AXPONA 2010

The room shared by Oracle and Phase Technology featured the eye-catching Oracle CD2500 CD player ($12,500), Oracle Delphi Mk.6 turntable with Oracle SME 5 tonearm and Thalia cartridge ($16,500 total), Oracle phono stage ($9950), and Oracle SI 1000 175Wpc integrated amp ($9950) powering the black Phase Technology PC-9.5 loudspeakers ($3500/pair). I was given very different figures in the room than are printed on the literature. Does this 4 ohms nominal impedance speaker have 91dB sensitivity, as the literature says, or 87dB, which is what the spex said? Is its frequency response 32Hz—22kHz, or 35Hz—20kHz ±2dB. And is its price what I was told? Such are the mysteries of life.

For those unfamiliar with the company, Phase Technology was founded in New York City in 1955 by Bill Hecht, 88, who invested the soft-dome tweeter. Despite some confusion about what was what, he clearly knew what he was doing in the tweeter department. When an audiophile classic that dominated shows a number of years back, Rebecca Pidgeon's Chesky recording of "Spanish Harlem," began to play, her voice sounded exactly right.