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Capital Audiofest - July 8 - 10


greg928gts

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Might as well hear what the wanna be audiophiles (those without Klipsch) are listening with. Saturday afternoon or Sunday?

I see there are lots of cable vendors. Plenty of opportunity to practice my "knowing leer" look.

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Well, what do you know -- a short commute for me, and I should be there. I'll get to meet Mike Griffin (ESP) for the first time, and reacquaint with you.

Is that a stock LaScala?

Looking forward to seeing you there Larry.

That's a clone of the LS bass horn with a big tractrix mid horn, 2" mid driver, Ciare tweeter, and Volti networks.

Greg

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If I'm in town I might be talked into coming. I know Dhar asked me if I was interested in going a while back. If so, I'll be sure to stop by room 219. I haven't seen you in what, 5, 6, 7 years now? Time flies!

I hope you can make it Gary. Here's a sneak peak at what I'll be bringing.

Greg

post-11090-1381965850156_thumb.jpg

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I spent Saturday at the Capitol Fest. I came away mighty impress in the VOLTI room hosted by Greg and Laurie.

I returned to that room probably a 1/2 dozen times. The speakers looked great. Greg has a very nice EMM LABS front end and a decent amp.

I also got a chance to compare the stock LaScalas and different incarnations of Greg's creation. That was fun. Big difference between the LaScalas and Greg's.

I had experienced the VTRACs at the 2009 audiokarma fest and was impressed by their overall smoothness. They did not disappoint me this time either.

The only concern I had was the location of the Beyma which was at the outer edge. They tend to sound bright when you are off axis and the speakers are toed-in. They do sound great for on axis listening:

Very smooth and little hint of "horn sound". not harsh, not boomy - I was very relax sitting infront of these. Others made similar comments in the hall way.

Center image was very good. These things IMAGE

Dynamics typical of horn loading and very good rythm & pace.I kept tapping my feet.

For me, one of the best sounds at the show.I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Greg needs to serve wine and cheese next time - like the Deja Vu Audio guys and show his wares at the RMAF 2011 in October

Kwing

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I spent Saturday at the Capitol Fest. I came away mighty impress in the VOLTI room hosted by Greg and Laurie.

I returned to that room probably a 1/2 dozen times. The speakers looked great. Greg has a very nice EMM LABS front end and a decent amp.

I also got a chance to compare the stock LaScalas and different incarnations of Greg's creation. That was fun. Big difference between the LaScalas and Greg's.

I had experienced the VTRACs at the 2009 audiokarma fest and was impressed by their overall smoothness. They did not disappoint me this time either.

The only concern I had was the location of the Beyma which was at the outer edge. They tend to sound bright when you are off axis and the speakers are toed-in. They do sound great for on axis listening:

Very smooth and little hint of "horn sound". not harsh, not boomy - I was very relax sitting infront of these. Others made similar comments in the hall way.

Center image was very good. These things IMAGE

Dynamics typical of horn loading and very good rythm & pace.I kept tapping my feet.

For me, one of the best sounds at the show.I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Greg needs to serve wine and cheese next time - like the Deja Vu Audio guys and show his wares at the RMAF 2011 in October

Kwing

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Nice to meet you at the show Kwing, I'm glad you enjoyed it.

I also met Dhar, Larry and Thebes at the show too. Can't remember if there were other forum members there or not. Just before Dhar came to my room, I was giving demos and then the room emptied out (a rare occurance all weekend). So I snuck out to go hear a couple of other systems, and I just barely missed him coming in. My wife said he just came right in and took over, telling everyone about the speakers and giving demos! Thanks Dhar.

The show wasn't very well attended, only about 800 for the weekend. But it was very upbeat and I had a great time there. I learned a lot about the Audio business this last weekend, and made some great contacts with other vendors. I'll be showing at RMAF this year.

Greg

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This was a very interesting show, and I'm glad I went! I breezed around the main and 2nd floor on Friday and went back for the 3rd floor the next day. This was only the show's second year, so not too many of more widely-known manufacturers were represented. OTOH, it gave me a chance to see equipment I don't see around here. For example, I got to hear some larger Polk speaker models, Atma-Sphere OTL amps, and MBL stuff. McIntosh was well-represented, and several Manley Lab amps were in evidence.

Most manufacturers were teamed up with nearby audio stores. DC also has a surprisingly strong audio DIY community, so that many rooms with one or a few well-known brands rounded out their components with non- or unknown-brand speakers or amps. Some systems looked very esoteric (like the GOTO horn speaker system), if not served that well by their electronics IMO.

Perhaps because I have OTL amps in my 2-channel system and Polk speakers on my TV, my favorite sounds were from the Polk large models and the room with the Atma-Sphere OTL's. Very recognizable -- the Polks were very musical and uniform in sound quality from top to bottom (like Klipsch Heritage and Palladiums, but of course much less forward), while the OTL's had their characteristic exceptional transparency. The OTL's were greatly aided by superb Classic Audio Loudspeakers with TAD and their field-coil drivers and horns (below are its T-3 or T-3.4 speaks, and Atma-Sphere M-60 OTL's):

phHome.jpg

The Classic room also had top-notch Esoteric CD equipment and a Kuzma table (and arm?).

All that said, the sound in most rooms was not that pleasant or that great in sound size or quality. The MBL room, for example, had hundreds of thousands in amps and speaker systems, and yet I couldn't wait to get out. Tube systems generally sounded better, of course. The Mac room was exceptional in its own "Mac" way, but then so were the prices.

Greg's Volti room was very interesting. The wood veneer and designs were stunning, as always. The bass was very strong and robust, and the sound field very wide and even. Greg and Laurie were extraordinarily hospitable, as always. The room drew considerable attention, of course.

The future of this show will be very interesting.

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