Quote:
Originally Posted by
Peterc613
Scott, did you hear the Alcon Audio demo?
I thought it outperformed Stark Audio, DARTS, JBL Synthesis, Procella and all the other high end demo's by a very very wide margin. Frankly it floored me how good they sounded. The Mad Max Dolby demo disc clip had sounds, voices and imaging that I've never heard with any other system. In fact I went back all three days to refresh my point of reference to what I was hearing elsewhere. It was the first home theater system that I can honestly say that I could live with happily ever after and never feel the itch to upgrade again. They use a high power ribbon driver that has the reference SPL of a commercial cinema, the clarity of an electrostatic speaker with the dynamics of horn compression drivers. Absolutely astounding detail, pinpoint imaging and unlimited headroom.
It was truly in a different league from everything else at the show.

Quote:
Originally Posted by
Scott Wilkinson
I did hear the Alcons demo. It sounded quite good, though too bright for my taste. I also heard the dARTS and JBL demos, which also sounded very good, but I preferred Starke demo to all of them. I didn't hear the Procella demo.
These are interesting and instructive comments. I too heard the Alcons demo and did think it was a top-tier demo—not overly bright for my taste (and I do like Klipsch so, you know how that goes...)
And, if by virtue of sheer plentitude of wattage and displacement, or due to patented tweeter tech (it's hard to tell these days) there's no question the Alcons demo sounded great. Large rooms help too.
But, I only got goose bumps during one show demo and that was not Alcons. Actually, the goose bumps happened during the Starke demo. Now, I'm not saying that's the last word in determining what's good, but I know goose bumps are involuntary and typically a response to exceptional audio performance. It's just a thing. But it's totally fair to say Alcons "outgunned" Starke and pretty much everyone else.
Alcons needs to go to AXPONA and go up against Seaton and JTR. That's what I think.
Also, I thought PMC had bass down pat like no other demo at CEDIA. That was sick.
Yes, I attended the Alcons demo last year and know how much headroom there is. Tons. Great system, truly. I'm sure I could get everything I want out of an Alcons system because EQ exists and I'd use it to dial it in to taste.