So this where you are all hiding...Cloney Show anyone going?

[cybot]

..did you get your turntable playback problem sorted?

I think its ok now. I made some very subtle changes to the tracking weight and that seems to have sorted it out.

Nice one :-)

[tony]

Got there at lunch time today and had similar experience to others.

Rdac room
Very impressive wireless sound thru ipod into arcam system. Not mad about the B&W Cm speakers. I think they are very in your face and very bright sounding.

Turntables
Garrard was lovely looking
I dont know what system was playing in that room and didnt dwell long. I dont know why they play such synthetic sounding stuff.

System Audio/Classe/Nordost Room
Nearly deafened by dodgy danish techno track. Bought a magus power cable to get out of the room.
Didnt get to here whether the triangle type things worked.I would be a bit worried my dogs would eat them.

Sonos/Elac etc Rooms
Just had a quick look. Didnt see any leggy blonde so moved on quickly

Thought the show suffered being spread out over 2 areas and didnt see any valve stuff or electrostatic which I would have liked to hear.
Understandable really as it would seem most of the sales will be the sonos/rdac/elac stuff +home cinema
Fair play to the noel and all the guys at cloneys as its a lot of work.

[Claus]

Had a great few hours at the show myself.

It was great to see Si, Derek and also meeting Adrian (what a system you have!!!).

Lars (as usual) leaves me somewhat uncomfortable (as a fellow Dane ;) ). I saw the Pulsar point demoed and I still think there's an awful lot of psychology involved. Unfortunately I did hear the "magic" especially when he took them away! Darn it!

I was really impressed with Arcam's rDac and rCube and the rWave! I think the idea of sitting in my couch, just streaming high rez or lossless music wirelessly to the Dac from my Macbook Pro, somewhat appealing. That they seem to have really thought about the wireless technology and that they use dCS Asynchronous USB is an added bonus. I might be sold on this one!

The other rooms were all very interesting and it was great to see some analog sources hooked up and playing...

[Rocker]

I'll admit that I was put off when one person asked for the cones to be removed from the under the CD player. Lars did it alright, slightly reluctant I might add, but only played the music for about 15 secs before shaking his head saying it sounded awful and then putting the 3 cones back in. Played the music for a few mins then wedged a 4th cone in somewhere under the player saying that it gave a further improvement.

That sort of procedure was very similar to the power cables/Quantum things demoed by Lars last year.

Its hardly the best method for illustrating what the cones add to the mix versus when they're not there.

I was that person DaveF [if you are referring to Saturday around midday]. To my ears the cones did little enough to improve the sound until Lars put 5 [!!] cones under the CD Player. Lars was very entertaining as he usually is. But this time his presentation went on a bit too long. By the end I was feeling rather jaded and I expect that a few others were too. But I honestly cannot see the sense in a demo which pairs hardware of €6K [a guess that may not be too far of the mark] with cables of >€40K. And Lars choice of "music" was simply awful. I think he plays that music as nobody in their right mind would buy for themselves so the audience has no choice but to listen for any of the sonic differences/improvements the extremely expensive upgrades bring.

On the whole I thought the show was quite good as the small number of rooms allowed more interaction with the presenters, a situation that could not happen if there were thirty rooms to visit. So well done Cloney Audio.

[fergus]

JAW - Johnny, this type of thing is what I was talking to you about this afternoon....it may solve your little problem.

[JAW]

JAW - Johnny, this type of thing is what I was talking to you about this afternoon....it may solve your little problem.

Thanks for that Fergus, they look like they'll do the job. Enjoy your cables and Quads!

[dubber]

New user here - so Hi! I dropped in the Cloney show today, so though I'd post my thoughts. First of all a big thank you to Cloney for putting this show on, it's great to get the opportunity to hear good kit in Ireland I really hope they get some good business out of this show.

