The Plan…

What is the plan?

The general plan is to post a photo for each room - with little or no comments for most of them and, like the RMAF 2010 show report, to focus on The Few, The Interesting. I figure 200 or so rooms… that is a lot of posts [but not very many photos compared to the 4000 or so for last year ))))]. We’ll see.

As far as what will be the interesting rooms…

I described a few general points about some general rooms in a previous post for the 29th floor, hallways 100 and 200. That seemed to bore people pretty good…

So… let’s talk about The Cool. The Not Boring.

============== THE VENETIAN (CES) =============

Maps of CES proper are here:

CES 2011 Show Map

Click on the floors in the Venetian to see maps of the high-end audio rooms. As more and more people move from the ballroom floors to the towers, we only have a few left on the Venetian ballroom level 2 (Move the mouse over each room to see who is in the room):

Mostly YG Acoustics, Thiel, Usher, Parasound, and a few others. YG might be interesting, and there are some rooms that are on hold - maybe somebody interesting might show up there.

On floor 29, it looks like

* Perfect8 is in a bigger room this year in 29-335. They had the $200K or so glass speakers last year - here’s hoping they use different electronics this year.

Zooming in on floor 30 [by clicking the + in the lower left, which doesn’t increase the size of the miniature mouse-over text. Some programmers suck at their job . And the only way get back to the main map of the Venetian is to reload the page] we can see that:

* Marten is in 30-130 [it will be good to hear how the Coltrane 2 speakers do in this modest sized room],

* Kondo is in 30-224 [let’s hope they bring speakers their electronics can drive AND which have the ability to render subtle transients and harmonics],

* Zanden is in 30-317 [they almost always pair their electronics with excellent speakers], the

* Lotus Group in 30-319 [hope they bring their new speakers, either the statement or the new more modestly priced ones will do]

Don’t see much on floor 34 [Emm Labs will be in the isoMike room, but so will the Sony speakers that Ray Kimber takes every year], but floor 35 has

* Lamm in 35-309 and 35-307 [with the Wilson Alexandria X2 speakers]

* D’Agostino [founder of Krell] has his own room in 35-210 [this might be quite interesting to see what he is up to now]

============== THE FLAMINGO (THE SHOW) =============

And then we have T.H.E. Show at the Flamingo:

The hotel is confusing like all Vegas strip hotels. Follow the green lines I scribbled on the map… Registration and most of the large room are downstairs - use the escalator as indicated. Most of the rooms are up on, what looks like floors 3,4 and tower 1 and 2 this year. Use the elevators to get there.

Looking at the exhibitor list [the room maps do not seem to list who is where, except for those in the 5 or 6 suites]

The Show Las Vegas Exhibitors

Well, there is:

* Audio Note and us in room 4000

* The David Berning in 4041 [nice amps. Hope the rest of their system highlights them to best effect]

* Jadis will be showing in Conference room E [first time they have been at a show in awhile]

* Magnepan & Bryston in Conference Room A [they had an interesting room a few years ago at the Alexis. Here’s hoping they do again]

* NFS Audio [Not For Sale. Where the party is. Next door to us. Oh boy ]

There are, of course, many other ‘potentials’. We’ll just have to see… I mean hear…

Dear Santa,

The following is the list of things you seem to have forgotten to bring me this year [I understand the economy is rough; but seriously, could you make sure you don’t have a few items in your sleigh that you forgot to deliver last night???]:

1. 100,000 mint condition LPs, across multiple genres and in order thank you, all previously Loricrafted with the 4-step Walker Prelude cleaning process. [if not this year, perhaps next Christmas?]

2. Enough Nordost ODIN, Jorma PRIME and Audio Note PALLAS to cable out all 3 of our rooms [and maybe the 4th we are thinking of adding] in either 100% pure ODIN (or PRIME or PALLAS) and in any kind of mixed-cable madness we might want to hear someday. [perhaps this is just stuck in the chimney? I’ll go look.] [Nope. Doesn’t seem to be there. Hmmmmm… Not sure what the problem is here.]

3. A blank check and the name of reputable and competent contractors to add several rooms to our house for the following speakers, one pair for each room. which we would also appreciate very much if you could deliver ASAP: Marten Momentos, Kharma Grand Exquisites (and/or Midi Grande Exquisites), Wilson Alexandria II, Acapella Sphaeron, Audio Note Sogon (at least ONE of these new rooms has to have corners for the AN speakers, unlike our current house), [Oh, and FedEx or UPS is OK, too, if, you know, Rudolph and the other reindeer are a little pooped from last night’s hectic delivery schedule].

