London Hi-Fi Show 2008 Pics & CLX recordings!

http://www.absolutesounds.com/index.php?page=press_view&article_id=253

Guess who will be there, with his pornograph, and the CLX on dem? Why me, of course... will use this thread to dump the pics in. The build up begins...

Looking forward to your usual excellence in this show report. I will endever to do the same for the 5th year straight at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest in October.

Actually, I am thinking of doing some odd things... like shooting the CLX dem in 720p HD and recording it in 24/96 using my Roland Edirol...

Whilst this recording won't sound like a CLX on your own system, it'll give the best idea yet of it's character.

The trouble is file sizes will be huge, so I need somewhere to host it... any ideas of somewhere that is cheap/free?

pc mag had a few reviews of online storage recently...its not my subscription otherwise id look it for you...im sure their website can be searched for the article with even more reviewed 'host'

User211 said:

Actually, I am thinking of doing some odd things... like shooting the CLX dem in 720p HD and recording it in 24/96 using my Roland Edirol...

Whilst this recording won't sound like a CLX on your own system, it'll give the best idea yet of it's character.

The trouble is file sizes will be huge, so I need somewhere to host it... any ideas of somewhere that is cheap/free?

Click to expand...

Stuff the 720p, but recording it in 24/96 - bring it on!

Greg - thanks fo rthe advice - http://www.filesavr.com/ looks as though it will do the job.

Anyway, I suspect the CLX dem will be packed and it may be hard to get anywhere near the sweetspot. Also, I'll try and get some 16/44.1 coverage as a lot of people won't know what to do with a 24/96 file, let alone have the h/w to play it back.

Will definately shoot some 720p... I am amazed at the Samsung NV24HD I have and what it can do for the money. It's cheap, but it IS fantastic.

If the video or sound don't come out well, I won't bother posting it... so no promises.

After recording my system through the Edirol, it DOES BASICALLY sound like my system, when played back through good headphones, but it seems to pick up a lot more room acoustic than when listening by ear. Through cheap headphones it just sounds terrible - the difference being much more marked than the difference between a normally recorded studio track. Why this is the case, I do not know.

So until you get to really hear the CLX, if you have good headphones, this is as close as you will get... I would imagine.

OK - funtime - let's see if this works.

http://www.filesavr.com/hi-fishowavantgarde

Here's a 50Mb download of the Avant Garde room at the HK Hi-FI show - pretty much the 1st thing I shot with the Samsung...

It's not a great vid, by any means. But the picture is very clear. The sound goes when I zoom in - maybe a firmware update will fix that - it's a known NV24HD problem, but for £150, I am NOT complaining. Simple answer is not to use it for zooming at present. It's also a good idea to hold the camera steady and not move it so fast, but I was trying to avoid people. Also, that Dr FEICKERT TT just looks great - I REALLY like it.

If anyone does download it, you really need iTunes (the Quicktime bit) to play it as it is in 720p and WMP won't play it unless you download a codec for it. I have taken the codec route as I hate iTunes s/w - specifically the logic behind their GUIs - very strange indeed, if you ask me. Anyway, iTunes is the easiest option for most.

Any feedback accepted!!! Those Neepers are playing a CD... but do not take this cameras sound seriously in any way.

Don't panic - you have MY ABSOLUTE ASSURANCE that this file is cool - i.e. it contained NO VIRUSES OF ANY NATURE when I uploaded. It is just a 720p .mp4 file. It should read as 46.4Mb in total as reported by the Vista File Download dialog box. If it doesn't, cancel the download, as filesavr must have tampered with it. Not sure whether I trust these guys yet. Mysterious ads may appear? Just a thought.

Also, filesavr is SO SIMPLE it is brilliant. You don't need to login, create an account, or anything. FANTASTIC! Download speed, whilst not fast, seems very reasonable for the price i.e. NOTHING!

Well, I have just returned from the show. I am both elated and bitterly disappointed.

Elated because the CLX is fantastic. I drove back from London to Bristol on a superb day, with the top down on the Merc, thinking about what I had heard with a real feeking of elation. Good speakers exist, after all

I got very lucky. The source was CD7, REF3 and Jadis JA200. I could not have wished for a better combo - if I was to have made a short list for driving electronics before I got to the show, this wouldn't have been far from it. As one happy listener said "I think they are my favourite amps, and how old are they? They must be 20 years old." Quite.

French, warm, easy going, powerful without even vaguely sounding it, they just do the job. Romantic? Definately.

I am not a classical music fan, but classical music sounds incredible through the CLX... on my second return to the room, a German guy seemed to be playing his favourite classical CDs through them. The sense of real instruments being played in a passionate way was simply outstanding. I felt deeply touched by what I was hearing. This is what it is all about, yet so hard to get from the greater majority of systems. The feeling was totally natural. I looked round at the German guy. He was smiling. He knew what he was hearing. And he knew it was simply superb.

More on the CLX when I have had time to think a bit more, and I am tired after the driving.

