Report

  

Venetian:   2 A B    29 A1 A2 B1 B2 C1 C2 C3   30 A1 A2 B1 B2 C1 C2   34  35  

  Alexis Park A B   St. Tropez A B C

 

 

Alexis Park
(Part B)
CES 2008
T.H.E. Show
Las Vegas
January 2008

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Copyright © Audio Federation, Inc.. All rights reserved.
All pictures in this report are freely copyable and distributable
if attribution is given but may not be included in multi-room show reports without written permission.
 

 

 

 

Previously, on this high-end audio CES 2008 Trick or Treat, it is Wednesday early evening and getting quite dark out, the third day of this four day show. We just finished the first few rooms of the Alexis Park, and we are now going to finish it up.

The T.H.E. Show is open to 6:30pm (though many rooms kind of close their doors early) when the Venetian is only to 5:00pm, though many rooms stay open later. So to makes sense to finish up each day at T.H.E. Show - though some rooms we will just not get to see because they close up early.

I apologize for missing the Magnepan room, completely forgetting that it was on the 2nd floor over above the music retailers.

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 
 
I was behind another photographer, who got here first. After he spent a couple of minutes getting the shot of the cartridge with the blue LED in it, I felt obligated to just take one shot of it and move on, so that they could go back to, uh, playing music maybe? Besides, we got the shot of the cartridge several times at past shows. At this point, I do not think a lot of people even care how it sounds - it is just so evocative of the high-end turntable art these days.
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
Well, my one shot of the cartridge COULD have been done a little better....

 

 

 

 
 
This room was the Most Terrible of Show this year.

For one, it was TOO L-O-U-D. It wasn't sounding good at all, over-driving the speaker that way. I mean, NOTHING was right, in terms of sonics - note envelopes were failing and clipping, harmonics were stripped bare, etc. etc.. I have to get close to the speakers in most rooms to take a shot or two, and none of them hurt my ears, no matter how loud they were and what they were playing. Until now.

And worst, they had their door propped open, so for several rooms that I was in near to this one, exhibitor's guests had to listen to this system in the background as well as their own systems.
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 
 
This room is essentially a store in a hotel room.
 
 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

STYLE
Impressive Sweet   Enjoyable Emotional Sophisticated   Natural Workhorse Real/Truth  Magical/Spiritual
SOUND
This system sound appeared to meet the goals of this style of system.
 
This system was better integrated, top-to-bottom, than when we last heard it at RMAF 2006. It also seemed to work well in this small room at the Alexis Park, though I am sure it could overwhelm the room if turned way up :-)

The sound, to me, was very much a sophisticated sound, with lots of subtle detail being reproduced and the massive bass woofers are more in support of this style, as opposed to overwhelming it. Someone mentioned they thought there were issues with the tweeter - but, on the other hand, many people went out of their way to tell me that they liked this system - most not knowing anything about this system, or its major components, before the show.

So that would make this room, the Lamm room, and the Zanden room the most Talked About rooms at the show - according to the scuttlebutt I was hearing anyway.
 
 
            
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
I was sitting on the right side of the couch - the sweet spot in front being occupied, but the sound of the right channel did not dominate the listening experience. 

 

 

 

 
 
My camera hates this shot. If it could, it would jump out of my hands and run screaming out of the room. It behaved no better at RMAF with the exact same shot.

This system did quite well and midrange and lower treble transparency. Images were solid, stable and believable. Bass was somewhat detached and uneven.
 
    
These photos reveal the speaker to be quite attractive. Darn camera - a little too fickle sometimes.
 
 
 
HEGEL CD player and integrated - with low prices commensurate with that of the speakers.

 

 

 

 
 
ModWright electronics and modded Sony player, Acoustic Zen* cables, Art Audio amplifier.
 
 
 
 
Yep, the two little rubes poking their heads up. A tell-tale sign of a ModWright-modded Sony.
 
 
 
 
Art Audio amplifier.

 

 

 

 

Late Monday night about 1 minute before close, I stopped in and took some photos of the Music Section of the show, located at the Alexis Park this year.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
M & A Recordings. I almost broke my resolution not to buy music at the show here. Resistance is so hard.... [if you could see how full our car was on the way here, and how much fuller it was on the way back - every square inch was crushed into other poor square inches, well, you would tell me I could ship it if I just needed to get it now. A lot of help you people are].

 

 

 

 

 

Copyright © Audio Federation, Inc.. All rights reserved.
All pictures in this report are freely copyable and distributable
if attribution is given but may not be included in multi-room show reports without written permission.

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