Full Report
THE SHOW Part 5
January 8th-11th, 2007

These dark photos kind of give you a feel for what the room really looks like.

These 'lit up' racks are quite striking... I am not sure if, after awhile, one would just turn them off because they are too bright, turning them on only to impress company. :-) Make no mistake, they are visually impressive - kind of a lighted display case for your equipment. Sonically...

I found this presentation to be very 'beamy', like a horn system but with a narrow focus. This was as I was listening with the expectation that this was going to sound pretty good - what with the Nagra amps, which aren't half bad.

It was as I was taking the photos of the speaker from the side [see below] that I thought the sound was best, more balanced top to bottom, especially in terms of dynamics.

The Swedish contingent, from Marten and from Jorma Design, mentioned that these speakers were also by a Swedish gentlemen. So when I finally got to this room, I thought 'Oh, these are the speakers that they mentioned'.

I really had no time to listen, but what I did hear reminded me of the Marten speakers in that there is the attempt to render music competently. Similar to other brands as well, for example the *Acoustic Zen Adagios, at one extreme, and the *Marten Coltrane Supremes, at the other, there seems to be an attempt to apply an even hand, top to bottom, to all aspects of the performance and not pander to this or that constituency.

My impressions, and staring at the ARC amps it may be the sound of the amps I am describing, most definitely something close - are hat this was a neutral yet musical sound, with a round rather than a delineated pattern of note formation. Good control, not a lot of air. Yep, sounds like the amps. Which is a very good sign, if they can sound different on different amps. Perhaps we will be able to hear this at the next show....?

These speakers, in hindsight, were getting good buzz at the show - I just assumed that Respons was spelled 'Response', and so didn't sync up the mythical 'Response' speakers with these 'Respons' speakers until an embarrassingly long time after I visited this room.

The sound here was... idiosyncratic .. which is what a lot of 100% pure systems from manufacturers are unless they are very, very disciplined.

Not that they aren't good anymore, it is just that Slam Dunk that we are all looking for. Some of us to the exclusion of being able to enjoy our current systems - some of us just trying to recognize it when we see it.

'Till next show...