Delkat Posted June 10, 2023 Share Posted June 10, 2023 I was in Irvine for business yesterday and decided to stay over and pop into T.H.E. Show at the Hilton Costa Mesa. It’s been many years since I’ve been to and audio show and it was quite fun. I listened to Von Schweickert, Acora (new $250K big ones), Magico S3, Tannoy, YG, Audionote, Cabasse, Focal, Klipsch Heritage, Linkwitz, Lansche, Linn, Boenicke, TAD, Raido, Estelon, PBN, Peak and a few others that I wasn’t familiar with including some $300K 6 cabinet 6ft tall array playing with all Dartzeel electronics. I know it’s hard to get good sound at these shows but I didn’t hear anything that really impressed me in comparison to my Kentos. The Magico room sounded pretty good but was somewhat analytical sounding. The YGs were their new lower priced line (Peaks Ascent) and sounded pretty good with Dan D’agostino monoblocs driving them. Most of the high end speakers sounded unnaturally bright to me. The Focal Utopia(?) was definitely not my cup of tea. The little Boenicke W8s from Switzerland were interesting for their small size but at $22K. The little bookshelf Cabasse are completely self contained with DAC, streamer, room correction mic with cloud based DSP, individual driver class D amps (1000 watts total) for $3300. They sounded pretty impressive for the size for non-critical listening. Could be a good solution for an office or bedroom. Many of the high end speakers had built in amplification for bass drivers. Interesting trend that validates Richard’s designs. Some interesting electronics I saw were Westminster Labs, Vitus, Margules, Moonriver ($5K integrated), Soulution, darTZeel, and CH Precision. The Swiss stuff is beautiful but, wow, is it expensive. The show is on through Sunday if you are local and want to check it out. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkeske Posted June 10, 2023 Share Posted June 10, 2023 Nice @Delkat 👍🏼 I’ve always wanted to hear those Linkwitz. They are very interesting to me. Not sure anything will kick my Vandy’s outta the house though 😁 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctsooner Posted June 16, 2023 Share Posted June 16, 2023 Thanks for sharing guys. I keep hearing about the Westminster gear. I’ve heard the CH line many times. It’s really good, but I can’t u set stand the cost of them. Often times I’m not I love with the Uber expensive electronics as they can be bright and or sterile to my ears. The darTZeel gear is outstanding and stuff that is own if given to me lol. My buddy sells a fair amount of it and also feels it’s about as good as it gets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delkat Posted June 16, 2023 Author Share Posted June 16, 2023 I saw darTZeel just introduced a $1M cartridge! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stratocaster Posted June 16, 2023 Share Posted June 16, 2023 5 hours ago, Delkat said: I saw darTZeel just introduced a $1M cartridge! Would like to shake hands with people who buy this cartridge and introduce my house cleaner to them so that they can live life on the edge.... 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctsooner Posted June 20, 2023 Share Posted June 20, 2023 Just another reason to appreciate what Richard brings to audio. I could never afford the sound I have, if it wasn't for his value proposition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now