RMAF 2010

What has become a familiar site at shows, Acoustic Zen loudspeakers and cabling mated with Triode electronics, has also become a welcome sound. Here, I experienced a beautiful airiness around female vocalists. "Just gorgeous," I wrote in my notes. The bass, however, was challenged, perhaps because of the room.

One of the tracks played shortly after I entered seemed to be a Norwegian version of "O Holy Night," from the 30 year-old audiophile classic Cantate Domino. It felt more than a little early for Christmas, but the sound was warm and all-encompassing.

Electronics includes the Triode Corporation TRX-1 remote controlled tube preamp ($3000) and 20Wpc, class-A TRV-845SE integrated amplifier ($6000), and TRV-CD4SE tube CD player with 24/192 upsampler ($2200), as well as Acoustic Zen's ORB-Kyoto power conditioner ($6000). The speaker was Acoustic Zen's fine Crescendo ($16,000). The assortment of Acoustic Zen cabling include the Absolute interconnect ($2600/1m), Hologram speaker cable ($980/'), Matrix or Magic Reference II interconnect ($498), and Gargantua power cords ($1480/6').

Apologies for any errors. This was another room without a printed cheat sheet to hand to attendees.