St. Tropez (A)
(Medium Resolution) CES 2008
T.H.E. Show
Las Vegas
January 2008

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T.H.E. Show didn't close each evening until 6:30pm, while the Venetian closed at 5:00pm. So the plan [aka THE PLAN] was to spend a few hours each day at the main conference, the LVCC, photographing home theater and static high-end audio displays, then spend several hours at the Venetian, and then finish up at the St. Tropez / Alexis Park. Dividing the day into roughly thirds.

Well, the Venetian was taking longer than expected - and the LVCC was more [but not completely] like CEDIA [that we just covered a couplea months ago] than expected - so the 3rd and 4th days we just skipped the LVCC altogether.

So it is after 5:00pm for these photos. That's why it is dark outside.

There were a lot of rooms that were not playing music. In fact, some were adamant about not wanting to play any music. It was late. They were grumpy.

I also got my first taste of how some people treat the press at these shows - in rooms where they did not recognize me. They treat the press like idiots. Rightly or wrongly :-). Usually we go to these things as a 'Buyer' aka dealers. They don't ask Buyers if they 'know what XYZ is?' in a tone that suggested we were children.

First, if I do not know what it is, in general, why oh why am I covering the show as press?

Second, this press guy does not just regurgitate Public Relations copy, which I had to explain over and over. We provide exposure for exhibitors, and write up something about the sound if it makes sense [though next year, maybe my backpack should have a slot for people to stuff with PR literature as I leave each room, just to speed things up.].

Anyway, I have both more sympathy for the press, and more sympathy for the exhibitors who must have been driven to use this approach by somewhat less-than-competent press bots in the past.

OK. Where to go first. Choose a building. Any building.... The St. Tropez is laid out in a circle of buildings with about, oh, 4 to 5 exhibitor rooms each. Almost all were on the first floor this year. At random we chose....

Being a software guy, I asked a few questions about how they were writing it. Turns out the guy they had doing it was in the room. Also turned out that he is of the opinion that Microsoft writes great code. Considering the overwhelming evidence otherwise [in my opinion, Silverlight is their first decent *API*, that in general they can't even get the API's right - this out of a few thousand APIs they have come up with. And most geeks would consider this charitable on my part.] this was kind of scary. [I know, just what this industry needs now... partisan software wars].

Anyway, the Microsoft codec they are using IS supposed to be decent compared to the alternatives, especially in its ability to compress the music - but what do we all think Microsoft would do if the majority of music servers used their code? Anybody? Anybody? Maybe charging serious licensing fees for code that doesn't have a particular bug? More fees for code that is faster than your competition? Maybe change it without telling you about it, making your code break? Make you have to put their logo on your product... for a fee? Make you use their graphics software on your box, or charge you heavier fees?

Nahhhh. They would NEVER do things like that.

Albert Porter of Audiogon fame was hanging out in this room, cracking jokes about our lot as show photographers.

This preamp prototype looks a lot better in person. I commented that it looked like it should be cruising, the chrome was so sleek looking. Similar to the German Burmester's look - not that the photos I took of their products come out all that well most of the time either.

The first time I stopped by, Duke and his wife (Audio Kinesis) and Tri (Triplanar) were there. But I still got to hear some music, anyway :-). Some Mike Oldfield was very nice [No, it wasn't 'Tubular Bells'. I think I can hear Frampton Comes Alive again, but it'll be another decade before Tubular Bells is welcome here :-)]. I only mention this piece so I can remember it later and go check out some MP3's to see if it is worth getting a CD [probably not] or picking up a used LP if I see it [definitely].

Went back a second time, just to see if was the company or particular track that made this year sound better than previous. Nope. It still sounded very musical. Usually I find this system flat, lacking harmonics and color, and aggressive. But this year, playing loud or softly, it had good harmonics, separation, macro-, midi- and not too bad micro-dynamics, which is probably one of the major weaknesses of this kind of system.

Certainly a very innovative speaker - in appearance and construction. Fit and finish was top notch.

Neli says: The tube is being showcased because it has "the custom tube socket that Kara gets made for her amps"

The Hard Rock Hotel is across the street, and during most of the evenings they were blasting music. It sounded like a live band, but it sounded like it was coming from their sign. So either the sound was being reflected off several buildings, and their sign, or they were just blasting canned music at concert levels each evening.

The point being that you could hear them in the hallways of T.H.E. Show at the St. Tropez, but not, thankfully, in the rooms if the exhibitor's system was being played ay modest to loud levels. Hey, with the airport almost next door and the traffic and the partying, the noise floor in Las Vegas is just a quiet-time-between-songs away.

The tweeter sounded great, and the midrange was quick and dynamic and appeared to more or less keep up with the tweeter. The bass however was slow, detached and insufficiently detailed.

That said, their showing this year, both in fit-and-finish and in sound quality, is a significant step forward and we look forward to hearing their room again next year.

They were also the only ones to to have 3 rooms at this show. Robert Lee, and his son and main man, Jimmy, started laughing and pointed fingers at each other when trying to figure out who was to credit / blame for all this work they had got themselves in for. But, photographer me, it sure made it easy to see and show everybody the entire line all together in a lineup like this.

Neli says: "The Caution tape and plants around the AZ setup in the St. Tropez lobby was ... because the folks who were supposed to show up with those velvet ropes ... didn't."