4. 1000s of free plane tickets - which come with free room and board at the Boulderado, so that we can fly in everyone who wants to hear their favorite music on any or all of the above setups. [or. hey, you can just fix the real-estate mess, make everyone giddy in the process, and get us a place in the big city. You know, a city that people are already traveling to in the normal course of living their lives?]

Well, Santa. Four things on my list. Not so bad. You’re doing a great job so far, and we know World Peace is not something you can help with, but it seems to me that the items on this list are exactly the kind of things you are so awesome at.

But please HURRY; because right now Neli thinks *I* am Santa, and boy oh boy, this list is going to take me some amount of time to work through…

Happy Holidays, Santa [and to all of you out there, too! Happy New Year!]

[Crossfitness is all the rage in fitness land. It consists of highly varied workouts done at warp speed (as quickly as possible) and focus on exercises that are actually useful in the real world. WOD stands for Workout Of the Day].

1. Big Amp Pump: Lift 90lb. Audio Note Ongaku. Take 2 steps forward. Put it back down… carefully.
a. Advanced: carry it up and/or down 10 stairs
b. Advanced: put it down to your right and/or left (comes in handy because of all those amp-stand and cable footing issues)

2. Rack Shuffle: Lift 50 lb component off of a rack and put it gently onto the floor. Lift 50 lb component up off the floor and insert it into a rack. (aka the “cables still don’t reach blues”)
a. Advanced: Do not slide it (feet often stick to and or rub the finish off of quality equipment rack shelves) but instead stick out your rear to counter-balance the weight as you extend your arms and component into the rack.

3. Cable Contortion: connect (correctly!) the 20 ends of 10 cables and power cords to components on a rack that is too close to the wall. (aka “Squished Skull” and “Why oh Why Can’t My Arm Bend That Way Just For a Second” blues)
a. Advanced: use only the big ELROD power cords (when cold and stiff) and suitably stiff interconnects [stiffest ones we have here are Odin and they aren’t too bad] .

4. Component Packman: take 10 components off the racks, amps and speakers and pack them in their shipping cartons. Then unpack them and set them up (aka lets exhibit at a show or someone else’s listening room - essentially 1,2 and 3) .

5. Dusting Time: move all your LPs and CDs and dust the shelves they are on.
a. Advanced: re-order them [this is hard for us since we have 2+ major locations for CDs and 3+ for LPs scattered throughout the house].

——

Now, according to way all the crossfit sites do it, we are supposed to time ourselves and say we can do, say, 4, in, like 26 minutes or something.

We do 1, 2 and 3 all the time.

We have NEVER done 5

We moved the Audio Note Fifth Element, Fifth Force and CDT-Five downstairs to prepare for demos for a few out-of-town guests this week.

We have the CDT-Five next to the Walker, the Fifth Element DAC and the Fifth Force on the shelf below. The Walker is hooked up to the S9 step-up and it is all going to the M9 Phono preamplifier the two boxes there on the bottom left. Above them our CDT-Three and DAC 4 Balanced are also hooked up. Welcome to high-end audio shootout heaven.

We are still using the Jinro downstairs, soon to be the Ongako, as we move things around like mad during the demos. Our high-gain Kegon amps are on the left there on the old RixRax amp stands.

Closeup of the Audio Note Jinro integrated in black.

A few more details about the Fifth Element DAC (and its Fifth Force power supply):

* The Fifth Force is a separate power supply, which is an upgraded DAC5 Signature supply but with better stabilization, better mains transformers (double HiB c-cores) and other detail improvements

* Fifth Element Valve input buffer; the buffer is synchronized to match the output of the CDT Five, so whilst other CD transports will work, they will not be close to the performance of a CDT Five. The valve buffer consists of an EF800 Telefunken or similar, it has its own separate power supply with a 6X5 valve rectifier feeding the HT

* The I/V interface is a newly designed all silver wired transformer with a massive core (same as the AN-S9), it provides far better low level and is individually adjusted for the exact behavior of the output of the selected AD1865 converter chip

[Sorry about the poor quality of the photos. My rechargeable flash batteries are dying one by one. Need to get a bevy of new ones before CES, that is for sure. I’ll use the tripod next, which obviates the need for flash].

