2018 California Audio Show July 27-28-29, 2018

I saw another thread about this show, but it was for 2017 and included some good reviews. Thought I’d start a new thread to protect that one...

Pretty excited. The Bay Area will host this show late this month near the Oakland airport. It’s three days - July 27, 28, 29. Here’s a link to the details - www.caaudioshow.com.

I’m going on Friday only. Wish I could go for two days, but other plans. The exhibitor list looks good. I know some of them. Most I don’t, which is good because I should learn something. The last time I went to a show like this was... in the mid late 80s in San Francisco.

I'm not looking for anything specific really. Well, maybe a test record. I’m most interested in learning more about what’s out there and getting a little more knowledge about things audio.

Curious if any of you Havenites are going? Also interested if any of you have looked at the exhibitor/equipment/system list and if you think there are any “Must See” exhibitors/rooms/etc?
 
I will! It’s this Friday. Pretty excited to make some discoveries. To be honest though, I looked at the exhibitor list and it’s just list of names to me. Not familiar with about 95% or more. Hoping that seeing and listening helps me step up my knowledge of this hobby.
 
Hi Havenites, I attended this show about a week and half ago and thought I'd share some thoughts and photos. I admit to being quite intimidated. The equipment was quite complicated and very expensive. It became clear that the vast majority was outside of my economic reach. I'm not poor. Quite the contrary. I'm quite fortunate, but other priorities preclude me from these kinds of expenditures. So, I changed my attitude and looked at this like attending a high-end automobile show. Think Pebble Beach Concours. I spent the day appreciating the craftsmanship and exclusivity of it all. I did attend with my audiophile aficionado buddy, who's incredibly knowledgeable. It was a treat listening in to his conversations with reps throughout the day. And I found the majority of reps to be extremely patient with many of my queries.

This is an Exhibitor List which shows rooms, equipment, etc; most of whom I had never heard of before. I tried to keep some of you and your interests in mind as I meandered in and out of the many exhibits. With that said, here we go...

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This was an amazing pair of horns for those of you who love horns! OMG! The depth of the sound stage was incredible. It really did sound like I was sitting in a huge concert hall. They retail for $64,000/pair.

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This room was put together by the Sierra Nevada Audiophile Society. This was perhaps my very favorite room of all. A great group of folks who were incredibly friendly and patient. Their system sounded fantastic too. Those speakers were hand build by David Bernhagen of Bernhagen Porter. They were, without question THE best sounding box speakers I heard all day.

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This was a pair of Pure Audio Project Quintets. They're a modular open baffle design and they're fully customizable. You can choose from a wide variety of speakers, including horns, depending on your taste. They show up to your home in kit form and you assemble them yourself. We were told it takes about 3 hours to fully assemble them. They were relatively affordable and sounded fantastic too! They sat atop Townsend Seismic Podiums. They're floatation stands, which isolate the speakers. Really cool.

20180727_104025.jpg This was the room of BLING! Wow! I was blown away by that turntable. What a work of art. Same with the amps and other components. I thanked them on the way out for sharing their Ferrari with me. They laughed. Really friendly people.

20180727_104853.jpg In that same room of BLING, I found this! I really liked the form factor and aethstetic. A beautifully crafted console. They build to order in just about any finish you can imagine. It sounded good too.

20180727_124859.jpgThis moderate sized 2A3 amp was also really neat. Not allot of power, but very efficient. I loved the way it looked and sounded. The owner, Patrick Hickman of Whamerdyne builds them himself and was really friendly. He's based out of Wilsonville, Oregon.

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Another pair of horns for you horn lovers hooked up to the Whamerdyne amp. I think those are Townsend Seismic Podiums. And, now that I look at them I'm pretty certain that's a pair Pure Audio Project Trios.

There was so much more at this show. It really was a treat.
 
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This room was put together by the Sierra Nevada Audiophile Society. This was perhaps my very favorite room of all. A great group of folks who were incredibly friendly and patient. Their system sounded fantastic too. Those speakers were hand build by David Bernhagen of Bernhagen Porter. They were, without question THE best sounding box speakers I heard all day.

Interesting. That is the name we coined in Reno back in the late 80s through the 90s for the very active audio group who met regularly at various member's homes.

Heard that they had a room and also that Quicksilver provided the electronics.

Bet it sounded nice. :)

Thank you for the pics and report. :)
 
I've seen a number of photos/ads posted for Triangle Art gear. Bling is right ! That said, I'd like to hear one of their turntables someday. Thanks for the report.
 
I've heard Acapella horns before and they've varied from ice-pick-in-the-forehead (let me out of here!) to some of the best sounding speakers I've heard - and the best time was about a year ago, same model you posted here. Loved them but 64k...not in my lifetime. :)

Have also heard the Pure Audio Project Quintets and like that you can somewhat roll-your own driver mix with them - I really liked them with their wood horn in the middle panel and they are considerably more affordable that those $64k Acapellas.

Thanks for the write-up!
 
Thanks for the kind words. For clarification: Designed by David Bernhagen and Lyle Porter, built by Lyle Porter. We plan to eventually have models from $10-100K; 8" 2-way stand mount to even larger modular systems. Again, thanks!

This room was put together by the Sierra Nevada Audiophile Society. This was perhaps my very favorite room of all. A great group of folks who were incredibly friendly and patient. Their system sounded fantastic too. Those speakers were hand build by David Bernhagen of Bernhagen Porter. They were, without question THE best sounding box speakers I heard all day.
 
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