CES - Day 3 - David Grabner, Wisdom Audio and Max Fidelity

Morning visitors to the Genesis room included David Graebener, of Bohlender Graebner fame, along with his buddy Ed Jager. I noticed his badge listed Wisdom Audio on it, Tom Bohlender's current company...hmm... Plus a little birdie told me David has some new planar ribbons in the works, but I'll deny it if you ask me! Yes, I was still half asleep hence the, "Where the heck am I" look. Did I mention this is Vegas?


Looking absolutely thrilled to be photographed is Thomas Irons from The Canadian Loudspeaker Corporation, makers of the Max Fidelity brand drivers sold through Solen in Canada. He is shown holding a sample of their latest textile dome tweeter which has an over-sized cast aluminum faceplate, can be easily crossed over at frequencies below 2kHz, and is said to have a frequency response that is +/- 1.3dB from 2kHz to 20kHz.

This is a very solidly built driver and the velvety (is that even a word?) cast faceplate gives it a real quality look and feel. Thomas also pulled a sample of their new 5.25" woofer out of his bag of tricks. This too used a cast frame and featured their 3" voice coil motor structure vented above and below the spider, instead of through the pole piece, and a proprietary one-piece cone/dust-cap using a proprietary crimping technique to secure the cone to the voice coil.

Cheers,

Mike

CES - Day 3 - Wakeup Call and CES Zoo

Day three started off as all other CES days. Wake up at 6am, meet the crew for breakfast downstairs at 7am, hop in the rental car and be over at the Venetian to open the demo suite by 8am. Overall foot traffic was a bit slower through the room than the past two days, but we heard the same thing from all exhibitors on the upper levels today. I decided to sacrifice touring the Venetian/Sands Expo downstairs again today in order to give myself more time to cover the upper floor exhibits. Keep in mind I've only got about an hour to eat lunch, snap some shots, and get listening impressions, so every minute counts.

Tomorrow I've got to visit what's become known as "the zoo", the Las Vegas Convention Center, to meet with existing and potential vendors. This is the place people see on the evening news when they do their 30 second blurb coverage of CES. It houses all of the more common consumer electronics manufacturers and is, in a word, HUGE!!! Computers, cell phones, TV's, car audio, home theater, cameras, MP3 players, etc... Yeah, it looks cool on TV, but it tends to be a place we in the high-end area try to avoid. There are shuttles which run all day transporting attendees back and forth between the two locations, and there is always a long line to get on, they are always packed, and typically take way longer than they should to get there. Plus navigating through the chaos can be overwhelming for first timers and even after spending several days there one can easily not see everything. Yup, I wouldn't trade it for most anything. It is near heaven for electronic dorks like myself.

Oh! I almost forgot. The Venetian also hosts another popular convention that runs near concurrent with CES. It's the Adult Entertainment expo and annual award ceremonies. I mean, it is Vegas for Pete sakes, so where else would one expect something like this to take place? But it is still a sight to see these "actors" hanging out all around the casino (pun intended). And finding yourself standing in line behind Ron Jeremy while waiting to get on the elevator is bit awkward. Yeah, I don't know what that means either...only in Vegas.

Cheers,

Mike

CES - Day 2 - New Dayton and Credence Drivers

Here's something you don't see everyday! A 21" prototype subwoofer by Credence.

Brian Smith of S&L Audio, makers of the Woofer Tester and distributors of Credence loudspeakers, holds down the 21" woofer so I can't walk off with it...err...I mean, poses next to it for scale. If I can find a way to get that in my carry-on IT'S MINE!!! Look out, Brian. I'll be back. Credence may not be a recognized name brand but their products are most likely familiar to you. They were the OEM manufactures for all of Stillwater's designs, including all of the super tough, award winning, bass in your face, nearly indestructible subwoofers under the Kicker brand name. That being said, there are lots of aesthetic similarities to the drivers, like the double stitched attaching of the surround to the cone, and a line of square frame woofers as well. One other slick idea in the final stage of development is the elimination of traditional speaker leads running from the voice coil over the spider and attached to posts connected to the frame.


Credence has created a lead-less design eliminating the potential for the dreaded "lead slap" most loudspeaker designers have encountered at one point or another in their life. As can be seen the voice coil's leads will actually come down through the magnet structure and be mounted to the rear of the driver on a chamber-type mechanism (not shown). www.woofertester.com




Shown above is a shot of the newest drivers in Dayton Loudspeaker's RS series, the 3" fullrange and 8" woofer. MSRP and specs are still TBD as of the show, but keep an eye out at www.PartsExpress.com for details coming soon. PE also had a cool Tang Band display that I felt you should see.




