LATEST ADDITIONS

Just two months ago at CES, I enthused over the potential excellence of King Sound's China-made Kingsound The King full-range electrostatic loudspeaker ($8500/pair). But as much as VAC's Royal power supplies ($1300/pair), Phi 200 monoblocks ($9900/each), and Signature Mk IIa preamplifier with phono stage and external power supply ($18,000); Accuphase's DP-85 SACD player' and the VPI's Classic turntable equipped with Michael Fremer's fave Ortofon MC-90A cartridge were supplying superior sound, the system planned for Axpona was originally held back by junky interconnects and speaker cables. Cardas to the rescue. Thanks to Cardas Clear speaker cables ($3726/2m pair), Clear Beyond speaker cables ($7452/2m pair), and Clear interconnects ($1840/m for single-ended, $2140 for balanced), the system sounded simply wonderful. I was equally impressed with the sound of my SACD of Mahler Symphony No.2 and an LP of Lyle Lovett and His Large Band. Quad lovers owe these babies a listen, adds John Atkinson, who was equally taken by the sound of this system.

Channel D's <I>Stereophile</I>-recommended Pure Vinyl ($229) is a Macintosh-based music server program that is equipped for both archiving and playback of vinyl recordings at 192kHz/24 bits). One very cool feature allows you to "drag the needle" across the archived record to whatever groove you choose, in much the same way that you can skip ahead on a digital music file by dragging the cursor. What's extra fun is that your computer screen shows a simulated LP and arm, allowing you to drag the needle back and forth without scratching a thing.

...what happens to all those bed frames and mattresses that are removed from hotel suites in order to make room for exhibits? Here' a shot of the Wyndham Riverwalk Hotel mattress mortuary, which ordinarily serves as a convention meeting place. Missing is the mattress from Robert Robinson's Channel D. He chose to retain the mattress to tame highs bouncing from the side wall of the cozy second-floor hotel room.

<I>Stereophile</I> will be reporting live from 2010 AXPONA in Jacksonville, Florida - March 5th-7th.

At home, I’ve been playing around a little bit with my new Anniversary Ringmat 330 replacement platter mat for my Rega P3-24 turntable. However, I haven’t been in the best mood for comparative listening sessions&#151I came home from work with <a href="http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/100705advil/">a headache</a> the last two nights, and I’ve <a href="http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/030706dragonflies/">still</a&…; been suffering from some post-static stress disorder (<a href="http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/armed_and_ready/">PSSD</a&gt;) while playing LPs&#151so I’m not ready to make any value judgments.

<B>THE PERSUASIONS: <I>Live in the Whispering Gallery</I></B><BR>
Hammer n' Nails HNCD 1988 (CD only). Frank Kulaga, Larry Collen, engs.; David Ackerman, prod. D&#150;D. TT: 34:39

How can you tell when a politician is lying? His lips move. How can you tell when a recording system is perfect? CBS tries to outlaw it.