LATEST ADDITIONS

In <a href="http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/now_on_newsstands_stereophile… March 2010 issue</a>, Steve Guttenberg offered an excellent As We See It, detailing his newly rekindled relationship with vinyl playback. Over at CNET, Steve is known as <a href="http://news.cnet.com/audiophiliac/">the Audiophiliac</a>, discussing a wide range of news, events, and ideas, all in the worlds of music and hi-fi. Now the Audiophiliac and his colleagues at the 404 Podcast present the Audiophillie Awards: They’re asking recording engineers and hobbyists of all levels to submit their best work, with the chance to win some fun prizes.

"Reference Audio on a Budget" was the tagline for the exhibit from Darren and Bonnie Censullo's Avatar Acoustics of Fayetteville, GA. Most important, the room featured two world premieres. First was a product you're sure to hear more about, the Axis Voicebox S loudspeaker ($3000/pair). A 5 ohm, 83dB sensitive model with a frequency response of 45Hz–20kHz ±3dB, this little baby was paired with Abbingdon Music Research's AMR AM 777 60Wpc hybrid integrated amplifier ($4500), AMR CD-777 player ($4500), Dr. Feickert Analogue Woodpecker turntable ($4995) with DFA 10.5 tonearm ($1000), AMR PH-77 phono preamp ($11,995, and soon to be reviewed by Michael Fremer)), and DFA premium tonearm cable ($600). Throw in $11,265 worth of cabling and power distribution from Acoustic System International and Avatar Acoustics, including the world premier of the Avatar Acoustics Mach 4 Power Distributor ($1800 with power cable), and $10,240 worth of Acoustic System International Resonators, and your hypothetical budget would top $50,000.

In the aptly titled Navigator Room, Fernando Cruze of cruzeFIRST Audio of Miami had quite a stunning display of gear imported by Chris Sommovigo of Atlanta. At its head was the fabled Continuum Audio Labs Caliburn LP system ($150,000), equipped with a Lyra Titian I cartridge ($5800) and Chris' own tonearm cable. Sending its signal via the two-chassis Audio Premier Quattro preamp ($15,000) and Belles SA-500 stereo amplifier ($9000) to the Lansche 4.1 loudspeakers ($55,595/pair) with their plasma tweeter, 25Hz&#1510;150kHz capability and extreme 99dB sensitivity, the system also benefited from two Tri-Point power conditioners, the Troy ($12,000) and Spartan ($35,000) and a full complement of Stereolab cables (loudspeaker, $3750/2.5m, interconnect, $3500/1m). If you can say that all in one breath, and pay for it without blinking your eyes, more power to you.

Jason already blogged about the sound from the <A HREF=" http://blog.stereophile.com/axpona2010/classic_cary/">big rig</A> in the Cary Audio room, which was being run by Florida retailer Let There Be Sound. I had enjoyed the sound of Ry Cooder's classic <I>Jazz</I> from LP in that room Saturday night after the Show closed, as well as a CD-R of songs from the Who's <I>Tommy</I>, burned from an acetate of the master by Mikey Fremer using his awesome Continuum record player. But Sunday morning, LTBS's Oswaldo Martinez was playing Rebecca Pidgeon's classic "Spanish Harlem" from CD on a system featuring the 5Wpc Cary Exciter integrated amplifier driving these beautifully finished single-driver bookshelf speakers, the Sur. Pidgeon's voice sounded smooth and natural, the double-bass accompaniment evenly balanced and more extended in the lows than I was anticipating, though when a Showgoer asked for The Doors' "Waiting for the Sun" to be played, the electric guitar sounded a little peaky in the mid-treble. To be priced at $2000/pair, the Sur features a port-loaded, full-range Fostex drive-unit and will only be available from LTBS.

Mistral, a registered trademark in the UK and China, is a Chinese company, based near Canton, that began marketing its audio products overseas in 2002. According to their PR, they are recognized "all over the world for creativity, reliability and credibility." Judging from the rest of their written copy, they must believe that their credibility is so strong that they can dispense with the services of a bilingual writer with a firm command of English grammar.

My loudspeaker seminar on Saturday featured Dick Diamond of YG Acoustics (to the left in Jason's photo), John MacDonald of Audience (far right) and Bill Dudleston of Legacy (immediate right with hand raised). The first half of the session featured each panelist discussing what his goals were as a loudspeaker manufacturer, what technical parameters he felt most correlates with good sound, how he balanced all the various aspects of performance to get a good balance at a specific price, and where he felt there was the greatest room for continued improvement in speaker performance. The second half of the seminar consisted of a Q&A session and there was a lively discussion, including mention of the fact that all three companies featured on the panel continue to manufacture their speakers in the US.

Jim Smith, author of <A HREF=" http://www.stereophile.com/reference/book_review_iget_better_soundi/">G… Better Sound</A>, spent a full hour discussing a host of topics from his book. Among the subjects he was prepared to cover were optimal use of subwoofers, loudspeaker set-up, multi-channel system requirements, room acoustics and treatments, system enhancements, bi-amping, and analog <I>vs</I> digital. In the brief time I spent in the room, questions were lively and plentiful. One in particular, on compression in modern pop recordings, harked back to John Atkinson's recent "<A HREF=" http://www.stereophile.com/asweseeit/as_we_see_it_the_spaces_between_th… We See It</A>" and his <A HREF=" http://blog.stereophile.com/rmaf2009/squeezing_the_music/">Rocky Mountain Audio Fest presentations</A> on the subject.