1997 WCES Report -
January, 1997
By John E. Johnson, Jr.
The 1997 WCES (Winter Consumer Electronics
Show) was held in Las Vegas from January 9 - 12, 1997. As usual,
the core of activity was at the Convention Center, but this time,
much more activity was devoted to the Internet. Some of the home
theater and audio booths were moved to the Las Vegas Hilton, and
the High End Audio booths were now at the Alexis Park Hotel.
Although the Alexis is not within walking distance (the high end
audio was much closer to the convention center last year, but
that hotel was torn down), this made for much less local traffic,
and it was much easier to get around.
Probably the two most interesting features of the 1997 show were
the DVD and DTS. DVD (Digital Video Disc, or Digital Versatile
Disc) was finally being shown in the actual (presumably)
production models of players and movie releases. SONY had an
exquisite booth, and they had the model DVP-S7000 dedicated DVD
player, which, along with about 20 movies on DVD, will be
released in April, 1997. The player is their top-of-the-line
model, and their reasoning is that the aficionados (that's you,
the readers, and us, the Secrets editors) will likely jump in
first, so they want to have their top player available for a good
first impression. It is to be priced at $1,000 US. It has
on-screen programming for selecting the aspect ratio (Letter Box
or Pan and Scan), Language (English, Spanish, French, Japanese,
etc., depending on how the movie was programmed), and various
digital formatting. Outputs include Toslink Optical, Coaxial, and
Component Video (Y, B-Y, R-Y). To access the DVD drawer, the
front moves out and down, and then the drawer comes out. Several
other companies showed production model DVD players, including
Pioneer, whose player (DVL-700) is a combination Laserdisc (LD),
DVD, and CD player, also at about $1,000 US (they all will play
CDs, but the SONY is for DVD and CD, not LD). Pioneer also had a
neat little receiver, the VSX-D906S that has AC-3 built in, at
$970, available in February. This unit should be able to
handle AC-3 from laserdiscs, and also the digital AC-3 output
from DVD players. As a last gasp for analog audio cassette tape
players, Pioneer introduced two new models that use digital
processing to reduce tape hiss. Performance was stunning at 90 dB
hiss reduction, and goes far beyond what we are used to in noise
reduction technology. The players were priced at $285 and $300,
and I hope they use this technology in some higher end units.
The image quality with DVD was spectacular. Whatever motion
artifacts (pixelation) that troubled DVD last year have been
corrected. However, the problem now is in the hands of the disc
(software) manufacturers, not the player manufacturers.
Apparently it is more expensive to program a movie for DVD than
it is for laserdisc. DVD programming (MPEG-2) is about $70,000
per film, and a technician must program the film scene by scene
to allocate the number of bits available, depending on the amount
of action in the scene. Columbia Tristar is closely associated
with SONY, so the 20 films that are being released along with the
DVD players will be programmed as well as can be done, I'm sure.
Some of the films were being shown in the booth, and they looked
excellent even in the high action scenes. I examined the image up
close, and they appear to have more detail than laserdisc images.
The final analysis will have to wait until we have the players
here to test, with DVD movies. The component video outputs
improve the image quality significantly, and I understand TVs
with component video inputs are on the way, with a couple of them
already in stores.
DTS is the competitor to Dolby AC-3 (Dolby Digital). It has more
bits assigned to the sound, and the number of channels is 5.1,
like Dolby Digital. CDs and laserdiscs ("Jurassic
Park") were at the show, in DTS. The sound quality is
wonderful. I was truly impressed, and I think if the quality
holds up, it is going to be very successful. In particular, some
of the DTS CDs had imaging that was far beyond anything that
could be done with standard two-channel stereo. However, I think
the maximum effect is achieved with music that has been recorded
specifically for DTS, rather than remixed older recordings. A few
of the DTS CDs sounded harsh, but that is true even for regular
CDs. Several manufacturers had DTS processors, and one company
that had some for sale at the show, sold out of them on the
second day (The Millennium 2.4.6 DTS Decoder - $699 US; 5.1
Marketing and Sales, E-Mail [email protected]). This bodes well for the format.
