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There was one and only one raison d'être for this room: showcasing the Innuos Statement Music Server/Ripper with Next Gen LPSU and 1TB internal SSD ($21,700). If it wasn't an unqualified success—two other pieces of equipment, borrowed for the show, were not broken in and produced flat and uninvolving sound on Day 1—it mattered not to moi, because the same Statement sounded fantastic during a 7-hour post-show visit to my Port Townsend music room by Innuos software designer Nuno Vitorino.

Aurender, whose music servers were in use in some of the best sounding rooms at PAF, had its own separate static display (with every model) and listening rooms. In the latter, the Aurender N20 ($12,000) produced excellent sound through the Berkeley Audio Design Alpha DAC Series 3 ($10,995), Constellation Argo Integrated Amplifier ($35,800), Magico A5 loudspeakers ($26,800), Shunyata Research cables and power conditioning, and Grand Prix Audio Monaco equipment stand.

A PNW store new to me and many, Reference Media of Bellingham, showed a system that produced very clean images with a fine depiction of space. Pat Metheny's "The Sound of Silence" on the LP, What's It All About, was notably liquid, flowing, and open. Complete with an all-encompassing soundstage, the listening experience was totally enjoyable, without reservation.

Børresen loudspeakers, designed by Michael Børresen, joined forces with its Danish brother companies Ansuz and Aavik to present the world premieres of the cost-no-object Børresen M1 standmount loudspeaker ($100,000/pair) and Aavik 200Wpc I-880 class-A integrated amplifier ($70,000). In a system that paired them with the Aavik's S-580 streamer ($25,200) and D-580 DAC ($25,200) and Ansuz's Signature Sortz, Darkz Z2S supports, and Gold Signature cables, the sound of multiple selections was simply too high for the room. Because I could not get a decent sense of what the equipment could do, I returned for a private listen on the following morning, before the show began.

Let's start with the music. On Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's RCA Living Stereo recording of Rimsky-Korsakoff's Scheherazade, the solo violin's sound epitomized beauty of tone. Smoothness was the system's strong suit, dwarfing (in this room) layering, detail, dynamics, and grandeur.

There's nothing more to say about Seattle-based Vanatoo's superb-sounding Transparent One Encore ($599/pair) and little Transparent Zero ($399/pair) active loudspeakers that hasn't been discussed in detail in my Stereophile review. Gary Gesellchen's little babies deliver astoundingly mellifluous, all-of-one-piece sound from tiny cabinets.

No, this blog isn't about slaughter. It's about the components in Seattle Hi-Fi of Redmond, WA's room, some of which were displayed on Butcher Block Acoustics shelving.

Nor was there anything about the sound Burt Goodman drew from his system deserving of slaughter. True, the music selections were all standard audiophile fare from previous generations, but the sound was here, now, and excellent. Diana Krall's "Let’s Fall in Love" was bright, lovely, clean, colorful, and fully detailed.