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Chester Group NY Audio Show.

edited November 2016 in Reviews
After spending an hour on PE forum trying to post pictures only to get "corrupt" file messages, I gave up.
Man, they fucked up the software..............

Anyway.
Chester Group does a nice show every year. This time the occupied 3 floors in Park Lane Hotel, next to Plaza hotel with a gorgeous overview of Central Park.
The good news is, the show was crowded. And I mean, you had to stand in line to get to some rooms.
Even better news, not only old people were present but also middle-aged and hear this, woman as well! So, NY NY is a surprise. 
Rooms were fairly small and no humongous speakers were shown. Mid-sized to small stuff.
kennykMzisserson
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Comments

  • Gorgeous Horn system with the sound to back up the looks. I failed to see the name of thew manufacturer so if anyone is familiar, please chime in.
    jr@macFacejhollander
  • Bunch of tube gear. All played well together. Very enjoyable.
  • Audio Note Room.
    Good looking speakers. Played very loud at the limit of their excursion (why???) and going in to distortions. I've never heard Audio Note sounding good during audio shows and this was no exception. Walked out of there quickly.
    Face
  • Powered KII speaker system. Good sound. Not sure what they sell for but small footprint, attractive design and impressive low end. I am guessing these are more for surround sound systems.
  • Failed to look at the speaker manufacturer. Vendor was advertising scratch remover/repair for LPs. This was just a demo gear that I found to be interesting. Side firing ND16 anyone?
    Mzisserson
  • This speaker takes the "worst sounding of the show" award. It's also not the best looking. Poor sound-stage, off axis issues in the crossover region. Perhaps, room issues but the low end sounded as if the port was tuned way too low and I am not even sure if these are ported. Very disappointing.
    I've asked the salesman to play one of my CDs (to which he questioned if it's good enough to be played). It is Yasuaki Shimizu cello suites 4,5,6 recorded with spectacular ambiance.
    Well, the speakers ate it. It wasn't there any more. After I walked out of the room, disappointed,friend of mine mentioned that we just listened to a $150k system. Wow. 


  • to be continued later
  • edited November 2016
    Surprisingly good sound from the full range modified Lowther driver in back-loaded horn. Low end in to 70hz region and a nice low end. Very little midrange shoutiness. Pleasure to listen to. Not sure of the price but I am guessing it goes in to exotic hand build system category.
  • edited November 2016


    MMM YG 2-way speakers.
    This is as neutral sounding as it gets. In the set up, speakers didn't sound as they dug much lower than a 100hz. Speakers handled high spl without strain. If one has gobs of money and need a monitoring system, these are probably one of the best options. Good sound-stage.
    The looks are minimalist. Crossover integration, seamless.
    One thing I noticed is the clarity in the upper  range of the woofer. I guess machining these out of billet Aluminum pays off.
    Still, it's only a 2-way system.
  • edited November 2016
    Volti Audio.
    Arguably, the best sounding larger speaker system on the show.
    I like their bigger speaker more but this giant is priced around $11k. In the world of exuberantly priced high end loudspeakers, this one actually sounds fantastic and cost less than a house. 
    I've heard that Volti Audio guys came out of DIY crowd. Good job!

  • Logan Martin. Small speaker retails for $6k+ and a larger one for a stupid price of $25k+. And I mean it. I like Martin Logan speakers. They do very clean mid-range and have immediacy to the sound that many other speakers don't. They even have line arrayish character to the vertical image. But close to $30k for the "masterpiece". Ouch.
    It's worth mentioning that Logans create sort of washed, all over soundstage without well defined central image. I don't consider it to be bad. It's just the type of presentation from a tall panel speaker. If you like to seat in the middle or balcony of the midsized concert venue, this is sort of what they replicate.

  • edited November 2016
    Sort of PEish kit-ish speakers. Not bad, not great. Middle of the road performance with too low of the tuning in a race for deeper bass out of midsized drivers. Good looking amps.
  • edited November 2016

    Aha! Walsh Ohm.
    This is a very interesting speaker. It has it's own strong points as well as weak sides. Omnidirectional=No defined sound-stage. Reproduces the atmosphere of a small jazz club, perfectly!
    But that's all it does.
    If you are a fan of well defined central image, you are not going to like it.
    Midrange and top end are not the cleanest out there. Speaker goes in to over excursion on the low end fairly easily.
    Veneer job and finish on it are attractive and well done (and it's a high prize coming from YT).
    It'll work in a small room if the presentation suits owners listening habits.
  • I really enjoyed the Volti speakers, as well. 


    I have a signature.
  • I was hoping that you would be able to make it as I couldn't this year. 

    Thanks for the feedback and images.

    As for the KII speakers,  they're cardioid via DSP(delayed rear firing drivers), and were designed for music or monitoring.

