Tubes, Mono-blocks, and Snake oil, Oh My!

[macddmac]

I went to my first RMAF today. My first audio show period- wow! Where to start, I experienced so much in such a small time frame that I beg y'all's forgiveness for any misstatements may (will) make.

First off, I have never seen so many vendors selling so much crap that does absolutely nothing to improve the sound quality of a given system.

Secondly, walking into a room that contains equipment with a msrp that exceeds the appraised value of my primary residence is ludicrous!

Lastly, and best of all , I listened to some great speakers today and helped my buddy buy a subwoofer that sounded really good in his listening space of 12,000 Cubic feet! ( 4000 sq.ft, open plan with high ceilings )
I also spoke with some very talented and helpful people that made the experience even more worthwhile .

Here's what I listened to today:

Focal utopia- Maestro and Stella

Pioneer vs TAD CR-1 A/B (sort of)

Supercharged song tower and ss8 (amazing veneer job on the ss-8)

The new Fried TL

Kef R900

Kef LS50- wow, way warmer than the b&w cm-5 but liked both..

Aperion grand verus- smaller than I thought-Jim wanted to sell these to me for 1900 with an outrageous tiger wood? Finish. Was close to doing it!

Hsu bookshelf's sounded great- the only sub-aided speaks I heard today!

Hsu VTF-15h- the one my buddy hauled home tonight. Need to make room for one of these in my room- Dr Hsu is a great guy btw!

Last but not least.. Teresonic Ingenium- ugly a$$ tall sob with a coax type setup that sounded very nice for a 7' dragons tail looking monstrosity.

Cheers, Mac

 

[ImcLoud]

 

[STRONGBADF1]

Focal utopia- Maestro and Stella

Pioneer vs TAD CR-1 A/B (sort of)

Hey Mac, What were your impressions of these?

 

[macddmac]

Hey Mac, What were your impressions of these?

Very similar sounding, it looked like the same coax beryllium driver and the two were more or less timbre matched.

Of course the TAD had a better low end due to the larger woofer and cabinet and perhaps a little more sparkle at the top. TAD is 2 db more efficient according to the rep.

Both are front ported, the pioneer has a round one under the woofer and the TAD is a slot that is at the very bottom ( I thought is was part of the base)

The TAD looks like a small jukebox while the Pioneer looks pretty no frills in comparison.

Both are very large for stand speakers.

Stands are included on both.

Every time they went from A To B, was a Chinese fire drill- the reps would post themselves behind the speaks and simultaneously pull the wires off one and move them to the other.. Hilarious. They could do it in as little as a second or two but didn't adjust volume after doing so.

All in all, the TAD is a more refined speaker as it should be but the Pioneer is so close in my opinion that even if the price difference was only a couple thousand I would take the pioneer.

The TAD is 45k and the Pioneer is 5k.. A wonderful example of diminishing returns.

Cheers, Mac

 

[macddmac]

It was my first time!

Sorry! I really fornicated the canine on the picture thing..I got so caught up in listening that I totally spaced the photos