Thanks for both of you for all the hard work and great content you put together and separately. It's so nice to see to different approaches to audio but equally important.
Voxativ was THE ROOM at highend 2022 to me too, together with that tube amp, fantastic. I was there for some hrs and at the next show in Neuss again, love their sound, their presentation and room runners where the most friendly or I should say "most into music". Speaker design also absolutely great, loved them. In the end even the cheaper version of the Voxativ, with 16k was way to expensive to the Magnepan 1.7i so I ended up with them in my PC room. Instead of the 9.88 I ended with the PSaudio FR30 for the living room, ~half the price and the FR30 are fantastic, totally love them in every way. Sound for music and big sound movies together with the design, best product to me on the market when I consider these 3 factors. Oh and the Fink Team speakers were great, did listen to both at a dealer showroom for many hours. Did prefer the Borg by far, the base was not so direct or pushed forward with them, much more easy and enjoyable to me. Design did it mostly for me why I did continue to check for other speakers
That's the beauty of todays High End Audio's speakers and electronics, you can achieve superb sound quality presentations from relatively affordable to extreme price points. Ain't life grand!!! Thanks guys.
Did they have the highly raved Ferguson Hill FH001E Open Baffle Horns at this show? Was the all new JERN 35 Monitors there? They have Dealers in the USA now
Really like sound of those white granite acora speakers (val). with that new soft dome twitters what do you think?? sounded really good got to go to show axpona in April
Mac helped make the High-end industry. We all owe a lot to Mac and a lot of older brands. So please respect the companies that built and supported the industry. Thank You 😊👍
Creek has been making great stuff for years. The guy is a legend. Too much B.S. about money means the best here. Many great and better sounding systems out there. Education is what puts great sound together. Money is simply a bragging right! Jay, pick up a pair of Wilson. Baneesh! 135,000. a pair, I promise they will blow most of your stuff away and it’s their smallest speaker! Stand mount!
Jay, this was a very good review of show! I was there with my brother on Saturday and we saw you sitting right in front of us while listening to the white Acora Acoustics speakers. I was gonna say what's up, but didn't want to interrupt the listening session. I met you at the 2021 Capital Audiofest with my cousin, so we'll see you in 2023! Anyway, I have learned that the $20k and below speakers can perform ridiculously if you're willing to pair them with good electronics, as you guys confirmed. Some don't believe in buying a preamp/amp that cost more than the speakers, I'm good with that approach because I've done it and my speakers smoked due to the high quality electronics. I just sold my Spatial Audio X5 speakers because I prefer their fully passive X4 models. My X5s had built-in subwoofers and didn't like that hybrid implementation, although they sounded good. That said, the Spatial Audio X Series have an open baffle AMT driver and it is serious business as you guys mentioned a few speakers in the video that had nice presentations with that AMT driver. Lastly, I wanted to holla at OCD Mikey at the show, but he was glued to his cell phone, so I didn't approach him. Lol.... Peace!
@@jaysaudiolab I just watched your FinkTeam interview and saw that you zoomed in on the Creek gear a couple of times Creek Voyage i20 Integrated and I think it was the Creek Voyage CD Player. I just thought I would help point it out since you kept saying how much you wanted to give credit to the electronics and not just the speakers ;)
Is it possible that wolfvonlanga & Fink Team use the same AMT tweeter from Mundorf/Germany? That would explain that crystal clear beautiful sounding top end?!?!
Will stick with my Legacy Focus SE over the forte 3 but then again the Focus SE is a bit more expensive. I still have not heard any speaker that is in the price range of the Focus that can do what this speaker can do especially in bottom end. Bottom end it is game over and to get anything in that area of low end or better you will spend enough to start a second mortgage.
Very nice wrap up Jay and Mikey, you two are magical together and play off of each other very well. Seriously Mikey is doing it for 150,000 man, I thought his system based off the Dac alone was at least 250,000. For the league Mikey is playing in and as a dealer, hats off Mikey!!! Yes, I know this is still expensive guys, but my dealers system with Vandersteen or Sonus Faber top components, Audio Research stuff is way over 150,000 and as Jay said his system is way over 150,000. I’m not saying anyone has to spend this, but I have to give Mikey his props for this because at any of these shows, you can easily go over 150,000 in amplification or speakers alone. I also know audio can be had much, much less as well, under 20,000, under 10,000 and heck some are doing it under 2,500 and even under 500, but Mikey has the connections and can have whatever he wants, he has heard practically everything, he has been to practically all of these shows, knows most of these dealers as a dealer and he can sell whatever brand he wants. I have talked to Mikey personally and he knows his stuff.