Advanced Technology Group showed the Realeyes 3D System. I have
seen 3D with LCD eyeglasses before, but it required high scan
rates. This system uses a regular NTSC TV, and splits the frames
into right and left fields. LCD (Liquid Crystal Display)
eyeglasses connect to the control box, and alternately turn dark
and transparent in time with the left and right images from the
TV. It works very well with TV programs that have been produced
using two cameras. I think that advertisers would be much more
amenable to paying the higher prices of HDTV (High Definition TV)
if such technology were incorporated. Right now, they probably
feel that HDTV is not going to sell any more product just based
on higher resolution. Three-D could be just the thing to have
them jump right in. There was at least one other company showing
this type of technology. The LCD eyeglasses were $25/pair! It
will all work with NTSC or HDTV. This could REALLY be good stuff
for future TV programming. Maybe when movies are transmitted to
the theater with HDTV signals rather than using film, we could
just bring our own glasses when the movie is in 3-D.
One of the first items we saw in the High End Audio, at the
Alexis Park, was incredibly beautiful, but incredibly expensive.
Horn speakers have been around as long as audio, because the
first amplifiers were not very powerful (a few watts), and horn
speakers were very efficient (100dB/w/m or more). I have not been
all that impressed with the horns I have heard, but did not care
because we have amplifiers in the hundreds of watts to power
whatever we want. In this case, however, the sound was something
else. The Air Pulse 3.1, made by Platinum Audio, is
as tall as a person, uses a split composite horn which is corner
loaded. This gives low frequency output down to 20 Hz. There are
low frequency drivers, mid-range driver, high frequency driver,
and super high frequency driver. Harmonic distortion was very
low, as manifest by the extremely loud playing levels
demonstrated with no harshness (in excess of 100 dB). The price?
$120,000/pair US.
Now to things somewhat more practical. Ever since the problem
with Audio Alchemy (most of the people left), we have all been
wondering what has happened since. It appears that many of them
ended up at Camelot Technology. Howard Schilling joined his
father Mel, who founded Camelot, and now they have introduced
some new products, including a CD transport, jitter reduction
device, DAC, and other goodies. Mark Schifter, who co-founded
Audio Alchemy, and who is now at Genesis, wrote an open letter
(published on the newsgroups and later will be in the printed
trade) which stated that he supports and recommends Howard
Schilling and others at Camelot.
OK, so what about Audio Alchemy? Many of us have AA equipment (we
have a full AA CD system ourselves), and want to know who will
repair them and update them. AA makes really nice products that
have been recommended by all the audio magazines, including ours.
It seems improbable that such a good company will just roll over
and fold. This would be a tragic loss to everyone. The CES did
not provide answers to these questions, but time will.
There were lots of tube amplifiers, including new stuff from
Italy, China, and Mexico. For example, the Graaf GM-200 (from
Italy), which is an OTL (output transformer-less) two channel
power amp, rated at 200 watts rms/ch into 8 Ohms, has an MSRP of
$12,500 US. An OTL design does not have an output transformer,
so there is nothing between the plates on the output tubes and
the speakers except a short piece of internal wire, the banana
plug jack, and speaker cable. Interestingly, as the impedance of
the speakers drops, the output of the amp also drops . . . just
the opposite of a conventional amplifier design. However, the
sound is magnificent, as exemplified by the Graaf connected to
electrostatic speakers in the exhibit. One of the amps from China
was 25 watt monoblocks of pure Class A triode. They appeared to
be very well built. The price of $4,000 is quite competitive for
this quality of amplifier.
Lamm Audio Industries, of Brooklyn, New York, showed their M1.1
hybrid Pure Class A monoblocks (100 watts rms per channel into 8
Ohms). The input stage is tube, and the output stage is MOSFET
(solid state). This is not a new amplifier, but the sound was
absolutely phenomenal, so I wanted to mention it. Of course, the
price is steep for this quality of performance . . . $18,000 the
pair.
Baltlines Audio is distributing some very nice looking speakers
that are made in Latvia. Apparently, the company made
speakers for most of the (previously) Soviet Union, and now they
are selling them in other parts of the world, including the USA.
The prices are very competitive (e.g., $995 for a wood
veneer-covered pair of floorstanders).
My vote for curiosity of the year goes to the SAL (Speaker Array
Logic) Star-1 Speaker. It is is a spherical shaped enclosure with
32 speakers on each sphere (for a stereo pair), 12 of which are
woofers and 20 are tweeters. The speakers have a control
unit (SAL DSP-1) from which inputs, equalizer, high pass filter,
volume (SAL ATT-1), and other factors can be adjusted. Although
it is quite strange to look at, it sounds very good.
Unfortunately, the package is $35,000.
