LATEST ADDITIONS

T.H.E. Show 2021
Spatial Audio M3 loudspeakers, Quad Artera Solus Play, Gold Note Mediterraneo turntable, Cardas cables
Jason Victor Serinus  |  Jun 14, 2021  |  3 comments
Nothing has changed with Spatial Audio's M3 loudspeaker ($4950/pair) since the last time I heard it. The design is the same, as is the speakers' ability to totally disappear at very close range.
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T.H.E. Show 2021
PranaFidelity's New Dhara Loudspeakers Dance with E.A.R. and Townshend Electronics, Helius and Koetsu Analog, and Silversmith Cabling
Jason Victor Serinus  |  Jun 13, 2021  |  1 comments
I've always enjoyed Steven Norber's loudspeakers, but the pairing of his brand new Dhara (as in continuous flow) 40lb loudspeakers ($TBD) and Purna/Ma amplifier ($8950) with the late Tim de Paravicini's E.A.R. Phono Classic phono preamplifier ($1895 in black or $2395 in chrome) sounded exceptionally fine. Other brands deserve equal credit, but what's most important to know is that on an old Nonesuch LP of Schutz Motets, soundstaging, warmth, and beauty were supreme.
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T.H.E. Show 2021
The Reference Components Room: Zingali Acoustics Twenty 1.2 EVO Thirtieth Anniversary Edition loudspeaker, Cary Audio CAD-805 RS monoblocks & SLP98P preamp
Jason Victor Serinus  |  Jun 13, 2021  |  12 comments
After a 15-year hiatus, Italy's Zingali Acoustics returns to the US courtesy of importer/distributor Reference Components Ltd with the Twenty 1.2 EVO Thirtieth Anniversary Edition loudspeakers ($21,045/pair in walnut finish). To these ears, the re-introduction is notable, because Hilary Hahn's violin sounded glorious on her performance of Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No.1. Sweetened by Cary Audio's 27Wpc CAD-805 RS single-ended triode monoblocks ($15,995/pair) with a host of new, old, and NOS tubes and a Cary SLP-98P preamplifier ($4995) with Tung Sol tubes from the 1940s, the sound was magical.
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T.H.E. Show 2021
Cake Audio: Eye/Ear Candy Courtesy of Alsyvox Botticelli loudspeakers & Vitus SS-103 amplifier, Vitus SL-103 preamplifier, Vitus SP-103 phono preamplifier, Vitus SCD-025 CD player, CAD Ground Control, Kuzma turntable
Jason Victor Serinus  |  Jun 13, 2021  |  15 comments
I wonder if France would have been the same had Marie Antoinette had access to a system like this. Dominating the view in this room, presented by San Clemente, California's Cake Audio (not the Czech audio manufacturer), was the joint US premiere of the striking Alsyvox Botticelli ribbon loudspeakers ($92,000/pair + $30,000 optional external crossovers) and Vitus SS-103 stereo amplifier ($40,000).
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T.H.E. Show 2021
Time with the Big Boys #1: PBN, MR!777 loudspeaker, PBN Olympia amplification, PBN Olympia DX DAC, Kimber Kable
Jason Victor Serinus  |  Jun 12, 2021  |  8 comments
I almost lost my hearing in the PBN room. Well, not quite the room itself. I was approaching the large entranceway to this huge air-walled PBN room on the ground floor when my guardian angels, somewhat like the guardians of the temple in Mozart's The Magic Flute, declared "Zurück! This music is too loud for you to enter."
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T.H.E. Show 2021
Time with the Big Boys #2: Audio Limits, Audiovector R8 loudspeakers, Thrax Libra 300 preamplifier & Spartacus power amplifier, Tom Evans turntable, Weiss DAC
Jason Victor Serinus  |  Jun 12, 2021  |  0 comments
Darrin O'Neill's Audio Limits, located outside Las Vegas, showcased an impressive system that included the debut of the Audiovector R8 Arreté ($69,995/pair) and Thrax Libra 300 Differential Balanced 300B tube preamplifier ($57,500). The four-way speakers are claimed to have a frequency range of 22Hz–52kHz, 92.5dB/2.83V/m sensitivity, 8 ohm impedance, and the capacity to handle up to 500W power.
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T.H.E. Show 2021
Time with the Big Boys #3: High Fidelity Cables
Jason Victor Serinus  |  Jun 12, 2021  |  2 comments
Rick Schulz's High Fidelity Cables system threw such a huge soundstage that I needed to go back a row or two to take it all in. When I did, it sounded tremendous, as in positively three-dimensional with a smooth and pleasing top.
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T.H.E. Show 2021
Back to AAudio Imports: Wilson Benesch A.C.T. One Evolution loudspeaker, Ypsilon Phaethon SE integrated amplifier & DAC 1000SE, Aurender W20SE server, PowerSlave Marble Mk,II power distributor, Stage III Poseidon & Cerberus cables
Jason Victor Serinus  |  Jun 12, 2021  |  0 comments
I mentioned this room in the opening blog from T.H.E. Show 2021, but only to point out the unusual nature of its PowerSlave Marble Mk.II power distributor ($18,500), the Stacore Roller Anti-Vibration Platform with cryo-max mass loading+bearing isolation ($4180), and the huge Stage III Poseidon AC power ($22,000) and Cerberus speaker cables ($36,200/pair). While they weren't the most expensive components in the room, their prices certainly topped that of the flagship Aurender W20SE music server/streamer ($22,000).
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T.H.E. Show 2021
From Rock to Space: Wayne Carter Audio, Margules Audio I-240 & ACRH-3 amplifiers, Magenta & SA-2 loudspeakers
Jason Victor Serinus  |  Jun 12, 2021  |  1 comments
When Wayne Carter told me that his company, San Diego-based Wayne Carter Audio, designed audio systems for rock stars and also distributed Margules Audio tube products, I knew I had to pair one room with the other. The potential contrast between Carter's "vintage mastering system from 30 years ago"—assembled partly for fun and partly as a tool to help customers understand what was and is possible—and Margules's diminutive gear was too delicious to resist.
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T.H.E. Show 2021
ATC SCM100ASLT & MC Audiotech Forty-10 loudspeakers: a Study in Contrasts
Jason Victor Serinus  |  Jun 11, 2021  |  2 comments
Two rooms, side-by-side at T.H.E. Show 2021, with two entirely different but equally valid windows on sound. To the left—we are not talking politics here—the UK's ATC loudspeaker company, manufacturer of time-honored active and passive loudspeakers. Courtesy of their reps, Las Vegas-based Lone Mountain Audio, we are hearing the US show debut of SCM100ASLT Active Driver Tower loudspeaker ($41,999/pair, or $50,999/pair in this particular glossy finish). This is a bigger speaker than the two other speakers that the company usually shows, and the music played via file, wireless Tidal streaming, and LP included an international line-up of Mark Knopfler, Bob Marley, and Charles Mingus.
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