Filtronique: Nagra, Wilson Audio, Modulum , Siltech

Remember in my first post when I said "How cool it would be if I'd turned into Alternate Rob with a half-million dollar system waiting for him at home?" Well, the system I encountered in one of Filtronique's rooms would fit the bill nicely.

It included the architectural wonder that is Nagra's Reference 70th Anniversary Limited Edition turntable ($232,500 with tonearm), of which only 70 will be made and sold worldwide; a Nagra MC-6 cartridge ($24,500); a Nagra HD DAC X ($89,500); a Nagra HD preamp ($90,500); a pair of 250W 2020 Edition Nagra HD monoblocks ($124,500/pair); and a pair of Wilson Alexia V speakers ($95,000). Racks and shelves were by Modulus, cables and power conditioning by Siltech

The room was consistently abuzz during the three-day weekend, and the natural flow of traffic led people right between the loudspeakers and the listeners, so getting a clear line of listening with the system was the music-listening equivalent of a spotty internet connection. But still! The sound that came through during the interludes in foot traffic, from a cross-section of blues and jazz cuts, was sublime, sweet and sophisticated, with levels of touch, microdynamics, texture, color, veracity, and musical rightness that made me mutter under my breath, "Oh please let me be the Alternate Rob who gets to own this system!"

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