No show coverage would be complete without a preview of Børresen's major M6 loudspeaker ($550,000/pair) world premiere. Joining forces with products from the three other companies that comprise Audio Group Denmark, Børresen's M6 dominated an exceedingly large room in the extremely attractive exhibit mounted by US Distributor/Dealer Next Level HiFi.
Spatial Audio Lab may have considered its main suite on the 13th floor of the hotel's tower, but its second exhibit in room 2210 offered plenty to love. I was taken in by the wonderful clarity, excellent depth, and openness delivered by Spatial's Q6 prototype open-baffle loudspeakers ($4995/pair and expected in August). Infected Mushroom's "Avratz" was a knockout.
The relationship between Linear Tube Audio (LTA) and Daedalus Audio loudspeakers is so close that the special pair of LTA 20Wpc Ultralinear+ power amplifier monoblocks ($6800/each) on display in room 2106 at PAFthe second of these companies' two joint roomsboasted a custom faceplate designed specifically for their owner, Daedalus founder Lou Hinkley.
Entering Klaus Bunge's intentionally low-lit Odyssey room was like entering another dimension. Showgoers may have had no idea what the purpose of the room waseven I couldn't discern it from the displaybut they could not possibly have been less than fascinated.
"It's the gateway drug to the High End," Vanatoo's Rick Kernan quipped of the larger of Vanatoo's two diminutive active loudspeakers. He was speaking of the successor to the Vanatoo Transparent One Encore that I reviewed in 2019, the Transparent One Encore Plus (T1E+) active loudspeaker ($650/pair, up from $599/pair four years ago).
In the hallway outside the JMF Audio/Ideon Audio room, Benno Baun Meldgaard, former speaker designer for Gamut, Raidho, and Gryphon, discussed his prototype Hydra loudspeaker. Expected in October, the cost for the for the entry-level 3-way floorstanderthe smallest model in Baun's forthcoming Reference line of speakersis projected at "around $150,000/pair."
There were multiple world and North American premieres in the large room shared by JMF Audio and Ideon Audio. The exhibit was set up by the two companies' North American distributor, Michael Vamos's Audio Skies, in cooperation with Michael Farnsworth's dealership, Farnsworth Audio, of Draper, UT.
By the time I reached PAF's large Marketplace near noon on Saturday, the place was pretty active. Saturday was the busiest day by far at PAF, with reportedly far greater attendance than at last year's show launch in the middle of summer. I left the show early on Sunday, but from what I could see, the coincidence of Day 3 with Seattle Pride put a major damper on attendance. In 2024, the third installment of PAF moves to the weekend after Labor Day.
Once again, VAC paired four of its amplifiers with Von Schweikert loudspeakers in a huge room sponsored by The Audio Company. Distinguished by sophisticated lighting design and fabulous sound, this system, which can fill rooms far larger than the Dutch & Dutch 8cs that so impressed me at PAF, vied with them for my personal Best of Show.
"Have you heard Dutch & Dutch? If you haven't, you must." Time and again, variations on that theme were voiced either by me or many of the attendees I chatted with at the show.
As far as I can recall, my encounter with the Dutch & Dutch 8c active loudspeakers ($15,000/pair) is the first time I have heard this company's offerings. (They've only exhibited at two shows.) I sure hope it will be far from the last.