GINI Systems out of California was demo'ing their passive and powered Ipod docking station with matching speakers.

This thing is pretty cool, with the powered version having an integrated 8 watt amp built into the base for powering the included speakers, which had great build quality and used nice drivers compared to most cheesy plastic I-pod docking stations available in this size. Other features are an S-video output for connecting your Video I-pod to your TV. Both versions include all adapters for using various I-pod models, as well as all cables. The powered version includes the speakers and MSRP is to be determined. The passive version has everything the powered version does minus the amp, including RCA outputs, and retails for $69.95. www.gini.com

Cheers
Mike

CES Day 2 - High End Audio Designs

I have to admit, if walking around and listening to a bunch of super expensive audio gear, taking some pictures, and jotting down my opinions was my full time gig I'd be one lucky SOB. Those reviewers have it pretty good!

We had Jason Serinus, from Stereophile, stop by the Genesis room today with the Stereophile camera crew and they did an interview with Gary Koh and shot some footage. I guess they post a daily video blog of the show on www.stereophile.com and You Tube. Also, Craig Fitzpatrick, reviewer from www.stereotimes.com, came by our room for a demo at the end of the day and said that of all of the rooms he visited throughout the day the Genesis speakers were the best sounding. I thanked him and directed him to visit the SONICS and Focus Audio rooms tomorrow as those are my favorites thus far.

On to the goodies.



Here we have a newly introduced loudspeaker that I was told had been in development for some 12+ years. Symposium Acoustics' large 4-piece prototype "Panorama Loudspeaker" definitely catches your eye as you peak into their room, requiring you to go inside and take a closer look and listen. The New Jersey based manufacturer describes this speaker as a "quasi point-source" that employs the use of proprietary planar dynamic ribbon drivers with diaphragms all manufactured in house by Symposium. I'll admit I didn't get much time to audition these but the one thing that is immediately apparent is the incredibly accurate and fast transient response of the bass towers which are a proprietary aperiodic transmission line design. MSRP $60,000 www.SymposiumUSA.com

Last but not least is my favorite "new find" from CES 2006, Eventus Audio. On static display this year, unfortunately, were my favorites from last year, their METIS stand mounted bookshelf speakers.

Also shown on static display is their SOPHIS center channel.

For our listening pleasure the active demo was their NEBULA loudspeaker featuring an 11" Eton carbon fiber woofer, 5" Eton carbon fiber mid-bass unit, and a ScanSpeak ring radiator tweeter in a bass reflex design.

Mr. Domenico Fiorentino, product designer for the Italian based company, has really done his homework with fantastic fit and finish, sharp attention to every aesthetic detail, and uncompromised sound quality. These speakers, as do the entire Eventus line, feature a revolutionary cabinet construction, both in materials and form. I know many music lovers look at high-end hi-fi as astronomically over-priced, but these speakers are worth every penny! If memory serves me correct the METIS are roughly $6k and include custom matched stands, and the NEBULA comes in around $40k-ish, but don't quote me on that. Check out www.Eventus.com for technical specs and photos of all of their products, then run out to your nearest hi-fi shop and bug them to carry this brand! Last I heard was Eventus are currently negotiating distribution in the US, but are available in many other countries across the globe.

Cheers,
Mike

CES Day 2 - Speaker designers and industry gurus

Day two at CES 2007 was just as busy as the first, maybe even more so. As most know, the high-end home audio was moved from Alexis Park to the Venetian Hotel and Sands Expo this year, as well as all of the suites on the 29th, 30th, 34th, and 35th floors. Being in the Venetian has it's good and bad points. While it's definitely a more "up-scale" environment compared to Alexis Park, being in a suite on the 29th floor leaves no way to step outside for some fresh air when you need a break like at Alexis Park. Also, an example of poor logistics, or maybe an oversight, is with the thousands of people visiting the Venetian there are only a handful of elevators to get up to the suites/demo rooms, and wait times during peak traffic can be as long as 10 minutes. Hopefully these, and other regulations which are highly restrictive for exhibitors, are ironed out by CES 2008.

Day two also brought me in contact with some noteworthy folks. Jann Evers from Tymphany (formerly Danish Sound Technology, manufacturers of Logic, Vifa, Peerless, and Scan Speak brand of drivers) stopped by our room and we discussed the restructuring and direction of their product line, and the technology behind a new tweeter in development which sounds very exciting. According to Mr. Evers, "It will be a chamber-less tweeter with an extremely low Fs that is flat out to 40kHz". Some other info is that it will have an aluminum 104mm faceplate and textile dome, but I'll admit there was a bit of a language barrier so don't take all of this info to heart. More info will be available at www.Tymphany.com as development is completed.

