Pursuing the Ultimate Music Experiences

Evolution Acoustics speakers, Dartzeel electronics, Wave Kinetics turntable and Ampex ATR reel-to-reel

This room sounded good at this show [really prefer these larger speakers than the little monitors], and was in the top five or six rooms at the show, sound wise, to our ears.

Hit all the main points of music reproduction – not doing anything terribly wrong, nor stupendously right, either. A little on the neutral side, detailed, and fairly even across the frequency spectrum and, well, that kind of describes it.

Wave Kinetics turntable

Dartzeel NHB 18NS preamplifier

Dartzeel integrated amplifier

Evolution Acoustics speaker and Running Springs Audio power conditioner

Ampex ATR reel-to-reel

Ampex ATR reel-to-reel player recorder

Tape is really incomparable as a source.

The Magico Q7 speakers on the VAC Statement 450 amps using Synergistic Research cables.

This room was kind of hidden away. At the end of a hallway filled with booths, one found oneself in a large room with lots of luscious displays of Synergistic Research cables. Off in the corner was a door with a strange handle, that the nice Synergisitc people would open for you, through which you found the room pictured here.

I went there 3 times and each time they were demoing these Synergistic ‘black hole’ tweaks [you can see one on the floor in the next photo. It looks like a tall cake box]. So they would play 30 to 60 seconds of music – stop for 10 – 20 seconds, and then replay it. From what I could tell the VAC drove the speakers nicely, but I really didn’t get to hear much here.

Rear of the Magico Q7 speaker. Notice the Tweak. Looks like an old Walker or Bybee binding post tweak.

The Q7 was up on castors.

The VAC Statement 450 amp.

The Hilton from the parking lot of the Atrium Hotel next door, where I had to get another memory card for my visit to the Magico, VAC, Synergistic Research room

On the way to the Magico room [this is the last day], an awards ceremony was happening the the courtyard. Somebody was winning something [and it wasn’t me :-)] was all I could gather.

The sole cigar booth was kind of a lonely spot. No, I don’t smoke cigars either.

Polymer’s $60K MKS-X loudspeakers driven by FM Acoustics amps and Thrax DAC. Enklein cables.

The speakers arrived mid morning on the day of the show, and then they struggled in this room with uncontrolled bass issues. I think it was the night of the first day of the show that they upended a couch and put it, behind the curtain, to make a more solid corner. Similarly they piled up the crates behind the faux curtain wall on the left side of the room to more correctly simulate the effect a real wall would have.

All told, by the 3rd day the sound was getting quite listenable, and, the somewhat contrived playlist not withstanding, for my money this was the best sound from a box speaker at the show.

The Polymer speakers use a 2.5 inch Accuton diamond midrange driver, the only other speaker to do so [that we know of and is a real speaker] besides the Marten Coltrane Supreme speakers, which we had here for many years.

So, you may ask, how do the two diamond midrange speakers compare to each other?

[We are comparing the Polymer to the $350K Marten Coltrane Supreme I speakers. Although we heard the $500K Supreme II speakers the next day after we heard these Polymer speakers, the Supreme II speakers were not at their best – they were in an un-optimized system driven by amps of unknown capabilities (the hot off the press Berning amps launched at the Munich show)].

First, there are a lot of similarities between the Polymer MKS-X and Marten Supreme I speakers.

The size [height] of the soundstage was quite impressive for such small speakers. Close enough to the Supreme 1 that I wasn’t complaining, and certainly taller that the soundstage of the smaller Kharmas.

The driver in common, the diamond midrange, covered 1200 Hz to 8000 Hz in the Supreme 1s. That is most of the music. Accounting for the fact that the Polymer speaker was brand new and diamond midrange not broken in, I heard little difference between the Polymer and the Supreme I midrange.

So, now for the all important below 1200 Hz range.

On the one hand we have 2 unpowered drivers in the 7 inch range (the Polymer) and on the other we have 5 unpowered 6 inch drivers (4 + 1) and 6, powered [i.e. active], 9 inch Accuton ceramic drivers (the Marten).

Contrary to what one might think, the Polymer has a gutsier, somewhat less controlled bass and the Marten Supreme I a very controlled, almost subtle bass that merges with the rest of the music almost invisibly.