All in all, the 1997 CES was a great meeting, except for the cold
front that moved in the last day. DVD and DTS are extremely
promising. I can't wait to get my hands on these products, and I
have this feeling that you can't either.
John Johnson
1997 WCES Report -
January, 1997
By Stacey Spears
Well, once again the CES has arrived, and
along with it are some of the COOLEST toys yet! This year, the
show was SPREAD way out; not only were companies exhibiting in
the four listed convention centers/Hotels, they were also at just
about every place else. New this year for the High-end audio was
the Alexis Park. This was actually a nice change from the Sahara,
and the fresh air was a nice welcome compared to the old place.
Unfortunately, some high-end audio was also located at the
Hilton, and numerous other places. Enough about the environment,
lets get to the good stuff. Like the Hi-Fi 96 report, I am going
to break it down by companies.
While everyone was showing their DVD players and other new
equipment, there was a difference of how they were presented. The
big Japanese and American corporations were very flashy (lots of
bells and whistles). They hired actors and actresses to stand on
stage and give their little speech of how good it is and what the
features are, then played about 2 minutes of video which showed
nothing. The high-end companies, on the other hand, had
substance. They showed appropriate examples of how good the video
can look and sound.
Snell & Wilcox
For the first time in who knows how long, the Faroudja WAS NOT
providing the best picture at the show! Who was on first, besides
Lou Costello? Snell and Wilcox that's who! No, it's not a line
doubler, and it's not a line quadrupler either. It is an
Interpolator, and its name is, "Interpolator." Actually
there are two models, the Interpolator 1 and 2. What this machine
does is determine what the best scanning rate is and then uses
it. They call it the "Golden Scanning Rate." The reason
they do this is because some projector doublers do not provide
enough lines, and quadruplers might provide too many lines. The
Interpolator places each line so that it touches the next,
allowing the projector to work more efficiently and provide more
light output. For the demo, they used a production model Toshiba
DVD player with a sampler disc along with T2 on laserdisc. The
DVD was AWESOME! Nowhere else in the show did DVD look that
spectacular. The demo also included scenes from
"Eraser", "Twister", and "Tin Cup".
The laserdisc demo was from T2, and again LD has never looked
this good. Joe Kane of the Imaging Science Foundation presented
the demo. They were also mixing computer graphics with the video,
and the resolution was 1280 x 1024. The text was crystal clear.
There were no artifacts from the two mixed together . . . this is
the best I have seen from video. The projector used was the
$45,000 Vidikron.
Camelot
Well, Audio Alchemy was nowhere to be found at CES, but Camelot
was. I mention this because some of the crew who left Audio
Alchemy have found a home at Camelot. A few months ago I raved
about the Audio Alchemy VRE, and now Camelot is introducing their
version entitled Lancelot V1.0. The Lancelot has been designed by
a former Alchemy VRE man, and he has re-written the software
algorithms. They are claiming a major improvement. This product
will retail for $499. There will not be a TBC or 3D filter that
the VRE had planned, rather, the improvements are supposed to be
better than any 3D filter could be (3D filters only work on a
static image, and when motion is introduced it reverts back to a
2D filter.) Here is a list of coming attractions: The next
product is the Lancelot PRO, which is their $1,000 line doubler.
It will also provide S-Video outputs to improve standard NTSC.
Neither product was on display, but as soon as I get my hands on
them I will tell all, including a comparison with the VRE 1.0.
Apparently, the doubler is supposed to interface with the Alchemy
VRE as well. Lancelot AV Link is a microprocessor-activated
audio/video control center. It has the ability to handle
component video and will offer a plug-in comb filter. Arthur V1.2
is a low cost HDCD 20-bit D/A converter with I2S
input. Uther V1.0 is their no-holds-barred D/A converter.
It has jitter reduction, HDCD, dual differential 20-bit DACs with
I2S, and selectable dither. The display is HUGE, so
you can see it from across the room with no problem! Excalibur
Video is a powered S-Video cable which allows you to go long
distances without signal loss. Camelot will have an updated
Merlin, which is going to be one of the first high-end DVD
machines, estimated cost to be under $2,000.
Faroudja
While Faroudja did not have the best picture at the show, their
image quality was still nothing short of spectacular. They
introduced several new products this year. I think the most
exiting is their new VP 100 "TV Enhancer". This is the
first product that has been introduced to help improve any TV
rather than just data quality projectors. It is similar to the
Alchemy VRE, and they have taken the comb filter out of their
doubler and put it in a little black box. It also provides detail
enhancement and color alignment. They had two Sony Rear
Projections set up side by side, one with the VP 100 and one
without. The colors on the processed TV looked crisp, but there
was some ringing on the edges of the picture. This was probably
because the prototype being displayed had a fixed detail
enhancement. The final product will have 2 adjustable knobs on
the front to vary the amount of detail and to align the color.
