Focal, Naim, IsoAcoustics, Kimber Kable in the Kennedy Hi-Fi Room

Focal, Naim, IsoAcoustics, Kimber Kable in the Kennedy Hi-Fi Room

The speakers on display in the Kennedy room included two pairs of Focal 926s, one of which, standing higher than the other, were threaded with IsoAcoustics Gaia ll feet, the other with the stock feet. Electronics included a Naim ND5 SS2 streamer ($5540 US), which comes with four 24/192 digital inputs, and a 70Wpc Naim Nait SX 3 integrated amp ($5540 US), while cabling consisted of Kimber Kable's Carbon series.

The BSC Research/Apple Tree Room

The BSC Research/Apple Tree Room

The Apple Tree owner and distributor of BSC Research speakers must have done some research on what it would take to put this hard-nosed reporter on his good side because the first he did when I walked into his room was offer me a microbrewery beer. So sneaky. I took a rain check on the beer, but I wouldn't have needed a beer to enjoy the sound I heard in this room.

Tri-Art in Toronto

Tri-Art in Toronto

The Tri-Art room, the first I visited, started me off on a good foot. It consisted of a presentation given by owner Steve Ginsberg and his colleague Jim Leveille, and it was fascinating. Tri-Art, if you recall from previous show reports, is the audio company that makes a series of electronics and open-baffle speakers whose enclosures, plus "jelly bean" acoustic treatments, are made out of solid bamboo. Steve loves bamboo as a material for its tonal qualities and also because bamboo is so rigid and impervious to splintering, you can mill it like you would metal, with a CNC machine. I also think bamboo has a wholesome, organic, warm aesthetic that's mother-earth sculpture-like.
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