Big Sound in Pikes Peak

In the big Pikes Peak room, I heard a big, full-bodied sound that gave a gentle sparkle to electric guitars and rich texture to voices.

The system:

Laufer Teknik Memory Player 64 Ultimate digital music player ($27,950), Leonardo Model 8 ribbon-planar loudspeaker ($65,000/pair), Audio Power Labs (“My Tubes Are Bigger Than Yours”) 833TNT monoblock power amplifier ($175,000/pair), Silver Circle Audio Pure Power One 5.0 power conditioner ($5500), and loudspeaker cables, interconnects, and power cords from Klee Acoustics, Kaplan Cable, and Extreme Audio.

The gong-shaped thing in the center of the system is HighEnd Novum’s Premium Passive Multivocal Resonator (PMR), reviewed by Sam Tellig in our May 2012 issue. According to Sam, the PMR added vibrancy to his system.

It was too dark in Pikes Peak for me to tell.

COMMENTS
JohnnyR's picture

Didn't take long to post another moronicly priced system. Good work! And they wonder why High End is dying.

roscoeiii's picture

We get it. You don't like the prices of some of the equipment covered here. Please stop trolling every RMAF post with your one-point critique. There are audiophiles interested in a wide range of price points. Deal with it.

JohnnyR's picture

Just don't read my posts.....DUH and thank you.

John Atkinson's picture

Because of complaints from visitors like yourself to our site, we have decided to give JohnnyR a 7-day timeout.

John Atkinson

Editor, Stereophile

GeorgeHolland's picture

Mr Atkinson, why keep JohnnyR from posting just because you got a few complaints and just who were the complainers? I read on your forum and see way worse going on all the time, especially in the Open Bar section. Why you let people like Sanford and Soulful terrain talk so horribly on there, yet ban JohnnyR for just saying what a lot of people are thinking here? I admit he is a bit brash but the other two I mentioned are downright nasty. This is the main reason myself and others are loath to join up and partake in the forums. Clean those up and maybe your readership will increase also. Thanks.

Lofty's picture

I heard that $175,000.00 Audio Power Labs amplifier at a NYC audio show back in 2011 driving enormous Wharfedale speakers and the sound was glorious. Now, I can't afford that kind of money for an amp. Geez, 1% or $1750.00 is a lot for me for an amplifier. Still, it was educating to hear what can be done with unlimited resources. JohnnyR, you need to calm down, really! 

Ariel Bitran's picture

what questions was Johnny R raising in regards to the show reports? all he really seemed to be doing to me was complaining about the coverage. show reports are not reviews, they are not value judgments, they are not opinion pieces, they are short reflections on the sound heard in each room, the emotions stimulated, and the gear that made it.

most of what Johnny R has been doing is complaining about is the high price of the products; that they are overpriced, but with the limited time each writer spends in each room, they cannot make full value judgments (relative to lower priced or similarly priced products or higher priced) nor can they make sonic judgments with a reference system. so, they tell you what they hear, and how much the stuff costs and that's about the most of it, minus any personal flare. show reports are not the venue to criticize pricing for high-end products. At shows, manufacturers are gonna want to show your their best, and as a result, the folks AT the show have a GREAT time listening to these systems. Audio Shows for the visitors are more about fun! If you went and you saw a Toyota at a car-show and all they were showing was a beige Camry with cloth interior, would you care? would you talk about it? even if it was $19,000? 

no, you want the Delorean. or the Ferrari. b/c that's what makes a car show fun. Audio shows should be fun too.  

Just because you are reading about it here does not mean Stereophile is offering validation on the prices of these products. Any validation would have to come in the form of a full review where our staff will always offer their own opinion on sound, compare to other products and deliver a value judgment in the end as a result. 

so my question for you George is, what could Stereophile do differently in our show report that would validate JohnnyR and your objectives that would not be disqualified lack of resources to actually conduct a full review?

JohnnyR's picture

.you decide to post your opinion after I got censored for a week? I brought up lots of questions like why Stereophile doesn't test cables, power cords and magic bowls and got the usual brush off by Fearless Leader. Plus continuous "reports" about $20,000 and up amps, cables, and whatever is boring to the majority of people that don't have that cash on hand. Stereophile needs to either smell the coffee or fold.

George did bring up some good points about your forum and how certain individuals there keep freindly people from joining by their nasty ones and outright slander. Clean it up and see the magic change! yeah I won't be holding my breath on that one.

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