PAF 2022

No, this blog isn't about slaughter. It's about the components in Seattle Hi-Fi of Redmond, WA's room, some of which were displayed on Butcher Block Acoustics shelving.

Nor was there anything about the sound Burt Goodman drew from his system deserving of slaughter. True, the music selections were all standard audiophile fare from previous generations, but the sound was here, now, and excellent. Diana Krall's "Let’s Fall in Love" was bright, lovely, clean, colorful, and fully detailed.

"Easy to love system" I scribbled as the Legacy Audio's Wavelet 2 DSP DAC/preamplifier ($7950, above), which now runs a 64-bit DSP environment and offers a robust USB connection, helped generate fine sound through Legacy's Aeries loudspeakers (from $21.477.50/pair). With strong kudos for a room equipment list filled with detail, these part-active, 4 ohm nominal impedance speakers include a dual air-motion tweeter (AMT), an 8" midrange, a 10" mid-bass driver, and dual 12" subwoofers powered by an internal 1000W of ICE amplification.

It wasn't just the speakers that nailed the growling bottom notes of the organ in the classic early-digital Dorian recording of Pictures at an Exhibition. Hats off to the Hegel H30 stereo amplifier ($17,000), which puts out a phenomenal 1100Wpc into 8 ohms and is said to be able to handle loads down to 1 ohm. That's ONE OHM, as in OMG.

Equal credit goes to Lumin Music's P1 Network Music Player ($10,000) with leedh and Lundahl. Ask John Atkinson about them. Suffice to say they're not a comedy duo from Canarsie. Lumin's Mark Gurvey characterizes the leedh volume control as "like somebody just opened all the windows."

A final hats off to Nordost's Tyr 2, Frey 2, and Heimdall 2 cabling, all abetted by a QRT QBase QB8 Mark 2 AC distribution unit. Oh, and to Burt and his crew. For more information on the store, which also carries Dynaudio, VTL, and Jadis (amongst many other brands), see seattlehifi.com.