Infigo of British Columbia's Electronics and Cabling Meets Alta Audio's Adam loudspeaker
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The Latest Loudspeaker from Jim Suhre
Jim Suhre, 86, is an independent speaker designer who for many years has brought his latest designs to audio shows. He didn't have a name for the speaker system he showed at Long Beach, which will go for $9000$10,000/pair, but he did explain that his full system includes an integrated module with balanced interconnects and only one power cord.
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AXPONA!
I'm writing this one week after returning from Schaumburg, Illinois, where I attended my first real audio show since the Florida Audio Expo in early 2020, just as the pandemic was starting to gain momentum. Everyone I talked to was hopeful, but no one could predict what attendance would be like or what people's attitudes would be.
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Sunny Components Scores Again, this time with Vinnie Rossi Brama, Meitner MA-3, Neodio Origine, Bowers & Wilkins 802D4 with DB1D sub, AudioQuest, and HRS
Only as I was leaving this room did Theresa Merchant tell me that when she, her husband Sunil, and the Sunny Components team first encountered the abysmal acoustics in this room, they thought all was lost. Thanks to the set-up acumen of David Ellington, AudioQuest Director of Sales for Independent Dealers, and a bunch of acoustic paneling, the room was a major success.
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Common Wave Hi-Fi Sails JVS to Paradise with QLN, Innuos, Nagra, Kuzma, Dynavector, and AudioQuest
"This has to be one of the best sounding rooms at T.H.E. Show," said self to self. Listening to Count Basie and his Orchestra's rendition of "After the Rain," the beauty, clarity, and absolute spot-on rightness of every single high-end parameter I could think of impelled me to write in my notes, "The price reflects the pedigree of the sound."
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Common Wave Hi-Fi's Club Room
There were no seats available. Nor was there any real reason to sit. Assembled partly for the fun of it, with components more common to DJs than audiophiles, Common Wave Hi-Fi's Club set-up was designed for enjoyment plain and simple. You've got to hand it to a dealership/social gathering place that devotes as much time to entertaining its guests as selling equipment. They go hand-in-hand, actually, if you do it right.
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Common Wave Hi-Fi's Uncommonly Good Showing: DeVore O/Baby speakers, Audio Hungary Qualiton electronics, Merason DAC 1, Michell Engineering Gyro SE Turntable and Cusis E cartridge, and Innuos Mk3 Streaming Server
Hands down winner of my "Anything but Hotel California" Unusual Music Award, the first of Common Wave Hi-Fi of Los Angeles' three rooms kept platters spinning and visitors happy.
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Audioshield and Audio Chamber present Credo Audio Switzerland, Meitner, van den Hul, VPI, and more
John McGurk's Audioshield distribution, together with Johnathan Ellis's Audio Chamber of Murrieta, CA, featured a system that delivered fine, clear, all-of-a-piece sound that brought a smile to my eyes and happiness to my heart.
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Wynn Audio presents the new Kalista DreamPlay X CD transport and first USA showing of the Karan Acoustics POWERa power amplifier
For looks alone, few systems could top that from Ontario-based Wynn Audio. Perhaps the most eye-catching CD transport on the market, the Kalista DreamPlay X CD Transport ($68,800) with large outboard power supply, teamed with the DAC in the Métronome AQWO CD Player ($20,000) to create an awesome front end. Next to them, the unusual Vimberg Amea Bookshelf speakers ($18,000/pair; above) looked somewhat tame (which they weren't).
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Katli Audio pairs Usher's ML-801 loudspeaker with Conrad-Johnson, Cocktail Audio, and Esoteric gear
Katli Audio of Chino Hills, CA, the US importer of Usher Audio loudspeakers, paired Usher's ML-801 ($1l,950/pair in satin wood finish) with rarely-encountered-by-me Conrad-Johnson and other components. The ML-801 has a specified frequency range of 28Hz38kHz, and a sensitivity of 87dB. A three-way, four driver design with two 8" carbon-fiber woofers, it uses a new 1.25" magnesium-alloy tweeter and magnesium-lithium alloy midrange unit.
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