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In the second of four rooms from Sunny Components, Inc., Michael Manousselis paired Dynaudio's Confidence C2 Signature loudspeakers ($15,000/pair) with Boulder's 1021 Digital Player ($24,000), 1010 preamplifier ($14,000), and 850 monoblock amplifiers ($11,500/pair). Arrayed on a Finite Elemente Reference Rack ($15,000). Everything was connected with Transparent cable. The superb highs on this system immediately clarified why Dynaudio's Esotar2 tweeter has garnered so much praise.
During the brief amount of time I spent at CES 2012 in Las Vegas, one of my most impressive acquaintances was with the new Dynaudio Xeo 5 ($4500/pair) floorstander and Dynaudio Xeo 3 ($2300/pair) bookshelf wireless loudspeakers. Sold complete with a wireless transmitter and remote control, these loudspeakers deliver astonishingly good sound without need to spend money on speaker cables and the like.
The Xeos were on display in one of four rooms (!) hosted by Sunny Components. Although the source equipment was a less-than-stellar PC, the system still produced lovely sound. Note that…
"Daedalus Audio and ModWright Instruments have teamed up to show how good a sound you can get for close to $15k," Daedalus' Lou Hinkley explained as I entered the room. Indeed, for as much as I could hear over a very loud conversation, the sound of a track from River, Herbie Hancock's Tribute to Joni Mitchell, and another from a Norah Jones album was very, very nice.
Speakers were the Daedalus Audio Athena ($9950/pair) with Daedalus/Bolder speaker cable ($1500/8ft pair). Modwright Instruments supplied the KWI 200 ($5000) w/DAC ($1150) and phono ($350). Other interconnects were by WyWires…
Walter Swanborn of Fidelis AV (pictured kneeling next to Holger Stein of Stein Music) hosted the North American debut of the Harbeth M30.1 monitor ($6495 in tiger ebony finish). Paired with the LFD NCSE 75 watt integrated amplifier with SE phono stage ($6295), Palmer 2.5 turntable with Audio Origami arm and Dynavector XX2 cartridge ($11,995), MSB Media Transport ($3995) and MSB Platinum Signature DACIV with Signature power supply ($17,500), the system produced the strongest and most predominant midrange of any I heard at T.H.E. Show Newport Beach.
Key to the striking nature of the sound…
This system is worth learning about, because it nailed tonalities spot-on. After going room-to-room for three days, I assure you that getting tonality and timbre spot-on is no mean feat. In fact, it's a pretty elusive goal for most components.
Some rooms at shows are like my spouse's culinary concoctions. He goes on the net, finds 10 recipes for his dish or dessert of choice, picks and chooses among their ingredients, mixes everything together, closes his eyes (well, at least I do), and prays for the best. Usually it works, sometimes spectacularly. Other times... well, let's say that I'm…
Bluebird Music’s Jay Rein was pleased to show the Spendor Classic SP2/3R2 loudspeaker ($4295/pair), which takes the tweeter from Spendor’s SA-1 and combines it with the company’s original BBC technology, construction, and design.
The SP2/3R2 was partnered with Chord’s 1200 Mk.2 power amplifier ($14,000; replaces the 1200E), CPA 5000 preamplifier, and Red Reference CD player. Cables were Van den Hul’s 3T (True Transmission Technology). The handsome, understated equipment rack comes from Quadraspire and is made of bamboo, which Rein says is a good material for getting rid of harmful…
I sat in the Hi-Fi Company’s Hi-Fi Chair ($1500) and, while I immediately felt ridiculous, I also kinda sorta liked it. A lot.
The comfy reclining chair is designed and assembled in the US, features Italian leather, and has an iPod dock, two mini-monitors, a sub, and “shaker” control. You know how, when you watch movies at home, you can hear all the explosions and stuff just fine, but you can never hear any of the words? It’s really frustrating: You raise the volume higher and higher, and the explosions and stuff get louder and louder, but you still can’t hear the words. Finally,…
John Atkinson reported on Don Keele’s unusual constant-directivity CBT36 loudspeaker from last year’s Rocky Mountain Audiofest. At T.H.E. Show Newport, Keele and Marshall Kay, president of Audio Artistry, purposefully created an “economy system” (an iPad running Media Monkey, Benchmark DAC1, Crown preamp, ATI amplifier, Behringer DSP processor) to show how well the speaker could perform under sub-optimal conditions.
The sound was clean, clear, and dynamic, with well-controlled bass and well-extended highs. Most impressive to me, the sound remained consistent regardless of where in the…
John Atkinson reported on B.M.C.’s new Arcadia loudspeaker ($36,300/pair) from January’s CES. But B.M.C.’s Carlos Candeias has already upgraded his design with SpeakON connectors between the outboard crossovers and the speaker cabinets, improved internal wiring, and a revised magnet construction in the midrange drivers. In addition, the speaker’s spikes now screw directly into the speaker’s base for better grounding. The changes come at no additional cost. “We improved the model, but that doesn’t always mean you have to raise the price,” said Candeias.
The speakers were partnered with B…
Audio Note’s Dave Cope was unusually glum: The E/SPe HE loudspeakers ($9650/pair; seen in a lovely Russian birch plywood) are designed to be positioned in the corners of a room, but doing so here, in the small Atrium suite, meant that they’d be tucked beneath a strange overhang that seemed to rob the speakers of their charm. The effect, however, was largely music-dependent and I nevertheless heard glimpses of Audio Note’s characteristic drama, tone color, and texture, albeit on a smaller scale. I have no reason to believe that this impressive system wouldn’t sound wonderful under better…