Hong Kong Hi-End Show 2008 Pics

[User211]

Want to know how to waste a lot of money? Big Tannoy/Accupahse system sounding truly dreadful - flabby bass, not particularly clear, absolutely NOT worth the money. A very bad case of system synergy here. The carpet design puts you off, too!

 

[User211]

Big Boulder 2050 inards and it's aspiring new owner

 

[User211]

Disk hungry Shanling and friends...

 

[User211]

Unison Performance and Unico...

They gave away a free SACD/CD hybrid disk at the Show. Looking at the track listing now, its probable a lot of rooms were using it i.e. it's full of sh*te. About the only track worth a listen is The Dave Brubeck Quartet doing Take 5. Even then I am not a fan, but I do appreciate this is good stuff.

That'll do for now...

 

[User211]

This is definately the last of the picture posts - although I have more they are definately NOT worth posting. At least this leaves me with a clear consience that I have "done the job".

For CJ lovers, I give you a small preamp army...

 

[User211]

A Dartzeel Model One power amp close up... complete with left and right eyes and power nose (as marked on the fascia!).

 

[User211]

Audio Valve Challenger monoblocks...

 

[User211]

And lastly, the insides of some Audio Note UK boxes... the first is a power supply, not sure what the second is and I am not sure I could be bothered to find out. However, both show the custom made components that go into these designs, which accounts for the high cost of these items. Audio Note are strong believers in using silver wiring and silver solder, paper-in-oil and black gate capacitors, lots and lots of copper etc etc.

Audio Note is a great company. I say this because every Audio Note room at shows I have heard has always put out very good sounds. I also like them because they dare to be different... including DACS with no filters and no oversampling - pretty daring - but also excellent sounding!

 

[twich54]

Anyway, this is for twitch, who I am sure will appreciate the following. The Zeus is absolutely massive in the flesh. !

Justin,

Yes indeed, I do like being a "Rogue" ! There stuff definetly performs well beyond their price point. I've got an invite up Mark O'briens hse for a demo of the new MonoBlocks. When I'm able to pull it together I'll be sure to shar my impressions !

As far as bias stability, my M-150's are rock steady.

 

[User211]

Just been reminiscing over my HK visit (already!), and thinking about the star of the show, the little Neepers.

I'll have to qualify that, and say Best Of the Show Friday morning 1 hour after it had first opened it's doors. There was some truly awesome kit as you have seen... and when some of it was plugged in and playing something decent there's no question these Neepers would have been beat. Even the bigger AvantGardes in the same room would probably manage it. Nevertheless, the Neepers were great.

So here's a little food for thought...

 

[Neeper]

Thanks for the nice feedback!

Hello User221

I just searched the web, to see if there was any talk going on after the Hong Kong show.

I was happily surprised to see that you mention my speakers as the best sound on the show. Of cause I have to agree, but I guess all speaker engineers think that of their own 'child'

You can read more about my speakers and my background on my website www.neeper-acoustics.com

My web need an update though, I already have 3 new reviews.

One small note: the amps used was the Avantgarde mono amps. It is terrific amps, but they are build for high impedance / high sensitivity speakers, like the Avantgarde horns. My speaker is quite low impedance (minimum 3.8 ohms) and low sensitivity 87 dB/2.83V. That’s the price for getting real bass out of a physically small speaker.

The amps are around 50 watt class A into 8 ohms, but only 35 watt class A into 4 ohms course of the construction (the Avantgarde midrange horn is 35 ohms!) . It sounded ok, but it can sound much better with a more powerful amp. In the FSI2008 Montreal show we used a 2 x 1000 Watt / 4 ohms Jeff Rowland amp. The speakers can take that kind of power, as long as you have a low output impedance from the amp, and music with real instruments. Of course, electronic music with extensive low frequency extent, the woofers will run out of stroke sooner or later.

The Convergent Tube amp you can see in the middle, was a much better match, (much more powerful) but unfortunately we didn’t have any Shunyata RCA cables long enough to use it.

Best regards
Kim Neeper Rasmussen

 

[User211]

Hi Kim! I must admit I wasn't expecting your post, I have to admit. It's things like this that makes the web an awesome place.

Well I think the Avantgarde amps did a great job to be honest, even if they were only managing 35W into the Neepers. I'd love to hear them with the Rowlands, but better still a more powerful tube amp...

Let's hope my post brings some attention to your speakers... I think they are definately some of the best I have heard especially given their modest size. I used to own some ProAc Response 2.5s (about the same size), and I was expecting that kind of level of performance from them, but they are WAY, WAY better...

But then, they are much more expensive. Excellent nonetheless.

Respect.

Justin

 

[User211]

Had to post this power lead due to the INSANITY factor...

 

[User211]

Not sure about the red/black contrast on this Audio Valve Conductor...

 

[User211]

E.A.R. gear - and you thought the show was over...

 

[User211]

Magnum tuners... I have always wanted one of these... should sound good with their valve output stages...

 

[User211]

Some BIG Klipsch's - she's comes with them, I am told...

 

[User211]

Big ole ProAcs - and some DCS kit in the background... at the time I didn't even notice it, must have been half asleep... but I am pretty sure these weren't playing when I was in there... I think the clock is saying "come back at 2"...

 

[User211]

Nice cable work round the back of those big MBL power amps...

 

[User211]

"The Jas Bravo 2.2 employs 300B triodes in single-ended Class A operation to produce 8 wpc. The unit is handcrafted with pure solid copper wires that are never bent and, if necessary, will only be in a smooth curvature. JAS Audio claims this helps eliminate signal deterrence or deterioration in transmission to a great extent, which is an assurance of obtaining clarity, transparency and rhythmical sound."

There you go, don't "bend" yer cables... hmm, you have to wonder sometimes...

Nice speakers, too. Great "bedroom" system, I'd wager...