The retail price is expected to be $699.00 and should be
available in the Spring. I can't wait to put the VRE up against
the Lancelot and Faroudja for a shootout.
Faroudja has also introduced their new laserdisc player (LD1000)
and DVD (DV1000) player. These units are expected to cost $5,500
each. The LD player used the CLD-99's transport with some serious
mods to fix the problems the CLD-99 has. The DVD uses Toshiba's
transport, again with heavy mods to improve the performance. The
DVD will provide "Component Video" outputs, and both
units have reclocked digital outputs to reduce jitter.
In a side room Meridian had their new 800 Reference series on
display. They are now in all black, much better looking than the
gray shown in New York at Hi-Fi 96. These two pieces (800 CD
Machine and 861 Surround Sound Processor) are state-of-the-art.
Consisting of audio computers, they use plug-in cards in the back
to add new features, and they are set up using a PC/laptop. Flash
bios updates software, so when new software becomes available you
just plug your PC into the serial port and push a button . . .
viola, instant upgrade. The 861 has the same surround sound
options as the 565 . . . all the same modes, AC3, DTS, MPEG, etc.
They have the ability to support more than 8 channels, and the
architecture allows for up to 64 channels. There are several
option cards coming out, including balanced and unbalanced cards,
broadcast grade video switching cards (Component, S-Video,
Composite). There will also be a tuner card and Room EQ card in
the future. The 800 CD Machine has a SCSI controller and an ATAPI
controller card to support external CD changers with SCSI
interfaces and internal IDE CD-ROM drives. The 800 series has
their most advanced de-jittering technology to date. They use a
RAM buffer to read the data off the CD-ROM, breaking the timing
link between transport and data. The LCD display is now MUCH
bigger, so you can clearly read it from a long distance. You also
have the ability to change the contrast of the display.
Theta
This exhibit showed off the Casablanca, and they are offering
Circle Surround which is a new matrix technology that is supposed
to provide true stereo surround (from two channels of initial
sound). Another new surround mode is the Spatializer Technology.
This is supposed to provide you with a surround sound
presentation using only two speakers. Theta did not have the
Casablanca set up at the show with these two new modes, but they
should be fitted soon. There will also be a new line doubler card
for data and graphics grade projectors. Theta also has a new CD
Transport and CD player. The Miles is Theta's first compact disc
player. It will be offered with either single ended or fully
differential balanced. The Pearl is their lowest cost transport
to date, and which is based on the Pioneer stable platter.
SONY
SONY showed off their new high-end DVD player, the DVP-S7000
which is a reference quality DVD machine, offering component
video outputs. It uses 10-bit D/A converters for improved picture
quality.
The player is priced at $1,000 They want the public's first
impression of DVD to be the best possible, so they will offer
lower end models at a later time. SONY plans to release the
player in April. They also have a DVD-ROM drive coming.
They are also releasing the SDP-EP9ES Dolby Digital AC-3 decoder.
One of the features exclusive to this processor is their Digital
Cinema Sound. This is supposed to replicate the architectural
acoustics of SONY Pictures' sound studios. The processor is part
of the ES line and is expected to retail for $800.
5.1/HDS
One of the cool/affordable new products at the show was the
Millennium DTS decoder available from 5.1 (Brad Miller). This
unit was built by MSB, and will retail for around $699. The unit
is based on the Motorola 56009 DSP engine. It contains three
20-bit Delta Sigma DACs, and it has a phased lock loop for jitter
reduction. It is fully software upgradeable, and has a
proprietary re-equalization to tame the high frequencies on film
soundtracks. The unit is very small, and it sounded wonderful.
From everything I heard at the show, DTS is the best thing to
happen to CD in a long time.
HDS had approximately 24 DTS CDs for sale at $20 apiece, or you
could buy 6 for $100. I picked up Alan Parsons "On
Air", "Pavarotti and Friends Modena 96 for War
Child", and "DMP Big Band Glenn Miller
Project".
