I received an email today [I think it was today] feedback on the CES 2008 Show report, such as it is at this point. I am posting it here, anonymously, because I think many people may also be curious but not want to email us [me] such a, uh, potentially inflammatory question.

“Hi, it would be interesting to hear more about the definitions you are using to describe the sound in the report section. VTL/Wilson a big mid-fi stereo!!!???

Different hearing and different opinions as to what live music sounds like?

“VTL’s room is always an oasis at shows, playing music at levels that actually match rather than trying to impress the listener with mere volume, the system meticulously set up. The same was true at CES 2008, a pair of Wilson WATT/Puppy 8s being driven by the new MB450 Series II tubed monoblocks”

Your input would be highly appreciated.”

——————————————————-

I use “Mid-Fi” as an abbreviation for a system that has so many problems I grow weary of describing them.

[BTW, The quote is by Robert Deutsch over on the Stereophile blog. Nice guy, doing his job. If you read what he said, he is 100% correct: the room was not played too loud, and they did pay attention to setup - at least with respect to choosing nice ancillary components.]

In this case, the notes were attenuated more quickly [dampened] than what I consider high-end [and some died out more quickly than others], the dynamics was more uneven top to bottom than what one might expect from the high-end [the upper-mids had more midi-dynamics than the rest of the frequencies, which had little to none], there was no micro-dynamics to speak of, harmonic color was almost non-existent, separation was problematic and uneven across the dynamic and frequency band more so than is standard… and I didn’t listen to check the imaging, soundstaging, air, emotion, etc.

In my mind, there is a line that separates high-fi and mid-fi - the minimum system that is high-fi is prototypically the Acoustic Zen Adagio loudspeaker being driven by a decent amp [Red Dragon, Kharma MP150, both are digital amps - approximately a $10K system plus source]. But systems with the Von Schweikert VR4, even sometimes systems built around the EPOS speakers, often, but not always, qualify in my opinion as high-end. Some of Odyssey Audio systems as well might qualify - which makes them so intriguing to me as they total around $5K.

What these systems all have is balance - they do a lot of high-end audio-like things ‘good enough’, and these things are things that go into making a system enjoyable for the long term. Big Mid-fi systems have a wide frequency range and they go loud. That’s about it.

And VTL + Wilson systems sound like this at every show. So do BAT + Wilson systems. I have no doubt that individual audiophiles can make similar systems work. At least inasmuch as they say they are happy and that they sometimes mention that they also think the show systems suck, and that their systems sound nothing like them.

anyway, thanks so much for your question - I am sure there are a lot of people who wondered the same thing.

Take care,
Mike.

[We are still at the Alexis Park, scheduled to leave in a few hours, missing, hopefully, some nasty weather that was imposing itself on travelers yesterday.]

Jeff Day’s show report is interesting, and disturbing in a couple of ways.

First, it looks like I missed a couple of rooms [in particular Sander’s room with his new InnerSound-ish speakers and his immediate neighbors. Damn. Twice in that area of the St. Tropez I had to stop photographing because the 3 2GB memory cards I use were all filled up. Next year… more cards. Or bigger cards.]

Second, there is this quote:

“The Soundlabs are even bigger than the Klangfilm Bionars, which is amazing in itself. The Soundlabs are so big in fact that I couldn’t get far enough away to get the two front channel speakers into the lens of my iPhone. The rear channels were equally astonishing. If you have a really big wallet and a really small thingy, these babies will compensate for both. Guaranteed. For those of us with a modest wallet and a big thingy, look elsewhere.”

Ignoring the judging of speakers on the focal length of the iPhone camera with respect to the size of the exhibition room [hey, we’ve all seen people evaluate the performance of a product based on all manner of weird stuff. Whatever…], and people’s fascination about the length of this particular appendage on other people [no, no, large penises are a fine thing] - the idea of critiquing the character of the owners of a product, instead of the product itself, besides being content-free and distracting from the matter at hand e.g. the sound of a room at a show, is, in my opinion, a prime example of the decline of the professionalism of the professional journalists not only in our industry but across the board.

Although this is a new low, there have been other instances where very popular reviewers have made comments that are overly bold, aggressive, and incorrect or unsubstantiated. For example: “full range speaker X does not go much below 40Hz”, or “CD player Y is inferior to its competition vis-a-vis its red book performance”. Tell us how you measured the output of the speaker [but, oh, the magazine that eschews measurements]. Tell us how you moved the speaker around to try and get it out of the room nodes. With what speakers are you comparing the low-end to with respect to the energy expected from a speaker in this room. etc. etc. And similarly, what players are you referring to with better red book? In what WAY are they better?

