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Charlie Haden's Quartet West Goes East

Charlie Haden has been playing this week at Birdland in New York with his group Quartet West or, as he calls this incarnation, “Quartet West Goes East,” with Ravi Coltrane filling in for Ernie Watts on tenor sax and Rodney Green taking Larance Marable’s chair on drums.

It may be the New Yorker in me, but I like this hybrid model better.

Haden, who’s lived in Los Angeles for 30 years, formed Quartet West in 1986, so that he could lead a working band without leaving home. Its playbook—documented on such albums as In Angel City, Haunted Heart, Always Say Goodbye, Now Is the Hour and…

King Audio Dances with Aesthetix and VAC

Back in the Audio Image room, one day later, Bob Kehn was showing the King Audio The King electrostats ($8500/pair). Before I arrived, these lovely panels were paired with VAC amplification. Unfortunately, those babies didn't have enough juice for the Kings. Upon the urging of Bob Walters, coordinator of the Bay Area Audiophile Society, the VACs that sounded so good on the Magico V-2 were traded for Aesthetix's Atlas Hybrid amp ($8000) and Janus Signature preamp/phono ($10,000).

Playing the very same Cantus track that I had played the day before with the Magico/VAC combo, I was…

Magico Magic

Bob Kehn of Oakland retailer Audio Image Ltd. had a lot to be happy about. Not only were the 10 chairs in his midsize room totally full, but at least 10 other people were also standing in the back and on the sides. Even more gratifying, 20% of those people were women. And this was on a Friday, when I thought the traffic would be light.

Women don't often sit still when the sound is loud and strident, because their hearing in general is more sensitive than men's. Bob had nothing to fear. Even when, at the request of an attendee, the Magico V-2s ($18,000/pair) were played so loud as…

Electrocompaniet's Smooth Warmth

Electrocompaniet's display had something for everyone. In their entry room, Electrocompaniet's US distributor, Peder Beckman of Oakland, was demming a small system and a medium system. With prayers that I am not assailed in the comments section for going for Electrocompaniet's high-end system, I headed through a terribly squeaky door for the second room, where Peder's partner, Adam Piotrowski, was showing the Nordic Tone loudspeakers ($29,500/pair), EMC-1UP CD player ($7290), EMP-1 SACD/DVD player ($9990), EC4.8 preamp ($4990), and AW600 Nemo monoblocks ($8950 each). I was especially…

Audience Earns my Applause

One of the high points of my time blogging the first Stereophile-sponsored Axpona Show in Jacksonville was hearing the Audience ClairAudient 16+16 loudspeakers and meeting John McDonald. This time, John went from extremely large to relatively small. Instead of the 16+16 or 8+8, he brought his smallest loudspeakers, the Audience ClairAudient 2+2 ($5000/pair), augmented by a prototype ClairAudient subwoofer ($5000).

Looking at their size and frequency response, and the small size of the room, I decided to take a listen to smaller-scaled music. First up was the Bobo Stenson Trio on…

Profundo's Winning Combo

How this Oakland resident has lived all these years without knowing about the Profundo distributors in El Cerrito, just two cities over, is beyond me. Regardless, I'm sure glad I got to meet them, because their combination of Transfiguration, Trenner & Friedl, and Heed was making extremely mellow sound. Whether it was Norah Jones singing "Not Too Late" or Bruce Springstein's LP, Ghost of Tom Joad, the system sounded beautiful, smooth, and extremely musical.

Auditioned were the Transfiguration Orpheus L phono cartridge ($6000), paired with a Basis 2800 table and Vector 4 arm;…

Teresonic & Musical Surroundings

Teresonic's pairing with Garth Leerer's Musical Surroundings was full of surprises. I confess that I have not enjoyed Mike Zivkovic's single-driver Lowther-powered speakers in the past, finding them unduly bright. Here, they sounded very warm and inviting.

Garth began with a solo guitar recital by Klaus Jächie, Una hora española, issued on the Clearaudio label. "Just gorgeous," I wrote in my notes. Then came a section of Mendelssohn's Symphony No.3 on Decca. Here, the room's bass problems could not be avoided, but the highs and mids were glorious. The sound was unquestionably…

Highend-electronics

An experience in the impressive room assembled by highend-electronics of Apple Valley, CA emphasized the importance of carefully choosing your demonstration discs. As I settled into my seat, a very assertive visitor asked if he could audition two CDs that he brings along to check out deficiencies in equipment. Once obliged, he began to assault us with two tracks of raucous, ear-burning music. I watched the folks next to me wiggle with discomfort as I put my fingers to my ears on the second track.

"Thank you," said the visitor, mercifully cutting each track short. "That's all I need…

JIB Hi-Fi & Home Cinema Cables

The California Audio Show welcomed the debut showing of the eye-catching JIB line of cables. I say eye-catching because the diminutive sound system at one end of the room was intended solely to provide soft background music for a static display.

Made in Germany and China, these cables first arrived in Fremont, CA a few months ago. They are currently sold factory-direct on the Web, and await establishment of a dealer network. The beautiful 63-page, 8½" x 11", color catalog, complete with standard Chinese-authored English, was certainly enticing. Manager Allen Ong (left) and an…

Simon Yorke Sings at Tone of Audio

The Simon Yorke S10 Record Player ($19,950), now imported into the US by Tim Nguyen's Tone of Audio in San Francisco, is the replacement for the former Simon Yorke S7. That's the table Michael Fremer used as his reference for 10 years until the far, far more expensive Continuum Labs Caliburn entered his life in 2006. The new S10 is completely hand-machined on a lathe by Simon and his son Spencer from solid raw blocks of aluminum and non-magnetic iron.

Beautifully matched with the Convergent Audio preamp ($9950) and Jl2 signature amp ($19,950), and heard through Quad ESL-2805…