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Needless to say the sonic impressions I am
getting at the shows may be deceptive and always are very
preliminary: that's the nature of an event like that. Who knows
what's happening in the mains while I am listening, may be the AC
power just got a crapload of some digital sucker in the next room or
whatever.
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Anyway I heard what I heard and I am sure that was like that. May be
next 5 minutes will bring radical difference. Or may be not.
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The SIlbatone room was very large. They played
an Edith Piaf record on a mono WE16B (or A, not sure). They played
it very loud which I don't like, ever. I felt the system was made to
show dynamics and it did it. The dynamic range was really
undistorted and huge. But I've got the feeling that there was no
power or body behind the jumps and dives of pure SPL if you see what
I mean. I'd say a touch of pneumatic sound was there - no real drive
behind the notes. It was not bad though since the music was coherent
but lacking substance a bit - both tonally and artistically.
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Then they put on stereo with their horns and the sound was in many
ways similar to original WE. Of course it had much more extension
at the top end and the bass was weighty but as an approach to
showing me the musical performance it was very much the same.
Dynamic but a bit empty.
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Swissonor also had a big room but not as large as the SIlbatone's.
They do a lot of restoration for classic Thorens turnables and also
their own amps and speakers. Very lively sound though distorted and
amorphous in the bass. Speakers used a horn-loaded woofer and
old-style coaxial mounting of a tweeter.
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The sound I like most was the one at Audio Tekne's room. I never
listened to them before. The speakers were very ugly. I'd say
extremely ugly. And 4-way, drive units arranged as if by chance. The
big ugly turntable cost 53000 euro which made me cringe. Later I was
told that the speaker cost 300 something 000 euros.
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But the sound was decent. The frequency range was limited, there was
a hint of some colouration and distortion in the highs but the music
performance was meaningful and within-reach as opposed to something
distant of which I have no concern.