LATEST ADDITIONS

Definitive Audio of Bellevue, Washington (near Seattle), one of the premier dealerships in the Pacific Northwest, continued its 50th anniversary celebration with a September event it called "Icons and Innovators." Highlighted by showings of the new JBL Everest series and Bowers & Wilkins Nautilus and 801 Abbey Road edition loudspeakers, the event drew a full house to the first of two sessions on the afternoon of September 18.

What's better than attending one audio event? Attending three. Well, not exactly three—more like two spread across three locations, tied together by one company: importer-distributor American Sound of Canada, which is based in Greater Toronto.

"None of the amps I build are better than the others," Justin Weber of Ampsandsound told me not long after we met. "They are just different." I may have smirked inwardly. According to his company's website, Weber makes no fewer than 23 amplifier models, ranging from the $2700 Kenzie OG to the $38,000 Arch Monos. Are they really all equally good?, I wondered.

My fondness for Greg Roberts's Volti Audio loudspeakers has been documented in reviews of the company's Rival and Lucera speakers.

If you find yourself in Monaco on a Sunday night, make your way to La Note Bleue, a rant and music bar on the beach by the Avenue Princesse Grace. There, you're likely to find a legendary world/fusion guitarist sitting in with a group of young jazz musicians eager to cut heads with the acknowledged maestro of inner awareness and otherworldly spirits.

Victor Kung brought his overachieving Elekit and Sun Valley amplifiers to CAF. Herb Reichert was there to welcome him.

"Songer Audio is pleased to return to the 2025 Capital Audiofest this weekend, where we will present two exciting premieres," the press release stated. "The show marks the East Coast debut of our A3 single-ended 300B amplifier, a design that unites the timeless beauty of early high-fidelity engineering with modern technical refinement. The A3, in concert with our S1x field-coil loudspeakers, delivers an effortless and deeply engaging musical presentation—a culmination of our pursuit of uncompromising performance."