NW Audio Show Cranage - anyone going?

[antonio]

Anyone going tomorrow have a listen to those speakers in the Missing Link room and let me know what you think. I was very impressed with them.

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If these were the large Kralk Audio speakers, we did hear them, unfortunately the two tracks played, I think for show goer's, were too bass heavy so could not get a handle on them. Sorry.

[antonio]

We had an enjoyable day there yesterday, even though there was nothing outstanding. Two systems worth a mention though, first Karma Audio (distributors) comprising of MoFi tt, Primare amp and Falcon speakers, very open and great bass for such a small speaker placed well into the room which surprised me. Secondly the CAD system on Quadraspire racks, with a Lavardin amp and the very small Boenicke speakers. How these small speakers filled a reasonably sized room shocked me.

[YNWaN]

The little Boenicke speakers are very cleverly balanced - but they don’t entirely disguise the facts that top end extension is distinctly limited and bass isn’t very articulate or detailed. The overall sound is smooth and amazingly weighty for the size though.

The speakers in the ‘Missing Link’ room were almost the opposite. Overall they were a bit cool and tonally thin. I went with three friends and all felt much the same. The owner of Missing Link (Mark?) kindly played a track for me and, unfortunately, this didn’t impress me. In this case (an album I know very well) the sound was a bit dynamically limited and emotionally detached sounding. I should add that the speakers may have had nothing to do with this last and I am unfamiliar with the system used (an LP12 was used as a front end but this had been heavily modified).

[Firebottle]

There were a lot of small standmounts or compact floorstanders that impressed me, compact speakers seem to have improved recently.

The Kondo room was interesting for the small (entry level) system at the one end. It was an EL34 based power amp into 3rd party floorstanders and to my ears sounded far superior to the mega bucks system at the other end of the room. This was probably hampered by the horrible american horn loaded monsters that MCRU seems to rave about- didn't do it for me.

The best and most coherent sound of the show for me was in the Malvern Audio Research room. This was using Audio Detail DHT preamp and 211 monoblocks into the fabulous hORNS new Symphony speakers. It had reality, scale, dynamics, clarity, slam, detail to die for. Outstanding.

[YNWaN]

The speakers you describe as ‘horrible American horn loaded’ aren’t really horn loaded and they certainly aren’t American.

I did visit the room demonstrating the hORN speakers and it just goes to show how perception/experience can differ at these shows. I sat off to the left hand side and the most striking aspect was how lumpy and disjointed the bass response was! I would normally have tried a different seating position but it was too busy and the overall sound didn’t encourage me to wait for a free seat that was more central. The system may well have had “reality, scale, dynamics, clarity, slam, detail” (though none of those aspects struck me as particularly spectacular), but it seriously lacked ‘coherence’!

[Macca]

Japanese. If we're talking about the Maxonics. Horn tweeters.

[YNWaN]

Yes, the Maxonics- as you say, Japanese and with three field coil drivers per speaker.

[Firebottle]

I stand corrected on the Maxonics, didn't like them the first time I heard them.

Weird how we get different impressions of things, but that's the way with individuals hearing. Pity you couldn't have got into a central seat.
It was totally coherent to me.

[ianlenco]

Enjoyed meeting up with Alan and Shirley which was the highlight of the show I started in the Malvern Audio Research room and agree with Alan, didn't hear anything that matched the lovely listenability of this setup. I know Mark has spent a lot of time developing his new pre-amp and this has definitely paid off.
I also liked the little Boenicke speakers which really are little! The Quadral standmounters with ribbon tweeters also sounded rather good. Sadly and not unusually there were a lot of big expensive systems that sounded quite awful, the common feature was piercing treble. One exception was the Amphion room which sounded rather good.

[YNWaN]

My negative impression may well have been down to an unfortunate room gain issue - odd though in the way it manifested in this case. I wish I had tried a different seat now but time was pressing (a big show this year).