A little bit harsh there, titian.
tt started by saying that we all like different sounds at the shows. Then he said that conditions were not ideal because of the noise levels - he could have also mentioned that the room acoustics are generally diabolical at these shows. Next, tt said: I thought the Art Audio room made the best of less than perfect conditions, and also had one of the most varied and interesting tastes in demo music. Finally, he gently suggested that anybody who thought that this system sounded "flat" needs to get a friend to give them a good hard kick in the bollocks to dislodge the wax from thier ears.
All fair enough, to be honest.
My take on Art Audio is that Tom is a true pro who has been doing his thing, honestly, in this industry, for more years than I can remember. For what it's worth, from what I've heard (on my visit to his factory and listening room, playing through my own speakers) I thought that his basic circuit topology, standard of engineering and use of components was excellent. Furthermore, with his range of high quality, single-ended valve amplification, you can tune the sound by the choice of main output valves. They sounded excellent to me.
As for his speakers, Tom's not primarily a speaker designer but he's a good engineer who knows what he wants to achieve, soundwise, and can go one heck of a long way to get there. I haven't heard those particular enclosures but any speaker that uses Bandor for the whole "extended mid-band" ain't going to go far wrong, IMO.
Got to buy some milk for tea. I'll come back later.
