montreal is:
montreal is:<br>
two spiral staircases
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a mist this gray morning drops
a mist this gray morning drops<br>
upon the curves
a million billion fruit trees, frozen
a million billion fruit trees, frozen
a few miles from plattsburg,
a few miles from plattsburg,<br>
global positioning system
high in the sky above saratoga springs:
this afternoon,<br>
high in the sky above saratoga springs:
Regardez—pas des câbles avec Micromega's Airstream
I had been impressed by Micromega's Airstream, the WiFi-connected DAC ($1595), when Jason Serinus and I heard it at <A HREF="http://blog.stereophile.com/axpona2010/micromega-focal-pathos-crystal/"…; at the beginning of March. But it was the French company's new owner, Didier Hamid, who caught showgoers' attention with the Airstream at SSI. Holding his MacBook Pro in his hand and playing songs from iTunes, Hamid dramatically demonstrated the benefits of doing away with wires. (The rest of the system included <A HREF="http://blog.stereophile.com/ssi2010/focals_daniel_jacques/">Focal 1038Be speakers</A> driven by Micromega amplification; control of volume was provided by the iTunes level control on the laptop.)
dCS-Nagra-Verity
Take a dCS Scarlatti digital front end ($68,000), combine it with a pair of Nagra VPA tube amplifiers ($20,000/pair, pictured), and a pair of the new Verity Audio Amadis loudspeakers ($29,995) and you'll have a pretty good-sounding system, right?
Son-or-Filtronique
Son-or-Filtronique was celebrating its 41st year of being in business at SSI and the retailer's larger room featured Verity Sarasto Mk.2 speakers driven by Audio Research Reference 210 tube monoblocks—love those green power meters—and the relatively new Audio Research Reference Five preamplifier. Source was the fully-loaded, four-box dCS Scarlatti SACD/CD player that <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/hirezplayers/dcs_scarlatti_sacdcd_playback_s… Fremer reviewed last August</A>. (My apologies S-or-F, but I didn't note the cables being used.) This was the last room I visited at SSI and all my notes said was "Wow!" So that's all I have to say here.
Bauer-Ayre-Sonus Faber
The smaller room operated by Montreal retailer Son-or-Filtronique was a little on the small side for the bass perfomance of the Sonus Faber speakers, driven by a pair of Ayre's mighty MX-R monoblocks, the midrange and highs were sweet and musical -sounding, whether the source was the MacBook seen in the photo driving the Ayre QB-9 USB DAC or the acrylic-plattered Bauer dps turntable that Art Dudley favorably reviewed in the Show (April) issue of <I>Stereophile</I>.
Monitor Audio's RX8
The affordable Monitor Audio Silver RS6 has been a long-term recommended loudspeaker at this magazine since <A HREF="http://stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/306monitor/">Bob Reina reviewed it</A> in March 2006. The English manufacturer recently replaced its "S" series with "X" models, which feature revised drive-units, better internal bracing, and lacquer finishes. The benefits of the changes are said to be better low-frequency definition and deeper bass extension. Being demmed at SSI was not the replacement for the RS6 but the larger Silver RX8 ($1750/pair in standard finsih, $2000/pair in black or white gloss). With the RX8s driven by a Simaudio Supernova CD player and a Yamaha RXZ-7 receiver, Dave Brubeck's classic "Take Five" did indeed sound fine, with a soundstage that floated free of the speakers themselves and weighty but well-defined lows.