I had to explain to the young person next to me what the two FM receiver meters showed. Made me feel old.Not sure where all this good looking equipment was that's being mentioned. That refurbished 1970s Sansui receiver was the best of it.
Putting speakers (or stands) on some sort of spikes to 'isolate' them from the soft carpet and 'anchor' them to the underfloor has been a thing for decades. There is at least some validity to this, i.e. the 'spiked' speaker moves around less when you put your drink on it, and is possibly less likely to topple over onto small children. The latter also encourages a wider base platform of some sort even as WAF shrinks baffle sizes.
I'm no Stereophile archeologist but I'm pretty sure cable lifters also reach back quite some time, although they probably increase the hazard to/from motive children rather than mitigate.
Perhaps what you are noticing is what were (at least in the case of the spikes) semi-functional baubles now being extended out into some opulent cargo cult totem.
This just in:I had to explain to the young person next to me what the two FM receiver meters showed. Made me feel old.
Could you imagine how old you'd feel trying to explain a young person what a .... senator is?Two U.S. senators to automakers: don't remove AM radio from new vehicles.
From <https://www.reuters.com/business/au...kers-not-remove-am-radio-new-cars-2023-06-23/>
I don't know why but as soon as I went to this small/standard hotel room and saw the Revel speakers I thought, "boy, this is not going to compete with the big systems I had been seeing." Man, was I wrong!
Exhibitors have a choice of renting conference space/large suites or standard hotel rooms. In large shows, vast majority have small hotel rooms. Here, it was the other way around with majority having these grand spaces. This is why the Revel room was a bit of surprised for me.Revels had a smaller room to fill?
I think that was a Modwright room. The exhibitor told me those F228BE were his personal speakers (same as last year)..... is why the Revel room was a bit of surprised for me.
KEF is about as British as Hegel is Norwegian.KEF is, or rather was, British.
As for Belgian audio, I guess there is Bruno Putzeys, basically single-handedly responsible for Class-D emergence. Known for Philips, Hypex, Purify, Molla and Kii (and I may have forgotten some more)
While they belong to Hong Kong-based Gold Peak group since the 90s, their main R&D centre is in the same UK place since 50 years where also their TOTL speakers are assembled.KEF is about as British as Hegel is Norwegian.
All (or most of) the active electronics stuf is designed in Hong Kong though.While they belong to Hong Kong-based Gold Peak group since the 90s, their main R&D centre is in the same UK place since 50 years where also their TOTL speakers are assembled.
Same as their headphones, but their biggest market by far still are passive loudspeakers which are engineered in Maidstone.All (or most of) the active electronics stuf is designed in Hong Kong though.
If I remember rightly, at various times some KEF models were made in Belgium (for the European market, but also imported into the UK) and in the US (for the North American market).KEF isn’t made in Belgium?
Correct, the reference etc. models are assembled in Maidstone UK and Q/R series in China.These days the company is a British based subsidiary of a Hong Kong company with manufacturing facilities in China and the UK: I think I've got that right.
Are there any “big” audio/speaker makers in Belgium. I was trying to think and none popped out at me.
There were a few, but even here not well-known. One brand of speakers I loved though: Synthese. The design dates from the 80ies, and recently they've been upgraded, though they don't better as the old ones IMHO after a listening session. Love the design though.
That class of people are more likely to be partying on a yacht off Sardinia right now, not gawking at flashy audio gear.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.
Hey, this is not plastic.I prefer my plumbing behind the walls.