    I've always wanted to hear them after reading about them.
  • edited November 2016



    Def Tech was showing complete Dolby Atmos set up. Complete is actually not true because they didn't have Center channel in the system all tho it is recommended.
    Set of speakers including the build in subs retails for something like $6500. It's a lot of performance for the money.
    The room however was not set up correctly and while Fury Road demo was played, Max sounded as he was speaking from behind my left solder. I imagine, with proper delays and CC to finish the soup, this would be a killer surround sound system.
    Def Tech presented the system as exclusively Home Theater multi channel rig.
    Second picture shows Def Tech speaker with tweeter module, clipped on the top. It fires angled in to the ceiling.
  • Thanks for taking the time to post this Roman, it is appreciated!
    = Howard Stark: "This is the key to the future. I'm limited by the technology of my time, but one day you'll figure this out."
  • edited November 2016


    Ohhh boy. I hate to say it but this is probably the second worst speaker on the show. Alta Audio.
    Last show they had issues with their $250k speaker. Blew one of the Raal tweeters during demo. 2ohm impedance in conjunction with tube amps.Harsh midrange.
    This year, looks like the Raal tweeter is only slightly damaged. Midrange made me run out of the room after 30 seconds. Somebody is out to explain to this guys that just having nice fit and pricey drivers doesn't warrant a crazy price tag. They also have to reproduce the music.
  • Some preaty heavy duty gear. Friend of mine own Plinius and loves it. It never breaks (compare to his tube gear)
    Hi Dave. :)

  • Monitor Audio speakers sounded dull. I suspect it's because of the LP that was played. Music choice was uninteresting and the quality of the recording, questionable. Didn't do the speakers justice at all.
  • edited November 2016

    I love  Technics coax speakers. I think they use computer optimization for computer optimization and optimize keyboards for technicians. Small speakers retail for $2k and are hard to beat as far as any 2-way designs out there at any price. Yep. They are that good. Give them a listen if you have a chance.
    Big brother sells for $25k a pair and honestly, they aren't that much better.
    Technics room used WiFi High Rez streaming. Alas it dropped out periodically. Then it did work, I don't think I'd be able to call a difference between WiFi High Rez streaming and CD. Technics rep claimed that it sounds better than 44khz. (then it works )
    Walked out smiling.
    Oh yeah, they played Deep Purple on the small guys.

  • Interesting speaker design. Sounded fantastic on couple of tunes and weird on others. I suspect it has some phase issues in the x-over design. At times it sounded as the voice jumped from the tweeter to the mid and back. Speakers also didn't build a solid center image. They clearly defined as 2 sound sources. Fit and finish is very good but I wasn't crazy about presentation.
  • They had the little guys in white set up at Axpona, but it was in the so-called "market place". No way to listen even somewhat critically. However, I got my picture taken with the Technics twins so all was good. 
    I have a signature.
  • edited November 2016

    This was the last room I visited. I think the speaker uses Hail tweeter and some sort of pro-woofer. We listened to the last Nick Cave album, LP issue. Truly enjoyed this one. Don't know what they cost and not crazy about the looks, or may be I just like Nick Cave but I didn't care about the speakers and just dived in to the listening. Thumbs up!
  • http://sonneraudio.com/
    This guy gets a special mention. He didn't allow me to take pictures. :) Alright.
    His speaker sounded clean and balanced and......... awfully familiar.
    Sure it's a ring radiator. But what was the woofer? I asked and got a response that it's a Scandinavian design. Can it really be Fountek $40 deal from Madi, paired with pricey ring rad?
    And then it hit me. The ridges on the suspension, the grey cone. The only thing that didn't match was the phase plug! Ahhh so easily customazable..........  It's the best of excel line with anodized plug.  Good choice Mr.Sonner, good choice.
     

  • edited November 2016


  • Great thread, Roman. I like going to Axpona - it serves dual purpose of making me feel grateful for possessing the ability to design my own stuff and inspire me to win the lottery. 
    R-Carpenter
    I have a signature.
  • Kick-@$$ critique! I forgot it was this weekend, mea culpa. :'(
    ............. could you hum a few bars.
  • Thanks for the rundown, I kinda have a fetish for coax speakers for some reason, so I'm glad to hear the technics were decent.
    deadhorse - leviathan - harbinger - shockwave (wip)
  • [snip]
    This was the last room I visited. I think the speaker uses Hail tweeter and some sort of pro-woofer. We listened to the last Nick Cave album, LP issue. Truly enjoyed this one. Don't know what they cost and not crazy about the looks, or may be I just like Nick Cave but I didn't care about the speakers and just dived in to the listening. Thumbs up!
    Oswald Mills Audio "The Monitor" oddly enough I can't find any info on it, just a couple pictures on Pinterest of all places. They made a post about it on their facebook page recently, apparently it's a pretty new design. 

    https://www.facebook.com/oswaldsmillaudio/

    http://oswaldsmillaudio.com/
    deadhorse - leviathan - harbinger - shockwave (wip)
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