![]() At 97 dB sensitivity these 40-inch-tall speakers opened up beautifully as the 12-inch woofer, horn midrange, and 1-inch compression tweeter lit up the room. Volti Audio and its Razz-LE tower speakers ($6,500/pair) were paired with a BorderPatrol P21EXD 20-watt push-pull 300B amp with Western Electric tubes ($18,000). Haniwa Audio’s system utilizes dedicated components, all matched to each other. Make an appointment, get yourself to JFK, and they’ll bring you to the showroom to listen to your music your way. The total price for the speakers is $59,900 but well worth a serious listen for anyone seeking a grand experience. Supplementing the main speakers were two stacks of four 12-inch subwoofers, which can be customized for smaller rooms. The full range reference speakers each have 72-inch-long planar and ribbon drivers all handmade by Greg Takesh using no crossovers or filters – just direct connections into the amp. The biggest system was the magnificent four-piece GT3R speaker system by GT Audio Works powered by industrial-cool Manley Labs Neo Classic 250 watt mono blocks for $16,599/pair. My goal for this show was to find systems I clicked with both sonically and aesthetically, price and size notwithstanding, and to branch out beyond the more famous manufacturers. Systems came in a variety of sizes and some were wisely scaled down to fit the urban spaces of New York City. Below, is just a smattering of excellent systems I heard, although every room sounded good. That is the end of my post-show gripe-fest. If a system is really an “audiophile one trick pony” (an apt term used by an exhibiting speaker maker), then make sure the preferred genre is stated clearly in the marketing brochure. Brands and exhibitors need to show equipment in a way that highlights its ability to accommodate its listeners’ varied tastes. The audio industry needs a new way to reach these consumers, perhaps with more video material like Steve’s YouTube videos, and by effectively presenting their gear to a wider audience. During our chat, Steve Guttenberg also pointed out that are plenty of young audiophiles with money to spend, but they are not necessarily reading print media or going to events with astronomically priced aspirational stereos like their older counterparts. So, how does Norah Jones help me imagine a system playing my music in my space? We should also assume that people born between the years of 1980 – 2000 have vastly different references, and their music shouldn’t be ignored either.Īside from finding great equipment, my secondary mission was to seek out a young population, and I was pleasantly surprised by a diverse group of people that included women and people in their 20s who are musicians, studio engineers, DIY hobbyists, and new audiophiles who had never attended a show before. The next 15 percent is dedicated to big orchestral pieces and blues, and all the rest is Van Halen, Sepultura, AC/DC, et al. While I love Stevie Ray Vaughn, he might account for five percent of my listening. Unless it’s for work, I never listen to female jazz artists. The risk of playing anything too different or raucous threatens to repel that demographic. He pointed out that audio show attendees are so accustomed to hearing the same tracks by Stevie Ray Vaughn, Norah Jones, and Diana Krall that they have become standard reference points for sound quality. I got a chance to ask The Audiophiliac, Steve Guttenberg, for his opinion on the threadbare worn out musical choices. The gentleman with an iPad put on something completely opposite of the Police with absolutely no bass line to showcase the subwoofers. I try not to be annoying with my musical requests, so I thought the Police’s “Walking on the Moon” would be a fair test for one particular set of speakers and tame enough not to offend audiophiles. It was hard to pry a rock tune, let alone a hard rock track out of an exhibitor unless the room was completely empty. ![]() While the brands were interesting, musical selections were generally terrible. The recent New York show at Manhattan’s Martinique Hotel on Friday September 9th was a very different affair: 15 systems could be evaluated and revisited in a single day. RMAF was huge with many rooms, and even with a two-day stay, I was unable to see everything. It was NYAS that inspired me to fly to Colorado for one of the last Rocky Mountain Audio Fests. The New York Audio Show returned after a bit of a break, and it was nice to get back to a local event I had attended for the first time in 2017.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |