Did anyone else catch the demo by the Russian (?) inventor canvassing investors? The equipment was a piezo rested on what appeared to be a car woofer/flocked enclosure, tied to a bundle of toggle switches mounted on plastic Bud boxes. One of the switches caused the high end to pop in and out dramatically, 'demonstrating' his claim to to have resolved the problem of rising high frequency impedance in drivers. I didn't stick around long enough to learn why low amplifier output impedance no longer worked or how a piezo represents a normal HF load. Maybe next year.
That was the most interesting thing at the show. Pity his English (or sense of keeping secrets to himself) was what it was.
His explanation had to do with changing the woofer driver to current-sourced from voltage sourced. Some logic to that, if we could roll the clocks back 90 years and design our systems accordingly (now feasible with solid-state amps).
But what I think he *almost* had was motional feedback. I was unable to pin him down on how he sensed the signal to the woofer. Might be significant. I'd love to see the transient response of his woofer.
Ben
He was sensing the signal from amp to woofer. That's feedback. I can't say how wisely he was using that feedback.
Just as I'd say it is primitive to use cone drivers for mid and upper ranges today, so in a few years, I bet people will say it is primitive to try to make woofers woof without feedback.
Ben
I did not spend that much time in that room. The exhibitor showed that when he threw a switch, the sound changed. My take was that there was a device or circuit that he was switching in and out of the play back system. For sure the sound change was obvious. However, I did not find the "changed sound" that appealing as compare to the "unmodified" sound based on his demonstration.
@ rdf,
Thank you for your opinion. I am contemplating buying a X5 II.
I actually found the Bryston system sound fine. I believe the reason why the room was not crowded at all was the number of attendees (audio oriented) decreased fairly substantially (I went all three days). I suspected that many "audio oriented" potential show goers found out early that a number of the "regular" exhibitors (e.g. American Sound, Audio Eden, Audio one, Tri-cell, Audio pathways etc.) were not "doing" the show and decided not to go. I was close to not going since I had to do something work related on Friday afternoon. But then I figured that the venue is close enough to my place and I can get a 3-day pass with discount, so here I went. If the show were held downtown, for sure I would not be attending.
Like you, I like the King Ed Hotel as the venue. The rooms were good for setting up a demo. A dealer friend of mine who exhibited there two year ago said the same thing. However, going downtown is always a hassle on a weekday (I always go on Friday).
Regards,
@ rdf,
Thank you for your opinion. I am contemplating buying a X5 II.
I actually found the Bryston system sound fine. I believe the reason why the room was not crowded at all was the number of attendees (audio oriented) decreased fairly substantially (I went all three days). I suspected that many "audio oriented" potential show goers found out early that a number of the "regular" exhibitors (e.g. American Sound, Audio Eden, Audio one, Tri-cell, Audio pathways etc.) were not "doing" the show and decided not to go. I was close to not going since I had to do something work related on Friday afternoon. But then I figured that the venue is close enough to my place and I can get a 3-day pass with discount, so here I went. If the show were held downtown, for sure I would not be attending.
Like you, I like the King Ed Hotel as the venue. The rooms were good for setting up a demo. A dealer friend of mine who exhibited there two year ago said the same thing. However, going downtown is always a hassle on a weekday (I always go on Friday).
Regards,
That's what he said at the start of the presentation I caught. I wondered if it was something to do with current source amplification but since the speakers didn't have a chance of demonstrating the technique's potential advantages, and the HF impedance of a piezo is typically very different than the usual moving coil driver, I bailed early in the demo. It also seemed to me that wrapping feedback around a high output impedance amplifier likely lowers the output impedance, so....
@ Lo_Tse : Re: the Bryston room, it was later on Saturday afternoon and many other rooms were still packed. It might have caught the usual show risk. The sound was very forward, the definition of 'hifi' in the bad sense but it was an unfamiliar recording. Last year I lasted ~10 seconds in the Revel room for the same reason, oddly enough also empty. One room this year appeared to have only 'Free Bird' in their library, another Robert Palmer or some other 25 year old rock/pop tune. Odd enough choices that it made me wonder if they couldn't achieve suitable performance in their rooms and chose to bypass serious demos.
The X5 is worth an audition, I found its un-hyped and matter of fact presentation instantly appealing. Personal bias: I generally run from any device or tweak lauded for adding 'life'. The one set of performance measurements I found suggest V1 is a well designed device, if you can live with the UI.
Hey, DUG
Good to hear from you! Here's the link:
TAVES Consumer Electronics Show Early-bird Ticket Code – Save $5 | CANADA HiFi Magazine
Hope we can meet each other again at the show!
Regards,
Just realized I will be out of country and miss it. I will look for your reports
Hey, Walter
How are you? Too bad, I was hoping to bump into you. Sure thing. Will report back.
Regards,
Well, I went Sunday to TAVES.
Saw lots of neat stuff, weird stuff, excellent stuff, great sounding stuff, overpriced stuff, gimmick stuff, stuff that sounded a little off. (all IMHO)
(Learned some stuff)
Got two t-shirts...they wanted to get rid of them.
