The official closing time of HE 2007 was 5pm on Sunday. I was surprised to see, then, that there were some people registering even as late as three o'clock Sunday afternoon. Now, <I>that's</I> real devotion to the hobby!

Performing music in a group is all about collaboration and communication. Look closely at this picture of the John Atkinson Trio, in performance on the last day of HE2007. JA is playing a solo, and both pianist Bob Reina and drummer Allen Perkins are listening and watching intently. In his comments after the number, Bob said that they had some differences of opinion about how to end the number, and resolving these differences required some give-and-take in the actual playing. Now that's jazz!

...and 3.6kW into 2 ohms! All in a day's work for Krell's $40,000/pair, Krell Evolution 900 monoblock amplifier. On passive display with its top off, you can see that the amplifier has three output modules, each containing a pair of driver stages, 28 bipolar output devices, and a massive heatsink that vents heat in chimney fashion through vents in the top and bottom of the chassis. The power supply features two 3kVA toroidal transformers, 52 electrolytic capacitors, each rated at 1800&#181;F, 900watt, and 105&#176;F. Weight? Again I didn't want to know, but was told it was a mere 175 lbs!

Patrick Chu, creator and designer of the $80,000/pair, two-way, Mandarin Supreme loudspeaker, explained that the products’ name is a synthesis of two words: Loimin means "delightful understanding" and Chay means "ateliar or studio." The frequencies from 750Hz upwards are handled by a 1" tweeter loaded with a 19" horn comprised of alternating layers of cherry and oak wood. The bass, which is rated down to 22Hz, is handled by 10" and 12" woofers. This composite was by far the least active speaker material I've come across. Rapping it with my knuckles was like tapping on granite. The woofer enclosure was made of concrete with a cloth covering. I didn't ask about the loudspeaker's weight because I <I>didn't</I> want to know. The nominal impedance is 8 ohms, and the voltage sensitive a very high 92dB. Although I didn't audition any familiar reference recordings, the speaker had a dynamic sonic texture with a midrange emphasis.

Balanced Audio Technology's Steve Bednarski is a big guy, but he's not a giant, and BAT's Geoff Poor is not nearly as diminutive as he looks in this picture. It's just a matter of perspective with a wide-angle lens. The rack between Steve and Geoff houses the new top-of-the-line Rex preamp, described by Wes Phillips in <A HREF="http://blog.stereophile.com/he2007/0451407rex/">another posting</A>.

HE 2007 had, as expected, some very expensive equipment being demonstrated, but there were also some modest-priced and still very&ndash;good-sounding systems. One of these was the system in the DCM room, based on the DCM TFE 200, a substantial floor-standing speaker priced at just $1000/pair. With a Jolida CD player and integrated amp, the total price for the system was under $3000&mdash;and that was including $200's worth of cables from Esoteric Audio. The Man in Black is Al Congdon of DCM.

Music Hall's Roy Hall can usually be relied on to introduce some high-value components at each CES or HE show, and he didn't disappoint this time, either. The Music Hall Trio is a combination CD player, integrated amplifier (50Wpc), and AM/FM tuner (80 assignable presets, remote controllable). Not bad for $999&mdash;and, given Roy's track record, it's pretty certain to sound good, too.

As far as I can tell, Omaha Audio has no connection with the city in Nebraska: its headquarters are in California, and the products are made in China&mdash;but "created, designed and checked in the USA." The system they were playing used their own speaker (named, fittingly enough, the Omaha Speaker), a fairly large two-way with some resemblance to Sonus Faber products ($2000/pair), the Omaha Tube CD player ($1600), and the OD-300B single-ended-triode integrated amplifier ($1400, photographed here by Larry Greenhill). At the <I>Stereophile</I> Ask the Editors session, Sam Tellig was raving about this amplifier and the value it represented. Based on the sound of the system (smooth, highly musical) I have to agree with him.