T.H.E. Show Newport 2012

BSG Technologies' Larry Alan Kay, many years ago the publisher of Fi magazine, spent THE Show eagerly A/B-ing the effect of his Signal Completion Stage ($3995). This all-analog processor is claimed to undo the effect of all the deleterious phase shifts that have occurred during the making of a recording, restoring what Kay calls "the geography of the recorded sound."

As suspicious as I am of this "one size fits all recordings" approach to signal processing, I must admit that Kay's demonstration was very effective. He apologized for the unit having less than 300 hours on it, the processor apparently requiring a long break-in time. In a system with a MacBook Pro feeding data to a Bel Canto USB-S/PDIF converter and a Cambridge Audio DACMagic, an Audio Research preamp, Bel Canto monoblocks, and Usher speakers, the difference between bypass and process was enormous on both the Eagles' "Hotel California" and on the Fleisher/Cleveland Brahms Piano Concerto 2. Superficially, there appeared to be an increase in volume of 2–3dB, but what I found stage was that individual objects in the soundstage—the solo voice in "Hotel California," the piano in the Brahms—didn't get louder. It was the surrounding space that gained in volume.

I have asked for a review sample of the Signal Completion Stage so I can delver further into what this intriguing device does with my own recordings.