The Audio Note U.K. CDT-Five transport, Fifth Element DAC and its Fifth Force power supply. We do not have a price, but expect it to be in the $175K - $180K range for the entire stack. These are going to be shown at CES (T.H.E. Show at the Flamingo).

Brand new. Cold, pressing play less than 60 seconds after turning it on. Running through the little preamp in the Emm Labs DCC2 (which we have been using quite a lot lately as the upstairs preamp - the big Audio Note M9 Phono preamp being down on the Audio Note system downstairs).

First impressions? [Mark Knopfler - Sailing to Philadelphia]

“Wow, that is really DIFFERENT.”

“Oh, the VOICES…!” [Hard to describe… We talk about being able to hear the emotion in voices - and how difficult most systems have with this. How important this is if the music is not an instrumental - how we have millions of years of training, wired into our brain’s DNA, on how to listen for and communicate using emotion in voices.

Well, this does that, all right. But it is not like two strange men [Mark Knopfler and James Taylor] telling you a story with some modicum of emotion, it is like your Dad sitting next to you, late at night, talking to you about something important when you were a young-in. [that is what I flashed on at the time. Now I will TRY to explain why this was so different. A little waving of the hands here] There is a presence, a solidity, an intimacy, to hearing the voice come not just from the mouth, but from the chest; that there is some amount of authority that comes from a large adult talking to a small child. That real people, real professional singers anyway, have a vocal authority that does not come across the reproduction barrier in our systems.

“Wow, there is a LOT more bass”

We remembered how the DAC 5 Signature [the DAC right below the Fifth Element] was very close to analog - as dynamic as [and even better harmonics than] LP.

Dynamic bass is something that analog has always done well. As far as I can tell, this stack does bass much better even than that - very, very articulate and there is more of it, but it is IN PROPORTION TO WHAT IS IN THE MUSIC [otherwise we can just turn down the gain on bass towers of the Coltrane Supreme speakers].

—————–

On further listening, the entire frequency spectrum is more dynamic, which we expected - but remember we are still running this when it is new [not as cold anymore] and thru a modest but very nice little, say $3-5K, preamp. In some ways I just wanted to see if this particular digital stack could shine in a non-perfect setup *. Obviously it can.

[* much more later about the cases where we are running into where there is a component, usually a speaker, that can almost totally obscure various different types of changes made to the upstream system]

The PRaT [the pressure for one to tap their toes, or start dancing, or just start moving around in a spastic fashion to the music (which is a fairly accurate description of what I tend to do)] is very good and I think we need to add descriptions for ‘inner PRaT’ or perhaps micro-, midi- and macro-PRaT. There are inner melodies that I was feeling drawn to in this way, as well as primary melodies. It’s ALL good - there is so much to listen to and enjoy in each song.

There is more - but I think our next step is to run the Fifth Element DAC to the Lamm L2, and then straight to the M9 Photo preamplifier [the perfect pre for this stack] upstairs, or the Ongaku integrated downstairs [which is the show system, with the AN/E SEC Signature speakers, and this should be very intense].

The top of the CDT-Five with the mounting screws still attached

The front of the CDT-Five CD Transport, with the plastic protectors still on.

The rear of the CDT-Five CD Transport

The back of the Fifth Element DAC with the CDT-5 in the background, and Audio Note Ongaku integrated way, way in the background.

The Audio Note CDT-5 Transport with the drawer open

The Audio Note Fifth Element DAC

The Audio Note Fifth Force power supply for the Fifth Element DAC

We get a lot of questions about this or that speaker when people are thinking about spending the big bucks on an ‘ultimate’ speaker.

First, if the manufacturer makes cables, or equipment racks, or a couple of amps, or whatever AND then decides more or less out of the blue to come out with a $100K+ speaker, why oh why should a person take this seriously? Designing and building good speakers is HARD. Just because they make it big and put a large price tag on it, is hardly a reason to take it seriously.

OK. That eliminates about 30% of all speakers. [Yes. There are maybe one or two exceptions. But as a general rule, this is a good one].

Second, if the speakers they make at $10K suck, and those at $50K suck, then why of why do people think the $150K speakers they make just ‘have got to be great’? It is more likely that it will suck, just with a bigger suck. The larger the speaker is, the harder it is to design. 2-ways are the easiest… if they can’t get this right, then there is no hope.

OK. This eliminates about, say, 30% [or more ] of the megabuck speakers out there.

