# California Audio Show 2014



## teldzc1 (Oct 9, 2009)

So I went to the California Audio Show last weekend in San Francisco. It was the third of these that I went to. I think I missed the second one. Anyway, it was pretty cool although I think a little smaller than last year. I did walk away with a lot of thoughts and some poor pics from my phone.

Overall, hearing really high end home systems reminded me of how different home and car systems sound. Not bashing car systems, but seriously the top end home stuff is amazing. I'd really only consider two of the systems at the show to be at that level (I'll get to those below), but really they were so just so enjoyable. Very expensive, but to me they were beyond what I heard from other systems.

I heard a few systems that were using off the shelf drivers from Scan or Seas and they sounded okay. I found that the best sound came from speakers using in house designed and built drivers or highly customized ones. 

Warning, pics are horrible. Sorry, all I had was my phone and the lighting was poor in every room so I had to use HDR.

Anyway on to the rooms:

This is the Magico room. It wasn't put on by Magico, but I forget who it was. Either way it was tied for best sound. It was an all digital room with an iPad streaming to a Berkeley Design Alpha DAC feeding Constellation Audio amps. Speakers were the Magico S5. I had only heard Magico's once and I don't remember being impressed. This time I was blown away. I don't know how to describe it, but the sound was amazingly clear and extremely detailed. There were no frequency imbalances and it was coherent like there was only one driver. It didn't have the lowest, hardest hitting bass. But it was incredibly accurate. Not overly tight or overdamped and definitely not boomy. Just like the other frequency ranges, it just seemed at the right level.











Also tied for first was the Music Lovers room featuring Wilson Audio and Audio Research. I'd heard Wilson in the past on a few occasions and always thought they sounded good. On this day it sounded fantastic, although a very different presentation than the Magico's. The Wilson's were fed via all Audio Research electronics. Preamp and Amps were all tubes. The sound was big and full and engaging. Frequency response sounded flat, as in no response peaks, but the image was huge (it was a much larger room than the Magico Room). Sounstage extended well beyond the speakers and the image seemed as large as the distance between them. The interesting thing about both rooms is that these were mid-level systems in each of the manufacturer ranges. Sill ridiculously expensive, but there are still higher end components from each manufacturer that are even more expensive.











I won't go into lengthy descriptions for the rest, but here are few other cool systems.

Dynaudio powered by Octave Audio tube electronics. This was the first system I heard and it sounded good. I thought the top end was a little hot but the overall was decent. I would expect more for the price.











Zu Audio was a fun room. Sean was really cool and they had a pile of music you could pick from. They played mostly vinyl and it sounded gorgeous. I wish we could play records in the car. The speakers were some custom jobs they had mixing drivers from one speaker into the cabinets of another. I liked the sound, although i wish they had more bass. The midrange was nice and were not lacking at the top either. I think subs would have made gave it the right balance.











Fritz Speakers. i know I sad off the shelf drivers weren't that great, but in this case I was shocked. These guys had ridiculous bass. Went low and loud. Overall sound was very good as well. I think these Illuminators work well in a vented box.











I forget what these were, but they sounded good. I wouldn't call them accurate, but they are fun and engaging. Horns do something different than regular drivers and it was evident listening to these.












Don't remember these either, but they sounded good. I might be a sucker for single drivers or at least the coherency they exhibit. May not have the best freq response, but something about their dynamics and coherence is attractive.











Ultimate Audio Electrostats. These things were monstrous. Seriously they are like 14ft tall. The sound was humongous as you can guess. I went in the first time and it sounded awful. The track was super midrangy and they were playing it way too loud. I came back for another check and it was much better. Huge image, decent bass. I wonder if the room was too small though.











That's all I got. I checked out a bunch of other rooms too, but they weren't notable enough for me. I did stop in the Bay Area Audiophile Society room and they had a pair of Kef LS50's playing. Even though it was background music and everyone in the room was talking loudly, these sounded awesome. If I was putting together a real world system I'd probably start with these.


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