AXPONA 2011

The BAT-Scaena Room

John Atkinson  |  Apr 21, 2011

Though I have shown in the photo the prototype of the new BAT P1 phono cartridge, developed by Peter Lederman but with a feature unique to BAT that is said to reduce stylus jitter, the star of this large room was the pair of Scaena line-source speakers ($66,000/system) that were driven by BAT's new Rex tubed amplifier ($15,000, used here bridged for mono) but also proved unphotographable (at least by me). (You can find Jason Serinus' photo of the speaker at the 2010 Axpona here.)

The rest of the system included a Silver Circle Pure Audio 5.0 AC conditioner, Kubula-Sosna Master Reference cables, Critical Mass Systems stands, BAT VK-P10 phono preamp, BAT Rex line stage, Scaena subwoofers, and a Spiral Groove SG-2 turntable and Centroid tonearm. Listening to Marc Cohn's "Riding on a Ghost Train" and Miles Davis's "So What" from LP, it was though I were hearing these familiar pieces for the first time. There was a stability to the high frequencies, a clarity to the midrange, a depth to the low frequencies, that thrilled.

COMMENTS
pmcneil's picture
Submitted by pmcneil on April 22, 2011 - 4:45pm

(cut and pasted from earlier comment that I left in the wrong place)

This was my first high end audio shoW.

One exhibit, and one only, greatly impressed me, that by the speaker maker Scaena.

Nothing else I have ever heard, certainly nothing I heard at the show, surpasses the width and depth of the soundstage, and the imaging of these speakers. I had to get up close, within an inch, to confirm that it was those two columns of bullets producing the sound! Walking away from the center seating spot was not sufficient!

But why do they have to mate their superlative towers with (yes, this is a subwoofer) ugly barrels fronting a whimpy driver (Emminence)? No wonder, given the drivers, that some people order six! Most of us already have subwoofers, and the electronics to set a cross-over. My infinite baffle sub will blow these Immence barrels away! And, they are invisible, more or less, in the walls of my home theater room.

I did a search, and was shocked to find that Stereophile has not reviewed these!?

They should, though based on the number of awards and positive reviews these speakers have received they are clearly not unknowns.

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