Hi Beau,
I'm sitting in the Hyatt lobby, waiting to go to the airport, sick as a dog (sore throat) and exhausted, but happy. I think the show went very well.
I can't report on the rest of the show, as what I saw was literally a blur, taking a total of less than one hour to swing by the rooms of other exhibitors I know, or things which I just had to have a listen to. That was the extent of my sampling, as I just did not have time to wander around in a leisurely fashion.
The response to the OMA room was overwhelmingly positive. Far beyond what I would have expected if I were being optimistic. Many people said, "Best Sound of Show," and some just said it was the best sound they every heard. That was edifying.
Lynn Olson has already posted on DIY audio, and was really enthusiastic about the implementation of the conical horns, compression drivers, and crossover integration. Dr. Edgar came by, complained that he did not like the way the speakers looked, but said they sounded good (!!!!????) We had turntable designers come in, and they had positive comments about Saskia, and Michael Fremer showed up at the end of the show and spent a good amount of time listening, talking about Saskia with Win, and listening to the deck. I played him an early Barbara Streisand lp, which to his credit he identified within about 10 seconds, noted it was a second pressing, and also knew who mastered it. I think he appreciated not being subjected to the usual audiophile demo drek.
I was actually happy with the sound in the room myself. Initially I worried that the system would overload the room, that we would get killed with reflections, etc. The result was a very nice surprise. I figure if you can get sound like what we had in a 350 square foot hotel room, with the electrics and other issues that plague a show like this, then I don't have to worry about people who want to use such a system in a smaller room.
Win and Cynthia were a great help and without them I'd be on a stretcher. Frank Schröder did a (not suprisingly) great job dialing in Peter Lederman's Soundsmith Voice cartridge (the ebony body version with medium compliance) which sounded absolutely fantastic. Even Fremer singled it out for praise. And the Tektron amp we used (with a pair of Sophia mesh plate 2a3 output tubes courtesy of Robin Wyatt) worked out very well. Atillio of Tektron came over from Italy with Robin for the show and it was a pleasure to meet him in person. Thanks too for all the cabling provided by Chris Kline of TelWire.
Jonathan
