Capital AudioFest 2019

Oswald Mill Audio (OMA) is known for thinking outside of the box, and its new division, Fleetwood Sound Company, looks to be extending that tradition.

Presented by audio veterans Chris Sommovigo and Vytas Viesulas, the Black Cat, MA Recordings, Fern & Roby, Fleetwood Sound room was operating the latter’s unusual-looking DeVille Monitor. Featuring a six-inch thick, solid wood conical horn made from “thermally induced” modified Pennsylvania ash wood, the DeVille, which is rated at at 94dB and 8 ohms nominal impedance, is an unusually nimble, natural-sounding and propulsive standmount speaker.

Their rig in room 517 included the cast iron Fern & Roby Tredegar turntable with Schroeder Ref SQ tonearm ($10,500), custom-made Concert Fidelity i300B Integrated Amplifier ($15,595; this integrated also made an appearance in Todd Garfinkle’s MA Recordings room), USD-040NX DAC, Clones Audio "The Host" II" server, XHP-7 Reference Headphone Amp ($12,595), Fern & Roby Maverick phono preamp ($1850), KR Audio KR 300B Vacuum Tubes ($995/pair), and Sommovigo’s Black Cat Silverstone power cord ($495.95/one meter), Setsuna Interconnects ($1295/one meter pair) and Speaker Cables ($2195).

Whether playing Mississippi John Hurt on Piedmont vinyl or bigger big band jazz, this unusual setup sounded slightly rolled off in the upper frequencies but was surprisingly fast. It’s the kind of sound one could settle into, playing record after record. Imaging was first rate, and dynamic nuance and touch was especially good. This system sounded like nothing else at the show. Musical, very sweet, and involving.