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Ne'er-do-well

There's so much for me to learn.

That's the main thing that I learned from spending an entire day coursing through the Convention Center with Jon and Wes.

I felt as though everything — everything — was completely new to me.

So much to learn, so much to learn, so much I don't know about.

And walking around, and taking in all of the sounds and sights drained me. By the end of the day, I was in a pretty foul mood.

Jon and Wes had one last thing to teach me before calling it a day: a word.

"Stephen's a ne'er-do-well, don't you think, Wes?"
"A…

Olive Introduces New Music Server/WiFi Hub

A product that impressed me last year was OliveMedia Products' Symphony music server. The size and appearance of a conventional CD player, the Symphony incorporates an 80GB hard drive and a WiFi hub so that it can act as a music-file server, all for just $899. I wrote my positive impressions of the Symphony with its digital output driving my high-end rig in our mid-November eNewsletter, so I checked out Olive at CES. The company was demonstrating the new Opus, which increases the HD size to 400GB and uses a high-end D/A section. The Opus will be available mid-February for $2999.

Genesis 60W Tube Amplifier

In our forthcoming February issue, I review the 5.2 loudspeaker from Genesis Technologies. Like many Arnie Nudell designs, the 5.2 demands a lot of current from the partnering amplifier. (See, for example, my 1989 measurements of Arnie's classic IRS Beta design.) I was impressed, therefore, to hear the 5.2s being driven to great effect on a track from singer Jacintha by Genesis' new i60 60Wpc integrated tube amplifier. Made in China, with design input from veteran amplifier maven Bascom King, the i60 uses KT88s and will cost $3495. Rather than show the normal frontal shot of the amp, I…

Furutech's High Tech Bits'n'Bobs Part 1

You may not know the name Furutech, but you've almost certainly heard some of its products—the Japanese manufacturer's high-purity copper has been used in many well known audiophile cables and components. Now Furutech is offering cables, connectors, AC accessories, and other products under its own name.

We were impressed with the build-quality of its $980 e-TP609 AC power distributor (shown here with Furutech's Frank Yoo), which combines Furutech's special duplex receptacles with a solid aluminum chassis and Formula GC-303 material, which is said to absorb EMI generated within the…

Furutech's High Tech Bits'n'Bobs Part 2

Also stunning were Furutech's impeccably machined, silver over rhodium AC plugs, which incorporate solid brass ground jumpers. What does that do? "You have to hear it to believe it," said Furutech's PR guy, Jonathan Scull. Okay, we're willing to go that far.

Ayre's Mighty Mite Power Amplifiers

John Atkinson was speechless. Not merely speechless, but incoherent as well as inarticulate.

"You have to go by the Ayre room," He gushed. "It was . . . it was . . . I mean . . . Ohhhhhh! You just have to go."

So we took his, um, word for it.

It was . . . it was . . . you really should have been there."

What did us in was the combination of Ayre's spanking new reference loudspeakers, the incredible JBL K2 S9800se ($30,000/pair) and Ayre's new 300W MX-R mono power amplifiers (price TBA). Small the MX-Rs may be, but light they ain't—the chassis is milled out of a…

Zu At the Controls

Zu's Adam Decari shows us how the computer generation helms a CES demo room. In addition to the DJ turntables and laptop, note the Apple G5 computer at the back used as the only disc player for the main system.

Meet The Zoltan

Signals-SuperFi introduced Peak Consult's new floorstanding three-way The Zoltan ("as in Kodaly") ($36,699.99/pair). The Zoltan boasts Peak Consult's usual glorious woodwork and uses a 1.5" Scanspeak cloth dome tweeter, 4" AudioTech midrange driver, and two 7" AudioTech woofers. Fronted by The Continuum Audio Labs Caliburn Turntable ($89,999.99), Boulder 2008 phono preamp ($30,000), Boulder 2010 preamp ($30,000), and Wavac HE 883 v1.3 monoblocks, strung together with Stereovox's SEI-600II and LSP-600c cables, the system pretty much blew me away. This is vinyl? Dean Can Dance was…

Wavac HE-833 v1.3

We heard the HE-333 v1.3 monoblocks ($69,000/pair) in the Signals-SuperFi room, but we don't know a lot about 'em, other than the price, the fact that the new guy outputs 150W rather than 100W, and that they are drop-dead gorgeous. Us guys are so easy—sometimes all it takes to get our interest is a flash of stocking.

Power-line Muscle from Bryston

I think it's fair to say that Bryston is one of the more conservative manufacturers of audio electronics, with solid engineering and avoidance of anything that smacks of fads or esoteric tweaks. It then comes as a convincing endorsement of power-line conditioners as a product category that the Canadian company now distributes the new Torus power-line conditioners. Based on hefty toroidal transformers from Plitron, these are aimed at the pro as much as the audiophile market; the top-of-the-line A5AB delivers up to 100 amps and weighs 220 lbs. Bryston’s James Tanner seems quite pleased…