CAF 2011: MBL, United Home Audio





 

The United Home Audio room had some of the prettiest speakers I’ve ever seen. The mbl gear in white is definitely worth a look-see as I can’t think of a better speaker to photograph in low-light conditions.

Honestly, I don’t have much to report on for this room. I went by twice. First time, the UHA guys were playing some oddball music that was neither well recorded nor particularly dynamic. The second time I came by, the SPLs were so high that I didn’t bother to go in. In fact, I couldn’t even open the door, the room was so loud, so much so that the sound in all the adjacent rooms were compromised.

At least I got some pics on that first trip.

I have to say, I don’t “get” analog tape. I mean, it’s tape.

[insert shrug here]

Greg Beron has actually taken me to task for my lack of enthusiasm here, and rightfully so. As he points out, and as I’m forced to acknowledge, tape is cool. Not only that, but folks are going nuts over the sound. What folks?

So, fine, sure — I give. Yeah, they’re great. And pretty fancy-looking, too. Anyway, these UHA-HQ players range from $8k – $17k, depending on options, upgrades and bling.

But with, what, 100 titles (or less) available in total — that’s new, not counting any of that good condition old stock still floating around — I’m just not sure what the point is. This is w – a – a – a – a – y more esoteric and nich-ey than vinyl, SACD or even DVD-A is these days. I guess, different strokes and all that. And at $300 per album (from The Tape Project, at least), it’s definitely a different kind of stroke.








About Scot Hull 1063 Articles
Scot started all this back in 2009. He is currently the Publisher here at PTA, the Publisher at The Occasional Magazine, and the Executive Producer at The Occasional Podcast. There are way too many words about him over on the Contributors page.

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