Axpona 2019 Schaumburg IL

pitdogg2

DSkip wrote: »

That is surprising to hear about Sandy. He has always been the most approachable guy at these events for me.

I agree. But after a run in with a friends mom i have a new appreciation for folks who can and do have medical issues. Hers was low blood sugar, and no I'm not insinuating that was his reason so do not jump the gun. We all have bad days and moments.
I'm quite OK with it.

Tony M

pitdogg2 wrote: »

Tony M wrote: »

erniejade wrote: »

Tony M wrote: »

Please write some memories down for us.

Tell about the GoldenEar Room with Sandy Gross experience.

They ( GoldenEar) print all these accolades in magazines but...your experience was different.

Maybe somebody else went into that room and has something to add.

Sandy was easy to talk to. Unfortunately, the speakers were not! I am not sure if they weren't setup right or what but I went into that room 3 times on 3 different days. All 3 times there was different music playing. All 3 times I walked out with the same impression. Very bright and at points painful due to the brightness. I really wanted to like them but in that room or the way they had them set, it was not my taste at all.

Thank you for that.

Do you by chance remember which Triton model/s he was poorly demoing?

I believe the new reference ones

Thank you again.

nooshinjohn

pitdogg2 wrote: »

Clipdat wrote: »

Yikes. Maybe he didn't like how the room was sounding either, or perhaps some type of personal/medical issue he was dealing with.

Possible I've had in depth conversations with him last year at Axpona and the year before at RMAF.

Could be he rolled his eyes and "Not THIS guy again... friggen stalker!"

Tony M

pitdogg2 wrote: »

The one time i was in Sandy's room no one was there but he and I. He was not in a good mood, I tried striking up a conversation but he just answered in terse one word answers. I told him to try and have a better day and thanks for bringing to audio world some fantastic speakers not once but 3 times and he just stared at me.

WOW.
To shrug off someone's complement about his life's great legacy with a cold stare is just WRONG! REALLY WRONG!

I'm thinking some people told him his sound sucked or he saw people shaking their heads in a side to side manner and then leaving a lot.

He's said in articles, maybe one, I forget, that he PERSONALLY listens to each model to see if it meets his standards.

I have the Triton Ones and find the bass amplifier control volume dial to be just right at 12:00. They're well balanced at that setting. Other reviewers have written the same.

I feel somebody forgot to set the dial to 12 or where ever it would've balanced the sound for that show room. Maybe somebody unplugged the Tritons power cord on one or both speakers. Also, he might've been standing in a bass-doubling wave spot. Maybe nobody setting their room up sat in a demo chair to listen to them.

These speakers are capable of prodigious bass that that character should've been the complaint. Not the opposite.

Crazy!

Thanks for the info guys.

P.S.
If I went in and heard that NOISE and me being an owner of a set of Tritons, I am of age that I would've approached him and told him what I thought since I know what a close model can sound like in a VERY cluttered environment.

verb

Could be a bad day. Maybe not. One thing I know for sure is you have to maintain poise and composure while in the public eye. Possible he's just reeling from someone that said his setup sounded terrible, but what he should've said -

Ivan, how are you doing? Thanks. Nice hair! Not hard, really.

Clipdat

Some "must buy" music I heard at Axpona in the Scaena room:



https://www.discogs.com/Andreas-Vollenweider-Caverna-Magica-Under-The-Tree-In-The-Cave/release/3792319

Clipdat

And another. Heard this on Vandersteen speakers and it was great.



This specific version: https://www.discogs.com/John-Renbourn-Sir-John-Alot-Of-Merrie-Englandes-Musyk-Thyng-Ye-Grene-Knyghte/release/2065670

msg

erniejade wrote: »

Sandy was easy to talk to. Unfortunately, the speakers were not! I am not sure if they weren't setup right or what but I went into that room 3 times on 3 different days. All 3 times there was different music playing. All 3 times I walked out with the same impression. Very bright and at points painful due to the brightness. I really wanted to like them but in that room or the way they had them set, it was not my taste at all.

Hey Brian, curious, did that room have treatments for the show? I'm just now starting to give serious thought to this. I find my setups to sound somewhat harsh up top with active rock material, like Jane's Addiction or Smashing Pumpkins, for example. @Elinores_Pimp has had nice results with them and I'm curious now.

