Capital Audiofest 2025; November 14th-16th

[PristineSound]

The JBL Everest 66000 are in the VPI room on the first floor.

Maybe they sound great, I don't know, but in that room and setup, it did not sound good to me. Bass was boomy and tons of either room resonance or speaker resonance or both. The room was not treated, so can't say if it's the speakers or room acoustics.

 

[PristineSound]

Caught the maestro himself towards the very end of his master class because the scheduling got mixed up.

Benchmark and John are giants in HiFi audio.

 

[Jorgitok]

A short video

 

[PristineSound]

This room is an absolute must. Yes, you see this right, it's a cheapo desktop setup, this will blow your pants off. 100% software based.

Mind effing bending science.

 

[PristineSound]

These were by far the most unique and impressive speakers at the show. They are dipole, but with dead center phantom center. It achieves this with a delay on the rear firing drivers, such that the timing of the front wall reflected sound is too far apart from the direct sound so that your brain disassociates them.

The results is quite stunning, very prominent phantom center imaging and an explosive soundstage. Absolute must hear.

 

[PristineSound]

I am also disappointed to report that there are two very prominent, science-based and measurement led loudspeakers that unfortunately did not sound good, 100% because of poor room acoustics. One of these brands had some room treatment, the other I don't believe I saw any.

This is the problem with shows, when brands want to showcase their speakers to potential customers, they unfortunately have to battle the terrible hotel room acoustics, compete with neighboring rooms, having people come in and out of their room, extend seating away from the sweet spot. Plus dealing with crowds and in few cases, some rooms suffer from body odor.

In the above two cases, both speaker brands activated room modes causing muddy and boomy bass. Worse part is that there are some speaker brands that I know for a fact are bad performing speakers and sounded better because they happened to better managed room acoustics or got lucky with the room and placement.

 

[Purité Audio]

I am a little surprised that the retailers of said measurement led speakers weren’t capable of acoustically measuring and implementing some EQ.
Keith

 

[BenB]

This room is an absolute must. Yes, you see this right, it's a cheapo desktop setup, this will blow your pants off. 100% software based.

Mind effing bending science.

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I agree. I was first in line when Edgar opened the door. As far as I know, I got the first public demo of BACCH Stratos. I also loved the BACCH-SP room (840?). For me it had the best sound I heard at the show. Edgar was lovely to talk to: super knowledgeable, kind, happy to share, and funny, too. It's my belief that he's doing the most important work in home audio reproduction at the moment. If anyone is going to bring us a large step closer to audio nirvana, it's him.

 

[PristineSound]

I agree. I was first in line when Edgar opened the door. As far as I know, I got the first public demo of BACCH Stratos. I also loved the BACCH-SP room (840?). For me it had the best sound I heard at the show. Edgar was lovely to talk to: super knowledgeable, kind, happy to share, and funny, too. It's my belief that he's doing the most important work in home audio reproduction at the moment. If anyone is going to bring us a large step closer to audio nirvana, it's him.

Prof. Edgar Choueiri is indeed passionate and hilarious, and yes, definitely super willing to share his library of knowledge in his brain.

And I couldn't agree with you more, his work in home audio is the most important and innovative today in my opinion.


This is my first time hearing of Prof. Choueiri, so I did some research on him, very impressive.

For a moment I got nervous when Dr. Toole retired then followed by Dr. Olive, thank goodness for Prof. Choueiri for filling in the void.

 

[PristineSound]

I am a little surprised that the retailers of said measurement led speakers weren’t capable of acoustically measuring and implementing some EQ.
Keith

I don't know if EQ were applied or not, but with room resonance, it's un-eq-able. You either have to use absorption, multiple subs, and to a much smaller degree room correction.

 

[sigbergaudio]

There's a combination of "luck" with the room and competency of those who set it up as well. One loudspeaker was available in at least two rooms, and sounded good in one and not in the other.

So the sound is a combination of the system itself, how it's set up, and of course the room.

 

[PristineSound]

Yes, I did indeed go into the snake nest.

I studied this one quite well to understand how this snake attacks:

1) Absolute, unwavering confidence.
2) Technobabble, when asked to clarified, he replies with more technobabble until you stop asking.
3) Read people's body language and emotions then lead them on.
4) Delayed A/B switching to open up the auditory amnesia window then apply Jedi mind trick.

You will hear a difference if you want to.

 

[cavedriver]

Yes, I did indeed go into the snake nest.

I studied this one quite well to understand how this snake attacks:

1) Absolute, unwavering confidence.
2) Technobabble, when asked to clarified, he replies with more technobabble until you stop asking.
3) Read people's body language and emotions then lead them on.
4) Delayed A/B switching to open up the auditory amnesia window then apply Jedi mind trick.

You will hear a difference if you want to.

View attachment 490862

I find behavior like this by vendors to be a personal insult. At it's core it means the person talking to you considers you stupid enough to follow them.

 

[Purité Audio]

I don't know if EQ were applied or not, but with room resonance, it's un-eq-able. You either have to use absorption, multiple subs, and to a much smaller degree room correction.

It is eminently Eq-able if the resonance is standing wave based, which is where the gross errors are always to be found.
Keith

 

[PristineSound]

It is eminently Eq-able if the resonance is standing wave based, which is whee the gross errors are always to be found.
Keith

It will help mitigate peaks, but not decay though. I'm these rooms, I thought I heard ringing.

 

[izeek]

Which room are they in?

sorry i didn't see you in time.

 

[sigbergaudio]

sorry i didn't see you in time.

I found them!

 

[MoreWatts]

That is why this year at Capital Audiofest 2025 (Room 726), I am launching Passport to Sound™, a free educational activity book designed for ages 8–16. It turns the show into a hands-on exploration of music and audio discovery. Kids complete fun listening challenges, learn how systems work, and earn their Certified Audiophile-in-Training badge.

Did anyone visit Room 726 and pick-up a copy of the "activity book" for audiophile youths? Anyone notice if "Certified Audiophile-in-Training badges" adorned youths in the hallways?

I'm actually going to try to contact the author of the "book" to get a copy and possibly start a thread. But if anyone has a copy, maybe we can arrange to get me the info via DM and my email/snail mail.

My curiosity is piqued because the junior audiophiles were being "trained" by someone headquartered in (and the spouse of) a complete snake-oil cable-manufacturer's room (see my original post above).

Maybe ASR will have to make an "activity book" to save the youths from audiophilia. Of course, our badges would just say "Certified Scientist-in-Training."

 

[PristineSound]

Did anyone visit Room 726 and pick-up a copy of the "activity book" for audiophile youths? Anyone notice if "Certified Audiophile-in-Training badges" adorned youths in the hallways?

I'm actually going to try to contact the author of the "book" to get a copy and possibly start a thread. But if anyone has a copy, maybe we can arrange to get me the info via DM and my email/snail mail.

My curiosity is piqued because the junior audiophiles were being "trained" by someone headquartered in (and the spouse of) a complete snake-oil cable-manufacturer's room (see my original post above).

Maybe ASR will have to make an "activity book" to save the youths from audiophilia. Of course, our badges would just say "Certified Scientist-in-Training."

Didn't see any room with this "activity book," I went into every single room, including 726. Room 726 is a vendor "M101" according to the show directory.

 

[PristineSound]

I found them!

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I won't ask you what you thought about the sound from there speakers but did you here room resonance in this room?