Elac Room
As a long term owner of a pair of Elac CL330s, I was looking forward to this room. I was excited to see that they had the new version of my speakers - the 330CEs ... but alas, they had forgotten to bring jumper cable - so couldn't demo them, that was a disappointment :( The little satellites/sub they had on demo put a smile on my face though, they're great for what they are. I was surprised that they worked so well with the Cyrus gear (I remember Cyrus being a little shrill last time I heard their gear).

B&W/Classe Room
One of the best demos I've ever heard was a Classe mono-block/800d setup at a show years ago - it was so good my instinct was to standup and clap the orchestra at the end of the piece ('till I remembered I was listening to HiFi). This setup wasn't quite as good as that, I'm not sure why, maybe the 800ds were fresh out of the box, or the amps didn't quite have enough oomph (or maybe it was the source), but they seemed a little tight .. but that said, they were still the highlight of the show. I was disappointed with the 805ds (it doesn't help hearing them back-to-back with the 800d), but I suspect the Elac 330CEs would knock the socks off them.

Kharma/GamuT/Copland Room
As I'll potentially be in the market for a pair of floorstanders in the new year, I was excited to see a pair of Kharma Ceramique setup in one of the rooms. I'd heard alot of rave reviews about these, but personally I found the sound in this room completely artificial, I couldn't listen for more than a few minutes. I suspect this may not have been due in part to the GamuT power amp - I know these can be quite clinical. A bit of a disappointment for me

Meridian Room
Think they were suffering from some damping issues in this room (and heard they had a few other issues), but stayed for a few movie demos ... was immediately sucked into the movie, completely attention grabbing - amazing piece of gear. Didn't stay for any plain old audio ...

In summary, it was well worth a visit - once again, thank you Cloney for putting this on. With unlimited budget/space I'd take a pair of 800d's, they sounded good at the show, but I know how good they can be. If I was feeling really flush, I'd get the Meridian system for a separate movie room ... but back in the real world, money (or should I say credit card) is firmly in the wallet for now ... though I do hope to own a pair of 800d's at some stage before my hearing is completely shot :)

[Diapason]

At the very least, one thing this thread shows is that beauty is in the ear of the beholder. Interesting comments, gentlemen, I'm enjoying them all!

[DaveF]

Hi dubber. Welcome to the forum. Get stuck in.

Kharma/GamuT/Copland Room
As I'll potentially be in the market for a pair of floorstanders in the new year, I was excited to see a pair of Kharma Ceramique setup in one of the rooms. I'd heard alot of rave reviews about these, but personally I found the sound in this room completely artificial, I couldn't listen for more than a few minutes. I suspect this may not have been due in part to the GamuT power amp - I know these can be quite clinical. A bit of a disappointment for me

I've heard these Kharma's a few times as a few of the members here have them. For me anyway, they are the speaker that I hope to get someday. However, at the show over the weekend they did not do themselves justice, not even close to it in my opinion. I'm not sure why, but I think the room was the biggest problem and the demo material itself was actually artificial to my ears. The soundstage was very 2D with almost no depth to it at all. I had a few cd's with me and when I played these, things improved but not by a huge amount. I have the GamuT amp myself and would describe its 'sound' as being very neutral but not clinical.
I'd give the Kharma's another chance if I were you. In the right setup they can sound really good indeed. There is a new Kharma model coming out early next year according to one of the Cloney lads.

[Claus]

I was really impressed with Arcam's rDac and rCube and the rWave! I think the idea of sitting in my couch, just streaming high rez or lossless music wirelessly to the Dac from my Macbook Pro, somewhat appealing. That they seem to have really thought about the wireless technology and that they use dCS Asynchronous USB is an added bonus. I might be sold on this one!

Turns out it will only stream 44.1/16 so no streaming high rez. I could still live with that. As most of my music is already ripped in lossless FLAC or Apple Lossless.... Hmm wonder what it would all cost? Looks like the rDAC W is around 550 euro and then the rWAND at 100 maybe... Hmmm....