Anyway, I’m not sure we are going to start naming names here but we do try to avoid sweeping stupidities here at Audio Federation, and do try to talk about the SOUND of things, and WHY certain things are superior or inferior examples of various qualities desirable from the point of view of a system designed for music reproduction.

If we ever succumb to the prevailing malaise with respect to replacing straight talk with sensationalistic flame bait, like saying something like… oh… that 99% of reviewers are clueless or whores [thanks F.C. ] when the number is really closer to 90%, please PLEASE let us know.

Took about 4400 photos it looks like. 8 DVDs full. All 3 shows, or 4 locations depending on how you look at it.

Will try and get some photos and commentary each day as we spend tonight and tomorrow packing and Saturday driving back.

Oh, and sleep.

It was a upbeat show - but nothing too spectacular. Well, the Lamm ML3 but that was on the Wilson MAXX II which requires some listening around - and besides, it will take years to get the full measure of these amps - which doesn’t mean we didn’t hear things that shed light on how music can and should be reproduced.

Funny, show-to-show, some years are very different, and some are very similar.

Some rooms NEVER change, and some are always experimenting.

Some have new stuff to show, and others just want to reiterate that their stuff still passes muster.

At the main conference at LVCC, things look very much the same. They all seem to be broadening out their product offerings, as opposed to being the ‘best ever for a day’. How many 103″, 105″, 108″ announcements does it take until people grow bored. We are up to 150″… How about wall-sized LCD high-res monitors that do not give off much heat and cost about 2 grand?

But to stop digressing… there were a number of ‘retro’ offerings at the show… olde-looking radios and turntables. Can’t be long until the consumer starts looking to get something real… hopefully.

At the high-end audio part of the show, well, I’ve more to see, but like the main show, it seems like one of evolution, not revolution, of companies broadening their offerings. Cable companies adding turntables, turntable companies offering solutions for different arms, etc.

Face it, just about every company on earth now offers an iPod docking solution. That market is what they call saturated. And even more are offering media server solutions - though some are calling it media distribution solutions, blah blah blah. Where you store the media, who has the licenses, how you get it in the system, how you get it to the speakers, what GUI the user uses to access the media [what people really care about, oh, and price/performance], all these details vary slightly from product to product to product…

For example, the number of turntables being used this year seems WAY, WAY down to me. [Is it just our culture that lets teen-somethings set our media and entertainment priorities?] Anyway, the rooms with turntables care about the sound and the music, the ones without care about establishing a beachhead in the new ipodish-marketplace. No good or bad here, just a real bifurcation of rooms at the show, it seems to me.

Oh, and then there are the confused who don’t know what they are doing or why - who ironically are hardly any worse off because of it, since there is a lot of prognostication (guessing) without any real sense of just what IS the best way to stay alive.

Sounds… fuller sounding… to have two speakers being driven. [Thanks to Neli and our kind benefactor in Florida]

Now to play some test CDs, but this system sounds quite excellent to our ears. [i.e. come see for yourself if you got the time].

Next stop for me is to register at CES 2008 at the Las Vegas Convention Center (which they call badge-holder pickup). Then take some photos of the main convention, then over tot the Venetian, then back to the St. Tropez and Alexis Park here at T.H.E. Show.

Fun!

Pre-show photography, such as it was getting our own room ready for the tomorrow morning, which is today already.

An idylic setting

Software venders are still setting up their LPs, CDs, and DVDs and whatnots.

More photos for day one’s preview at the Show Report Dailies

Enjoy!

Should have a good tube here before the show and low and behold we’ll be back in the stereo world.

Listening to Sun Ra….

Subsequently to the photo the two box M9 phono preamp replaces the M1 (yes, Jim, YOUR old M1 - did a great job ) and a DAC5 Signature replaced our DAC4 4.1x Balanced.

I think Neli is going to enjoy this room too, way too, much….

