Posted by Greggo [ 71.90.236.253 ] on October 25, 2006 at 10:09:49:

In Reply to: Re: RMAF Pictures posted by Jim Griffin on October 23, 2006 at 19:40:03:

Well, I am obviously not Fred, but thought I would share some opinions anyways.

I am a big fan of yours and Rick Craigs and appreciate all that you guys have done and shared over the last few years, especially as of late as you have both helped me quite a bit in advancing my knowledge in this hobby.

Having said that, I spent all three days at RMAF, listened to every system there! I went to hear line arrays, horns, wave guides and ribbons since I can't afford to buy/build example of all of them myself. I initially liked the IDS25, as they immediately overcame my skepticism regarding lobing issues, at least so I thought. There was still something not quite natural about their upper range to me, and though this is highly subjective, what I thought was slightly less subjective was the fact that their soundstage was Jurasic Park like on just about everything. I have visited Rick in his home and like his arrays very much, and though the soundstage was definitely different than I am used to with my AudioPhysic Tempo IIs, I found them much more agreeable than the IDS25. The IDS25, no doubt, has monster dynamics and a very clean sound, though I would agree that the EQ is clearly heavy to achieve what I heard, and that even at both ends of the spectrum, I would argue that there is something going on there that makes for a somewhat artificial sounding listening experience. Most male and female vocals however, with much of there energy probably not found in the range of the heavy EQ, were scary good and had an amazing presence, but again I felt like I was under attack by amazonians most of the time. Percussion was to die for however, and the only thing in the same leage from that regard was probably the Wilson Max 2 and other over-the-top rooms that did nothing but show just how stupidly self-indulgent this hobby can become.

Regards,

Greg Jensen

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