Ok, what were the 3 top speakers at the show?
Joseph Audio Pearl3
PranaFidelity (new, active model)
Kudos Titan 505
Top 3 Rooms, or Speakers? Pretty different questions. And of course none of us heard all of them, just the subset we were interested in and had the time to hear. I missed a LOT. Wish the show could run for a week ; )
Tough call. Iām going to go with the top 3 visceral responses and general wow factor, and all 3 for very different reasons:
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Borreson Acoustics 01ās. Blown away by the job they did in that huge room. Soundstage and detail out of this world.
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Alsyvox. I donāt recall the model of the speakers, but they were good enough to make me rethink planars for a few seconds. Too bad they sound horrendous pretty quickly when you move out of the sweet spot. Just canāt do that for my lifestyle.
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this goes to the total room. The soundings fine audio video room for the combination of Boulder electronics, REL subs(line arrays, two stacks of 3), and I believe vienna acoustics Liszt speakers. Really I think I was impressed with how much the rel subs in that configuration performed. If I can swing that in the future, Iām going to look into it pretty hard.
On the phone, forgive the typos if I still missed some.
Good point beef, I corrected the title to āspeakersā
My three are (and they donāt call me tinear for nothing):
- Borresen 01
- Boenicke W8
- Klipsch AK5
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Bummed I didnāt hear any of themā¦
This is what Iām talking about in My Fantasy World where Makers and Buyers could afford to have this sort of thing go on for a weekā¦or maybe Permanently? Is this the New Model for selling this stuff? Salons in major cities sponsored by Consortiums of Manufacturers that are Best Buy-Sized, but are āAll Magnoliaā so to speakš, to put it on the Bose Level - with 20 decent, separate rooms. Going to be interesting to see how it gets sorted out. Because people will still need speakers and headphones, and there is no replacement for trying stuff out.
So - I am unashamedly (at this point in my life) a British Monitor Speaker Guy, and soā¦embarrassed to admit it but - Falcon speakers were unfamiliar to me until the other day at RMAF. Chatted with the/one of the engineers. Great guy. Wish Iād gotten his name.
So there you go. Iām now a potential Falcon customer.
One of the obvious issues with Rooms at shows is, for example - the Front End on the as-yet-unreleased Falcons in the demo wasā¦insane/fab/Uber-costly.
Good to read others like the Boenecke, too. This is what hifi is aboutā¦small equipment with room filling sound at reasonable price and good looking.
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Anyhow - back to the Subject. Predictable perhaps:
Edited 9.11: (oh manā¦first time this year Iāve typed/realize thatā¦
)
- Dali Epicon 8
- Falcon Acoustics: Whatever that new Speaker isš¤·š»āāļø
- B&W 800 D3 - this list is not ordered in terms of price/value ratio in any way
3.2 Harbeth 40.2ās
Iām so glad I made a point to try to go into as many rooms as I could with speakers/setups I knew little too nothing about. I almost skipped the Borreson room on first pass day one and am so glad I didnāt. That room is actually why I ended up trying to make a point to see all the unfamiliar stuff.
Makes me wish I hadnāt spent so much time doing other stuff. But frankly, not in the market for speakers. Though they are SO IMPORTANT, and SO MUCH FUN. Perhaps the most important/fun thing in this Whole Deal.
Iām always interested in small speakers with big sound (not to confuse with big bass only) although I prefer to listen full range. So far I identified 3. First place Living Voice, second and third, Boenecke.
I do so love that. Harbeth P3ESRs well away from the walls on Good Stands, with Whatever Front End You Like fits that bill admirably. Though they do want a sub or two.
I recently bought the Italian IK iLoud Micro Monitors, and they are crazy good, for that sort of thing/at the price. Then based on those, got the new iLoud MTMās. Also very cool. But have not had any time to sort out all they can do. Sorta collect cool small speakers.
Thank Jah Iām not a reviewer.
The boeneckes were definitely very impressive.
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That makes sense. That was my primary focus by far this weekend. Speakers. Iām actually in the process of pulling the trigger on some Borresons. Had no real intention of actually making a big purchaseā¦ Buuuut holy crap here we go.
Additional side points. I wasnāt wowed but either Magico setup. I so wanted to be. I thought they would be it. Thatās not too say they didnāt sound good. They were very good. Very good, but they didnāt speak to me. I agree though, the B&W 800ās did sound really good with that setup. I much prefer the Moon setup to McIntosh that Iāve heard before.
Yup. Never Really Felt either brand, despite repeated exposure over years (including some ownership), hence my surprise. (Talking B&W and Magico)
But maybe I was just in a good moodš¤·š»āāļø
Ooh, I liked the 40.2ās as well. They just get that lower midrange correct.
Another close one but nudged out by Klipsch was the ATC-50. Loooove that midrange dome but wow I did not expect them to be so BIG. OK the Klipsch AK5 are hugeā¦ funny I asked my wife if she remembered them being so tall and she just gave me the eye roll.
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@ Narbootyā¦ Even though I am typically a āhorn / full rangeā guy the Borrensen nearly made me go over to the dark side.
The B&W and Magico brand are sterile sounding to me though this was the best I had heard the 800āsā¦ and is a small space. I think the front end pairing was much better than the usual MAC.
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Yea, Iām gonna go with the 02 to try and get a little more full range. Iāll probably supplement still with some RELās eventuallyā¦ But not right awayā¦ Iāve spent my audio budget forā¦a WHILE. Iāll be picking up extra shifts for the foreseeable future.
Did anyone hear the new Vandersteen speakers? They compete in the same price range as the AN3 and share many of the same features.
Yes, collecting small speakers could be one of my future passions, too 
The Borresen tinears mentioned also look very promising.
The nice thing is, when you finished the rest of the setup to a certain level, such speakers sound even more impressive.
I would really like to know how they make some of those speakers sound so room filling and the rest not at all.