Verdant Audio's Scott Bierfelt and Linn business development manager Rachel Mackenzie presented a fine-sounding room comprised of Linn components.
Before the show, Bierfelt wrote via e-mail, "The intent, since this is NYC and space is at a premium, is to take a lifestyle system but one without compromise. For digital streaming, you need one box (Klimax DSM) and two speakers that are modest in size. Yet this is an elite DAC and superb speakers that will perform as well as any $145,000 system and can fit in almost any NYC apartment."
Considering that many of the Hilton rooms were about the size of my listening room, I felt right at home.
"I am going to show the Linn Klimax 360 system," Bierfelt wrote. The full-on Linn tour de force included a Linn Klimax LP12 turntable with Linn Bedrok plinth ($11,380) and Urika phono stage ($56,695), aided by an Antipodes Oladra music server/streamer ($29,000). A Linn Klimax DSM Hub ($24,120) drove the Linn 360 speakers ($120,580/pair).
A Puritan PSM1512 conditioner ($5,300) worked in conjunction with Puritan Ultimate and Ultimate XX cables. Wilson Benesch's R1 rack ($10,500) supported the works.
An original Columbia Masterworks edition of Stravinsky's Le Sacre du printemps conducted by Bernstein seized me by the shorthairs. The sheer scale of the soundstage took me aback: wide, tall, and deep enough to let a flock of sheep roam free. Instrumental detail and layering were spectacular. The music flew beyond the speakers, even the room boundaries. This system revealed every acoustic corner of the vast recording space yet maintained an intimate, sensuous presence, rich with ambient texture. Frankly, I was unprepared. I enjoyed my brief stay in Verdant's room.
Before the show, Bierfelt wrote via e-mail, "The intent, since this is NYC and space is at a premium, is to take a lifestyle system but one without compromise. For digital streaming, you need one box (Klimax DSM) and two speakers that are modest in size. Yet this is an elite DAC and superb speakers that will perform as well as any $145,000 system and can fit in almost any NYC apartment."
Considering that many of the Hilton rooms were about the size of my listening room, I felt right at home.
A Puritan PSM1512 conditioner ($5,300) worked in conjunction with Puritan Ultimate and Ultimate XX cables. Wilson Benesch's R1 rack ($10,500) supported the works.
An original Columbia Masterworks edition of Stravinsky's Le Sacre du printemps conducted by Bernstein seized me by the shorthairs. The sheer scale of the soundstage took me aback: wide, tall, and deep enough to let a flock of sheep roam free. Instrumental detail and layering were spectacular. The music flew beyond the speakers, even the room boundaries. This system revealed every acoustic corner of the vast recording space yet maintained an intimate, sensuous presence, rich with ambient texture. Frankly, I was unprepared. I enjoyed my brief stay in Verdant's room.
