RMAF 2008

Boy, is it hard to take a good photo when a company purposely leaves the shades behind their equipment wide open. But given that Darren Censulo of Avatar Acoustics (now relocated to Fayetteville, GA) had tuned the room with Frank Chang's Acoustic System International Resonators so that it would sound great with all that exposed glass, asking him to close the shades in order to snap a clearer picture was out of the question.

The clear picture in this case came from Lou Reed. I had forgotten how young and fresh he sounded when he recorded "Walk on the Wild Side," but here I could appreciate every single bit of his idiosyncratic artistry. Having just visited NYC, and walked through the area where the Warhol crowd Reed sings about used to hang, this recording spoke volumes. At least Reed sounded fresher than most of us looked at my 45th high school reunion! It was a perfect recording to show off the virtues of this well-illumined, colorful system.

Pictured on the window sill is one of Chang's Resonators, which range in price from $250–$2800. Also playing were the Acoustic System International LiveLine RCA interconnect ($995), XLR interconnect ($1450), Tango Plattinum loudspeaker ($27,000/pair), 4-shelf equipment rack ($5500), and Top Line feet ($750). The source was either an AMR (Abbingdon Music Research CD-77 CD player ($11,995) or Dr. Feickert Analogue Twin turntable ($9000) equipped with an Analogue Protractor ($250). AMR also supplied the AM-77 integrated amp ($11,995) and PH-77 phono equalizer ($11,995). The icing on the cake was Avatar Acoustics' own Afterburner 8 wall outlet ($65).