Then there is the purpose of the speaker. Lump this together with drivability and placeability and even appearance. When deciding whether a megabuck speaker is ‘good’ one has to think about how they want to use that speaker. On a small SET amp? In a very large room or very small one? Is it going to be in front of something you want to see out of once in awhile? Are you going to want it placed close to a wall? Do you want it to sound musical [and various other attributes which we focus on here quite a bit], or be a loud Boy Toy, or just play decent music once in awhile or, perhaps, just be an awesome example of modern technology and it doesn’t matter much how it sounds?

This should eliminate, say, 30% more and leave you with about 10% or less of the megabuck speakers left to consider - probably about 2 to 4.

Now the fun starts

I’ve watched this movie a few times in the past, but just recently found that I had somehow purchased the DVD in a bargain bin so watched it again, twice, just this week.

I really like this movie, for both the flavor of the early 70s and the music: mostly Led Zepplin, Neil Young, Elton John, and some Yes, Dylan and Jimi, etc. The way people grip and throw around their vinyl in this movie is atrocious, but at least they play music. Back in the day, that is what kids did - play music. They visited their friends houses and played LPs. I Have No Idea what kids do these days when they get together, but they rarely have anything on which to play music bigger than a cigarette pack, so I do not think they play music.

Cameron Crowe [Jerry McGuire] wrote and directed this movie. It is about a young teen who interviews rock stars for the Rolling Stone magazine in the early to mid 70’s. Apparently this is semi-autobiographical. Cameron Crowe’s actual articles are here, which he wrote, mostly for the Rolling Stone, starting when he was 15 years old:

Cameron Crowe: 1972-1978 Rock & Roll Mega-Band Interviews

It makes for fascinating reading.

Wherein we examine the floor maps in detail to get a kind of feel for what this year will be like.

[New. the rooms in the 200s]

[Please pardon us while we get this all to work…] [Yyyyy… OK. We wanted this to work like it does on Amazon… and it turns out that the electronics store and the DVD store at Amazon do it different ways. So, here, we are going to make it so you can popup a single window so people can see the larger photo(s) in one window and read whatever comments we have in this one. Like the Amazon Electronics store.]

This is the map of floor 29.

Looking at the 100’s hallway… StraightWire AudioQuest, Cardas, … these are mainly about their cable displays. Avatar Acoustics is an importer, been showing with Rethm speakers lately.

Let’s see, Engstrom & Engrstrom make the Lars amps and will be showing with the Marten Coltrane 2 speakers, I believe. So 2 reasons to go there and spend some time. [I’m skipping rooms that are new and/or unknown to me - or I just don’t have much to say about].

Next we have Vitus audio - hope to hear something here that helps me figure those amps out in greater detail - i.e. they do microdynamics, but what are their other signature strengths and limitations?

[Yes, I am going down just one side of the hallway, just like in real life ]

Next is Basis turntables. Not usually much to listen to here. Could stop and argue some more about whether Acrylic platters are the ‘best’ material for platters or not [me: there is no ‘best’ material]… but that gets boring quick.

Finally we have Pass Labs in a big room with a pile of their cool looking amps in the main vestibule. Lots of suits doing business and nicely setup but the sound has never impressed.

Across the hall now we have AXISS, an importer of many things: some years they have the statement Transroter turntable [on static display. love to hear it one of these years]. They also have Accuphase and a few other lines.

Always check out dCS. They are always nice and they keep busy making new things all the time - so usually something is new here. Hard, though, to get a sense of what they going for here - usually it is better to hear their stuff elsewhere at the show.

Nordost is next. 3 rooms! They will be doing some scheduled presentations as always, no doubt. Usually they have a strange mix of electronics and an under-performing rack, but with small speakers that are quite detailed and dynamic [often Eben / Raidho]. This is more a room to learn things about how to listen and hear differences in cables than to listen to music in.

Silverline is more cables…

Opera loudspeakers with Unison… this will be interesting. Not expecting greatness as much as an opportunity to learn more about Unison Research [which we hear is basic good-sounding gear].

Esoteric usually sets up a room that is a little too much Esotericness for my taste - being 100% Esoteric equipment and cables [not that they are not high-quality gear by themselves, they are]. Also hard to see what is new because they have so MUCH gear on display and/or in the equipment racks.

And then Cary at the end. The last 2 years they have had Marten Coltrane speakers in there. I forget [bad me] if they are to do so again this year.

