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Paris Audio Video Show 2021

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VintageFlanker

VintageFlanker

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Thank you for sharing these Focal have to sound good at $35,000!!!
No, it's 35k. I believe it costs 50k$ in US.

Anyway, this is priced about the same as others, such as 801D4 or Z3 Cryo (sounded "better" than the aforementioned) Magico A5 and so on.
 
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Kling75

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Thank`s VntageFlanker for the Report,

Stereoplay, Absolute Sound etc. should hire you for all there Showreports...but then you would have to praise the utter nonsense. So no Deal :cool:.

I visited my first Show in the age of 16 (1980) . It was in a Grand Hotel in Lucerne. Big Rooms with thick carpets an massive curtains. The Lighting of the Rooms were complex but very stylish. When the Show changed in a new Location ( a bit like in Paris) the acoustics where terrible. Big windows , no carpets and curtains. i can not understand why they sacrified the most important factor for demo their ridiculuus expensive Gear.....
 

Spocko

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I was hoping to see an appearance of the D&D 8C playing Apple Lossless from an iPhone, or better yet, a vintage iPod playing MP3s - Would it sound as good as most of these rooms and if so, how many speakers would they sell at the end of the day?
 

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SimpleTheater

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While I'm no B&W fan, I have to give them credit when it comes to visual design - regardless if you like the looks or not - because they have a design philosophy which lets you know instantly that you're looking at a B&W. So many speaker companies seem to design each speaker as if its the only speaker a company makes and you have to look at the logo to determine who makes it. It's an issue many auto manufacturers have as well.
 

polmuaddib

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Thank you for this. Really enjoyed reading the post and, with music playing in background, almost felt like I was there.
 

Scytales

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View attachment 161591View attachment 161592
Here is the new Cabasse Master: The Pearl Pelegrina. It is a powered/wireless, DSP-based loudspeaker you cannot dissociate from its stand (all the connectivity is in the base). It is announced to be a limited edition and the pair will be sold 25k€. Cabasse surely likes extraordinary claims. I mean: "10Hz-27KHz... 134dB SPL. 1850W." (not a typo). Should I understand this may be able to output 10Hz at 130+dB? Yeah. Sure.:rolleyes: Later, I learnt that the Pearl were demoed in a proper room somewhere else, but here at the Novotel the pair was just sitting in the hall next to the stairs, with tiled floor around... By the end of the expo, they put them on, blasting some music, but the place was completely inappropriate to give it anything close to a proper listening.

To read that about an enterprise like Cabasse, which is remembered to have produce the most memorable demonstrations in the Paris Sound Festival during the 80s and the 90s, at a time when its founder was still in charge, is the utmost disappointment.
 
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VintageFlanker

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To read that an enterprise like Cabasse, which is remembered to have produce the most memorable demonstrations in the Paris Sound Festival during the 80s and the 90s, at a time when its founder was still in charge, is the utmost disappointment.
I am too young to have known Georges Cabasse (RIP) when he was leading the brand, but he was hands down one of the most competent speaker designer that ever existed, with a lot of interest for research, and honest/no-BS approach.

About the Pearl Pelegrina: maybe it is effectively good or who knows, even "great"... I'm just sad they chose to use such nonsense numbers for overly agressive marketing purposes à la Devialet.
 

kencreten

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Sonus Faber / McIntosh
View attachment 162017View attachment 162018
Pick your poison. Presented with the Sonus Faber Lumina III, The MA12000 and MA8900 integrated amps, MC1502 and MC462 power amps, CS22 and CS2 preamplifiers. Unfortunately, all of this was part of a not-running showcase. It was too late where I heard from @renaudrenaud that I missed the real sound demo, with some McIntosh paired with SF Lilium, in the room nearby. So sad I lost my chance to give them a listen (but he did, so maybe if he could share any impressions whatsoever...;)).

View attachment 162020
From left to right: SF Seraphino, Maxima Amator, Olympica Nova II, Nova III and Nova V. Gosh, these all look absolutely gorgeous. I wasn't familiar with higher-end products from this brand (nor that I could afford any) but I was literally sold to this standard of aesthetics. The level of craftsmanship, fits and finish is absolutely stunning. What you've got is nothing but real wood, genuine leather and premium materials. The grilles are ones of the coolest I've seen in the entire industry: imagine a curtain made of leather strings. I could play with that all day long:p. Still, I am kind of sure this is not acoustically transparent (but no grille really is) :
View attachment 162015
View attachment 162031
C8 Tube Preamplifier with Electa Amator III.

