LATEST ADDITIONS

When I poked my head into the Ayon ballroom on Friday, the first day of T.H.E. Show, the sound was too bright for my taste. A day later, listening to the Tape Project’s Master Tape of Nojima Plays Liszt, I found the sound much too subdued and flat. Perhaps, as is often the case at shows, by the end of the show the system arrived at a place of balance.

Wishing to slow down and luxuriate with trusted friends, I headed to Covina, CA-based Sunny Components’ room on the second floor of the Hilton to reunite with the Wilson Audio Alexia loudspeakers ($48,500/pair). Making their West Coast show debut, these handsome babies, which I initially blogged about at RMAF 2012, sang superbly through Audio Research’s ARC Reference 250 monoblocks ($13,000 pair) and, in its US premiere, the ARC Reference 10 line stage preamplifier ($30,000). Also in the digital chain were the ARC Reference DAC, which extends up to 24/192; the new Harmonic Resolution Systems SXR Signature edition rack; and a combination of Shunyata Research, Transparent, and Isotek cabling and products. Wilson specialist and sound engineer Peter McGrath (left) enlightened me and Sunil Merchant of Sunny Components (right) by playing a bit of his hi-resolution master of young pianist Benjamin Grosvenor performing the second movement Beethoven’s Op.7, No. 2 sonata.

With MBL’s sonic excellence long established in these pages, I lingered in Jeremy Bryan’s room just long enough to confirm that the sound was as gratifying as usual. On a cut from the Reference Recordings’ classic of Rutter’s Requiem—happily not the “Pie Jésu” that everyone and their mother chooses—I was immediately seduced by the beautiful air and warmth of the Radialstrahler 111F loudspeaker ($42,000/pair) fed by MBL’s Corona line C31 CD player ($9200), C11 preamplifier ($8800), and C15 mono power amplifiers ($25,000/pair).

YG Acoustics’ Sonja 1.2 passive loudspeakers ($72,800/pair), which is basically the Sonja 1.3 that JA will be reviewing in the July issue, with one less woofer, sounded gorgeous in a not-so-modest $250,000 system. Sharing the honors were Tenor Audio’s 1755 stereo amplifier (Cn$55,000) and Line1/Power 1 preamplifier (Cn$75,000), Luxman’s DA-06 DAC ($6000), and $34,700 worth of Kubala Sosna Elation cabling and Sextet Power Distribution box.

It’s not just a sign that proclaims this turntable a work of art; to those heavy into industrial design, the Basis Work of Art with Super 9 tonearm ($179,000) is what it proclaims. I will leave a detailed assessment to Michael Fremer, but on preliminary listen, in a major industrial-strength system that included the Lyra Atlas phono cartridge ($9500); four Audio Research components, including the Ref 250 monoblock amplifiers ($26,000/pair) and Ref 10 phono preamp ($30,000); Vandersteen 7 loudspeakers ($48,000/pair); and AudioQuest WEL Signature interconnects and speaker cable ($124,000 total), the system’s extremely warm and mellow sound shone through a bit of shoutiness and boominess.

Although they looked the same, the Audio Note UK E/SPe HE 98dB-sensitive loudspeakers ($9300/pair plus $650 for the stands) were a larger version of what I heard at AXPONA Chicago. In a system that also included Audio Note UK’s CDT Three top-loading CD transport ($12,000), DAC3.1x / II Balanced ($10,000), and OTO SE Signature integrated amplifier ($5500, or $6300 with phono), a very warm and mellow midrange triumphed on Jane Monheit’s “More than You Will Ever Know” from the album, Neverland. A further listen to a cut from Hazmat Modine’s Bahamut convinced that this is a system for midrange lovers über alles.

T.H.E. Show Newport Beach presented two opportunities to hear the encouraging debut of the Nola Micro Grand Reference Gold loudspeaker ($22,200/pair with stands). On both occasions, the speaker was paired with Nordost cabling, this time top-of-the-line Odin throughout.