Tim, Excellent recap of our trip to Salina. I too wish we had more time there, oh well.....next time !
Acoustic Sounds = audio Mecca!
- Thread starter MiTT
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sleepysurf
Well-known member
Man, I REALLY wish I coulda made it into town in time for that side trip. I never knew the story behind Acoustic Sounds/Blue Heaven Studios/APO, and am VERY impressed with what y'all posted and told me. I was lucky enough to get one of the APO "schwag" CD's Sat night... Little Hatch Rock With Me Baby...and hafta say it's an INCREDIBLE recording. The musicianship and recording detail is just superb. It's of the same caliber as my Lightnin' Hopkins Companion XRCD! I will definitely be buying lots more of Chad's recordings!
TomDac
former MLO owner/operator
Just added Acoustic Sounds to our LINKS page.
Kind of a tough call, since we didn't have the Summitt's to 'swap out' in their listening room, which was superb BTW. Given the Avalon's precise set-up location they imaged beautifully, soundstage was wide and DEEEEEP. Freq extremes were extended and well difined with nice tight controlled bass. About the only thing "I thought" was lacking was the overall mid-range magic of the M/L's, I think 'raygun' commented on this as well, but again without Summitt's to compare on the associated equipment , etc it was tough.
Regardless, to me the Avalon's are but a handfull of 'box' speakers that I would gladly own, IMO.
Dave I agree with you. I expected to be blown away by the Avalons and I was. I did decrease the woofer attenuation on my Summits when I got home to more closely approximate the pleasantly fulsome bass the Avalons displayed! Boy could they play loud gracefully. I do not think they sound 110K better than my Summits. That SME turntable though...
amey01
Well-known member
The Avalons would be my FIRST choice if I had to own box speakers. I wish I could have head these ones!
SME 20/2 and SME IV.V arm with a brand new top o' the line Koetsu. I do not remember the phono stage but will never forget the sound.
It was a "Ron Sutherland" prototype, sounded very nice, considering the cartridge hadn't been run in yet (installed that morning !!).
raygunn
Well-known member
About those Avalons....
Dave, I agree. The Avalons were very good. One of the first things I did when I got back home was to play the Joni Mitchell we heard on the Avalons and I can definitely confirm that that the Avalons are very nice, but are no match to an electrostatic in the midrange. I am making the broad assumption that the analog set-up at Acoustic Sounds was as good as or better than my current analog set-up.
To this day, the only speaker I have ever heard that meets or even exceeds electrostatics in pretty much every regard is the original Porzilli (now Nearfield Acoustics) Pipedream. These are so big that, of course, they can sound pretty mediocre in a bad room. However, I was fortunate enough to have heard them in a huge room at a private home here in Florida. even after 4 years, I can still say that it is truly the finest sound I have ever heard....
Cheers,
Ray
Dave, I agree. The Avalons were very good. One of the first things I did when I got back home was to play the Joni Mitchell we heard on the Avalons and I can definitely confirm that that the Avalons are very nice, but are no match to an electrostatic in the midrange. I am making the broad assumption that the analog set-up at Acoustic Sounds was as good as or better than my current analog set-up.
To this day, the only speaker I have ever heard that meets or even exceeds electrostatics in pretty much every regard is the original Porzilli (now Nearfield Acoustics) Pipedream. These are so big that, of course, they can sound pretty mediocre in a bad room. However, I was fortunate enough to have heard them in a huge room at a private home here in Florida. even after 4 years, I can still say that it is truly the finest sound I have ever heard....
Cheers,
Ray
MiTT
Super User
Yes, I thought that the system at Acoustic Sounds was pretty awe inspiring too, although I know I'll never own the Avalon Sentinals we listened to. There was a cohesiveness to their sound that you simply had to experience to grasp, and as Dave and others have mentioned here, a soundstage that can only be described as holographic. Yet, these speakers are simply too big and too much for any room in my house including the dedicated room I plan to start building soon. Even the Avalon Osiris - a great speaker in it's own right - would be too big for my space. Now, the Avalon Edilon Diamond would be something I might SERIOUSLY consider one day, but only when I get to a point where the Martin Logans aren't firing my rocket anymore. They are one one of the few dynamic speakers I would consider were I to go over to the dark side.
The SME turntable certainly sounded great to me, but I'm not a big fan of the SME aesthetics. I prefer the VPI look but that's just me. I would LOVE to go do a comparison in that room of the SME setup against a VPI HRX using the same Koetsu cartridge. I should think the resolving capabilities of that system would reveal some very interesting differences.
I know that Chad is likely too busy to do it himself, and he even mentioned that at the end of the day he really wants to go home and NOT listen to music, but can you imagine how fun it would be to have that system at your disposal, and all of that software to listen to, evaluate and enjoy? I could have spent days in that place no problem...:drool:
The SME turntable certainly sounded great to me, but I'm not a big fan of the SME aesthetics. I prefer the VPI look but that's just me. I would LOVE to go do a comparison in that room of the SME setup against a VPI HRX using the same Koetsu cartridge. I should think the resolving capabilities of that system would reveal some very interesting differences.
I know that Chad is likely too busy to do it himself, and he even mentioned that at the end of the day he really wants to go home and NOT listen to music, but can you imagine how fun it would be to have that system at your disposal, and all of that software to listen to, evaluate and enjoy? I could have spent days in that place no problem...:drool:
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