MBLView attachment 162032View attachment 162033
If I'm not mistaken, here is the priciest system of the show. What you look at are 65k€ speakers (Radialstrahler mbl 101 E MKII) with every separate costing at least ≅21 to 41k€ each. I do not remember which is which, but there is a list of the Reference Line here. We had a demo with first tracks from CD, then with LP. How it sounded? Interesting, I would say... and mostly impressive. Since the speakers are omnidirectional, it seemed to fill the entire room, helped by reflections from every wall. As such, I also felt like the imaging was kind of weird. I mean: not "bad", but very unusual. What impressed me was the ambient smoothness/lack of hardness for everything from 1Khz and above. Full-bodied vocals, but not realistic either, due to the omni dispersion. The low end was deep. Like: deeeeeep. Once at home, I checked some measurements and it appears that 101E does have a fairly balanced FR, up to a massive drop-off at 15Khz. All together I must confess I liked very much what I heard overall... until the next track which was played from LP. Peggy Lee's Fever came with a very audible noise floor and random crackle noises every few seconds. Great ! (I'm sarcastic, if you are wondering) Now, I am just thinking: during the entire Show, I heard marketing guys claiming either "we make digital gears sounding as good as analog". Or "we make analog gears sounding as clean as digital". Seriously, what's the point? Makes no sense to me.

Magico / WhateverView attachment 162039
I have not a lot to say about this room. Plenty of probably overpriced gears. I recognized Antipodes K50 ($15000 Music Server Transport) and Soulution Series 5 I-don't-know-what thing. You tell me the rest. Sorry, if I sound a touch jaded, but my interest went away when I was saying to the guy from Magico I was a bit disappointed by the unexciting design of the A5s (looking like generic boxes). He responded: yes, but you may put the grilles on. Cool. Now, it just looks like nothing. I had a hard time when he seemed to justify that the 32 000€ one pair costs would be somewhat affordable. Alright. Listening demo was 30 min later, we missed it at the end. I did not bother.

Bowers & Wilkins / Rotel Michi / MarantzView attachment 162053View attachment 162054View attachment 162055
Last demo of the show. Exceptional atmosphere, with the sunset hitting the massive bay window, through which we could see the mythical Maison De La Radio. The new Diamond 800 series was demoed, with 805D4 bookshelves and top of the line 801D4 floorstanders. We listened the latter, feed by a pair of Rotel Michi M8 monoblocs and P5 DAC/Preamp. Marantz SACD 30N and PM-10 Integrated amp (which, BTW, uses four NC500 OEM bridged) were also there, but turned off. So, what about my impressions? Not what I expected. My own experience with lower models such as 600s, 700s and CM series has been quite underwhelming. To me, B&Ws sound heavily colored and way too bright. Not fan at all, and this is backed up by just about any measurements available out there. So, what about the new 801D4s? Straight On-Axis : no problem ! Wut? I had to listened twice : No, it was not bright. One past the surprise, I had to focus on the rest with only one song (Peggy Lee's Fever, again. A real audiophile gimmick...). Well, I'm not sure... first, I don't know what to think about the bass. I felt like it lacks quite a bit on density, especially for such big speakers, packed with double 10" woofers (looked like 12"). Then, I had a hard time trying to point out any strong or obvious abilities that were immediately noticeable with the Utopia Scala (both are priced the same, BTW). I was still thinking where the sound ended, and with it the entire Show, since it was 6pm already. I may have to look further with this speaker. Other room, my own songs with "proper" critical listening, maybe. Until then, I cannot consider it to be anything close to a flagship performer.

Two words about the Michi. First, the M8 has already been measured by Hi-Fi News as SOTA Class AB performer. But it uses two fans to cool it down. After the demo, I stuck my ear to one, and I wasn't able to hear any audible noise from the fans (though amps have been running all day). That is good. What is not is the screen. At this price (13 200€ pair), we should expect some OLED screen with 100% dark blacks and better viewing angles. Same remark goes for Anthem STR I saw earlier in the morning....

View attachment 162058
Diamond 805D4 (bookshelf), 804D4, 803D4 and 802D4.

View attachment 162059
A lonely B&W Nautilus. 706 S2 and Marantz PM7000N in the back.


Random #2...
View attachment 162056
The new Audio Research I50 integrated (in red). A massive 160S tube power amp, with gorgeous transparent VU Meters. Reference 6SE Preamp and PH9 phono stage beneath.

View attachment 162057
Canton Smart Reference 5 K (active wireless floorstanding) and Reference 9 K standmount.

View attachment 162060
Lost in this jungle, a pair of Genelec 8331A with GLM4 calibration.

View attachment 162061
AGD The Audion, Andante and Vivace. The Adante is a (15 595€) R2R DAC. Both gears around are monobloc amplifiers with "GanTube technology". I understand that it would be some Class D designs with tube buffer (?) Anyway, I cannot afford either at 7500 and 15k each...

