You’re going to need to indulge me a bit, because, due to some communication difficulties, I’m not totally confident of some prices and components in this room. If I understood correctly, the handmade-in-Japan, 1-bit Sparkler Audio S503 CD Player/Transport costs $1650, and the build-it-yourself EleKit TU-8600R integrated amplifier, also from Japan, goes for $1785. The loudspeaker system appears to be custom, from AER, including that company's BD2 driver (3000 each, according to the AER website) in an acrylic stand that looks like AER's Custom (€5500/pair) but with the addition of the larger (1280mm) excenterhorn acrylic horn (€6120 each) and a subway subwoofer (€3000). This closely resembles the system the website describes as Custom + Subway (€8500) but with added of the excenterhornsmuch like AER's excenter model but with different stands and apparently a different driver.
I was drawn to the room by the beauty of Cecilia Bartoli’s voice on an aria from her recent Antonio Vivaldi CD. I frequently play tracks from this disc at home, so I know that orchestral instruments should have had more weight and body than they did here. The recorder, on the other hand, sounded drop-dead beautiful. I also heard a 1992 direct-to-disc recording of Joe Pass playing “Unforgettable;” the quality of attack and fineness of line were very special. This system, then,like many systems based on full-range drivers, has many virtues but is suited to particular tastes.
