This system gave the most realistic portrayal of Satchmo's…
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How I wish I could have seen Stephen Mejias' reaction to the Montegiro Lusso Komplet turntable ($33,000), distributed in the US by Koetsu USA. This thing looks like a cross between a tray of black and white ice cream parfaits and something from a Fellini movie. But it sure sounded good. Equipped with two arms, from SME and DaVinci, and two Koetsu cartridges, the Coral Stone Platinum ($15,000) and Onyx Platinum ($8000), the KMLK (for short) was making magic through Chario Serendipity Sovereign loudspeakers ($17,000/pair).
In one of Musical Surroundings' many rooms in the Denver Tech Center Marriott, the Clearaudio Anniversary AMG CMB turntable ($10,000), with its 80mm platter and Ceramic Magnetic Bearing of the Master Reference; Benz-Micro LP S-Class Cartridge ($5000), the company's new flagship; and Helius Omega Silver Ruby 10" tonearm ($4750) were paired with the Aesthetix Rhea Signature phono stage ($7,000) and Aesthetic Atlas stereo power amp ($8,000); Focal Diablo Utopia speakers and stands ($14,000/pair); Tara Labs ISM The One speaker cable ($3850/pair for 8') and The One ISM onboard 1m…
I know. It sounds a bit like a Beatles flashback. (Note the psychedelic colors on Ron Hedrick's face, for reasons that only the Marriott lobby's lighting designer can explain). But this seems to be a very 2008 product. Marigo's Ron Hedrick spent 2 years building 120 prototypes before releasing his VX Mystery Feet for amplifiers, DACs, and other components ($699/set of three), and TR Mystery Feet for digital transports and CD players ($659/set of three). Each support foot consists of 32 parts, with 10 constrained layers of composite material that are first heated, then pressed at…
"This is the last year for the big Sound Labs," Ray Kimber declared. "They're getting too beat up to continue being shipped."
Into the huge space ballroom space that Ray commandeers each year for his amazing IsoMike demos strode I, only to discover 6 pairs of Sound Lab ProStat 922s ($32,000/pair), two pair of excellent Sony SS-AR1 speakers ($20,000/pair), eight Pass Labs X350.5 amps ($15,000 each) arranged in surround array. To this we add the EMM Labs CDSA ($11,500), TSD1 ($11,000), DAC2 ($9500), DAC8 MK IV ($7500), DAC6SE ($13,500); and two GML 9500 Room EQ units ($25,000…
Oh my God. What a sound! The lighting and my distance from the speaker doesn't allow you to see it clearly, but there's a little cross inside the radiating grille atop the workings of MBL's Radialstrahler Reference mbl 101 Mk.II speakers ($59,990/pair) that drives home the religious experience that listening to an all-MBL system can create.
Music is treated with equal reverence. "Ve don't stop the music midway!" boomed the voice directed at the hapless assistant. "Ve must vait until it has ended. I do not like this!"
Somehow, we all survived, and Rachmaninoff's Symphonic…
Here's a more modest system than some of the others featured so far that really nailed the raucous highs on a curious wind version of Revueltas' wild, ritualistic Sensemaya. Veteran high-end designer Frank Van Alstine was justly proud of his Ultra 550 hybrid power amp with its 300Wpc ($2395), Transcendence Eight vacuum-tube preamp ($1299 with optional remote and phono stage), and Insight Solid State DAC ($999). Paired with the Jim Salk Sound Veracity HT3 3-way loudspeakers with their 10" woofer ($4895), this system was making sounds worth checking out.
I literally breathed a sigh of relief when I entered this room. Not that anything was wrong with the exceptional sound of the vast majority of rooms I visited. But of all the systems I auditioned, this one felt most like a safe haven. It was like coming home.
Part of my response may be due to the fact that Casa Bellecci-Serinus is graced with a similar pair of VTL 450 monoblocks ($15,000/pair). But in this room, the VTLs were equipped, not with the KT-88s I use, but with Svetlana C 6550s that were delivering beautifully controlled bass, copious color, and extended highs. That, of…
Headroom's Tyll Hertsens and Ivy Scull. Tyll is the president and CEO, and Ivy is the VP of sales and marketing. These two know headphones and they know headphone amplifiers and they know which headphones to use with which headphone amplifiers. Beyond all that, they're really nice people to be around.
Right now they're wearing the Denon AH-D5000 headphones ($699.99). I tried them on, too. They are comfortable, attractive, and offer an invitingly warm, yet detailed sound.
But I think Tyll and Ivy were most excited about the newest Denons, the AH-D7000 ($999.99). I…
"But what I really want you to listen to is this."
Headroom's Tyll Hertsens directed my attention toward a small, attractive desktop system: Harbeth HL-P3ES-2 loudspeakers; heavy-duty, adjustable Headroom speaker stands; Headroom 50Wpc Desktop bi-amp pair; cables and interconnects and computer.
The system is designed for extreme near-field listening. Seriously up close and personal. I sat in the seat and slid in close, making as though I was at work on the keyboard. Again, I selected the Pinback track.
Superb sound. With solid stereo imaging. And intense…
See this little guy? It's the Gradient Helsinki ($8000/pair). I'm a big fan of this weird-ass speaker. Rather than placing its drive-units within a cabinet, the drive-units are laid bare, free for the world to see, mounted onto the speaker's narrow body. Why? Free love. Free love! Cabinet resonances are eliminated. The Helsinki's dipole-radiation woofer projects sound from side to side, canceling out top-to-bottom sound waves and minimizing deleterious room reflections.
That's the idea, at least. I haven't actually heard the thing. I just like the concept. I mean, look at…