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Simon says "Green!"
Spoiler Alert! I really liked the Stingray when I reviewed it at my house and it sounded just as nice here in Vegas. Though the Stingray was familiar to me, the newly-wed EveAnna Manley wasn't. It was great to finally meet her (she's the one on the right of the photo). On top of being really smart and passionate about audio, she is funny and very sweet.
As sweet looking as she may be, their products' aesthetics are hideous. Very ugly. I know that doesn't matter but when competing against Italian products, the fact that their products look like a Heathkit kit gone wrong seems to matter.
Right you are, Erick, in every particular. The Stingray iTube is one of the slickest things I saw at the show. And EveAnna is one of my favorite people in this or any other business. She is a total sweetie, a real character, and she always has ice cold beer available at the end of the Show.
I think those products are beautiful, although certainly in a more retro and rougher fashion than some of those silkily gorgeous Italian ones, you know, the ones with wood side panels and so forth. Or the elegant, metal Pathos Classic integrated. There is room on the planet for both styles...which is more than can be said for that particular shirt she's wearing. Anyone but herself should be shot for wearing that. What was so wrong with her go go girl, buckskin vest number with the rawhide fringes hanging down? Or the pink chia pet blouse? We need to de mothball those two over the present thrift store-Escher meets bowling alley thing. Kimber and Joseph may also be sweet (free iso recordings and M&Ms, respectively,) but let's be honest: They are not personalities in the Manley mode.
I really dig her products, her company (I freaking love the web site and the cockiness), and EveAnna herself - she sure seems like one of the coolest people around!Drop the negative attitude - and talking about what she is wearing is funny as hell - she has more style and class than most - all I'm going to say!
Manley has made it her stock in trade to dress outrageously for shows over the years, thus my recollections of her Atkinson dubbed chia pet blouse and the cowboy/girl number I saw one year. This is a woman who put photos of the results of her possum hunting on her web site, after all. You two have no concept of camp and a stunted sense of irony. And by the way, go check the Ayre entries for commentary on Silberman's shirt. Steve Silberman's. What joy killers.
Oh, but not only is the wardrobe obviously for show purposes and our collective enjoyment, but the dental tube bling and the "Tubes Rule" ephemera is likewise. Maybe J. Joseph recalls a fringy vest or blouse; it would have had to be in NYC, and I think in a shared room with his gear. Or I could just be hallucinating...these Stereophile CAPTCHAs can cause that, you know. In fact, I just caught myself momentarily thinking that YG has made an affordable loudspeaker in that Carmel model, so obviously something's wrong with my thought processes at the moment.