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In the Beginning, there was Absolute Fidelity

Gary Koh of Genesis was delighted to show me his Absolute Fidelity Foundation. These brand new, extremely attractive rack and amplifier stands are available in various sizes and support configurations.

Gary developed the AFF after finding himself frustrated by the negative effects of the racks he had used during his seven years of exhibiting at shows. Experimenting with various woods and metals, he was determined to find which rang the least. Gary ended up working with extremely high molecular weight cell-cast acrylic whose long chain polymers do not ring. On top of these he…

The Silence of Grounding

Miguel Alvareaz of Point St. Lucie, Florida, is a defector for the cause. A self-confessed former marketing rep for Bose who always had a passion for audiophile products, he eventually left the company to develop the Tripoint Troy power product ($8000). Based on a new concept, the device uses passive filtration in the form of magnetism and layers of different materials (brass, copper, and proprietary products) to eliminate and reduce EMI and RFI. Rather than a line conditioner per se—one is in the works—the Troy is a grounding device to which you attach ground wires from the various…

Bel Canto's Versatile Integrated

Bel Canto's designer, John Stronczer, proudly showed off the the Minnesotan company's e.One s300 integrated amplifier ($2495), that was recently reviewed by Wes Phillips. A dual-mono design with a class-D output stage, it outputs 300Wpc into 4 ohms and 150Wpc into 8 ohms, the diminutive integrated amp features Bel Canto's single button control for inputs and volume, as well as a remote control.

Bel Canto's modest powerhouse is available in a number of different configurations, including moving-magnet phono stage input, S/PDIF-input DAC, or 24/96 USB digital audio converter. Mated…

The First Son of Rushmore

I went into the Pass Labs room to check out the company's new amps. But what caught my eye was the SR-1 loudspeaker ($25,000/pair). SR-1 stands for "First Son of Rushmore," the Rushmore being Nelson Pass's original assault on the state of the speaker art. A conventional deign compared with the active quad-amplified Rushmore, the four-way SR-1 uses four top-line SEAS drive-units, including a 29mm Hexadym soft-dome tweeter,

With a system that included two XA100.5 monoblocks and Pass Lab's new phono stage, with a Basis turntable at the front end, the SR-1s produced a big, refined…

Boulder to the MAXX

Although Mikey Fremer has received a pair for review, I haven't visited his Jersey crib yet to take a listen. So the system in Boulder's room at CES was my first chance to audition Wilson's new MAXX 3. I popped a data disc with some of my hi-rez 24-bit/88.2kHz files in the Boulder 1021 CD player, and a list of the WAV files appeared on the player's screen. The 1021 will play data CDs carrying FLAC, WAV, Vogg Orbis, and MP3 files, and as I found, will decode and play hi-rez files.

The masters of my recent Cantus recording While You Are Alive sounded open and spacious on the new…

Marten's Coltrane Soprano

The original Coltrane speaker from Swedish company Mrten Design got the thumbs-up from Michael Fremer when he reviewed it three years ago, so I was not surprised to hear good sound in importer EAR USA's room from the new Coltrane Soprano ($45,000/pair). The Soprano combines a diamond tweeter from Jantzen Audio said to have a 55kHz bandwidth, with two 7" ceramic-cone woofers from Accuton. Other than the 56mm-thick front baffle, the stylin' gracefully curved enclosure is fabricated from carbon-fiber laminate.

The rest of the system comprised an EAR 912 preamp ($11,000) and 70Wpc EAR…

Imposter!

I did not make it to CES this year, but my exhibitor badge did. Here's our mischievous web monkey, Jon Iverson, with my name held hostage around his neck.

Oh boy. I am in trouble now.

Do not trust this man!