Ed Meitner goes analog?
Not really. But the famed digital pioneer and founder of EMM Labs, known especially for his work with DSD/SACD, was showing his prototype optical phono preamp, the Optical Equalizer. Designed solely for use with DS Audio's optical cartridges, it can be described as a marriage between analog and digital. With specific filters for the different DS Audio cartridge models, it's expected in the first quarter of 2020.
"DS Audio's optical cartridges are so different than regular magnetic-based transducers," Meitner told me. "They require one less translation from…
For a room too small for Tekton's massive, multi-driver Moab loudspeakers ($4500/pair), Parasound and Tekton were getting surprisingly good sound. The small system lineup was headed by the new Parasound Classic 200 Integrated ($1195), which includes an all-analog signal path, analog bass management with high and low pass outputs, a DAC whose circuitry is, in the company's words, "pulled directly out of the award-wining Halo P-5," and far more goodies than you might expect at this price point. Yes, switching to the larger system, with Parasound's Halo JC 5 amplifier ($5995), JC 2 BP…
Do VAC tube components possess chameleon-like powers? That's the question I've begun to ask: Each time I encounter their components in different settings, I hear radically different sound. Here, from a system including Nola's towering new Concert Grand Reference Gold 2 loudspeakers ($250,000/pair), an Audio Research REF CD8 CD player, Nordost Odin 2 cabling, and VAC's Statement 450S IQ amplifier ($63,000), Master line stage ($28,000), and VAC DAC MK II ($12,000), the sound was midrange preponderant—not at all what I expected to hear from either VAC electronics or a 275lb open-baffle line-…
Mark Conti’s MC Audiotech room was dominated by his company’s just-launched, Paul Paddock-designed MC Audiotech Forty-10 2-way loudspeaker ($35,000/pair including crossover). Hidden in the high-frequency spaced array are 10 identical bending wave drivers “of the latest generation,” covering everything above 100 Hz. In its Folded Cube low-frequency enclosure reside two “industrial type” woofers in a dipole arrangement. The speaker uses a dedicated hybrid external crossover with low-frequency level/contour controls.
With 4 ohms nominal impedance and a claimed efficiency of 95-96dB for the…
The big news in the Musical Surroundings room was the introduction of the AMG Viella Forte 12 Turbo turntable ($30,000), shown in its engraved version ($32,000). The “super” version of the German-made Viella table, it includes a plinth that's 280% larger than the standard Viella plinth, a taller, thicker, machined-PVC platter, a larger clamp, a 130% larger arm base, enhanced circuitry, and a new toroidal transformer in the power supply.
The Viella Forte 12 was in some pretty rich company, including $150,000 worth of Boulder electronics, a Clearaudio Jubilee cartridge ($6000), Vienna…
Occupying a small but significant place in Bluebird Music’s outer suite, the new Jadis Orchestra Black integrated amplifier ($3995) was producing sweet and enjoyable sound that, on a track from Count Basie Meets Oscar Peterson, felt like a lovely warm kiss. Thanks are most certainly due in part to its system mates: Chord’s Dave DAC and Blu 2 transport with built-in MScaler and Vienna Acoustics Anniversary Edition Haydn speakers ($1500/pair).
The Jadis Orchestra Black, which is manufactured for and solely distributed in North America, is a scaled-down, push/pull Class-AB integrated…
Two more winners from Bluebird Music awaited in that distributor’s inner sanctum: the new Spendor D9.2 loudspeaker ($11,495/pair) and the SME Model 12A turntable ($10,900) outfitted with an Ortofon Cadenza Bronze cartridge. I loved the Spendor’s midrange wall of sound and impressive low end. An evolution of the D9 that was introduced three years ago—it has the same drivers and cabinet—it uses a tweaked crossover, additional bracing, “dynamic damping” for both the cabinet and the drive units and sports a new magnetic grill. I’m told that the old and new speakers measure the same but sound…
McIntosh had (at least) one big system, two smaller systems, and one minisystem in their huge room. While I’m pretty certain that I heard the 70th Anniversary amp and preamp, that their many lights can be switched from blue to green, and that if tubes short, their indicators turn red, I can’t give you much more specific information other than a photo of the big system’s intriguing-looking speaker. When I asked for an equipment sheet with prices, I was handed a USB stick containing 16 multipage PDFs, with components identified by model number only. That's too much to process under deadlines…
On the second day of RMAF 2019, I visited nine big rooms in the Gaylord Convention Center. I even spent time in rooms I had not intended to cover, in an attempt to get a handle on the sonic challenges exhibitors faced in those oversized spaces. After auditioning equipment pairings both familiar and new and hearing the same sonic characteristics—overly preponderant midrange, toned down and even seriously truncated top, grayed colors, and many more regrettables—I came to the conclusion that the acoustics in the Gaylord’s often impossibly large 3rd floor convention spaces are not good for music…
Here, I regret to say, is another report not on the equipment but on the room.
The story in the PS Audio room was the company's new loudspeaker, the AN3, various prototypes of which have been demoed at audio shows throughout 2019. The RMAF demo pair was described by the company as the final prototype. The design—strongly influenced by the late Arnie Nudell, the "AN" in AN3—includes servo-corrected powered woofers, a folded ribbon tweeter, a rectangular planar midrange, and an 8" cone "mid-bass coupler. (The information in the previous sentence was based on earlier prototypes. Here's the…