===========================================

OK, still 2 more hallways to do on this floor, and at least one major floor left to do. This might be faster to actually be there walking thru the rooms than write about them …

To be continued…. OK, we’re back. The 200’s hallway:

We have Kimber Kable (and WBT, distributed by Kimber) which are just rooms with cables and parts displays up front and maybe some kind of business meeting in the rear of the room.

Westlake Audio makes big, hulky box speakers although their rooms are rarely setup for boy toy-like sound. Not sure what kind of sound these guys are going for.

The BATs in the Bat room will often be driving a pair of Wilson’s, probably a Sasha or something. They rarely do something bold here - they’re probably just focused on business and trying to cement the connection between Wilson and BAT in people’s minds.

Musical Surroundings, an importer, has 3 rooms. One is usually dedicated to the static display of a dozen or so Clearaudio turntables. Sometimes they pick up a new line, or pair their stuff with an interesting speaker, say [now that they no longer distribute Vivid speakers], so one of these rooms is often interesting to me from a “it’s not likely to be the exact same thing as last year” point of view.

Volent makes speakers that are somewhat expensive yet still has a following as I understand it on Audio Circle.

Another room I listened to intently at RMAF, using the little YG Acoustics speakers, and feel less of a need to listen here now.

On a Higher Note is an importer, of things like the Brinkmann and, lately, Audio Aero. So I will take more photos here just in case there is something that we are supposed to know and don;t know it - looking at the detailed photos later helps answer a lot of questions about gear we do not have right here right now.

QUAD… always check out the QUAD room… SOMETIMES they have good sound, though recently they use only QUAD electronics to drive their famous, somewhat newly redesigned, speakers.

Wharfdale has usually just a token system, if any, and a lot of static displays of their speakers - and lots of people in suits.

Kubala-Sosna usually has their name on a room with an interesting system. Says nothing on their website, so I guess it’ll be a surprise. These kinds of surprises are fun.

Hansen… last year they brought their statement speakers - which didn’t go over all that well. Hopefully this year they bring something else, and pair it with something decent. Now that Wes is not their distributor, their setups have been disappointing the last several shows. We like these speakers, but they need a decent amount of high-quality power, and a decent front end. Unless there is a miracle. Miracles just do not happen at shows.

Usher. Decent speakers at an affordable price. They might have a potential for drug-like sound, and they do sometimes put decent [commensurate] equipment on their speakers at shows.

Bluebird imports Chord and usually sets up a nice sounding small system, and musical for a solid-state system, too. But they are really going for a Practical Sound, not a drug-like sound here.

Synergistic Research - no doubt with their stupid ball on a post tweak [stupid because if you listen to the system there during their demo - the tweaks make things sound worse, and brighter, and edgier. This is the demo that sparked the discussion a few years ago about just what are we as audience members supposed to do in a case like this - and how we all behave so nicely and nod our hears along with the presenter’s. ]

Spiral Groove. Nice medium expensive turntable and speakers. This room can be quite decent - though it usually lacks… something. Enough to not make it on my best of show lists.

One year Rogue Audio did have their new statement amp, which was decent. Otherwise, this room takes an approach to low cost tube amp sound that perpetuates the stereotype of tube map sound as being very veiled as compared to solid state, but without the warm glow that is usually the reward for such a sacrifice in clarity.

MSB… Cool looking gear… more focused on making Gee Whiz system components than Drug-like or Practical sound.

Avantgarde… now selling direct from Germany to their customers… guess they NEED to be at this show. Will be very interesting in hearing what they do here - no doubt with their horn speakers and amps but who knows what else.

Vandersteen in the middle of the Triskelian. One room will be just for HRS and I’ll say hello to Mike Latvis and take photos here [yes, some of this is entirely too predictable after all these shows]. The other room is different each year. Probably Vandy 7 speakers. Probably Aesthetix electronics. Sometimes a different amp. Sometimes a cool turntable - one year it was the Clearaudio Statement [which allowed me to understand much more about both the table and the Aesthetix gear sounds].

=================================================

OK. Taking a break before we go on to the 300’s rooms

[I know this has been out a few months, obviously, but we haven’t posted the specs here yet. So here they are . Emm Labs has had the Switchman preamp for awhile, and the preamp inside the DCC2 DAC, which we use here all the time. Obviously, they are kicking it up a notch.]

[… and I quote…]

“The PRE2 embodies our recognition that the analog
preamp at the heart of every music system deserves the
very best treatment because it handles every sound your
system makes.