Good few hours.
I will try to go next year.
Saw lots of neat stuff, weird stuff, excellent stuff, great sounding stuff, overpriced stuff, gimmick stuff, stuff that sounded a little off. (all IMHO)
(Learned some stuff)
Got two t-shirts...they wanted to get rid of them.
Good few hours.
I will try to go next year.
Hi, DUG
Too bad did not run into you. But I only spent less than 2 hours on Sunday. I went all three day. Actually 4 days - I helped my friend to transport his gears to the venue and set up his room on Wednesday.
I felt that the Audio section is shrinking as compare to previous year. Bryston was there as always. Totem came back this year after last year's absence. Tricell has a big presence this years. A bit disappointed with Plurison which had brought quite a bit a stuffs that packed one room, but mostly static displays. Those A & K DAPs are gorgeous, really expensive though.
Sadly that American Sound was again no show. Audio Excellence had a few rooms last years but only booked 3 table booths this year. So no Wilson speakers to hear this year. Wynn Audio also showed up with their expensive German gears, sounded good but I guess at their price level, they should be. In the KEF-VPI room, finally met the MUON speaker in person, it was huge. Although the room was not small, I still think it is too narrow for the MUON. In the Audio by Mark Jones room, a pair of Magico were playing loudly to a packed room. The Muraudio high tech speakers were located in a less then ideal room, very wide by not deep enough, with a big column. Apparently, they are producing some :smaller and less expensive speakers based on their high frequency panels used in the big speakers.
As usual, most of the local dealers and smaller manufacturers were exhibiting on the BW side. Exasound is always a strong supporter of TAVES and showed up every year (as far as I can remember). This year, Exasound is showcasing their new DACs based on the new Sabre 9028 DAC chip. The Gershman speakers, driven by PASS amps, sounded nice in the Toronto Home of the Audiophiles. The US brand EMOTIVA which is well known for their well built-gears at reasonable price finally arrived in Canada, with Summit Hifi as its distributor. The preamp, amps and CD players looked great and sounded fine. What impressed me most was the tiny book shelf speakers that EMOTIVA made (400 cdn$ pair). It is equipped with a folded ribbon tweeter (c.f. the Heil tweeter) and really sweet sounding. The driver seemed to have good dispersion and sounded big. More importantly, did not break up when played loud. Really excellent value for the money. My personal favourite and a big surprise was the "entry level" Audiovector speakers that Tricell brought in from Denmark. The designer, son of the founder was in the room to discuss the speakers with the crowd. Both the stand mount QR1 and the flood standing QR3 spot a folded ribbon tweeters (getting really popular these day). Both sound excellent for their price and I am tempted to get a pair of the floor standing QR3 for myself, not that I need another pair of speakers in the house. Executive Audio is the dealer.
Not surprisingly, vinyl is everywhere. So are headphones and portable players. AS mentioned earlier, those A & K players sounded great and looked sharp. As in previous years, Woos Audio showing their line of great sounding and expensive tube head amps.
The Montreal show this year almost died if not for Plurison's generosity. Well, let's hope TAVES will continue next year.
Regards,
A sure sign that baloney, mass hysteria, and cynical commercialism, not careful listening, rules at the show.
Guess that's not news.
Ben
"Mass hysteria"? Did you hear any of the demonstrations? I'm guessing not.
Rather than worrying about source media the TAVES organizers might want to consider upping their game managing signage and attendee flow if they want the show to grow. This year it felt like a random throw of exhibitors across floors. I walked the show end to end half a dozen times across floors and apparently still missed important rooms.
Hi Folks,
Gee, I missed these events. I would love to attend one of these shows. Now I'm subscribed to this thread at least. As soon as the venue and date are decided upon, please make a clear statement so I can find it in this thread. I'll check earlier to see where you folks met for this.
If anyone is planning something between now and then, I'm in the west end, and would be very interested to see what everyone is doing.
-Chris
Gee, I missed these events. I would love to attend one of these shows. Now I'm subscribed to this thread at least. As soon as the venue and date are decided upon, please make a clear statement so I can find it in this thread. I'll check earlier to see where you folks met for this.
If anyone is planning something between now and then, I'm in the west end, and would be very interested to see what everyone is doing.
-Chris
This year the limitations to my mind were more along the lines Lo_Tse mentioned with the MUON. The room was very audible at my listening position, rendering any perceived compromise/benefit from using vinyl moot. Likewise the Muraudio demo, negated by attendees having animated phone conversations just outside the door in a marble hall.
The big surprise was threefold; that Bryston speakers are based on Axioms, that they sounded so good given last year's disappointment, and that ~tenfold their base price in amplification and DSP was used to get them there.
This was not the show for budget shoppers.
The big surprise was threefold; that Bryston speakers are based on Axioms, that they sounded so good given last year's disappointment, and that ~tenfold their base price in amplification and DSP was used to get them there.
This was not the show for budget shoppers.
