RMAF 2013

Listening to Scaena's Silver Ghost speakers ($153,000/system) had been a highlight of last March's AXPONA in Chicago. At the Denver Tech Center Hyatt, the speakers had been set-up by Sunny Umrao (in photo) firing diagonally across a much larger room than in Chicago. With a system comprising a dCS Vivaldi digital source driving an Audio Research Reference 75 stereo amplifier for the towers and six inexpensive Crown class-D amplifiers for the six woofer modules operating below 120Hz, the sound of a live recording of Dave Brubeck's "Rondo a la Turk" did indeed sound live.

And in response to one critic who suggested that because the circular cross-section of the Scaena's woofer enclosure means that there will be a strong radial mode, this will lead to coloration, it should be remembered that the diameter of the enclosure is small compared to the wavelengths of the low-frequency sounds be generated. It is probable, therefore that this resonance will be too high in frequency—ie, well above the drive-unit's low-pass corner frequency—to be excited.