LATEST ADDITIONS

So here we are on Saturday night, Rob Robinson of Channel D, Jeff Joseph of Joseph Audio, and myself of something or other, chilling in the ridiculously oversized chairs in the Omni Jacksonville's lobby near the elevators, awaiting the arrival of Rob's wife Claudia so we can all head out to Thai dinner, when Jacksonville Symphony French horn player Aaron Brask, aka "Last Horn," appears out of nowhere and on your mark-get set-go begins telling us how absolutely, positively, and totally stoked he is that we have brought all these high-end audio exhibits to Jacksonville. It seems that, given that artist Brask is unable to talk while his embouchure is otherwise occupied with his instrument's mouthpiece, the boy has seized the opportunity to gush, and I mean gush, over his chance to finally hear the equipment, big and small, that he had been reading about and lusting after for all these years.

Having recently written a detailed description of Smyth Research's amazing Realiser, which was posted to these pages on February 21, 2012, I shall leave to your click and downward scroll a detailed description of the Realiser's ability to virtually reconstruct "the complete experience of listening to actual loudspeakers in an actual room, in up to eight-channel surround."

In a room too small to do YG Acoustics' gems full justice, YG's Dick Diamond had assembled a most impressive system for the Anat III Signature ($119,000/pair, back) and sometimes played, more modestly sized Carmel loudspeakers ($18,000/pair, front). We're talking the same four-piece dCS Scarlatti system (approx. $79,000) and Veloce Audio LS-1 battery powered line stage preamp ($18,000) used in the Scaena room, plus two Krell Evo 402e amplifiers ($18,500). Cabling was all Kubala-Sosna, and a PS Audio Juice Bar took the place of power conditioning. Needless to say, the system presented a complete symphonic picture, with solid bass extremely natural and controlled, as opposed to hyped up. In addition, instrumental timbres were pretty much right on.

Sometimes a system touches your heart when you least expect it. There I was in Reinhard Goerner's Goerner Communication room (Montréal) when, all of a sudden, the warmth and beauty of Joni Mitchell's voice on a vinyl pressing of "I Could Drink a Case of You" had me half qvelling. (Hey, it's Yiddish. I don't know how to spell it; I only know how it feels).

Read to the end, folks, because this one has a happy ending. In their extremely popular room—I couldn't get in the door the first time I tried—Rob Robinson of Channel D and Jeff Joseph of Joseph Audio were attempting to dem computer audio done right. I say, "attempting" because, despite the unquestionable excellence of Joseph Audio Pulsar loudspeakers ($7500/pair, to be reviewed in the June issue of Stereophile), which I have enjoyed at multiple audio shows, and Channel D's Pure Vinyl high-res digital transcription/editing/playback software ($299) and Pure Music Digital Music Player ($129), the 24/192 files I heard when I first entered had a most unpleasant hard edge to them.

Headlined by Aerial Acoustics' Model 7T loudspeaker ($10,000/pair, to be reviewed in the May 2012 issue of Stereophile) and Audio Research's Ref 5 SE preamp ($12,900), Ref 150 amplifier ($12,900), and DAC 8 ($5000), the system from Audible Images of Melbourne, FL delivered very clear, warm (rather than neutral), and crisp sound from a Japanese compilation Three Blind Mice. "Excellent," I wrote in my notes. Undoubtedly the Krell Model 505 CD player ($10,000), and Transparent Audio's Reference XL speaker wire, Reference interconnects, Power Ix, and Power link power cords had something to do with it.

Hardly 90 seconds into the demo, the earthquake hit. No, not one caused by God and nature, or the vibrational residue from a huge subwoofer in the room above or below. Rather, this earthquake was courtesy of the huge industrial washing machine located directly below Soundsmith's fourth floor exhibit. And we are not talking minor stuff here, folks. Everything was shaking badly, including the sign on the wall, and it went on for several minutes.