AXPONA 2024

Colin King and Doug K of Gestalt Audio Design of Nashville, Tennessee, presented one of the more unusual looking rigs at AXPONA, complete with a fantastical copper-colored turntable with a steampunk clamp, a pair of bug-eyed loudspeakers each with a field-coil midrange driver, and a master controller that looked like it had been rescued or stolen from a Russian submarine circa 1957.

That turntable was a TW-Acustic Raven GT2 ($12,500), its copper accents mostly obscured in the photos by a record, equipped with a Raven 10.5 tonearm ($6500) and a Fuuga MC cartridge ($9995). The preamp was a handsome, glass-bead-blasted Zeiler Audio tubed PR-01 ($37,000). Zeiler Audio also made the amplifier, a 10Wpc KT-150 PA-01 ($37,000). The loudspeakers were from Wolf von Langa London ($64,995/pair; if this is starting to sound like a fashion show, it is to me, too). That "master controller" was a controller/power supply for the field-coil drivers on the Wolf Von Langa speakers. Cables were courtesy of Sternklang and Tchernov, and the rack was by Silent Running Audio.

The German amps in this rig were stunning for their build quality and level of finish. TW-Acustic, a staple in Jeffrey Catalano’s High Water Sound rooms, speaks for itself. But what about the War-of-the-Worlds looking, Wolf Von Langa loudspeakers? This “high end lautsprecher” is a field-coil model, with an open back frame of high-density fiberboard with double-sided PMMA coating. Sensitivity is rated at 95dB at 8 ohms. Each speaker weighs 185lb.

The program began with Nobuo Uematsu’s soundtrack music for Final Fantasy. I was unimpressed. But once Count Basie’s 88 Basie Street (Pablo) hit the TW-Acustic platter, trepidation turned to adulation. The instruments of Basie’s band floated before me like priests performing high mass. I gorged on a sweet, layered stage with delicate highs and mids and oodles of low-end glory. This monster setup played with mad dynamics and physicality, from vibrant triangles to full brass onslaughts. Mercy!

I’d love to hear these speakers in my Manhattan walkup crib, but 185lb apiece, it ain't gonna happen.