NY Audio Show 2013

Belgian manufacturer Venture, whose products are distributed in the US by Precision Audio & Video, was demming its new Vici 2.1 loudspeaker ($36,000/pair with one AW500 woofer), driven by Venture V200A+ MOSFET monoblocks ($120,000/pair), a Venture VP100L preamp ($35,100), and reinforced below 60Hz by a pair of Venture AW500 active woofers ($12,000 each), which each use two 10" drivers. Front-end was the XX High End music player running on a Windows laptop feeding a Weiss Medea FireWire DAC ($21,799). Cables were all Grand Reference Diamond and Diamond Signature.

The Vici 2.1 combines Venture's 2" AGC (Abaca Graphite Composite) dome tweeter with four 4" AGC-cone woofers in a ported cabinet 47" in height. There is no high-pass filter in the tower's feed, the AW500 woofer being added in parallel, though the latter does have an adjustable low-pass filter. The sound in this room was surprisingly full-bodied, on an orchestral recording. "A big sound from two small towers," read my notes.