LATEST ADDITIONS

Yes, it's a mouthful. And perhaps the name will change. But as for now, the new SVS Prime Wireless Pro Powered Speaker Pair ($800/pair), an active/passive self-powered combo whose 200Wpc driver amps are housed in one of the two speaker cabinets, is due out in mid-August. This is a fine-sounding alternative to a sound bar, complete with a 24/192 DAC and an active digital crossover. Connection will be either wired or wireless, with options including DTSS, Play-Fi, AirPlay 2, Chromecast, Spotify Connect, aptX Bluetooth. Play-Fi will enable listeners to stream 24/192 signals.

Ken Boyce's Cake Audio of San Clemente united many well-respected brands in a fine system that impressed many show goers. At the top of my "Wow, this is good" list were the lovely piano timbres on a 45rpm pressing of Eugene Istomin performing Mozart's Piano Concerto No.24, and good old Elvis' absolutely fabulous, prime voice, do-with-me-what-you-want rendition of "Fever." Not yet the overdone cynic of his later years, Presley perfectly gauged every single syllable and nuance in his surprisingly tasteful, no questions left to ask performance. Need I say that it would not have sounded half as mesmerizing if the gear had not been up to snuff?

In a large, exceedingly difficult-to-tame room, Acora Acoustics SRC-2 loudspeakers ($37,000/pair) did a superb job with voices. I sat mesmerized, trying to figure out who was singing "Largo al factotum," aka "Figaro, Figaro, Figaro, Figaro, etc . . .," from Rossini's The Barber of Seville.

This was a system tailored for mellow listening. In a room large enough for a Presidential Ball, timbres were spot on through Voss Luxury Audio gear. Whether on Dominique Fils-Aimé's oft-encountered "Birds," Stacey Kent's "The Summer We Crossed Europe in the Rain," The Bahamas' "Any Place," or an LP of vocalist Terry Evans and Dutch guitarist Hans Theessink performing "Got to Keep Moving," vocals sounded great and their accompaniment consistently smooth, laid back, and inviting.

Last year in Long Beach, PBN Audio's Peter Noerbaek was so eager to show what his humongous speakers could accomplish without distortion that he cranked up the volume far louder than the New York Subway System at its worst. As I thanked my lucky stars that I was some distance away from the huge room's doorway when the eruption occurred, a member of T.H.E. Show staff came running. "The glass walls on our office are shaking!" he yelled, as he made show policy clear. Only after that did I feel safe to enter.

This time, perhaps the fear of God or Ray Kimber's beneficent presence radiated so strongly through his Carbon, PK10 Gold, and D60 cabling that Noerbaek hung loose.

In an extremely large 2nd floor room, products from two US distributors, Reference Components and Audio Skies, joined forces in a single, powerful all-analog system. Of special note, on the LP Paris, were the absolutely compelling soaring silvery highs that Hilary Hahn's violin produced as she flew through Prokofiev's first Violin Concerto.

Ensconced in one of the Hilton Long Beach's larger rooms, Tom Vu had intended to present an all-TriangleArt system until the Great Egyptian Shipping God in the Sky announced total displeasure at the state of the world. Demanding a sacrifice for our collective sins, GESGitS blew a gasket and chose as his victims TriangleArt's Metis loudspeakers ($59,999/pair), which never reached the Hilton Long Beach. Borrowed Usher speakers saved the day.