Related Sections: CES 2009 Household
Ocean Way monitors are proof that speakers are for listening, not looking
Audiophiles will often scoff at professional sound equipment, saying that it isn't refined enough for truly high performance. While the ugly duckling Ocean Way HR-2A lacks the fancy wood veneers of many big ticket speakers, I wish all audiophiles could all experience them so they could learn how truly wimpy most fancy audio rigs really are.
Ocean Way is one of the world's finest recording studios, and has produced many best selling albums from Michael Jackson's Thriller to The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds. Owner Allen Sides felt that many high end audio rigs couldn't deliver the sound he heard in his studio, so he has decided to make that sound available to anyone with a spare $38,000. The horn loaded tri-amped system comes complete with all of the required electronics, and the sound was definitely ear opening in a smallish room at The Venetian.
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By Mash3 at 2:47 AM ON 01/13/09
You're right that the small room at the Venetian could not hold that much speaker. These were among the best speakers I heard at this year's CES.
By WHY IS EVERYONE... at 9:15 PM ON 04/10/09
Everyone think these speakers are the "majic" behind the wonderful sounds. HELLO!!!! This is an EQ'd room people. Design is less than an engineering marvel from the direct front on view. I would bet that the image and soundstage are lacking due to limitations in the design.
Ill put a BB5 XBD Stack against them anyday....oh wait...I get a BSS Eq as well to make things "even-steven".
Shows how simple minded most audiophiles really are who attend CES...they are so anti-eq, yet when they hear one they gush like teen girls when they see a baby duck.
By stattube at 5:37 PM ON 05/22/09
@ WHY IS EVERYONE
Don't assume that everyone other than yourself is stupid.
The 'room' was an ordinary Las Vegas hotel room, not an acoustically optimized listening space. The tri-amped system is EQed for a flat in room response, but it was the dynamics and overall coherence, not the bandwidth, that impressed me the most with this system.
I worked for years as a studio engineer, and am quite familiar with the PMC system. The BB5s are an exceptional system, but this system in in this room at the Venetian, did more things better than any room I've heard the BB5s in.
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@ WHY IS EVERYONE Don't assume that everyone other than yourself is stupid. The 'room' was an ordinary Las Vegas...More »