Clipdat

There was some treatment, but not much:



Few pics I found online:

erniejade

Thx for the pic Drew. I am not sure if it was a component mismatch or they didn't have something dialed in right. A lot of reviews i read said amazing bass and clarity from them but at Axpona, they were bright. Bass, yes 0 complaints there. Solid bass.

Now i am not saying they are bad speakers. We heard with our own ears the LSA towers sound great on a class d SS amp in Walter's room and complete garbage in another room. I am still wondering if i made a mistake passing on the show demo special of 2500 on the lsa but after we heard them in the black ice room, i couldn't pull the trigger.

Back to the Goldenear. I have no idea how much power the tube amps had he was running or of they were stock tubes. They just might be like the LSA where they sound better on SS.

@hochpt21 has the t 2's and loves them. I heard the lsim705 and.... shoot i cannot remember the model i picked up for you but from that, i have an idea of what his ears like. I cannot imagine the goldenear would sound like that in his home and he would be ok with that.

I would personally would give them another shot in a better environment and a better matched amp.

ALL212

msg wrote: »

Hey Brian, curious, did that room have treatments for the show? I'm just now starting to give serious thought to this. I find my setups to sound somewhat harsh up top with active rock material, like Jane's Addiction or Smashing Pumpkins, for example. @Elinores_Pimp has had nice results with them and I'm curious now.

WHAT? I am not her pimp...just a very good friend!

Clipdat

I received a letter in the mail today from Legacy thanking me for registering at their booth, it contained an offer to get 12% off a pair of their speakers. Pretty cool.

Tony M

I have about 5 different Andreas Cds and one other different album and none of them were the one you posted.

I couldn't get to flip through all of my albums or Cds so there is a chance.
I could only read the edges tonight.

Clipdat

It was my first exposure to his music and I was blown away, I felt like I was transported to another dimension.

I'm sure some of it was the experience of the Scaena speakers, but I'm hoping to recreate some of that experience on my own setup!

Tony M

He creates dreamscapes for sure!

Great systems bring his music to higher levels indeed.

Clipdat

I just looked it up and the Scaena room was using a $40k dCS Vivaldi transport. Yikes.

pitdogg2

nooshinjohn wrote: »

pitdogg2 wrote: »

Clipdat wrote: »

Yikes. Maybe he didn't like how the room was sounding either, or perhaps some type of personal/medical issue he was dealing with.

Possible I've had in depth conversations with him last year at Axpona and the year before at RMAF.

Could be he rolled his eyes and "Not THIS guy again... friggen stalker!"

You might be onto something big guy...

nooshinjohn

Clipdat wrote: »

I just looked it up and the Scaena room was using a $40k dCS Vivaldi transport. Yikes.

I am infinitely familiar with the law of diminishing returns, and something tells me that above 5k on a transport will diminish my bank account for more cash than I could possibly hear a justification for...

warren

Maybe you just didn't get the joke that clearly was a rip off of the Blues Brothers movie they plagiarized it from the movie “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre ‘’

"We don't need no stinkin badges" The Treasure of the Sierra Madre Gold Hat: Badges? We ain't got no badges. We don't need no badges. I don't have to show you any stinking badges.

warren

joecoulson wrote: »

Just thought I would throw this out there. I will be driving up from ATL and if anyone has a need for me to bring anything up from this area for them , PM me. Otherwise bring on the wise cracks.

Now I’m glad we didn’t meet for lunch at Matthews Cafeteria.

nooshinjohn

Not so sure on that Skip. I can go hear a half-million dollar rig any time I like and I don't hear much reason to wish for money to fall from the sky to upgrade anything.

joecoulson

warren wrote: »

joecoulson wrote: »

Just thought I would throw this out there. I will be driving up from ATL and if anyone has a need for me to bring anything up from this area for them , PM me. Otherwise bring on the wise cracks.

Now I’m glad we didn’t meet for lunch at Matthews Cafeteria.

Why is that Warren?

F1nut

Clipdat wrote: »

I just looked it up and the Scaena room was using a $40k dCS Vivaldi transport. Yikes.

Hearing the 4 piece $100k dCS stack was a religious experience. I got tingles down my spine and my eyes watered up. I'll never forget it.

Clipdat

F1nut wrote: »

Hearing the 4 piece $100k dCS stack was a religious experience. I got tingles down my spine and my eyes watered up. I'll never forget it.

