TAS Editors and Writers Pick "The Biggest Surprises" of CES 2009
What was “Biggest Surprise” at CES 2009? TAS Editors/Reviewers weigh in with their selections. For full audio coverage of CES 2009, see the upcoming issue of "The Absolute Sound."
ROBERT HARLEY: After more than 30 years of building value-oriented loudspeakers, Richard Vandersteen’s Model 7 enters the upper-end of the market not with just a bigger box and more drivers, but with innovative new technology.
JONATHAN VALIN: The CES 2009 itself, which was, once again, the best-sounding hi-fi show I’ve ever attended—and this in the worst economic times since the Great Depression. Who’d’ve thunk it? My hat is off to the high end. I just hope that you’ll be rewarded for what you’ve accomplished.
NEIL GADER: The Mini-Magnapan “desktop” speaker with a dipole passive don’t-call-me-a-subwoofer subwoofer. Remarkable.
ALAN TAFFEL: The Magnepan “Mystery” speaker. Shockingly small for a Maggie. The new model will open many doors for Magnepan, especially combined with the equally surprising, stylish new coffee-table sized woofer.
CHRIS MARTENS: The explosive proliferation of genuinely superb in-ear headphones at sane prices. Examples: NuForce NE-7Ms and NE-8s (both under $70), Shure SE115s ($120), Beats Tours ($150), and Monster Turbines ($150)
DICK OLSHER: Magnepan’s new “Mini” speaker. Essentially a planar “point source” radiator, aided by a woofer, that images like a mini-monitor.
STEVEN STONE: How upbeat the show was. Doom and gloom haven’t got a chance in the face of beautifully rendered music.
JIM HANNON: How good high-resolution digital multichannel can sound. Ray Kimber’s system (EMM Labs front-end, Pass 350.5, and four TAD Reference One speakers) playing DSD IsoMike recordings brought the performance into the room.
Comments
Magnepan was biggest letdown of the show, clipping and distorting all the way.
Magnepan was biggest letdown of the show, clipping and distorting all the way.
John Deere better get his hearing checked! The group of three people I was with all agreed the Maggie room could have easily won best sound at the show.
John Deere better get his hearing checked! The group of three people I was with all agreed the Maggie room could have easily won best sound at the show.
The easiest prediction this year is that these little Maggies and accompanying woofer will become a best-selling combo. Magnepan pulled off a startling CES demonstration with truly wonderful sound that had no correlation with the diminutive size of these new speakers. I never expected to hear a point-source Magnepan. You will have to hear them to fully understand how good they are, and you will still walk away shaking your head--probably as you pull out a credit card to buy them.
As that company's marketing folks say, "Nothing runs like a Deere." Go away, John, you must be a shill for some manufacturer because you obviously never heard them at CES. These blogs are supposed to be accurate and informative.
DICK OLSHER: Magnepan’s new “Mini” speaker. Essentially a planar “point source” radiator, aided by a woofer, that images like a mini-monitor
I heard these at the Music Matters event at Definitive Audio in Seattle on February 4.
These are amazing.
Deere must have some sympathetic vibration occurring within his skull, possibly due to loose matter there.
Wendell, price them with the current economic climate in mind. Magnepan would sell tons of these at the right price. Don't be greedy. Greed is what has gotten us into this mess.
And Dick, I used Dahlia Debra loudspeakers from a design of yours for years.
This just in! Magnepan is developing the MiniMag as a product presently (with all the deliberate speed of a glacier) and it is projected to come to market in the spring of next year.
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