Bitterly disappointed because I set the Samsung camera into super fine mode before I went. This must have an effect on shutter speed. Net result? About 80% of the pics I took, and I took a lot, simply aren't presentable - they are blurred, pure and simple. That means no HK quality pics. I am sorry to let those that enjoyed the HK show pics down. I personally, of couse, I am gutted by it - I wanted some nice pics!

I will post a few, but only the very few that are worth a look. Of the 20% that were OK, only a few are to HK standard - at least when you can see at the resolution that I can.

Good news? I think the Roland Edirol recordings are worth a listen - if you have some good headphones (please, only listen on headphones - they don't have room acoustics - and adding a second lot is surely bad). To an extent there is a bootleg quality to them, but they will show you that the CLX is NOT a lemon.

Do they sound like the CLX first hand? No, they do not. But they will give you some idea. This is the year 2008, and I think it is about time reviews changed a bit. We can post all sorts of media on the internet now. And the recordings will give you more of an idea than I can ever express with words. So I strongly recommend you download them and listen. A picture says a 1000 words? A recording says more. Bad or average headphones will give you absolutely no idea, however.

The recordings have a certain "bootleg" quality to them, and you will hear some clicking that seems to be an Edirol speciality, even when the level indicators show no overloadng. You will also hear me, talking to Pete, the ML rep all the way from the USA

The recordings won't get posted until Monday, probably.

BTW: all my CLX photos suck badly. But it looks superb in the flesh. To all those who have posted saying that - I could not agree more! They had the Anniversary in black and aluminium. Having seen them in photos, I would have picked aluminium. Having seen them in the flesh, I would pick black!

The dude in the red is the guy who likes the JA200s. So do I! The guy on the right is talking to Pete about ribbon speakers, and how he thought those sounded great. I mentioned Graz's Perigee "re-issues", and he said they needed further refinement, and that they had a big bass peaks. That was the reason for the 4 different bass sections on the CLX i.e. to try and avoid such an issue.

MBL driver - second best speaker of the show - which I recorded for your enjoyment - close up and sideways on.

As an engineer, all I can say is, whoever came up with that, and made them work so well, is nothing short of a genius! This is no driver reflecting off a ball, this is a genuine omni-directional driver. Brilliant.

Oh BTW: the Avantgarde video link above doesn't work anymore because either:

1) No one downloaded it or:

2) It hasn't been downloaded for a while.

I didn't sound enthusiastic about it, so I expect no one did download it. Anyway, the recordings will go to the same place. So if you do want to hear them, do it quickly on Monday or Tuesday, before it gets ditched for not being downloaded. Well, at least I tried

Not sure why I went from ML to MBL and then back to ML again, but this gives you an idea of UK ML prices. This was up on a notice board. Pete said that MLs are now subject to an additional "magnet" tax, something to do with terrorism, but that the good news is the CLX is not affected

Pete also said the Spire was a better speaker than the Smmit, because of the new crossover. He said the CLX needs a lot of space, and that the Spire is the one that "he would buy".

I can't disagree with the CLX needing space. It had absolutely no trouble filling that huge room with sound. The CLX's were running without subs. Because the CLX is a rich sounding speaker, at least when driven by those awesome JA200s, you don't instantly think "they need a sub". They sound full and well balanced. But when you think about it, you realise you just aren't hearing any truly deep bass. I therefore prescribe two Descent i's, after you have saved up the dosh post CLX wallet assault

Watching the CLX is almost as entertaining as listening - the way the bass panels move is cool, and I was surprised that a deep, full voice seemed to cause more deflection than some other bass material. I tried to capture it in HD video, but it didn't really come out.

Justin,

Thanks again for the photos! Glad you liked the CLX - haven't met anyone who said it was crap. People always smile when they hear the speaker. Isn't it what's it all about?

I think that the Jadis you mention is a tubed monoblock at 160 watts per channel, and I would not want to lift it on my own looking at all of those tubes. Jadis is not very big in the US. But, I am sure it must have had an absolutely glorious sound - it was chosen for a reason at such a high profile event. I think this is the first time to my knowledge anyone has mentioned the sound of CLX with tubes. Do you, by chance, remember the size of the room? How loud did it go?

Also, do you know the models of the MBL components?

Thanks

what's the BUZZ ??!

. . . . . not IMO the best choice of words for introducing a new electrostatic speaker !

Hey Justin,

sorry the photos you took turned out like crap. Glad you liked the CLX. Did you place an order? :devil:

I would love to hear the MBLs someday.

David Matz said:

Justin,

Thanks again for the photos! Glad you liked the CLX - haven't met anyone who said it was crap. People always smile when they hear the speaker. Isn't it what's it all about?

I think that the Jadis you mention is a tubed monoblock at 160 watts per channel, and I would not want to lift it on my own looking at all of those tubes. Jadis is not very big in the US. But, I am sure it must have had an absolutely glorious sound - it was chosen for a reason at such a high profile event. I think this is the first time to my knowledge anyone has mentioned the sound of CLX with tubes. Do you, by chance, remember the size of the room? How loud did it go?

