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Luke Manley and Bea Lam of VTL were on hand as host and hostess at the VTL exhibit suite at the Venetian Hotel to present their two new stereo tube amplifiers, the $33,500, 400Wpc S400 Series II amplifier, and the $10,000, 200Wpc S200 Stereo Signature amplifier shown in the photo. Although the S400 was configured into a floorstanding tower and the S200 in the rack-mounted chassis used for their MB-450 monoblock amplifier, both new products feature VTL's latest tube technology, including fully balanced, differential input stage, VTL's SmartTube technology with automatic bias and screen supply adjustments and fault sensing, and a new user-adjustable damping factor feedback control. The feedback loop amount can be precisely set to suite the listener's taste via three-position switches located between the input tubes on the top of the chassis.

Joseph Audio's Jeff Joseph is always a smiling, positive presence at CES and other shows, and always seems to have something new in his speaker line, even if "new" is defined as "finally in production." This describes the Perspective ($11,800/pair), making good sounds with relatively affordable Bel Canto equipment ($2995 digital receiver and CD3 transport). The tie Jeff is wearing has cartoon figures designed by Joshua Joseph, Jeff's 11-year-old son.

A close-up of the Joshua Joseph-designed tie. A 2012 CES highlight!

Atlantic Technology's AT-1, which uses their patented H-PAS venting technology, was one of the hits of last year's CES, and the positive impression was confirmed in Erick Lichte's review (September 2011). The H-PAS approach has now been applied to the new AT-2 ($1800/pair). The –3dB point is specified as 41Hz, which I'm told is an anechoic figure. This normally translates to in-room response to the low 30s, and the sound of the AT-2 in the Venetian's less-than-ideal space seemed to confirm this.

The business card of Eventus Audio's designer, Domenico Fiorentino, says "Fine Italian Products." But even if it didn't say that, even a casual look at the curved lines and impeccable finish of the Eventus speakers will immediately make you think that the speakers must be made in Italy. Their latest iO line is designed to bring the quality of their cost-no-object offerings to a more affordable level. North American prices are yet to be determined, but the stand-mounted two-way iO is 2500Euros/pair and the iO.f three-way floorstander is 5500Euros/pair. Fiorentino is pictured here with Angie Lisi of Audio Pathways, the North American distributor of Eventus.

It was good to visit McIntosh Laboratory's 35th floor suite at the Venetian Hotel and spend a few minutes with Ron Cornelius, the product manager, discussing our shared experiences with the legendary McIntosh MR-78 FM tuner. Ron showed me the latest iteration of the company's MC-275 tube amplifier. Now released as version 6, 50th-Anniversary 275, priced at $6500, it reminded me that the amplifier was first shipped in 1961.

I visited Burmester's President, Dieter Burmester, in the German company's Venetian Hotel Suite. As well as high-end audio products Burmester also manufactures high-perfomance music systems for the Bugatti Veyron and Porsche sports cars. I mentioned that I saw Dieter's likeness in a sketch for an interview with him and Richard Chailly that appears in the latest Christophorus, the Porsche's owner's magazine. That led to chat about our favorite automobiles, and from there to high-end audio. Dieter hopes putting high-end audio in the Porsche Panamera and 911 automobiles will introduce high-end audio to a younger but affluent generation now focused on limited-fidelity MP3 on their iPods.