1. I had never seen speakers spread so far apart.
2. I had never seen a room that could make the Wilson Audio MAXX Series 3 loudspeakers look small.
3. By 4pm on Saturday afternoon, which is when I made it to this room, just about everyone at the California Audio Show was in a very loose mood (and getting looser).
4. The source was a Clearaudio Innovation Wood (ha, he said “Wood”) turntable with a Graham Phantom II Supreme tonearm and Benz Micro LP S-MR cartridge. The phono stage was the all-tube Aesthetix 10 Eclipse, the amplification was from Spectral, and the cables were from…
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In the much smaller Music Lovers/Musical Surroundings room, we heard a sound very different from what we heard in the previous, massive ballroom. Just as capable of being gentle, the present system—Wilson Sophia loudspeakers, Ayre V-5xe power amplifier, K-5xe MP preamplifier, MacBook Pro feeding data to the USB input of the Ayre DX-5 disc player, Clearaudio Innovation and Concept turntables, Fosgate and Ayre phono preamplifiers, and lots of Synergistic Research ART room treatments and cabling—showcased muscularity, speed, and drama.
Of course this had something to do with…
The smallest Audio Vision room held the smallest system:
Bel Canto e.One CD 2 CD player ($2995), Bel Canto C5i integrated amp/DAC ($1995), Bel Canto e.One 1000 MkII monoblock power amplifiers ($6000/pair), Bel Canto e.One DAC3.5VB ($4945), Anthony Gallo 3.5 Reference loudspeakers ($5999/pair), Clearaudio Concept turntable ($1400) with Clearaudio Aurum Beta Wood cartridge ($575), Cardas Clear Light speaker cable ($1039/2m pair) and interconnects ($692/1m pair), and Quadraspire Q4 Evo equipment rack.
After my eyes, ears, and expectations adjusted to the size of the room, I…
Walking down the short, narrow corridor which led to the block of rooms hosted by Audio Vision was sort of like walking down the short, narrow length of Lucky 7 Tavern on a Saturday night: It was loud, crowded, and people kept asking me if I wanted a beer.
There sure is a lot of drinking going on at this show, I thought to myself.
Inside one of these rooms, I found a little rock’n’roll system of Nola Micro Grand loudspeakers ($15,200/pair); Naim HDX server ($8150), XPS power supply ($5000), NAC 252 preamplifier ($9250), NAP 250 power amplifier ($5750), all on Naim equipment…
The Finite Elemente Soundboard ($995) is available in six lacquer finishes and a lovely walnut, and comes with wall brackets for easy mounting. You can hang it anywhere, just as you would a shelf. In fact, the Soundboard is a shelf—a shelf that sings. There are four down-firing speakers, two front-firing speakers, a top-panel iPod charging dock, and line and USB inputs for use with televisions and computers.
We ported an iPhone and listened for a moment to a track off of Norah Jones’ Come Away with Me. The sound was surprisingly good and detailed. I think the Soundboard would look…
Rushing around at the end of Saturday, I spent too little time in the room hosted by Redwood City’s Loggie Audio, but, having heard similar setups at recent shows, the sound was what I remembered from Aaudio Imports’ Acapella Violoncello loudspeakers, Ypsilon amplification, and Bergmann turntable: awesome scale, well-extended highs, and a clarity that puts you there with the musicians.
Also on display in this room were updated versions of Einstein’s The Final Cut OTL monoblock amplifier and The Tube preamp. More on these come October at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest.
I almost missed the High Value Audio room—it was sort of tucked away, down a long corridor and hidden by the hotel’s West Bay Café (great breakfasts!)—but I’m glad I found it because the sound in here was sweet and inviting, playing an acoustic guitar and vocals piece that just soothed my soul.
Faithless love, where did I go wrong?
Very pretty.
The system: ATC Anniversary SCM50 loudspeakers with six built-in amps—one for each driver—running class-A ($26,700/pair), MBL 1621A transport ($28,000), Music First Reference preamplifier ($16,000),…
In another large, difficult ballroom, beautifully finished LumenWhite Artisan loudspeakers ($45,000/pair) were mated to the 250W, class-A Ayon Orthos 2 monoblock power amplifiers. The source was Ayon’s CD5S ($11,380), which combines a tube preamp with a tube DAC and transport. Cables were the Swiss-made Vovox. The system created a large sound to match the large room, with big-hearted bass.
In the Audioengine room, I heard a familiar sound: Fun, exciting, clean, and physical, with tight, lovely bass. The company was using their A5 loudspeakers, which I enjoyed a few months back, to play music via a MacBook Pro running plain old iTunes through an HRT Music Streamer II.
And now I know what Michael Lavorgna meant when he said he’d have to kill you: While there were no new products being shown in the Audioengine room, the company’s team is working on some things that audiophiles should thoroughly enjoy. More info should be available by the time of the Rocky Mountain Audiofest…
A gentle, relaxed sound with well-focused images was coming from the Gini Systems/Audio Space room: Audio Space LS3/5a monitors ($1790/pair), Reference 3.1 300B integrated amplifier with tubed moving-magnet phono stage ($4290), DAC-US1 D/A converter ($2500), and CDP320 player ($800).