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I posted this in another forum also but, am to lazy to not just copy and paste and figured that some people only hang out here.
I speant the last two days at the LA Stereophile Show and have to say it was one of the better shows I have been to. It was a chance to see some of the equipment I had only read about. Plus, Elusive Disc, Music. Com, Music Direct, and Acoustic Sounds were all there selling records. Not only did I grab a bag full of records at the show, I stopped at a garage sale in Manhattan Beach on the way in Sat. and scored 10 records for $1.00 each, including a un-opened Pink Floyd Quadraphonic Atom's Heart Mother, and a pristine Roger Water's Amused to Death!!!!! Funny thing is I was at the Elusive Disc counter flipping through records when the guy next to me pulled out the Flaming Lips red vinyl Pink Robots album and asked if anybody knew anything about it. I told him to take a chance and buy it that my wife asks me to play it all the time. Then the same guy asked the fellow from Elusive Disc if they had any copies of Amused to Death. Of course they didn't have it. I asked him, "How deep our your pockets?" He answered, "I know it is impossible to find and unaffordable." So, I pull my copy out of the bag (couldn't leave anything in the car with the heat) and say, "Give me your best offer." His eyes all but fell out. I won't say what he offered but, I gave it to him for $1.00 and I think he is still standing there frozen. I already have a pristine Columbia pressing that I don't listen to and a unopened copy so, it was worth having the moment. It was just his day.
Anyways, back to the show. Many rooms with some very expensive speakers and electronics. Some sounded o'k some that awful bright detailed sound that doesn't even remotely sound like real music insruments or voices (Peak Consult Empress for example). I thought that the Vandersteen/Audio Research room was the best sounding with the Wilson Sophia/VTL room a close second. But, that's my taste and of little importance. It is the value rooms that I found the most exciting. The most eye opening one was the Rives Room, or rooms. They had two rooms set up with identical components and music. One treated, one not. You could go back and forth from one to the other. Dramatic difference, certainly more than any other component and yet, it isn't sexy and most everybody ignores it while spending large amounts on electronics and speakers. If you are willing to spend $1000 on any one component, Rives should be it. Second biggest value at the show for $700 Usher had a little speaker that I had no trouble listening to for about 20 minutes, as oppossed to about 20 seconds in some of the high end speaker rooms. I notice Randy from Optimal Enchantment also sitting there for quite some time and I have watched him in the past get up even faster than me when he doesn't like what he hears. Also several writers from Stereophile kept coming back to take notes and listen again. Another value but, more on the high end of most budgets, Acoustic Zen is now making a speaker that I though was very good in the $4000 price range which is a very competitive price point.
Stupid money rooms, the Caliburn TT room :E , and the Van Gaylord room with the $60,000 mono blocks that sit in circular aquariums for water cooling :roll: . Damn, I wish I had that TT and amps :W .
Most puzzling room, for me it is the ZU room. For the second show in a row that I have been to, I just don't get it. I think people are like lemmings, if someone with good writing skills makes a case for a peice of equipment a hardcore following will come along.
The worst rooms were, of course, the HT rooms like Earthquake and others that just kept up a steady loud drone of explosions.
I speant the last two days at the LA Stereophile Show and have to say it was one of the better shows I have been to. It was a chance to see some of the equipment I had only read about. Plus, Elusive Disc, Music. Com, Music Direct, and Acoustic Sounds were all there selling records. Not only did I grab a bag full of records at the show, I stopped at a garage sale in Manhattan Beach on the way in Sat. and scored 10 records for $1.00 each, including a un-opened Pink Floyd Quadraphonic Atom's Heart Mother, and a pristine Roger Water's Amused to Death!!!!! Funny thing is I was at the Elusive Disc counter flipping through records when the guy next to me pulled out the Flaming Lips red vinyl Pink Robots album and asked if anybody knew anything about it. I told him to take a chance and buy it that my wife asks me to play it all the time. Then the same guy asked the fellow from Elusive Disc if they had any copies of Amused to Death. Of course they didn't have it. I asked him, "How deep our your pockets?" He answered, "I know it is impossible to find and unaffordable." So, I pull my copy out of the bag (couldn't leave anything in the car with the heat) and say, "Give me your best offer." His eyes all but fell out. I won't say what he offered but, I gave it to him for $1.00 and I think he is still standing there frozen. I already have a pristine Columbia pressing that I don't listen to and a unopened copy so, it was worth having the moment. It was just his day.
Anyways, back to the show. Many rooms with some very expensive speakers and electronics. Some sounded o'k some that awful bright detailed sound that doesn't even remotely sound like real music insruments or voices (Peak Consult Empress for example). I thought that the Vandersteen/Audio Research room was the best sounding with the Wilson Sophia/VTL room a close second. But, that's my taste and of little importance. It is the value rooms that I found the most exciting. The most eye opening one was the Rives Room, or rooms. They had two rooms set up with identical components and music. One treated, one not. You could go back and forth from one to the other. Dramatic difference, certainly more than any other component and yet, it isn't sexy and most everybody ignores it while spending large amounts on electronics and speakers. If you are willing to spend $1000 on any one component, Rives should be it. Second biggest value at the show for $700 Usher had a little speaker that I had no trouble listening to for about 20 minutes, as oppossed to about 20 seconds in some of the high end speaker rooms. I notice Randy from Optimal Enchantment also sitting there for quite some time and I have watched him in the past get up even faster than me when he doesn't like what he hears. Also several writers from Stereophile kept coming back to take notes and listen again. Another value but, more on the high end of most budgets, Acoustic Zen is now making a speaker that I though was very good in the $4000 price range which is a very competitive price point.
Stupid money rooms, the Caliburn TT room :E , and the Van Gaylord room with the $60,000 mono blocks that sit in circular aquariums for water cooling :roll: . Damn, I wish I had that TT and amps :W .
Most puzzling room, for me it is the ZU room. For the second show in a row that I have been to, I just don't get it. I think people are like lemmings, if someone with good writing skills makes a case for a peice of equipment a hardcore following will come along.
The worst rooms were, of course, the HT rooms like Earthquake and others that just kept up a steady loud drone of explosions.
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