Other DVD players
Panasonic unveiled two DVD players, the DVD-A300 (Deluxe Model)
and DVD-A100. The deluxe model has a built in Dolby Digital
decoder, and it also supplies an S-Video out, dual audio/video
outs, 6 AC-3 (5.1 channels) outs, an AC-3 digital out, and an
AC-3 RF out. The A-100 has no Dolby Digital decoder, and only has
one set of outputs. Neither model has the component video outputs
(DSS and DVD are recorded with component video which is required
for the highest possible picture quality).
Pioneer has two DVD players in their standard line, the DV-500
and DVL-700. The DVL-700 is a combi player, DVD/CD/LD. The unit
has what Pioneer Calls, "Heads Up", a remote control
and Graphical User Interface (GUI). There are onscreen menus
which allow you to just "point-and-click." The unit has
a Dolby Digital output (for DVD) and a RF AC-3 Output (for use
with LD). The suggested retail is $999. The DV-500 is a dedicated
DVD player which uses a new 9-bit Video D/A converter. It has
both coaxial and optical digital outputs. The suggested retail is
$599.
Yamaha will be introducing a DVD player this year called the
DVD-1000 which will play DVD, Video CDs, and CDs. There has been
no price announced at this time. They have also introduced the
DDP-2 as the successor to the DDP-1 AC-3 decoder.
This new unit uses one Yamahadeveloped IC for DD and
another for Tri-Field Cinema DSP, which is supposed to enhance
the Cinema experience. Suggested retail is $499.
Sherwood
Their Newcastle line has introduced a Dolby Digital/DTS receiver,
the R-945. The unit is rated at 125 watts per channel in stereo,
and 100 watts x 5 in surround mode. The unit has coaxial,
optical, and RF inputs, and it uses two Motorola 56009
processors. This provides Pro-Logic, Dolby Digital, and DTS. The
suggested retail for this is $1,299.
Rocktron has introduced their consumer Circle Surround decoder.
This is a new super matrix process which has the ability to
create true stereo surrounds in the rear along with stereo in the
front, all from the original two channel stereo. There are three
modes available: Surround Video, Surround Music, and Stereo. All
of the trim controls are located on the front, and there is also
a cinema contour to control the bright sound tracks (similar to
re-equalization from THX).
RCA
RCA has two DVD players coming, the RC5200P, and RC5500P. The
5500 is their high-end unit, and it has a shuttle on the front as
well as a built-in Dolby Digital decoder. Neither of these units
offers component video outputs.
Imaging Science Foundation
Joe Kane and Joel Silver were constantly moving around the show.
Everyday from 11:00 12:00 they could be found at the
Faroudja booth, and on Sunday, Joe was showing Video Essentials
on DVD. This was a test version that came in the night before.
Joe showed some examples of how DVD "can" look better
than LD. The biggest part is in the encoding process. If the
studio does not spend the money to transfer the film, you could
end up with a DVD that looks worse than VHS, but when done
correctly it looks AWESOME!! Joe played the famous "Snell
& Wilcox" bouncing ball test pattern on Video
Essentials. First he showed it using the composite output, and
then he switched to component. With the composite, the ball
displayed the usual moire pattern. When component kicked in, the
ball remained black and white. He also pointed out that by using
the component input, you bypass the TV's chroma decoder (the part
of the TV that breaks the S-Video/Composite signal down to
component), which is deficient in about 99% of the TV's out
there, and gives you what the studio created. It will now be even
more important for the studio to properly transfer the films to
disc.
Mirage
Upstairs in the convention center, Runco had a room with a double
stack of 980 graphics grade projectors, and used the new Mirage
OM-6 loudspeakers. Runco also had a prototype DLP projector (it
looked like the technology is still not quite ready). With their
Line Quadrupler, the picture was a little soft. The OM-6 is a
floor-standing three-way Omnipolar loudspeaker with an internal
150 watt amp that powers two 8" subwoofers. There was a neat
little product called the Transducer in the floor and some of the
theater chairs for some added rumble. They played a clip from
"The Shadow" (DTS) and some other material. The Mirage
speakers just disappeared as the sound filled the room.
Martin Logan Ltd.
The return of the Statement is what ML was saying at the show.
They had their demo set up at the Golden Nugget in downtown Las
Vegas, away from the rest of the show. The equipment consisted of
their new Statement speakers as the left and right, their Logos
as the Center, and the ReQuest as the surround channel speakers.
