I'd never heard the Totems matched with Naim gear. "I really like this combination," I told Totem's Nico Bruzzese.
"We like to match our speakers with lots of different brands of electronics to show just how versatile they are," he replied.
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Totem's The One sounded excellent with Naim's CDX2 CD player, amplification, and power supplies.
Totem was showing their special anniversary model, The One ($3595). Along with Naim electronics, the sound created was powerful, fast, and fun. We listened to "How I Love That Woman," a soaring instrumental by Bob Brozeman.
And I could tell exactly how Brozeman loves that woman.
It's a serious kind of love. And it was clear that he was playing a National Baritone Tricone guitar. No doubt about it.
The One hits the US market in about three weeks. It's a beautiful speaker.
I got another chance to see—and this time, hear— the $9000 MT10 turntable. "You know, this product generated more comments in our CEDIA2007 blog than any other component."
"Yeah," said the McIntosh rep. "Mostly about how ugly it looks. I think it looks a lot better in person." Me, too—plus, they were playing a huge stack of new Warner Music Group LPs. What's cooler than new vinyl?
Big Mac is touting the MT10 as plug-'n'-play: Tracking force, antiskating, and cartridge "position" are preset at the factory. The tonearm has two horizontal sapphire bearings and two vertical…
"Basically, what we're offering is some fun for a rainy Sunday afternoon," said Upscale Audio's Kevin Deal, who had two replacement I/V op-amp upgrades for the $2499 Prima Luna ProLogue Eight CD player. Both are ready to just pop in as replacements for the Eight's existing board. The Basic ("around" $150) has open slots for bypass capacitors and a heavy-duty PS. The Super ("around" $225) already has surface-mount caps and the HD PS installed.
"We offer the Basic for guys who like the smell of solder," said Deal. "Both are just meant to be fun—they increase bandwidth (about 10x) and…
That line got me a kitten when I was five. It doesn't seem to work so well on audio manufacturers, though. I must have lost me some cute.
Poor Kevin Halverson! Since Hesiod only named nine muses in Theogony, Kevin has had to double up as Muse's line of players has increased. The Erato II is available as a transport ($5300) or one-box CD/DVD/DVD-A player ("up to" $7300).
What does "up to" mean? "Like our other players, including the Polymynia you reviewed, you can have it configured to your needs.
"As a transport, the Erato II supports 2 / 4 / 5.x / 6 & 7.x channel formats from MAP-Link, HDMI, or bitstream interfaces. When configured as a player, both two channel and multichannel material is properly…
Franc Kuzma was showing a fascinating tonearm, the $7300–7500 4Point, named because it has unique vertical and horizontal bearings. Kuzma said, "It's like a unipivot tonearm that can't 'chatter' in the horizontal plane."
But well designed unipivots aren't supposed to chatter.
"No, they are not supposed to."
A rigid VTA tower allows repeatable VTA and azimuth adjustments. The tonearm fits on 9" configurations, said Kuzma, but "is effectively 11"."
"And it is biwired," said Kuzma.
???
It has eight special silver-alloy wires coming out of the…
"Any source components?" I asked Cayin importer and VAS Audio maven Sze Leung.
"Wes, I have a whole line—and check this out, they come in classic wood cases, just like the McIntosh, Marantz, and Scott used to!"
They do look nice—in either gloss black lacquer or rosewood. The SP-cd300 CD player ($1695) is transformer coupled and seems to be the only solid-state component in the line. The monoblock 8W SP-20M ($3995/pair) employ 300B SE tubes, the 60Wpc SP-40 stereo power amplifier uses KT88s, and the 35Wpc SP-10A integrated uses four EL34s, two 12AU7s, and a 12AX7 ($1695).…
In the Loiminchay room, I listened to the standmounted Degas loudspeakers (starting at $15,000/pair). Designer Patrick Chu was a painter before he starting building loudspeakers, and finds inspiration in his favorite artists. He named his smallest loudspeaker after the French Impressionist whose paintings, Chu says, are "romantic and musical." Other Loiminchay speakers include the $35,000 Chagall and top-of-the-line $45,500 Kandinsky.
"Whether you're painting or making music or designing a loudspeaker," said Chu, "it really doesn't matter. They're just different artistic…
Although Allen Perkins' Spiral Groove has until now focused exclusively on analog products, the company has taken a big step into the digital domain by announcing the forthcoming Spiral Groove DP1 line stage preamp and 24/96 DAC. Projected to become available in four months, the DPI is so new that it has yet to be priced.
The Spiral Groove DAC/preamp, distributed by Perkins' Berkeley-based Immedia Sound, will be sufficiently up-to-date to include an up-to-date USB input. It will also be versatile, with the ability to support either two or three amps. Owners can also equip it with…