Gryphon demoed the apex and the commander (with raidho speakers) the last weekend with Rune of gryphon presenting in the Philippine audio hifi show (same time as the capital audiofest). I heard it was amazing!
@@davidcross890 I’ve heard DarZeel at a dealer in California. It’s awesome. I understand why they don’t have too show up to many shows , it’s also price prohibitive. Shows are becoming more regional now. My dealer only goes to a couple of them , too expensive.
Jay, I know your mission was to list speakers below $20,000. But it would have been nice to see your ranking of the best overall systems regardless of price. It could be a different video from this one. So, you’d have an affordable ranking and a cost-no-object ranking. The latter would give an indication of what’s out there whether they are affordable or not.
Hope to attend next year and hear the new Janszens, but the roughly $12,750 Janszen A8s (with built in amp/DACs) were my favorite of the show in 2019 and struck me as a crazy good value compared to everything I heard. I can't imagine how good this new model sounds. Glad David is getting some well deserved praise this year.
Another reason why I liked the Vandersteen room was that not only for listening nirvana , was they were the only speaker company that showed all the important measurements for a properly designed speaker they showed me the step response for phase accuracy, the waterfall plot response showing speaker distortion and the impedance response for amplifier load. Not one other speaker manufacturer had the balls to show these measurements which makes me wonder, what are they afraid of. THE TRUTH.
Hey Jay! Check out some coverage from the Toronto AudioFest, big well attended show, we (Sonic Artistry) did show with darTZeel. I cannot comment on the US market. In Canada we do show darTZeel at the shows. I do know that darTZeel does show at Munich and come with the big guns. I'd love to see you attend Munich and work your show review magic!
@@hansolo2807 I think there is far too much emphasis on "cost: vs performance especially regarding speakers. A more expensive speaker DOES NOT mean it is going to be a better speaker. After a certain cost it is a pissing contest really.
Another reason why I liked the Vandersteen room was that not only for listening nirvana , was they were the only speaker company that showed all the important measurements for a properly designed speaker they showed me the step response for phase accuracy, the waterfall plot response showing speaker distortion and the impedance response for amplifier load. Not one other speaker manufacturer had the balls to show these measurements which makes me wonder, what are they afraid of. THE TRUTH.
My Legacy Focus SE uses the air motion tweeters and are the best tweeters I ever heard OCD Mikey is correct on them. Some guy has a channel called poor man audio or something went to this show and cut down speakers and one he cut down was Legacy Audio. hahahahahha what a joke! My speaker the Legacy Focus SE WON MANY MANY AWARDS and that guy thinks he knows more saying they had sibilance and bullshit like that, NOT! I will put my Legacy Focus SE against many speakers 3 times the cost. One of the things Legacy does do "which I do not like is they like to set up various models of speakers and systems in one large room. I encourage that guy to go to a smaller more real world size room and listen to the Focus SE powered by the IV 2 Legacy amp which I have. If he still thinks they sound not good he needs a new set of ears. Btw I have yet to hear a better speaker in the bottom end anywhere near their price and even three times above.
@@anthonymartino9917 So Do You Really Believe All those supposed awards are fully earned based on comparative best practices of real meaningful performance measurements and metrics?
@@davidcross890 For the most part As I actually own them. I have had enough speakers and done this long enough to know over 25 years. Even the audio analyst that is highly regarded said they are a great speaker. So it is not just my word. Are some awards overblown etc? Yes. But the Focus SE is basically legendary in the industry and for good reason. So it is not just a "belief" that they are great or something they just are and the company has produced the Focus SE for over 25 years and each year they further refine the design. Why would a company produce an award winning speaker for over quarter century and it be not good? Use common sense here! Go look up reviews of Focus SE OR anywhere!
Think of it:Maybe DartZeel dont need al this marketing,they dont need the -shows-its there image.Its shure you dont like tubes you found there sound to soft on the edges wich its true,im a tube 300B guy but,Jay but i also like solid state i dont hate it,i like Spectral and Soulution,i als dont grave -one-sound only,i like a warm sound but i also like the colder sound by Soulution.
While some are forced due to income restraints or financial capacity to have lower cost systems others have much much higher cost systems and everything in between. For myself, I can readily discern differences of distortion and sound quality so for myself 2nd rate or worse won't cut it for me. Not a chance. In fact most systems to me have the ear feel of being wholly synthetic and worse yet don't have to be, as so many could be fixed to various extents. This Falseness is highly grating and irritating. With audio reproduction systems that truly honor ULTRA LOW forms of distortion even the most rotten of recordings through this chain of custody of ultra low distortions can in a whacked out way be interesting to listen to and experience the engagement of unraveling how poorly the event was captured and converted.
