T.H.E. Show Newport 2012

You couldn't miss the signage for PrimaLuna and Nola; it was as big as the excellent signage for T.H.E. Show itself. You also couldn't miss the sound: lovely, warm, and extremely inviting. Although the system was playing a bit too loud for the room, the system handled bass extremely well, and made timbres on a (yes) Diana Krall recording pretty natural. Doing the honors were the Nola Ko loudspeaker ($9800/pair) and three components from PrimaLuna: Premium CD player ($3995), DiaLogue 3 linestage preamplifier ($2695), and DiaLogue 7 monoblock amplifiers ($5495/pair).

In case you were allergic to signage, or flying from room to room with the speed of Tinkerbell, and somehow missed that PrimaLuna is tube based, this lovely display from Upscale Audio drove the point home. And if you did read the signs, perhaps you were the lucky one who snagged the show demos for a good price.

PrimaLuna's Kevin Deal (right) was presented with a "crown of tubes" at the Show—Manley Labs' EveAnna Manley (left), no stranger to things thermionic herself, is suitably impressed.