Best sound at AKFEST 2010 and other ramblings

Geez, I forgot about Dwojo and Punker X. I have always like the sound of Daves speakers. I still like Dan's the best. I really did not care for any of the manufactures stuff except the tall black speakers. Forgot what room they were in.
 
My first fest - my son and I were both overwhelmed and in awe of much we seen and heard. I will the first to sign up for next year.

It waa a pleasure to meet and greet several AK members including Echowars. Sorry I cannot remember the names of many others. Also sorry I did not have the time to speak more with Punker X about his great looking stuff. I love that SX 1050 he had on display.

As for the dealers I really enjoyed the sound of many speakers - but the couple that really stand out for me - that I really were the Salk approx $10000 speakers and the Bamberg Audio approx $7500 speakers. It would be very very difficult for me to choose between these two - but the sound of both sets really blew me away. And so I do not forget - Jerred at Jolida had some very nice tube amps and a tube CD player that I really like. The tube amps looked very good - and sound great. Plus I really dig that Tascam reel to reel he had . It really looked great. Plus I had a great time talking with him.
 
The Marantz room had by far the best sound. Dynamics, immediacy and emotion all combined in that system. I found it hard to leave.

I am from the cult of tubes, but it was refreshing to be so engaged by an SS system and a digital source to boot.

Saul Marantz would have been pleased...
 
My 3 favorites, in no particular order:
RayW's Big Bobs
Magnapan 1.7's
Joseph Audio speakers (can't remember the model number)
We spent a good hour in Ray's room listening. No matter what type of music we put on, those speakers sounded awesome. Ray, you are a genius!
 
(and I agree with Similost that Dave's MDF speakers have a very distinct sound I have not heard before);

After hearing 3 pair of the Lambda's now, I've come to a little bit of a conclusion about them...

The box they are in make a huge difference in how they sound, but yes, I'm sure that is true of any woofer.

I know that Dan's were a little different model than what Dave and I have, but they still had a certain sound to them that I can't put my finger on. Like a particular voice that is all their own.. .

I noticed that even though Dan's S's should have more bass to them than the M's do, his seemed to have a little less, yet had a super clarity to them. With Daves, I noticed with a little more volume, and a larger box, the bass was super tight, and would hit pretty hard..

With mine, I have mine in a smaller box than both of them do, and I have a little less (ok, a lot less) bracing then they both do, and I get a lot heavier and almost boomy bass. However, it's not a bad boom.. It's just very strong..

Which after noting those things, It makes me think a little bit back to the thread about is coloration a bad thing, and is building a box that is menat to resonate really that bad?

I really wish I could have had my system there for people to listen to, especially Dave and Dan, to get their opinions on how the box really seems to effect the Lambda drivers, yet still keep that signature voice that both me and my wife seem to notice. My wife said she could tell there was something different about the sound over other drivers.
 
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This is a quote straight from Ray yesterday..

The original design goal (started by Ozmoid last year) was a new speaker with a vintage look in a 3-way. The woofer is a Dayton RS270, 10" aluminum cone. The mid is a Dayton RS52, 2" aluminum dome. The tweeter is Hiquphon OW1, .75" soft dome. They're ported with dual 2.5" as the Dayton 10 likes lot of breathing room. The efficiency was governed by the woofer as it was the first driver I picked and went with the other 2 in part because they matched it closely in efficiency. They're in the neighborhood of 89-90dB@1W.

The crossovers are at 500 and 5kHz, more or less. That keeps vocals on the midrange driver without a crossover in the middle.
 
I didn't make the show this year but what are RayW's Big Bob speakers?

They are 3 way ported design. 10" woofers, I think. The cabinets are larger than Polk Monitor 10's. Ray designed and built them himself, with a look of a vintage speaker from the '70's - '80's. He has a website for his design business, you'll have to PM him for more info.
 
I'm biased towards tube and horns....

Classica Audio Reproductions had a smaller room than last year and they did not try and take your ears out with the volume like last year. I would like to have heard those speakers with my own electronics as I think they would be my favorite speakers...

Cosmos speakers were my favorite as being much closer to affordable than the CAR I already mentioned. I thought Cosmos speakers were very pleasant to listen to when I could get the volume down to what I consider is the right volume. Yeah, I'm getting older and crankier!!!

I also put my request for a pair of Cosmos horns already as I already have JBL 2446drivers w/Be diaphrams already!!!

Regards from "biased" Ron
 
I agree.

Where to begin?

I was once again bowled over by the joint efforts of our own DWOJO and PUNKERX: for me the Fest is all about the DIY rooms;
the idea that these guys would take the time to bring in their most execellent gear to share with the rest of us is just great.

I could have gone home happy just hearing the DIY stuff.

Glad you enjoyed the systems we put together, PunkerX bringing a PC and FM broadcasting system was a real neat DIY project, the sound over the tuners was just amazing. We didn't plan anything, we just set it up on the fly and hoped the tuners would sound good with my gear.

In DIY dollars, I put my whole system together for around $1500 - Yes, that's an accumulation of pieces parts over the last 5 years but one has to be patient to get what he wants. Sometimes you get lucky and there's synergy between all the components and the sound is pleasing. I know it would cost more to piece it together today and I'd try to find speaker cabinets with the Altec 604 drivers mounted higher.

The owner of YaraDesign Speakers spent considerable time in our room and said; "with your system, less is more", now, what did he mean by that?? :scratch2: He also took pictures of the DIY systems to show the people in Holland what an American Audio Show is all about.

I really enjoyed the show, just wish I could have spent more time in other rooms, those two days go so fast, Dave. :D

AKFEST2010_01.jpg
 
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I mainly focus on a system's ability to reproduce the human voice, dynamics and other qualities such as soundstaging, smoothness and performance at the frequency extremes.

I find that in this year's AKFEST, the horn based systems were by far the best:
AKMember DWOJO and PUNKERX - I am never disappointed with Dave's Altec 604 rig. These old drivers still have that Altec "magic". Amazing sound with a mere 20 tube watts. PUNKERX's portable FM transmitter and battery of tuners (including the $180 el cheapo SONY) provides a source that rivals CDs and SACDs. Pure class.

I attended with a buddy from Chicago and had a great time. We also made a major score on some vintage ALTECs. Very productive trip.

kwingylee, that was really neat of you bringing a friend and sharing the audio fest experience with him, thanks for bringing that wonderful Western Electric CD, the sound clarity was amazing, glad you had a nice time, always a pleasure, Dave. :thmbsp:
 
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The owner of YaraDesign Speakers spent considerable time in our room and said; "with your system, less is more", now, that did he man by that?? :scratch2: He also took pictures of the DIY systems to show the people in Holland what an American Audio Show is all about.

In Holland they are very big on DIY stuff. The guy I work with is from there and he has shown me all kinds of speaker kits that you can get there. They even have a large chain of walk in electronics parts stores. :yes:
 
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