T.H.E. Show was near its end, and some exhibitors were already packing up before the metaphorical closing bell had rung. But that didn't mean that Show Manager Marine Presson wasn't still hard at work. Standing by the hotel check-in counter, next to T.H.E. Show's registration table, Marine was in overdrive to ensure everything was going smoothly.
Five days later, as I write these words, Interim Show President Maurice Jung is still assembling final attendance figures. While he is certain that T.H.E. Show did not break 9000 aggregate visits—that's the total whereby a person who attends all three days counts as three—Jung believes that they attracted perhaps 350 over last year's total of 8500. Which, for a show that was on hold six months ago and was pulled together in record time, is nothing short of a miracle.
Well, maybe not a miracle. Rather, it is living testimony to the extraordinary devotion of T.H.E. Show Newport's co-creator, the late Richard Beers, the esteem in which he was held, and the dedication of those who have carried on. Together with Bob Levi, President of the Los Angeles Orange County Audiophile Society, Richard conceived the very Southern California mix of audio, audio-outfitted automobiles, cigars (MIA this year, I think), seminars, entertainment, and wine that has become the signature of T.H.E. Show Newport.
When Richard's death was announced in late March, Marine, her husband Wess, Maurice, and Executive Assistant Joseph Castellanos went into overdrive, ensuring T.H.E. Show would go on. There may have been slightly fewer exhibitors, fewer headphone exhibitors, fewer seminars, and a surprising consistency of entertainers. But with so many systems to see and hear, and a huge number of attendees, T.H.E. Show Newport 2016 was as much a vindication of inspiration and vision as it was of dedication and faith.
There were, of course, a few missteps. Moving the cars to a more visible location near the food trucks may have increased their traffic, but it denied show-goers tables and chairs for sitting. With the pool area closed by the hotel in an effort to drive people into their tented food area, outdoor eaters had precious few places to sit. And those who braved the hot sun to stand in line at the food trucks discovered that the only truck with non-heart-attack food, which served rice bowls with genuine vegetables and a choice of protein—but not tofu, alas—was there only on Friday.
While moving the live entertainment out of the noisy show lounge was, IMHO, a good idea, the shift to the tented outdoor pavilion seems to have had an out of sight, out of mind effect on attendance. I'm not sure there's an easy fix for either of these issues, but they, the low profile of the Magic Bus (which I missed entirely, even if it may have been right in front of me at on time or another), and the astounding absence of hotel room service for those who wish to eat in their rooms rather than in the hotel's noisy restaurant, are issues nonetheless.
Be that as it may, it was a fabulous show. The signs were in place, the show guide easy to use, and spirits high. Very high. Without question, the beautiful planning and execution of Richard's memorial celebration enabled people to both weep and play on the same day.
There was certainly a LOT of remarkable sound. Of the something like 19 active exhibit rooms on floor 2, there were only a few clunkers. That record-winning streak didn't hold for other floors, but that's par for the course. Not everyone is equally gifted with set up acumen and good power treatment, let alone stellar equipment.
Best Of(s)
Each of us had our favorite systems, of course. John Atkinson, who attended the show for one extremely jet-lagged day, only visited 12 rooms before attending Richard's memorial. Of those, he says:
"The two rooms that knocked me out with the sound were:
1) the Wilson Alexx/VTL Siegfried/dCS room, where I thought that two Bach fugues for organ, from CD, could not sound any better—I was transported into the churches where the recordings had been made—and:
2) the On A Higher Note/Joseph Cali room, where a new Channel Classics recording of Mahler's Symphony 3, performed by Iván Fisher conducting the Budapest Festival Orchestra and recorded in multichannel DSD256, may well have been the finest recorded orchestral sound I have experienced."
[Note to self: Get a hold of that download in double DSD—the current limit of DSD playback on the dCS Rossini—and consider it for review.]
Composer Sasha Matson, who together with John had been recording material for his forthcoming CD before the show, and who, I might add, has rebounded from an initial poor showing in the photography department to take superior photos from exciting vantage points, writes:
"I heard a lot of great sound. Here goes, in numerical order of rooms:
1) Quail Room—Blue Light/Evolution
For the great detail and emotion wrung from Garcia/Grisman vinyl. See blog.
2) Room 311—Dantax Raidho
What can I say? I'm a Lars Kristensen/Raidho fan now. His new large speakers sound amazing—so do the small ones.
3) Room 332—Vinnie Rossi. Ella & Louis sounded magical from huge horn cabinets and Vinnie's electronics.
4) Room 339—Stein
Was captivated by Wayne Shorter personally addressing me.
