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The natty Barnaby Fry, Philip O’Hanlon’s rival in the bow tie department, was getting good sound from a handmade-in-the-UK system, consisting of Rega’s RP6 Limited Edition Union Jack Version turntable, shown complete with cartridge and electronic speed control ($2095), Apollo-R CD player ($1095), DAC ($995), and Brio-R integrated amp ($895). Chord cabling held the system together (and a whole lot more), and fed signal from the electronics to MC’s twenty.21 ($2600–$2800/pair, depending upon finish), a stand mount monitor from the same Professional Monitoring Company that is said to help…
Dali’s Thomas Knudsen may look a bit shy, but he was quite proud of the show debut of Dali’s Epicon 8 loudspeakers ($20,000/pair). Hidden from view were Naim’s NAC 172 streaming preamp ($2895), CD5i-2 ($1795), NAP 250-2 ($5995), and the UnitiServe SSD ($3995) network server with bit-perfect CD ripping capability.
Induction Dynamics matched their beautiful S1.8T loudspeaker with a host of McIntosh gear (MT10 turntable, MX150 control center, and MC207 power amplifier), all strung together with Kimber Kable.
The S1.8T is shown here in high-gloss rosewood, but any custom finish, wood veneer, or high-gloss paint can be supplied. And, surprisingly, the big speaker is also available in on-wall and in-wall configurations.
The system did big dynamic stuff with no hint of strain and was similarly graceful with smaller singer-songwriter material.
Based in Taiwan, Lawrence Audio Co. (“Inspired by Musical Masters”) manufactures limited-edition and custom-made loudspeakers modeled after stringed instruments. Lawrence Liao, founder and chief designer, is also an interior decorator, music lover, and musician: He plays saxophone, violin, and piano.
Lawrence’s line includes the two-way, standmounted Mandolin; the slightly larger Violin; and the 3.5-way, floorstanding Cello ($18,000/pair), which was playing when I walked into the room.
The Cello uses an Air Motion tweeter, a rear-firing aluminum ribbon tweeter, and two 8” woofers…
You know the slinky hi-hat, the funky wah, the groovy bass line; the slow-building horns, the deep voice, the suggestive lyrics: Who’s the black private dick / That’s a sex machine to all the chicks? / (Shaft!) / Daaaamn right…
There was a party going on in the Xact Audio room. It seems there’s always a party going on when Zu Audio loudspeakers are involved. The system: The Beat MagDrive turntable ($26,500), fitted with Frank Schroder’s new LT linear tracking tonearm ($8900) and Lyra Atlas cartridge ($9500); Zu Definition Mk.4 loudspeakers ($13,000/pair); Allnic L-5000 DHT linestage ($19,…
I’m not at all embarrassed or ashamed to admit that there have been times when I was so distracted by a system’s appearance that I couldn’t properly appreciate its performance. Similarly, there have been times when I was so overwhelmed by a system’s price, that I couldn’t even hear its music.
But, here, in the MBL suite, just as in the Wilson/VTL suite, the sound of music was so compelling that I was easily able to ignore those aspects that are beyond my appreciation and reach. It was easy to forget the system altogether, and simply focus on the music. In fact, it wasn’t so much about…
Salk’s beautifully finished SoundScape 8 uses the same RAAL ribbon tweeter, Accuton midrange unit, and 12” side-firing passive radiators as the company’s larger SoundScape 10 and 12 floorstanders, but where those designs use single 10” and 12” woofers, respectively, the SoundScape 8 employs two 8” drivers. While the base price for the SoundScape 8 is $8000/pair, custom-finished models such as those seen here, which had a marble-like appearance, can cost up to $12,000/pair.
With a claimed sensitivity of “about 87dB,” the SoundScape 8s seemed comfortable driven with Audio by Van Alstine’s…
San Diego’s Blackbird Audio/Gallery and Colleen Cardas Imports put together a system comprising Opera’s three-way Grand Mezza loudspeakers ($2795/pair); Unison Research’s 12Wpc Simply Italy integrated amplifier ($2450), Unico CDE CD player ($4120, with upgraded dual-mono DAC), and Giro turntable ($3995) fitted with a Transfiguration Phoenix phono cartridge ($4250); and the new Pure Audio (“More Music, Less Technology”) Vinyl phono preamp ($4500), an interesting dual-mono design with an aluminum and stainless-mesh chassis and user-selectable loading from 47 to 47k ohms. Cables were supplied by…
Sharing the Blackbird Audio room with Colleen Cardas Imports was Bob Clarke’s Profundo, out of Round Rock, Texas.
Clarke put together a distinct and absolutely gorgeous system: the beautifully proportioned, high-sensitivity Trenner & Friedl Pharoah loudspeakers ($12,500/pair); a groovy Funk Firm Vector turntable with FXR tonearm and Transfiguration Axia phono cartridge; Heed Audio Obelisk PRE linestage ($1900), PM monoblock power amplifiers ($4200/pair), and PX power supply ($1400); Clear cables from Cardas Audio; and Trellis equipment rack from Splintr Designs. The digital source…
I loved the pure, clean sound and sense of touch and bloom that came with Ben Webster’s tenor sax on “Stars Fell on Alabama” from Billie Holiday’s great Songs for Distingué Lovers. And, in “A Foggy Day,” Lady Day’s voice was as rich and true as can be.
Later, I noted fine snap and brassy pluck to the sound of acoustic guitars during “Chuck E.’s in Love,” the opening track to Rickie Lee Jones’ self-titled debut, an album that people often love or hate.
One female listener was surprised by the sound: “This system takes the whine out of Rickie Lee Jones’ voice!”
“Is that…