Several times during the weekend, in other rooms, a person sitting next to me asked, “So Herb, what’s the best thing you’ve heard so far?” I always replied, “You tell me first: What was your favorite?” Every time, they said, “The room with the Spatial M3 Sapphire loudspeakers.” I always said, "that room was my favorite too. Then we= high-fived each other.)…
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My three-day reconnaissance suggests that Mark Schneider and his company, Linear Tube Audio, scored big at CAF, downstairs in the Headphone Lounge and with a room I and many showgoers thought was a candidate for Best Sound at Show.
It pleases me beyond words when modestly priced audio components overperform immodestly.
Lancaster, Pennsylvania, dealer Now Listen Here (‘A Tenacious Sound Store’) put on a spectacularly immodest, mind-expanding demo, using only humble components. Picture a big atrium room with a pair of $1795/pair Legacy Audio Studio HD loudspeakers driven by the new Rogue Audio Sphinx v3 (tube/class-D) integrated amplifier ($1595)—this in turn driven by the NAD C 658 BluOS™ network player/preamp/DAC—which, I feel certain, played a big role in making this little rig sound refined, big, powerful,…
Two friends whose taste and hearing I respect—and who visited every room at this show—told me they thought the $35K/pair MC Audiotech Forty-10 loudspeakers made the best sound at CAF. No question, these almost five-feet tall decorator-friendly midcentury-modernᡃlooking beauties sounded even better they look, and they look very nice.
At first, I thought they sounded like electrostatics, or maybe a planar-magnetic. Even after listening at some length and talking to the designer, I did not yet understand that the Forty-10 did not use electrostatic drivers.
I kept quizzing MC…
On the last day of the show, loudspeaker designer Jeff Joseph showed no sign of slowing down. Remote in hand, he bounced around his room like the battery bunny, welcoming attendees, switching his rig between analog and digital, and smiling his way through it all.
Jeff’s rig included a Feickert Firebird turntable ($12,995), Schick Tonearm ($2290), My Sonic Lab Signature Gold Cartridge ($8995), Balanced Audio Technology VK-P12SE phono stage ($9995), Unison Research CD Due DAC ($4995), Unico 150 Integrated amplifier ($6495), and his Joseph Audio Perspective2 Graphene Loudspeakers ($14,995…
That Robin Wyatt (aka Robyatt) knows how to put on a show is obvious. That he assembles a fine sounding room is also a given. So, when Wyatt enlisted recording/mastering engineer Tom Fine to discuss and play records, representing the work of his parents, Robert Fine and Wilma Cozart Fine, the result was predictable: Standing room only crowds. Hearing Fine discuss and play Janos Starker and other Fine productions was a thrill.
Robin’s analog front-end in the “Democracy” room consisted of a skeletal VPI HW-40 turntable with a 12" Fatboy tonearm ($15,000) mounted with a Miyajima…
I have always admired Bill Hutchins, the chief designer at LKV Research, because to me he embodies the true amp-builder’s spirit. He builds his LKV products himself, by hand. That includes his amp and preamp chassis, which are made in his own shop, without the help of a CNC machine. LKV chassis look a little homemade, but, to me, that is what makes them beautiful. They have artistic soul. Every amp comes with buckets of invisible (but valuable) Bill-sweat. I appreciate that much more than the fifty-pounds of faceplate-advertising that comes with anonymously constructed luxury brands.
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There's a cliché that says that New Yorkers are fond of wearing black. It's a true cliché. But fascination with the dark side isn’t restricted to New Yorkers. Texas’s Raven Audio manufactures sweet-looking tube-powered gear and loudspeakers, and the bulk of it, you guessed it, is black.
The noir-loving Raven Audio room included the new Nighthawk Mk3, a 20Wpc, class AB, ultra-linear tube integrated amplifier ($2995); the new Blackhawk Mk3 integrated amplifier ($3795); the Silhouette Mk2 Monoblock amplifiers ($25,995/pair); CeLest Tower Speakers ($3995); and Corvus Tower System ($…
I mentioned earlier how uncolored, detailed, transparent, and image-specific an open baffle loudspeaker can sound. Unfortunately, not all open baffle speakers are created equal, and making a coherent and musically satisfying open-baffle speaker is much more complex than just bolting a few drivers to a sheet of plywood. The question any loudspeaker designer must ask is, how far should I go? When is done right?
To my ears, “done right” describes the Pure Audio Project’s Quintet15 Horn1 Modular Open Baffle Loudspeakers ($9995) I auditioned at CAF. Pure Audio Project offers a range of tall,…
I have limited experiences with the well-established French brand Triangle Manufacture Electroacoustique. But every time I encounter a system with Triangle speakers, I stop and take serious notice of their refined but lively sound. As I did Sunday in the room sponsored by The Antal Audio Group.
Triangle is a mainstream European manufacturer, like KEF in England or Golden Ear in America. Triangle makes loudspeakers, subwoofers, and audio cables at every price point. To my ears, Triangle speakers deliver an exceptional amount of sonic virtue for the dollar.
The two models I have…
Do you know why New Yorkers are always depressed? Because the light at the end of the tunnel is New Jersey.
My friend Laurence Borden told me that joke. He has a PhD in neuropharmacology and is the owner-operator of Distinctive Stereo in River Vale, New Jersey. (Don’t neuropharmacologists study the effects of drugs on the brain and nervous system?)
I told Larry, when an audio system is really good, I need a neuropharmacologist to explain why. He replied, “The audio system you are listening to is really good and here is part of the reason why.” Whereupon he introduced me to…