5) Room 1008—GTT/Kii
Designer Bruno Putzeys' brilliance shone through, even with another chance to hear "Dance of the Tumblers"!
6) Room 1147/49—PBN/Allnic
Peter Noerbaek rocked me with the White Album and his GrooveMaster restored 'tables.
7) Room 1018—Kyron
The Boys from Down Under were an ear-opener: both partner and designer are musicians, and it shows.
8) Room 1025—Voss/David Shreve
Combination of hi-fi turntable veteran and startup amp company from Santa Barbara really worked for me. Memorable vinyl playback."
Tom Norton has a lot to say about his whirlwind days at T.H.E. Show:
"When I cover a show, I realize I'm listening to speakers, and any judgment of the contribution of the remainder of the system is close to impossible. In addition, show setups are dicey at best, as Jason has already noted elsewhere. So it's very likely that I heard more than a few exceptional products at less than their best.
"I also missed quite a few rooms, since our assignments didn't free up a lot of time to wander elsewhere. Thursday was press day, and most rooms weren't yet ready for prime time. I had to leave early Sunday.
"Since program material is such a large factor in the sound of a system, I'll restrict my comments to rooms that were equipped to play back the selections I had brought with me on a CD-R. Many (it seemed most) rooms lacked a disc player of any sort. Many rooms were vinyl only. Quite a few had computer digital sources, and while I had brought a music-loaded flash drive, it wasn't convenient to use. [Note from Jason: Ditto. I only used a USB stick once, on the immediate-access Aurender. Who has the time for people to copy material onto their hard drive, especially when their eyes widen at what you've got, and they try to take it all?]
"With that in mind, I'll give pride of place, at the higher end of the scale, to Ryan Acoustics' Tempus III. I had heard this speaker at CES last January as well, and had been equally impressed by it then. I also would have liked to spend more time with the Focal Sopra No2s in the Micromega room, driven by Micromega's new, appealing integrated amplifier.
"At the budget end, kudos to both Elac and Revel. For the former, Andrew Jones was showing off his new Elac Uni-fi lineup; for the latter, the Revel Performa2s ($2000/pair) impressed many show-goers, not just me.
"The big floorstanders in the PranaFidelity room also caught my ear. I hope this small company is able to make inroads with this product and keep its price down to the $6995 announced at the show. For those who can accommodate a large speaker, it's certainly worth a look."
Thanks, guys—and that leaves little old me. I have already expounded upon my approach to show coverage at the start of my blog.
I found myself in the slightly vulnerable position of discovering that all the rooms with Wilson Audio loudspeakers were on my turf. Since every single one of them offered exceptional sound—I am totally with John in praising the sound in the VTL/Wilson/dCS system, which also included Transparent cabling—and most of the other exceptional speakers I'm accustomed to hearing were on others' turf, I risk coming off as a shill for Wilson.
I'm not. It's just that all the exhibits that paired the Wilson Sabrina, Sasha 2, and Alexx with amps from VTL, Einstein, Dan D'Agostino, and Audio Research; DACs from dCS and Meridian; cabling from Transparent, Nordost, and AudioQuest; and vinyl front ends that I invite you to check out, deserve Best of Show recognition. Other rooms nearly as good were from Upscale Audio, Natural Sound Europe, Ocean Way/Viola, and High Water Sound. For the most amazing triumph over adversity system with lower priced electronics, Wyred 4 Sound with KEF. (Our search engine ain't flawless but it does display results by date, which makes it fairly simple to find those reports.) Frankly, there were sufficient "nearly greats" to warrant reading my blogs. As you may have noticed, I don't sugar coat.
Looking Ahead
The one US show slated for the summer is the Capital Audio Fest outside D.C. Fall brings, amongst others, the great Rocky Mountain Audio Fest. Although the rumor mill has been buzzing with reports that renovations at the Denver Marriott Tech Center have left exhibitors stuck with unmovable desks and beds, the main issues only seem to involve larger luxury and hospitality suites. (There's an unmovable credenza in standard size rooms, but every exhibitor worth their salt knows how to deal with that.) Plus, we now have new large rooms on the lobby level to compensate. There is great hope that Marjorie Baumert will be able to work things out, and that RMAF will remain the premiere US show between Chicago and CA.
With the reframed, industry-run Montreal Show revitalized by the return of Michel Plante and Sarah Tremblay, all that remains is for the East Coast to finally come up with a major show that will satisfy the desires of countless audiophiles. Please see the July issue of Stereophile and my As We See It piece ("What if They Gave a CES and Nobody Came?") for thoughts on how the industry can come together to make that possible.
Putting it all together, things are looking good. There's lots of happy listening ahead, girls and boys. I look forward to sharing the joy with you again soon.