Esoteric goes for world domination:

1/6/2008 ESOTERIC(R) INTRODUCES NEW “X” SERIES PLAYER FOR CD/SACD

1/6/2008 ESOTERIC(R) INTRODUCES HYBRID TRIOIDE TUBE AMPLIFER MODEL A-100

1/6/2008 ESOTERIC(R) INTRODUCES FIRST PREAMPLIFIER MODEL C-03

1/6/2008 ESOTERIC(R) SHIPS 2 NEW MASTER CLOCK SIGNAL GENERATORS FOR AUDIO VIDEO APPLICATIONS

1/6/2008 ESOTERIC(R) P-03/D-03 SELECTED AS EXCLUSIVE SOURCE COMPONENT FOR KEF MUON USA INTRODUCTION

1/6/2008 ESOTERIC(R) LOUDSPEAKERS NAMED INNOVATIONS 2008 HONOREE BY CONSUMER ELECTRONICS ASSOCIATION

1/6/2008 ESOTERIC(R) INTRODUCES RE-MASTER OF BEETHOVEN OVERATURES CONDUCTED BY SIR COLIN DAVIS

1/6/2008 ESOTERIC(R) INTRODUCES HI-END WIRE AND CABLE LINE AT CES 2008

ARC searches for lowest common [workable] denominator

1/6/2008 ACOUSTIC RESEARCH WIRELESS HOME THEATER SOLUTIONS PROVIDE TRUE “CD” QUALITY SOUND

Another year another “yeah, it’d be nice”

Logitech Transforms PC Audio into High-Performance Theater Sound

and…

The Doctor and the DJ Convene between the Sheets: World’s Smartest Bed Alleviates Snoring, Monitors Body Movements and Rocks the Bedroom

Yesterday was 71 degrees for a few minutes as we picked up several loads of big heavy goodies from the shipper. Ah, shirt sleeves….

Well, here we are in the rather empty (deserted!) Alexis Park. Actually, many hotels are empty here, these few days before the Deluge of CES attendees flocking in like banshees out of Circuit City.

The small Audio Note room is more or less setup and warming up…

The large room, well…. its mostly up and warming…

Setting up the rack, uncrating the platforms, tracking down a RCA to XLR adapter (guitar center) for the M1 which, until the M9 gets here, is our preamp without balanced outputs.

Here are our new AN/E SEC Signature loudspeakers in Madrone. yummy.

High Efficiency. Yummy.

The Balanced Kegons… in a different chassis from the traditional Kegons.

VERY nice looking on the inside…

Except one channel has a Baaaaaad tube. BAD tube. No worky.

With only one channel, we break in one speaker and amp for awhile, then the other… but we should have both channels going sometime. We hope. As soon as we find a GOOD tube.

Sounds pretty farking good with just one channel …. Hee Hee Hee. Killer speaker control and delicacy of decay….

… and that is with one channel, the M1 instead of the M9 which is arriving tomorrow, and with speakers that are brand new. [Yeah, we can both easily hear ‘past’ problems that we know are caused by situational difficulties like lack of break in, room anomalies, etc - so it will be interesting to hear what other people think…. ]

So now, to track down a 10Y (VT-25) tube…..

… Well, you will have to wait until AFTER the show starts.

Sorry.

According to the CES pamphlets this year - this is what the show is all about:

and

Funny how they focus on home audio when it is treated like such a distant cousin to PCs and Cell Phones and Cameras and even Car Audio and, oh yeah, video.

Face it, we lack glamor. Josh over at SonicFlare.com is trying to help, comparing equipment to sports cars.

Let’s see, what can we do?

Neli’s too busy to read this post, so how about:

The Sophia Loren of amplifiers. The Rachel Welch of speakers…?

McIntosh can get Brittney Spears…

No? The approach too libelous?

How about… No, can’t use gemstones: the platinum version of things this day is way too tired of a adjective .. or is it metaphor?

Endorsements would be cool…

These speakers are endorsed by Arnold as true Kick Alien Butt class loudspeakers. Spok says these amps are ‘The logical choice’.

Still gonna get us sued.

Well, we know how motorcycles and alcohol do it. But any nudity in Stereophile seems to bring out the church brigade. [I wonder what percentage of us WANTS high-end audio to stay a niche hobby.?]

One way is obvious, have the print media not dumb down their offerings to the ‘buyer guide for everyman’ state. Such a cop-out. Magazines in Japan have glorious audio porn and present the ultra high-end in a very desirable, Wish You Had These kind of style. You go to the magazine stand in THIS country, and look at the car mags… 1 in 20 is a buyers guide - the rest are high-end specialty car mags. Somebody has a clue over in THAT aisle.

Well, so now you know where we stand, and where this blog stands. And where we are headed.

I know, a lot of posts in a row - but you will be rid of me for a few days… next time you hear from this blog will be from smoky, sexy, crowded Las Vegas!