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The German Clearaudio company, ever-reverent of James Bond's lineage of luxury philosophy, introduced the $17,000 Goldfinger cartridge. Magnets have been doubled up to eight pieces, and a dynamic range of an extraordinary 100dB is claimed. Eric Clapton's "Layla" on vinyl (Reprise 9362-4502-1) never sounded better, I thought.
McIntosh displayed the full-range, $80,000/pair XRT2K speaker in their two-channel room at the Alexis Park. It sets a record for number of
drivers per side—110—with
40 tweeters, 64 midrange units, and six woofers. Frequency response is claimed to be 16Hz–45kHz. The system driven to full volume by the 495lb McIntosh MC2KW monoblock ($30,000), which can deliver 2kW, demonstrated awesome dynamic range.
Chinese OEM manufacturer Dissun was sharing a room with Tetra, so when we stopped by to see what Adrian Butts had wrought, we were pleasantly surprised to see the suite filled with interesting components—all of them looking well built and beautifully turned out.
We've grown used to good-looking affordably priced gear sourced from China—and we expect to see a lot more—but Dissun's Original electronics impressed us with novel engineering and solid design. Tetra's floorstanding 506es sounded solidly three dimensional with the CD-2008mk ($1598) and V-8 250Wpc dual mono integrated…
At $9750/pair, Tetra's 506 ain't cheap, but they sounded awfully good with Dissun's Original electronics. An 8" midrange/woofer and a 1.25" fabric-dome tweeter were making pretty music in this rear-ported design. Wynton Marsalis and Herbie Hancock have already purchased pairs, we were told. We asked, "Where's [Tetra's designer] Adrian Butts?"
"Oh, he's with Keith Richard this weekend voicing a new loudspeaker."
We had to ask.
We were on another mission from God—in other words, a request from Editor John Atkinson, which is the same thing for working journalists. "You have to check out Hovland's new power amplifier," JA gushed.
The 90lb 360W Stratos monoblocks ($34,000/pair) did look impressive—as they should. They're supposed to be stable into 2 ohms and have immense, sophisticated power supplies that employ quasi C-core transformers, fast-recovery Schottke rectifiers, and 80,000µF of slit-foil storage capacitors for quick delivery of current. The signal path is complementary and converts single-ended…
We'd heard a lot about Raidho's Eben X-3 loudspeakers ($16,500/pair), so we dropped by T.H.E. Show to check out these dynamic three-way floorstanders. When we arrived, Art Audio's Kevin Carter was listening to the X-3s driven by Art's Vivo 25Wpc 300B push/pull stereo power amplifier ($13,000). It sure was purty.
The combination sounded purty, too. Carter played a track of finger-picked blues by a Norwegian guitarist that was riveting—until the singer started to whistle. He . . . was . . . right . . . there. It wasn't just three-dimensional or holographic or layered—it was downright…
Walking through the halls of T.H.E. Show, we stumbled across Ray Samuels (of Ray Samuels Audio) manning his table of headphone ecstasy. We listened to Samuels' Raptor ($1175) driving AKG's new K 701 headphones ($400), which HeadRoom's Tyll Hertsens told us were his new reference cans. Maybe ours, too, based on the sound Ray was getting. Wes has begged for a pair for review. Stay tuned.
"What's new?" we asked Halcro's Philip O'Hanlon. He ushered us into a room with the brand new ("North American premiere") dm88 250W monoblocks ($40,000/pair). Also in the room were Hanlon's own pair of Classic Audio Reproductions T-3s ($16,500/pair and up, depending on finish)—updated reproductions of James B. Lansing's Hartsfields.
Ummumumu ummumumu. The sound Hanlon wrested from those speakers was dynamic, immediate, and physical. Sure, you're thinking, We mean the system played loud and had an almost physical impact—and it did. But Hanlon suckered us with the dynamic extremes…
I weeble-wobbled my way upstairs, following the sounds of The White Stripes', "My Doorbell."
I'm thinking about my doorbell
When're you gonna ring it?
When're you gonna ring it?
When're you gonna ring it?
When're you gonna ring it?
I entered the room to find a very sleek and modest system, comprised of the wonderfully simple Solo ($1599) mated to Arcam's adorable Alto bookshelf speakers ($599/pair). The Solo and Alto are sold separately or as a Solo System Lifestyle package for $1999.
I'd been wanting to hear the Altos for awhile, as I understood they were built especially for use with the Solo; front ported for…