PLEASE SUBSCRIBE AND LIKE THIS VIDEO - THIS IS THE ONLY WAY I KNOW YOU ARE ENJOYING THIS TYPE OF COVERAGE.
THANK YOU
Mikey looks like The Godfather and Jay his bouncer. 😅
More like a bofyguard. With that mouth of his he was probably afraid to go to the show without some backup.
😂😂
Haha, indeed to protect Mikey from an rogue vinyl lovers at the show! :D
@@connorduke4619 Exactly, those vinyl guys are pretty vicious they say. 😂
@@pacificateur3630 problem would be if the bodyguard would turn on him too because he is getting into vinyl more and more 😀
Thanks for both of you for all the hard work and great content you put together and separately.
It's so nice to see to different approaches to audio but equally important.
Our pleasure!
Voxativ was THE ROOM at highend 2022 to me too, together with that tube amp, fantastic.
I was there for some hrs and at the next show in Neuss again, love their sound, their presentation and room runners where the most friendly or I should say "most into music".
Speaker design also absolutely great, loved them.
In the end even the cheaper version of the Voxativ, with 16k was way to expensive to the Magnepan 1.7i so I ended up with them in my PC room.
Instead of the 9.88 I ended with the PSaudio FR30 for the living room, ~half the price and the FR30 are fantastic, totally love them in every way. Sound for music and big sound movies together with the design, best product to me on the market when I consider these 3 factors.
Oh and the Fink Team speakers were great, did listen to both at a dealer showroom for many hours. Did prefer the Borg by far, the base was not so direct or pushed forward with them, much more easy and enjoyable to me. Design did it mostly for me why I did continue to check for other speakers
👍
That's the beauty of todays High End Audio's speakers and electronics, you can achieve superb sound quality presentations from relatively affordable to extreme price points. Ain't life grand!!! Thanks guys.
Couldn't agree more!
You and Mikey are the best. Thanks for taking along…. Great reviews
whateva! The VPI room did have a McIntosh room correction system. I will agree it was more chill than AXPONA.
Did they have the highly raved Ferguson Hill FH001E Open Baffle Horns at this show?
Was the all new JERN 35 Monitors there? They have Dealers in the USA now
AMT always the best. "sound as clear as light"
Love that you mentioned the borresen x3… they were my favorite of the show.
👍
Jay, IYO expensive electronics and less costly speakers or expensive speakers and less expensive electronics sounds better?
Really like sound of those white granite acora speakers (val). with that new soft dome twitters what do you think?? sounded really good got to go to show axpona in April
They do sound good
Mac helped make the High-end industry. We all owe a lot to Mac and a lot of older brands. So please respect the companies that built and supported the industry. Thank You 😊👍
Not just the brands you think are important
Another informative video..great job...definitely took the info to heart
Glad it was helpful!
Great stuff guys. Thanks!
Glad you enjoyed it!
I wonder if the Creek gear in the FinkTeam room deserves more praise too?
I’m wondering the same thing
Creek has been making great stuff for years.
The guy is a legend.
Too much B.S. about money means the best here.
Many great and better sounding systems out there.
Education is what puts great sound together.
Money is simply a bragging right!
Jay, pick up a pair of Wilson. Baneesh! 135,000. a pair, I promise they will blow most of your stuff away and it’s their smallest speaker!
Stand mount!
Jay, this was a very good review of show! I was there with my brother on Saturday and we saw you sitting right in front of us while listening to the white Acora Acoustics speakers. I was gonna say what's up, but didn't want to interrupt the listening session. I met you at the 2021 Capital Audiofest with my cousin, so we'll see you in 2023! Anyway, I have learned that the $20k and below speakers can perform ridiculously if you're willing to pair them with good electronics, as you guys confirmed. Some don't believe in buying a preamp/amp that cost more than the speakers, I'm good with that approach because I've done it and my speakers smoked due to the high quality electronics. I just sold my Spatial Audio X5 speakers because I prefer their fully passive X4 models. My X5s had built-in subwoofers and didn't like that hybrid implementation, although they sounded good. That said, the Spatial Audio X Series have an open baffle AMT driver and it is serious business as you guys mentioned a few speakers in the video that had nice presentations with that AMT driver. Lastly, I wanted to holla at OCD Mikey at the show, but he was glued to his cell phone, so I didn't approach him. Lol.... Peace!
Awesome!
Well done. Thank you
Our pleasure!
Looks like Jay does curls with Gryphon's too...
Did you say the Borresens we're running on a $7K integrated?
