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I first heard the Zesto Andros PS1 phono stage ($3900) at the 2011 Rocky Mountain Audio Fest and was impressed by what I heard. The Andros was being used in the One World Audio room in the Hilton, with a Lindemann amplifier driving speakers from Voce Audio, a name new to me. The Voce UA-3 is a large floorstander using a ring-radiator tweeter recessed behind a short horn. Source was a 1978 Luxman PD-444 turntable fitted with a TriPlanar arm and a Lyra Kleos cartridge. Cabling was all WyWires. The sound of bass player Stanley Clarke's acoustic 2009 album, Jazz in the Garden, with Hiromi on…
Zesto was also using TAD CR1 speakers for the debut of their new Leto tubed line preamplifier ($7500, top), which, like the Andros phono stage (bottom), is made in the USA. With a system comprising a Gamut D200 power amp, a Merrill Williams turntable fitted with a Triplanar arm and a Dynavector XX2 Mk.II cartridge, a Lindemann DAC fed data from a PC running J River software, with WyWire cables used throughout, the Ozawa performance of Mahler's Symphony 1, with the Boston Philharmonic on a typically bright-sounding DG LP, had me sitting for the entire first movement, so low was the noisefloor…
I had not heard the 300W Technical Brain monoblocks ($90,000/pair) before, but driving the TAD CR1 speakers that I very positively reviewed last January ($40,600/pair with stands), they produced a sound from the Reference Recordings Nojima performance of Liszt's Mephisto Waltz that offered superb scale yet with equally superb microdynamics. The amplifier is said to run in class-A up to 120W and has "no resistors in the signal path"! Source was the Ratoc D/A converter (currently only available in Japan) fed data by a MacBook Air, preamp was also Technical Brain ($57,000) and cables were all TB…
Jeffrey Catalano’s High Water Sound room was so hidden, tucked away at the end of a shadowy corridor, that posters were tacked to the Atrium walls, reminding showgoers to stop by.
I had wondered how anyone could possibly find their way there, so I was taken aback when I walked into a packed house of bobbing heads and stomping feet. But I shouldn’t have been surprised: Audiophiles have a way of finding great music.
It was Booker T. & the MGs’ McLemore Avenue, a mostly instrumental album inspired by the Beatles Abbey Road. And it kicked total ass. I would love to get…
Von Schweikert's new VR-44 floorstanding speaker comes in two forms: passive ($22,000/pair), and Aktiv ($25,000/pair) with a 300W amplifier driving the 8.8" composite alloy-cone woofers below 200Hz. Both the woofers and the 6" midrange unit are loaded with labyrinths, and the tweeter is a ring-radiator type. Superbly finished with either Steinway Black Gloss or Mercedes Platinum Silver, the VR-44's produced a full, musical sound at THE Show, driven by Jolida tube amplification and with the source an open-reel recorder from United Home Audio playing a tape of Van Morrison playing "Brown-Eyed…
Solen is the authorized dealer for Motus Audio loudspeaker drivers, designed in the US and manufactured in China.
The units used in the speakers seen here (a 6” midwoofer and 1” tweeter) would cost around $570/pair. Interested hobbyists could purchase a kit, including enclosures and crossovers, for under $1000/pair. The system I heard was made of a MacMini, the versatile Resonessence Labs Invicta DAC, and Ayre amplification. Music files were played using the Fidelia playback software. Cables were provided by Cardas. I noted a sweet, smooth sound.
The sign says:
The San Diego Music and Audio Guild is titled the way it is because our main focus is on music rather than audio equipment.
We believe that equipment can never provide much more than a photograph of the musical event and we strive to attend as many live performances as possible.
Nonetheless, some photographs are better than others and the improvement is often predicated more on the skill and knowledge of the producer than the cost of the product.
We endeavor to bring those improvements to light and to provide information to maximize the potential…
At the Hilton, T.H.E. Marketplace was home to May Audio, Ginko Audio, Bob’s Devices, Eastwind Imports, Reference Recordings, Lavry Engineering, and Acoustic Sounds.
Here we see Acoustic Sounds’ Chad Kassem, busy assembling the latest release from Analogue Productions and Quality Record Pressings, a 200gm, 45rpm reissue of The Doors’ self-titled debut, mastered by Doug Sax on an all-tube system. Light my fire.
Back at the Atrium, T.H.E. Marketplace was home to Audeze headphones, Eddie Current headphone amplifiers, Elusive Disc, Impex Records, Kim Wilson Photography, May Audio, and Music Direct. Here we see Music Direct’s Besflores Nievera, Jr., happily manning the vinyl. I get up, and nothing gets me down.
This couple is happy because they're at T.H.E. Show Newport. And because they're surrounded by sunlight, live music, and LPs. And possibly also because they just came from the pool bar.