Diary of a Mad Exhibitor, Part 2 on Positive Feedback Online

Part 2 of my Diary of a Mad Exhibitor series for Positive Feedback Online is now online: it's on the Lone Star Audio Fest. Those of you may remember that the first installment concerned CES, which was all business in comparison to LSAF. The second installment discusses smaller local audio shows and their unique concerns.

Check it out at http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue61/lsaf.htm.

Vapor Audio at Lone Star Audio Fest 2011

See this man? It's none other than Russ Gates of Polk Audio checking out the competition. The competition, by the way, is Vapor Audio, and they featured a surprisingly good system based on their Cirrus Loudspeakers and Eastern Electric amplification and sources. Vapor had quite an unusual set up in their room; the system was set up along the front wall in front of the door, so you had to literally walk through the cables and the speakers to get to a listening chair. I'm sure they arrived at this solution after careful voicing, because this system rocked.

When I say it rocked, I mean this literally. I entered this room toward the end of the day after I had heard hours and hours of recordings featuring delicate female vocals, beaten down acoustic guitars and small-scale obscurities from around the world. I was asked what type of music I wanted to listen to, and the only thing I could think of was that I was dying to listen to something gutsy...like Tool. I asked if I could hear some rock. The answer was yes, which kind. I replied "Hard," but them amended my answer to reflect the fact that I didn't really expect HARD, but just sort of rocking. What did the gentleman play for me? "The Pot," from 10,000 Days. A star fall, a phone call, it joins all...

While I was quite surprised with the weight and the power of these relatively small yet exquisitely shaped stand-mounted speakers, I shouldn't have been. The Cirrus starts at $3495 a pair, and each one weighs 53 pounds. It's a well-built and well-designed loudspeaker. I think I assumed that just because I hadn't heard of Vapor, they were another product from a DIYer who was ready to throw his hat into the commercial audio ring. But this a mature product that's available in many exotic finishes and with many intriguing upgrades and options.

Needless to say, they were more than dynamic enough to work with Tool and send me off into the Texas night with a big smile on my face. For more about Vapor Audio, check out their website at http://www.vaporsound.com/.

Brines Acoustics at Lone Star Audio Fest 2011

These neat little single-driver speakers are from Bob Brines of Brines Acoustics. Bob uses a variety of full-range drivers from Fostex, Lowther, Tang Band and Mark Audio to create a full line of speakers sound at affordable prices. The entry level transmission line T7-A7s, with their tiny Alpair 7 drivers, run for just $695 a pair. The more ambitious floorstanding LT2000s, complete with Lowther DX3s, runs for $2495. The speakers pictured here are the TB-20s, a bass reflex design with uses the Tang Band W8-1772 driver, cost a mere $1095 a pair (a floorstanding version is $1995). The sound was smooth and full and performed well with a number of classical music selections. The cabinets were a little beat up (this must have been his show pair), but the overall cosmetics were very attractive.

You can see more at Bob's website at www.brinesacoustics.com.

Manzanita Audio Solutions at Lone Star Audio Fest

These unusually large "stand-mounted" speakers are from Manzanita Audio Solutions and use a simple and retro approach to create big sound for a modest price. All three of the models offered by MAS are open baffle designs and are designed to be powered by modest, unassuming amplification. Based around such drivers as a 12" treated paper cone woofer and a 3.5" paper mid/tweeter (both with Faraday rings), the Manzanitas can hit 37 Hz and throw up a wide, detailed soundstage. While two of the models only offer 82.5 dB sensitivity, MAS says they can be powered with as little as 25 watts per channel. A High Efficiency model, pictured at the top, offers a 97 dB efficiency that's a perfect match for SETs.

While the frames around the edges may look unfinished in the pictures, the Manzanita baffles are actually constructed with nine layers of New Zealand Radiata knot-free Pine and shaped by a CNC. They, as well as the rest of the cabinets, can be sanded and stained to order.

Best of all, the Manzanitas start at just $987 a pair (the High Efficiency model runs $2750 a pair) and have a full one-year warranty. While I think I would prefer to see a floorstanding model--the big Manzanitas on those skinny bases looked very top-heavy--I was very impressed with the overall sound. You can contact MAS at 830-895-0594 or email them at jdbusch@windstream.net.

