It is the speakers. What you picked up on is what becomes very apparent as they get pushed harder. But it’s always there - at least every time I’ve ever heard them.
Aretai
Never heard of these guys. Out of Latvia. For small speakers these things were very nice, with surprising depth without bloat. They also don’t “beam”. I’m pretty sure they are completely sealed. On the one hand, pricey at $9K a pair. OTOH, they musically stomped all over the Borresen M1’s.
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Yeah, I get that reaction. I admit I found myself wondering if there could be more warmth and humanity with different electronics driving them. Magico speakers tend to strike me as too much of a good thing. Technical perfection but not enough soul and humanity. It’s a razor’s edge balancing act between technical perfection and musicality with today’s elite expensive brands.
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I thought the Aretai’s were one of the best speakers as well.
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Right. I thought about this for some time now, and I think I have an analogy. There are some great speakers that are the equivalent of looking directly at a fantastic piece of art (you pick your favorite painter or sculptor), and there are some great speakers that are the equivalent of looking at the finest photographic reproduction of that same piece. It may also be fantastic, but it’s not quite the same.
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TAD
The TAD room was interesting. Yesterday I heard the REF-1TX and today the stand mount CE-1TX, ironically with the same Patricia Barber tracks. I’ll say, look, they both sounded great - they sounded like music, but they both had a rather interesting characteristic. These are dynamic driver speakers in boxes. But as I was sitting first with the REF-1TX just slightly off center, and then on center today with the CE, I noticed if i moved my head just inches to either side, Barber’s vocals immediately began migrating toward the speaker I was leaning toward. I went out of my way at points to move to the outer chairs, and at that point sure enough it was like her voice was coming just out of the speaker in front of me. It reminded me more like a speaker like the Sanders than anything else. Odd, but beyond that they were pretty darned good.
Sorry. I forgot to take a picture of the REF-1TX.
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Here’s a pic of the TAD room. During the excellent Jim Anderson demo (Particia Barber’s producer), he commented that he heard details on the R1’s he’s never heard on any other system.
As a TAD owner (the small CR1’s) with Velodyne subs, I spent a lot of time there asking how they set up the speakers. They were toed out for a large group, so this is not how they would be set up in a home environment.
I just found this thread now - I would have loved to meet some of the members from here.
The thing that struck me about the largest of the TAD’s (I was sitting center) is that aside from excellent bass/midbass, the speaker doesn’t impress you with sonic fireworks, or imaging all over the place. They sounded like a speaker you can happily live with and enjoy the music.
Many years ago when I got my CR1’s, (they were priced much better then) I went to a magico Q1 demo. They were playing audiophile tracks I wasn’t familiar with and it was amazing. Then I asked to put on a Bill Evans track and one from Rickie Lee Jones 1st album. They sounded so poor, they took one of them halfway through.
An hour later I was back home listening to the same tracks - even similar pressing of one and they sounded like audiophile tracks. They level of inner detail was incredible, and that before I had my BHK300’s which have taken the speakers up several notches.
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Here’s some that I took today. Just got back in town about an hour ago. What a great show. So many good rooms/systems. Was busy listening to systems and talking with exhibitors so much that I didn’t really take too many pictures this year unfortunately. But I’ll share what I got!
Saw a bunch of “big” YouTube reviewers this year as well such as…
Audioholics
Audiophile Junkie
My Own Devices Audio Channel
Jay’s iyagi
Jay’s Audio Lab
And of course… Michael Fremer of The Tracking Angle
I tell you what, it should would be nice to see Paul, Chris and the gang from PS Audio at this show with their gear/speakers. Maybe next year?!..
As for this post, I’m in a bit of pain right now so I’m just going to do a “photo dump”. If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask.
Rotel, Pro-Ject, Sonus faber
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Those lucite pioneer HPM100’s are a hoot! I owned the real (wood) version as a kid. Lucite version was meant for stores to shows what’s inside.
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Is that a quartet or more?
Varied by tune, but up to six playing.
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Could you describe the speakers in the last photo? I recognize Eminent Technology LFT8 series, but the woofer tower is something new?
Just got back from a short (I left early) after hours at the Graham room with Philip O’Hanlon (I think that’s how it’s spelled). He was about to start a cable test when who should walk in but Mikey Fremer. He sat in the middle spot on the couch (next to me, the person sitting there volunteered if for Mikey). They were having us listen to two different cables from phono to integrated. When the second one was playing I leaned over to Mike, and he to me, and we were dead on identical to what we heard. When Philip asked Mike for his opinion, he was nice enough to say “we” when describing, and added “we heard the same thing”. Nice to feel like I still have an audio marble or two left in the bag.
Oh, I also sampled a very fiery but tasteful bourbon whiskey. 
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If you take into account what they are sitting on, can you imagine if they were on proper stands?
Yes, I wondered about that, Vince. Hard to say. It’s possible the tables were accentuating or adding to the bass, but if it was it sure wasn’t adding any boxiness or bloat to it, which is what I would have thought would be the case.
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If I was a young musician I would focus on a trio. I don’t know how a sextet can pay the bills.
Every show I have ever been to I am constantly surprised at the installations. So many seem to be an afterthought. Especially when they bring brand new gear that’s not broken in.
The same with those tables. No stands? Crazy.
Well, the two folks there looked like husband and wife, and sounded like they came from the Latvian homeland. They may have either not planned well for this trip or may have lost the stands in transit. It did look makeshift.
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The stands got lost in shipping.
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Thanks for the confirmation, Ron!