The front end was Theta's Casablanca and LD Transport. Power was
supplied by YBA, cables by Cardas, and video by DWIN. The demo
started with some musical pieces, then followed by the Eagles on
LD (Hotel California), then moved onto some film clips, one in
DTS and the other in AC-3. The demo was rushed because there were
so many people wanting to experience it. Each Statement had a
large subwoofer tower with it, four individual 12" woofers
stacked on top of each other. The ReQuest will retail around
$4,500/pair. The Statement will start around $65,000/set.
RoomTune Inc.
Michael Green was showing off his new Variable Tuning pressure
zone controllers. These were like his existing room tune
products, except the front is a hard surface (tuning board) with
a tuning bolt. Once you mount the pieces on the walls, you use a
hex wrench and adjust the pitch and harmonics within your room. I
have used the corner tunes and echo tunes for a couple of years
now. I had to remove them once I moved in with my girl friend
(the color of the pillows does not match our walls). With these
new products I can paint the tuning board the same color as the
walls and take control of my room once again. There are
Mini-Corner tunes, Mini-Echo tunes, Floor Standing, and even
strips that run across the corners of the room and look very
nice. The strips do not have the tuning bolt but the other pieces
do.
Stacey Spears
1997 WCES Report -
January, 1997
By Colin Miller
My first time at the big bad show of all
shows, and the most salient of all qualifying statements I will
make is, there's so much stuff I didn't see. I didn't see any of
the DVD players, which may or may not make it to the market. I
didn't view any super huge mongo screens that nobody but a Casino
could find a practical application for, which flirts with the
oxymoron genre itself. The show was so spread out in different
buildings and complexes, I needed a camel to get from place to
place, and I only had a finite span to wiggle between the rooms
and booths. Arriving late Friday, a lounge singer, holding a
depressed audience of one, set the mood at check in. I took the
cue and went to sleep after thumbing through an amazingly
thorough and colorful section of "Entertainers" via the
yellow pages. Only in Las Vegas.
Aside from the monstrosity of what I didn't see, or see and hear,
what I did bump into was well worth the trip, in ironic fashion.
Levinson and Aerial Acoustics made an impressively refined
statement dancing with the dinos of Jurassic, while Martin/Logan,
or Gayle Sanders more exactly, stood proudly by some new
Statements of his own, backed up by Theta Digital and YBA. Wadia,
the prince of digital, earned positions in many rooms other than
their own, including Thiel's, which sported a pair of their CS 6s
escorted by an imposing Krell stage center. I never spoke to Mr.
Thiel himself, but the rest of the room took notice when I gave
them a worthy recording of Celtic Folk music to take the place of
a dreadfully poor representation of Nashville merit. Sometimes I
wonder if people pay attention to their listening material. In
fact, I wonder if some pay attention to anything in their
presentation at all.
Although I can conservatively say that all of the above sounded
better than the average exhibit, I can also say without any fear
of competent rebuttal that competence does not uniformly
infiltrate the high-end of audio, or even predominate.
I was, however, impressed by a room occupied by Margules Audio.
The technical explanations didn't wow me as definitive, but the
system comprised of components that most could realistically own
delivered a convincing and, more importantly, personally
enjoyable performance. A skin drum sounded like a skin drum, not
a generic boom-thud thingy, no squeaky emphasis or muddy
artificial softness detracted the perceived detail of the sound,
and with bona fide full-range response. Just a nice, easy to
swallow, detailed balance.
In contrast, some tenants, to remain anonymous, boasted
exorbitant price pedigrees, and absolutely awful sound. Between
the rare occurrences of muzzled envy, pilfered off of individual
components such as the new Classe digital
processor/preamp/surround decoder, or Aragon Palladium II
monoblock amps, many of the more pompous citizens of CES's
High-End neighborhood left a pasty, bitter, abrasive taste, much
like Ajax in a mushy mouth. I asked one exhibitor, "Is it
supposed to sound like this?" As she poured water past the
potted plant and down the front of the speaker, I exited in all
haste.
Was I disappointed by the whole inconsistent mess? Straight
ahead, back to Mother's rocking chair lap, high-five, toothless
grin, No Way Man! Don't misunderstand. I like new improved toys
just as much as the next tweak. I want my DVD too, but until it
actually hits the market, there's a lot to be said for
satisfaction. After this excursion, I've got a bit more of it at
home, arguably where it belongs most. I wouldn't mind Palladium
IIs, or a Wadia front end to top it off, but I'm happy where I am
compared to what I might have been conned into for the price a
small ranch.
Colin Miller
© Copyright 1995, 1996, 1997 Secrets of Home
Theater & High Fidelity
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