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Long-time audiophile and Bryston's VP of Sales, James Tanner, has turned his hand to speaker design, and the result, now in advanced prototype form, was introduced at SSI 2012. Dubbed the Model T (the initial of his last name, and because it will come in any color as long as it's black), this is a tall floorstander, with custom drivers made by Canadian speaker manufacturer, Axiom, and features Bryston's BDX-1 digital crossover. The DSP controls of the BDX-1 allow correction of both phase and frequency response; the latter is said to be 17Hz–25kHz, ±¼dB. Tanner told me that he's not entirely happy with the performance of one of the drivers, which is being revised to have a "quicker" response. The Model T is a sealed-box system, with a sensitivity of 93dB. The projected price, including the BDX-1 digital crossover, is $10k/pair.

One of the more controversial products at this year's SSI was the demo of "Axial Triphonic Speakers" by Lys Audio. According to company president Jacques Gérin-Lajois (given a running translation from French by one of his associates), this is based on a patent that was obtained 65 years ago, but has not been put into practice until now. As I understand it, it involves starting with a monophonic source, obtained by summing the stereo channels (or multiple channels), and then splitting the mono signal into bass, midrange, and treble, sending these to the appropriate speakers. Depending on the impedances, you can use just one amp to drive all three speakers, or (as was the case with the SSI demo), one amp for the midrange and treble, and another for the bass.

I was delighted by the sound being made by Montreal dealer Audiophonie—partly, I admit, because they were demonstrating an all-new version of the venerable Spendor SP100, now in R2 form ($11,900/pair), an earlier version of which I owned and loved for years. Its tone, touch, spatial presentation, and vibe were all just about perfect. I will beg—yes, beg—for the opportunity to write about the Spendor in the months to come.

California-based Constellation Audio, represented by the well-known engineer Peter Madnick, supplied the amplification for the Magico Q3 loudspeakers. On audition were their Virgo preamplifier ($19,000) and Centaur amplifier ($24,000), set up with elegant looking (and apparently effective) loudspeaker cables and interconnects from Argento Audio of Denmark. Source components were the C1 D/A converter and D1 disc transport from CH Precision of Switzerland.

The party on the Trade Day of the show, hosted by SSI, is always well attended, and provides a good indication of the general mood. This time the mood was decidedly upbeat: people in the trade looking forward to having a good show.

SSI staff member and singer/flute player Caroline St. Louis took some time off from her career to have a baby, but she was back in top form at SSI 2012, singing with her Give Band.

Seen at the party: Monitor Audio's Sheldon Ginn, winner of the Chris Pine Lookalike Contest.