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You couldn't miss the signage for PrimaLuna and Nola; it was as big as the excellent signage for T.H.E. Show itself. You also couldn't miss the sound: lovely, warm, and extremely inviting. Although the system was playing a bit too loud for the room, the system handled bass extremely well, and made timbres on a (yes) Diana Krall recording pretty natural. Doing the honors were the Nola Ko loudspeaker ($9800/pair) and three components from PrimaLuna: Premium CD player ($3995), DiaLogue 3 linestage preamplifier ($2695), and DiaLogue 7 monoblock amplifiers ($5495/pair).
Although Roger Sanders was not in the room when I finally got there on the third day, his "handcrafted in Colorado" electrostats were singing as if he were. In addition to the superb transparency that one expects from a good electrostat, the bass was not just convincing, but simply amazing. The sound was a bit sharp in the small room, and at one point, in an unfortunate performance of Puccini's "O mio babbino caro," distorted on top. Since I've not had either experience in previous auditions of Sanders electrostats, I have a hunch the distortion probably due to the mikes used to record this…
One of my fondest memories of a past CES was sitting with John Atkinson at T.H.E. Show, playing a track from one of his superb recordings of Cantus on an all-out darTZeel /Evolution Acoustics system from Jonathan Tinn's Blue Light Audio. Here, on more modest speakers and electronics, I was again blown away, this time by the fabulous soundstage height, three-dimensionality, and realistic depiction of horns and cymbals on Michael Tilson Thomas' recording of Mahler's Symphony 3.
Doing the honors were Evolution Acoustics' MMMicro One loudspeakers—Reference 2-way ($2500/pair), complete with…
Zu Audio's room was like no other. While the "normal" set-up has components facing attendees and carefully stacked on equipment racks, Zu more or less duplicated the DJ experience. Spinning vinyl as if in a cage, and very happy to be there, I might add, sat Zu owner Sean Casey's delightfully high-spirited son, Ian.
Sensing that Zu's usual fare was not my first choice—there wasn't anything remotely related to classical or classic jazz to be found—Ian picked Illinoise, a folksy, existential, spacey, and highly amusing album by Sufjan Stevens. Then came Fleet Poxes "Helplessness Blues." Zu…
The Bardo-9.6-Pi produced superbly well-organized sound with clean, sharp attacks, reasonably strong sustain, and pronounced decay, all against a jet-black backdrop. The harmonic structures of instruments, while somewhat lean, were intact. Most Benz-Micro cartridges I've heard tend to sound somewhat polite and self-effacing on top; this combination's high-frequency production was anything but. Instead, it was well extended and slightly sharp in a pleasingly Teutonic way, if more pronounced than I like—at least in my system. The mids were smooth and clean, the bottom taut, well defined, and…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Direct-drive, suspensionless turntable with eight-pole, speed-controlled motor. Speeds: 33.33 & 45rpm, each variable within a range of ±10%. Wow & flutter: 0.07% linear, 0.035% weighted DIN 45507. Rumble: –64dB.
Dimensions: Turntable: 16.4" (420mm) W by 3.9" (100mm) H by 12.5" (320mm) D. Weight: 32.6 lbs (14.8kg).
Serial Number Of Unit Reviewed: USUR054K.
Price: Bardo turntable, $7990, with vinyl platter mat and a polished granite base, but no record clamp; optional stainless steel and precision-ground crystal platter mat and a…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Continuum Audio Labs Caliburn, Cobra, and Castellon turntable, tonearm, and stand; Graham Phantom II, Kuzma 4Point tonearms; Ortofon A90 cartridge.
Digital Sources: Playback Designs MPS-5 SACD/CD player–DAC, BPT-modified Alesis Masterlink hard-disk recorder, Sooloos music server, Pure Music software.
Preamplification: Ypsilon VPS-100, Einstein Turntable's Choice phono preamplifiers; darTZeel NHB-18NS preamplifier.
Power Amplifier: Musical Fidelity Titan.
Loudspeakers: Wilson Audio Specialties MAXX 3.
Cables: Phono:…
I tried to name a high-end audio product that's been recommended more often than the Rega Planar 3 turntable. I failed.
The closest I could come was Rega's own RB300 tonearm, surely the best-selling perfectionist tonearm of all time. After that came the Rega Planar 2 turntable, a sample of which I owned and loved in the early 1980s. Next on my list was the original Rega Elys, a moving-magnet cartridge that sounded as chunky and direct as it was cheap and magenta.
All the products on my list were simple, purposeful, cost-effective things lacking in pretense and filigree; much the…
Here's how the installation went: I slid the contents free of the carton; removed the above-mentioned packing materials; laid the platter atop the subplatter and the mat atop the platter; twisted and scrunched the counterweight onto the end of the tonearm, Jimmy Cagney style; set the antiskating calibration for the appropriate downforce; and plugged in the AC cord and signal output cables. I didn't bother with the dustcover, though that would have been easy enough. The RP-1 went from cargo to music-maker in about eight minutes.
More about tonearm settings: The rear of the RB101's armtube…
The solution may please a greater number of people than is usually the case: Rega discontinued the P2, and introduced a $195 upgrade kit that's said to bring their entry-level player to at least the P2's level of performance.
There are three major components to this RP-1 Performance Pack, as it's called. First is a drive belt that not only looks different from the original—the new one is white, and appears very slightly thicker than the old one—but actually feels somewhat grabbier. (I'm probably the only nerd left who remembers, as a child, buying white silicone-rubber tires as upgrades…