I think the differences may narrow over time, with break-in of the MKS-X speakers and playing them in a real room with solid walls. Although the advantages of a speaker with well-executed active woofers like the Supreme I is hard to beat, the newer Supreme II speakers are, similar to the Polymer, 100% passive.

Comparing the MKS-X to the Supreme II:

MKS-X: 400 lbs, metal hybrid cabinet, 88db sensitive, $60K, house sound: ? [enthusiastically detailed?]
Supreme II: 500 lbs, wood and carbon fiber cabinet, 91db sensitive, $500K, house sound: calm accuracy

The accuracy [much of it unmeasurable] and efficiency of the Supreme II is well worth paying the big bucks for, and the big Wilsons, Magicos, YG Acoustics and big Focal each have their strengths, but I do think the MKS-X does play in this big league, box speaker, ballpark.

The MKS-X is woefully under-priced [like the PranaFidelity speakers]. They say they are not making any money on these. I can almost believe it given the price of those diamond midrange drivers. Given what I heard and what I know of the high-end speaker market, these should go for around $120K+ if not for their being only about 4 feet tall, the somewhat utilitarian fit-and-finish, and their being a relatively unknown, albeit very well-funded, brand.

A word to those who would buy these: they appear to be very sensitive to room dynamics and rely on a decent in-room response. I have a feeling that these may be more sensitive to placement than your average speaker.

Heck, we think the 270lb Acapella Atlas bass units are hard to get up, and down, the 45 steps to our front door, otherwise, just wearing our ordinary audiophile hats, we would be seriously interested. Though they DO ship in heavy-duty custom flight cases … and with wheels too…. 🙂 … but that is not going to help us in our mountain hideaway.

The Polymer MKS-X speakers, FM Acoustics 115 monoblock amplifiers, and Thrax Maximinus DAC, Weiss Man 301 Music Server and Weiss Jason Transport into FM 245 preamp on a Krolo Design rack.

Polymer MKS-X loudspeaker

Polymer MKS-X loudspeaker rear

Polymer MKS-X loudspeaker binding posts

Polymer MKS-X loudspeaker top

Polymer MKS-X loudspeaker front drivers

Yes. It is for sale.

I’m fascinated by how the user interface for cars evolved into what it is today. Check out the switches under the seat.

There were more cars inside that are photographed in the Instagram version of this show report.

PranaFidelity $6,950 Vayu/fs speakers, $8,950 Purna amplifier, $4,500-$9,950 Purna preamp

I heard this system evolve over the days at the show. Always sounded good to me; however they did put a lot of work into optimizing the in-room bass response. So much so that on the final day, when these photos were taken, I heard somebody playing really loud music; even though all the doors to the exhibition rooms were closed.

Who could this be, I wondered, walking down the hallway past room after room, making all this racket? ….. though I had a suspicion… 🙂

Yep.

I walked up right in the middle of the room to take photos of the tape player, and it was really loud but really clear and controlled. This is kind of a spooky [aka awesome] effect – like your body is physically floating on the sound like it was in a wading pool, being gently pushed around by the swells and tides of the melody.

There are not that many good sounding speakers out there folks. This is one of them. And the speakers are woefully under-priced. In your experience, just how long do ridiculously low prices last before someone gets the idea that maybe they should perhaps price things comparable to what the competition charges? Consider yourself forewarned.

They were not stingy with playing the tape player here [nor was the Evolution Acoustics room. Let’s hear it for tape!]. Made the decent vinyl setup sound etched and, yes, digital.

Ampex ATR-102 reel-to-reel tape player reconditioned and modified by Bernie Grundman Mastering

Ampex ATR-102 reel-to-reel tape player has a bus with card slots so can add / remove recording capability and more

PranaFidelity $3,950 Model Fifty90 speakers

A full room

No, this is not Danny mugging for the camera. 😉

Didn’t hear any music here – most unportables were on static display. This was a nice looking music server

Closeup of the display of the Astell&Kern music server

Astell&Kern integrated stereo amplifier

The Astell&Kern aluminum Castor Diamond speaker monitor.

The specifications of the Castor Diamond speaker

The main listening stations for Astell&Kern’s portable players