Greater Toronto Area DIY meetup

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No, Mike left us before 2020 (I think). They ran DW after Leigh, and now are running with Stabilant 22 product.

I really liked the Marsland speakers and most of my early designs used their woofers. Decent combination with Philips mids and tweeters for inexpensive, but great sounding systems. I used to test each woofer and pair them.

When McBride took over, they used Cambridge to build the speakers. That stuff was garbage! They did not change the model numbers (dirty pool), so the first new order was basically scrap.

I don't know if Floyd misses Canada or not. It's too bad he jumped ship, and he will have his reasons.

If Paul Young is still around, I'd applaud him for heading up a great product! Even the Princess line was very good for its use. I bought a lot of Marsland product in those days.
 
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I enjoyed a trek to Toronto Audiofest 2023 today. It was a fun little visit to tour the ultra high end speakers I never get to see/hear.
IMHO the high end stuff that sounds above the rest has some form of innovation. Not just another box with drivers. Those all sound a little bit boxy to my ear.
Great sound from Monitor Audio Hyphn. These have slot loaded bass drivers aligned with the mid/highs. Seemed to excel on a wide range of genres.
Gershwin had their Black Swan $90k anniversary speaker with separate bass cabinet time aligned with a separate A-frame for mid/hi. It was my favorite.
Alsyvox managed to cover the full range with ribbon drivers that are lightning fast. Great sound. Super fast and detailed. Surprising they were playing with authority down to 30Hz with incredible detail. Again over $100k.
Acora uses granite to eliminate the box energy. Paired with a really nice vinyl rig they were easily recreating a full sized orchestra in a large conference room.
AudioNec used a Rubanoid to cover 400 to 10k Hz. I toyed with building rubanoids. They do sound good.
It must be a great time to be a cost no object audiophile.
Even better that all of these approaches have been enjoyed here by DIYers at a fraction of the cost.
 
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I went today as well.

Frankly, very disappointed. Speakers were generally okay on average, many very boomy. It seemed like too many went for single-ended triodes at inflated prices (me too crowd). Other massive mono blocks. Similar ideas where the product is more art than performance.

These people have got to ask themselves. At the size and weight, how does a customer move the damned things? Plus, whenever they need service or moving, the shipping exceeds the cost of a normal repair on something with the same power but smaller and lighter (not class "D"). Give your head a shake!

Finally, prove to me there is more technology and manufacturing in these than a car. I'm sorry, but these folks have completely lost sight of the market.

One thing I'll add. Mostly dealers or small distributors. We need manufacturer presence. I'm sick of rooms populated with very serious looking people listening carefully to "okay" systems. Material played often can't show off a system. Piles of large gear running a pair of smallish speakers - come on! Try impressing me with something really good for a change. Most exhibitors didn't seem in it either.

Parking was poorly organised, and expensive next door. Entry was expensive for what there was also. I bought two tickets in advance and my partner was not impressed with the show.
 
Sorry to hear it was a bust for you. I'd feel the same way if I drove as far. I'm 10 mins door to door so just went for an hour or so to see a few specific things. I had watched the audiophile junkie tour it on YouTube, so I knew where I wanted to go. Like last time they did not charge for parking, so that was a win.
Me, I just like to look at this stuff and listen to it as I do at the Ferrari dealership. They all know they're not getting a penny from me so they just let me wander around and enjoy myself. It also helps to be retired and dress like a homeless person. :)
 
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lol!
1/2 an hour for me, not bad. Parking was full when I arrived and the other options were not marked. It cost me $10 instead of $25 for parking.

I was hoping to see something worth being excited about. All there was were okay sounding speakers (some not very), massive power amps, or single ended tube junk. Everything was over-priced.

What would have been very interesting were more good mass market stuff like Denon and Marantz (they were there through dealers). The performance of these things is far greater than most others (hate to say). It would have been great if Bryston was there, I was hoping to see them now that they have great sounding products.

There were those idiotic huge, heavy pattered turntables everywhere. Some decent little ones, but those were too expensive for what they were. THe one larger display asked what TT I would like ... Thorens TD-1601 - no contest! I didn't see them and I wanted to.
 
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re: Audio Fest
Yes it was a bit tiring... or was that tiresome. So many rooms playing music too loud with bass overwhelming them.
The choice of music frustrated me as well. I heard some nice sounds from the Rethm speakers and went to rescue my friend from his vinyl addiction. By the time we got back the music had changed and there was nothing worth demonstrating to him. Meh.

I did spend a nice few minutes chatting with Mr. Gershman (and his wife) about his Black Swans... which, like most swans, were actually white... which, he explained, were designed mostly to separate the bass energy from modulating the main speakers. Nice design with the added benefit of allowing tweaking alignment.
 
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You know what I would have loved to see?

This combination. Bryston 4B3, Klipsch RP-7 III, Denon CD, decent streamer and a Thorens TD-1601 with a matching Ortofon MM cartridge. That would have sounded bloody awesome. A Bryston Pre would have been okay, but if someone dragged out a Nakamichi CA-7 or CA-5 ... Magic!

Many might not agree but I know this sounds amazing.

The speakers I really want to hear. Klipsch Jubilee. A buddy bought a pair, and they are arriving soon. I'm rebuilding his electronics in preparation.