Hi Jay,
Which Creek Audio Integrated and DAC was in the FinkTeam room with those small speakers?
Can't remember
@@jaysaudiolab I just watched your FinkTeam interview and saw that you zoomed in on the Creek gear a couple of times Creek Voyage i20 Integrated and I think it was the Creek Voyage CD Player. I just thought I would help point it out since you kept saying how much you wanted to give credit to the electronics and not just the speakers ;)
Is it possible that wolfvonlanga & Fink Team use the same AMT tweeter from Mundorf/Germany? That would explain that crystal clear beautiful sounding top end?!?!
They do
As far as I know, the material ... is the same, but I guess each have a custom made tweeter with the specification from the Team
They dont fink teams amt tweeter is custommade.
Mikey has a Johnny Depp Look to him here!🤔😬
Klipsch forte 3
Bang for the buck
Will stick with my Legacy Focus SE over the forte 3 but then again the Focus SE is a bit more expensive. I still have not heard any speaker that is in the price range of the Focus that can do what this speaker can do especially in bottom end. Bottom end it is game over and to get anything in that area of low end or better you will spend enough to start a second mortgage.
Klipsch? Lol
Very nice wrap up Jay and Mikey, you two are magical together and play off of each other very well. Seriously Mikey is doing it for 150,000 man, I thought his system based off the Dac alone was at least 250,000. For the league Mikey is playing in and as a dealer, hats off Mikey!!!
Yes, I know this is still expensive guys, but my dealers system with Vandersteen or Sonus Faber top components, Audio Research stuff is way over 150,000 and as Jay said his system is way over 150,000. I’m not saying anyone has to spend this, but I have to give Mikey his props for this because at any of these shows, you can easily go over 150,000 in amplification or speakers alone.
I also know audio can be had much, much less as well, under 20,000, under 10,000 and heck some are doing it under 2,500 and even under 500, but Mikey has the connections and can have whatever he wants, he has heard practically everything, he has been to practically all of these shows, knows most of these dealers as a dealer and he can sell whatever brand he wants. I have talked to Mikey personally and he knows his stuff.
Thanks!
Gryphon demoed the apex and the commander (with raidho speakers) the last weekend with Rune of gryphon presenting in the Philippine audio hifi show (same time as the capital audiofest). I heard it was amazing!
Thanks for the info!
The fink team speakers is amazing. Heard therm here. In my room it had very good bass extension. Fat and fast.
Are amazing
Love seeing these two together
That particular Acora Comes with a soft dome no other options the rest have hard dome tweeters
Like i sad before. Europe manufacture have some great stuff
Jay you should get the new Hegel P30A and 2 x H30A poweramps.
Maybe
For Affordability Maybe...For Absolute Top Shelf.... PLEASE
I saw all those rooms and agree with your assessments , great show with different stuff than the usual.
Curious, did You view and listen to the video/audio RUclips uploads or were you physically present at the show?
@@davidcross890 I was in person
👍 AWESOME. Did You feel like some of the more known brands were lacking presence at the show?
@@davidcross890 I’ve heard DarZeel at a dealer in California. It’s awesome. I understand why they don’t have too show up to many shows , it’s also price prohibitive.
Shows are becoming more regional now. My dealer only goes to a couple of them , too expensive.
For this show , there was plenty of vendors
Jay, I know your mission was to list speakers below $20,000. But it would have been nice to see your ranking of the best overall systems regardless of price. It could be a different video from this one. So, you’d have an affordable ranking and a cost-no-object ranking. The latter would give an indication of what’s out there whether they are affordable or not.
Good point!
Tubes and horns
Nice to listen a room that we enjoy...cool..
It sure is
Unfortunately Mikey wasn‘t allowed to finish mentioning his other products also 😉 would have been interesting. Thanks for great coverage Jay & Mikey
He did mention them but Ieft that and other controversial things he said for the members of my website
@@jaysaudiolab What members only website? Does it cost money?
Nice work yall. Two big you tubers.
Mikeys in the german sound mood, next stop some german bands:
Hundreds, Nils Frahm, Bohren und der Club of Gore, Kraan, ...
👍
Hope to attend next year and hear the new Janszens, but the roughly $12,750 Janszen A8s (with built in amp/DACs) were my favorite of the show in 2019 and struck me as a crazy good value compared to everything I heard. I can't imagine how good this new model sounds. Glad David is getting some well deserved praise this year.
Thanks you...