Built on the heritage of the famous PA6i Meitner preamp,
the PRE2 SE updates Ed Meitner’s classic to take a place
at the forefront of 21st century preamp performance.
Eminent recording and mastering engineer Tom Jung
explains: “Ed Meitner is the only guy on the planet who
has an equally good understanding of both digital and
analog circuitry.”

The PRE2 features six analog inputs, a recording loop,
infrared remote control and, most importantly, stunning
transparency. Due, in no small part, to the op-amp-free
dual-balanced audio path, the extraordinarily sophisticated
contactless switching system, and the (completely
proprietary) volume control system.

The PRE2 also extensively features our aerospace-grade
composite laminate circuit boards. These provide several
performance advantages over conventional boards:

• Copper traces are microscopically smooth on top and
  bottom, making our boards sound more like discrete
  OFC wiring.
• Naturally damped sandwich construction offers
  superior strength and vibration resistance.
• Lower dielectric losses and superior heat conduction
  ensure a more uniform temperature gradient across the
  circuitry, increasing stability and longevity.

All of this makes the PRE2 the most sophisticated
solid-state analog preamp ever created. Use it in your
audio system and you’ll be able to control everything.
Except, of course, your enthusiasm.

KEY FEATURES:

• Two sets XLR balanced Inputs
• Four sets RCA un-balanced inputs
• One set RCA un-balanced Recording Loop
• Stereo XLR balanced output
• Stereo RCA un-balanced output
• 100% contactless dual-balanced discrete audio paths
• Proprietary software-based analog volume control
• Exclusive aerospace-grade composite laminate circuit
  boards
• Precision machined infrared remote control
• Large display with brightness control
• Newly designed intuitive control system featuring programmable input naming, settings recall and
  many additional features.
• RS232 serial port for wired remote control and
  multi-system control.
• Sculpted, brushed aluminum chassis available in
  silver or black.

Power Supply:

• Proprietary High-isolation resonant mode power supply for silent, green operation
• Factory set to 100V or 115V or 230V, 50/60Hz
• Power consumption: max. 40 W

Specications:

• S/N ratio: 110dB (A-weighted)
• THD: 1kHz <0.01%; 20kHz <0.01%
• Frequency range: 0Hz-100kHz
• Gain control range: Better than 62dB
• Maximum output level: +/- 11V p-p (+26 dBu)
• Maximum input level: +/- 7V p-p (+22 dBu)
• Input impedance: balanced XLR – 10k,
• un-balanced RCA – 20k
• Output impedance: balanced XLR - 300,
• un-balanced RCA – 150
• System gain: +6db

Dimensions W x D x H: 435 x 400 x 92mm
Weight: 12kg

[Seriously, it is NOT 2011. Time can’t be passing this fast. Last time I checked my watch it was 2002. Oh. Yeah. I don’t have a watch anymore…]

Spintricity is still not going to be ready by CES [for you techies, it requires a port to Rails 3.x and / or a larger / different server, and some database optimizations wouldn’t hurt either]. So…

The RMAF 2010 approach worked pretty well, but there are a lot more new equipment shown at CES than RMAF, and a lot more statement level equipment - and I don’t want to miss any of it.

So the current plan is to visit every room, in the traditional fashion around here. Probably skipping the main conference center - or maybe just peeking in at the new 3D video stuff.

Since I have to visit every room anyway - making sure I do not miss anything interesting - I will go for taking one photo of the entire room for each room, with extra photos taken of things like the open chassis Lamm ML2.2. But the primary focus, like RMAF, is to focus on the more in-depth aspects of the sound of the best / most interesting rooms.

OK.

So… what to do with these photos. I’m bored with the old show report formats here on Audio Federation. I think we did about 14 that way. So I am thinking that I will post the photos here on the blog, one per room perhaps, and have a fancy way, a magnifying glass or something like Amazon, where we can click to see the photo in a larger size than the standard size here on the blog. NOT like Audiogon where they pop up a whole new window with the slightly larger photo that you gave to go and close later.

Thoughts?

Not sure I will say ANYTHING about most rooms. Certainly not the marketing babble that other show reports excrete about every room being the Best Room Ever. And I got some friendly feedback that saying, more or less, ‘I don’t remember hearing anything remarkable here in this room’ was coming across as a wee bit negative. Besides, 200+ rooms is a lot to say things about - and in general we here are only really interested in the handful that really do something special anyway.