Morel's "The Fat Lady"

OK, here goes another one.

Have you heard of a little company named Morel? I hadnt heard much about them either, but I do get a parts express catalog and am a beginner DIYer for speaker building. Sufficeth to say, I have at least heard of them, just never actually HEARD them, so i stopped in.

Once inside the room, Richie and I, (Oh yeah, Richie goes with me, we are both becoming regulars, he like the car audio section, check out his blog.... if he ever gets one. I will keep you posted.

Anyways, once inside the room, we were stopped and introduced ourselves to a large man named Pete. Pete is one of those guys that doesnt call himself an audiophile either... he just LOVES music. He also LOVES morel, and has fallen in love with his sweetheart, "The Fat Lady".

Curious speakers.... Carbon fiber, proprietary drivers, no stuffing or damping material inside... interesting. No flat edges or corners to diffract the music, just some curvy little honeys that call out "come on over"!!!

I liked Peter Moore... A man's man. talk to you about anything. But when it came to his fat lady, he was almost in tears.

I asked for the usual female vocals.. Diana Krall.... ooops, he forgot it.. OK, how about Norah Jones... There we go... Beautiful music.

He asked me for something... the bonehead i am, Sting's brand new day album. How about deser rose... we played about 45 seconds of it and it was BRIGHT on the tweeter, he assured me it was my cd and the recording. The more i listened to him, the more sense it made.

Alright, I needed something i havent heard that i would fall in love with.

He put in a cd, played track 5 and I listened. A single female vocal, layered, 5 or 6 times, different accents throughout, almost sounded digitized, but not. Her voice was confused, muted yet dynamic. Gentle and overpowering all in the same song. about 3 minutes later it was over...... I WANTED MORE!!!! Who was that?????

Imogen Heap!! He said. 'Hide and Seek"

That blew me away. The imaging, the dynamics, the resonance, the detail, even the subtle scratches in the background... they were all there. I had to have that album. WOW

How about another? Amy Winehouse!

The crack addict? Yup!

Amazing.

I left feeling uplifted and yearning for more. I dont know how much they cost, I want some fat ladies for myself. Hmm.. how much do they cost?

Take a look for yourself, these are masterpieces.

http://www.morelhifi.com/media/pdf/fatlady_catalog-s.pdf

WHEW!!! That's about it for these guys, but WOW!! Please Peter, take this to CES next year... I promise i will have some more demos, and I promise Sting will stay in the car.

BTW, I bought every Imogen Heap Album I could find. I might think about Amy winehouse, i just dont like supporting crack addicts, hence I dont smoke crack.

PS. Peter... you the man, it was great to meet you and I hope to bother you a little next year!

Hansen Audio's "THE KING V2"

I recently attended CES in Vegas and I always spend my first day walking the halls of the Venetian and Sands Expo looking for my favorites in audio, and meeting some new ones. While walking down one hallway, I heard some music playing behind a door and saw inside some MONSTEROUS speakers to say the least. I was intrigued.

Upon entering I had the PLEASURE of meeting an eccentric character by the name of Lars Hansen. New name to me, but I am still learning. It turns out he is the CEO of Hansen audio and has brought his "precious" KING V2 speakers to demonstrate.

To say the least, i was curious. Listening to him talk was an experience in itself and he knew EVERYTHING about his speakers, as a good CEO would.

Lars has designed in house all of his own drivers except his tweeters which are imported from Scandanavia I think.

The demos: I am new at all of this, but one thing is for sure... He picked some real winners.

I Male vocal choir with a break in of TREMENDOUS female vocals about a minute in that made me almost cry. I could envision every person, there location in the staging, even who was standing closer and further away. to say the least, INCREDIBLE. I am at a loss of words as to what these speakers can do.

From Satchmo, to female vocals, to symphony orchestras, one word says it all: WOW!

If you have the opportunity to demo these masterpieces, please do. You wont be disappointed.

There was only one things that made me a little sad about Lars Hansen... his obvious disdain for his assistant at the CES show. He treated his assistant like his lapdog, ordering him around and treating him like less than human at times. Wonderful speakers, but Lars, please try to treat your helpers like human beings. Please dont yell at them, or talk down to them, tell them to move, and treat them poorly. People viewing your items will enjoy the speakers, but how you treat your people reflect poorly on you as an industry "professional".