Penaudio uses WBT connectors, air-core inductors, Alpha Core foil caps in the tweeter crossover, polypropylene caps everywhere else, and Goertz M11 wiring.
We thought they sounded lively and solid in a small hotel bedroom, driven by CIA D-…
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Penaudio's Tommi Forss was excited about the Finnish company's new Alba ($4000/pair). "We wanted a smaller floorstanding speaker than our Serenade, but a larger speaker than our Charisma, so we used the 1" SEAS Excel fabric dome tweeter from the Serenade and the 7" SEAS treated paper cone midrange/woofer in a compact time-aligned cabinet."
Anthony Gallo's new Reference 3.1 loudspeaker ($2995/pair) proved that it's better to set up a room properly than it is to try to beat it into submission with expensive components. Not to take anything away from Gallo's Ref 3.1, which sounded fantastic, but his demo proved that God truly is in the details, sounding bigger, realer, richer, and more dynamic than most of the googolbuck systems we heard today. In fact, one importer, who shall remain nameless, confessed that he had a pair in his living room rather than the costly lines he brings into the country.
The Ref 3.1 has the same…
Stanalog's George Stanwick was pleased as punch with Sugden's new Masterclass components: Masterclass Integrated Amplifier ($6500) and Masterclass CD Player ($5500).
The Integrated puts out 33 class-A watts per channel with bandwidth specified as 6Hz–300kHz!
All we know about the CD player is its price and that is has class-A output—and that it sounded great pumping Nickle Creek through a pair of Proac Studio 140s.
Some think that the high-end audio business is a competitive, cut-throat endeavor, leading to animosities, but this picture of (l–r): EveAnna Manley (Manley Labs), Dennis Had (Cary Audio) and Kevin Deal (Prima Luna) shows that it isn't always that way, at least for purveyors of tube equipment.
Anton, of NFS Audio, was recommending a few rooms to me. "Have you heard the DeVore stuff?" he asked.
I laughed. "Yes, I have. I'm using the little gibbon 3s at home."
A look of surprise mixed with admiration came over Anton's face. He grabbed my hand and shook it heartily: "Good choice."
A moment later, John DeVore walked into the suite. "This place is great, isn't it?"
"Yes," I agreed. "We were just talking about you. Anton was saying that you're the only thing at this show almost as tall as his speakers."
John walked me back to his room, and…
DEQX (pronounced "decks") has been succesfully showing their active EQ system for several years now, and each time, they push the envelope forward with a better product and better demo. This year they topped themselves again and have teamed up with newcomer Wasatch Acoustics to create a state-of-the-art system comprised of a modular speaker system with amplification and active digital EQ.
Customers can purchase either a two or four channel system, with optional subwoofers and as many amps as required. The entire crossover function for the drivers is done digitally in the same box…
Codenamed "ML-DVD" during its development, the Mark Levinson No.51 Media Player made its debut at CES. The $18,000, limited-edition player (only 150 will be offered for sale) is intended to get all there is to be gotten from CDs and DVD-Vs, but pointedly will not play SACDs or DVD-As (though it will, of course, play the video-zone Dolby Digital tracks of the latter). I listened to the No.51 in a system comprising the Mark Levinson No.40 controller, the new No.433 three-channel amplifier for the LCR speakers (a pair of Revel F52s and a C32) and a No.431 two-channel amp for the…
We're suckers for Proacs, so we were delighted to hear importer Richard Gerberg explain that the Studio line was designed to be affordable. "Well, affordable for Proac," Gerberg said. Our hearts fell—until Gerberg told us that the handsome stand-mounted Studio 110s were $1500/pair and the floorstanding Studio 140s were $2800/pair. Not cheap, but in line with our expectations for the venerable Northamptonshire manufacturer.
Proac is always pretty close-mouthed about the internal specifics, but we can tell you the driver complements. The 110 has a 6.5" proprietary coated cone midrange/woofer…
Moon's Lionel Goodfield kept telling us to drop by the room to see something new. We walked in and asked, "What's new?" Goodfield waggled his eyebrows and said, "What's new with you?" Ba dum dum.
Seriously, Moon has five new products:
Moon CD 5.3 CD player ($3000, $300 extra for analog balanced output)
Moon I 5.3 85Wpc integrated amp ($3000)
Moon P-7 preamplifier ($5500)
Moon W-7 150Wpc stereo power amplifier ($7200)
Moon W-7m 500Wpc monoblock amplifier ($7500)
The CD5.3 boasts separate digital and analog power supplies, eight stages of DC voltage regulation, in-…
The Audio Refinement brand of affordable components from France's YBA is no more—problems with their Asian manufacturing partner, I understand. But there’s good news: Audio Refinement has been reborn as YBA Design, with a new Asian manufacturing facility that promises to be more reliable. The first two products in the line—designed by Yves-Bernard André, Mr. YBA himself—are the YA201 integrated amp and YC201 CD player, each priced at $1499. The industrial design is stunning in its elegance and simplicity, and, judging by the sound of a pair of Focal-JMlab 1007Be loudspeakers driven…