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Amir's 2023 Pacific Audio Fest Report Day 2

Lastly, this was playing in the Von Schweikert speaker suite. Whatever happened to Depeche Mode? Loved listening to them in 1980s and 1990s:

Depeche Mode - World In My Eyes (Official Video)​


Pretty dynamic. Got a kick out of an array of three Fostex attenuator on the back of the speaker. I guess you can use them to adjust the response to your taste.
 
Travis said:
Looks very interesting. That was an active rear firing woofer, not a passive radiator?
Click to expand...
For sure active woofer. I asked them specifically.
 
amirm said:
Dutch & Dutch 8C active speakers:

20230625_132944.jpg


20230625_132933.jpg


Charles Lloyd & Zakir Hussain & Eric Harland - Dancing on one foot​

Super clean sounding.

Another classic: Magnetic Lies · Malia · Boris Blank

Superb sound!

Jugglers Parade · Dave Holland Quintet
Excellent high hat in left channel.

Submotion Orchestra - Variations [Official Music Video]​

Superb vocal in the center. Amazing clean bass.

Sweet Emotion · Leo Kottke · Mike Gordon

Amazing clarity of strings.

Really, one of the highest fidelity sounds at the show. The only minor hit was that speakers being small, projected a 4 to 5 foot high image. In this regard, it could not compete with full sized speakers. But in every other respect, it blew others away. The clarity of bass due to room optimization and dipole bass was apparent. As was the ability to play with authority at any volume (in the small room at least).
Click to expand...
Hope you can make time to do a more in- depth review on these speakers.
 
Wow! Thanks for all the details Amir.
 
amirm said:
Dutch & Dutch 8C active speakers:

20230625_132944.jpg


20230625_132933.jpg


Charles Lloyd & Zakir Hussain & Eric Harland - Dancing on one foot​

Super clean sounding.

Another classic: Magnetic Lies · Malia · Boris Blank

Superb sound!

Jugglers Parade · Dave Holland Quintet
Excellent high hat in left channel.

Submotion Orchestra - Variations [Official Music Video]​

Superb vocal in the center. Amazing clean bass.

Sweet Emotion · Leo Kottke · Mike Gordon

Amazing clarity of strings.

Really, one of the highest fidelity sounds at the show. The only minor hit was that speakers being small, projected a 4 to 5 foot high image. In this regard, it could not compete with full sized speakers. But in every other respect, it blew others away. The clarity of bass due to room optimization and dipole bass was apparent. As was the ability to play with authority at any volume (in the small room at least).
Click to expand...
And I have my new crush.
Can you estimate the room size?
 
rubinken said:
Hope you can make time to do a more in- depth review on these speakers.
Click to expand...
I asked for a review sample. :) They have been tested so many times that I had not asked before. But after hearing them, I thought it would be good to have more time with them.
 
amirm said:
Spatial Audio Speakers, Linear Tube Amps (LTA):

20230625_135812.jpg


20230625_135822.jpg


20230625_135833.jpg


These are open baffle speakers:
20230625_140049.jpg

I was pleased that folks in the room knew about me and ASR.

Abdullah Ibrahim - Calypso Minor​

Nice detail. Excellent recording.

Dominique Fils-Aimé | Birds​

Very nice. Superbly recorded.
Click to expand...
So you did listen to these speakers? Were they any good?
 
MacClintock said:
Ok, it appeared to me being more comments on the music and the recording quality than to the speakers.
Click to expand...
Same here, I am a bit confused as to which comments of Amir’s refer to the songs and which refer to the systems, or which are both.
 
amirm said:
That's it folks.....
Click to expand...
Great report! I'm pretty much in alignment with many of your perceptions of the rooms. It's been a blast going through this and listening to all the tracks you noted at the show and listening to them at home now on my system.

Indeed, the Dutch & Dutch room was a standout. Most amazing was the lack of anything much in the room at all except the speakers, right up against the glass. No acoustic treatments, no cables and wires all over. Just great sound! They're really amazing. People use these for both professional mixing and mastering, and hifi playback. The weird thing we notice with our customers in the pro world is that they rave about them and we're reluctant to sell them acoustics since the speakers seem to work so well without help. But, when they call back 6 months later they've switched to some other speaker. No complaints, just moved on for various reasons. I've read in other forums glowing reports from audiophiles as well, and when I check back on their latest posts they've moved on. This is a mystery.

Any long term 8c owners out there with no complaints and no urge to try something different?

One thing I learned from going to the show and listening to these systems is just how much I've tuned my setup to my taste. To my ears, my room at home beats everything I heard there by a significant margin overall. It's amazing to hear pieces I did not like the sound of at the show sound quite good at home. And while it's true I have some exceptional bass horns in use, I'm also using cheap Sony SSCS5 speakers for the mids and highs, and powering them with a bottom-of-the-line Denon 5.1 receiver, with sound all routed through my TV, coming off the optical output.

One piece I said I didn't like at the show is Out of Reach by Technimatic. I heard a hashy yuckiness that I just couldn't believe people liked the sound of. Other songs struck me that way too, and I wasn't any happier with it listening on my headphones in the hotel room. On my home system I can clearly separate that "hash" from other sounds. It's a background high frequency airiness and it comes across as a pleasing enough ambience at home. I still don't particularly love it, but I can understand now why they went for this effect.
I heard this track at the show playing through a 300b SET amp, which I would expect from all I've read about tubes to warm and richen up the sound, adding some kind of moody atomospheric magic. It came across thin and flat to me.
 
MacClintock said:
Ok, it appeared to me being more comments on the music and the recording quality than to the speakers.
Click to expand...
Maybe sometimes if you can't say something nice... I don't want to imply something that Amir wasn't implying but that's what I was thinking as I attempted to read between the lines.
 
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The fight to shorten signal paths does not take place. Every sensible designer applies it to hi-fi equipment. Here it is the opposite. The roads lead on carpets and they return to back. The budget is being stretched and RF is entering the cables in full force. The signal is enriched with wavelengths....I hope the socket in the wall manages to supply power....cable routes and hopefully something will be left for the device as well. Thank you Amir for your work and effort.;)
 
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One other standout for me was the Acora VRC1 speakers made out of granite. I didn't hear them with my normal types of music. I just got blown out of the water with Van Halen playing at concert levels and it was seriously impressive. Both the room and the speakers seemed to be holding together without the slightest sense of mudiness, boomy resonance, or dynamic compression as the sound hit me like a freight train. My room and speakers cannot do that, and it's ok.
 
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