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Amir's 2023 Pacific Audio Fest Report
- Thread starter amirm
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Vinyl fetishism has no bounds, but at least something practical was displayed.
Nice to see that in this 23rd year of the 3rd millennium, we can now purchase a tonearm with built-in auto-lift. Only $20K.
Question: has there ever been a tone-arm with built-in auto-lift, available, as a stand-alone item? Sold during the 21st century, as a caveat. I'm sure during vinyl hey days...
How has this never been a feature of all tonearms?
Nice to see that in this 23rd year of the 3rd millennium, we can now purchase a tonearm with built-in auto-lift. Only $20K.
Question: has there ever been a tone-arm with built-in auto-lift, available, as a stand-alone item? Sold during the 21st century, as a caveat. I'm sure during vinyl hey days...
How has this never been a feature of all tonearms?
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OP
- Thread Starter
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They were not. And I go to every suite, not just the ones I like.
Q: Who would have thunk it?
A*: I was certainly aMUSEd to find out that @amirm would be a fan....
*: Madness?
I really liked the last gen 15" Spatial Audios. Very open and honest in a way only big speakers are. But not too dry or pointedly ultra hi-fi. A pleasure with many music genres.
The 12" were... meh. I mean not bad but not really doing it for me.
It will be interesting to hear these non-coax models. I happen to like coax so I'm not clapping my hands in advance... but I'm quite sure they'll work just fine.
The 12" were... meh. I mean not bad but not really doing it for me.
It will be interesting to hear these non-coax models. I happen to like coax so I'm not clapping my hands in advance... but I'm quite sure they'll work just fine.
The people I know who buy the top end items like those displayed at this show, are not making sacrifices to have $500,000 to $1,000,000 sound rooms. Their kids are not having to go to state schools instead of Yale or Rice. They drive $250,000 cars, have watches that cost more than any room setup in there, and they haven’t had to downsize their airplanes or anything else.
The general notion that people need to be saved from themselves isn’t a part of the fabric of society in the US like it is in Northern Europe.
I think you are taking up a cause that never has been, or will be, adopted by people in the US.
It’s buyer beware, do your homework, and you can buy whatever your heart desires. If you want to spend yourself into oblivion we even have a process for that too, it’s called bankruptcy.
However, I don’t agree with the premise, based on the people I know who buy stuff like $80k turntables, etc. that are not able to buy essential items. It might be that put off getting their new McLaren for a year, but that’s about
For the hypothetical “plenty of members” who need help standing up to the nonsense and need to be stopped from buying any of it, perhaps you, or someone, can start a thread for those people, kind of like a support group, Audioholics Anonymous Room and you all can stand up to each other all you want.
Freedom. Your lack of it and criticism of other that have significantly more of it, doesn’t add to the science based nature of the forum.Yeah sure Mr. Emperor, those clothes look magnificent on you
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Amir, It was good to chat with you again.
I think you may be surprised how many vendors recognized you. I overheard several say you were just there and seemed relieved you just slipped through...ha! I sensed there may be a bit of fear with your presence? There was a small business cable guy there I personally know and he seemed quite concerned you may show up. He had not seen you (yet). I liked his comment that he tries to not make claims and simply gives a 30 day money back guarantee…no questions asked. Seems fair and he is reasonably priced.
I found most of the rooms too loud for my ears and mostly not in the best acoustic control for the volume being used. A couple of clicks down I would probably have spent more time with them. It seemed most rooms were trying to impress the audience with volume?
I spent most of my quality listening time in the Joseph Audio room as it was totally to my liking (especially in the sweet spot!) The International Record tapes into the Doshi headamp and system was simply superb (But then I am a tapehead kind of guy).
I also spent time in Dan Wright‘s (modwright) room. It was great to see a modest (realistic) system sound so good! Maybe a little bit bigger room would have let them open up the potential of his system but I really liked what I heard. I know many in the ASR crowd question the use of tubes but I personally think Dan gets it right with his line stages and phono stages. I’ve always liked the sound of his MOSFET amps and his new monoblocks are well thought out. You need to test that new Weiss DAC Dan was using!
I found Jeff, Dan and yourself were very approachable and humble. Some good chats.
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Lack of freedom? I think your definition of freedom differs significantly from mine.
I’ve heard Spatial’s first offerings at the Newport Audio Show, a number of years ago. I thought they were very good. I’ve seen quite a few vids of Borresen’s offerings.
gfx_1
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I'm still wondering what kind of cable is on the other side of the power outlet. Standard Romex?
