AXPONA 2013

It's always a challenge, in a room filled with unfamiliar equipment, to pinpoint what's causing what. All I know is that on the 7th floor, in the room wired with $8000 worth of Silnote Audio Cables, the midrange on a recording of the Talking Crows was simply beautiful, if a bit dry.

"Lots of really fine midrange but a bit stiff—no sparkle on top," I wrote in my notebook after listening some more. The cabling? The fact that a piece of equipment was virtually fresh out of the box? Too much room treatment? Who knows? What I do know is that the system included, in addition to the cables, Tyler Acoustic loudspeakers ($8500/pair), Conrad-Johnson ET250s amplifier ($8500), Krell KRC-3 preamp ($3000), Oppo BDP-105 multi-format player ($1200), Olive 4H music server ($2900), BAT VK-P5 phono stage ($3100), and Transrotor turntable with Clearaudio Maestro cartridge and SME 309 arm ($16,000 total).