View attachment 162062
Very cool chess player robot. Focal Chora 826-D and Naim Mu-So 2 behind.


... Well, that's all, folks.:cool:

Sonus Faber / McIntosh
View attachment 162017View attachment 162018
Pick your poison. Presented with the Sonus Faber Lumina III, The MA12000 and MA8900 integrated amps, MC1502 and MC462 power amps, CS22 and CS2 preamplifiers. Unfortunately, all of this was part of a not-running showcase. It was too late where I heard from @renaudrenaud that I missed the real sound demo, with some McIntosh paired with SF Lilium, in the room nearby. So sad I lost my chance to give them a listen (but he did, so maybe if he could share any impressions whatsoever...;)).

View attachment 162020
From left to right: SF Seraphino, Maxima Amator, Olympica Nova II, Nova III and Nova V. Gosh, these all look absolutely gorgeous. I wasn't familiar with higher-end products from this brand (nor that I could afford any) but I was literally sold to this standard of aesthetics. The level of craftsmanship, fits and finish is absolutely stunning. What you've got is nothing but real wood, genuine leather and premium materials. The grilles are ones of the coolest I've seen in the entire industry: imagine a curtain made of leather strings. I could play with that all day long:p. Still, I am kind of sure this is not acoustically transparent (but no grille really is) :
View attachment 162015
View attachment 162031
C8 Tube Preamplifier with Electa Amator III.

MBLView attachment 162032View attachment 162033
If I'm not mistaken, here is the priciest system of the show. What you look at are 65k€ speakers (Radialstrahler mbl 101 E MKII) with every separate costing at least ≅21 to 41k€ each. I do not remember which is which, but there is a list of the Reference Line here. We had a demo with first tracks from CD, then with LP. How it sounded? Interesting, I would say... and mostly impressive. Since the speakers are omnidirectional, it seemed to fill the entire room, helped by reflections from every wall. As such, I also felt like the imaging was kind of weird. I mean: not "bad", but very unusual. What impressed me was the ambient smoothness/lack of hardness for everything from 1Khz and above. Full-bodied vocals, but not realistic either, due to the omni dispersion. The low end was deep. Like: deeeeeep. Once at home, I checked some measurements and it appears that 101E does have a fairly balanced FR, up to a massive drop-off at 15Khz. All together I must confess I liked very much what I heard overall... until the next track which was played from LP. Peggy Lee's Fever came with a very audible noise floor and random crackle noises every few seconds. Great ! (I'm sarcastic, if you are wondering) Now, I am just thinking: during the entire Show, I heard marketing guys claiming either "we make digital gears sounding as good as analog". Or "we make analog gears sounding as clean as digital". Seriously, what's the point? Makes no sense to me.

Magico / WhateverView attachment 162039
I have not a lot to say about this room. Plenty of probably overpriced gears. I recognized Antipodes K50 ($15000 Music Server Transport) and Soulution Series 5 I-don't-know-what thing. You tell me the rest. Sorry, if I sound a touch jaded, but my interest went away when I was saying to the guy from Magico I was a bit disappointed by the unexciting design of the A5s (looking like generic boxes). He responded: yes, but you may put the grilles on. Cool. Now, it just looks like nothing. I had a hard time when he seemed to justify that the 32 000€ one pair costs would be somewhat affordable. Alright. Listening demo was 30 min later, we missed it at the end. I did not bother.

Bowers & Wilkins / Rotel Michi / MarantzView attachment 162053View attachment 162054View attachment 162055
Last demo of the show. Exceptional atmosphere, with the sunset hitting the massive bay window, through which we could see the mythical Maison De La Radio. The new Diamond 800 series was demoed, with 805D4 bookshelves and top of the line 801D4 floorstanders. We listened the latter, feed by a pair of Rotel Michi M8 monoblocs and P5 DAC/Preamp. Marantz SACD 30N and PM-10 Integrated amp (which, BTW, uses four NC500 OEM bridged) were also there, but turned off. So, what about my impressions? Not what I expected. My own experience with lower models such as 600s, 700s and CM series has been quite underwhelming. To me, B&Ws sound heavily colored and way too bright. Not fan at all, and this is backed up by just about any measurements available out there. So, what about the new 801D4s? Straight On-Axis : no problem ! Wut? I had to listened twice : No, it was not bright. One past the surprise, I had to focus on the rest with only one song (Peggy Lee's Fever, again. A real audiophile gimmick...). Well, I'm not sure... first, I don't know what to think about the bass. I felt like it lacks quite a bit on density, especially for such big speakers, packed with double 10" woofers (looked like 12"). Then, I had a hard time trying to point out any strong or obvious abilities that were immediately noticeable with the Utopia Scala (both are priced the same, BTW). I was still thinking where the sound ended, and with it the entire Show, since it was 6pm already. I may have to look further with this speaker. Other room, my own songs with "proper" critical listening, maybe. Until then, I cannot consider it to be anything close to a flagship performer.

