"Have you heard the Larsen speakers?" The person posing this query was one of CES attendees in the elevator with me at the Venetian, who looked at my badge and noted my affiliation. "No, I can't say I have. I don't think I've even heard of them." He then proceeded to tell me that he owned these speakers, and loved them. They were exhibiting at the Venetian.
I first heard the King Audio Limited (also known as KingSound) Prince electrostatic loudspeaker several years ago at the Montreal show, and was impressed by the transparency of its sound, which reminded me of the KLH Nines that I used to own.
A year after they were first announced, WBT CEO Wolfgang B. Thoerner is preparing to release his organic carbon Nano Gen connectors at the 2015 Munich show. As opposed to customary metal connectors, Nano Gen's carbon is claimed to transport signals faster because it does so in only two dimensions, while metal transport transports signals in three dimensions.
I hope not, because it's (presumably indigestible) vibration-damping material from Scotland. Distributed by TWN Audio/Video's Santy Oropel, the Black Ravioli line includes the Big Riser ($190/each), which goes under heavy components such as amplifiers; the Big Pad ($90/each) for preamps, DACs and the like; the Small Pad (4 for $300), which either adheres to a light component's chassis or serves as a footer; and the iMac Vibration Controller ($250not shown), a base complete with feet that goes under a tablet.
Thanks to Brian Ackerman of Aaudio Imports, Finite Elemente's equipment supports and racks have returned to the US. market. All of the company six different Cera equipment supports models ($230$820/set of 3, depending upon model) uses ceramic bearings, and, save for the aluminum shell of the entry-level Ceraball, stainless steel housings to isolate equipment from vibrations.
Two components in one, Isotek's Mosaic Genesis ($11,995) is, first of all, a power regenerator. Converting power to DC, and claimed to produce a perfectly clean, time-correct sinewave without sending noise back into the wall, it sends power to outlets isolated via a bus bar.
Yup, they grow 'em big in Pasadena. Stage III's Leviathan power cord ($14,500/1.5m) has much larger silver-palladium conductors than the previous flagship model.
Incorporating noise-cancelling geometries, DH Labs' forthcoming flagship Corona power cord (approx. $850/1.5m) is triple-shielded. The company's Greg Hovsepian notes that the cord, which makes "proprietary use of 1386 individual strands of silver-coated copper, is manufactured in the US.
In two small, private presentations in the Mirage, Dave Wilson joined several other indispensible members of his teamhis son Daryl and wife Sheryl Lee, as well as Peter McGrath and John Giolasto present a jaw-dropping mock up of the proposed, superhumanly proportioned successor to the original WAMM.