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Mat and Harry Weisfeld presented two dedicated rock ‘em, sock ‘em systems at last month's CAF2024 show. The first room marked the debut of the new VPI Forever Series Model One turntable, which is currently in house at Chez Micallef under review.

Closing his review of the AirTight ATM-1S amplifier in the November 2014 Stereophile, Art Dudley wrote, "The AirTight ATM-1S is right up there with the best I've heard: the artisanal, the small, the artistically sensitive, the colorful and characterful, the smart. The AirTight is as serious an EL34 amplifier as I've heard, offering texture, color, poise, musical drive, and rightness, all in good proportion to one another. It also looks nice and represents at least decent if not outrageously good value for the money."

Art's ATM-1S was a step in a long succession of tube amplifiers produced by AirTight since its 1986 founding. First came the original ATM-1; AirTight has also produced the ATM-2 (which used KT88 tubes), the ATM-4 (6L6GCs), the 1S that Art reviewed (EL34s; the S stood for "special"), the ATM-2 Plus, and now the ATM-1 2024 Edition ($14,975).

Mark Sossa, the best-dressed and best-mannered exhibitor at CAF 2024, under the banner of Well Pleased AV, had new gear to play for me and I was all ears.

I think of Audio-Technica as the maker of some of the best high-value cartridges out there. From the ubiquitous AT3600L, which can be had for a little more than a Big Mac meal at McDonald's, to the popular OC9 moving coil series, A-T's cartridges have long been easy-to-recommend options that deliver great sound mounted on just about any turntable.

But occasionally, Audio-Technica likes to show off its technological chops by launching a cartridge that breaks new ground. Last year, they celebrated their 60th anniversary by stunning everyone with the AT-MC2022, which uses an outrageous integrated stylus and cantilever fashioned from a single piece of lab-grown diamond. In 2016, they flexed their capabilities with the AT-ART1000, which completely reconfigured how the elements of a moving coil cartridge are arranged, with spectacular results.

Now, eight years after the AT-ART1000 was launched, A-T has introduced the AT-ART1000x, which incorporates several small but important improvements.

NLH’s Aaron Sherrick was busy, yet oddly calm, as he sat and directed the action in the Executive Lounge. NLH’s Matt Early (an old friend of mine from Tower Records on 66th St. NYC) controlled the iPad, while Qobuz’s David Solomon offered support, emotional and otherwise!

Gramophone Dreams’ columnist Herb Reichert has written glowing amplifier reviews of Elekit of Fukuoka, Japan, and Sun Valley, of Nagoya, Japan, both distributed by Victor Kung’s VK Music.

At CAF2024 Victor showcased many amplifiers at his CAF booth, most boasting fat tubes and open circuit boards, the kind of which activates my reviewer’s twitch.

It is unusual to begin a review with a detailed discussion of setup. But setup protocol for the Moon 861 power amplifier ($22,000 each), the top-level amplifier in the North Collection from Moon, which I reviewed bridged in mono, proved crucial to its sound.

The setup saga began when Moon co-owner Costa Koulisakis traveled to Port Townsend from Quebec to help remove two 861 amplifiers from their sturdy flight cases and set them up.