Post script-

With all of the intense and insane setups around the show two of them stick out in my mind at this point. They occupy completely opposite spaces in the field, but both are memorable.

The first one was recommended to me by my co-worker, Tim. He and his cousin hit the higher floors before I had and he mentioned to not miss the Perfect8 room... I almost did. I believe the floor standing model they were showing is not even on the website yet... I would love to know the price... It was impressive even considering the room issues. Using a glass enclosure is fairly bold I would say...

Secondly, I will say that as far as presentation and a bit of upsetting the apple cart... the Elac room was killing it! I would have to imagine that their setups had to be in my category for affordability... given the competition around them. I did not even get to check it out for very long, but I bet if I were counting, they would have been in the top ten of the rooms.

What an interesting scenario at a place like that... just... what an intense experience. From now on I think I will just stick to Decfest. I like it there much better.

Agree with Dave. Your perspective is one we rarely get to hear.

Post Post Script-

SAY NO MORE!!!

Thank you for the comments.

It's Terrific Tuesday now. Listening night at the shop. We nearly had to cancel for reports that a major storm may roll through... schools sent kids home early in some places. 'Tis the season.

It's not just any old Tuesday though. It's post Axpona Tuesday. Time for a badly needed ear massage from all that uneasy listening.

I was too kind earlier.

I have just been reminded just how much better it can be. I was showering that expo with more benefit of the doubt than you could fit in a medium sized country.

The vinyl tonight was glorious. Steve had managed to procure a vinyl copy of an album he liked from streaming. I think the first I had heard of it was streamed in the shop maybe two or three weeks ago. Since then I have played it several times at as well. The apartment is nowhere near as polished as the Dec-cave, but it is listenable while I finish tuning and getting things together. The album is Mr. Machine by Brandt Brauer Frick for those of you who would like to follow along at home. I suggest you do. Streaming this album on the Headwreckers was fantastic. It elicited resounding response when Steve said" I think I'm gonna try to find this on vinyl." Thank goodness he did. It was the perfect salve for my injured ears. It sounds like I am describing the condition of my ears for dramatic effect, but I assure you this is only partly in jest. The show was tough, my ears were not ringing but were just a bit throbby and fuzzy through Monday. I think it was just overstimulation instead of the typical distortion related ringing that I am so sensitive to.

Regardless... I could tell instantaneously that it was going to be a good night. The needle drop sounded good. No joke.

The very instant the music kicked in I was back in the bubble. It's kind of like you would think the cockpit of a flying saucer may be... the space of maybe a 30 foot diameter sphere is completely owned by the system ( not the amp, the speakers or the room, but all of these things- the whole system). It is fluid, thick or maybe viscous with details that NEVER collide or walk on each other. This sounded like a whole different album. Come to find out that this is not a sampled electronica album with some live tracks layered in. Every noise is live and from an instrument. Who knew this was actually an Avant Garde-esque jazz recording. Weird huh!?!

The ability to zero in on particular instruments or tracks and follow them through the entire song is truly uncanny. The fact that at the same time you don't loose the ability to follow other tracks and you can switch at random... this kind of listening usually takes a lot of effort. I have to get through it though or it drives me nuts. Seven Minute Mind from The Bad Plus took at least 30-40-listens before I got through the whole thing and could listen casually. When I started to listen to jazz some years ago Take 5 from the Dave Brubeck quartet took MONTHS AND MONTHS! This information is so fast, present, and organically cohesive that you hear all of it, and process it as qick as if it were just natural sound in the room with you without respect to even if the sounds are acoustic or digital. Truly astounding.

The second album was Infected Mushroom. I won't fill in the details here as the are the same as the first album having equally good but differently flavored engineering behind it... as they do. The mushroom guys are ahead of their time in electronic music production IMO.





Oh... yeah, then there was a bit of a tape session. But, I am tired and need to get some rest for work tomorrow, and you all probably don't want to hear about that anyways...

...night all!

Keep an eye on the tape forum.. something MAY come up over there

That's the spirit Liquid! You are gonna love that vinyl!