LATEST ADDITIONS

Harry and Mat Weisfeld were up to their old tricks at CAF, wowing the audience with a reference rig containing a pair of vintage JBL Everest loudspeakers in the Jefferson suite and dropping a lower-cost system in the Adams room.

I strolled into this room not knowing what to expect but seriously intrigued by the pair of large, folded-horn speakers that looked like something from a Grimm's fairy tale.

Mark Sossa of Well Pleased AV always puts together solid, good-sounding rooms, often featuring Merason DACs and Qln loudspeakers. At this show Sossa's system, fortified by Alma Music & Audio, reached new levels of transparency, quiet, and soundstaging, wowing and entrancing me.

Jeff Coates of Harmonia Distribution presented several systems in its two-room suite in Rockville.

Tom Vu brought a complete Triangle Art system to CAF, with his trademark gold-encrusted turntables at the center of the room—not one, not two, but three! Vu sold the most expensive turntable while I was away fetching coffee.

As a frequent visitor to the High Water Sound rooms of Jeffrey Catalano, I know to look at the records even before I look at the rig. Catalano always brings records I don't know but must own after hearing them in his room.

In addition to their showing in the Democracy room, Command Performance AV brought two US debut products to room 305: the J.Sikora Aspire turntable with the CF9 tonearm ($10,595) and the Innuos Stream3 music streamer with optional PhoenixDAC board ($12,600), which turns it into a fully fledged streaming music player.