Also, do you know the models of the MBL components?

Thanks

Click to expand...

Hi David,

Actually, I am kicking myself for not taking any disks with me as I believe you mentioned in the past - as I went on Friday hardly anyone else was there - so playing my own disks would have been a breeze.

I did get to hear them playing pop, rock and classical selections, though, and they work extremely well with all, but they were outstanding with the classical stuff. The pop and rock weren't the best recordings available - some ZZ Top which you can download later and something else. I'm sure given better input they'd knock you socks off, though.

Pete the ML rep said the CLX should run well enough off 100 Watts. Certainly the 160 supplied by the Jadis seemed fine at the levels we went to, which I would say were "quite loud". He also said it is very hard to overdrive it, and you'd have to go above 116dB to do so. Considering a pneumatic drill hits around 90dB, I reckon that is loud enough.

If I was to buy a pair, I would definately run them using valves, especially after hearing them with the Jadis. Anyone who thinks they need a kW of solid state power is sadly mistaken. They do not.

The MBL speaker is this one:

http://www.mbl-germany.de/english/start.html

I'll let anyone else who is interested deduce the rest from the website link. To my ears they are VERY good indeed. It is just a shame that the top of the range ones in HK were playing Chinese girls singing! Check the MBL recordings I'll post soon.

From the ML room pic above, you can see a man in a seat. He is at the front row. There were 5-6 rows of chairs, and then some standing space, and then some Jadis equipment on display. The best place to be seemd to be standing between the last row and the Jadis equipment. I did move around a lot. They definately need space and lots of it to give of their best.

nsgarch said:

. . . . . not IMO the best choice of words for introducing a new electrostatic speaker !

Click to expand...

Think you have a point there, Neil, though I am sure most would know what they are trying to get at...

BTW: The Orpheus arrived today - looks fine under the magnifying glass. You did good so far!

TomDac said:

Hey Justin,

sorry the photos you took turned out like crap. Glad you liked the CLX. Did you place an order? :devil:

I would love to hear the MBLs someday.

Click to expand...

Order? No, at a US equivalent of $38,500, would you?

Check the MBL recordings I'll post, later, Tom. Hell, if you don't have headphones, just burn them to a disk or something. It'll give you SOME idea. I know it's mad but it is a bit of fun if nothing else.

Here's a new kid on the tube/valve scene. Techtube - I had a chat with the rep, and he sez they are made in the original Mullard factory in Blackburn, England. At the moment, all they make is an ECC83, but there is more coming, including a KT88. It is actually called an ECC813, which supercedes the ECC83. Check out the internal construction in the poster pic at the bottom - I have never seen an ECC83 look ANYTHING like it.

http://www.blackburnmicrotech.com/

If I was a KT88 amp owner, I'd wait for their KT88 with baited breath!

The sales rep said only 10-15% of sales were hi-fi - most are for guitar amps. I will be buying two for my guitar amp They look exceptionally well made - I had one in my hand. Not cheap at £30 each, though. The website also shows ECC81 and 82 variants.

User211 said:

Think you have a point there, Neil, though I am sure most would know what they are trying to get at... The Orpheus arrived today - looks fine under the magnifying glass. You did good so far!

Click to expand...

Oh sure, the point was obvious; still, the irony kept me laughing my ass off for the rest of the day !

I'm prepared to help you with your O setup if you like. Two most critical issues (with any MC cartridge actually) are SRA and input load.. Step by step rational methods for establishing both are available :food12:

I'm glad your CLX pics made it. I liked their looks from the beginning and I think all the other 'designers' here did too. I heard the MBL line under excellent conditions in Phoenix at L&M Entertainment, and the only one that really "did it" for me was the smallest model!

Did you see/hear the Eben speaker line by Raidho of Denmark. It's the best non-stat I ever heard. http://www.eben.dk/eben/index.htm Jim Aud of Purist Audio Design uses it to voice his cable, (or he used to anyway.)

Thanks Neil - will e-mail you later. Must say the tip looks absolutely beautiful under the glass and exquisitely fashioned....

Anyway, here's a Wilson Sophia II/Krell Evo 700 shot. Not the best shot, so why have I posted it? Just to make a point, really i.e. the CLX/Jadis combo absolutely slaughtered it. So the CLX should but, if the CLX scores 9/10, then this hits about 6.5, the MBL system about 8/10, and the Dartzeel based system about 7.5 out of 10. Of course, this is based only on what I heard whilst I was there, and I have heard the Sophia sound better e.g. in HK. Were the Evos to blame for the lowish score, or just a poor live recording of Annie Lennox? Only further evaluation could provide an answer... but it probably was the recording. No matter, even at it's best there is no way, in my book (my opinion only, please note) it can even get close to the CLX.

For Krell fans, here's the only other Krell pic that came out, and I took loads - there was a lot of Krell kit there. Hopefully the SACD III has a transport that can be replaced when it breaks, unlike my poor old Tri-Vista.