Welcome
Hopefully, the luv ❤️ continues
Lord knows we are all biased 🙏
Nice video from both of you
Thank you so much
Another reason why I liked the Vandersteen room was that not only for listening nirvana , was they were the only speaker company that showed all the important measurements for a properly designed speaker they showed me the step response for phase accuracy, the waterfall plot response showing speaker distortion and the impedance response for amplifier load. Not one other speaker manufacturer had the balls to show these measurements which makes me wonder, what are they afraid of. THE TRUTH.
great seeing you both good video
Thanks 👍
It was a GREAT show, but what about the Vandersteens, OCD?
Not bad
You guys banging it, that's Hi-Fi to me.
Awesome
My two favorite guys!!!
Thanks
Hey Jay! Check out some coverage from the Toronto AudioFest, big well attended show, we (Sonic Artistry) did show with darTZeel. I cannot comment on the US market. In Canada we do show darTZeel at the shows. I do know that darTZeel does show at Munich and come with the big guns. I'd love to see you attend Munich and work your show review magic!
When do you call $20,000 speakers affordable?
Ever since I own 85k speakers
@@jaysaudiolab 😆
@@hansolo2807 I think there is far too much emphasis on "cost: vs performance especially regarding speakers. A more expensive speaker DOES NOT mean it is going to be a better speaker. After a certain cost it is a pissing contest really.
Jay I didn't like your picks. The best room was the Vandersteen Kento room. The truth is in the listening.
We can agree to disagree
Another reason why I liked the Vandersteen room was that not only for listening nirvana , was they were the only speaker company that showed all the important measurements for a properly designed speaker they showed me the step response for phase accuracy, the waterfall plot response showing speaker distortion and the impedance response for amplifier load. Not one other speaker manufacturer had the balls to show these measurements which makes me wonder, what are they afraid of. THE TRUTH.
I want a Jay's Arm Routine video!!!!! Damn man lookin' good!
Lol yeah
My Legacy Focus SE uses the air motion tweeters and are the best tweeters I ever heard OCD Mikey is correct on them. Some guy has a channel called poor man audio or something went to this show and cut down speakers and one he cut down was Legacy Audio. hahahahahha what a joke! My speaker the Legacy Focus SE WON MANY MANY AWARDS and that guy thinks he knows more saying they had sibilance and bullshit like that, NOT! I will put my Legacy Focus SE against many speakers 3 times the cost. One of the things Legacy does do "which I do not like is they like to set up various models of speakers and systems in one large room. I encourage that guy to go to a smaller more real world size room and listen to the Focus SE powered by the IV 2 Legacy amp which I have. If he still thinks they sound not good he needs a new set of ears. Btw I have yet to hear a better speaker in the bottom end anywhere near their price and even three times above.
Interesting
So do You selectively trust one review vs another? Is one award valid and another not?
@@davidcross890 One award? Try many for the Focus SE OVER MANY YEARS!
@@anthonymartino9917 So Do You Really Believe All those supposed awards are fully earned based on comparative best practices of real meaningful performance measurements and metrics?
@@davidcross890 For the most part As I actually own them. I have had enough speakers and done this long enough to know over 25 years. Even the audio analyst that is highly regarded said they are a great speaker. So it is not just my word. Are some awards overblown etc? Yes. But the Focus SE is basically legendary in the industry and for good reason. So it is not just a "belief" that they are great or something they just are and the company has produced the Focus SE for over 25 years and each year they further refine the design. Why would a company produce an award winning speaker for over quarter century and it be not good? Use common sense here! Go look up reviews of Focus SE OR anywhere!
Think of it:Maybe DartZeel dont need al this marketing,they dont need the -shows-its there image.Its shure you dont like tubes you found there sound to soft on the edges wich its true,im a tube 300B guy but,Jay but i also like solid state i dont hate it,i like Spectral and Soulution,i als dont grave -one-sound only,i like a warm sound but i also like the colder sound by Soulution.
Understood
Jay. Someone is trying to scam your viewer's.
While some are forced due to income restraints or financial capacity to have lower cost systems others have much much higher cost systems and everything in between. For myself, I can readily discern differences of distortion and sound quality so for myself 2nd rate or worse won't cut it for me. Not a chance. In fact most systems to me have the ear feel of being wholly synthetic and worse yet don't have to be, as so many could be fixed to various extents. This Falseness is highly grating and irritating. With audio reproduction systems that truly honor ULTRA LOW forms of distortion even the most rotten of recordings through this chain of custody of ultra low distortions can in a whacked out way be interesting to listen to and experience the engagement of unraveling how poorly the event was captured and converted.
👍
I can't stand OCD.
OCD Guy looks aloof and austere. I prefer audiophiles to look scruffy, dishevelled with a mad look in their eyes.
Hmm 😒😒