Florida Expo Show Coverage Report: Loudspeakers, Tube Amps and Cables Oh MY!

[JerryLove]

Oh. And I was very disappointed that the Legacy room was out-of-commission on Saturday when I was in there. Very much wanted to hear their towers. They were very pretty.

 

[Mikado463]

I had a bunch of MIT cables that I tossed last year as I wouldn't wish them on anyone

why is that ?

 

[Mikado463]

I know the question isn't to me.

My favorite "room" was MBL. It was large and actually had accoustic treatments in it and the sound was nice.

My favorite "sound" was split between the Paradigm room and a pair of 80s-looking JBLs that were in a room for some other product.

The coolest to me were the Muraido.

The biggest takeaway, and the one I'm likely to buy something from is Vanatoo.

Agreed MBL's when set up right can produce 'magic' ....

 

[highfigh]

The profit margins in snake oil are too high to pass up. But you have to look at the demographic that's paying for it. They've already justified dropping $50k on a pair of speakers, so buying a 30 dollar roll of zip cord to connect to their amps is in some ways an insult to their sensibilities. Plus, it just has to sound better if it costs more, right?

We know that diminishing returns hits faster with interconnects than with components, but folks who can afford it will buy it regardless. The nauseating marketspeak from those peddling this stuff certainly doesn't help matters.

Profit margins are too high? Not if the dealer has an ounce of integrity. I sold a 6' pair of Ixos cables and they didn't sound different form my 25' Audio Technica mic cables and I was insulted by the materials they were made from. The box must have cost more than the materials- no-name XLR ends, green/black/white wire, braided and translucent white nylon braided mesh covering the wires. Then, I heard hum when they were close to some power wires. $400, retail. I told the customer I wasn't impressed and would return theme if he wanted, but he said that, in the grand scheme of things, it wasn't enough to worry about.

It also told him I wouldn't try to sell BS, just because I would make more money. The usual advice at the time was "Cables should be around 10% of the total system cost".

What a load of crap!

 

[highfigh]

I had a bunch of MIT cables that I tossed last year as I wouldn't wish them on anyone

Didn't even take them to a scrap dealer?

 

[everettT]

why is that ?

Number one reason was the connectors would destroy rca inputs. Number two was it went against what I believe after my audio awakening. As long as a cable is adequate and looks nice, I wont over spend. Built all the cables in the new 2 channel system with techflex wrap over rg59 for analog. Bought bulk 3 conductor for speaker wire, with same wrap. The two HDMI cables were monoprice redmere and wrapped them.

 

[Mikado463]

Number one reason was the connectors would destroy rca inputs.

interesting, I have a pair of MIT IC's that were given to me years ago, zero issues

 

[everettT]

interesting, I have a pair of MIT IC's that were given to me years ago, zero issues

Again mine were from the late 90s early 2000s so they may have changed their supplier.

 

[Mikado463]

Again mine were from the late 90s early 2000s so they may have changed their supplier.

gotcha, mine were late eighties / early nineties, still going strong between my Rotel 1072 and my little Jolida integrated.

 

[Hayden :)]

"Bart assured me the Florida Audio Expo show will be back again next year and we are vying for it to include educational seminars to weed out the pseudoscience and help consumers make more informed purchasing decisions to maximize their audiophile experience."

Thank you, Gene, for educating us through your excellent reviews and articles based on real science and measurements. There is so much of that snake oil in the audio market that people are misled to believe that a USB cable must be multi-thousand dollars to sound "perfect" is just ridiculous!

 

[Mikado463]

I believe the show is this coming weekend this year

 

[davidscott]

Anybody here gonna attend?

 

[sleepysurf]

Anybody here gonna attend?

I'm going, and yes, there will, undoubtedly, be some "snake oil" marketing and gear, but also LOTS of well-engineered products that offer great value. Really looking forward to it!

I heard the demand for (free) tickets was so overwhelming, they had to cut off the downloads.