CES 2008

Ever listen to a system costing $340,288? Ray Kimber's IsoMike venture put on such an exhibit at CES to preview their DSD recordings with "no limiting, no compression, no mixing, and no equalization." They had their SACD Hybrid Stereo/4-channel discs next door for sale.

The exhibit featured four Sound Lab ProStat 922 full-range electrostatic, loudspeakers each driven by a Pass Labs X350.5 solid-state amplifier. The huge Sound Lab panels—each panel is 94" tall by 40" wide—were placed into each corner of the room and dwarfed recording engineer Graemme Brown. Other products in the system included EMM Labs electronics, Kimber Kables, and GML room equalization.

Selections played from the company's hard drives included live recordings of the Blue Knight marching band and the Fry Street Quartet. The resulting sound was clean, fast, and very transparent.