great ahead of time and frankly I have heard some big JBLs, so I could tell it was the room. There were some red K2 series sitting by the wall. Sound wise, they would have made a better impression in that space but it would have made no sense to bring the big dogs and not demo them. The dealer, from Indianapolis, is blameless; the rooms are pricey and the big spaces very expensive. I appreciated them showing up at all.

On the other hand, the Kingsound electrostatics again sounded the best of everything I heard; the little hotel room bothered them not at all.

One of the largest rooms was a theater sized room where big Revels were holding court. I couldn't give them a thorough listen because even the standing room was taken. They seemed to like the large space.

The Zu Audio room was most informative. It was a large space almost completely divided by a wall. A DJ spun vinyl to both sections at the same time. You could walk back and forth and compare the systems. The power side had a pair of Druid towers with 10 1/2 inch main drivers, a large six piece subwoofer array and PassLabs for the engine room. The other side had towers with three drivers, either Definitions or Omens, didn't look, and a First Watt J2 for power. I much preferred the low power side. It wasn't missing bass and the J2 is one of the best amplifiers in the World. I hadn't heard it before and it was thrilling. A room that size and the setups must have cost a fortune.

The class act of speaker display was the modestly sized MBL North America room. The visual presentation was the best I have ever seen at a show and the sonic experience was somewhere past exquisite. The room was dark with masterful low level area illumination. The walls and floor were decorated to evoke a wealthy European salon. The recording was a Peter Gabriel piece, probably live, which neither myself or my Gabriel fan friend Dave recognized. The music's match with the decor, the lighting and the space was perfect. This was the only high end setup I have ever heard that sounded better than anything less pricey. There may have been $400k in that room and knowing MBL they probably manufactured everything themselves. Not my favorite speaker, the Kingsound is more my high rez speed, but every other member here would probably think it was the most satisfying setup they ever heard, it was that good. Other than my taste for the resolution and direct immediacy of less crossovered designs and my foreknowledge of electrostatic drive, it was by far the best damn thing I have ever heard. Sorry Revel, JBL, Wilson, sorry big red and big white horns, sorry the other European royalty, MBL left them all in the dust. I was impressed by MBL previously but had never given them a real listen. In previous shows their rooms were too crowded. I have never heard a stereo take hold of a space so thoroughly and to anywhere near this effect before, and I have been hearing rigs since the mid 1950s. I would say their omnidirectional approach to speaker design is working. I am so used to being underwhelmed by the high end, and here I get utterly blown away. I admit it, it was the most satisfying presentation of music I have ever experienced. It gets the ultimate compliment; it was right; it had presence in the original sense of the word (see Perfecting Sound Forever).

The main reasons I came were three areas; the Clark room - no relation - housed MA Recordings and the Woo Audio setup. The Ear Gear area was personal audio, headphones and in ear products and equipment for them. The Marketplace was a sales area for music, turntable and record cleaning stuff, and a lot more.

MA Recordings and Woo Audio shared a small, hot room a few feet away from MBL's location. It was my prime focus in attending the show. I needed to purchase more MA recordings and came armed with a list. I refined it by listening to the offerings more thoroughly on the hard drive/Woo amp/headphone stations that filled the room, Todd's two MA tables excepted. More importantly, I wanted to get to know Todd Garfinkle better and set up a line of communication with him. He's brilliant and a great guy. Lastly, Jack Woo had brought a Stax SR-009 headphone and his huge electrostatic amp. Jack was very, very kind to let me listen to both the 009 and my SR-007 and compare them. I had not yet heard the new Stax flagship and I needed to compare it to what I have, not hear it in a vacuum. I also listened to the 009 at the Headamp display in the Ear Gear room, there on the Blue Hawaii Special Edition amplifier (the best there is). Bad news. The new phone is by quite a bit the best on the Planet and I can't afford it, despite the Yen/Dollar exchange rate being very favorable now. Eleven thousand dollars for the phone and an amp, and you too would have to suffer when hearing anything else. I should add that Woo's selections of headphones to demo their amps was the best and most interesting of everything there is. It was the best place to test drive headphones at the show but few in Ear Gear seemed to know about it.

The Ear Gear room had some first time exhibitors I very much wanted to visit. Headamp, as mentioned, makes the best headphone amplification. Etymotic Research is the brand of in ears I use and they are in the Chicago area. Tyll Herstens, the InnerFidelity guy, said in his seminar (explaining headphone measurements; really glad we caught it) that Etymotics are the most accurate in ears made, period. Etymotic explains that they listen to all the competition and Stax is the only more accurate thing you can put in or over your ears. Far from the most expensive, just the best. They invented in ear phones and come from audio research, not hifi. They are Harry Nyquist types. We made the acquaintance of the Resonessence Labs crew from Kelowna, BC. Great sounding DACs, nice people. The little one that goes in the line of your portable rig is aces. She's Canadian I think, he's English. They were going to stick around after the weekend and visit the Art Institute, so I was able to give her some pointers. At last, something I was the expert at.

A special mention to David Teng and his company OBRAVO. He had a two table setup this year to demonstrate his growing line of headphone prototypes. He constantly innovates and improves, using every kind of dynamic driver known. The Taiwanese phones, along with a nice little portable amp built like a Wadia dock, all castings, are about to be distributed here. it is one of a handful of portable amps that easily power full sized headphones the way they should be driven. It is always great to visit with him. He has been going to shows to gain feedback and is completely open and forthright. Nice, nice fellow.

The Marketplace is always cool, among other things a vinyl lover's paradise. Extra cool, Parts Express made a showing. Madisound always has a room, but this year was a first for Parts Express.

[LowPhreak]

Welp, apparently everyone is stunned and knocked backwards from the blurb on that crazy mbl rig. For $400k, I'd expect a frying pan to the head too.

While they're recovering, I'll say thanks for the write-up, Duc!

[Ducatista47]

Another reason it stood out in the crowd was the music being played. The most curious thing for me about shows is the nearly universally crappy choices in demo recordings. Between lousy music and lousy recording, it is painful. Last year a master tape of Led Zep was distinctly low fi but instead of someone saying the emperor had no clothes, the room was SRO. If MBL had been playing Metallica I would never have known how good the room was. Most vaunted classical recordings are distinctly mid fi by todays capabilities. But they are trotted out routinely at shows. A few are learning. There were rooms playing MA Recordings material.

Even discounting all that, this was the only room I have ever heard that was high end and sounded significantly better that what I have cobbed together at home, or much more modestly priced show rooms that were doing something right. Still, if you are looking for companies or dealers who have something really nice find the rooms where people hang around listening to the music, not the equipment. People clueless about good music are trying for great sound without some of the tools to make it happen. But don't get the idea that the MBL room was great only by comparison. It was impressive by any standard. The music didn't seem to be coming from the speakers. They are on to something special.

And here's a shocker. The demo was their mid line Noble, not the Reference series.

$400k was a guess on our part. I didn't talk to the representatives; I couldn't afford to even think about the equipment and I didn't want to be remembered as that poor asshole from Peoria who asked how much.

[hjames]

Does the MBL offering still use those football shaped radiators on their speakers?



from the 2nd Annual Capital Audiofest thread -
http://www.audioheritage.org/vbullet...ital-Audiofest

[DavidF]

"...$400k was a guess on our part. I didn't talk to the representatives; I couldn't afford to even think about the equipment and I didn't want to be remembered as that poor asshole from Peoria who asked how much.

I heard that! At least I feel more anonymous at these shows when getting some exposure to the highest end than I would at a dealer's shop.

[Ducatista47]

Does the MBL offering still use those football shaped radiators on their speakers?

No, not visibly anyway. They could be inside, don't know. The top line 101 series speakers use those elements. I heard either the 111F or the 116 F. I had heard the 101 X-treme in a very large room once and it was not a good setup. Your image appears to be its smaller sibling, the 101 E Mk II. A great deal of this room's charm was the spatial presentation. Close your eyes, or even not in my case, and you were there. The sound was coming out of the entire front of the room, virtually recreating a stage on a riser in front of you, also reminiscent of the sound coming up from the stage to your seats in an auditorium. Completely three dimensional and much more convincing than multi channel. Holographic. And all very, very hifi. Amazing.

The room was 16 x 28 x 10, setup on the 16 foot width.

http://www.mbl-northamerica.com/mbl-111-f/

http://www.mbl-northamerica.com/mbl-116-f/

[hjames]

Thanks for the review - maybe time for me to go to this year's Capital Audiofest and see whats on tour! (Aug 28-30)

No, not visibly anyway. They could be inside, don't know. The top line 101 series speakers use those elements. I heard either the 111F or the 116 F. I had heard the 101 X-treme in a very large room once and it was not a good setup. Your image appears to be its smaller sibling, the 101 E Mk II. A great deal of this room's charm was the spatial presentation. Close your eyes, or even not in my case, and you were there. The sound was coming out of the entire front of the room, virtually recreating a stage on a riser in front of you, also reminiscent of the sound coming up from the stage to your seats in an auditorium. Completely three dimensional and much more convincing than multi channel. Holographic. And all very, very hifi. Amazing.

The room was 16 x 28 x 10, setup on the 16 foot width.

http://www.mbl-northamerica.com/mbl-111-f/

http://www.mbl-northamerica.com/mbl-116-f/

[LowPhreak]

Another reason it stood out in the crowd was the music being played. The most curious thing for me about shows is the nearly universally crappy choices in demo recordings. Between lousy music and lousy recording, it is painful. Last year a master tape of Led Zep was distinctly low fi but instead of someone saying the emperor had no clothes, the room was SRO. If MBL had been playing Metallica I would never have known how good the room was. Most vaunted classical recordings are distinctly mid fi by todays capabilities. But they are trotted out routinely at shows. A few are learning. There were rooms playing MA Recordings material.

Even discounting all that, this was the only room I have ever heard that was high end and sounded significantly better that what I have cobbed together at home, or much more modestly priced show rooms that were doing something right. Still, if you are looking for companies or dealers who have something really nice find the rooms where people hang around listening to the music, not the equipment. People clueless about good music are trying for great sound without some of the tools to make it happen. But don't get the idea that the MBL room was great only by comparison. It was impressive by any standard. The music didn't seem to be coming from the speakers. They are on to something special.

And here's a shocker. The demo was their mid line Noble, not the Reference series.

$400k was a guess on our part. I didn't talk to the representatives; I couldn't afford to even think about the equipment and I didn't want to be remembered as that poor asshole from Peoria who asked how much.

I've heard that said a lot about audio shows - mediocre recording selections or for the sake of obscurity, something no one has heard before. How many times have we seen it written in the audio mags? I've wondered if some mfg's aren't trying to show how their gear can make a so-so piece sound good on their stuff. (?)

I wouldn't be surprised if your estimate was fairly close. Considering the price of some mbl amps etc. your figure certainly isn't out of their ballpark. But it's great to see someone pushing the 'omni' sound ahead and really making it work. Always thought Ohm speakers in Brooklyn should have done more with it, but that Walsh driver...


"The room was 16 x 28 x 10, setup on the 16 foot width."

That's very close to the Golden Ratio for a room, like George Cardas always recommends - 1.0 x 1.6 x 2.6. I think that may have had a lot to do with the success of their set-up, if they positioned the speakers correctly and apparently they did.