Of course it does, you live in the Netherlands with the world’s highest tax rates. That allows for programs and attitudes about universal health, care, paid higher education, pet ambulances with veterinarians on board (a friend of mine runs that program) etc. It also reduces/limits your disposable income, limiting your choices on how you want to use it. You have a Socialist party, a Labor party that is Socialist-Democratic and they put people in office every year.
It’s a different mindset, not saying which is right or wrong, but it is vastly different this how things are in the US. We are open to people being allowed to do stupid things like not save for retirement, spending money on high dollar audio equipment and a million other things but we don’t see a compelling need to save them from themselves. You do.
As do plenty of your fellow Americans as evidenced by the very existence of this forum.
I love the reels.
Thanks to @amirm for posting them up above.
What I really love is that there are no claims, zero, about who it will impact SQ. It’s completely limited to cosmetics. Hopefully, they will be a bit more resistant to bending/warping as even the best made precision reels are prone to that. You never pick up a tape and hold it by the sides, only the hub, as you will bend the reel flanges inward towards the tape.
So I’m going to order a pair.
They are not in the forum because they feel they need saving from you or anybody else. They are in the forums for reviews, measurements and the science. Not to make judgements about people’s purchase decisions. AES has been publishing about snake oil since the ‘50s. As have many other outlets. This is nothing new.
This is from Paul W. Klipsch in 1953:
“As long as man brags of conquest, man will claim his “great discoveries. To try to judge the real from the false will always be hard. In this fast growing art of “high fidelity” the quackery will bear a solid gilt edge that will fool many people.”
I don’t know what the attendance was at this show, but I am gathering it was reasonably well attended. Amir went, and posted plenty of photos and videos. Is everyone who attended that show in need of saving? Or, are they astute enough, based on the comments in here, to ask the right questions, to separate the good from the bad.
Actually, beyond sound quality, these high-end reels serve a practical purpose beyond cosmetics and bending/warping. They are dynamically balanced so that when you are winding them (most tapes are stored tails-out), they don't wear out bearings unnecessarily by vibrating like an out-of-balance wheel on your car. Additionally, dynamically balanced reels also contribute to a more constant tape tension, so that the servo's don't have to work so hard - which does have an impact on SQ (although I don't know how to measure that).
This is not, and has never been about judging peoples purchase decisions. It’s about making sure that people have all the information at hand to make the a judgement call by themselves. What they then do with that information is on them.
Not what you said, and have said, people need saving, people need to be confronted and told don’t buy this stuff. If that’s not what you meant to say fine, don’t try and back peddle it. Just start a thread/room for all of the people who need saving.
Agree on all of that can’t wait to try. I have precision reels and hubs, and when empty they play true, no wobble or anything else, but it seems when you but tape (mass) on them they will show some effects of wobble (up and down, not so left and right compared to 3 screw or plastic reels).
Anxious to give a try.
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Thanks Amir!!!!
Audio Show Threads like this are of course going to be bug-lights for cynicism on a forum like this. But I enjoy show reports. It takes a lot of work to take all the photos, post them with write ups etc, so, much obliged.
Admittedly I look at plenty of show reports online and on youtube, so what I most hope to see from Amir's reports are his personal opinions of what he hears (taken
with all the obvious caveats of causal sighted conditions). So I can always use more description from Amir, but I'll take what I can get
I've seen from other show reports that this year's Pacific Audio Fest was a particularly bad sounding show in terms of the room to room tendency for bad sound.
I know Triangle Art stuff is often the object of scorn, but if I had the money to burn I'd own this TA Anubis Turntable:
I think it looks unique and bitchin' cool. I've always loved the combo of black/gold or black/bronze, and I like the combo of simple, solid form with some bling.
No accounting for taste, right?
Audio Show Threads like this are of course going to be bug-lights for cynicism on a forum like this. But I enjoy show reports. It takes a lot of work to take all the photos, post them with write ups etc, so, much obliged.
Admittedly I look at plenty of show reports online and on youtube, so what I most hope to see from Amir's reports are his personal opinions of what he hears (taken
with all the obvious caveats of causal sighted conditions). So I can always use more description from Amir, but I'll take what I can get
I've seen from other show reports that this year's Pacific Audio Fest was a particularly bad sounding show in terms of the room to room tendency for bad sound.
I know Triangle Art stuff is often the object of scorn, but if I had the money to burn I'd own this TA Anubis Turntable:
I think it looks unique and bitchin' cool. I've always loved the combo of black/gold or black/bronze, and I like the combo of simple, solid form with some bling.
No accounting for taste, right?
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