Dr. Wolfgang Klippel stopped by as well to discuss his new transducer diagnostics and control system. Let me just say that what didn't go over my head sounded and looked super slick! Get over to www.Klippel.de and check out his laser scanning system that can scan a speakers cone and display driver-to-driver discrepancies or production variations as small as 20 microns. Dude, I should have sat next to him in calculus class!

I also had nice chats with Scott Placke from Parts Express, Gene Pitts, editor and publisher of long time industry 'zine The Audiophile Voice, and Perry Barker and Yasutake Hirota from FerroTec. These guys can tell you anything you ever wanted to know about ferrofluid, including it's use in the Mir Space Station. I did manage to grab Vance Dickason for a quick talk and photo op, and so starts the pictures...



How does that saying go, the camera adds 200 Lbs? Screw CES! When is the next cardio-vascular doctors convention? Geezus...these Vegas buffets will be the death of me! Alas, I digress...there is the man himself, Vance Dickason. Author of the world renowned book on loudspeaker design, The Loudspeaker Design Cookbook, currently in it's 7th edition. For those who don't know, Vance is a technical journalist, a loudspeaker design consultant, and a manufacturers rep for Bravox/MTI. More info can be found at www.LDCdiy.com.

CES Day 1 - High End Audio and DIY Drivers

Joe Petrilla of SVSound holds up their new beefy 13" woofer developed for their latest generation of Ultra SVS Powered Box & Cylinder Subwoofers due out spring '07. These subs will be available in 5 different finishes. Their 7.1 theater demo had impressive bass, the kind that makes movies fun to watch. Solid and DEEEEEEPPPP!!! MSRP is to be determined. SVSound is based out of Ohio, USA and more info at www.SVSound.com

Featured above are SONICS brand speakers from Germany which implement ribbon tweeter technology. These were extremely musical speakers. Very clean and detailed sound that was relaxing and easy to listen to with authoritative bass that got you toe-tapping to the music without getting "boomy" or "boxy" sounding. Exact model and pricing information can be looked up through www.ImmediaSound.com, the domestic distributors for SONICS.

SEAS was displaying several new models of their drivers, some featuring reed/paper pulp cones, and others showing off a newly developed radial reinforced rubber surround, which is said to reduce radial resonances and prevent surround break up at high excursion. These drivers will be available from www.Madisound.com shortly with a MSRP to be determined. Let me just say these are some sexy looking drivers in person. Go to www.seas.no for more info.


For the tweaker type Golden Sound was displaying some of their latest HDMI cables, spiking systems, dampening pads, and a device called a CD Upgrade Box loosely based on the Intelligent Chip that had gotten a lot of press a few years back. When I asked Allen Chang, President of Golden Sound, what exactly this mysterious box does to CD's to improve them her replied, "Just bring a CD by and I'll run it through the machine and you can see for yourself". The two part box and card system retail for $200 each piece and are good for 100 "CD upgrades". www.GoldenSound.com


Shown here is Canadian based Focus Audio's Master 2.5 speakers paired up to Vitus Audio's SM-101 (Denmark), a class-A/class-AB 100w mono block amplifier from their signature series. This was a fantastic combination. Female vocals were presented with a life-like soundstage and good overall driver-to-driver balance was achieved. MSRP on the Master 2.5's is $18,600. More info can be found at www.FocusAudio.com and www.VitusAudio.com.



Reported by Mike Velari

Inagural Post

What a great way to start out this site. My good friend and associate Mike Velari will be posting coverage of the 2007 CES show in Las Vegas mainly from The Venetian Tower, where most of the high-end speaker manufactures will be. Mike will be manning the Genesis booth, but in his spare time will be checking out the other manufacturers of high-end audio, taking pictures and sending me updates.

Mike works for Genesis Loudspeakers and is active in the DIY audiophile community in the Puget Sound area. Mike won the award for Best Sound of Show, Best 2-way Loudspeaker in it's price range, and Best 3-way Loudspeaker in it's price range at the 2006 PNWAS speaker building competition. I have built pair of the two-way designs that won the 2-way competition and they are sweet little speakers for the money. I will post a review of that design sometime in the future.

I hope this kicks off the Speakergeeks website with some good karma. This site will soon be a valuable resource for the DIY and high-end audiophile community. We will eventually have a forum, wiki, product database and a speaker driver database with design parameters. Currently we have a custom search engine that will search audiophile and DIY sites. You should see the search box on the right hand side of the page. The search engine is will give you focused, relevant results for most DIY speaker building terms as well as audiophile and home theater searches.

My hope is that commentary, news and tools on this blog will keep you coming back for more. For starters, try out the custom search engine and let me know what you think.

-Doug King