Capital AudioFest 2023

A dependable first stop for any show attendee, Jeffrey Catalano’s High Water Sound room got down to business and quick. Offering a similar system to last year's but with new Cessaro Horn Acoustics’ Wagner II Horn Speakers ($65,000/pair), the system had considerable jump and force paired to a liquid midrange and absolutely clean, nearly medicinal, certainly soul-enriching highs.

Playing an OG copy of Joe Henderson and Alice Coltrane’s The Elements, the various instruments were beautifully layered both horizontally and vertically, in a miraculously deep stage that stretched all the way back to Manhattan. Playing music with equal force and grace, Woody Shaw’s Blackstone Legacy (another OG vinyl) startled with bone-cracking energy and head-pinning slam, horns layered above my head, and Lenny White’s shambolic drums both brain soothing and nerve rattling below.

The rest of this once-in-a-lifetime system consisted of TW-Acustic Raven LS-3 Copper turntable ($24,000), Raven 12" tonearm ($6500), Raven 10.5" tonearm ($6000), Raven Phono Stage ($25,000), Raven Line Stage ($25,000), and Raven 300B monoblocks ($35,000/pair). Cartridges included the Miyajima Infinity Mono MC ($3475) and Fuuga MC ($10,000). Cables were by Stein Music, with racks, isolation, and tuning by Codia Acoustic Design, Silent Running Audio, Stein Music, and Dalby Audio Design. The Dalby Audio Design Pireuta Extreme Stabilizer record weight & Pirueta Extreme record mat, looking like a spinning Budda drizzled in chocolate sauce, also played a part.