More coverage of the Lone Star Audio Fest 2011

I'll have some more coverage from the Lone Star Audio Fest 2011 in the next few days. I'm buried with work right now, but I promise there's more fun stuff to come!

Advanced Home Theater Systems at Lone Star Audio Fest 2011

I really hate to hand out "Best Sound at Show" Awards, especially since the sound in the Polk Audio room was also utterly fantastic, but it was difficult to ignore the sound coming from the Advanced Home Theater Systems room at the Lone Star Audio Fest. For the most part the system was simple: a Luxman L-590A Pure Class A integrated amp and D-05 CD/SACD player fed into YG Acoustic Carmel speakers and wired with MIT cables. If you've read my AXPONA and CES reports, you'll recognize YG as the company who has touted themselves as making the best speakers in the world. Hyperbole aside, they're starting to convince me.

The Carmels are their new "entry-level" speakers. They are thin floorstanding two-ways that stand just a hair over 40 inches high. While their aluminum enclosures are flawlessly machined and their drivers obviously of the highest quality, I did balk at the fact that they cost $18,000 per pair. Then I listened. In my opinion, you get your money's worth. The Carmels were simply getting further into the music than any other speakers I've heard this size. Every musical selection sounded expansive, natural and deeply musical. The more I listened, the more I fell in love.

Bass performance was staggering. According to the brochure, they have "usable output" at 35 Hz, but I felt they were going even deeper. I told someone there that if I had the money, I'd be writing a check.

Scott Warren of Advanced Home Theater Systems was more than gracious in showing off this wonderful system. I gave him a copy of the Dean Peer Airborne CD and he went nuts. Even though the name of his Plano-based store seems to focus on home theater, he also carries stellar two-channel gear from the likes of DarTZeel, Von Schweikert and many others. You can check out his website at www.advancedhometheater.com.

Polk Audio at Lone Star Audio Fest 2011

One of my main reasons for attending the Lone Star Audio Fest was to meet my longtime Facebook friend Russ Gates, who works for Polk. I've always enjoyed Polk speakers but wondered why they dropped off the high-end audio map over the last few years. Their amazing SDA speakers, which throw out a nearly 180 degree soundstage, were among my favorite speakers in the late '80s. Polk really seemed to employ a lot of research and development into their loudspeaker designs, but they suddenly switched their focus to home theater and car audio. They excel at both (my brother Greg owns a Polk-based surround system in his living room, and it has always impressed me), but I've missed their more ambitious speaker designs.

My concerns have been answered with their new flagship speaker, the LSiM707. This relatively tall floorstanding speaker is both gorgeous in appearance and impressive in performance, especially when mated with Jaton Operatta amplification and CD players, all hooked up with Cardas cable (Russ was the only exhibitor to use Cardas, which certainly gave him an edge in my opinion). Throughout the Lone Star Audio Fest I found myself wandering back to Russ' room to hear some truly nice sound. Toward the end of the show I gave Russ a CD copy of Dean Peer's Airborne and was taken with the LSiM707's ability to reproduce all of those splendid low frequencies. Russ, in turn, was equally impressed with Dean and made a comment about wishing he had had this CD for the entirety of the show. It's such great demo material.

The LSiM707 will be part of an upcoming line of speakers that will include a smaller floorstander (called the LSiM705, I think) and a bookshelf version (the '703) that basically looks like the top half of the '707s with the same three drivers. Best of all, the '707s will retail for just $4000 a pair, which makes them very, very competitive at that price point.

Polk Audio is definitely back on my radar, thanks to Russ. Now if we could just get Celestion to start making great mini-monitors like they did back in the '80s...

Audible Improvements at Lone Star Audio Fest 2011

While seeing someone making a speaker enclosure out of cellos certainly seems odd at first glance, I'm surprised someone hasn't done it until now. These speaker systems from Audible Improvements (www.audibleimprovements.com) use a heavily modified Fostex driver and they sounded much better than I expected. Think about it: a string instrument such as a cello or a guitar is tuned and voiced very carefully in the same way as a speaker enclosure. So the sound of these Merlot Cello speakers were colored but in a very musical way.

I had a few obvious questions for Paul Jeremias, the proprietor of Audible Improvements. For instance, how hard was it to find cellos for the enclosures? (A: Not very hard at all!) Was it difficult to match cellos for both sound quality AND appearance? (A: Yes, but there are different price points for the Merlots based upon how perfectly they are matched.) And finally, has Paul thought about using a double bass for a larger model? (A: Yes, that's the next project!)