Maybe that's what I heard as well. I didn't get a pic of the rack, but there were several different silver dCS pieces on it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGIYuezuIPE

joecoulson

That room was an event for me. Blew my mind that sound could do that.

nooshinjohn

Ribbons have that effect on people. I wish there was some way of going ribbons as a tweeter upgrade for the SDA's... I think I will end up with Maggie 20.7's someday, but until then I can dream.

nooshinjohn

DSkip wrote: »

nooshinjohn wrote: »

Not so sure on that Skip. I can go hear a half-million dollar rig any time I like and I don't hear much reason to wish for money to fall from the sky to upgrade anything.

You can also go to a 90 mph batting cage and not be able to tell the difference between 85 mph if you aren’t used to playing at that level. This is not about money but about synergy. The ultra high end is tough as hell because the products are so freaking revealing.

I understand that Skip, I truly do. If ever I get the chance to go to that level, I might take a shot, but I will be finding it at an estate sale for next to free.

Tony M

Put your ears on a set of Newform Research towers.
His ribbons are 2 time contest winners here on Dixie. Even won out over the Tritons and SDA-SRS2s before the RDO tweeter swap. The SRS2s have a chance now though.

Clipdat

Something positive that I keep thinking about from the show, is the experience I had on Friday when I walked up to the Cardas booth in the exhibit hall. I started chatting with the friendly woman running it and briefly discussed their power cables, and also how their new $1,500 Nautilus power strip was getting a lot of positive feedback. We had an enjoyable discussion about the three major approaches that most audiophiles take to power - conditioning, regeneration, or neither. They've taken the direct approach, with no current limiting components - instead focusing on high quality materials and assembly.

I noticed they had a headphone amplifier on their table from Manley Labs, the "Absolute", and our conversation shifted to headphones. She mentioned that they were demoing their Cardas A8 Ear Speakers and asked me if I would like to give them a try with some music on my phone.

I've never been a huge fan of IEMs but I have been intrigued by the A8s for a while so I sat down to give them a listen. She outfitted them with a brand new set of Comply Foam memory foam style tips and then handed them over. I plugged them directly into my Galaxy S8 phone and gave them a listen with some various drum n bass tracks.

First thing I noticed is how low their bass response was. They were able to faithfully replicate complex deep basslines, without sounding muddy or obscuring the mid or high frequencies. First impression was extremely positive, especially considering they were just being driven from my phone and not a dedicated headphone amplifier.

As I previewed and skimmed a few more tracks, I noticed how nicely they presented the treble information. Some IEMs can tend to get a little hot/harsh on the highs, and these were anything but. If anything they seemed VERY slightly rolled off up top, and as a result the treble was detailed, but not at all fatiguing.

I started thinking about their overall performance and I quickly came to the realization that I did not want to stop listening to them. Technical descriptions about their sound and performance aside, this sensation was the most prominent to me. Similar to what I experienced in some rooms at the show that I didn't want to leave.

I sat for another minute or so listening and completely engrossed in what I was hearing. I reluctantly took them out, removed the tips, handed them back and explained how much I enjoyed their sound. She seemed to already know that I was going to have this reaction, and mentioned that they were offering them for a show special of $50 off the normal price of $350. I said I would swing back later in the weekend and follow up.

Unfortunately with all the other things to see at the show, I never did make it back to their booth to pick up a pair. But, as evidenced by me writing this post, I'm still thinking about them and considering emailing Cardas to see if they'll still give me the special show price.

However, I'm slightly conflicted. I just sold my headphone amplifier thinking that I was "done" with headphones, and also because $300 is still pretty expensive in my opinion. I guess it just gives me pause to consider spending that on IEMs versus putting it toward my main system.

Anyway, just wanted to share that experience and maybe get some insight from others who have experienced the Cardas A8s or other IEMs.

WLDock

Clipdat wrote: »

It was my first exposure to his music and I was blown away, I felt like I was transported to another dimension.
I'm sure some of it was the experience of the Scaena speakers, but I'm hoping to recreate some of that experience on my own setup!

Vollenweider! I think I still have that Caverna Magica album. That record is super tranquil. I got turned on to him in college back in the 80's. I have some of the older albums and CD's. My favorite album from the early era is 'Down To The Moon.' I started having panic and anxiety disorders the same year ('86) this album came out. I used to spin his records to help with relaxation and mood.

https://open.spotify.com/album/7bkRQ7wbQJgMSz4inxaMto