Robert Deutsch

Atohm GT1.0 Speakers
TAVES 2011
Robert Deutsch  |  Oct 03, 2011  |  0 comments
When I went into VMAX Services' room, they were playing a recording of "Mona Lisa" that wasn't Nat King Cole's but had the same spirit. The speakers were small bookshelf units (stand mounted, of course) and they sounded exceptionally good. Who is the singer, I asked VMAX's Richard Kohlruss, and what are those speakers? He showed me the CD: Verve ERCD 6671, vocals by Densil Pinnock, guitar by Bill Coon.

And the speakers? Atohm GT1.0s from France.

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Perpetual Technology's TT-1 Turntable
TAVES 2011
Robert Deutsch  |  Oct 03, 2011  |  1 comments
Divergent Technologies is known for producing the Reference 3A speakers and distributing a number of product lines, including Antique Sound Labs and Copland. They're now about to enter the turntable business. In collaboration with a partner in Hong Kong, Divergent has a classy-looking turntable, named the Perpetual Technology TT-1, which is a modest-by-high-end-standards $2500, sold with a 12" carbon-fiber tonearm for a combined price of $3000. It's to be available in three months.
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Anne Bisson & Oracle
TAVES 2011
Robert Deutsch  |  Oct 02, 2011  |  0 comments
Borrowing a page from the Montreal Salon Son & Image—and, previous to that, the Stereophile Hi-Fi shows—TAVES featured live music. Singer/pianist Anne Bisson performed at King Edward's Lounge on Friday and Saturday. Her latest LP/CD was also being played in a number of rooms, and was available for sale. In the Oracle room you had a choice of whether to listen to the LP or the CD. When I was there, the preference seemed to be overwhelmingly for the LP.
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Dean Peer In-Concert
TAVES 2011
Robert Deutsch  |  Oct 02, 2011  |  0 comments
At the Industry Cocktail Party on Saturday, the artists were bass guitar player Dean Peer and drummer Bret Man, both audiophile favorites, their concert sponsored by Cardas Audio.
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Sonus Faber & the Amati Futuras
TAVES 2011
Robert Deutsch  |  Oct 02, 2011  |  1 comments
It's a well-known fact that any speaker can sound bad if the rest of the system if there are problems with the rest of the system and/or there's a problem with room acoustics. However, as I listened to the Sonus Faber Amati Futuras at TAVES (NBS preamp and cables, Basis turntable and arm, Audia Flight amplifier), which sounded very good indeed, it occurred to me that I've never heard Sonus Faber speakers sound bad. Was it just luck? I doubt it . . . (JA is working on a review of the Futura, to appear in the February 2012 issue of Stereophile.)
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The Woo Headphone Amp
TAVES 2011
Robert Deutsch  |  Oct 02, 2011  |  0 comments
"Have you heard the Woo headphone amps?" Todd Garfinkle of M•A Recordings pulled me over. I told him that I hadn't—but then I have not kept up with the market in headphone amps. "Have a listen." So I did, over Sennheiser HD800 headphones. The M•A Recordings Seeing Unknown Colors (MO 15A) sounded great through the Woo Audio WA6 ($650), without the touch of extra brightness that these 'phones are prone to.
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Concrete Block Amplifiers from Tri-Art Audio
TAVES 2011
Robert Deutsch  |  Oct 02, 2011  |  0 comments
Canadian-designed and assembled, the signal distinguishing feature of Tri-Art Audio amplifiers is that concrete is used extensively in their construction. Tri-Art Audio believes that class-D power amp chips offer superb power but suffer from microphonics, and only when the chip is isolated from vibration can its virtues be truly experienced. The Block amplifiers do just that. The amplifiers are available in various forms, some with and some without level controls, with optional battery power supply, power ranging from 25 to 200Wpc, prices starting at $1995.
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Ron Sutherland With His New N1 Preamp
TAVES 2011
Robert Deutsch  |  Oct 02, 2011  |  0 comments
Ron Sutherland of Sutherland Engineering is famous for his phono preamps. At TAVES he introduced a new product: the N1 ($10,000), a line-plus-phono preamplifier. The most striking thing about this product is that it uses Nixie tubes for the display of source number and volume. Nixie tubes are those little tubes that light up to display a number or other characters. It's a charmingly retro look. I didn't think that these tubes are being made any more, and Ron Sutherland confirmed that this is correct; however, he has purchased a huge stock of Nixie tubes, so his customers are taken care of.
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Inside the Sutherland N1
TAVES 2011
Robert Deutsch  |  Oct 02, 2011  |  0 comments
The interior of the N1 shows an impeccable arrangement of circuit components. There are separate circuit boards for the left and right channels; these are identical, and are stacked, as shown in the photo.
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Video Display Shoot-Out
TAVES 2011
Robert Deutsch  |  Oct 02, 2011  |  0 comments
It's called Toronto Audio and Video Entertainment Show, but--just between us—TAVES is basically an audio show. This is not for want of trying on the part of show organizers. They've arranged seminars on the TV calibration, the differences between LCD, LED and plasma displays, and set up an elaborate blind comparison involving 20 flat panel displays that included LCD, LED, and plasma designs, all professionally calibrated, and with the brandnames obscured. I thought it was quite an interesting and useful comparison, but on the three occasions that I visited the room, there were hardly any people there—contrast this with the booths where LPs and CDs were being sold (below).
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