Paul also makes some very industrial-looking yet very cool tube amplifiers; his 6a3 300B-based amplifier runs $3000, and his 845-based Aurora Borealis amp is $4500. He also modifies Cambridge Audio 840cs and 640cvs for a reasonable price. The cost of the Merlot Cello speakers is a mere $3500 for pair, which isn't that much considering the cost of cellos these days. We listened to some Ella Fitzgerald and the sound was smooth, extended, sweet and immediate. The only downside was the low position of the drivers near the floor made the soundstage cling to the ground a bit. But other than that, the sound was life-like and compelling.

How we make amplifiers in Texas...

This big, heavy amp was sitting in one of the hallways at the Lone Star Audio fest. Again, there was no information on the chassis so I had no idea who made these. I just thought it looked really cool!

Pi Speakers at Lone Star Audio Fest 2011

These large, beautifully finished speakers were high-efficiency designs from Pi Speakers. While I wasn't in love with the musical selections (they concentrated on live recordings that seemed to have a somewhat muddy sound), these speakers excelled with dynamics and had plenty of weight on the low end. Using an older 10wpc Audio Note amplifier certainly didn't hurt!

Mystery audio at Lone Star Audio Fest 2011

Here's something you won't see at CES...a completely unattended room. What's even more mysterious was that there was no signage on the room, so I had no info about the products. Amps were strewn all over the floor; some were taken apart and looked as if they were in the midst of being repaired.

The room seemed to center around these DIY speakers that sported a huge single driver inside unfinished plywood enclosures. A lone computer monitor played FLAC files from a menu labeled "Very Audiophile Music."

I stole a few York Peppermint patties from the dish on the table (because they were, after all, York Peppermint patties) and I listened and was actually impressed with the sound. These DIY speakers threw up a big soundstage, and imaging was excellent. I went back later to get some information, and the room was still empty!

Lone Star Audio Fest 2011

I just returned from the Lone Star Audio Fest 2011 and had a great time. This is definitely one of the smaller audio trade shows out there, with the show only taking up a handful of rooms on the second and third floors of the Embassy Suites Dallas-Park Central. I enjoyed the spirit of the show with its emphasis on DIY and small local Texas audio manufacturers, but I still managed to hear a lot of good sound. In a couple of instances I heard truly great sound from a couple of noteworthy brands such as YG Acoustics, Audio Note and Polk.

Unlike most of the bigger audio shows, however, there wasn't a lot of turntables. (There also weren't a lot of equipment stands, with many exhibitors placing their products either directly on the floor or on the furniture supplied by the hotel!)

I did get a chance to spend a lot of time with this gorgeous Garrard 301 with a custom plinth. The tonearm is the Talea from Durand Tonearm; Joel-Francis Durand is a French composer who currently lives in Seattle. His tonearm spots a wand made from Bolivian Rosewood. He chose this wood after experimenting with a variety of woods and found this choice to be spot-on musically. The cartridge was an older Ortofon that still had a few miles left on it.

The amps were made by Scott Sheaffer of Found Music (www.found-music.com) who was running the room. These amps only provide about a watt per channel, and Scott was brave enough to pair them with Von Schweikert speakers that only had average effeciency. The result was a sound that excelled at low volumes, but need a little more juice to really impress.

Scott's point was that you didn't necessarily need super-sensitive speakers to get great sound from "flea-powered" amplification, and from my own experience with SETs I know that you can still get great results as long as you listen to more intimate music at lower volumes in a relatively small room. But I'd love to hear these amps with something like a Zu Druid or a classic Klipsch.

Still, I think Found Music is onto something here!

Lone Star Audio Fest

This weekend I'll be headed up to Dallas for the 2011 Lone Star Audio Fest. While this seems to be one of the smaller audio trade shows on my calendar, I'm looking forward to it because a) Dallas seems to be a hotbed of high-end audio dealers and audiophiles, b) I won't have to hop on another plane to attend and c) I get to meet my friend Russ Gates of Polk Audio for the first time face-to-face.

The Lone Star Audio Fest will run from May 13th to May 15th and will be held at the Embassy Suites Dallas - Park Central. For more information on exhibitors, check out the website at http://lonestaraudiofest.com/. I hope to see you there!