Two words about the Michi. First, the M8 has already been measured by Hi-Fi News as SOTA Class AB performer. But it uses two fans to cool it down. After the demo, I stuck my ear to one, and I wasn't able to hear any audible noise from the fans (though amps have been running all day). That is good. What is not is the screen. At this price (13 200€ pair), we should expect some OLED screen with 100% dark blacks and better viewing angles. Same remark goes for Anthem STR I saw earlier in the morning....

View attachment 162058
Diamond 805D4 (bookshelf), 804D4, 803D4 and 802D4.

View attachment 162059
A lonely B&W Nautilus. 706 S2 and Marantz PM7000N in the back.


Random #2...
View attachment 162056
The new Audio Research I50 integrated (in red). A massive 160S tube power amp, with gorgeous transparent VU Meters. Reference 6SE Preamp and PH9 phono stage beneath.

View attachment 162057
Canton Smart Reference 5 K (active wireless floorstanding) and Reference 9 K standmount.

View attachment 162060
Lost in this jungle, a pair of Genelec 8331A with GLM4 calibration.

View attachment 162061
AGD The Audion, Andante and Vivace. The Adante is a (15 595€) R2R DAC. Both gears around are monobloc amplifiers with "GanTube technology". I understand that it would be some Class D designs with tube buffer (?) Anyway, I cannot afford either at 7500 and 15k each...

View attachment 162062
Very cool chess player robot. Focal Chora 826-D and Naim Mu-So 2 behind.


... Well, that's all, folks.:cool:
That's fantastic. Amazing pictures. But... but... CABLES! heheheh. Jitter! Gotta take care of that noise floor level jitter! heheheh. Thanks again.
 
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VintageFlanker

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Only Atohm used what seemed to be an active crossover to prevent drivers excursion, they said. (I missed this part of explanations, TBH).
I stand corrected (and needed further information, TBH) but the gear you see on top next to the Atoll PRE400 is the Atohm RS700. I believed it was only some active crossover, but it is in fact a fully DSP-based power amp :
247852112_4399453043504759_3733214490578098100_n.jpg
248078501_4399455206837876_892978246755578745_n.jpg

What you've got is dual mono Class D (two IcePower 700AS1) with very interesting features such as pass-through outputs, LPF and HPF adjustments to match subs. It includes DSP optimizations for either GT1, GT2 or GT3-HD speakers, power adjustments and soft clipping to prevent excursion and so on. It will be released within the next few weeks at 3500€. Sounds very promising, but makes sense only if paired with Atohm GT speakers...

gcnccgngcncgnc.jpg


 
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AudiOhm

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Glad to Anthem was represented...

Ohms
 

Ragnarsson

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Great exposé of pics of the Paris AV Show. What was the attendance like? Was there tens of thousands of people or hundreds of thousands of attendees?
Crowded on Saturday, from 12.00, less at Sunday morning, but surely thousand of people. We were all wearing masks all along, but distances were closed. It was nearly impossible to fit into some of the rooms, like the Cabasse Room where many wanted to listen to the Pelegrina.
Best of the Show for me is clearly MBL.
I have complementary pictures I can post.
 

Doodski

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Best of the Show for me is clearly MBL.
I have complementary pictures I can post.
Pics would be great. The MLB Reference Line factory speaker assembly video is pretty cool. Such a unusual speaker.
 

Matsuo Mayu

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However am Big Fan of speakers designed by Michal BØRRESEN : )
Pretty amazed by ScanSonic and Raidho, crystal clear... vivid and lovely mid range and treble...

Hard to believe BØRRESEN Z series would sound bad~
Must to audition them one day in the near future.
 

Matsuo Mayu

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Indeed it did. Why it wouldn't?

$$$ and premium finish ≠ good sound.
Yep, do know the point~Just hard to believe lol~
As owning a pair of Scansonic and a pair of Raidho(Speakers I love the most so far)
wondering why a higher and more recent speaker would be sound like that~


Anyway, seeing is believing.
Probably a brand's tuning can not suit for everyone I suppose?
Will do an audition and share my thoughts;)
 
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VintageFlanker

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wondering why a higher and more recent speaker would be sound like that
Probably a brand's tuning can not suit for everyone I suppose?
Or perhaps even simpler than that: incompetent speaker designer involved. It happens. At some point, there's no correlation between price and performance.
 
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